Eastern Mulberry Immortal Sect
A streak of light flashed across the clear sky as Su Min returned once more to the familiar, spiritual-energy-rich grounds of her sect.
With her current mid-Unity stage cultivation, she had finally become the undisputed strongest on the entire island. Both Xie Yingying and Little Golden Crow, still firmly at the early Unity stage with the mid-stage seeming far beyond their immediate reach, now lagged noticeably behind her.
Of course, at her current level, she could likely find no match in one-on-one combat across the entire Heavenly Continent, a thought that brought a quiet sense of accomplishment.
However...
"Hmm?"
The moment Su Min's feet touched the polished stone before her private residence in the sect, the door flew open and Xie Yingying rushed out. As if triggered by some deep-seated instinct, she practically lunged at Su Min, her movements a blur of white robes, pinning her firmly against the wooden doorframe.
"Hey—!"
Su Min barely had time to blink before she found herself trapped, Xie Yingying wrapped around her like a coiled, possessive vine, her face buried insistently in the crook of Su Min's neck, inhaling deeply as though trying to drown herself in her scent.
Su Min's body stiffened, her eyes darting around the courtyard. "We're still outdoors. If any disciples see this—"
"Hey, hey, snap out of it." Calmly but firmly, Su Min pried the clinging Xie Yingying off her body, then snapped her fingers, summoning a clear, cool stream of water that drenched Xie Yingying's face and robes, finally shocking her back to her senses. After all, as a seasoned Unity-stage cultivator, Xie Yingying ordinarily had strong control over her primal desires. This wasn't like when they were in the Golden Core Avenue, where Xie Yingying had needed decades to control her urges. Su Min could only assume her return, coupled with her newly amplified energy, had shaken something fundamental loose within her.
"What's wrong with you? Why do I feel this insane, almost magnetic attraction to you right now? Sniff... Ah, I see." Xie Yingying's eyes widened in dawning realization, her cheeks flushing a faint, pretty pink. "Your Taiyang energy... it's grown much stronger, hasn't it?"
Blushing more deeply now, Xie Yingying quickly adjusted her soaked robes, using a wisp of spiritual energy to dry them in less than a second. Her tone came out slightly strained, even as she tried to play it off with nonchalance. She reluctantly shifted her legs, creating a sliver of space between their bodies.
"I encountered the remains of a Mahayana-stage Solar Sovereign Body practitioner in the Ancient Battlefield. With no other inheritor possible, he gave me all his remaining essence," Su Min explained calmly.
"...I see." Xie Yingying shifted slightly, her gaze dropping to the stone pavement, then darting off to the side, anywhere but at Su Min. Her usual ice-princess composure faltered, and the tips of her ears, always the first to betray her, flushed a telltale, vibrant pink.
Even if Su Min were the dullest, most oblivious person alive, she'd understand the situation by now, so her expression remained carefully neutral, though a knowing glint shone in her eyes. The Taiyang energy within her dantian was quietly stirring, exuding a gentle, pervasive heat like sunlight filtering through silk. It pulled at the very core of Xie Yingying's Lunar Sovereign Body with terrifying, instinctual precision, awakening a resonance that defied logic, restraint, and sheer force of will.
But Xie Yingying wasn't some base beast swayed by lust alone. Her cultivation path, her very nature, demanded discipline and control. Even now, her breathing, though slightly quickened, remained mostly steady, her qi restrained beneath layers of practiced spiritual control. For centuries, she had kept herself untouched, untempted, unmoved by worldly desires. Even when surrounded by those who desired her for her beauty or power, she remained untouchable, aloof, like moonlight on untouched snow.
But all of that hard-won discipline seemed to crumble into dust whenever Su Min was near.
It wasn't just the Taiyang resonance alone. No, the deep-seated attraction hadn't begun with a mere surge of spiritual energy. It had begun with a voice, calm and clever in the face of danger, stubbornly alive even when the world seemed to burn around her. With eyes that looked at her and never judged, never coveted, even when the entire cultivation world saw her only as a prize to be won.
