The sensation of solid ground beneath her feet was jarring. It was as if she had returned from another world entirely. Having been wrapped in that transformative golden thunder for what felt like an eternity, her senses had been dulled. Her existence had been reduced to a dreamlike state of pure agony and integration. A faint and unbidden flush warmed her cheeks at the memory of the violating and all-consuming pain. She quickly shook her head, dispelling the lingering vulnerability that threatened to cloud her mind.
"Next step: forging the artifact to counter that old witch. But I have completely reduced that island to ruins."
Scratching her head a little awkwardly, Su Min acknowledged her warped sense of time within that strange and thunder-infused realm. The once-sturdy island was now little more than a collection of jagged reefs and scorched rock. Still, she was confident she had time to spare. She had officially stepped into the Golden Core Realm now. In terms of raw cultivation level, she stood equal to the Demon Queen.
More than that, she wielded the Mastery of the Five Thunders. But she couldn't afford arrogance. That wretched old hag had severed both her foundation and her cultivation, yet she still retained the divine abilities and insights from her original Golden Core stage. Divine abilities came in many forms. Su Min's own power stemmed from righteous and balanced heavenly principles. It wasn't something that would launch her to overwhelming and immediate dominance, but it was profoundly stable. It lacked any obvious flaws or backlashes.
The Demon Queen practiced something far more sinister. Her ability was steeped in foul and corrupted energy. It was a path of curses and soul hexes. Even cultivators with deeper roots than hers could fall prey to a single and careless mistake. Yet the very nature of such evil arts meant they were inherently unbalanced. They were easily countered by pure and targeted tools. Because of this, practitioners like her tended to strike sparingly and from the shadows. They were afraid their specific weaknesses might be discovered and exploited.
Unfortunately for her, Su Min remembered exactly what the witch's divine ability was. She had faced her shadow and her techniques before. Now, she finally possessed the cultivation level and the resources required to forge the one artifact capable of completely suppressing her.
Moments later, a flying sword materialized at Su Min's feet. The metal hummed with spiritual resonance. At the Golden Core stage, cultivators could truly ride upon spiritual objects to traverse the skies. For a sword immortal, it was a long-cherished dream made reality.
"My anchor marks are still intact. Good. They haven't faded."
The sea was vast and ever-changing. Its spiritual currents were unpredictable. Even Golden Core cultivators could perish if they traveled carelessly without guidance. Before she had left, Su Min had planted several hidden spiritual anchors along the coastline. It was a prudent precaution in case she needed to beat a hasty retreat.
Now, they lit up in her enhanced divine sense. They were like a chain of lighthouses on a dark sea, guiding her safely and swiftly back toward the mainland. By the following day, her feet once more touched the solid and familiar earth of the continent. She kept a low profile and avoided contact with others. She made her way into a remote and desolate valley untouched by human hands. The air here was dry and smelled of dust and ancient stone.
"Now that I have reached Golden Core, it feels as if even the heavens themselves are turning against me," she murmured to the silent rocks. "Breaking through further—at least anytime soon—is near impossible. But even within the early Golden Core stage, there are vast differences in power."
Along her journey, she had felt it keenly. It was a subtle but constant shift in the world's spiritual pressure. Once a person reached the Golden Core stage, the heavens themselves would begin to weigh down. They resisted any further rapid advancement. Progress became a monumental task of accumulation and comprehension.
There were only two possible paths forward on a grand scale. One was to wait over two centuries for the legendary Golden Core Avenue to manifest. The other was to survive long enough for the world itself to reset and the prophesied Ten Thousand States to Merge. That was a cosmic event predicted in over three hundred years.
Either option spelled despair for most cultivators. Foundation Establishment cultivators would likely never live to see that day. Even those in the Golden Core realm would often already be weakened by then. Their blood and essence would be withered by the passage of time.
But Su Min wasn't like the others. Her chosen talent ensured that her blood and vitality would never decay. She would meet that future in her prime. She would still be herself.
She glanced down at the piece of First Rank Mysticwood in her hand. Its grain pulsed with a faint and resilient light.
"I don't know how long this refinement will take… but without this artifact, my chances against the old hag are unacceptably slim."
