Chapter 735: Within the Sect

Su Che certainly understood why Linglong felt such world-weary emotions, and he also had ways to resolve it.
It was simple enough—nothing too difficult for the creator and ruler of the magnificent Immortal Prison Universe…
“Senior sister, there will be plenty of opportunities to visit the Immortal Realm and enjoy its scenery. I’ll definitely take you there in a few days.”
Su Che wore a gentle smile, while Linglong remained silent, her gaze still as cold as ever, showing no change.
“This time I’ve returned, and I probably won’t leave for a very, very long time—at least tens of thousands of years.”
Su Che didn’t intend to explain the matter of his doppelgänger to her, not yet at least. She needed time to adjust gradually. Right now, she seemed like a patient with severe self-isolation symptoms; he couldn’t give her too strong a dose all at once.
Hearing that Su Che wouldn’t leave for tens of thousands of years, Linglong’s gaze changed slightly. It seemed as though a faint spark of something unusual began to reignite deep within her long-dormant heart. Though she found Su Che’s words highly unlikely.
Su Che continued, “From now on, I’ll come here every day to see you and take care of these spirit herbs together. On the way here, I already noticed that some of the spirit herbs were in poor condition. As a spirit herb doctor, I can finally be useful.”
Hearing this, Linglong naturally recalled those days: a young man in the Qi Cultivation stage who spent every day in the herb garden tending to the spirit herbs, occasionally coming to her to seek guidance on cultivation.
It was that little junior brother named Su Che, not the later Tian Yu—the great elder, the leader of the entire Qiyuan Star, the ancestor of the Sacred Shadows…
Snap!
As the last image in her mind flashed by, Linglong threw the small herb hoe in her hand onto the table, producing a clear ringing sound.
“Go away,” she said softly.
“Alright then, senior sister. I’ll see you again tomorrow.”
Su Che knew this kind of thing required patience. It was just the first day—there was no need to rush.
After he left, Linglong stood there motionless for a long time, nearly half an hour, before sighing softly and picking up the small herb hoe on the table again…
Su Che stepped out of the spirit herb garden and used telepathy to speak to Lao He, “Do you believe it? It won’t take long before I get her back to being lively and cheerful.”
Lao He bluntly pointed out, “That’s because she has feelings for you in her heart. It’s not really your real skill.”
“Want a beating?” Su Che snorted coldly, and Lao He immediately fell silent…

A day passed, and Su Che reverted to his appearance and physique at the age of fifteen, dressed in the robes of an outer sect disciple. He descended once again onto Mysterious Secrets Peak, ready to head to the Spirit Herb Garden. Of course, he took this form to awaken Linglong’s memories of the past, essentially restarting everything from the beginning—a method he thought would be easier for her to accept.

On Mysterious Secrets Peak, the Spirit Herb Garden was still located between the residential areas of inner sect disciples and true disciples. Su Che had arrived via instant teleportation. As the master of the Immortal Prison, he could ignore spatial distances in the entire Immortal Prison universe, going wherever he wished. Crossing trillions of miles in an instant was no problem; neither the defensive barriers of the mountain protection arrays nor the private domains created by cultivators could stop Su Che from forcing his way through.

The feeling of dominating everything was truly exhilarating. Especially now, experiencing it firsthand was far more real than mere mental control in the past.

Su Che had just turned onto the mountain path and was just a few steps away from entering the Spirit Herb Garden when a handsome young man came walking up the path. Three silver threads on his robes indicated that he was a true disciple of Mysterious Secrets Peak.

“Hey, you there! Over here!”
Still over twenty zhang away, the true disciple waved at Su Che from afar, but he didn’t even bother calling him “junior disciple.”

Such an attitude immediately gave Su Che a sense of familiarity: back then, as an inner sect disciple not yet at the Foundation Establishment stage, he had also encountered someone on this very path named…

“What was that guy’s name again?” Su Che couldn’t remember.

“Song Tao!” Old Black had a memory far beyond that of humans, remembering every detail he had experienced clearly.

“Oh right, that Song Tao also acted like this, asking me to deliver messages for him, right?” Su Che thought to himself with a smile.

“Yes, master,” Old Black replied. “At that time, you moved cautiously and nervously, far from being as arrogant as you are now.”

“Am I arrogant now?”

The master and servant chatted among themselves, and Su Che didn’t bother arguing with the young man across from him. He turned and prepared to enter the entrance of the Spirit Herb Garden.

“Hey, I’m calling you, kid!”

The true disciple suddenly rushed over, blocking Su Che’s path. Frowning and with a stern expression, he demanded, “Don’t you have ears?”

At just “fifteen years old,” Su Che hadn’t fully grown in height, being half a head shorter than the other man, so he even had to look up at him.