Back in the Yin-Yang Secret Realm, when Su Min's latent Solar Sovereign Physique first truly awakened, the reaction had been instantaneous and overwhelming. Resonance had struck them both like lightning, beautiful, overwhelming, and utterly terrifying. At the time, Xie Yingying told herself it was just the inheritance. Just the forced compatibility of their supreme physiques. A rare, natural convergence of yin and yang, nothing more personal. But she had known, even then, in the deepest, most honest part of herself, that it wasn't that simple. Her body had reached for Su Min before her mind could even form the thought. And so it was again, now.
"Hmm, a little sticky..." Su Min's brows drew together ever so slightly as her fingers unconsciously brushed against the front of her own robe. There, just below the fold of her waist sash, the fabric clung faintly to her skin, still warm with a lingering, unmistakable dampness. A tacky trace remained, ephemeral, yet undeniable. Her touch lingered only a moment before a sudden, cool breeze, summoned by her will, curled around her hand, washing over the spot and drying it instantly, as if nature itself had swept in to erase the evidence.
She lifted her gaze, her eyes knowing.
Xie Yingying stood a short distance away, her back turned rigidly straight, as if carved from unyielding jade. Her arms were held stiffly at her sides, her fists clenched just a little too tightly, her entire posture a little too composed, like someone trying very, very hard not to look guilty, or utterly undone. The nape of her neck, barely visible above her high collar, had gone a deep, flustered pink. The air around her shimmered almost imperceptibly with suppressed spiritual energy, like the surface of a still pond trying desperately not to ripple.
And in that quiet, suspended moment, Su Min understood everything.
Her gaze lowered, slowly tracing the crumpled lines of her own robe, creased where a knee had pressed insistently, rumpled where desperate fingers had gripped, and now... that faint, telltale trace, just beneath her navel, barely visible, but very much there.
The silence drew long and heavy between them. A single, gentle beat of wind passed through the courtyard, brushing a strand of Su Min's hair across her cheek like a delicate veil.
"…," she exhaled, a soft, wordless sound, her lips curving into the faintest, most enigmatic of smiles.
But she said nothing aloud. With practiced, unhurried elegance, she lowered herself onto a nearby stone stool and poured herself a cup of cold tea from the pot left on the table, every motion fluid and composed. The soft, definitive clink of porcelain against stone echoed once, twice in the quiet space, grounding the charged silence in mundane routine.
Not a single word passed between them about what had just happened. Not about the shocking closeness of their bodies, nor the unintentional, damning evidence left behind on Su Min's robe. And certainly not about the fact that Su Min had noticed everything, had felt everything… and had chosen, deliberately, to let it slide without comment.
"But that single Mahayana expert's essence wasn't enough for me," Su Min continued, as if discussing the weather. "To truly perfect the Taiyang energy, to fully integrate it, I'd need even more concentrated essence from Solar Sovereign Body cultivators. A significant amount more."
"Mmm." Xie Yingying's response was short, clipped, her tone stiff, she still faced resolutely away, her form stayed frozen as if hoping the ground might mercifully open and swallow her whole.
Su Min leaned back against the cool stone, folding one leg over the other in a relaxed posture. Her voice dropped into a lower, more thoughtful hum. "So, I'm heading to that place, the distant shore, soon. It's dangerous, yes, but maybe I'll find something unexpected there, some clue or opportunity." She paused, letting the silence stretch, thick with unspoken implications. "If my Taiyang energy does reach full perfection there, I might truly, fully awaken as a Solar Sovereign Body. Imagine the kind of... reaction that would trigger between us then. Heh... wouldn't that be exciting?"
A small, choked sound escaped Xie Yingying, something between a hiccup and a stifled squeak. Her entire body jolted as if struck by a weak lightning spell.
Su Min's grin deepened, her sharp eyes catching the sound with open amusement. Her gaze lingered on Xie Yingying's rigid back, heavy with mischief and promise. "Oh? What was that? I didn't know you were so... sensitive to the very idea."
With effortless, predatory grace, Su Min rose from the stool, her movements liquid and silent as she slowly circled behind her flustered prey. The air between them shifted palpably, the playful teasing giving way to something heavier, hotter, more intent. Step by deliberate, silent step, she closed the distance, until her arms slid around Xie Yingying's slender waist from behind, pulling her back flush against the solid, warm strength of her own body.
