A Divine Transformation stage cave dwelling, whatever treasures or legacy it contained, would be practically useless to Su Min now. But for Golden Core cultivators, it made for excellent training grounds and a potential source of valuable resources. What slightly surprised Su Min was how, after all these years of exploration, such untouched secret realms could still randomly appear in this world. Had this been a few hundred years earlier, even she would have been tempted to explore it herself. Watching Lin Yao depart for the mission, Su Min said nothing, instead continuing to flip through the ancient Glass Medicine Buddha's Manual with a growing headache, searching for any fragment of information about divine beast egg incubation.
Divine beast incubation conditions were notoriously bizarrely specific, definitely not as simple as a bird making a nest. With this frustrating thought, Su Min picked up Lin Yao's laptop and, after some consideration, opened a popular online shopping site. Her fingers flew across the keyboard until she found her target.
"Deluxe Automatic Egg Incubator, suitable for chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, and quails. Fully adjustable temperature and humidity, automatic egg turning, only 250 yuan. Damn, does that price feel like it's calling me an idiot? Whatever, bought it."
Without a moment's hesitation, Su Min clicked confirm, though she was using Lin Yao's saved payment information, she felt no guilt. What she'd given the girl in pills and resources was worth infinitely more than a few online purchases.
"Done. Let's see if this thing works."
Satisfied, Su Min nodded, though the ridiculously low price still gave her the vague sense of being insulted. She seriously doubted anyone else in the entire multiverse would consider using a poultry incubator for legendary Kirin eggs, but she was fresh out of better ideas.
To obtain the Central Wutu Divine Earth, she needed a living Kirin to willingly reveal the location of their ancestral secret realm, otherwise, she'd be grasping at air, searching blindly. Might as well try everything, and divine beast eggs were notoriously durable anyway, so she didn't need to worry about accidentally breaking them with a little heat.
Unless she decided to cook them into omelets, though she was genuinely curious how divine beast eggs would taste. But as a responsible Dao Comprehension stage cultivator, she'd long since learned to control such rampant, destructive curiosity.
While Su Min pondered the culinary possibilities, outside the fortress...
"This secret realm cost me a significant portion of my spiritual treasure reserves to construct. Once inside, it will be completely isolated from the outside world. Not even other late Divine Transformation experts could detect anything happening within. You three must not fail this time. Kill her cleanly."
The late Divine Transformation stage expert in black robes glared at his three subordinates. The previous incident had been too bizarre, they'd spent over half a year investigating the three vanished Nascent Soul cultivators only to find absolutely nothing, as if they'd never existed at all.
This defied all logical explanation. They'd even deliberately left a few false clues, yet none of the great families had reacted or launched any investigations. This effectively ruled out capture by the alliance, making the whole situation reek of the supernatural. Thus, they'd completely changed tactics, investing heavily to construct this specialized hunting arena. As a late Divine Transformation expert, he could indeed create temporary secret realms, but its inherent rules bound even him. Unless someone surpassed his power fundamentally, only those at or below the early Divine Transformation stage could physically enter.
Any violation of this rule would immediately collapse the unstable realm, drawing everyone's attention. Moreover, three Divine Transformation experts ganging up on an early Golden Core cultivator would be utterly laughable if known. He foresaw no issues this time, with the realm's properties and their overwhelming force, Lin Yao would definitely die.
Elsewhere, Lin Yao arrived at the mountain gate on her sleek flying sword.
A sizable crowd of independent cultivators and minor clan members had already gathered. Divine Transformation stage realms were generally suitable for Golden Core cultivators to explore, but for safety, a Nascent Soul stage expert from the alliance was leading this expedition, which was considered sufficient precaution.
After all, Divine Transformation belonged to the middle three stages of cultivation. While a living Divine Transformation expert could easily slaughter Nascent Soul cultivators, a dead one's remnant formations and guardians were far less threatening. Preliminary spiritual assessments had confirmed nothing too dangerous lurked inside.
Yet as Lin Yao appeared, the group's atmosphere grew noticeably more fervent. The cultivation world here suffered from a severe gender imbalance, finding a suitable taoist partner was extraordinarily difficult. Combined with Lin Yao's evident beauty and prodigious potential, many young male cultivators immediately began vying for her attention and favor.
