In the dim, gray space, Su Min tightly closed her eyes. Her body was undergoing rapid, violent changes, her form flickering, even entering a strange state between existence and nothingness.
"Hu... "
At this moment, Su Min suddenly opened her eyes, as the energy throughout her body surged wildly. As she slowly opened her eyes, she felt countless laws roaring and churning within her body. The power throughout her body burned at this moment like a furnace, yet it didn't damage her physical form or her spiritual origin.
"The Law Crucible is finally complete. Although these myriad laws can't compare to my primary law of Time in terms of depth and power, Yao Xian'er's second incarnation likely sought to balance all laws to prevent any single one from dominating and causing imbalance again. Regardless, another crucial piece of the puzzle has been added, and,"
At this point, Su Min narrowed her eyes, sensing something profound. Almost immediately afterward, the aura around her underwent a drastic transformation. Having completed the Law Crucible, her various suppressed origins rapidly recovered their activity.
The Five Elements Holy Body, the Five Divine Artifacts, and the Yin Yang Qi all returned to their full power at this moment. In an instant, Su Min felt a fission like reaction occurring within her body, a convergence of forces that had never been meant to meet.
Originally, the Five Elements Holy Body and the Yin Yang Qi had coexisted peacefully in a delicate balance. But now, both were being integrated into the foundational structure of the Law Crucible, they began to undergo a violent, unpredictable metamorphosis.
"Pfft!!!"
In that instant, Su Min couldn't help but spit out another mouthful of bright red blood. Three immense, primordial forces within her body continuously fused, separated, clashed, and repelled each other in a chaotic storm. This was something no one had ever experienced or documented before. Any one of these three supreme abilities would allow an ordinary person to reach the pinnacle of cultivation and contend for the title of Great Emperor.
Yet now, all three were gathered within a single body, a convergence that was utterly unheard of in all of history.
At this moment, Su Min felt like a massive, unstable fusion furnace. Simultaneously, a special, dense energy layer enveloped her completely, forming a giant, pulsating cocoon. Su Min's consciousness was now completely cut off from the outside, unable to perceive anything beyond the tumultuous changes within her.
—
Meanwhile, above the Dark Continent, terrifying waves of energy spread endlessly across the void. Yao Xian'er, wielding the mighty imperial artifact Law Fusion Furnace, fought one against two with unparalleled bravery. However, the dark matter permeating the space greatly suppressed her power and limited her techniques.
The environmental suppression was even harsher on a constitution like Su Min's Five Elements Holy Body. Ironically, as the constitution most attuned to pure nature, it had greater innate resistance to dark matter corruption. Only by reaching the legendary Transcendence stage could one ignore it entirely, but Su Min hadn't yet met these conditions.
If this battle were taking place outside in the normal universe, Yao Xian'er would've long since slain the two dark consciousnesses born from the emperor remains. But here, on their home turf, she could only engage in a prolonged, draining struggle.
The situation was even worse for the others. The Little Golden Crow, relying on her Unity mid stage strength and the power of two imperial artifacts, was barely holding off two Mahayana early stage dark cultivators alone.
On this chaotic battlefield, one could see a radiant, glorious three legged Golden Crow entangled with two smaller, pitch black Golden Crows, their dark feathers dripping with corruption.
"Blood, the pure royal bloodline!!!"
The eyes of the two black Golden Crows were filled with bottomless darkness and insatiable greed, this was what they coveted most. As beings born from the remains of fallen Golden Crows, they had long since broken free from the instinctual bloodline suppression a true royal would've commanded.
Yet their desire for that pure blood was overwhelming, especially when faced with a living, pure blooded royal. Combined with the empowering restrictions of the dark environment and the difference in cultivation stages, even the Little Golden Crow found it difficult to slay them outright.
Ao Xue's situation was grimly similar. Her opponents were two massive divine dragons covered in black, necrotic patterns, remains of her kin who'd fallen in battle here long ago and had never been recovered.
Compared to the divine beasts, the human side had it slightly easier, but only just. Human bodies were inherently inferior to those of divine beasts, and their spiritual origins dissipated quickly after death. Aside from a few special constitutions and exceptionally powerful individuals, most human remains couldn't support the birth of new, powerful consciousnesses.
