The chaos, bloodshed, and desperate struggles erupting on the ground below were nothing more than background noise. Neither woman spared it a single glance. Their world had narrowed to the charged space between them, high above the battlefield, where the very clouds cracked under the pressure of their released qi and the sky itself seemed to tremble at their presence. Here, Su Min finally faced the Demon Queen in open combat.
The woman's appearance was grotesque, a perversion of her former, legendary beauty. Her hair, stark white, whipped around her head like a nest of enraged serpents in the spiritual storm their auras generated. Her lips and pupils glowed with a noxious, poisonous green light, pulsing rhythmically with raw corruption. Her skin, once rumored to be porcelain perfect, was now deathly pale and stretched taut over the sharp bones of her face. One look at her was enough to make even the most seasoned cultivators' hearts seize with primal dread.
"You wretched, ungrateful brat… Letting you slip through my fingers back then was my greatest mistake," the Demon Queen rasped, her voice a multi layered echo that grated on the soul. "But that is fine. I will correct that error today. Besides, your spiritual essence is far richer and purer than before. I knew my instincts had not failed me."
She licked her cracked, green tinged lips with a long, disturbingly serpentine tongue, a gesture so instinctively repulsive it turned the stomach. Her gaze fixed with naked, gluttonous hunger on Su Min, who hovered calmly atop her spirit sword.
"Your mother," the Queen purred, the words dripping with venomous implication, "must have really loved you."
Su Min didn't flinch. Her posture remained perfectly relaxed, her breathing even. Her voice, when it came, was as cold and sharp.
"Oh? It seems like yours did not."
For one brief, suspended moment, there was only the howl of the wind.
Then the Demon Queen's face contorted into a mask of pure, undiluted rage. Her hair writhed as if alive, and her demonic aura surged outwards like a physical tidal wave, boiling the clouds around them and making the very air crackle with malevolent energy. Su Min remained poised on her sword, utterly unmoved, her own aura a bastion of calm intensity.
She had heard the stories of this woman long ago, even before knowing she would become her mortal enemy. Back in those tense days of waiting beside Xie Yingying for the Corpse King to emerge, people had whispered about her, the fallen genius, once a legendary beauty, who had discovered she possessed the rare and dreaded Ghost Yin Soul Body. A physique that turned all intimacy into spiritual slaughter. A body that devoured the life force of others to sustain itself.
But for Su Min, the rumors were just background noise.
She had known her.
She had survived her.
The Demon Queen had been the secret master of the Chunhong Brothel, the hidden shadow behind the gilded cage where young girls with spiritual potential were "fattened" like livestock, their vitality and essence systematically harvested to feed the Queen's crippled cultivation and revive her strength. The girls were told they were chosen, blessed even, groomed in perfume, music, and silence. When their time came, they were led behind silk curtains and never returned.
Su Min had been one of them.
At that time, the body she now inhabited was still the original Su Min, a terrified girl of only fourteen. Her clan had already been wiped out in the political purge, executed under false charges of rebellion. She was spared not out of mercy, but because the Demon Queen had sensed her innate talent. The Emperor, convinced by the Queen's whispers, had let her live to be a prime offering, a spiritual seed to be nurtured and then wholly devoured.
But the heavens had intervened.
A soul from another world, her soul, had been flung across the void and landed in that dying, desperate girl's body at the precise moment.
And from that moment on, Su Min remembered everything.
Every grasping hand that reached for her in the dark. Every whispered promise and threat behind the brothel's veils. Every time she had bitten her own tongue to stay silent, to stay alive. Even now, those memories were perfect, crystalline. They were not originally hers, and yet they were, woven into the very fiber of her bones, etched into her meridians, stitched into her soul like a brand.
And the woman hovering before her, shrieking in rage, was the architect of it all.
Su Min had not intended to speak of the past. She had not come here to rake open old wounds or trade barbs. But if the Demon Queen insisted on invoking ghosts, then so be it.
Let the real ghosts answer.
She raised her blade, its surface shimmering with gathered, focused qi. Her eyes were calm, unbearably so.