At this level, with life extending treatments and spiritual refinement, no one was truly unattractive anyway.
"Miss Lin, what a fortunate coincidence! Today's exploration will naturally center around your safety and success. I would be honored to escort you..."
A golden haired man from a prominent merchant family flew over, smiling ingratiatingly at Lin Yao.
"A mid Golden Core cultivator like you dares flaunt yourself before Miss Lin? Don't forget, you're already over 300 years old with no hope of reaching Nascent Soul. Stop dreaming, toad. Know your place."
Before the man could finish his pitch, another, more arrogant youth interrupted him loudly. "A mere mid Golden Core cultivator trying to cozy up to Miss Lin? She survived the Nine Nine Heavenly Tribulation, she was practically guaranteed to reach Divine Transformation in the future. Someone like you isn't fit to even carry her sword."
"You, how dare you!"
The golden haired man glared furiously, his face reddening, before shrinking back upon sensing the other's aura. The speaker was not only at the late Golden Core stage but also exceptionally young, under 100 years old. Such talent had over a 70% chance of reaching Nascent Soul, not someone a mere merchant scion could afford to provoke.
"Enough. I'm not interested in any of this. Save your breath."
Lin Yao's voice cut through the tension like a shard of ice, cool and utterly dismissive. She watched the petty rivalry unfold before her, her expression unreadable. She had no patience for these tiresome displays of bravado and posturing. In her eyes, none of them came close to the standard that mattered. Their talents, their tempers, their so called pride, they couldn't even compare to a shadow of the person she measured them against.
Without meaning to, her thoughts circled back to Su Min again. No matter who stood before her, they always fell hopelessly short of that one figure. That calm, immense pressure, that quiet, unshakeable force that made her feel... small, yet paradoxically safe. Humbled, yet completely seen. None of these preening peacocks could move her. Not the way Su Min had, just by existing.
"Quiet, everyone. The realm entrance is stabilizing. Be careful and stay alert when we enter."
The elderly Nascent Soul leader showed no interest in their juvenile squabbling. His aura carried distinct hints of impending death. Though at the late Nascent Soul stage, he was over 800 years old.
With barely a century left and his vitality fading fast, even a Divine Transformation pill couldn't help him now. Those with waning life force could progress no further. Since breakthrough was impossible, he busied himself with miscellaneous alliance tasks like this. Naturally, he had no interest in romance or politics either. But even his jaded senses felt something was subtly odd about this particular secret realm. An unease he couldn't quite name.
Lin Yao, however, wasn't thinking about the realm's strange aura. Her mind drifted, unbidden, to Su Min's voice from just before she left:
"As long as you don't stupidly charge into unstable spatial rifts or try to fight a Fallen One head on, feel free to be as reckless as you need to be in there. I'll handle any consequences."
Calm, assured, utterly unshakable. Just like her.
A small, private smile tugged at the edge of Lin Yao's lips, so fleeting it was quickly suppressed. No one else in the chattering crowd noticed. The more she thought about it, the more certain she became, if Su Min were here, there would be truly nothing to fear. No formation she couldn't crack, no danger she couldn't twist to her advantage. Even this Divine Transformation level realm would mean nothing before her. That quiet, absolute confidence she carried made it far too easy to believe in her. And perhaps Lin Yao had started believing a little too easily, a little too completely.
She quickly reined in her wandering thoughts, masking the sudden surge of anticipation behind a carefully neutral gaze. It wouldn't do to look too eager or distracted in front of so many people.
"Lin Yao, you will stay with me once we enter. The rest of you, form teams of at least three before proceeding. Do not wander off alone."
After a long silence observing the realm's fluctuations, the old leader decided. Lin Yao's value to the alliance was too high, direct orders from the higher ups demanded her protection at all costs.
Sticking together was the safest course of action.
"Understood."
Her brow twitched ever so slightly before she answered calmly. She couldn't refuse the order without raising suspicions. But staying glued to the old man's side might limit Su Min's ability to move or observe freely, and that thought sat poorly in her chest. Though a late Nascent Soul expert shouldn't pose too much of an obstacle for someone of Su Min's level... right?
That flicker of doubt was still forming when the old man, deeming the entrance stable, pushed her gently through the shimmering light barrier.
