"What's this?"
Just as Su Min was recovering her expended energy, several beams of special, warm golden light emerged from the scattered puppet remains and floated gently before her.
This made her pause her cultivation, as she sensed an unusual familiarity emanating from them, a comforting, pure Buddhist energy.
"This is the reward system the Medicine Buddha set up for trial-takers," the Medicine King's Cauldron explained. "For each chamber you clear, you'll receive these special blessings to comprehensively enhance your strength for the challenges ahead. Of course, there's a catch, these enhancements only work within the tomb's sealed environment. Once you leave, all these temporary buffs will disappear completely."
"What kind of roguelike gameplay is this?" Hearing this, Su Min couldn't help but laugh bitterly, reminded of dungeon-crawling games from her past life. Still, she grabbed the floating lights without hesitation. Simultaneously, streams of clear information flowed into her mind.
[Buddha's Light Blessing: Grants you a protective shield of pure Buddhist light that can absorb significant damage. Resets every minute if broken.]
"Interesting."
Seeing system-like prompts she hadn't encountered in a long time, Su Min remarked with genuine interest. It gave her a strangely familiar feeling, like playing video games in her past life. Though that era felt distant now, the memories hadn't faded with time.
When she had visited her disciple's planet before, she'd indulged in some nostalgia about that simpler life. Now, this situation gave her the peculiar sensation of being inside a game, which only heightened her curiosity about this place and the Medicine Buddha's methods.
"You may proceed now, but there's no need to rush," the cauldron advised. "The Medicine Buddha has separated these spaces with powerful spatial barriers; the puppets from other chambers can't cross over into cleared areas."
"Let me see what's next..." Su Min said, consulting the jade slip again. "Huh? A Taotie?"
Reading the jade slip's description, Su Min froze. Her expression then turned complicated as she saw the details, a Dao Comprehension stage Taotie. There was actually a mythical beast of this level preserved here.
It seemed quite a few powerful beings had defected to the Puppet Emperor's cause back then. But thinking about it, this wasn't really surprising. Take the Golden Crow clan's Azure Dragon King for example, originally a branch of the dragon race, he later joined the Golden Crow Emperor's faction, effectively severing ties with his ancestral lineage.
Though the separation hadn't been particularly hostile. That's why Ao Xue had remained civil toward him afterwards, neither condemning nor recruiting him, simply treating him as if he were air.
"It retains its innate talent, Devouring Heaven and Earth. This isn't my first encounter with this ability, but damn is it annoying."
Reading the jade slip's specific warnings about the Taotie's capabilities, Su Min frowned deeply. It reminded her of a fallen cultivator she'd once faced, that guy had tried to swallow her whole, only for her to blast her way out from inside his stomach.
But that opponent had only possessed a derivative version of the ability through some incomplete inheritance, while what stood before her now was the genuine, primal thing. If nothing else, its devouring capacity would be far greater. She absolutely couldn't let it consume her this time.
"Might as well give it a try. With this special shield and knowing it only works in the tomb, I should make the most of it now."
Feeling the comforting warmth of the Buddha's Light Blessing surrounding her body, Su Min stepped forward into the next chamber, then immediately froze in her tracks.
Because this room was completely different from the previous ones. Not only was the space much larger, stretching far into the dim distance, but at its center stood a truly chilling sight, a nearly kilometer-tall beast that dominated the cavern.
Its body resembled a goat with a human-like face, eyes under its armpits, vicious tiger's teeth, and disturbingly human hands, the exact Taotie of ancient legend, but frozen in a metallic, unliving form.
As Su Min appeared, the Taotie puppet seemed to sense her presence. Its massive body twitched slightly before the mechanical eyes under its arms slowly opened with a grinding sound.
Unlike normal biological eyes, these were enormous mechanical pupils, glowing with a faint red light, devoid of any life or emotion, utterly cold and artificial.
"ROAR!!!"
In the next instant, without any further warning, the Taotie charged at Su Min with terrifying, ground-shaking momentum.
"Five Elements Buddha!!!"
Not daring to hesitate for even a second, Su Min slammed her palm against the empty air before her. Instantly, a colossal ancient Buddha materialized from swirling elemental energy. The two behemoths collided violently in the center of the chamber, the impact shaking the entire space and sending dust falling from the ceiling.
"Damn..."
Watching her summoned Buddha lock horns with the beast, Su Min's eyebrows twitched violently. She could feel her Buddha's form being gradually eroded and devoured by the Taotie's innate ability, though the newly acquired shield provided a temporary resistance, slowing the process.
