This was Su Min's final trump card, the one thing she'd been saving for a truly desperate situation.
Back then, no matter how powerful that other Dao Comprehension stage expert had been, he could never truly harm her, not really, because she'd always had this in her back pocket. A "toy" crafted by a genuine Mahayana stage powerhouse might not be much against a true Unity stage expert, but against a fellow Dao Comprehension stage opponent? It was perfect. Su Min wouldn't feel wasteful using it here, and it was more than enough to turn the tide completely.
Moreover, the creator of this particular orb was a peak Mahayana stage existence, one of the strongest beings to have walked the earth in recent millennia.
"The Demon Buddha Annihilates the World, the Tathāgata Bows in Submission! Ten Thousand Demons Wail, Heaven Weeps and Earth Splits!!!"
The next moment, a veritable tide of shrieking, tormented vengeful spirits surged from the unfurled scroll, blotting out the sky and sun as they rushed toward Su Min in an unstoppable wave of hatred and corruption.
"Hmph." Su Min merely chuckled coldly, a sound of pure disdain, before hurling the unassuming orb directly into the heart of the oncoming horde. In the next instant, the endless tide of demons and ghosts collided with the tiny, inert looking sphere.
"Seeking death!!!" Seeing the tiny, unremarkable ball Su Min had thrown, a thing devoid of even the slightest spiritual fluctuation, Liao Xin's eyes filled with utter mockery. This was a killing move from his past life as a genuine Mahayana stage expert. A mere mid stage Dao Comprehension cultivator, in his mind, couldn't possibly resist it. Countless righteous experts had fallen to this very technique. He could already envision Su Min being utterly devoured by the demonic horde, her fresh blood and potent flesh nourishing him enough to finally restore him to the coveted Unity stage.
But then—
BOOM!!!
A golden radiance, so blindingly pure and intense it forced eyes to shut instinctively, erupted from the center of the orb. The small golden sphere exploded not with destructive force, but with a profound, sacred energy, and a towering, majestic golden figure materialized out of nowhere. With a single, effortless palm strike that seemed to encompass the heavens, it annihilated the entire demonic tide into motes of dissipating light. The backlash was so severe that the Heavenly High Grade treasure scroll itself shivered and cracked audibly under the force.
"Great Sage Holy Body?! Gah—!!!" Liao Xin barely had time to exclaim in horrified recognition before he vomited a mouthful of black blood, his connection to the treasure severed violently. The next moment, he was sent flying like a meteor, crashing violently into the scorched earth, creating a deep crater.
For a single, frozen instant, even the four figures still locked in their own fierce battle far away froze mid motion. Their eyes turned involuntarily toward the distant, overwhelming golden light. Even they, despite their own past heights, felt a sliver of primal fear. This was a level of power, a purity of essence, that none of them had reached even in their prime.
"A Great Sage of the Great Desolate Holy Body!!!"
"How does such an existence still remain in this decayed world?!" All four exclaimed in unison, their voices a mix of shock and disbelief. As far as they knew, there was only one Great Desolate Holy Body in the current era, and that one was nowhere near this level of manifestation. But their hesitation lasted less than a second before the brutal reality of their own battle forced them to resume.
As for Su Min? Her expression remained cold and utterly composed beneath her helmet. She stared down dispassionately at the fallen figure in the crater below, then lunged forward once more without a word, her sword a flash of lethal light.
Schlick—!
The sickening sound of flesh being pierced rang out clearly in the sudden quiet. Su Min showed no mercy, no quarter.
"Guh—!!!"
Liao Xin coughed up another mouthful of blood, his face twisting in pure, undiluted horror. As a fallen one, he had abandoned everything, morality, compassion, his very soul, except the base, animalistic will to survive. Nothing terrified him more than true, final death. But Su Min gave him no chance to recover, to plead, or to flee. While his spiritual energy was still in violent chaos from the orb's backlash, she channeled a devastating, reversing force directly into his body through her blade.
"Five Elements Reversal, Annihilation."
His Yuányīng shattered first, the core of his power exploding into fragments. Then his bones turned to dust. His meridians dissolved into nothing. His very flesh unraveled.
BANG!!!
In the next instant, Liao Xin's body exploded into a fine, crimson mist. Not a single drop of blood managed to stain Su Min's pristine white robes.
"This battle was easier than expected. Now, to help the others." She exhaled a deep breath, the tension leaving her shoulders, then turned her gaze toward the distant, still raging battlefield. The energy fluctuations there were growing more and more violent. Kong Chen was holding his own, but Kong Hui was clearly being suppressed. Though he wasn't in immediate mortal danger, Su Min didn't hesitate.
