"See these materials?" Su Min's voice was calm, but it carried an undeniable weight in the quiet chamber of Prince Yong's study. She placed a list on the lacquered table between them. "Spread the word across the entire land. If anyone can bring even one of these to me, I will exchange it for a single Foundation Establishment Pill."
"Gulp."
Hearing her words, Prince Yong took a sharp, involuntary breath. He knew, with chilling certainty, the kind of frenzy this simple proclamation would unleash. A single Foundation Establishment Pill was a legend, a treasure enough to drive countless cultivators and nobles mad with greed, to make brothers betray brothers and sects burn.
"This is the exchange list." Su Min pushed the sheet of paper closer to him. "For the top three rarest materials on that list, I will give a Foundation Establishment Pill. The others can be traded for Qi Gathering Pills or Qi Inducing Pills."
With that, she turned and left the room without another word. She had prepared multiple copies, one for Sect Leader Mo to disseminate through the martial world, and another to be nailed to the public notice board in the heart of Yong City. She was not worried about Prince Yong trying to cheat her or hoard the materials. Knowing his pragmatic nature and his fear of her, he would not dare. After all, his mansion now housed another Foundation Establishment expert thanks to her. While the pills were tempting, they were not worth risking her focused wrath.
"Copy this list immediately and spread it by the fastest riders to every corner of the province," Prince Yong commanded his steward the moment Su Min was gone, his voice low and urgent. "And summon my advisors and the heads of the merchant guilds. We will search our own lands and contacts with everything we have."
Prince Yong exhaled sharply, the weight of the moment settling on his shoulders. A part of him, the ambitious ruler, wanted to hoard any found materials for his own lineage. But he knew Su Min was doing this to accelerate her cultivation, to build the strength needed to counter the Demon Queen's looming threat. Time was a resource they were running out of. If the Demon Queen ever broke free of her restrictions, the Yong bloodline would be the first to be purged. Still, he reasoned, securing a few extra resources for his own household in the process would not hurt.
~
Back in her own quarters, Su Min allowed herself a moment of satisfaction.
"I never expected Yingying to leave me so many rare herbs and treasures before she went into hibernation."
She reflected on the bounty of the Xuantian Mansion. It was divided into two distinct sections:
The inner chamber, where Xie Yingying now slept, was a treasure vault filled with spirit stones and supreme materials prepared by her ancient sect for her eventual awakening.
The outer chamber had contained the resources left behind when the mansion was first sealed centuries ago. The spiritual energy there was naturally richer than the outside world, allowing many high quality herbs to grow and mature over the long years.
When Su Min had cleverly forced the Demon Crown Prince into the inner chamber, triggering the mansion's defenses, Xie Yingying had expelled all the intruders before finally leaving. And since the Xuantian Mansion was vast, with only a fraction of its countless rooms ever looted, Xie Yingying had gifted Su Min everything from the outer chambers before her departure.
Now, Su Min only lacked a few, very specific materials for her ultimate goals. Searching for them herself would be like looking for a needle in a continent sized haystack. This bounty was the most efficient way.
"Even if the Great Wei Royal Family gets their hands on them, so what?" she mused, a cold smirk touching her lips. "Three Foundation Establishment Pills will not be enough for them to raise anyone who can truly threaten me."
Once she had everything she needed, she would end this conflict once and for all.
"Time to reach late stage Foundation Establishment. It is just one pill away."
Su Min's smirk deepened. Her recent progress had been, by any conventional standard, insanely fast. Under normal circumstances, such a rapid ascent would have dangerously destabilized a cultivator's foundation. But for her, it was no issue. Her Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment was not just for show. At this stage, she could advance as much as she wanted, her foundation as solid and unshakable as the earth itself, with no hidden drawbacks.
"Foundation Spirit Pill."
She held the pill she had just finished refining.
[Foundation Spirit Pill (Third-Grade, High Tier): Allows a Foundation Establishment cultivator to advance one minor stage within the same realm.]
Thanks to the herbs Xie Yingying had left her, she had just enough ingredients for one. There was no time to waste. It was time to consume it.
While Su Min was engrossed in her alchemy and her own breakthrough, the ripples from her bounty list were spreading like a wildfire across the land, turning into a tsunami.
At that very moment, in the main hall of a certain mountain sect—
"Congratulations, Sect Master Mo! Cheers to your glorious breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment realm!"
Mo Shaosheng was hosting a grand banquet, his face flushed with pride and power. With the help of a single pill from Su Min, he had formally stepped into a realm most could only dream of. In the eyes of the martial world, he now stood peerless. After all, the Prince Yong faction was part of the imperial court, not the true jianghu.