As fire burst to life in her palm, she recalled the nature of her heavenly flame inheritance. It wasn't the full and untamed power of the primordial Nanming Lihuo. That was far too overwhelming for any vessel. Not even her current Golden Core body could withstand its complete form. Instead, the flame she wielded was a blessed seed that scaled with her cultivation. It grew stronger and more potent as she herself advanced.
Now, she could finally attempt to craft a true low-grade Mystic-tier artifact. The only limitation was the scarcity of supreme materials in this decaying spiritual world.
[Eight-Wood Soul Bell (Earth Grade, Low Tier): Absorbs all curse-based attacks.]
The effect was simple, but it was perfectly tailored to counter the demoness. All of her most feared powers revolved around curses and soul corruption. Once stripped of that primary advantage, she would be no more threatening than a toothless tiger. The artifact's core component was notoriously difficult to forge. It required Threefold Mystic Netherwood. This material naturally resisted all fire due to its extreme yin nature.
That was the true reason Su Min had once clashed so fiercely with the Demon Crown Prince in the Xuantian Mansion. He hadn't known what the wood was specifically for, but he instinctively sensed its inherent power would counter his mother's techniques. Unfortunately for him, everyone he brought along had perished. The secret of their conflict died with them.
Back then, Su Min had no way of properly refining the wood. She lacked the sustained power and spiritual control of the Golden Core realm. Now, things were fundamentally different. After a full week of continuous and focused smelting, the stubborn wood finally began to change. Its yin resistance slowly yielded to the heavenly flame's persistence. It was only the beginning. Many more intricate preparations and enchantments remained.
Three months passed in isolated seclusion within the valley. The only sounds were the crackle of fire and the occasional shift of stone.
At last, a pitch-black artifact emerged in Su Min's palm. It was intricately carved and strung with several delicately balanced bells. They were cool to the touch.
She exhaled slowly. A tangible weight lifted from her heart. This was the final piece. It was the last crucial preparation needed to confidently challenge the demoness on her own turf.
"It's time to return to Prince Yong's Manor and have them mobilize the army," she said quietly to herself. "This isn't a game where bosses stayed patiently in their lairs. If things escalated into a full-scale war, the entire region could rise against her. If the Demon Queen hadn't secretly suppressed her own cultivation to survive the Heavenly Decay, Su Min could have fought with less restraint. But that woman's Hehuan Sect techniques were treacherous. They enforced a strict hierarchy. Higher-ranked practitioners could forcibly strip the souls and cultivation of those beneath them. If the Demon Queen panicked and tried to consume all her underlings' souls at once, Su Min didn't dare imagine the monstrous power she might temporarily unleash."
Yongzhou City
Su Min once again stood at the foot of the great and fortified city of Yongzhou. A strange and complex expression crossed her face as she took in the sight. The city walls were massive, looming over the surrounding plains.
Along the road, the lands of the Great Wei had starkly split into two different worlds. The Emperor's territory was barren and desolate. Villages were abandoned. Ghosts and malevolent spirits wandered freely through the ruins. But just across the border, Prince Yong's domain was lively and prosperous. Sometimes, merely crossing a mountain pass or a river revealed a completely different reality. It wasn't a tale of two kingdoms under one crumbling dynasty.
In any normal kingdom, this glaring disparity would have already led to widespread revolt. Но this wasn't a normal kingdom. Here, a single supreme cultivator could suppress all resistance. The Demon Queen kept the rotten dynasty alive through sheer and terrifying force. This uneasy and artificial peace revealed a grim truth: both sides were merely stalling for time.
The Emperor was waiting for the Demon Queen to recover more of her strength. Once she did, her early Golden Core cultivation would allow her to crush everything in her path.
Meanwhile, Prince Yong and his allies were waiting for Su Min. She was the only one who could stand against that monstrous woman. That was why the entire empire had fallen into this strange and quiet tension. It wasn't a peaceful calm that teetered on the edge of total war.
Now, with her return, the balance would be obliterated. She would be the hammer that broke the stillness. Since everything was finally ready, there was no need to delay a moment longer.
With her Golden Core cultivation, entering the heavily guarded city was effortless. She was a mere blur of motion. She sensed a familiar presence almost immediately: Cao Yuanmu.