She chose her target, Kong Chen's opponent, the one currently free to attack. In a flash, she appeared directly behind the man and thrust her sword. Too focused on pressuring Kong Chen, the man had no time to react or even sense her approach.
Schlick—
Her blade pierced straight through his spiritual defenses and into his core. Then, as if summoned by her will, countless glowing "卍" symbols descended from the sky like a divine rain, grinding his form into spiritual dust. With Su Min's ruthless and perfectly timed ambush, that particular battle ended in an instant. Now, only one enemy remained. His face paled instantly to a sheet white, realizing his imminent doom.
"Done. All three dead. Were they the 9th to 11th seats of the Black Seal?" Su Min clapped her hands lightly as if dusting off dirt, though her expression remained serious, the name of the organization hanging heavy in the air.
"Black Seal?" Kong Hui and Kong Chen, who had been about to ask about the nature of that overwhelming golden strike, stiffened at the name. They didn't know what it specifically was, but seeing the power of the three they had just slain, if the 9th Seat was this strong, how utterly terrifying were the ones above them?
If these were all Dao Comprehension stage, then the higher seats might very well be Unity stage. And in this era of decay, no active Unity stage experts were known to remain in the world. This… was not good news at all.
"It's as you're guessing. Some among them may have already recovered to the Unity stage. Maybe not all, but regardless, this organization has the concentrated power to crush any single major faction in a one on one confrontation." Su Min's tone was calm, matter of fact, but she deliberately didn't mention the worst part. Their leader wasn't just a Unity stage expert. He was a true, legendary Great Emperor, a being on par with the Buddha himself, the founder of their own sect.
"Benefactor Su, that strike earlier…?" Kong Hui took a deep, steadying breath, his face grim. Though he'd been pressured, he hadn't panicked. He knew that even if the enemy had Unity stage members, as long as he could fight, he could at least protect himself, though he couldn't hope to achieve more than that.
"A gift from a Mahayana stage expert I met in the ancient battlefield." Su Min's voice was indifferent, offering no further details. A Great Sage of the Great Desolate Holy Body at the Mahayana stage could even contend with newly ascended Great Emperors for a time. Though they'd likely still lose in a prolonged fight, they'd put up a far better fight than ordinary Mahayana experts. But right now, Su Min herself was still far, far from that level. She had a long, arduous way to go.
"Hey, you saw that, right? I've cleaned up your mess. Anything else to say?" She looked up at the featureless golden sky of the pocket realm, speaking to the air. A beam of concentrated golden light descended, enveloping her, and Su Min vanished on the spot, leaving the two monks staring at the empty space in bewilderment.
"It is said the Buddha was blessed with both immense fortune and profound wisdom, born with a noble destiny. Only thus could he contemplate the true meaning of life and death, wielding absolute intellect and compassion." Kong Hui sighed, a complex look in his eyes.
"Looking at Benefactor Su now… the gap between her and the Buddha, in terms of opportunity at least, may not be as vast as one might think." Her opportunities, her encounters, were truly enviable. Clearly, with her mastery of the Time Law, she had been chosen by the Imperial Artifact.
This final trial, cleaning up the sect's most dangerous traitors, had been its test for her. Though she had relied on their help and an external treasure, Su Min's own strength, timing, and ruthlessness were undeniable. And even if her current cultivation was inferior, the fact that she had reached this point, allied with such beings, proved her wisdom. She wasn't just a reckless brute; she knew how to borrow strength to defeat strength.
"Let's continue searching for our own fortune. We've helped her enough for now. Pills aren't an issue with her debt, the rest is up to us." Unlike the more emotionally affected Kong Hui, Kong Chen didn't dwell on it. He had first met Su Min when she was already at the Nascent Soul stage, a rising star, unlike Kong Hui, who had known her since her early, vulnerable Qi Refining days. So he wasn't as sentimental. Though even back then, her absurd combat prowess for her level had shocked him profoundly.
Meanwhile… After the two left, several more figures arrived at the devastated battlefield. A group of Dao Comprehension stage monks from other sects surveyed the scene, their expressions grave. "A battle between six Dao Comprehension experts… Did the Great Thunder Temple send all their elites?" one muttered.
"Unlikely. Their sect only has four known Dao Comprehension experts, one of whom is still in the early stages, nowhere near this level of combat prowess we're sensing," another replied, shaking his head.
"Then who…?" They glanced at each other, completely clueless.
