"Ancestor above, please bless my son to pass the immortal sect's selection."
"Ancestor above, please grant that I reach Qi Refinement within three years."
"Ancestor—"
"..."
Su Min stared, utterly speechless, at the crowd kneeling on the ground, praying with devout fervor. Her head throbbed. Her Buddha's Protection could ward off genuine calamities, but this was just outright wish-making. These people reminded her of parents burning incense in temples before college entrance exams back on Earth.
It was utterly useless in reality, but it gave them a sense of peace and control.
Sigh...
"Young lady, you look about seventeen or eighteen. Late-stage Body Refining, just a step away from Qi Refinement. Would you like to buy some incense and pray to the Ancestor? It is really effective."
Just as Su Min massaged her temples in frustration, a middle-aged woman sidled up to her, smiling so widely it was almost nauseating.
"Effective?" Su Min's playful side emerged, and she could not help but ask curiously.
"Of course! Look, we have all kinds of incense here. This one is said to be the most potent. See this person who prayed with it?" The woman pointed to a nearby photograph. "They ranked first in the sect's entrance exam. In less than twenty years, they have already reached late-stage Foundation Establishment. Last time they returned home, even the emperor received them. Such glory!"
Given the technology of immortal tools, producing such a photograph was not hard. But seeing it, Su Min's lips twitched. The photo showed a young man carrying an enormous incense stick nearly as tall as himself.
"..."
Silently staring at the picture, Su Min felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She remembered that youth. He had undergone a Heaven Dao Foundation Establishment and was now preparing for his Heavenly Tribulation. According to sect reports, he would not face the dreaded Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, but the Six-Nine was likely. That already made him a rare genius, though even among geniuses, vast gaps existed.
By modern standards, he was like a top-scoring exam candidate. With a solid foundation in the sect, he had a high chance of reaching the Core Formation stage. He was definitely worth nurturing. And while Core Formation cultivators might seem insignificant to Su Min, one had to remember that the entire Wei-Wu Province, with a population of billions, currently had only one Core Formation expert, and that was a demonic beast.
But still...
"How much?" Su Min asked, a plan forming.
"Ten taels of silver." The middle-aged woman grinned slyly. Su Min had only disguised her cultivation, not her appearance or clothes. The robes she wore, though simple to her eye, were crafted by master artisans and were luxurious in both texture and design. The woman might not know their exact value, but she could tell they were not ordinary. This girl was surely a young mistress from a great family, out for fun. And to reach late-stage Body Refining by seventeen or eighteen? She was a true genius. The woman herself was over fifty and had just reached late-stage Body Refining her own cultivation path ended here.
"Five and a half taels," Su Min countered flatly.
She saw right through the woman's scheming. With her immense spiritual power, she could even sense the faint, scattered surface of the woman's thoughts. She could not read exact details, but she could roughly sense the incense's actual cost. Five taels was the base price the extra half was just for the woman's effort.
"Guh!" The woman choked, but meeting Su Min's deep, inky eyes, her instincts screamed a warning. This one knows the real price. Take the money and shut up.
This was the cultivation world. Overstepping with the wrong person could mean death.
The woman quickly forced a servile smile. It was better to earn less than to offend someone she could not touch.
Soon, Su Min was strutting away with the giant incense stick slung over her shoulder like a bizarre weapon. Silver meant nothing to her she was here for the experience.
And the idea of praying to herself? It was hilarious.
"Tsk, tsk..." The crowd watched in awe. Such expensive incense was a luxury few could afford. Su Min did not hesitate. She jammed the massive stick into the large incense burner, snapped her fingers to light it with a spark of spiritual energy, and watched the thick smoke rise into the air.
"Did it work?" someone in the crowd asked her curiously.
"Nope," Su Min replied, popping the 'p'.
"Huh?"
"Just a placebo effect. It makes you feel better, but it does not actually do anything."
"..."
The crowd exchanged awkward glances. But then an elderly scholar suddenly stepped forward, his face red with indignation as he glared at Su Min.
"How dare you disrespect the Immortal Venerable!"
