Immediately after Meiuhua and her party left to search for the spirit blossom fruit, they meticulously followed the clues derived from its characteristics and eventually arrived near a quiet pond hidden within a forest clearing.
Before her guards could advance, Meihua suddenly remembered the warning Seo had given her. A chill ran down her spine.
"Wait!" she called out. "Something isn't right."
The guards frowned.
"What would someone without cultivation know?" one scoffed. "She probably didn't want us to find it. Maybe she had other intentions."
Meihua tried to argue, but the guards had received strict orders—not only to protect the general's daughter, but to complete the mission at any cost. Her words fell on deaf ears.
With no other choice, she followed.
Soon, they reached a clearing. A tranquil pond lay before them, its surface mirror-still. In the center, atop a small patch of exposed earth, a radiant flower swayed gently despite the absence of wind. It pulsed with spiritual energy.
The spirit blossom fruit.
The guards erupted in cheers.
"See? We were right not to listen to her!"
One guard stepped forward while the other remained behind with the women. Without hesitation, he plunged into the water and began swimming toward the flower.
But Meihua's instincts screamed in warning. Seo had no reason to lie—her treasures alone far surpassed this flower. And Meihua's sixth sense had never betrayed her before.
"Come back—!" she began.
She never finished.
A colossal shape exploded from beneath the pond.
Water surged skyward as a massive demonic crocodile burst upward, jaws wide, and swallowed the guard whole before he could even scream.
Meihua's expression shifted from concern to pure horror.
She had not expected a demonic beast of such caliber to be lurking beneath something so deceptively serene.
The creature turned its massive body toward them and charged.
The remaining guard froze. He had signed up to escort the general's daughter and fight minor beasts, not face a high-level demonic creature. Panic overtook him.
He ran, leaving the three women behind.
Her two attendants immediately stepped forward, prepared to buy their mistress time to escape. But Meihua knew the truth. Though they had trained to the peak of human capability, they were denied cultivation resources. Against such a monster, they were ants.
"Light the flare," Meihua ordered.
It was a gamble—on the mysterious woman she had met.
The flare shot into the sky and exploded in a cascade of brilliant colors. The sudden display startled the demonic beast momentarily, but when no attack followed, it dismissed it as the desperate struggle of prey.
The creature reached land.
Meihua gathered her spiritual energy and formed spears of condensed power. She hurled them forward.
They struck.
Only a small shard of scale chipped off.
She narrowed her eyes and infused more energy, forging sharper, deadlier spears. This time, she aimed for its eye.
The spear pierced deep.
Blood erupted from the creature's socket like a broken dam.
The beast roared in agony and fury, thrashing violently and tearing through trees as though they were twigs.
Its massive tail swung toward Meihua and her attendants. Together, the attendants erected a cylindrical force barrier.
The tail crashed into it.
The shield shattered.
All three women were thrown back, coughing blood.
The beast lunged for the final blow, suddenly, chains erupted from the earth.
Complex runic arrays flared to life beneath the demonic crocodile, glowing with intricate symbols. Dozens of luminous chains shot upward, wrapping around the beast and suspending it midair.
Its roar turned into a furious bellow of frustration.
From the distance approached Seo, Ling, Bai, Su and Choi.
Meihua stared in shock.
_ _ _
When Seo arrived, she immediately recognized the demonic crocodile. It resembled the one she had slain the previous day—only larger.
Without hesitation, she reinforced the runic arrays, tightening the chains around the suspended beast.
She prepared to tear it apart and retrieve its core as before, but Ling stopped her.
"Its blood and scales are valuable," she said.
Seo nodded.
"Fine. You handle it."
She walked toward Meihua instead.
Meanwhile, Choi and the others approached the immobilized beast. With terrifying ease—and their bare hands—they tore through its supposedly impenetrable scales.
Meihua, who had nearly exhausted herself just injuring its eye, could only stare and laugh weakly at the absurdity.
So much for being a genius, she thought.
Seo knelt beside her.
"Use what I gave you."
One attendant hurriedly retrieved a golden spirit apple from a space ring and handed it to Meihua.
She took a bite.
Warmth spread through her body. The paleness vanished from her face, exhaustion melted away, and her injuries rapidly healed. Her spiritual absorption capacity even seemed to expand.
Refreshed, she instructed her attendants to retrieve the flower. Leaning against a tree, she waited.
Soon, the beast was fully skinned, its valuable parts harvested. The attendants returned with the spirit blossom fruit.
The mission was complete.
"Where are your bodyguards?" Seo asked casually, noticing only one body within the beast's carcass.
Meihua explained that the second had fled.
Seo pressed her lips together, barely containing her laughter.
Choi failed entirely and burst into loud laughter.
The day before, those same guards had looked down on Seo for lacking cultivation.
How the tables had turned.
Seo cleared her throat, composed herself, and gestured for them to return.
Back at the courtyard, Meihua froze.
A new structure stood there—one unlike anything she had ever seen. It radiated overwhelming spiritual energy.
An alchemy furnace.
She turned slowly toward Seo.
"You're not normal… are you?"
Seo only curved her lips into a knowing smirk.
Behind her, Choi, Ling, Bai, and Su stood with identical smug expressions.
And Meihua finally realized,
She had stepped into something far greater than she had imagined.