"So the shield doesn't just protect me directly, it extends to my summons too. Not incredibly durable, but serviceable enough for now."
Su Min mused silently while her hands formed another series of complex seals at blinding speed.
"Thousand-Hand Pagoda!!!"
Hundreds of gigantic, shimmering fists materialized in the air around her and rained down upon the Taotie puppet like a divine avalanche.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
The chamber trembled violently under the relentless barrage. Though many of the attacks were swallowed by the Taotie's devouring field, enough got through to have an effect. Within moments, the massive mythical beast puppet was pinned against the far wall by Su Min's furious assault, temporarily immobilized under the weight of the attack.
"Fuck me, that thing's durable."
Seeing the Taotie stuck to the wall, struggling against the elemental suppression, Su Min inwardly gasped. Despite the spectacular display, none of her attacks had actually dealt substantial damage to its core structure.
Puppets inherently lacked consciousness. While their creators had preserved some of the original mental faculties for these followers to utilize their talents, they'd prioritized constructing them as proper, resilient puppets, meaning layering on incredible defensive enhancements was standard.
Without coordinated tactics, the puppets in the previous hall could have potentially overwhelmed Su Min, forcing her to reveal more of her trump cards rather than handling them so smoothly.
"This thing's body probably belonged to a genuine Unity stage beast when it was alive. Over immense time and after death, it degraded to its current Dao Comprehension level. Moreover, mythical beasts differ fundamentally from humans; their path to Unity doesn't require condensing a dharma body, but directly enhances and empowers their original, innate form."
Su Min's expression darkened as she analyzed the situation. Mythical beasts weren't humanoid to begin with, so they couldn't form human-like dharma bodies. But this didn't make them weaker inherently; one just had to look at how the Golden Crow or dragon clans fought, even when in human form.
The reason they didn't constantly use their true forms was simple, as creatures the heavenly dao favored, humans could perceive and interact with the Great Dao more easily. Thus, most high-level battles between experts were conducted in human forms for precision.
But upon reaching the Unity stage, they'd often fight primarily in their true, massive forms. This didn't mean humans were weaker; at the Unity stage, the gap between humans and ordinary divine beasts would close significantly due to the power of dharma bodies. Catching up to the level of supreme divine beasts, however, would generally require a cultivator to reach the Emperor level themselves.
After all, the bloodlines of those supreme beasts virtually guaranteed them a path to at least Mahayana peak. Whether they could personally advance all the way to Emperor was another matter entirely.
"Whew..."
Such powerful, sustained attacks couldn't be maintained indefinitely. Even Su Min had her limits, and her elemental assault gradually slowed as she felt her energy reserves dipping. It was also worth noting that standard humanoid puppets couldn't manifest dharma bodies, a limitation their creator couldn't overcome.
But for these captured mythical beasts, their immense true forms were their natural dharma bodies. Even Su Min, with all her power, struggled to break them. The fundamental gap between a true Unity level entity and the Dao Comprehension stage was just this vast, and this despair-inducing when encountered directly.
Facing such a creature, even in a degraded, puppet form, Su Min felt genuine, mounting pressure. This puppet retained its potent racial talent, its entire body shrouded in devouring laws that weakened all incoming attacks.
Worse, it could actively digest the energy from absorbed attacks to replenish itself, creating a vicious cycle.
"No Emperor's legacy comes easy, that's for sure."
Watching the Taotie begin to rise again, shaking off the remnants of her attack, Su Min sighed internally. This thing's defensive strength was absurd; without specific counters or overwhelming force, it was practically invincible among peers at the Dao Comprehension level.
"How to break its pseudo-dharma body? Burst it from the inside again like last time? That probably won't work twice, and it might not work at all against this version."
Squinting at the struggling puppet, Su Min rapidly considered her options. She essentially had two paths, overwhelming force applied strategically, or finding a specific weakness to exploit.
"Should I use..." she wondered, contemplating a more direct approach.
"Here's a hint, look closely at the Taotie's eyes," the little cauldron's voice interjected suddenly.
Just as Su Min was deliberating, the tool spirit reappeared in her consciousness. Since entering the tomb, it had stopped its habitual sleeping. Clearly, everything here held great importance to it, especially as it was connected to its creator's legacy.
