"What the hell is all this?"
Su Min looked around the chaotic, shifting landscape in sheer exasperation, her current state rather sorry. Her pristine white robes were slightly singed from a close call with a hidden fire array, and her hair was whipped into disarray by the unnatural, razor-sharp gales tearing relentlessly through the illusory battlefield.
The most cunning liars, she recalled, tell ninety-nine percent of the truth but deceive you with the remaining, critical one percent. Skilled illusionists worked on the same principle, using a massive, tangible array as the foundation to blur the line between reality and fantasy, and it was giving Su Min a massive, throbbing headache.
For instance, the mountain charging at her from the front was a mere phantom, a trick of the light and mind, but the one that suddenly shifted its mass to crush her from behind was terrifyingly real, its spiritual pressure immense. There were also fire arrays, water arrays, and thunder arrays layered invisibly within the space. In an instant, the area around her was swept by violent, overlapping elemental gales that tore at the very fabric of the formation.
To make matters worse, her opponent's cultivation level was a full minor realm higher, making it extremely difficult for her perception to instantly find the core flaws and breaking points in the complex array.
"This woman's ability has a fundamental weakness, or perhaps it is not exactly a weakness, but a limitation."
After her initial spike of frustration, Su Min quickly forced herself to calm down, her mind working with analytical precision. She realized the critical flaw in Xuan Mengyin's technique: for all its complexity, it lacked a single, decisive, fight-ending offensive move. Or perhaps, to avoid any external attacks or counters that might disrupt her intense concentration, Xuan Mengyin had chosen to play it supremely safe and simply trap Su Min, grinding her down until she exhausted her spiritual energy.
"If that is the case, then do not blame me for resorting to the ultimate turtle strategy."
With that thought, Su Min swiftly formed a series of familiar hand seals. In the next moment, a massive, dark, tortoise-like sacred figure, shimmering with watery energy, enveloped her completely. The Black Tortoise Sacred Form was renowned across the heavens for its peerless defense. Combined with the amplifying effects of the Northern Water's Profound Origin, its defensive power reached a truly terrifying, nigh-impenetrable level.
During her last clash with Han Shuangzi, it had not been shattered by force; it had simply dissipated because she had exhausted her spiritual energy to the dregs and could no longer sustain it. But maintaining just one sacred figure was a different story altogether. With the vibrant life force of the Eastern Wood Azure Essence perfectly complementing the deep reserves of the Northern Water's Profound Origin, her endurance in a battle of attrition was practically infinite.
The moment the majestic Black Tortoise appeared, a series of sharp, clanging sounds rang out, echoing strangely in the illusory space.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ear-piercing metallic clashes reverberated throughout the battlefield as both illusory mountains and very real elemental attacks bounced harmlessly off the dark, glistening shell. The Black Tortoise Sacred Form then retracted its limbs and head like a real turtle hiding in its shell, and began spinning wildly on its axis, crashing around the battlefield like a giant, indestructible billiard ball. Its absurdly tough defense allowed it to ignore all the visual and spiritual confusion of the illusions and strike freely at the formation's boundaries.
"This… this is just ridiculous."
Watching the rapidly spinning, dark tortoise shell carom off invisible barriers, the spectators were utterly dumbfounded. They had not expected things to turn out like this. Though the Black Tortoise was legendary for its defense, its high-speed rotations had transformed it into a formidable, if unorthodox, offensive weapon, slamming with immense force into the boundaries of the array. The entire formation visibly trembled and shimmered under the relentless assault, the spiritual pressure on Xuan Mengyin undoubtedly skyrocketing.
But what was even more troublesome was its sheer, unbreakable defense. Array masters traditionally excelled at setting up intricate formations beforehand in chosen locations. If given a full month to prepare with spiritual veins and treasures, anyone who entered would be lucky to escape with their life. But this array had been hastily set up mid-battle, lacking anchored spiritual veins or powerful spirit stones for stable support, so its raw power was inherently limited.
Xuan Mengyin, hidden within her own creation, had been secretly preparing a more lethal killing array, but her face twisted in frustration the next moment because the mindlessly spinning Black Tortoise smashed straight through the delicate, forming energy patterns of her new array, violently disrupting its construction.
Despite its chaotic, violent spinning, the inside of the Black Tortoise's protective dome remained perfectly still and serene. Now that she had calmed down and was safe, Su Min began systematically searching for a definitive way to break the stalemate.
Soon, with her alchemist's sharp perception, she identified the key issues.
