At this moment, outside the tomb, the atmosphere was thick with tension and dark energy.
Two black-robed figures had enveloped the entire secluded valley in a dense, unnatural mist that clung to the rocks and trees. Unless a Dao Comprehension stage cultivator happened to pass by and decided to inspect the area very carefully, no one would notice anything unusual about the place.
"This passage seems to have a powerful seal on it..." Lao Liu muttered, his voice a low rasp as he stared at the faint, shimmering crack in the air before him. "And it looks like someone has already broken through it recently?"
His expression flickered with deep suspicion and a growing unease.
"Did someone enter from outside... or did something manage to get out from inside?"
"Someone entered from outside, the energy residue is clear," Lao Liu concluded, his frown deepening. "But could that bastard have actually left behind a true inheritance? I've never heard of any renowned puppet masters emerging on the continent. That shouldn't be the case."
He was deeply puzzled. After all, obtaining a Great Emperor's inheritance was no simple feat; it required walking a path fundamentally similar to the Emperor's own, a resonance of dao and purpose.
If there had been any famous, powerful puppet masters on the continent, the Black Seal would have noticed them immediately. But unfortunately, while there were a few minor puppet sects scattered around, they were all mediocre, their techniques crude. None of them had anyone capable of meeting the lofty standards required to inherit a true Great Emperor's legacy.
This left the two of them deeply puzzled. However, the more pressing issue was that if someone had indeed entered before them, their hopes of obtaining the unclaimed Emperor's artifact would be dashed, and that thought made them absolutely furious.
"A rare Emperor's artifact with a newly born spirit, completely unbound to any master... we must obtain it," Lao Liu hissed, greed twisting his features.
As he spoke, a dangerous, predatory glint flashed in his eyes. Normally, Emperor's artifacts had ancient, willful spirits bound to them. Even if you managed to seize one, if the spirit refused to acknowledge you, you wouldn't be able to use more than a fraction of its power.
But this one was different. The original madman's soul would have completely dissipated by now, and any newly born spirit would be a blank slate, pure and easiest to imprint with their own will and dark energy.
Though the two of them had once been mighty Mahayana stage cultivators in their prime, they had never truly possessed an Emperor's artifact of their own. Visions of power filled their minds, and they had no intention of giving up now.
"What should we do?" Lao Ba asked, his voice eager.
"I have a precious Heaven-grade high-rank seal-breaking talisman," Lao Liu revealed, pulling out an ornate, glowing slip of paper. "Even if it means completely destroying this precious artifact in the process, I will get us inside."
"Good!" Lao Ba nodded fiercely, a cruel smile stretching his lips.
A moment later, Lao Liu activated the talisman, pouring his dark energy into it. The paper ignited with violent purple light, causing the entire space around the hidden entrance to tremble and warp violently.
Boom!
Inside the tomb, Su Min, who had been meditating and consolidating her latest gains, suddenly opened her eyes and looked around in confusion, feeling the distinct tremor run through the stone beneath her.
Beside her lay the shattered remains of another massive corpse, this one belonging to the legendary mythical beast Qiongqi she had just dismantled.
"What's going on? Did I hit it a bit too hard and collapse part of the chamber? But that doesn't make sense, the structure here is incredibly stable..."
Frowning, Su Min reached out with her spiritual sense, trying to pinpoint the source of the disturbance.
"Someone is trying to force their way in from outside using extreme measures," the Medicine King's Cauldron informed her, its voice tense. "They're using a Heaven-grade high-rank artifact specifically designed to break seals. It's a sacrificial tool; by burning its own spiritual foundation and structure, it can create a temporary breach in even the Medicine Buddha's powerful barrier."
"What?!"
Su Min's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, a cold aura seeping from her.
"Is it the Heavenly God Sect? Have they grown tired of living?"
A cold glint flashed in her eyes. Right now, she was in the middle of receiving the Medicine Buddha's precious legacy, a critical moment for her comprehension. If she were interrupted now, it could disrupt her insights and be disastrous for her progress.
"Unclear. But I can sense their cultivation hasn't reached the Unity stage. That said, since you've already cleared the front hall and absorbed its blessings, even if they enter, they won't receive the same puppet spirit's enhancements you did."
"I know that. But if they barge in and interfere with my subsequent battles, it'll still be a major headache," Su Min nodded, then glanced back at the dismantled Qiongqi puppet behind her.
This one had been crafted from the preserved body of a real Qiongqi, and she had expended considerable effort and energy to systematically destroy it. If someone barged in now and disrupted her focus during a fight with a stronger puppet, it would be extremely dangerous.
"Based on the intensity of their assault, I estimate it'll take them about a year to fully break through. That's still plenty of time for you. Once you've collected all the law seals from the remaining chambers, killing those two interlopers shouldn't be an issue for you."
"Fine. Let them struggle and waste their energy outside for now," Su Min said, a plan forming in her mind. "When they finally get in, all tired and proud of themselves, they'll get a nice little 'boss fight' surprise waiting for them."
A wicked, predatory grin tugged at Su Min's lips. Then she turned her attention back to the jade slip, consulting it for the next challenge.
"...A Golden Crow?"
Reading the jade slip's description, Su Min couldn't help but rub the bridge of her nose in a mix of exasperation and amusement. "As expected of a ruthless Great Emperor, especially one without descendants or a proper inheritance to worry about. He even went and captured a Golden Crow to turn into a puppet."
