"Report, the Immortal Sect has sent an invitation." As the group was deep in their grim discussion, a servant arrived, holding a finely crafted jade invitation in hand.
Upon seeing it, the expressions of all three darkened instantly. This was clearly a trap, a banquet set by the true master of the Immortal Sect, a woman whose mere words could stir the entire cultivation world into motion.
The allure of a single seventh grade pill from her was too great. If not for their current conflict with her, these three would likely be rummaging through their own treasuries right now, trying to find a worthy gift. But now, the situation was deeply awkward. The Immortal Sect, while a super sect in name, still lacked the deep, generational foundational strength of older clans. Its current formidable status was undeniably propped up by Su Min alone.
With just one word from her, half the continent's powerful experts would move for a chance at her favor. The title of the world's greatest alchemist carried that kind of immense, tangible weight.
"What should we do?" one of the elders asked, his voice heavy.
"Let us all go. We cannot afford to refuse and openly conflict with her now. That woman can mobilize the full might of the Golden Crows and the Dragon Clan, and she even led the charge to uproot an entire super sect founded by an Emperor." Prince Yao delivered his assessment decisively, his face stern. Thankfully, they had not yet crossed the point of no return with her; their previous interactions with Xie Yingying had been tense but not violent.
"Should we just give up our claim then?"
"What else can we do? The cost of winning a confrontation with her is far too high." They had gathered most of the basic information about Su Min over the past weeks; it was not difficult, as her exploits were legendary. But now, armed with that knowledge, they were hesitant. They knew that if they attacked the Eastern Mulberry Province, the divine beasts would join the fight in full force to protect their territory.
But if they only targeted the other two provinces, they would, in theory, only face the Immortal Sect itself. In that regard, the Immortal Sect's own core strength was almost insignificant to them. But now, Su Min had returned, turning the entire calculation on its head.
"And we just received news, an extremely rare mineral vein has been discovered in one of the provinces we wanted." Another piece of information arrived, worsening their dilemma. If Su Min had not been present, this news would have been tightly sealed. Wealth like this tempted even the most disciplined minds. Their confidence in a peaceful resolution had been lacking before, but now, with this new resource at stake, things were entirely different.
"We have no real choice. If we push too hard, we might trigger an overreaction we cannot control. Besides, with a Lunar Sovereign Physique and a Five Elements Holy Body among them, and with five supreme physiques known in total, the fact that Yin and Yang cannot coexist means half of them are already naturally on the opposing side to us. This will not be easy." The elder sighed, laying out the stark reality.
"What a divine beauty..." Among the three, only Prince Yao seemed distracted, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. Truthfully, he did not care much about the so called ancestral lands. His personal interests lay in a different, more captivating direction...
--
"These special crystals can actually boost the cultivation of Dao Comprehension stage cultivators without any side effects?" Su Min looked at the small mountain of shimmering, multi hued crystals before her with mild surprise. It had been a long time since she solidly entered the Dao Comprehension stage, and her foundation was now fully stabilized. But progressing further through normal meditation would be extremely slow and difficult.
Unexpectedly, the sect had provided a perfect solution.
"Correct. These are incredibly rare ores, Spirit Condensation Crystals, and they are still being actively mined in the Cangling Province. With a steady supply of these, you can quickly advance to the mid stage of Dao Comprehension without compromising your foundation." Xie Yingying confirmed.
"Are those people from the Yao Clan after these specific ores?"
"They probably do not know about them yet. The discovery was recent, and I sealed the news. Now that you are back, I have deliberately spread it."
"To deter them?"
"Exactly. They possess an Emperor's Artifact. If a real, all out fight breaks out, the collateral damage would be catastrophic for the continent. But with these two mineral veins, we must hold those territories firmly. They are our sect's future." Xie Yingying's voice was resolute.
"Then it is settled. It seems the primary resources I need before reaching the Unity stage will come from these two veins." Su Min nodded, a sense of relief washing over her. Advancing in the Dao Comprehension stage was far too difficult otherwise. Though her lifespan was infinite, she could not afford to waste centuries in stagnation.
"Let us deal with the immediate problem first, then we can focus on the rest." While she urgently needed to break through, Su Min was not in a rush to start secluded cultivation just yet. She had two critical tasks to complete first: driving away those eyeing her territory and finding a way to awaken the dormant Qilin egg.
Otherwise, she would never obtain the Central Wutu Divine Earth, and her path to the Mahayana stage would remain permanently blocked.
She was deeply curious about how powerful she would be at the Mahayana stage. According to the fragmented legacy she had inherited, the legendary Five Elements Emperor had slain a crippled true immortal while at the Mahayana stage. After that earth shaking feat, he ascended to the Ascension stage, becoming a true Emperor.