First, as a master alchemist, her spiritual perception and sensitivity to energy fluctuations far surpassed that of most early Dao Comprehension stage cultivators. She could quickly detect the subtle gathering of lethal intent that signaled a killing array being set up. The current barrage of attacks were just annoying tickles; if a true killing array was completed, she would be in real, mortal danger.
Second, the layered illusions were too confusing and seamless to distinguish reliably, but she realized she did not need to distinguish them. Since her opponent lacked a one-hit-kill move, the Black Tortoise's shell made her practically invincible in this scenario. Moreover, with her dual heavenly treasures, her recovery speed was insane. She could sustain this defensive posture indefinitely. If she chose to be reckless and detonate all three sacred figures at once, she could definitely break the array by force, but if Xuan Mengyin had a life-saving trump card to survive that, the subsequent fight would be much harder for an exhausted Su Min.
So, after weighing her options, there was only one logical choice left: Turtle Up and outlast her!
Without a massive external spiritual vein to power the array, Xuan Mengyin had to rely entirely on her own spiritual energy reserves. Though she had the Strange Wind Heavenly Treasure to assist with weaving illusions, all heavenly treasures had their limitations. The Wind Heavenly Treasure offered no help with raw endurance or energy recovery.
"So why should I be scared of a battle of attrition?"
As for the killing array, she absolutely could not let it be activated. She would use the Black Tortoise's chaotic movement to disrupt any attempt. If Xuan Mengyin dared to dispel either the illusions or the main array to regain energy and focus, Su Min would instantly counter by releasing the Azure Dragon or Vermilion Bird for a lethal strike from her safe shell.
And so, time passed with agonizing slowness. One day, two days, three days…
"Ugh, these two are back to the turtle strategy again. This is unbearable to watch," a spectator groaned, leaning his chin on his hand.
"Sigh… and I was hoping for a spectacular finish," another agreed, his voice laced with disappointment.
As time dragged on, the spectators' faces twitched in shared frustration. They had expected an intense, flashy battle between two top female experts, but instead, they got another drawn-out, tactical stalemate.
But while the audience was merely annoyed, the sect elders and leaders observing from their floating clouds frowned deeply. They, too, recognized just how troublesome the Black Tortoise Sacred Form was in practice. During her fight with Han Shuangzi, Su Min had been primarily testing her explosive power, so the Black Tortoise had only made a brief appearance before the final detonation. Everyone knew it was tough, but they had not realized its passive durability was this extreme, this was beyond their worst expectations. The array, though hastily set up, was still the work of a half-step Dao Comprehension expert and should not have been so utterly, completely resisted.
"Truly worthy of the legendary Black Tortoise's defensive reputation. This fight is just ridiculous," a sect leader from a western province muttered, shaking his head with a wry smile.
Many could not help but laugh quietly at the sheer absurdity of the situation. They had expected a fierce, elegant battle between powerful women, but it had devolved into a tortoise-shell standoff, a test of pure endurance.
But in reality, the fight was mentally nearing its end. The reason was simple: Su Min could not lose this way. She could afford countless minor mistakes and energy expenditures, but Xuan Mengyin, powering the entire array alone, could not afford even one significant slip-up.
Su Min was in the same position of advantage. Though she could not find a clear, elegant flaw to exploit, the Northern Water's Profound Origin gave her what was essentially infinite endurance for a battle of this scale. She had no fear of a prolonged battle of attrition.
As for her opponent… Many experienced eyes could not help but glance sympathetically toward the area where Xuan Mengyin was presumably hidden, her expression undoubtedly spectacular, and likely furious, right now.
As expected, within the heart of the formation, Xuan Mengyin's face was as dark as a gathering storm cloud. She had realized, with a sinking feeling, that she could not do anything meaningful to Su Min in this state. She was not a front-line fighter to begin with; her strengths lay in control and misdirection. The Miaoyin Valley had a unique tradition, they often kept powerful male consorts to handle the direct fighting for them. But now, in a one-on-one tournament setting, she was alone against Su Min's brute-force approach, and that was a huge, glaring problem.
As the old saying goes, brute force counters all flashy tricks. She knew exactly how terrifying Su Min's physical strength was from the previous matches, if Su Min got close, it would be a humiliating, one-sided beatdown. That is why she had devised this layered strategy: using the array's pervasive illusions to confuse and disorient Su Min while secretly setting up a powerful killing array to end it. But the Black Tortoise's sheer, unassailable durability had completely blindsided her. During the last explosion against Han Shuangzi, it had been obliterated in the blast, so she had assumed its sustained defense was mediocre. Now, she realized how horribly, catastrophically wrong she had been.
Su Min had not dispelled the Black Tortoise in that previous fight because it was shattered, she had simply run out of spiritual energy from her own recklessness.