"Your face is burning, I can feel the heat from here," she murmured, her lips grazing the shell of a flushed, incredibly sensitive ear. "A seasoned Unity-stage cultivator, catching a fever? Tsk. How… unexpectedly delightful." Her voice dipped lower, rougher, the words a slow, deliberate drag against the delicate skin.
Xie Yingying remained rigid, refusing to turn, but the sharp hitch in her breath betrayed her. The rapid, frantic flutter of her pulse beneath pale skin where Su Min's lips had brushed, the way her ribs trembled with each unsteady, shallow inhale, it was all a silent confession.
She smiled, a slow, curving thing, and pressed closer, eliminating any last shred of space between them. "Tell me, Yingying," she breathed, her lips skimming the tense, elegant curve of a jawline, "does it make you nervous? The thought of me, fully awakened, a true Solar Sovereign Body, standing before you?"
Xie Yingying didn't, couldn't, speak. Her fists clenched tighter at her sides, the blush that had started on her ears now creeping steadily, vividly across her cheeks and down her neck. "It's nothing," she muttered, though the words rang hollow and breathless even to her own ears.
A soft, dark chuckle vibrated against the skin of her throat. "Liar." A kiss, barely there, a ghost of contact, traced the slope of a bare shoulder where her robe had gapped. "Your entire body screams otherwise."
Silence. Only the ragged, uneven rhythm of their mingled breaths filled the charged space between them.
Xie Yingying's breath hitched again, sharper this time. Her posture, once a statue of control, tensed to the point of trembling, her composure unraveling by the second. The heat between them, both spiritual and physical, swelled, becoming a palpable force.
"Is it me you want?" Fingers hovered, teasing, just above the dip of her lower back, not quite touching, but promising. "Or is it this?" The words were a velvet scrape against her fraying senses. "You can't hide from it anymore. Your pulse races where I touch you. Your skin burns for me. Don't you want to know how it really feels, to truly let go, when there's nothing, no incompleteness, holding me back?"
Xie Yingying stayed silent, her willpower a thin, cracking shell. Her lips parted slightly, a silent gasp, but no words came out. Instead, her hands unclenched slightly, then clenched again, and her entire body seemed to vibrate with a barely contained, desperate yearning.
Then, with barely a breath of warning, Su Min let a controlled wave of her Taiyang energy flare out from her core.
It spilled out around them in a visible, golden heat haze, thrumming through the air like a living, hungry thing. The resonance struck Xie Yingying like a physical blow. She gasped, a sharp, involuntary sound, her body arching back into Su Min's hold without any conscious command, drawn to the familiar, addictive warmth now terrifyingly amplified.
"Yingying," Su Min whispered, her voice a low thrum of power and promise, brushing her lips along the rapidly heating curve of her neck. The contact was featherlight, yet it felt searing. "You're already slipping. Aren't you tired of pretending you don't want this? Don't need this?"
Xie Yingying shuddered violently under the soft, devastating weight of her voice. Her control, so carefully maintained for centuries, began to fracture audibly. A faint, stifled sound, half a moan, half a plea, escaped her throat, betraying her completely.
Su Min smiled, feeling the fine tremors that Xie Yingying tried so hard to hide. "You still think you can resist me?" Her words came like dark velvet, wrapping around her, smothering the last of her resistance. "Think you can just walk away from me now?"
The hand at her waist slid higher, slowly, deliberately, fingers splaying possessively over the flat, tense plane of her stomach. The touch was still featherlight, but now it was intentional, maddening. It was the final straw. Xie Yingying's breath snagged in her throat, a thin, broken sound, and her restraint splintered entirely under the overwhelming weight of their closeness, the amplified resonance, and the raw desire she could no longer deny.
"How long do you really think you can hold out? Hmm?"
And just like that, the spell shattered.
In a flicker of movement too fast for the eye to follow, Xie Yingying pulled free from Su Min's arms, vanishing from the courtyard like a gust of wind snatched away by a storm. But the heat of her skin remained, lingering on Su Min's like a phantom touch, her unique, frost-and-plum-blossom scent still caught in Su Min's lungs.