Their souls would simply scatter across the dark cosmos, eventually turning into the soul fragments that plagued this universe.
Thus, they didn't have to face the horror of fighting their own ancestors or kin directly. But even so, the situation was far from easy. Though holders of special constitutions were rare, the accumulation over countless eras meant their numbers were still considerable. Fortunately, none of the dark puppets here possessed one of the Five Great Constitutions.
After all, humans were far more meticulous in recovering such precious remains. The only Yin Yang Twin Corpses had already been discovered and destroyed by Su Min. As for the Five Elements Holy Body, it was even more impossible to find as a dark puppet, few ever achieved its full mastery to begin with.
Moreover, upon the death of the host, the five divine elemental artifacts would've detached and returned to the normal universe. Even a fully realized Five Elements Holy Body would've been left powerless as a corpse. Yet despite this small mercy, the pressure on the human cultivators was immense.
Divine beasts at least had an innate, racial understanding of their kin's techniques. Even if they couldn't win, they could hold out for a long time based on that knowledge. But for humans, every dark opponent was like opening a blind box, no one knew what secret techniques or strange abilities their opponents might've inherited.
This was precisely why Yao Xian'er and Tian Yang had been so unwilling to wage the final battle in this corrupted universe. In such an environment, the gap between the two sides was far too great.
But compared to the fierce fighting in the outskirts of the Dark Continent, the world below was even more tragic.
Countless Mahayana experts and their dark counterparts clashed across the vast landscape. Since the Dark Continent's landmasses weren't divided into plates but existed as a single, monstrous entity, all the terrifying shockwaves from the battles above were absorbed by the continent itself.
In such a world, all ordinary living beings felt nothing but primal fear and helplessness.
The earth cracked open in massive fissures, the sun and moon seemed to reverse their courses. Darkness, daylight, storms, and thunder alternated endlessly across the sky. One moment, the world was pitch black, the next, the sun blazed with unnatural fury. In the blink of an eye, snow fell from the sky, only for the temperature to skyrocket before the flakes could even land, turning them to steam.
Countless mortal lives perished in an instant, unable to comprehend the cataclysm. Meanwhile, Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators desperately fled toward the sky, trying to escape the doomed continent. But the moment they reached the outskirts, they were instantly obliterated by the residual energy of the Mahayana level clashes.
Even the scattered, diluted energy surges were enough to annihilate those below the Divine Transformation stage.
And this was, in part, Yao Xian'er's deliberate doing. Though she usually avoided mass slaughter, having spent a thousand years in the dark cosmos without large scale killings, she could no longer afford any restraint.
The Dark Continent was the perfect breeding ground and larder for that terrifying existence, and its inhabitants were his feed. Though deeply reluctant, she had no choice. Every day she delayed the enemy's recovery here meant one less day of suffering for the countless beings of the normal universe.
Thus, the Dark Continent and its people became the necessary, brutal sacrifice. Of course, the primary targets were the dark cultivators. Ordinary people only had to face the collateral natural disasters, while the cultivators were directly struck by targeted attacks falling from the sky.
A very few powerful beings could ignore this chaos, the five remaining native Mahayana cultivators. Since these were only Mahayana level battle fluctuations, their peak cultivation allowed them to remain relatively unharmed.
But now, they all held their breath, not daring to make a sound or reveal their locations. They sensed that the combatants had unleashed power on a truly terrifying, continental scale. They also had an inkling of why the battle was taking place here, to refine them into a great medicine for the descended immortal. Naturally, they were extremely cautious, hiding like mice.
Yet no matter how cautious they were, misfortune would still befall them eventually. And given that none of them were virtuous, having ascended by devouring souls, those who struck them down would've felt no guilt.
"This endless desert is the lair of one of them, a Mahayana mid stage cultivator known as the Sand Wolf."
Tian Yang's expression was grave as he gazed at the endless, shifting desert below. Back then, when he and Yao Xian'er had scouted this place, the two of them had been at a loss against this desert's elusive nature. Not everyone was like Su Min, with a Five Elements Holy Body that could merge with any natural element.