She did not know how she would compare to him, but her own path would undoubtedly be smoother. The Emperor had spent over ten thousand years gathering the five divine treasures just to reach Mahayana. For her, apart from the five hundred years lost due to the world's suppressive environment, she had spent less than a thousand years so far.
"Hmm?" Just then, two disciples approached and relayed a message in hushed tones.
"People from the Yao Clan are here?" Su Min's lips curled into a cold, predatory smirk. "Let us go see what kind of pests have been giving you a headache."
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and strode out of the chamber. The very air in the corridor seemed to shift and bow the moment her feet touched the main hall's polished marble floor. In a single, fluid breath, her figure vanished from sight, then reappeared atop the sect's main ceremonial dais, her sleeves drifting around her like settling mist as she sat, one leg crossed over the other in an posture of effortless, inherent authority.
She did not ask for permission to take the central seat. She did not need to. That seat of honor had always been hers, and everyone present knew it.
Xie Yingying followed a beat later, moving to stand behind her right shoulder with quiet, lethal precision. She said nothing, but her presence at Su Min's back was as natural and fixed as the moon trailing the sun, steady, unwavering, absolute.
The arrangement had not been rehearsed. It did not need to be. Su Min did not glance back, but her body relaxed ever so slightly at Xie Yingying's presence, a silent acknowledgment of complete trust.
Su Min exhaled slowly, almost amused by the formality. She might get lost in her alchemy for weeks or go months without proper sleep, but Xie Yingying never doubted her when it truly counted. And for all her occasional, chaotic missteps and the humorous stories people whispered, Su Min was methodical and ruthless beneath the surface, especially when someone threatened what was hers. Of course, her occasional lapses in judgment that led to amusing but harmless incidents did not count; everyone in the sect was long since used to those by now.
And Xie Yingying? She never let anyone forget who Su Min belonged to.
Soon, Su Min's spiritual sense brushed against a peculiar, concentrated aura. Three Dao Comprehension stage cultivators had entered her perception range and were approaching the main hall.
"Three Dao Comprehension stage cultivators, two at the early stage and one at the mid stage. Not bad at all. No wonder Yingying felt pressured. And they must have that Emperor's Artifact. Even I would have trouble blocking a full powered strike from that." Narrowing her eyes, Su Min assessed their strength internally. Xie Yingying was firmly at the mid stage of Dao Comprehension, while the Little Golden Crow had recently reached the late stage. As a supreme divine beast, the latter's rapid progress was expected. But even for divine beasts, reaching the Unity stage required an immense accumulation of time and energy.
The Azure Dragon and the Peacock were still at the early stage of Dao Comprehension. But without the divine beasts' direct intervention in human disputes, facing three seasoned Dao Comprehension stage experts would indeed be difficult for Xie Yingying alone.
As for the Emperor's Artifact, Su Min knew she was not yet a match for its full, awakened power. Just recalling the Mahayana stage Bloodfiend Patriarch, if he had still possessed his Heaven tier high grade artifact, Su Min would have suffered greatly, perhaps even perished. She might still be recovering from her injuries in seclusion right now. It was a stark reminder to never underestimate top tier artifacts.
With that in mind, Su Min glanced toward a young man standing quietly at the side of the hall. His radiant, sun gold hair, paired with his strikingly handsome, sharp featured face, would make any female cultivator steal a second look.
But what caught Su Min's attention more was what he held cradled in his arms, a small, intricately carved golden ancient bell that pulsed with a deep, slumbering power.
The Golden Crow Bell. One of the two known Emperor's Artifacts of the Golden Crow Clan. Naturally, this man was a pure blooded member of the clan.
Back then, the Little Golden Crow had thrown an egg into a geothermal vein right in front of Su Min, using the intense, pure Yang heat to accelerate its hatching. That egg had become the man before her now. Though his personal cultivation was only at the early stage Nascent Soul, his pure bloodline allowed him to act as a conduit and wielder for the Emperor's Artifact.
To be safe, Su Min had him stay here in the hall with the artifact, a silent but powerful deterrent.
Despite his naturally proud and aloof demeanor, Su Min had heard through the grapevine that this particular Golden Crow had zero interest in human female cultivators. Though he was always polite, his gaze never lingered on them.
Xie Yingying had once asked the Little Golden Crow about it out of sheer curiosity, only to receive an answer that left her utterly speechless: in the Golden Crow's aesthetic standards, humans had too little fur and their forms were awkward. They preferred mates with lustrous, flowing golden plumage and elegant, avian proportions.