"Tch." Su Min smirked, lifting her fingers to her nose and inhaling the fading, sweet fragrance. "So slippery when she's flustered."
"Hahaha..."
The sound of her laughter echoed through the now-quiet courtyard, light and teasing but tinged with something warmer, softer, underneath. After a while, her laughter faded, and she rested her elbows on the stone table, cupping her chin in her hands.
"A thousand years of restraint," she murmured, her voice quiet, introspective. "Or perhaps even longer. Have I really been holding everyone, everything, at arm's length for that long?"
The words weren't directed at anyone in particular, just cast into the tranquil air, as if she were wondering whether the perpetual frost she'd built around her own heart had finally started to crack under a persistent sun. Her gaze wandered, unfocused now, not seeing the present courtyard but lingering on memories centuries old.
Her thoughts drifted to her early, desperate days in this world after first transmigrating, and she couldn't help but sigh softly. It was a pity, figures like the Prince Yong, who she'd been somewhat close to in those initial struggles, or those arrogant tribal chiefs she'd tormented, were all long gone, their stories ended. Time had swallowed them, as it always did, relentless and impersonal.
Not just them, even the mighty Great Yong Dynasty itself had collapsed centuries ago, not by the sect's hand, but due to its own internal strife and corruption that eventually plunged the entire region into chaos, dragging even the Immortal Sect into the turmoil.
Eventually, an exasperated Elder Zhu had taken direct control of Wei-Wu Province, finally ending the bloody disorder. Since then, it had been under the sect's direct, orderly governance.
And Su Min... had remained. Always remaining, watching dynasties rise and fall, watching landscapes change, watching generations of disciples live and die.
Perhaps that was the real, unspoken reason she'd always drawn such a firm line between herself and others. It wasn't fear, but a cold certainty. That everyone she grew to care for, everyone she allowed close, would one day vanish, turning to dust, and she would still be here, unchanging, alone.
But maybe now... with a certain Lunar Sovereign forever-tied to her fate... that line was blurring, becoming less defined.
"Ah... perhaps I went a little too far just now, teasing her like that."
Su Min stretched lazily, a faint, unrepentant smile tugging at her lips. "Knowing her pride, she won't show her face around here for a few days at least." She extended her incredibly powerful spiritual sense outward, brushing over every corner, every hidden chamber of the sect grounds, only to frown slightly in genuine surprise. No trace of Xie Yingying. Not even a flicker of her distinctive lunar energy. She had vanished completely.
"Hm... completely gone? She's getting better at hiding from me."
Su Min sighed with exaggerated resignation and shook her head, though a small, fond glint of amusement remained in her eyes. Unbeknownst to her, Xie Yingying was already nestled deep within the cold, isolated heart of the Xuantian Mansion's forbidden chamber, seated atop a slab of millennia-old profound ice, doing her utmost to suppress the wildfire Su Min had so effortlessly lit within her.
It was a battle of willpower she hadn't anticipated facing again so soon. Xie Yingying's breath came in shallow, visible puffs in the frigid air as she gripped the icy surface beneath her, her mind a tangled, chaotic mess of conflicting desires and sheer embarrassment. The flame Su Min had ignited within her core was impossible to ignore, a roaring furnace compared to the usual gentle embers. The Taiyang energy within Su Min had grown so powerful, almost overwhelmingly so, and every lingering touch, every teasing, knowing remark from her had brought Xie Yingying dangerously, shamefully close to the edge of total control.
She clenched her fists, digging her nails into the unforgiving, ancient stone. "Focus," she told herself, the word a sharp command in her mind. "Focus, Xie Yingying." It was supposed to be different this time. It had to be. She could not, would not, let herself fall back into the same helpless pattern as before, lost in her desires and consumed by them for decades on end, a slave to her own body's needs.
She had spent far too long trapped in that vicious cycle of all-consuming need and craving, unable to escape the overwhelming, addictive pull of Su Min's Solar essence. It had been... profoundly embarrassing the last time. She had given in far too easily, completely unable to contain herself. Her body, her mind, her very spirit had all succumbed to the raw, magnetic force of Su Min's nascent Solar Sovereign Physique.