Those Mahayana cultivators who'd survived for eons here didn't necessarily rely on sheer strength but on incredibly robust and cunning self preservation methods, just like the one before them.
"Senior, how should we proceed?"
Seeing the vast, seemingly infinite desert, Xie Yingying asked with concern. She'd expanded her spiritual sense to its limit, but it paled in comparison to Su Min's monstrous range. Thus, she could detect nothing hidden beneath the sands. But she knew the situation was urgent, there was no time for a drawn out battle of attrition.
"Everyone, unleash your wide area attacks. If that guy can hide, then we will flip the entire desert upside down to force him out."
Tian Yang narrowed his eyes, his voice firm. Though the weakest among their ground team were at the Unity stage, none of them possessed an imperial artifact for this mission, all such treasures were up in the sky, being used to hold off the other Mahayana experts.
Thus, they had to be cautious. Aside from Xie Yingying, the others were all dangerously weak against a true Mahayana cultivator. Of course, they wouldn't be instantly killed, they could still flee if necessary, but their offensive power was limited.
Xie Yingying's combat power, bolstered by her Lunar Sovereign Body, was now on par with a Mahayana early stage cultivator, making her the second strongest here after Tian Yang himself.
"Understood."
Though the Unity stage fighters were weaker, they weren't useless, especially in a situation like this, where brute force and numbers were needed to scour a vast area.
In the next moment, the entire desert began to churn violently as dozens of powerful techniques slammed into it. On the Heavenly Continent, battles between Unity stage cultivators could devastate entire regions, which was why they were often forced to fight in the outer realms.
But here was different, there were no innocent bystanders to protect. In an instant, countless grains of sand were flung tens of thousands of meters into the air. From a distance, the desert looked like a massive, boiling yellow ocean.
Xie Yingying and Tian Yang led the group in systematically dismantling the desert, determined to erase it entirely if necessary.
Sure enough, a furious, grating roar soon erupted from deep within the sands.
"You go too far!!!"
The sand coalesced into a colossal, snarling face, charging at the group. Tian Yang stepped forward, forming a seal with one hand. A ten thousand foot tall golden Buddha materialized behind him, its palm smashing the sand face apart into a cloud of dust. The desert then transformed into dozens of swirling, razor sharp vortices, the battle had truly begun.
Even with the group's assistance, Tian Yang didn't dare relax. Though defeating the Sand Wolf in a direct fight mightn't be difficult, killing him completely, preventing his escape and regeneration, required exhausting every means and destroying his connection to the desert.
"I will hold off most of his power and attention. You track down and eliminate the hidden energy sources that mark and anchor him to this desert."
Tian Yang glanced at the furious foe who had no choice but to fight him to the death, then turned to Xie Yingying. As the strongest here after him, with her Unity late stage cultivation and the immense power of the Lunar Sovereign Body, she wouldn't be easily overcome by any traps or ambushes.
This would inevitably be a battle lasting months, or even years, completely different from Su Min's preferred style of ending fights in a single, decisive clash. Like solving a complex, layered puzzle, he had to dismantle the enemy's life saving methods step by step, patiently.
"Understood."
Xie Yingying nodded, her expression resolute, and immediately dashed off into the swirling sands, her silver lunar energy a beacon in the gloom.
—
Meanwhile, as chaos and war erupted across the Dark Continent, within the heavily guarded forbidden grounds of the Heavenly Continent's Immortal Gate,
Su Min had already been forced to leave Yao Xian'er's secret realm, its spatial capacity could no longer contain the immense energy she was radiating.
Fortunately, Yao Xian'er had made thorough preparations before departing, setting up powerful isolation arrays. Thus, no one would've disturbed Su Min's critical slumber. The cocoon now looked entirely different from before, its previously dazzling, multicolored hues had faded, replaced by a steady, profound gray white hue, like primordial mist.
Within Su Min, the Five Elements origin, the Yin Yang Qi, and the newly forged Law Crucible had all vanished from individual perception.
This didn't mean they were gone, they had completely merged into one, a new, unified origin.
Su Min's cultivation base trembled violently, reaching a critical peak before suddenly breaking through a fundamental barrier. At the same time, her eyes snapped open within the cocoon. In an instant, a wave of gray mist spread out from her, covering the landscape for thousands of miles around her in a strange, silent fog.
