With her eyes closed and her breathing rhythmic, Su Min felt her consciousness gently detach and slip back into that familiar, expansive mental space, the inner world where her Heavenly Dao Insight manifested as a shimmering void. This time, however, the experience was different from the previous instances she had navigated. There was no choice to be made between swirling clusters of glowing characters or competing orbs of light. Instead, a pure, undiluted, and direct flood of information poured into her mind like liquid gold, as if a dam holding back a river of ancient knowledge had finally broken, its contents flowing into her without filter or obstacle.
[Wood-Fire Transformation Art, First Layer: A dual-attribute cultivation technique emphasizing nourishment and vitality.]
Unlike the fragmented, pieced together Changchun Gong she had been struggling with for so many months, this was a proper, systematic, and complete cultivation method. It was a true path forward, though she had only received the foundational first layer of the technique. For Su Min, at this very moment, with her progress stalled and her energy stagnant, it was more than enough. It was a revelation that set her soul ablaze.
The Changchun Gong had begun to lag behind her progress ever since she had solidly reached the mid stage of Body Refining. Her spiritual energy had grown denser and more stable, yet her overall cultivation progress had stagnated completely, hitting an invisible but immovable wall that refused to budge no matter how long she meditated or how many pills she consumed. Now, with this new, profound knowledge etched perfectly into her consciousness, she felt that stubborn, frustrating bottleneck finally loosen. Its structure was cracking. Then, it shattered into nothingness.
"Draw in the qi, awaken the latent potential. Temper it, refine it, let the cycle build without cease," she recited the new mantra internally, the words guiding the flow of energy through her limbs.
Her spiritual aura swelled steadily, growing thicker and more vibrant as she cycled the energy through her newly opened and cleared pathways; these were pathways the Changchun Gong had never even hinted at in its simplistic instructions. She wasn't in any particular hurry to abandon the Changchun Gong completely, however. Its core principle was almost ridiculous in its blunt simplicity: just survive; don't die.
The longer she lived, the stronger its passive, background enhancement would gradually become. But mere survival, a slow and steady accumulation of years, wasn't her most pressing goal right now. What she needed was immediate, tangible, usable power to defend herself and seize opportunities in this harsh environment.
"This new technique really packs a punch," she thought, a wave of pure exhilaration washing over her as she felt her spiritual power consolidate and then expand with a roar.
The moment the thought fully formed, the stifling, invisible pressure that had surrounded her dantian for weeks shattered completely, the fragments swept away by the new, vigorous energy. In the blink of an eye, her spirit surged forward, crossing a critical threshold she had been straining against for what felt like an age.
Late stage Body Refining.
"Hah..."
A long, turbid breath, escaped her lips as the breakthrough settled. Her body felt lighter and more potent than ever before, the strength humming in her fingertips. Cultivation in this era was truly arduous. The world's spiritual energy lay mostly dormant, its active fragments scattered and thin, like trying to drink from a mist that vanished upon contact. The great conflicts that would churn the heavens and earth had yet to begin, leaving the world in a state of quiet, resource scarce anticipation.
"Next step, preparing for Qi Refining," she murmured to herself, the goal now feeling tangibly closer than it had only hours ago.
Stretching her limbs lazily, she felt the new strength humming in her muscles and bones. She noted the deepening twilight outside her window, the sky painted in shades of purple and orange that bled into the dark green of the forest. Night in these mountains belonged to the beasts and the venomous insects. It was a time when the rules changed. It was a time when the shadows themselves seemed to hunt. Her first year here had been a very educational, and often painful, introduction to that fact.
She had gone through countless Insect Repelling Pills, refining batch after batch until the air smelled of bitter herbs, before she had finally carved out a stable, safe perimeter around her home. As for the poisonous miasma that sometimes rolled down from the higher peaks in thick, greenish clouds, dealing with it had become just another weekday chore, requiring specific pills and careful timing to avoid the choking fumes.
"That session took half a day, and I was completely vulnerable the entire time," she realized with a start, a chill running down her spine.
"My next breakthrough, especially the one to Qi Refining, absolutely needs a safer, more secure location. Somewhere I can set up proper defenses. Ugh, but first, food." The mundane need grounded her back in reality.
After a simple, utilitarian meal of plain rice and cured meat porridge, the steam warming her face, Su Min mused over her long term plans. Her modern pickiness about food, her craving for flavor and variety, had long vanished, beaten away by months of surviving on utterly tasteless bigu dan. Now, edible was good enough. Sustenance was the point.
But one goal loomed larger than all the others, a deadline etched in her mind. She had to reach the Qi Refining stage within ten years. Otherwise, that Heaven and Earth Treasure Gourd, the unripe treasure hidden on the cliff face, would surely slip through her fingers when it matured and lit up the sky for all to see.
Because The Awakening was coming.
That was the prophesied time when ancient powers, slumbering for eons, would stir and etch fragments of their wisdom and power directly into the world's fundamental laws. It was when the naturally gifted or the supremely fated individuals would grasp these profound truths in their dreams, waking up with newfound abilities. By that time, being merely a Body Refining cultivator wouldn't be enough to compete, to even hold onto what was rightfully yours. Reaching the Qi Refining stage was the bare, absolute minimum to even step onto the starting line of the new world.