"Regardless, we must report this to the wider world. A battle of this scale, with this much collateral, is no small matter." Soon, more groups arrived from other directions. Within a single day, nearly every Divine Transformation and Dao Comprehension expert still in the secret realm had come to investigate the site. Such a high level battle was far too rare to ignore. And thus, news of it spread like wildfire across the continent. Not that Su Min cared one bit; she was already elsewhere, dealing with far more important things.
Elsewhere, in a secluded space within the realm…
"You almost got me killed! Making me clean up your mess, and forcing me into a 1v3?!" The moment she appeared in the golden chamber, Su Min glared at the hovering Imperial Artifact and complained loudly. That strike just now had been powerful, but not enough to kill all three at once. If even two of them had survived the initial blast, she would've been in serious, genuine danger. These weren't ordinary Dao Comprehension stage experts; they were ancient monsters with Mahayana level insights.
"That was the trial. You passed, using both wisdom and strength, internal and external." The ancient bell's voice was calm, showing no remorse. As an artifact spirit, its sense of morality and risk was fundamentally different from humans. It wouldn't lie; if it didn't want to answer something, it would simply stay silent. But it wouldn't deliberately scheme or set an impossible trap either.
"What do you actually have here for me?" Su Min decided not to dwell on it and cut straight to the point, her eyes sharp. Though she remained cautious. What if this thing wanted to use her as a vessel to revive its old master or something? At her current level, she couldn't resist an Emperor tier artifact outright. But possessing her would be difficult; her soul was strong and unique enough that unless she willingly accepted it like Jiang Xi had with the lunar spirit, she could likely escape at any time.
After all, she still had a drop of Xie Yingying's blood essence acting as a lifeline. It might not be as overwhelmingly powerful as it had been during her Golden Core and Nascent Soul days, but some of its unique effects remained, like the Yin Yang Escape technique, which could let her flee instantly from most spiritual binds. Otherwise, she wouldn't be nearly so calm right now.
"Your cultivation has just entered the mid stage of Dao Comprehension and isn't fully stabilized yet. Any forceful external boosts might permanently halt your future progress. So what I offer here isn't a raw cultivation inheritance, but something else, something more foundational." The bell explained.
"What is it?" Su Min's interest was piqued.
"Have you heard of 'Enlightenment Under the Bodhi Tree'?"
"I have. And I've experienced it myself, more than once." Su Min answered without hesitation. The Bodhi Ancient Tree's unique properties made it ideal for comprehending profound laws and tempering the body and soul. As one of the world's few supreme divine objects, the fact that the Great Thunder Temple had preserved one for so long spoke volumes about their hidden background and strength.
"Future Maitreya Mountain has a similar inheritance, though with some… fundamental differences."
"Oh?"
"We don't have a living Bodhi Ancient Tree, so we can't offer enlightenment sessions every few years like they do. Ours only activates once every century, accumulating power. But precisely because the interval is so long, the effects, when they come, are far more potent and concentrated."
"What would I even comprehend here?" Su Min frowned slightly, now genuinely curious.
"Do you see the golden river flowing beneath your feet? This… is the condensed essence of our founder's legacy. This is our true, ultimate background."
"You want me to observe… the River of Time?! Are you completely insane?!" Su Min's expression changed dramatically. This was no joke, this was how the Sinful Buddha had died!
"Under normal circumstances, no one can truly cross the River of Time. But once you observe it, truly connect with it, you become a living anchor in its flow. Beings from the distant past or the far future can pay a great price to traverse time and reach you, using you as a beacon."
"The Sinful Buddha died specifically because of this! My current cultivation is far inferior to his, so even if the anchor I provide is weaker, so is my strength to resist any such intruder!" Su Min shook her head firmly, her decision absolute. She had no lifespan limit to force her to take such risks; she could afford to be patient.
"No, no, you misunderstand. The River of Time is the most mysterious existence in all the realms, perhaps even the most mysterious of all. I don't have the right, nor the power, to let you comprehend it directly. That path is sealed."
"The fortune I speak of is enlightenment here, in this chamber, bathed in the river's reflected light. Your cultivation base may not improve much, but your soul power, your spiritual sense, will benefit greatly. And from what I can see… you seem to be stuck at a rather frustrating bottleneck."
"…That's true." Su Min smiled wryly, conceding the point. Being stuck at the peak of 7th grade high tier alchemy, unable to take that final step into the 8th grade, was indeed her most immediate and frustrating problem. She had come here seeking a sliver of opportunity, a spark of inspiration. And now, it seemed, against all odds, she might have found it.