"I suppose I should thank you," Su Min said, her voice soft yet carrying perfectly across the distance. "Had you not been so eager to eat me alive, I might have ended up a very, very obedient girl."
The Demon Queen shrieked, not in words, but in a pure, hateful noise that tore at the air. Her demonic domain erupted fully, blotting out the sun with sickly green and black clouds. Blood red rain began to fall from the corrupted heavens, hissing and sizzling as it struck the earth and the soldiers below.
But Su Min's spiritual aura only grew colder, a focused point of absolute zero in the heart of the storm.
She had waited a lifetime for this.
"Ten Thousand Withering Ghost Hands!!!"
With a furious roar, inky green qi erupted from the demoness's palms. A massive, two meter long ghostly hand, translucent and laced with the visible stench of death and rot, surged through the air, aimed straight at Su Min's heart. The moment it appeared, even the Foundation Establishment cultivators battling below felt their hearts skip a beat, their instincts screaming that a single touch would mean a fate worse than death.
"Useless."
Unmoved, Su Min swung her blade in a clean, precise arc. The sword, now ablaze with the raging crimson gold of the Nanming Lihuo, met the ghostly hand in midair. In that instant, it was like boiling water poured over frost, the spectral appendage shattered with a piercing, screeching hiss, vanishing into a cloud of dissipating smoke.
"Nanming Lihuo?! How do you possess one of Heaven and Earth's primordial righteous flames?!"
The Demon Queen's expression contorted with genuine fear as she abruptly retreated, putting a hundred meters between them in a flash. Her face had turned ashen, not from exertion, but from sheer terror. Of all the powers she wielded, the one she relied on most was her arsenal of eerie, Yin corrupted arts. But these were born of spiritual filth, and filth fears absolute purity, especially the divine, purifying fires of the natural world.
Su Min knew that too. She had always been cautious of this foe, not because she believed she could not win, but because, in the game world this encounter was loosely modeled after, this old witch was a major end stage boss. Back then, she had been an oppressive, near insurmountable threat. But here, in reality, Su Min was her perfect natural counter. Even without the special artifact she had forged, her odds of winning were high. Still, one only lives once. Why gamble when victory could be assured?
"If I am the filthy one, then what does that make you?" Su Min called out, her voice cold. "In that ghost claw just now, I heard the wails of thousands of murdered children. You damned hag, you will not even let them rest in death."
Lightning, silvery and sharp, surged through Su Min's meridians, fueling her movement technique. She became a blur, a streak of thunder and light, leaping across the sky to close the distance in an instant.
Crack—!
A brilliant bolt of manifested lightning flashed. The demoness, who had just widened the gap, was suddenly struck head on, the heavenly energy searing into her.
"Guh—! H-Heavenly Thunder?!"
Blood sprayed from her lips, her eyes bulging in utter disbelief. What else did this girl possess? If this continued, she would be cornered and killed without a doubt. Su Min's heart gave an inexplicable spasm of caution, and she immediately drew back, creating space once more. In the past, she lacked the surefire means to stop a determined enemy from fleeing. That was no longer the case. If this old hag tried to run now, Su Min would hunt her down like a hawk chasing a wounded rabbit.
"Hah… Your instincts are not completely dulled."
The Demon Queen cursed between ragged pants, while Su Min calmly maintained her distance. Su Min could feel an ominous, invisible shift in the demoness's aura. This was not a tangible attack her Nanming Lihuo could burn away. It was a curse, subtle, intangible, and insidious.
Su Min's expression hardened into one of focused readiness, while the Demon Queen's thoughts grew frantic. Nanming Lihuo, Heavenly Thunder. What kind of heaven blessed, once in an epoch monster was this?
The last person she had fought was that Lunar Sovereign Maiden, another user of profound Yin based techniques like herself. She had been utterly crushed in her own strongest domain. Now this girl before her was even worse, a perfect counter on all fronts. But there was no turning back now. It was all or nothing. Without another word, the Demon Queen's hands moved in a rapid, complex incantation gesture. Seeing this, Su Min's eyes narrowed to slits.