"The Five Elements as the foundation, Yin Yang as the root, and the myriad laws as the nourishing rain. But true, final fruition is still far off, So this is it. All these are energies of life, of creation, what I lack is the deathly energy representing the end, the withering of all things."
Su Min sensed something profound, the final piece of the puzzle. Chaos, as the sole absolute constitution, had one defining trait, the fusion of all things, all concepts, including the world's impurities, its decay and death. As someone from the normal universe who'd never tread the path of evil or embraced destruction, her body contained no tainted energy, no essence of ending.
This very lack was the final missing piece preventing the ultimate fusion.
"Then it's time to emerge and seek what is missing."
In that instant, Su Min's will solidified. The giant cocoon around her shattered into motes of light, and she transformed into a streak of gray light, shooting up into the sky above the Immortal Gate.
Mahayana early stage, this was her current cultivation level. The final step to the Chaos Body was now clear, but obtaining it would be the greatest challenge yet.
===
I just... need to rant for a moment. (;＿;)
So a few hours ago, I made a post—just a simple post—on the /Baihe subreddit. I said something like:
"Hey, I do fan translations over on Webnovel (linked my account). Most of the novels I work on are Female MC, NoCP, and if there's romance, it's only yuri or baihe. Right now there are only two novels with that tag, but feel free to check them out on my profile if you're interested!"
And then... one of the mods replied with something along the lines of: "A fan translation shouldn't be an 'original work' with zero mention of the actual original work you're translating."
I tried to explain. I told them:
I do include the original title and author on my Patreon [patreon.com/rikhi], and I even put the Chinese names of the authors on most of my novel covers.
If you didn't know, Webnovel divides content into two types: Novels and Fanfics.
Novels are published under "original works" through a writer account. But let's be honest—fan translations don't really fit into the fanfic section either, so I chose the novel section because it made more sense.
And I do include a disclaimer at the beginning of every translation. Some are stated directly, while others are more subtle—but they all make it clear that I'm just translating the novel.
Even if it's not always worded the same way, the meaning is there: I'm not the original author, and this story isn't "mine."
Then the mod replied with this:
"Look, I think your behavior makes it incredibly obvious that you are here to try to make money off of producing low-effort MTL, and I'm just not going to allow for any of that on this subreddit."
When I read that, my heart sank.
Like—seriously? That hurt so much. (｡•́︿•̀｡)
If you've been reading my work, you'd know I don't just dump raw text into a machine translator and call it a day.
I put time and effort into interpreting, not just translating word-for-word.
I even wrote a novel breakdown for this novel, explaining why I adapt or expand certain parts to preserve the nuance. (Stay tune for that, it contain 5 chapters, and per chapter is as long as the 'Goodbye' chapter)
So being called "low-effort MTL" really crushed me.
I replied honestly:
"How could I be making money when I don't even have a contract? Most people only throw in free votes, and that's not even something you can cash out. I don't have any paid subscription on my Patreon. And as for Ko-Fi? In two months, only one person has donated."
That's the truth. I'm not hiding anything.
Also—I don't put the original title or author name directly in the novel description because I worry it might lead to a takedown. I've seen plenty of Baihe translations on Wattpad that had to rename their works to something like "..." just to avoid that risk.
The main reason I keep that information on my Patreon is simply because it's easier to copy and paste from there.
And honestly, I want readers of my translation to be able to find the original version—so if they're able to, they might even support the author directly with a gift or something. That's always been part of my intention too.
.
And then, just like that, my post was gone.
Deleted or hidden, I don't know. No further warnings. Nothing
.
Honestly? I didn't want to rant like this.
But the more I think about it, the more I feel... hurt and wronged.
It's like they didn't even try to understand, just judged everything from a quick glance and flaunted their authority.
And honestly, I don't think they even understand how Webnovel works.
I'm not trying to mooch off anyone.
I'm not putting chapters behind a paywall.
I'm not getting any contract.
I just... love translating stories that mean something to me. And maybe share that love with others who feel the same.
Anyway, thank you if you've read this far.
I just needed to get it off my chest. This whole thing really shook me...
Damn. T_T