This painful realization filled Xuan Mengyin with cold despair. Moreover, Su Min was a top-tier alchemist with unparalleled sensory perception. She could sense spiritual danger instinctively, and her soul power was so refined it likely surpassed Xuan Mengyin's own. Any subtle array Xuan Mengyin tried to hide would be instantly detected and disrupted by the spinning shell.
Now, Xuan Mengyin was caught in an agonizingly awkward spot. Su Min possessed three divine artifacts, the Eastern Wood Azure Essence and Northern Water's Profound Origin both provided massive, almost unfair advantages in a prolonged battle. One increased her vitality and spiritual energy reserves, while the other dramatically accelerated her recovery rate. The longer this dragged on, the more helpless and drained Xuan Mengyin became.
Though she had tried her absolute best to conserve energy, the gap in sustainability was terrifyingly vast. Her spiritual energy was already more than half-depleted, her meridians aching from the strain. If this continued for much longer, she would lose without even understanding how she was defeated.
"Damn it…" she whispered, the curse torn from her lips by frustration.
But at that critical moment, her concentration, stretched to its breaking point, finally faltered. Her hand, poised over the guqin strings, trembled slightly. The intense mental strain and the spiritual weight of the hopeless situation had caused an almost imperceptible, but fatal, slip in her control.
And in that single, fleeting instant
"Found you! Go, Azure Dragon Sacred Form!"
Su Min's eyes, sharp and focused within the safety of the shell, instantly pinpointed the source of the disrupted energy flow. Still perfectly safe inside the Black Tortoise, she formed another, faster set of hand seals. A massive, coiling cyan wooden dragon materialized in the air beside the spinning shell, its form vibrant with life energy.
The Black Tortoise was her foundation of invincibility, her absolute defense, so she would never risk leaving it. But the Azure Dragon was different, though it lacked the Vermilion Bird's explosive power or the Black Tortoise's nigh-impenetrable defense, it was the perfect middle ground, agile and tenacious.
In an instant, the colossal dragon tore through the array's now-weakened spiritual barriers and lunged at Xuan Mengyin's revealed position, its massive wooden jaws snapping shut with enough force to crush a small mountain.
"Shit!"
Having seen and experienced the dragon's stubborn tenacity before, Xuan Mengyin had no choice but to stop playing her zither defensively and grip the strings tightly, channeling a massive surge of her remaining energy into them.
"Thousand Winds Execution!"
Countless sharp, visible gusts of cutting wind materialized and wrapped around the Azure Dragon like ethereal chains, violent energy erupting across its wooden body. The massive figure twisted and warped under the assault, and after a dozen seconds of intense struggle, it was finally torn apart into dissipating splinters of green light.
Xuan Mengyin had no other choice. The moment she had slipped up, this outcome was inevitable. Destroying the Azure Dragon at least spared her from having to deal with its persistent attacks later. But though the dragon's durability paled in comparison to the Black Tortoise, and it had already taken significant damage breaking through the array's core, it still took her over ten precious seconds and a substantial portion of her remaining energy to destroy it.
Ten seconds was an eternity in a high-level battle between Divine Transformation experts.
And just as she finished off the last vestiges of the Azure Dragon, the air around her grew unbearably hot, and scorching flames began to erupt and engulf the battlefield once more.
Meanwhile, inside the unbreachable Black Tortoise, Su Min calmly popped a glowing pill into her mouth.
[Mystic Spirit Treasure Pill (Grade 6 Mid-Tier): Consuming it grants a large, immediate burst of spiritual energy for a short duration.]
Her spiritual energy had been running low from maintaining two sacred figures, but with the pill's help, that would not be an issue. She was determined not to repeat her near-fatal mistake against Han Shuangzi, exhausting herself to the point of total collapse.
And then a piercing, majestic bird's cry echoed through the dissolving sky as the Vermilion Bird took form once more, its vast wings of pure fire beating back the last remnants of the crumbling array, illuminating the entire arena with its hellish glow.
"It is over…"
At that moment, everyone watching knew the outcome with certainty. Xuan Mengyin had no time, no energy, and no opportunity to set up another array. All Su Min had to do was keep pressing the attack. With the Black Tortoise's protection, she was virtually untouchable. As for Xuan Mengyin? She had already lost the moment her concentration broke. If she could not break the Black Tortoise's defense earlier with her full power, she certainly could not hope to do so now, exhausted and exposed.