Far above, cloaked by thick clouds and a powerful illusion array, a figure sneered down from a secluded peak.
"That old Nascent Soul fool actually thinks he can protect her? Too late. This realm's internal mechanism scatters all entrants randomly upon entry. She'll land right in the ambush zone where our three are waiting. His presence is meaningless."
The trap had been set with meticulous precision. No one in the group below could possibly sense the late Divine Transformation expert's presence, not when the strongest among them barely reached late Nascent Soul. From the very start, this 'discovered' secret realm had been nothing but a carefully prepared hunting ground.
Lin Yao's vision blurred and twisted the moment she crossed the boundary. When it cleared, she was standing completely alone in a vast, eerily silent valley, the rest of the group nowhere in sight.
"…This is strange."
Secret realms were often unpredictable, but this profound silence felt immediately wrong, manufactured. She instinctively swept her spiritual sense around her, but before she could pinpoint the source of her unease, her heart clenched violently. A wave of pure, instinctual dread swept over her, colder than the Netherworld Ghostfire in her dantian.
At that exact moment, far away in the fortress, Su Min looked up from the laptop screen.
"A spatial trap? Specifically for her?"
She wasn't in deep meditation or actively scouting. She was comparing customer reviews for different incubator models. Her expression instantly sharpened, all casualness gone. Yet, without a single word of warning or a moment's hesitation, she closed the browser page and stood, the laptop still held casually in one hand. The moment something fundamental shifted in the spiritual tether connecting her to Lin Yao, Su Min moved.
Inside the fabricated realm, Lin Yao's body responded before her thoughts could fully catch up. She turned, her senses screaming, but it was already too late. Three immense, suffocating auras slammed into existence around her, materializing from the very air, their pressure oppressive and overwhelmingly lethal. The very atmosphere thickened with tangible killing intent.
Her pupils shrank to pinpricks.
"Three... Divine Transformation experts!!!"
Her breath caught in her throat, the words a choked whisper. Three Divine Transformation experts. Against her, a mere early Golden Core cultivator. This wasn't a suppression tactic, this was an execution squad, an absurd overkill that spoke of desperation.
'I'm going to die.' The thought was chillingly clear.
Then, the world stopped.
Literally.
The air froze, mid current. Dust motes hung motionless. Leaves on the sparse trees stopped their faint rustling. Even the pulse of lethal spiritual energy from the three attackers halted, suspended between one heartbeat and the next.
And in that frozen, silent moment, Su Min appeared, stepping out of nothingness as calmly as if entering her own living room, one hand still casually gripping the same laptop.
Lin Yao stared, too stunned to form words. Her knees felt weak, buckling slightly, her body reacting to the sheer whiplash of imminent death and sudden salvation before her mind could catch up.
"Senior…" she finally whispered, the sound barely audible.
No scream, no desperate shield, no last ditch escape attempt had come from her. But Su Min had known. She had felt the shift across leagues of space and had stepped in before the killing intent could even touch Lin Yao's skin.
It was the first time Lin Yao had truly, viscerally stood at the precipice of certain death. And Su Min had pulled her back from the edge, as effortlessly as brushing away a speck of dust.
She had felt it. Had acted. Had come not because of a direct summons or a sense of duty from their contract, but because it was her. Because Lin Yao had been in mortal danger.
The realization tightened something deep in her chest. Gratitude swelled, hot and overwhelming, but it wasn't just gratitude. It was awe. Profound relief. A magnetic pull toward Su Min that went deeper than logic or reason.
Then, shattering the profound moment,
"Clear this place out first, the signal is terrible in here," Su Min said with practical calm, glancing down at her laptop screen in mild annoyance. "This dumb system wants facial recognition verification for the payment. I'm not sure if my illusion techniques work on electronics. You handle it."
"…What."
Lin Yao looked blankly from the laptop screen held out to her, to Su Min's completely serious face, and back again, pure disbelief overtaking the raw, unnamable emotion she'd barely been able to process. The astronomical cart total for various 'scientific research materials' and one top of the line incubator flashed accusingly across the screen.
Was this... extortion? At a time like this?
Had her earlier wave of soul deep gratitude been terribly, hilariously premature?
