Thud—!
In the next moment, another figure was unceremoniously sent flying out of the dying flames, landing in a heavy heap on the hot, shifting sand. It was none other than Su Min, who had been standing at the very epicenter of her own destructive cataclysm.
"I forgot to use the Demon Slaying Thunder from the gourd first," she muttered to herself. She brushed the fine grains of sand from her scorched robes as she stood up, her joints popping with the effort. A faint smell of ozone and singed silk clung to her.
"I nearly overlooked the basic principle that fire counters metal. Too much gaming in my past life made me instinctively think fire counters wood instead." She shook her head at her own momentary lapse in elemental logic, her eyes fixed on the charred ground.
Casually storing the small gourd back in her storage ring, she turned her gaze toward the still-raging flames nearby. That was the raw, unadulterated power of the Nanming Lihuo: a heat so intense and pure that even the inert silicon of the desert sand was burning and melting into jagged, shimmering pools of glass.
As for the monster, it was a creature of absolute evil by its very origin, born of resentment and death. Faced with such a sacred, purifying flame, it had been at a natural and severe disadvantage. On top of that, its internal elemental composition and structural core were primarily metal, and most importantly—
If this thing were classified in the game terms she remembered, it would be a classic strength-agility warrior type. It was strong in direct, physical combat, certainly, but its magical and elemental defenses were paper-thin. So when she hit it with a major, perfectly aligned elemental counterattack, the creature was instantly obliterated. Its structural integrity had been vaporized by the sacred fire.
"Alright, time to reel it back in," she said to herself. Her voice was low, barely a whisper over the crackling of the dying fire. "I don't want to turn this entire oasis into a permanent, flaming wasteland."
Walking slowly toward the smoldering, skeletal remains, she stretched out her small hand toward the heat. The violent flames responded to her will at once, gradually retracting from the scorched sand and blackened bones. They flowed back into her palm like a receding tide of crimson light and vanished.
The conflagration died down, revealing a single, palm-sized, intricately shaped metallic object now resting in the blackened sand where the monster's heart would have been. Fire countered metal, so she had been slightly worried the innate spiritual treasure might get damaged by the intense heat. But now that it was safely recovered, cool to the sight and undamaged, her primary mission was complete.
Crack, crack, crack.
A shimmering flying sword materialized beside her, humming with spiritual energy. With precise, controlled movements, it sliced off the remaining, spiritually infused metal fragments from the monster's disintegrating body. She collected these jagged shards and tossed them all into her storage ring for later use. As for the leftover bones and the residual, cursed corpse, she unstopped her Qiankun Gourd and stuffed them inside to be slowly refined over time into useful materials or pure energy.
"All done. Time to go back and, well, open the champagne," Su Min said lightly. The modern idiom came to her naturally despite the ancient setting.
Glancing over at Hui Ming, who was still lying on the sand a distance away, groaning and coughing up blood, she offered a faint, slightly apologetic smile. Admittedly, about half of his current injuries were directly her fault. Pure physical attacks and blunt force trauma really couldn't easily break through a properly manifested Arhat Golden Body's defenses.
But those formidable defenses were far less effective against the spiritual and conceptual heat of her Nanming Lihuo. Besides, he had already been injured earlier when the shockwave from her Vermilion Bomb sent him flying and left him spitting blood onto the dunes. Still, it wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. With some dedicated rest and spiritual recovery, he would be perfectly fine.
"Your injuries aren't severe, and you just took a powerful healing pill not long ago," she called out to him. "There's still plenty of residual medicinal energy circulating in your system, so taking more pills won't help right now. You just need time."
"Hahaha, it's fine. Cough, cough... This is great. It's finally over."
Clearly, the monk wasn't the type to hold grudges. Seeing the monster that had terrorized his kingdom for years thoroughly annihilated, he burst into hearty, relieved laughter. He didn't know what "opening champagne" meant, but the profound sense of relief and victory was unmistakably real. Unfortunately, his laughter triggered another round of violent coughing, sending three fresh mouthfuls of blood spraying into the air and onto the golden sand. She couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat at the sight of his hacking frame.
She had read stories about people laughing themselves to death, and for a second, she genuinely wondered if the monk was about to demonstrate it right in front of her. She had just won a major fight and was mentally ready to celebrate; it would be a real, cosmic shame if her temporary ally dropped dead from exhilaration right here.
So, soon after, back in the royal palace.
"Hahaha! Wonderful! It's finally over! That damned monster is gone for good!"
King U'er laughed heartily from his throne, his joy infectious. His booming laughter seemed to spur the palace dancers into even more extravagant, energetic, and rhythmic movements. Amid the celebratory music and swirling, colorful silks, only Su Min remained seated with a slight frown, her mind elsewhere. She was mentally cataloging her spoils. She had finally gathered enough high-grade metal materials to forge herself a proper, full set of spiritual armor.