This woman had truly drawn the short straw in this tournament, Su Min was her natural hard-counter. Her ultimate weapon was her supreme charm technique, a art capable of ensnaring even seasoned Dao Comprehension cultivators in an instant. It was no ordinary seduction art, but a profound spiritual attack. But against Su Min? It was completely useless. A woman of Su Min's caliber, willpower, and unique mental fortitude had a heart and mind like polished diamond, flawless and impenetrable.
With her primary arm tied so effectively behind her back, what could Xuan Mengyin even fight with? A motherly love?
The moment she saw the fully formed Vermilion Bird Sacred Form blazing before her, Xuan Mengyin knew the result was inevitable. Though the bird alone might not defeat her outright, continuing the fight was utterly pointless, it would only drain her completely and humiliate her further.
So, without any further hesitation, she willed the array to dissolve. The mountain landscape flickered once, twice, and then vanished, revealing her standing alone in the center of the empty, scarred arena. She raised a pale, elegant hand.
"I concede."
She then turned smoothly on her heel and walked out of the arena boundary, her posture stiff, her head held high, but the defeat was evident in the tight line of her shoulders.
"Huh?"
Su Min was utterly baffled, the flames of the Vermilion Bird dying down around her as she dismissed it. "What was this woman doing? Where was your famous, dreaded charm technique?" she wondered, completely perplexed.
She had been mentally bracing for the charm technique the entire time, her spiritual and mental defenses honed to their absolute peak, but her opponent had given up without even attempting it.
All she could think, standing there in the sudden silence, was: "What just happened? What in the world just happened?"
"Did I… just win?"
Watching Xuan Mengyin's retreating back, Su Min's lips twitched in confusion. After all that effort, all that tactical maneuvering and endurance, the ending felt incredibly abrupt and anticlimactic.
"Great! Elder Su won!"
Unlike the bewildered Su Min, the disciples of the Eastern Sea Immortal Sect were overjoyed, erupting into cheers. After all, she was their elder, their pillar, her victory was their victory and cause for celebration. They had been on edge for days, fearing she might be worn down and lose. Now, their worries were finally put to rest.
Only Su Min herself remained deeply baffled as she was ushered out of the arena by the officiating elder.
"This ended way too abruptly. I did not expect this at all," she murmured to herself, shaking her head in helpless confusion.
Shaking off the strange feeling, she accepted her allotted Sealing Crystal reward from the tournament organizers and returned to her sect's seating area.
Then, facing a beaming Tian Yinzi, she said coolly, "Now that this matter is settled, I will take my leave. Regarding the regional defense arrangements discussed at the conference, we will only commit to handling the four provinces and Eastern Mulberry Island. We lack the capacity and obligation for more. I need to return to secluded refinement now."
Without waiting for a full response, she flicked her sleeve and vanished into the clouds above, leaving the celebratory noise behind.
There was no time to bask in her so-called victory, or to reflect on the strange, awkward tension of winning a fight where her opponent had seemingly refused to use her best move. The battle was over, the crystals distributed, the tedious political arrangements handed off to others.
But none of it truly mattered. Not really.
Because the most urgent, gnawing matter had already taken root in her heart, cold and sharp and undeniable: the Northern Snow Plains.
Xie Yingying still had not returned.
The life jade pendant remained silent. Not broken, which would signal death, not glowing with an urgent message. Just… quiet. Dormant. And somehow, that profound silence felt louder and more accusing with each passing day, each passing hour.
Su Min was not the sort to worry openly or wring her hands. She was a woman of direct action, not endless fretting. But this? This was different. This was a cold, hard knot of dread coiled in her stomach that would not loosen, a constant, quiet alarm bell in the back of her mind.
She could not sit still in a meditation chamber. She could not keep pretending to focus on pill recipes and sect logistics when her mind was already far away, chasing a lone figure through endless snow, searching for someone who had not come back, who had been gone too long. She was many things: a master alchemist, a cunning strategist, a powerful cultivator.
But patient?
Not when it came to Xie Yingying. Never when it came to her.
Su Min turned her gaze north, her eyes piercing the horizon, looking toward the distant, unforgiving expanse of the Snow Plains. Her heart was already screaming at her to leave, to chase after her, to find her, now.
But first, duty. She would escort her people back to the safety of their sect. Traveling through contested skies without a powerful expert guarding them, they would be easy, tempting prey for any roaming Fallen. To those twisted spiritual parasites, a group of cultivators was a far more delicious and energy-rich feast than any number of ordinary humans.
As for saving the entire world? She was not that capable yet, nor that selfless. Protecting one region, and one irreplaceable person, was the limit of her responsibility and her heart. And right now, one of those was dangerously, maddeningly out of reach. The journey north could not begin soon enough.