"You can't let this happen again," Xie Yingying told herself, her jaw tightening with resolve. She wouldn't, couldn't, allow herself to be so weak, so vulnerable again.
Yet, despite all her fervent efforts to remain distant and cool, a treacherous flutter of anticipation curled low in her stomach every time she thought of Su Min. The memory of her taste, the searing warmth of her body, the way her mere presence made everything else in the world fade into insignificance... It was terrifyingly addictive. Every interaction with her fed the hunger inside, stoked the flames higher, and Xie Yingying wasn't sure how much longer she could hold the line.
"If I fail now," she thought, her jaw clenching so tight it ached, "it'll be more than just embarrassing. It'll be utterly humiliating. I've already lost control once in front of her. I can't let it happen again. I won't."
Her heart thundered against her ribs, a frantic drum in the silence, her breath growing ragged as she forced her tumultuous thoughts to quiet. The fire Su Min had kindled within her was burning brighter, hotter now, each flicker threatening to overtake her hard-won composure and reduce her to a pleading, wanting mess.
She shook her head, as if to dislodge the tempting images, pushing herself further into the biting cold of the ice stone, focusing on the numbness, on the intricate pathways of her cultivation, it was the only thing that could possibly ground her in this moment of crisis. But even as she tried to distance herself, the vivid image of Su Min, her confident smile, her playful, challenging words, the mischievous, knowing glint in those sharp, captivating eyes, refused to leave her mind.
And with each passing, agonizing moment in the cold silence, Xie Yingying could feel herself slipping, her resistance eroding like sand before a relentless tide, pulling her deeper and deeper into a craving she had no real hope of fully controlling, a fate tied irrevocably to the one woman who could unravel her completely.
Meanwhile, Su Min turned away from her now-empty courtyard and strolled leisurely toward the sect's main compound, the incident already filed away as an amusing interlude.
Soon, she reached the grand hall. The towering, ornate doors stood open, inviting in dappled sunlight and the gentle sound of birdsong. Beneath a majestic, spiritually vibrant green tree at the center of the hall, a slender figure in pristine white robes sat cross-legged in meditation, her expression one of serene focus. The faint, visible pulse of spiritual energy danced through the leaves above her, casting soft, shifting patterns of light over her calm silhouette.
Su Min paused at the threshold, watching in silence for a long moment, a sense of peace settling over her.
"At least someone here is behaving properly today," she murmured, a trace of genuine affection threading through her voice.
This colossal, awe-inspiring tree was a separated manifestation of the Eastern Azure Wood from Su Min's own body. After years of careful nourishment and feeding it her own energy, its true, full form had grown to unimaginable, colossal heights, something her Golden Core-stage self would have found utterly overwhelming and impossible to comprehend.
The segment of Eastern Azure Wood here, along with a spring of the Northern Water's Profound Origin deep beneath it, had been consciously separated from Su Min's own essence. They served as permanent fixtures to assist in disciples' cultivation, enhance the ambient spiritual energy of the entire main peak, and nurture rare medicinal herbs in the surrounding gardens.
Of course, these manifestations couldn't be refined or moved by anyone, doing so would cause them to lose cohesion and dissipate back into the world.
"How do you feel? Has your comprehension deepened?" In a flicker of movement, Su Min appeared directly before the meditating girl. Unlike her disciple, Su Min could go anywhere in the sect freely, as its founder and a supreme wanderer, no place was off-limits to her.
"Master!" The girl, Yang Meng, snapped her eyes open, pure delight flashing across her previously serene face. Though Lin Yao had been primarily guiding her daily training, Su Min was still her formal master, the one who had brought her here. And she had sworn a life oath of service, though fortunately, Su Min never treated her as a true slave, but as a valued disciple.
"Divine Transformation late-stage. Not bad at all. How close are you to breaking through to Dao Comprehension?" Su Min was genuinely pleased with Yang Meng's rapid progress. In the mere decades she'd been away purifying the battlefield, Yang Meng had not only reached late-stage Divine Transformation but had also deeply comprehended the elusive Laws of Karma, achieving a solid half-step into the Dao Comprehension stage.