"Eh?" Su Min blinked, then studied him. A faint, almost imperceptible trace of incense energy her incense energy clung to him.
"When I was young, I fell gravely ill! No healer could cure me. But my mother prayed to the Immortal Venerable here, and I recovered overnight! It was a true miracle!"
"Uh " Su Min eyed the elder. He was over a hundred years old, barely at the Foundation Establishment stage. His parents were long gone.
"Lao Mu, here again instead of watching your descendants?" someone from the crowd teased him gently.
Su Min knew the truth. Her Buddha's Protection could ward off disasters, but it was not a wish-granting tool. It might have passively saved his life in a moment of dire karma, but it could do no more than that. Yet this elder, saved once in his youth, had become her lifelong, devout follower.
"Young lady, you should not " the elder began, intent on lecturing her.
Hm?
Su Min's expression suddenly shifted. Her gaze snapped upward to the sky, where a loathsome, corrosive aura was approaching at a terrifying speed.
Then
A colossal, shadowy hand materialized, eclipsing the sun. Its dark shadow stretched out, swallowing dozens of kilometers beneath it.
"What is that?! Which Divine Transformation cultivator dares to attack us?!" the elder paled, his previous anger forgotten. Wei-Wu was under the immortal sect's protection. Who would dare?
"That is no Divine Transformation cultivator," Su Min said, her voice calm and clear, cutting through the panic. "That is someone half-step into the Dao Comprehension stage."
"What? Who are you?! Even the Ancestor might not rival a Dao Comprehension cultivator! We are doomed!" The elder gaped at her, stunned by her casual identification of such a high level of cultivation.
There was no more time to ponder. Because in the next moment, Su Min vanished from the spot.
She reappeared high in the sky, a stark figure against the massive hand. With a single, clean sweep of her sword, a brilliant arc of light bisected the giant shadowy hand, causing it to dissipate into foul smoke.
A furious roar shook the heavens. "Who are you? A mere early Divine Transformation cultivator, daring to interfere with my affairs?!"
The elder's legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees. Had he heard right? Divine Transformation? He had just scolded a Divine Transformation expert?! She could erase him from existence with a flick of her finger, and no one would even question it.
"A half-dead wretch. How disgusting," Su Min sneered, her voice carrying easily over the distance. "You wreak havoc on the Southern Borderlands... yet you never bothered to learn who owns this land."
Her voice dropped, every word sharp and clear as thunder. "I am Su Min. Remember it well."
Thud!
The elder below collapsed fully, kowtowing deeply toward the sky. He did not doubt her. No one would be foolish enough to impersonate the sect's founder especially not before a near-Dao Comprehension expert. Only one person in the world could face such a foe at the early Divine Transformation stage: the Immortal Venerable herself.
"Gulp..."
The middle-aged woman who had sold the incense trembled violently. She had just tried to sell overpriced incense to the actual Ancestor. It was like selling a candle to the sun.
But Su Min paid no attention to the chaos below. Her focus was entirely on the battle ahead.
"You! You are the one who killed that black-scaled bastard?" The enemy's voice now held a note of wariness. That black serpent had been swift and cunning, yet this woman and the Dragon Emperor had cornered and slain it. She was dangerous. As a Fallen who valued survival above all else, he would not underestimate her.
"It took some effort to trap him," Su Min admitted casually. She sent a gentle but firm pulse of spiritual energy downward, suppressing the Bamboo Spirit's instinctive attempt to fly up and assist her. This was not its fight.
Her own spiritual energy surged within her. Finally a worthy prey. And this one would not escape.
But she had to be careful. A half-step Dao Comprehension self destruction could be catastrophic. When Liao Jie had exploded, even the powerful Ao Xue had been terrified. This one's blast might not match Liao Jie's, but it could still erase a vast region and everyone in it.
She needed to move the battlefield. Somewhere else. Somewhere empty.
"Are you only brave enough to fight near your own nest?" she taunted, her voice dripping with contempt. "Or do you fear being seen for the coward you are?"
She then turned and shot toward the distant, uninhabited mountains, a silver streak daring him to follow.