"Everyone below—watch out! She is activating her soul devouring secret technique!"
Su Min's psychic roar, amplified by her spiritual power, sent shivers of dread down the spine of every Foundation Establishment expert on the battlefield.
Almost instantly—
The Demon Queen's own allied cultivators, the ones she had forcibly empowered, convulsed violently as their souls were violently ripped from their bodies, becoming pale, screaming wisps of light. The Prince Yong faction's experts, forewarned, did not hesitate. They lunged forward, their weapons and techniques shattering the defenseless souls into motes of fading light before they could be drawn toward the Queen.
"You—!!!"
The demoness's face twisted in fury and frustration. The quality and quantity of the reclaimed soul energy was far less than she had hoped for. But it was too late to stop the process now. With a bestial snarl, she devoured the remnants, forcibly activating her forbidden art.
"Souls of the Cursed—Return to Me! Brat, you have well and truly pissed me off."
A monstrous, unstable aura erupted from her, so powerful it shook the very heavens. The Demon Queen's power skyrocketed, visibly breaking through a barrier to reach the level of mid Golden Core, and teetering on the brink of the late stage.
"Waaaaah—!!!"
A horrifying chorus of infant wails, thousands of voices merged into one, echoed across the battlefield as a massive, ten meter tall blood infant materialized behind her. Its body was a grotesque patchwork, visibly stitched together from the souls of countless unborn and newborn children. The sky around it darkened to a deep, bloody crimson black, the air itself becoming drenched in an aura of profound despair and bottomless cruelty.
"Her ultimate move."
Su Min eyed the monstrous blood infant with cold detachment. This was the Demon Queen's final, most dreadful trump card, a cursed entity that both amplified and physically manifested her malice. It was incredibly durable and capable of unleashing wide area, soul shattering strikes. It would take multiple, full power bolts of her Demon Slaying Thunder to destroy it.
But Su Min did not have that many thunderbolts to spare in a single fight. Worse, the spiritual curse it carried was pervasive and nearly unavoidable. In the game, it instantly stacked multiple debilitating debuffs, crippling the player's combat power and regeneration. Even with her supreme Heavenly Dao Foundation and the bonuses from surviving the Nine Nine Heavenly Tribulation, fighting under the influence of such potent penalties would be unacceptably risky. But she had not prepared for months just to brute force her way through this. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a small, pitch black bell adorned with eight delicate wooden chimes.
[Eight Wood Soul Bell (Earth Grade, Low Tier): When activated, creates a resonant field that absorbs and neutralizes all curse based attacks directed at the bearer.]
This artifact was specifically designed for this moment, to counter the blood infant's most dangerous attribute. But beyond simply nullifying curses, it had an unlisted, profound effect, its chimes, crafted from Threefold Mystic Netherwood, produced a sound that soothed tormented souls. And for the trapped, agonized infant spirits composing the blood infant, that sound was like a lullaby from their long lost mothers.
"Poor souls who could not even find rest in death… Let the chimes guide you home, to reincarnation."
Ding a ling~ Ding a ling~
The gentle, clear chimes cut through the chaos and hatred of the battlefield, reaching every ear, both living and spiritual. The writhing, shrieking blood infant gradually stilled, its mindless ferocity fading into a confused, then calming, silence.
"You—!!!"
The Demon Queen's face contorted in sheer, uncomprehending disbelief. She could not fathom how Su Min had not only seen through her ultimate move but possessed the perfect counter. Xie Yingying had defeated her before, but back then, the Queen was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. This blood infant technique was something she had only acquired and refined after reaching the late Golden Core stage in her previous life. This was not a coincidence, Su Min had come prepared for everything. And as the chimes rang out, the demoness's invisible, insidious curses washing over Su Min were instantly absorbed by the bell's resonant field, nullifying her divine ability entirely.
"Tear her apart!!!"
With no other options left, the Demon Queen poured her will into the blood infant, forcing it to lunge at Su Min with outstretched, spectral claws.