Her gratitude cracked at the edges, crumbling into bewildered frustration. Her throat tightened, not from fear this time, but from something more complex and frustrating. Maybe even a pang of hurt.
But Su Min wasn't entirely joking. She had genuinely sensed the rupture in Lin Yao's safety, had moved the instant things went catastrophically wrong. She never offered comforting words, never explained her actions. She never said things like "you're safe now" or "I've got you."
Because to Su Min, the act of rescue itself wasn't the point to be dwelled on.
It was just… what had to be done. A logical step in a continuous process.
This wasn't born of arrogance. It wasn't even aloofness. It was the kind of profound detachment that came from standing utterly alone for too many lifetimes. From watching empires and kingdoms crumble to dust while you stayed fundamentally unchanged. From learning, through brutal repetition, not to mourn what you knew you could never truly keep.
For Su Min, the line between attachment and inevitable loss had blurred into nonexistence long ago. A single session of closed door cultivation could stretch for decades. She might wake from a deep trance to find entire nations fallen, old allies buried, their names erased by the river of time.
That was precisely how she had survived the fall of her Great Wei. Three entire generations had risen and died each time she returned, before strong enough to finally slay the Demon Queen and the dog Emperor who'd slaughtered her clan. That was the stark reality of immortality. Of truly walking the Lonely Path of Longevity.
So she didn't promise forever. Didn't dwell on tears or relief. She saved who she could when she could, and kept walking forward. Even if the people she saved didn't always understand why she never looked back, why she never lingered on the moment of salvation.
Lin Yao swallowed hard, the taste of copper and adrenaline still faint in her mouth. Somehow, that stark realization didn't create distance. It only pulled her in deeper, into a more profound, terrifying understanding.
"Senior, the signal here is completely dead. It's a sealed space."
Accepting the tablet resignedly, Lin Yao explained the obvious. Not that Su Min seemed to care about the technical details, she was far from a technophobe. She'd experienced enough frustrating tunnel signal drops on high speed trains in a past life to be largely unfazed by it now. Her attention had already returned to the three frozen figures, her eyes analytical.
"Three Divine Transformation stage assassins. All early stage, but still. Someone spent a lot of resources on this. Too bad for them, their investment just went up in smoke," Su Min commented idly, dispersing their partially formed combined attack with a lazy flick of her wrist. Before the three trapped experts could even begin to struggle against the time stop, she'd knocked them unconscious with precise spiritual strikes. This time, with more care, she would be able to extract far more useful information from their minds.
"That's it? It's over?"
Watching Su Min's almost bored, casual motions, Lin Yao's lips twitched involuntarily. Divine Transformation experts, pillars of power in this world, were this fragile before her? It looked easier than slaughtering chickens. At least chickens needed their throats cut and proper bleeding, or the meat would taste bad.
"Done. Hold onto this for me. I've frozen the local time stream throughout this entire pocket realm, it should hold for a while. I'm leaving now to deal with these three properly."
With a satisfied nod, Su Min vanished as suddenly as she had appeared, taking the three unconscious captives with her into her own spatial treasure. The distorted space around Lin Yao returned to normal with a soft sigh of air, leaving her standing alone in the suddenly very quiet valley, momentarily stunned, before she stored the laptop securely in her spatial ring. Almost immediately, spatial distortions heralded the late Nascent Soul leader's frantic arrival, his face pale, he'd sensed the massive spiritual disturbance and rushed over as fast as he could.
But Lin Yao barely looked at him, her mind already elsewhere, her thoughts still lingering on the one who had turned certain death aside with a single, effortless step and left just as easily, as if it all meant nothing.
And perhaps, to Su Min, it really did mean nothing more than correcting an error in a complex equation.
But to Lin Yao, in that valley, holding a laptop filled with incubator orders, it had meant everything.
Meanwhile, outside the fabricated realm...
"Huh?"
The late Divine Transformation expert in black robes blinked, his spiritual sense reporting that all three auras of his subordinates had vanished without a trace or explosion, and he'd detected absolutely no energy surge or spatial tear. Utterly baffled, he stared at the stable realm entrance, wondering, what in the name of their master just happened?
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Su Min, that little girl was fully charmed by you. LOL
Imagine if she bring her back and meet Yingying. That must be very interesting