Su Che certainly wouldn’t get angry; he was magnanimous after all. Yet inwardly, he wondered: Over a thousand years have passed, yet the standards for selecting true disciples at Mysterious Peak seem to have made no progress at all!
Who is the current Mysterious Peak Patriarch?
Su Che’s mind instantly drifted to the golden palace atop Mysterious Peak. He expected to see a stranger—after all, over a thousand years had passed, and almost everyone from back then should have died by now.
But to his surprise, it was her!
“Shui Yue?”
Su Che was momentarily stunned.
Shui Yue—the junior sister who had gone with Su Che to the Endless Sky Pavilion to retrieve the tenth-grade Spirit Fire. She always wore a veil over her face, and she still did now.
Su Che knew Shui Yue was still alive. Her cultivation talent wasn’t the best, and it took several lifespans of Old Black’s secret help for her to advance to the Yuan Ying stage. He just didn’t know when she had become the current Mysterious Peak Patriarch.
“It wasn’t that long ago—just over a decade,” Old Black immediately reminded him.
“Hmm,” Su Che replied.
Over the past thirty years, Su Che had been cultivating by consuming Immortal Fruit, so he hadn’t paid much attention to the various changes on Qi Yuan Star.
Old Black wouldn’t miss any chance to tease him. He added, “This Shui Yue is also an old maid—she’s been alive for over a thousand years without ever touching a man. I’ve realized now: Any woman who gets too close to you ends up with this fate. Whoever gets near you suffers!”
Uh…
Su Che really couldn’t think of any suitable words to retort.
It wasn’t surprising that Old Black spoke so viciously—this was indeed the case. It wasn’t that Su Che was some kind of romantic hero whose presence made women fall headoverheels for him. Rather, no man on Qi Yuan Star had the courage to pursue them at all.
“You even dare touch the women around Master Tian Yu—have you had enough?”
This reason couldn’t be underestimated. As an observer, Old Black saw it very clearly.
But this was also an unsolvable problem. Su Che couldn’t possibly announce to the world, “Gentlemen, don’t worry about me—strengthen your lust and do whatever you want!”
Was there anyone that stupid?
While Su Che and Old Black were chatting idly, they completely ignored the person in front of them. This “true senior brother” must be seething with anger: A mere outer sect disciple dares to look down on me like this?

It was all because Su Che’s appearance at fifteen was so different from the majestic figure he became as the leader of Tianxuan Sect. Moreover, the portraits displayed for the disciples to admire within the sect were surely enhanced with artistic exaggeration. It would be strange if this direct disciple could identify Su Che’s true identity at this point.

The enraged “direct disciple senior” pushed him with a palm strike—not a lethal move, just meant to knock Su Che off balance as a warning before teaching him a lesson about behavior…

Unexpectedly, the palm struck empty air; there was no one in sight.

With Su Che’s status, how could he bother with such a minor figure? He vanished into the spiritual herb garden in an instant, his speed far exceeding the other person’s ability to react.

“Where is he?”

The direct disciple stood frozen, but two breaths later, he was grabbed by the neck and lifted high into the air without any chance to resist.

What was going on?

When he looked back, he was terrified—his captor was none other than the most feared enforcement grand elder in the sect, “Jin Chong.”

No matter the reason, falling into his hands meant certain misfortune!

Holding this foolish idiot, Jin Chong was deeply conflicted: “I’m not sure if I can reach the Transformation to Divine stage. Should I ask him for help?”

Jin Chong had once been Su Che’s strongest rival in the battles. She appeared male but was actually female… Now, she was in the later stages of the Yuan Ying phase. Due to her unique nature, her lifespan was longer than that of other Yuan Ying cultivators. Without any longevity techniques, she had lived until now.

Conversely, reaching the Transformation to Divine stage was much more difficult for her than for other Yuan Ying cultivators. This stage was extremely perilous—failure meant certain death. Thus, Jin Chong had long been at a loss, nearly desperate.

Until the day before, when she learned he had returned to the sect, hope flared in her heart. Yet, proud as she was, she couldn’t bring herself to approach him for help, not even knowing how to start.

Today, guessing that Su Che would come to Xuanji Peak to see his sister Linglong, she waited nearby early in the morning, hoping to pretend to meet by chance and then ask for his help as naturally as possible.

Unluckily, due to a slight hesitation, this foolish direct disciple rushed at her first.

Of course, Jin Chong was furious. She must take this direct disciple to the Enforcement Hall for severe punishment—erasing his status as a direct disciple was the least of it…

It hadn’t flown even a few thousand feet when Jin Chong’s body trembled, and Su Che’s voice suddenly rang in her ears.
“Relax. You can enter seclusion anytime. Since I’m back now, I guarantee you’ll be able to advance to the Divine Transformation stage.”
For Su Che, using a few wild herbs from the immortal realm to concoct the corresponding pills would ensure her successful advancement. It was nothing difficult—just a trivial task!
There was no need to rush. Since he was back and wouldn’t leave again, no matter how many matters there were, they could be dealt with slowly.
Qi Yuan Star still needed to be taken care of personally by me. For me, this is also a great pleasure in life…
“Senior sister, I’m back again!”
Fifteen-year-old Su Che, dressed in slightly oversized Taoist robes, stood outside the small wooden building and shouted loudly.
Inside, Linglong was initially stunned by his appearance, then forced herself to return to her cold, indifferent expression. But in the blink of an eye, she couldn’t help but laugh again…
That silly boy from back then was back!