But the moment it got within ten meters of Su Min—
A brilliant, compassionate golden light erupted from Su Min's body, forming the vague, towering silhouette of a seated Buddha, its hands in a mudra of subduing evil.
"Namo Amitabha!!!"
For the first time in her life, Su Min spoke the Buddhist invocation aloud, her voice imbued with the power of the Great Sun Tathāgata Sutra.
"Great Thunder Temple's supreme sutra?!"
The Demon Queen's face paled, she recognized the unique spiritual signature of the Great Sun Tathāgata Sutra, the core, unspreadable technique of the Great Thunder Temple.
She tried to rush forward to interrupt, but—
Three flaming crimson feathers, condensed from pure Nanming Lihuo, detached from Su Min's silhouette and floated past her eyes with deceptive slowness.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Three devastating, sun bright explosions engulfed her head and torso. The heavenly flame infused feathers blasted her backwards, her robes and skin charred, her movements becoming a staggered, pained stumble. Before she could recover her balance or sight, a gigantic, blazing '卍' symbol materialized directly above her, slamming down with the weight of a mountain and pinning her in place. Meanwhile, Su Min, with the Eight Wood Soul Bell hovering protectively above her head, began chanting the Buddhist Liberation Sutra, a basic but potent scripture for guiding lost souls she had learned from Hui Ming over the past two weeks specifically for this purpose.
Under the combined, soothing influence of the chimes and the sacred sutra, the blood infant's movements slowed to a halt. Its violent thrashing turned into uncoordinated, gentle flailing, and then it slowly curled in on itself, assuming a peaceful, fetal position as if returning to the warmth and safety of the womb.
These were the souls of infants ripped prematurely from their mothers, women who had undoubtedly died in the process or from grief. The Demon Queen's face, half charred, twisted in a mixture of rage and utter terror. The three flame feathers had badly injured her, and breaking free from the oppressive '卍' seal was taking too long. Worse, she could feel her control over the blood infant severing completely.
This abomination should not have been able to exist without her will. She had only maintained control by infusing it with her own corrosive curses, keeping the composite souls in constant, searing agony. Their obedience had been bought by the promise of temporary relief from suffering. Now, the curses were gone, and the souls had been soothed by a power far gentler than her own. Only one, final step remained.
An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.
"Go," Su Min said, her chanting ceasing. She gave the now calm blood infant a look of profound pity before shifting her gaze to the trapped Demon Queen, a cold smirk touching her lips. "Vent your hatred… and then you may return to the cycle of reincarnation."
"Waaaaah—!!!"
The same ear splitting, soul chilling wail that had once devastated the Prince Yong army now focused into a single, concentrated beam of sonic fury, directed entirely at the Demon Queen.
"Guh—!!!"
Already critically injured by the explosions, the Demon Queen vomited a great spray of black blood from the targeted sonic assault. But the blood infant was not done. Its placid expression contorted once more, this time not with mindless rage, but with a clear, focused, and very personal hatred. It pounced, its form becoming semi corporeal, and sank its teeth into the Demon Queen's spiritual essence and physical flesh.
"No! NO! STOP! AHHHH—!!!"
The Demon Queen's screams of pure, unadulterated agony filled the sky, but no one below, not even the most compassionate monk, felt a shred of pity for her. Only a grim sense of schadenfreude and cosmic justice. Su Min watched coldly, her spiritual sense locked on, ensuring the demoness could not use some last ditch technique to hide her soul within her Golden Core to escape. But the blood infant's vengeance was inescapable, it was born from her own sins. A faint golden glow suddenly flickered from the Demon Queen's chest, the core of her cultivation, but before the nascent soul could flee, the blood infant grabbed the flickering light and, with a final, decisive crunch, swallowed it whole.
CRUNCH.
The sound of the Golden Core shattering was audible even from the ground. The world seemed to fall silent for a moment. The blood infant's expression softened once more, its form glowing with a soft, white light as it curled up peacefully, then faded into nothingness, its vengeance complete and its torment ended.