With this robust foundation, another century or so of steady preparation, coupled with the power of a Dao Comprehension Pill, would smoothly usher her into the Dao Comprehension stage without significant danger.
Of course, even reaching Dao Comprehension wouldn't be particularly useful to Su Min's immediate needs. She'd have to wait until Yang Meng reached the Mahayana stage to be a real help, likely several millennia later at the earliest. Helpful for the sect's long-term future, but not urgent for Su Min's personal plans.
"I could attempt the breakthrough now, but it still feels somewhat unstable, the connection to the laws isn't perfectly clear yet. And the Dao Comprehension Pills in the contribution hall are far too precious, I haven't earned enough contribution points to exchange for one yet," Yang Meng admitted honestly.
"Oh?" Su Min rubbed the bridge of her nose thoughtfully. Sect rules were sect rules, and she believed in maintaining them. Only three people in the entire sect could legitimately bypass the contribution system for the highest-tier resources, herself, Xie Yingying, and Little Golden Crow.
For her, it went without saying, she had refined those precious pills herself. Using her own creations required no justification or points. As the sect's founder and ultimate authority, she held absolute power over all resources.
The other two exceptions were the sect's foundational pillars. In Su Min and Xie Yingying's frequent absences, it was Little Golden Crow who oversaw the sect's daily affairs and security. As for Xie Yingying, her status was practically that of Su Min's wife in all but official name. The high-ranking elders, whether out of genuine respect for her power or a healthy dose of fear, often turned a blind eye to her occasional bending of the rules, treating her with nearly the same reverence as they did Su Min herself. Between that silent acknowledgment and her unmatched strength, her authority within the sect was second only to Su Min's. Naturally, the supreme resources they needed were seldom part of the regular supply, they would simply request them directly from Su Min when she was available.
Everyone else, from elders to core disciples, had to follow the rules and earn their way, otherwise, the limited stock of high-level pills would never suffice for the sect's growing population.
"How many contribution points are you short?" Su Min asked, having no real intention of breaking the rules for her. To her, seventh-grade low-tier Dao Comprehension Pills were practically limitless, she could refine two or three per batch without fail. The sect currently had over a hundred in reserve.
Occasionally, they were even put up for external auction, each one triggering frenzied bidding wars among the super sects of the Heavenly Continent. Though the patriarchs themselves might not need them personally, their sects always had promising core disciples waiting eagerly for such an opportunity.
"Not too many, Master. I planned to take on a few high-reward missions from Senior Sister Lin Yao soon. The Tian-Wu Province branch is requesting reinforcements, they're reportedly under attack by a fairly large demon tide from the northern mountains."
Yang Meng smiled reassuringly. After years of relentless expansion, the Eastern Mulberry Immortal Sect now controlled vast territories across several provinces. With greater influence and resources came more troubles and responsibilities. Previously, they'd been somewhat constrained, wary of the lurking threat of the Black Seal Society and other fallen forces. But fifty years ago, after Su Min personally slew the Skeleton Emperor, the overarching threat of the Fallen Cult vanished entirely from the continent.
Thus, the sect, along with other major righteous sects, had expanded aggressively, seizing territories and resources. Over the past few decades, conflicts, both large and small, had erupted sporadically across the Heavenly Continent as the balance of power shifted.
Once the alliance publicly announced Su Min's feat of slaying the Fallen's leader, the loosely united Cultivator Alliance, having lost its common, unifying enemy, quickly fractured. Long-suppressed grudges and rivalries between various sects resurfaced with a vengeance, sparking local wars and skirmishes across various provinces.
Su Min could do nothing about it, nor did she particularly care to intervene.
No matter how fiercely they fought amongst themselves, mortal civilians and the land itself were rarely affected, as per unspoken rules. As for reducing entire provinces to lifeless wastelands? No one would dare, unless they had a collective death wish and wanted to invite the wrath of every other power.