On the rear training mountain stood a stern and imposing middle-aged man. A long sword gleamed coldly in his hand. Below him, dozens of seventeen or eighteen-year-old youths stood in rigid and disciplined rows. They watched him with a mix of raw awe and healthy fear. The air smelled of sweat and iron.
This man was the oldest surviving generation within the Cao family. He was also their strongest pillar. He had already reached the mid-to-late stages of Foundation Establishment. This placed him firmly among the top cultivators in the entire martial world. Compared to him, even Sect Leader Mo would fall slightly short. Their raw power was similar, but Cao Yuanmu was younger. His vitality was more robust. If a duel dragged on, he would inevitably outlast his older opponent.
"Listen well, you little brats," he barked. His voice echoed across the training grounds. "The annual Martial Gathering is almost here. This is our sacred covenant with the martial world. The one who claims the first victory will be rewarded with a precious Qi Gathering Pill."
Su Min had been gone for more than a decade. The Prince Yong's Manor had finally cultivated its own alchemist. This man was capable of crafting the basic Qi Gathering Pill using her legacy and notes. Once her own stockpiled pills had run out, he became their only supplier. Still, he was no Su Min.
Where she could reliably produce three to four pills in a single batch, he considered himself lucky to craft one successful pill after two full attempts. Even so, martial sects across the land hungered for his creations. To maintain their alliances and draw in new talents, the manor hosted this annual tournament. Only Body Refining cultivators under twenty were allowed to participate. The winner would receive a single Qi Gathering Pill.
It was the only chance most minor sects and independent cultivators had to obtain one. The pill's ingredients were rare. The refinement process was grueling and prone to failure. Two or three successful pills per year was considered an excellent yield.
As for more advanced pills like Qi Inducing Pills or the legendary Foundation Establishment Pills, Su Min remained the sole cultivator capable of crafting them.
Cao Yuanmu knew this event's immense value. He treated it with the utmost seriousness. The pills came from his household's resources. Naturally, he wanted the prize to remain within his family or their closest allies.
"Understood!"
The youths shouted in unison. Their young eyes gleamed with fierce determination. Those who had the qualifications to join the tournament knew this was more than mere glory. This was their one and precious chance to step onto the path of true cultivation.
But just as Cao Yuanmu finished his stern speech, a playfully mocking voice rang out from seemingly nowhere. It was an intimately familiar female voice. "My, my, you have grown even more impressive over the years, Yuanmu."
"Who is there?!"
Several guardian figures immediately sprang into action. They were all at least at the Qi Refining Stage. One was even at the Foundation Establishment level. Their spiritual senses flared as they scanned the area for the intruder.
This was the manor's most restricted training grounds. It was filled with young elites and decades' worth of accumulated martial secrets.
"Stand down. All of you."
But unlike the others, whose faces were etched with alarm, Cao Yuanmu's face lit up with pure joy. With a sharp wave of his hand, he dismissed the agitated guards. He flashed to a nearby mountaintop in an instant. There, he saw a woman in pristine white robes. She was standing as if she had always been there, the wind tugging at her sleeves.
"Junior pays respects to Lady Su." His voice trembled with excitement. "You… you haven't just survived; you have broken through?"
Su Min had been gone for over a decade. They knew she was attempting the perilous Golden Core breakthrough. A deep-seated fear had lingered that she might have fallen to the heavenly tribulation. The manor had sent countless scouts and spent considerable resources trying to find her. But she had vanished from the world without a trace.
Even their strongest allied expert, the revered Monk Hui Ming, had admitted he wouldn't dare attempt the Golden Core Tribulation for at least another fifty years. If the Demon Queen recovered her full power first, the Prince Yong faction would be the first to be purged. Now, their long and anxious wait was over. To his profound astonishment, Su Min hadn't just survived; she had succeeded.
"Yes," Su Min replied. Her tone was as calm as a still lake. "The time has come to settle all grudges. Mobilize your forces. Ensure no one interferes in my fight with the Demon Queen. And the emperor… I will deal with him personally."
"Understood."
Cao Yuanmu didn't hesitate. The Prince Yong faction's ultimate goal was the throne itself. Su Min's demands were more than reasonable. They were the culmination of their shared purpose. As for letting her execute the emperor, that was perfectly fine by them. She had a blood feud with him. He had personally ordered her entire clan's extermination.