Even so, Prince Yong's household had sent a noble heir to offer formal congratulations. The great sects of the martial world had turned out in droves, their leaders offering flattering toasts. The grand hall pulsed with boisterous laughter and the clinking of cups.
After all, Mo Shaosheng had served as Martial Alliance Leader for decades. No one dared challenge his seat openly. What was more, the most potent rumor circulating was of his personal connection to the legendary "Danxian." A single pill from her was every cultivator's ultimate dream.
Should she speak the word, countless experts would empty their family fortunes for a single dose. Unfortunately, she rarely offered such grace. Most could only hope and scheme for the few pills that occasionally leaked from Prince Yong's stock.
Amid the music and laughter—
"REPORT!!!"
A disciple rushed in, disheveled and clutching a notice, his entrance disrupting the entire banquet's harmony.
"What are you doing?!" Mo Shaosheng frowned, his joy momentarily replaced by irritation. This was his moment of glory. Being interrupted so rudely was unacceptable.
"Prince Yong Mansion—no, Danxian herself—has issued a proclamation!" the disciple gasped, holding up the notice. "Anyone who delivers the materials on this list will be rewarded with a Foundation Establishment Pill!"
"WHAT?!"
The hall erupted. Esteemed sect leaders, normally composed and dignified, sprang to their feet as one. The messenger suddenly found himself surrounded by five Qi Refining late stage experts, all glaring at the notice in his hand like starving wolves spotting fresh meat.
"E-elders… this notice is posted everywhere in the city," the disciple stammered, shrinking back under the intense pressure and glancing pleadingly at his sect leader. "Your sects probably have copies arriving by now too…"
Mo Shaosheng snatched the notice and scanned it, his eyes widening with each line.
"Foundation Establishment Pills, Qi Gathering Pills, Qi Inducing Pills… Danxian's generosity truly knows no bounds."
The others crowded around him, their expressions shifting from shock to grim calculation. The Foundation Establishment Pills were supremely tempting, but the required materials for them were extremely rare, legendary even. Securing one would not be easy. But that did not mean they would not try. For a chance at Foundation Establishment, no price was too high.
"Sect Master Mo, the situation is urgent, we must take our leave immediately!"
"Same here. We will return to our sect at once!"
Within moments, the banquet hall, once full of revelry, stood nearly empty. Everyone rushed out, mounting their horses and sprinting back to their sects, frantically planning to ransack their own storerooms and scour their territories. Even if they could not get the Foundation Establishment Pills, the Qi Gathering and Qi Inducing Pills were still priceless treasures for any faction. And if their own stores came up short?
They were ready to steal, cheat, or even slaughter rival factions to get their hands on the required materials first. The jianghu had exploded into chaos overnight. No one could resist the siren call of Su Min's offer. A Foundation Establishment Pill was simply too tempting. Within three days of the notice being posted, the entire martial world was in complete, bloody disarray.
Naturally, this widespread unrest did not go unnoticed by the powers in the imperial capital.
Inside the opulent palace—
"We have one of these three primary materials in the royal treasury," the Emperor of Wei said, his voice a low rumble as he looked over a copy of the list. "Should we send it to her?"
The Foundation Establishment Pill was just as tempting to him. He needed one, badly. The extended lifespan and power of the Foundation Establishment Stage were too valuable for an aging emperor to ignore.
"Do it." The Demon Queen's voice was calm, emanating from the shadows behind his throne. "These materials are likely for her Golden Core Tribulation preparations. By gathering them on such a scale, she is gathering everything she needs for her self sealing. She plans to sleep until the Golden Core Avenue opens."
The Demon Queen squinted at the notice, her ancient mind instantly deducing Su Min's presumed purpose. Su Min, in her cunning, had long since prepared countermeasures against this very line of thinking. But even if she had not, she would never have made this move so publicly if it revealed her true plans.
Besides, the few people who knew about her acquisition of that special material from the Xuantian Mansion were entirely within her trusted circle. Prince Yong's men, or Mo Shaosheng, had no idea what the material was even called, let alone its true purpose.
As far as the outside world was concerned, the demon prince had been slain by a mysterious woman within the palace. No one had connected the dots back to Su Min.
And the pills were simply too tempting for the Emperor to refuse. If Su Min truly was preparing for the Golden Core Avenue and self sealing, the Demon Queen wanted her gone, and fast. No one knew better than her how much pressure Su Min's mere existence exerted on their plans. If she were to disappear into a centuries long slumber, it would be a blessing.
"Only I know how much pressure that girl brings to bear," the Demon Queen murmured to herself. "She will definitely prepare for the Golden Core Avenue. You have to understand, the requirements for self sealing at the Foundation Establishment stage and at the Golden Core stage are completely different concepts. Moreover, the Lunar Sovereign girl definitely has more than one Sealing Crystal in her possession. With the conditions and talent of the Danxian, she should be able to obtain one. By then, the two of them will probably leave the Wei Dynasty entirely and find a deserted island to live quietly for hundreds of years."
