Chapter 9: The Vanishing Opponent

Inside the cave, although Chen Shi couldn’t see Su Che’s movements, he could infer his intentions from the sounds coming from outside.
“Trying to crush me with these rocks?”
Filled with rage, Chen Shi cursed Su Che as cunning and vicious, while using all his strength to move toward the exit. It was then that he realized his legs were temporarily paralyzed—under his robe, his legs were abnormally swollen, as heavy as two thick logs.
This was caused by poison. The previous afternoon, while fighting that monstrous beast alongside Bai Ji and Yun Lan, he had been pierced in the legs by several hard hairs sprayed from the beast’s body. He hadn’t paid much attention at the time and simply pulled them out, not realizing they were highly toxic. The antidote he carried could only suppress the poison temporarily, not cure it completely. He had fled to this cave in hopes of expelling the poison as soon as possible; otherwise, his life would be at risk.
Outside the cave, Su Che swung his sword, desperately cutting through the huge rocks; inside, Chen Shi gathered his remaining strength and used his hands to push his way outward.
Both of them were racing against time!
Seeing the rocks above the cave beginning to shake, seemingly about to collapse at any moment, Chen Shi panicked. Instead of relying on his dwindling strength, he released the vital energy used to suppress the poison and used it to push himself forward, shooting out of the cave like an arrow from a crossbow.
Boom!
The cave collapsed, and a figure barely managed to fly out, landing with a thud on the rocky beach several yards away.
Amidst the dust, Su Che faintly spotted the figure and realized it was Chen Shi who had escaped. He sighed in regret, thinking it was a shame.
Chen Shi fell to the ground, spewing black blood—likely due to using his vital energy, which caused the poison to surge. With a pained cry, he somehow still managed to summon another talisman.
Whoosh!
Another ice arrow talisman was activated, sending a three-foot-long ice arrow toward Su Che. This time, Su Che wasn’t quick enough to dodge…
Bang!
The light blue ice arrow hit a huge rock. Although it didn’t hit Su Che directly, some of the flying ice shards landed on him. These weren’t ordinary ice shards—they would instantly penetrate any unprotected clothing and pierce the skin. In an instant, Su Che froze solid, his eyebrows and hair covered in frost as if he had been instantly frozen.
“Damn it!”
Su Che shouted in horror.

Death was inevitable, but his strength was simply too weak. A mere touch from an ice spell froze his muscles and tendons instantly, rendering most of his body’s flexibility useless in an instant. If Chen Shi cast another talisman, could he still dodge it?
In desperation, Su Che threw himself to the ground and hid under a boulder, using all his energy to channel his vital energy and drive away the bone-chilling cold from his body. At the same time, he was extremely anxious, fearing that Chen Shi might unleash another offensive spell.
Every second counted…
Time seemed to stretch infinitely, making it unbearably slow; his heartbeat also seemed to amplify, pounding loudly as it marked each critical moment.
By the time Su Che had driven away the cold and his body temperature returned to normal, there was still no follow-up attack.
What was going on?
Su Che crawled to another spot and cautiously peeked out from behind a large rock, looking toward Chen Shi.
He saw Chen Shi lying on his back, motionless…
Was he pretending to be dead?
Of course, Su Che wouldn’t fall for it so easily. He picked up a stone and threw it like a projectile, hitting Chen Shi’s right shoulder precisely.
With a snap, his right shoulder was torn open, and the bone was shattered by the stone dart, yet Chen Shi showed no reaction.
“It doesn’t seem like he’s pretending to be dead; he must be unconscious.”
Su Che noticed that Chen Shi’s chest was still rising slightly, indicating he was still breathing. Clearly, no one could fake death in such a clumsy manner—couldn’t they even hold their breath?
Su Che took a few steps forward, bringing himself within about ten zhang of Chen Shi. He picked up another stone, intending to blow his head off to end his life right away, avoiding further complications.
At that moment, his forehead suddenly burned hot, and his mind went fuzzy. He lost his aim while throwing the stone, not knowing where it landed.
So hot! Su Che covered his forehead, wincing in pain. Actually, it wasn’t that painful; it was just the sudden change that shocked him.
Calming himself down, he looked again. Huh? Where was Chen Shi?
On the riverbank, only the pool of black blood Chen Shi had just spat remained. A living person had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Completely gone.
Su Che searched everywhere, but the surroundings were silent, with no signs of anything suspicious. So, where had Chen Shi gone?
Faced with such a strange occurrence, Su Che forced himself to stay calm. Thinking back to the change in his forehead, he guessed, “Chen Shi’s disappearance might be related to that small tower in my mind.”