"Please, accompany me to meet Prince Yong. Give us two weeks to prepare. We can mobilize all our forces, including our allies in the martial world. Over the past decade, several overconfident fools have launched attacks on the imperial capital, only to die ignobly beneath its walls."
"Idiots," Su Min spat. She rubbed her temples in frustration.
Those reckless attacks had done nothing but feed the emperor's soul-consuming secret techniques. They had made him stronger.
"Exactly. We cannot afford such wasteful losses. We need every advantage and every soldier."
Seeing her understanding, Cao Yuanmu knew she grasped the high stakes perfectly.
"Go. The longer we wait, the more dangerous the Demon Queen becomes."
Now that she had reached the Golden Core Stage, time was ironically on the Demon Queen's side. The witch continued her slow recovery. The sooner they struck, the better it would be for everyone.
Prince Yong Mansion's Main Hall
"You are the new Prince Yong?"
Su Min's tone was steady, but her gaze lingered on the man bowing deeply before her. She was peering through more than just the present moment. A strange and disorienting sense of temporal whiplash curled through her chest, making her heart feel heavy.
This was the third Prince Yong she had met. The first… wasn't even supposed to survive the initial purge.
Back then, the Yong faction had been gutted in the immediate and bloody aftermath of the failed rebellion. Its main royal line was nearly wiped out. It was the same political purge that had led to her own Su Clan's destruction. Only one heir remained. He was an obscure and distant collateral descendant who was tucked away in the countryside under a false identity. He had been no one's first choice until he was the only one left.
Но he hadn't been unprepared. His father, a man of foresight, had seen the coming storm. He had groomed his son from childhood as the true successor. When the boy finally stepped into the ruins of Yongzhou, he had nothing. He had no army and no allies. He had only a fierce and unyielding will. Su Min, still in the Qi Refining stage at the time, had seen potential in his eyes. She saw a reflection of her own desolation. She lent him her strength. Piece by piece, he rebuilt their shattered power base.
Then came the Grassland War. Victory bought them precious time and territory, but not lasting peace. Su Min had retreated into deep seclusion afterward. She focused entirely on her Foundation Establishment breakthrough. Twenty years passed in a blink.
When she emerged reforged and powerful, the first Prince Yong was already ten years in his grave.
The second had taken his place: Cao Yuanming. He was the younger brother of Cao Yuanmu. She still remembered how he had looked then. He was a stabilizer, not a reformer. He was a good and decent man. Perhaps he was too mortal for the brutal storms that perpetually brewed beyond the capital walls.
She had gone into seclusion once more after that, chasing the elusive precipice of Golden Core.
Fifteen years passed.
Now here stood the third: Cao Yuanming's son. Another generation. Another face.
Su Min gazed at him. This middle-aged man was already draped in the authority he had grown into. His manners were correct. His posture was trained by a lifetime of expectation. His deference was genuine. And yet his face was new. His story had only just begun to be written. She could see the fresh and untempered steel in him, but also the rawness of a leader who hadn't yet been fully hardened by the crown.
Three Princes Yong. Three distinct eras. And her, standing here, unchanged. She was eternal while the world turned over like soil, season after season.
"No wonder the heavenly courts forbade immortals from romancing mortals," she thought. It wasn't merely for fear of cosmic imbalance. It was for the inevitable and crushing heartbreak.
To a cultivator nearing the threshold of the divine, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator's life burned fast and bright. They were like festival lanterns. Mortals? They flickered out in a breath. They were gone before she could even finish memorizing the lines of their faces.
"There will only be more of this in the future…"
The thought echoed hollow and heavy in her chest. She let out a breath that was so soft it was almost a sigh. It was laden with a resignation that was centuries in the making.
It wasn't bitterness. It was mourning.
Once, she had shared wine and laughter with the first Prince Yong under snow-laden pine trees. They had discussed grand and impossible plans. Now, his name lived only in memorial tablets and this man's lineage.
The more she lived, the more she lost. The longer her path, the lonelier it became.