"Amitabha… Good begets good, evil begets evil. If the retribution has not come, it is only because the time is not yet ripe."
Below, Hui Ming clasped his hands together, letting out a long sigh. Even he, a man of profound compassion, could only say, "She reaped what she sowed."
"The Demon Queen is dead."
Su Min exhaled a deep breath she had not realized she was holding, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly. She then summoned a simple looking ring, the Demon Queen's primary storage treasure, from the dissipating corpse to her hand.
"Now, only that damned emperor remains."
Her gaze, cold and unwavering, shifted downward toward the imperial palace, which was now in utter chaos. With the Demon Queen's death, the last vestige of fear broke. Maids, eunuchs, and guards were fleeing in all directions, a panicked river of humanity. But the city was completely surrounded by Prince Yong's troops, and no one was getting out.
Su Min descended from the sky like a falling star, landing softly in the central palace courtyard. She had long since locked onto the emperor's weak, flickering aura. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a shaky, pill forged foundation, he could not even hope to hide his presence from her.
"I thought you were a ruthless, cunning schemer, but in the end, you are just a pathetic clown."
Pushing open the grand doors to the main hall, Su Min's expression twisted in fresh disgust. The hall was filled with women, imperial concubines in torn and disheveled silks, their faces streaked with tears, their eyes hollow and broken. It was obvious what they had been subjected to. Their infant children had been sacrificed for the blood infant, and those who were pregnant had suffered even worse fates, their unborn babies literally torn from them to feed the Queen's final, desperate technique.
"You are truly repulsive."
Su Min raised her hand, and a figure in garishly colorful dragon robes, the emperor, his youth artificially restored by his Foundation Establishment, now caked in smeared makeup and sweat, was yanked into the air by an invisible force, dangling helplessly.
"Using your own women as human shields even in your final moments."
"Spare me! I was misled! The Su family was framed! I have already executed the true culprits to atone for my sins—!"
"Hahaha… Do you take me for a three year old fool? Fine. Have it your way."
Su Min could not help but laugh at the sheer absurdity of the plea. With a mere flick of her finger, a thread of spiritual force shot out, unerringly finding and shattering his dantian. His cultivation, the source of his prolonged life and power, evaporated instantly. She then hurled him to the marble floor. The emperor writhed there like a crippled worm, unable to even stand. His body, now mortal, would see his lifespan wither within a few short years, but…
Clink. Clatter.
Several small, sharp skinning knives clattered onto the floor in front of the gathered concubines.
"His cultivation is gone. He is no longer an emperor, just a mortal, weaker than a stray dog. Do you not want to avenge your children? Your own suffering?"
Silence.
Then—
"How dare you?! I am your emperor!!!"
The emperor's shrill, panicked scream was met with hollow, dead stares. The concubines' ingrained fear was fading, replaced by a dawning, furious realization. One woman, her eyes empty, stood up. She walked slowly forward, picked up a knife. And with a sudden, desperate surge of strength, she plunged it deep into his thigh.
"AHHH—!! YOU BITCH!!!"
His scream of pain and betrayal was the spark that ignited the inferno. The hall erupted into a frenzy of long suppressed violence. Knives, fingernails, teeth, every possible weapon was used. Within ten minutes, the former emperor was reduced to an unrecognizable, bloody ruin on the pristine floor.
"It is over."
Su Min had not lifted a finger to kill him, she had only ensured he could not escape his fate.
"Sigh… All of you have suffered greatly. Stay here for now. I will have someone bring food and water. Your safety will be ensured."
The wailing, traumatized women, all from poor backgrounds and forced into this gilded hell, tugged at a rare strand of pity in her heart. But there was little more she could do for them beyond guaranteeing their immediate safety and a chance to recover.
She would leave the rest, the rebuilding, the governance, to Cao Yuanmu and the new regime.
==
Liberation Sutra (归引经): A fundamental Buddhist scripture for guiding lost, trapped, or suffering souls toward peace and eventual reincarnation.