As soon as the doubt arose, he felt a slight warmth in his forehead—clearly, it was the small tower responding to him.
“Did the small tower absorb Chen Shi?” Su Che’s expression changed as he thought of the mythical treasures that could trap and capture others.
“A tiny black tower, no bigger than a finger—how could it possibly contain a living person…?” Then he thought again, “No, since I’ve become an immortal myself, what’s impossible in this world…? The capabilities of a high-grade magical artifact can’t be judged by its surface size.”
“But Chen Shi is clearly my enemy. Why would the small tower absorb him instead of killing him outright? Could it be that the tower is merciful and can’t bear to see me kill?”
There was no reaction from his forehead, so it seemed not to be the reason Su Che had guessed.
Su Che himself couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. Indeed, talking about mercy in the world of cultivation was rather unrealistic. So, there must be another reason.
Unable to figure out the specific reason for now, Su Che muttered to himself tentatively, “Let’s assume it absorbed him, but what about those few Qi Bag compartments on his body…”
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his forehead warmed up, and with a whoosh, three Qi Bags appeared out of thin air and fell at Su Che’s feet.
“Indeed!”
Now, Su Che was absolutely certain that Chen Shi had indeed been swallowed by the small tower.
Based on his limited knowledge of cultivation, he realized that an artifact capable of capturing living people was by no means ordinary. Could it be a legendary spiritual treasure, or even a Dao artifact?
In the world of cultivation, magical artifacts are classified from lowest to highest as: ritual artifacts, spiritual artifacts, treasure artifacts, spiritual treasures, and Dao artifacts…
Above Dao artifacts are immortal artifacts, but let’s not even mention those—there seem to be no such treasures in the mortal world.
Putting aside immortal artifacts, even in the mortal world’s cultivation realm, an artifact capable of capturing living beings must be at least at the level of a spiritual treasure. To be precise, such an artifact creates its own internal space—a proper living space, not just a storage space like a Qi Bag.
“At least it’s a spiritual treasure-level artifact. Carrying such a treasure brings trouble… Carrying such a treasure brings trouble!” Su Che warned himself earnestly. Under no circumstances could he let anyone know about the existence of the small tower in his mind!
After calming down, Su Che couldn’t help but think again, “But since Chen Shi has been absorbed by the small tower, it means there’s a living person in my head. That guy isn’t dead yet—that’s a constant source of worry. Who knows what he might do in there? What if a leg stretches out from the tower and kicks my brain to pieces? That would be the end of me…”

Once such thoughts start, all sorts of imaginary scenes follow one after another. In short, it feels like the enemy lives in your own head, which is extremely uncomfortable…
But there’s no reaction at the forehead anymore. No matter how much you imagine, the little tower in your mind simply ignores you.
“Sigh, I’ll just take it one step at a time. There’s nothing else to do.”
Su Che picked up the three Qi Bag pouches on the ground, chose the most hidden cave to enter, and blocked the entrance with several large stones. This way, at least ordinary wild beasts couldn’t bother him.
Qi Bag pouches are the most common storage devices; they don’t have an attachment effect and usually aren’t sealed. As long as one has true energy, they can open others’ Qi Bag pouches.
These three Qi Bag pouches were identical in design, clearly standard equipment for the outer disciples of Tianxuan Sect. Their internal space was also exactly the same, roughly equivalent to a room about twenty feet long, wide, and high.
The fact that even outer disciples were given Qi Bag pouches of such quality demonstrated the strength of this powerful sect. For ordinary cultivators, obtaining one would be incredibly exciting.
Su Che wasn’t an exception. He picked one of the pouches, opened it, and without bothering to count the items, randomly selected a few things, took them out, and put them back in. He did this over and over again until he lost interest.
After counting, the items in the three pouches were roughly as follows: over 120 lower-grade spirit stones, one corpse of a demonic beast, nine spirit herbs of considerable age, seven bottles of various pills, fifteen talismans, three flying swords as magical weapons, and some other trivial items…
Of course, this also included the flesh, bones, and blood of the red-backed bear they had stolen from the valley earlier. Since there was no air in the Qi Bag pouches, the bear meat hadn’t spoiled at all and would likely remain good for a long time.
A huge fortune!
Su Che, who was originally penniless, had suddenly become wealthy overnight.
Of course, this was relative wealth. In the eyes of inner disciples like Daoist Yu Qing, these items surely wouldn’t count for much.