The Next Morning
Su Min was in the middle of a delicate pill refinement, her focus entirely on the simmering ceramic pot, when chaos erupted outside her hut. A group of rough looking men, five of them, burst into the clearing with heavy boots. Their clothes were stained with mud and something darker, their faces hard and unwashed. They reeked of bloodlust and unwashed bodies, and they wielded notched swords caked with rust and old gore. These were blades that looked one dirty cut away from causing a lethal infection.
Then they all froze, their aggressive postures faltering in the doorway.
A full year of growth and dedicated cultivation had honed her physique to its absolute peak for this stage. Her "eternal youth" talent didn't mean perpetual childhood; it locked her appearance at the prime of her youth, which she was now entering. The bandits clearly hadn't expected the village healer to look like this.
She was tall and carried herself with a composure that was utterly unruffled by their sudden, violent arrival. She didn't scream or cower or even stand up from her stool. Instead, she calmly sipped her tea from a small, hand thrown clay cup, her eyes regarding them over the rim as if they were nothing more than door to door merchants peddling wares.
"You... you're the famed village healer?" their leader asked, his voice wavering slightly, losing its intended menace as he took in her serene features.
The rumors had spoken of a young beauty, but mountain folk were usually sun baked and wiry, hardened by labor. The woman before them, serene, poised, and radiating an unnatural calm, defied all their expectations and set off quiet alarms in their heads.
"I'm," Su Min replied, her voice even and cool.
"Good. Come with us. Our boss, he took a bad wound. He needs treatment, now." The leader tried to inject authority back into his tone, though his grip on his hilt was shaky.
"No," she said, setting her cup down on the small table beside her with a soft, definitive click that echoed in the quiet hut.
"You fucking little," one of the other bandits snarled, his patience snapping, his face contorted with rage.
His blade flashed, a clumsy but powerful swing that cut clean through her wooden table with a loud, splintering crack. The two halves of the table fell apart, clattering to the floor. Her teacup wobbled on the edge of the ruin but didn't spill a single drop.
"Huh. Sharp steel," Su Min remarked, glancing down at the ruined furniture with a detached curiosity. "But not sharp enough to cut through common sense. You do realize you're trespassing, right?"
She hadn't even flinched when the steel whistled past. The strike hadn't been aimed at her. If it had been, the sword would have never left its sheath. It was a test, a show of force, and she had just called their bluff.
"Ghk, what?!"
The attacker's face went pale, all the blood draining away in an instant. A slender, gleaming dagger now hovered in the air between them, unsupported by any visible hand, its needle like point perfectly steady an inch from the center of his forehead.
It was her Minor Sword Control Art, a basic qi manipulation technique she had finally mastered after reaching the late stage of Body Refining. At this level, she had finally had the spiritual reserves to use it practically, if not for long. It was likely useless against a fellow cultivator, but it was absolutely, perfectly terrifying for frightening ignorant mortals.
"Gulp."
The bandit dropped his heavy sword with a loud clatter and stumbled backward, his boots catching on the uneven floorboards until he tripped over his own feet and fell hard on his backside. A dark stain quickly spread down the front of his pants. His comrades stood completely frozen, their eyes wide with pure, superstitious terror, unable to even breathe as the cold metal point tracked their movement.
"My rules are simple," Su Min said, as if discussing the weather, picking up her teacup to take another slow, deliberate sip.
"Alive or dead; you bring the patient to me. I don't make house calls. I don't travel. This isn't a negotiation."
There were practical, unspoken reasons for this strict policy. Her so called healing relied almost entirely on the potent, pre made effects of her pills and salves. Her genuine, hands on medical expertise was questionable at best, limited to setting bones and cleaning wounds. Some ailments, like simple old age or internal organ failure, were beyond even the power of her current alchemy.
Her hut's remote location also acted as a natural filter. Those who were motivated and strong enough to make the difficult, often dangerous journey to her door were usually the ones worth saving. They were the ones who had a real chance of surviving their injuries.
"But our boss, he can't be moved!" the leader tried to argue, his courage failing miserably as the floating dagger remained, a silent, deadly promise in the air.
"Not my problem," Su Min stated flatly. Her gaze was icy.
The floating dagger drifted a fraction of an inch closer, its wickedly sharp point drawing a thin, perfectly straight red line across the trembling bandit's forehead. A single, fat drop of blood welled up from the cut and trickled slowly down the bridge of his nose. The man whimpered, a pathetic, strangled sound, his eyes rolling back into his head as he finally lost consciousness, collapsing in a puddle of his own urine. The remaining bandits stared, their will to fight completely and utterly broken.
===
1. Heaven's Revelations (天启) – A world-event where fragments of ancient cultivation wisdom surface, kicking off the main storyline in the original game. In here I modified to "The Awakening"
2. The bandits' "rusty cleavers" reflect historical reality—most outlaws used poorly maintained tools rather than fine weapons. Their shock at Su Min's appearance underscores how frontier women were typically weather-beaten and shorter due to malnutrition.