Perhaps that was why she had drawn so deeply inward. Each new face was a reminder of those who had already faded into dust. Each ally who bowed today might become a gravestone she would visit tomorrow. She didn't close herself off out of pride. She did it because she couldn't no longer bear the echoing silence left behind by those she had let in.
Even now, as the third Prince Yong looked up at her with reverence, she met his eyes only briefly. She then let her gaze drift past him toward the sunlit corridor. The empty air seemed to hold the ghosts of conversations long past. Some essential part of her had stopped reaching for connection. She still remembered the warmth of the past, and she knew the precise cost of losing it.
"My father passed away two years ago due to organ failure," the man said. His voice was respectful but steady, pulling her back to the present. "So I inherited the title. It was only with Uncle Mu's unwavering support that I could stabilize the faction and secure the succession."
Unlike ordinary kingdoms, he had to respect the clan elders' power. Cao Yuanmu remained their true and unshakable pillar. His reputation and strength stretched across half a century. And above even him stood Su Min. She was like an ancestral banner raised high over their entire cause.
She hadn't just been their hidden trump card; she had been their origin point. The faction's rise from the ashes had been shaped around her existence. Her decisions had preserved them. Her long silences had protected them. Her ultimate survival had kept their hope alive through the darkest years.
They had waited for over fifty years for this moment.
Now, she had finally crossed that elusive and legendary threshold: Golden Core.
The world, at long last, would have to change.
"Enough formalities," Su Min said. Her voice was suddenly sharpening. It cut through the hall's solemn air. "As the future emperor, you must act like one. Mobilize your armies and gather your forces. We move soon."
The words dropped with the weight of final command. There was no need for pretense anymore. She no longer had to pretend. The aloofness she had worn for decades like armor was a mask she had learned to wear.
But at the Golden Core stage, such masks became an unnecessary weight.
She had stepped too far beyond the world of mortals to need their approval. She was too far into her own power to hide behind soft words and folded fans. If she still deigned to play the game of courtly subtleties, it was only because she chose to for strategy's sake.
She had always been alone. Even when surrounded by allies, she had stood apart. She knew with chilling certainty that none of them would still be there in a hundred years.
It wasn't arrogance that kept her distant. It was survival. Connection made a person bleed. Attachment slowed your steps. When you walked a path that stretched into eternity, it was simply easier to keep your heart sealed shut from the start.
She had loved before in small ways. She had mourned, too. But she knew exactly how this story always ended. She no longer pretended otherwise.
"Understood," the third Prince Yong said. He straightened his back with newfound conviction.
His eyes gleamed at the word "emperor." It was a glint of fire and ambition that had been passed down from his grandfather to his father, and now to him. Three generations of waiting had led to this. Three lifetimes of struggle and sacrifice were finally bearing fruit.
"Summon three armies of 100,000 each. Issue a martial decree, cancel the annual tournament, and gather all allied heroes. Once we seize the empire, I will award a Foundation Establishment Pill to the one with the greatest contributions!"
"Bold."
Su Min smirked. It was a genuine expression of approval. A Foundation Establishment Pill was incredibly valuable. She knew they possessed them in very limited numbers. She had left them a few before departing for her tribulation. It seemed they had hoarded them carefully. Perhaps the new prince had been saving one for himself, as he was only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining. Either way, giving one up was a huge and symbolic sacrifice.
"In that case, I will add a Foundation Spirit Pill to the bounty," Su Min declared. Her voice carried through the hall, echoing against the stone pillars. "It can raise a Foundation Establishment cultivator by one minor stage. Let's not let the martial world think I am stingy."
"Gulp."
Even the normally unflappable Cao Yuanmu swallowed hard. He was one stubborn step away from the late-stage of Foundation Establishment. That step could take decades of effort or even centuries. By then, his life force would have naturally decayed. His subsequent Golden Core tribulation would be near impossible. This pill was incredibly and personally tempting to him. Su Min's offer was a clear incentive for absolute and unwavering effort. No slacking would be tolerated.
"Understood!"
The Prince Yong's eyes widened. They were shining with fervor. He knew exactly how astronomically valuable this pill was. Whoever obtained it could potentially dominate the martial world for decades to come.
Su Min was excluded from such considerations. She was already considered transcendent. She was a being beyond the martial world's rankings and their mortal struggles for power.