As for the alluring dance performance, she had zero interest. Let's be real: growing up in the desert under such harsh, sun-blasted conditions, none of these people were exactly lookers by her refined standards.
"Great Master," the king's voice cut through the music. He leaned forward slightly. "Might I ask how fares the Great Wei Dynasty these days?"
Tch.
She nearly scoffed aloud at the transparent question. She could see the gears turning in his head: the ambition of a desert ruler looking at a distant, green horizon. "Great Wei is a grand and chaotic stage. If you have no powerful horse to ride, what business do you have even thinking about joining the race?"
Of course, she wouldn't say that out loud to a king. But since he had asked directly, she saw no reason to sugarcoat the brutal truth of the heartland.
"A Demon Queen runs rampant behind the throne. The common people suffer immensely. The entire nation reeks of impending doom, like a rotten fruit about to fall from the tree."
"A Demon Queen?" King U'er feigned surprise, his eyebrows rising as he clutched a gold goblet. "Why has the Great Master not rid the people of this scourge? With your power—"
"Because I can't," she interrupted bluntly. "That 'Demon Queen' is at the Golden Core stage."
"Golden Core stage?" He tilted his head in genuine confusion. Clearly, the concept of high-level cultivation realms was beyond his understanding.
"It means," she explained with deadpan simplicity, "she could kill me as easily as you would slaughter a chicken. There would be no contest."
"Hiss."
King U'er sucked in a sharp, startled breath, his jovial mood evaporating instantly. He then instinctively glanced at his court's state preceptor, Hui Ming, seeking confirmation. When the monk, now cleaned up but still pale, offered no rebuttal—only a silent, grim nod of confirmation—the king seemed to physically shrink back into his throne.
The desert wasn't a paradise, but it was a known quantity. To migrate to the lush, fertile, and populous lands of Great Wei had always been the enduring dream of the desert and steppe peoples. But dreams required immense strength to realize.
Their population was small, and their military wasn't anything special. And now they faced an opponent within Great Wei of such terrifying, individual power? Better to forget that old dream entirely. On second thought, with endless yellow sands separating them, Great Wei's internal turmoil wouldn't reach here anyway.
In his eyes, Su Min was far stronger than his own state preceptor. That monster, which had rendered his entire kingdom helpless, had been annihilated in a single, spectacular instant. Such power was awe-inspiring, and the thought of something capable of casually killing her was utterly terrifying.
Moreover, from their earlier conversations, he had deduced that she held some personal grudge against the Great Wei emperor. So he had privately considered the possibility of recruiting her, of using that conflict to his advantage. But now he understood just how deep and dangerous Great Wei's waters truly ran. Even a monster-slaying expert like Su Min could be casually executed by their hidden enemies.
"He is already backing down? Not much of a conqueror's spirit," she thought, observing the shift in his demeanor.
Though inwardly disdainful of his quick surrender, she kept her thoughts to herself. If they wanted to march out of the desert and try their luck, she wouldn't stop them, but their forces were pitifully weak. The desert tribes were few in number, and their harsh environment made proper, systematic cultivation nearly impossible.
Their overall martial strength might not even match that of the southern mountain tribes. Expecting anything meaningful from them was like waiting for rats to climb trees: a futile hope. Besides, as obvious outsiders, any rash involvement in the heartland's politics could make them a target for united retaliation from all the entrenched powers.
"Come to think of it... should I try gathering some followers of my own?"
Since the king had backed down so quickly, she stopped paying him much attention. Instead, she pondered a new idea. With her personal strength and invaluable skills as an alchemist, assembling a force was certainly feasible. But she quickly dismissed the idea. Any "experts" she could realistically recruit in this backwater would likely be Body Refining cultivators at best.
Finding even one or two other Qi Refining cultivators would be a monumental stretch, which made the whole endeavor utterly useless for her high-level needs. They would be more of a liability than an asset.
"Once this desert business is fully settled, I will go into seclusion," she decided, her plans solidifying as she watched the dancers. "First, I will process all my new gains and forge that full-body armor. Second, I will focus on breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining. Third, it will be time to start preparing the ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill."
Her path forward was clear. The armor was her top priority. In her past life, carrying weapons had been relatively normal in many places; nobody batted an eye. But privately owning full-body, military-grade armor had been a serious political crime, tantamount to rebellion. That historical fact alone spoke volumes about its practical effectiveness in real conflict.
A full-body defensive spiritual treasure was both the hardest type of artifact to craft and often the most powerful in terms of survivability. Just look at the Golden Body Arhat's insane durability; proper, forged armor could replicate that. The problem was always the ridiculous amount of rare material and spiritual effort required.
But now that she had gathered the necessary components from the clam demon and this metal horror, there wasn't any reason not to make it. It was the logical next step in fortifying her power.