But while their tastes differed vastly from humans, their reverence for pure strength was universal. This Golden Crow, for instance, obeyed Su Min's instructions without question, partly because he had benefited greatly from her high grade elixirs throughout his cultivation journey.
"They are here," Xie Yingying murmured, her voice low and laced with icy disdain.
Su Min turned her head slightly, blinking in mild confusion. "Hm?" Her eyes drifted toward her partner. Xie Yingying had not drawn her sword, had not even spoken more than that single, clipped line, but her entire posture told a different story. Her arms were folded too tightly across her chest. One foot was tapping a soundless, impatient rhythm behind Su Min's chair. She was not nervous. She was furious.
This was not just simple annoyance. It was a deep, personal loathing. Quiet, simmering, and barely held back.
They had not even formally confronted the Yao Clan yet. On paper, this was meant to be a negotiation. A formality. "Why did it feel like Yingying was already bracing to draw blood?" Su Min wondered.
But Xie Yingying said nothing more, and Su Min knew her well enough not to press in public.
And that silent understanding was enough for Su Min to grasp the situation completely.
Whoever they are… they have already earned her sword.
The three visitors from the Yao Clan froze the moment they stepped into the grand hall, their senses overwhelmed.
Xie Yingying, whom they had previously known as a cool, collected, and almost diplomatically reserved leader, now stood beside the seat of honor with an aura of icy, lethal calm. And in the main seat itself, draped in a flowing, moon white battle skirt, lounged a young woman who appeared no older than seventeen or eighteen. She reclined with a casual, almost negligent ease, her posture careless, one leg crossed over the other as if this high stakes meeting were a mere afterthought to her day.
Yet the single word that surfaced in the minds of all three was the same:
Majestic. Overbearing.
Su Min did not need theatrics or loud proclamations to assert her dominance. She wore it like a second skin, an intrinsic part of her being. And as the continent's only high level grade seven alchemist, she had every right to look down on them from her lofty position.
"Well, since you are all here, I will be direct," Su Min said, her voice laced with a lazy, unimpressed tone. "We are not surrendering those two provinces. If you want them, you are welcome to try and take them." Su Min had no patience for circular diplomacy or veiled threats. Did they really think three Dao Comprehension stage cultivators could intimidate her? Please.
As for Emperor's Artifacts, she had one right here in the room too. Heaven tier high grade artifacts? Xie Yingying could now mobilize most of the Xuantian Mansion's defensive and offensive power. If it truly came to a fight, these three would not leave this hall alive today.
Of course, Su Min was not eager to start a battle. Fights between Dao Comprehension stage experts were cataclysmic, and the Immortal Gate itself could suffer. But if they forced her hand, she would not flinch from the consequences.
"You—!" Su Min's blunt, dismissive tone left two of the elders breathless with indignation. Compared to Xie Yingying's diplomatic evasions and firm but polite refusals, Su Min's tone was infinitely more domineering. She did not negotiate; she laid down the law.
The Prince Yao, however, was momentarily dazed. The woman's commanding presence and untouchable beauty made his heart race in a way he had never experienced, not even in his fleeting interactions with Xie Yingying. For a fleeting, terrifying moment, a dangerous, submissive urge to kneel surged within him. It vanished as quickly as it came, so brief and strange that even Su Min's sharp senses did not catch it.
Despite their anger, the three Yao Clan members remained oddly, cautiously silent. Not out of respect for the proceedings. Out of pure, calculated caution for their own survival.
"The Cangling Province was originally our Yao Clan's ancestral land. It is only right and proper that we reclaim it." The mid stage Dao Comprehension elder tried to argue, his voice strained.
"You abandoned this world to hide away on secluded planets during the hard times. Do not blame us for taking and developing what you left behind." Su Min's retort was swift and merciless.
"You—!" The elder choked on his words, his face turning a shade of red. At this level of cultivation, verbal sparring was usually beneath them, but more importantly, Su Min was not wrong, and he had no real moral or legal rebuttal.
"And you claim it is yours? Is there even a single, traceable remnant of your clan's presence left there? Any active wards? Any maintained shrines?"
"..."
A heavy silence fell over the hall. Su Min waited calmly, knowing they would not dare act. Even if they wanted to, direct assassination attempts against high level cultivators in their own strongholds were practically unheard of in this world.
To reliably kill a Dao Comprehension stage expert, you would need to send multiple other Dao Comprehension stage fighters. At that point, it would not be an assassination; it would be an outright, declared war.