The Medicine Buddha hadn't kept his own Emperor artifact. Instead, he'd poured all his efforts and resources into nurturing the Medicine King's Cauldron to its current state, making it deeply invested in the proper inheritance of his legacy.
"Eyes?"
Puzzled, Su Min examined the massive mechanical eyes more carefully, then realized something. They didn't look organic at all; they resembled large, ornate screws or access panels. This was likely the puppet's control hub or power conduit; remove them, and the whole construct would likely power down.
"Remember, not all challenges here require pure brute force to overcome. Observe your enemies carefully; there are often alternative solutions prepared by the Medicine Buddha."
With that piece of advice, the Medicine Cauldron vanished back into Su Min's body, leaving her to narrow her eyes in thought.
"First, deal with this thing properly. Azure Dragon Idol, restrain it!"
As the monster charged again, Su Min summoned an enormous wooden dragon that erupted from the ground, its wooden body coiling around the beast with crushing force and toppling it once more with a tremendous crash.
Being a mindless puppet, it lacked combat intelligence and adaptability. Now that its weakness was exposed, Su Min didn't hesitate. Her Five Elements Buddha charged forward, its massive hands gripping the protruding eye structures, and with a mighty heave, wrenched them out from their sockets.
CRACK
With that definitive sound, the entire monster seemed to short-circuit. Its movements ceased instantly, and its form began to disassemble into component parts. Another special, warm golden light appeared from the dissolving core, which Su Min promptly reached out and grabbed.
[Devour Heaven and Earth: Grants temporary ability to consume and digest incoming attacks, converting a portion of the energy. Effectiveness scales with user's cultivation level.]
"This talent is..."
Su Min's eye twitched at the description. This reward was absurdly good, even if temporary. Considering how others in the outside world would struggle and scheme for even a fragment of a Taotie's inheritance, here she got a fully functional version handed to her after a single fight. The power boost was ridiculous; she almost didn't want to leave this place and lose it.
"Wait..."
But this tempting thought immediately sent a chill down her spine. She'd suddenly remembered a core tenet of genuine Buddhist cultivation, the concept of precepts and mindfulness.
Using special methods to recognize and restrain desires, preventing them from spiraling out of control. This world's progressive Buddhism never advocated severing emotions entirely; rather, it encouraged facing desires directly and overcoming them through understanding and discipline.
Cultivation was arduous enough. If one truly abandoned all desires and drives, they might not reach some enlightened state, but more likely just give up on cultivation entirely out of apathy.
Then what would be the point of cultivating in the first place? This realization struck Su Min with clarity.
"So that's it. It's testing whether successors would become addicted to such easily granted power. This tomb doesn't just imprison the ancient Puppet Emperor's legacy; it's also a new cage, a test of will for me."
Feeling the intoxicating changes in her body, the flow of borrowed power, Su Min murmured this insight aloud.
"Good insight, and you didn't even need my reminder. Your wisdom roots are truly exceptional," the cauldron's voice sounded, clearly pleased and relieved that Su Min hadn't succumbed to the temptation. "Experience more of these powers, use these diverse, temporary laws to temper your understanding for your own dharma body, but don't lose yourself in borrowed strength. Remember it is not your own."
"An ordinary genius might have been ensnared by this, but this doesn't tempt me so easily."
Su Min shook her head with a wry smile. She had her own defined goals and her own unique path; no amount of borrowed power would make her lose sight of them. Once her Five Elements Holy Body reached its true completion, its comprehensive boost would dwarf all these miscellaneous, temporary abilities. That was a certainty.
Jack of all trades, master of none was a real danger.
While these abilities and laws were impressive, they ultimately paled beside her core ambitions. Moreover, she suspected her physique's ultimate form might even surpass the legendary peak of the original Five Elements Body itself.
But to develop that far, she needed to reach completion first. And with the Kirin clan's essence now accessible in her backyard, she needn't worry about that final component anymore.
"Onward then. Next chamber..." she said, consulting the jade slip once more. "What the, a Qiongqi???"
Reading the jade slip's description of the next chamber's guardian, Su Min's lips twitched uncontrollably. These challenges kept getting more intense and absurd, each one a legendary mythical beast on par with divine creatures, and none of them simple or straightforward.
The Qiongqi was described as resembling a tiger the size of an ox, with fierce wings and a savage nature.
Seeing this, Su Min wasn't in a particular hurry to proceed. She sat cross-legged right there on the floor to meditate and consolidate her recent gains; she wanted to be perfectly prepared to see what other surprises this ancient tomb had in store for her.