"Send someone to the royal treasury immediately to retrieve the material," the Emperor commanded an attendant. "Also, send agents in disguise to Prince Yong's Mansion. They are to hide their identities and observe."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
~
"Done."
Su Min examined the three Foundation Establishment Pills in her hand with deep satisfaction. Refining third grade, high tier pills was no longer a significant challenge for her. She could even attempt a fourth grade, low tier Golden Spirit Pill now. But unlike the Foundation Establishment Pill or Qi Inducing Pill, that one was unique. The real, terrifying hurdle from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core was not the pill itself, it was the Heavenly Tribulation that followed.
"The jianghu should react within a week. Time to take this."
Without hesitation, she swallowed the Foundation Spirit Pill. Thanks to her Heavenly Dao Foundation, there were no internal barriers between minor stages. As long as she had enough spiritual energy, she could break through instantly. This was the ultimate reward for her twenty year, painstaking foundation building process. Her cultivation speed would never lag behind again. A massive, concentrated surge of spiritual energy exploded within her dantian, coursing through her meridians.
Soon, by the next day, the energy had settled.
"Late stage Foundation Establishment. This feeling…"
Su Min could now faintly sense the oppressive, awe inspiring weight of heavenly might gathering at the edges of her perception. This was the prelude to her future tribulation. Normally, a cultivator would need decades, even centuries, to naturally accumulate enough spiritual energy to trigger it. But she did not have that luxury.
If she waited, the Demon Queen would fully emerge and crush the Prince Yong faction, her only reliable allies. Then she would have to face the entire imperial army and a recovered Nascent Soul expert alone. This was not a game. Her enemies would not stand still and wait for her to grow powerful. And she had not forgotten the Demon Queen's secret, vile technique of absorbing souls to forcibly boost her own power.
Soon after, when she went to Prince Yong's Mansion and asked about the recent situation, he had already distributed the Qi Inducing Pills and the Qi Gathering Pills to those who had brought the corresponding materials.
As for the Foundation Establishment Pills, she kept them for herself and did not take them out.
"Most of the herbs and common materials have been gathered," Prince Yong reported, "but there is no news yet regarding the three rarest materials, the ones to be exchanged for the Foundation Establishment Pills."
Seeing Su Min come out, Prince Yong threw a storage ring to her. Inside it were all the collected herbs and materials, as well as some of the remaining pills from the trades. Su Min took a quick look with her spiritual sense and noted, with approval, that Prince Yong had not been overly greedy.
"Not bad. These materials are extremely hard to find. By the way, how is the outside world reacting?"
"Chaos."
"Huh?"
"Absolute chaos," Prince Yong reiterated, a wry smile on his face. "Everyone is fighting over the materials. The entire jianghu is a mess, orthodox sects, unorthodox factions, even some ancient noble families have been drawn in. Rumors about the Foundation Establishment Pill materials are spreading like wildfire. Wherever there is even a hint of those herbs, bloodshed follows."
Su Min simply snorted softly but said nothing. It was the reaction she had expected.
"Just yesterday," Prince Yong continued, "someone mistook a common Glimmerweed vine for the 'Withered Wood Green Vine.' A brutal battle broke out between two minor sects, leaving dozens dead… only for everyone to realize, in the end, they had been fighting over common trash."
The Prince Yong smirked. Desperation made fools of even the most seasoned experts.
"Not surprising," Su Min replied indifferently. "Back then, people were killing each other over a single, half finished Foundation Establishment Pill formula."
She was not shocked. Even in the remembered golden age of cultivation she had read about, rivers of blood had been spilled over a single rare herb or a high grade pill.
"I just hope this ends soon. What a mess," Prince Yong sighed, rubbing his temple.
"REPORT!"
A guard rushed in, panting and bowing low.
"A mysterious Foundation Establishment expert has arrived at the city's main guesthouse, claiming to have the Withered Wood Green Vine. But the person—their aura is strange, heavily concealed."
"Who it is does not matter," Su Min interrupted, her lips curling into a cold, knowing smile. "Take me to them."
"Who else could it be, but a lackey of the imperial court?"
But it did not matter. As long as she got the real material, she would hand over the pill. A single Foundation Establishment Pill would not change the tide of power. And the only one in the capital who would use it?
The useless Emperor himself.
A man who had only reached Foundation Establishment through forbidden, soul corrupting arts would not last a single second against a real, battle hardened expert, let alone against her. Let him have his pill. It would make no difference in the end.