As for pure strength in numbers, the gap was even wider. Su Min had already received over a dozen jade slips from various super clans and sects offering support. If a fight broke out here, she could call upon their aid immediately.
"Hey, Young Master, what are you doing?" Suddenly, the leading elder turned to the youth behind him, realizing with dawning horror that Prince Yao had not spoken a single word since arriving, his gaze fixed on Su Min.
"Gulp... Uh, Miss Su... Would you like to have dinner together sometime?" Prince Yao's voice was uncharacteristically timid, his words completely incongruous with the tense political setting.
"..."
The hall plunged into utter, profound silence. Even the Golden Crow clansman gave the young prince a bizarre, sidelong look as if wondering whether he had just suffered a severe qi deviation to the brain.
Did he not know? Of course he knew. Everyone who was anyone knew.
The Golden Crow had personally witnessed Su Min and Xie Yingying sharing wine beneath the moonlight, training in synchronized silence through the night, emerging from weeks of closed door cultivation wrapped in each other's robes. The sect disciples whispered about it, the elders politely pretended not to notice it, and the spiritual beasts who roamed near the mansion's grounds had long since accepted it as simple fact.
They were not just cultivation partners. They were the pair. An unbreakable unit.
And this little brat had the sheer, unmitigated gall to ask Su Min out, to her face, with Xie Yingying standing right there, glowering?
Madness. Absolute, suicidal madness.
The faint, usually invisible cross mark on Xie Yingying's forehead pulsed once. Then again. Like a divine seal reacting to blasphemy, like a silent war gong echoing in a frozen battlefield. Her hand inched imperceptibly toward her spatial ring, her fingers curling with deliberate, deadly calm. Not because she was startled. Not even because she was angry, not in a hot, raging way.
But because some fool had just looked her in the eye and dared to say that, in front of her. If she drew her sword now, it would not be to kill him. No, that would be too quick, too kind. No, what she envisioned in that frozen second was a precise, anatomical dismantlement. First, the mouth that had spoken those words. Then, the eyes that had dared to look at Su Min like she was some prize to be plucked off a shelf. A walking temptation to be won.
That man, that boy, had once had the audacity to ask to marry her, Xie Yingying. Now he was openly ogling Su Min? Her Su Min?
Right. In front. Of. Her.
Behind her perfectly composed expression, the very air around Xie Yingying seemed to grow colder. Killing intent bloomed, cold and silent, like the first frost curling across a naked blade's edge. It was not a flare of rage. It was the absolute hush before the blizzard. The poised, still breath before the executioner's sword fell.
Only Su Min stared at him in utter, genuine bewilderment. It was not that she was flustered, she had been propositioned before by fools. But for someone at this level of cultivation and political standing to let base lust override all sense of judgment and survival in such a critical setting?
For a brief, unguarded moment, Su Min's gaze turned purely pitying, as if she were observing a rare and tragically defective specimen.
"Young Master...?" The elder was utterly dumbfounded, his political concerns momentarily overshadowed by sheer disbelief. High level cultivators were usually solitary, not because they lacked descendants, but because their mortal partners had long since passed away from old age.
Finding a true, lifelong cultivation companion was exceedingly rare. But their young master, a prodigy personally sealed away by the great Yao Xin Emperor, had always been notoriously aloof and disinterested. He had rejected every eligible female cultivator in their clan and alliance, remaining stubbornly single to this day.
The entire clan leadership had been anxious for him to find a partner and pass on the potent Yao Xin Emperor's bloodline.
But was this really the time and place for his sudden, bizarre awakening?
The elder glanced back at Su Min and caught her strange, almost clinical expression of pity.
"Tsk." Su Min clicked her tongue softly in amusement, a sound that only made Prince Yao's cheeks flush a deep red; he knew exactly how foolish and inappropriate he had been.
But before he could stammer out an apology or explanation, his expression suddenly changed, shifting to one of shock and alarm. In fact, all three Yao Clan members reacted identically, their heads whipping around as if sensing the same thing at the same time.
Su Min, who had been lounging casually, raised a single, elegant eyebrow.
"What in the world has gotten into them now?"
===
LOL,
Xie Yingying calm down!!!
BTW, I was curious about this part "she'd been propositioned before". By whom, like when or which one????
---
Quick Note About This Detail:
Okay, so the part about the whole sect knowing their relationship (which has basically been an open secret for ages) doesn't actually get mentioned until a few chapters later. But since Su Min is still at her current cultivation stage (Dao Comprehension) and frequently leaves the sect for long periods, I figured this was the perfect spot to slide that info in.
The timeline checks out - by this point, they've been "official" long enough that everyone in the sect has caught on.