"Keep working hard then. As the saying goes, 'A master leads you to the door; cultivation depends on the individual.' Everyone, especially after reaching Dao Comprehension, must comprehend their own unique path and laws. Unless sharing the exact same special physique, detailed guidance from a master becomes nearly impossible," Su Min smiled ruefully. This was simply the inherent nature of high-level cultivation. Before the Divine Transformation stage, clear distinctions existed like body refiners, spellcasters, swordsmen, or spearmen. But upon reaching Dao Comprehension and touching the laws of the world, everything hinged on personal insight, making each cultivator's path unique.
Only the Solar Sovereign and Lunar Sovereign Bodies, as natural, complementary opposites, could truly and deeply guide each other's progress.
Besides, Su Min had already handed over the complete, accumulated knowledge and scriptures on Karma Laws looted from Future Maitreya Mountain for Yang Meng to study independently. If she still couldn't succeed with that treasure trove, that would purely be a matter of insufficient personal talent or comprehension, something no amount of external resources or doting from a master could fix.
"Master!!!" As they were speaking, Lin Yao's booming, energetic voice echoed from the entrance of the grand hall. She arrived moments later, having rushed over the moment she sensed Su Min's return through the sect's formation.
"What is it? You look flustered." Seeing Lin Yao's slightly breathless and excited state, Su Min grew curious. High-level cultivators were typically unflappable, seeing one so visibly agitated was a rare occurrence.
"Master, look, this is a formal invitation jointly issued by several of the major super sects, the Myriad Sword Pavilion, the Profound Heaven Sect, and a few others. Rumor has it that only confirmed Unity-stage experts are invited to attend, along with an associated ultra-high-level exchange meeting for rare materials and insights."
"An exchange meeting?" Accepting the intricately crafted jade invitation slip, Su Min scanned it with her spiritual sense and raised an eyebrow.
"Originally, the sect leadership planned to send Lady Xie as our representative and leader, but I couldn't find her anywhere. Besides the exchange itself, there's another, more pressing matter, the super sects want to formally establish some ground rules regarding the use of ultimate force."
"Rules? What kind of rules?" Su Min's interest was piqued.
"A week ago, two second-tier sects went completely overboard in their conflict over a newly discovered spirit stone vein. They nearly activated their respective imperial artifacts against each other's main headquarters, it was only stopped by the direct, combined intervention of three other super sects. The new proposal is that if imperial artifacts must be used in conflict, the clash should happen only in the depths of space, far from any inhabited world. Or, if someone possesses a supreme imperial artifact capable of containing the blast radius, they may act as a neutral guarantor for the duel. Otherwise, using imperial artifacts on the Heavenly Continent, or any other inhabited world, is strictly forbidden. Violators will be collectively punished by all signatory sects."
"These people..." Su Min didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What a bunch of lunatics. They finally have some peace and they're already looking for ways to have sanctioned, world-ending duels."
"Also, Master, you may not have been paying attention to continental affairs, but currently, you're widely considered the indisputably strongest individual on the Heavenly Continent. In both personal cultivation and... well, your achievements, no one under heaven can rival you, not even those other two legendary figures who left for the front lines."
"Are they trying to set me up as some sort of arbiter? No... more likely, they want access to my pills, or my endorsement. Fine, I'll attend this exchange meeting. It might be useful. As for that 'strongest under heaven' title, decline it publicly on my behalf. I don't fear the grudges it might bring, but you know I have no interest in the politics of this continent, and I won't be staying here much longer."
"Understood, Master." Nodding in acceptance, Lin Yao turned and departed to make the arrangements. As for Su Min, her reasoning was simple. Since she planned to journey to the distant shore soon, preparing thoroughly by gathering information and any useful, rare materials at this high-level exchange couldn't hurt. Scouting the intentions of the other major powers was also a prudent move before her departure.
===
Yingying, are you serious? Did you just--
that 'sticky' sensation---
DAMN!!!!
~
Su Min... you damn tease!!! Yingying even need millennia-old ice to cool herself down. This time exchange must be very stimulating and overwhelming for her, noting that Su Min just had level up her Taiyang engery.
~
But this chapter is mixed with sweetness and bitterness. Su Min, you really 'strong'