Though she felt no personal attachment to the Golden Crow clan, she acknowledged that the little Golden Crow and its clan had helped her quite a bit in the past.
"I'll bring the corpse back with me and let the Little Golden Crow deal with it, give it a proper send-off," Su Min decided with a shake of her head.
These puppets were all modified from real corpses, kept active and powerful only by the tomb's unique dimensional rules. But as a result, the corpses themselves were spiritually barren, their essence spent. Not even her greedy treasure gourd would bother consuming them. There was no point in trying to refine them for materials, so she might as well return them to their kin as a gesture of respect.
After all, Great Emperors stood at the absolute pinnacle of the world, capable of suppressing even the proudest divine beast races if they wished. But most Emperors wouldn't push them too far, because while individual Emperors had limited lifespans...
Their legacies, their sects, and their descendants would remain. If you went too far and desecrated their ancestors, don't be surprised when an entire alliance of enraged beasts comes to wipe out your lineage in revenge.
"If it's a Golden Crow puppet, it should be significantly easier to handle. They're overwhelmingly fire-aligned, and even though it's a genuine Golden Crow, as a puppet it can't possibly have True Sunfire. A pure elemental puppet like this will be completely and utterly countered by me."
Su Min's lips curled into a confident smirk as she stepped forward into the next chamber.
The Medicine Buddha had been quite generous and thorough in designing this for his successor. The puppets here covered a wide range of attributes and laws. By absorbing all the law seals, the successor would gain immeasurable benefits and a profound foundation for advancing to the Unity stage.
In fact, if someone successfully cleared all the trials, their future achievements could potentially even surpass the Medicine Buddha's own. But who would've thought his chosen successor would be Su Min, a freak of nature with a Five Elements Holy Body?
This made some of the carefully designed challenges almost laughably straightforward for her.
For example, right now, Su Min was clad in her shimmering Black Tortoise armor, casually walking through the Golden Crow puppet's terrifying, inferno-like flames. The intense fire licked harmlessly at her armor, not leaving a single trace or transferring any heat.
"Honestly, if not for my regular clothes being highly flammable, I wouldn't even need to summon this armor," she mused aloud.
But alas, Su Min had no interest in streaking naked through the ancient tomb. The Black Tortoise armor was more than sufficient for the task.
Soon, with a series of precise strikes against its core, the Golden Crow puppet powered down, its flames dying out.
"So this is the Golden Crow's innate flame law? I've felt a similar resonance from the Little Golden Crow before. The power is genuinely impressive, even without the True Sunfire core."
As the law's insights flooded her mind, forming a new temporary seal within her, Su Min's expression turned a little strange. Because this law felt identical to what she had sensed from the Little Golden Crow.
It seemed these divine beast races, much like the Lunar Sovereign and Solar Sovereign physiques, were largely locked into predetermined, innate paths, their laws passed down through bloodlines.
But unfortunately, this particular law offered little new benefit to her. After all, she already had the upgraded, supreme version, the Nanming Lihuo, integrated into her core.
"Next up... a water dragon? Sigh, fine. I'll hand this one over to Ao Xue later as well," Su Min's face twisted into an even odder expression as she stepped into the next chamber.
For a while, the entire tomb was in a state of chaotic dismantling as Su Min moved from room to room.
Most of the puppets were single-attribute, designed to showcase a specific law. The Medicine Buddha had designed this tomb to expose his successor to a diverse array of cosmic laws, tempering their comprehension and broadening their foundation.
But he simply hadn't accounted for a successor like Su Min, a freak of nature who bulldozed through most challenges by leveraging the fundamental Five Elements' mutual suppression, turning intricate trials into simple puzzles.
Except for a handful of more complex or physical-law based seals, she cleared the rest with laughable ease.
While Su Min was busy systematically conquering the tomb, outside, the two elders were redoubling their efforts.
"Huff... Finally, we're breaking through the last major layer. This is the final, innermost layer of the seal. As expected of a Great Emperor's barrier, my precious talisman is on the verge of complete spiritual breakage. Once we shatter this last layer, it'll be completely destroyed," Lao Liu panted, sweat beading on his brow.
"But Sixth Brother, doesn't this seal feel... a bit off?" Lao Ba asked, his eyes filled with doubt. "The seal's immense strength isn't surprising, but the majestic, pure, and benevolent aura it carries... that is not something the Puppet Emperor, that lunatic, could have produced."
After all, most Great Emperors, even the more ruthless ones, refrained from unnecessary slaughter, especially against the ancient divine beast races, preferring a stable balance.
But that guy had been a complete madman, an outlier.
He had famously fought every single major divine beast race at some point, even capturing and using their clansmen to craft his puppets. The scandal had been enormous, but the races had no choice but to endure the humiliation; his personal strength was simply undeniable.
Yet the moment he disappeared, having reached the theoretical limit of a Great Emperor's lifespan, they immediately moved to eradicate his lineage and legacy, seeking vengeance.
And then... they found nothing.
Because they discovered the bastard had nothing - no living parents, no wife, no children, not even a proper disciple or a centralized inheritance. He was a true loner.
The divine beast races were left dumbfounded. They couldn't just retaliate against all of humanity, so they had no choice but to grudgingly drop the matter.
Truly living up to the saying: The one with nothing to lose cannot be threatened.
So that old freak's personal seal should have been wild, unorthodox, and sinister, nothing like this pure, powerful Buddhist barrier.
"Maybe someone else discovered this tomb later, after his death," Lao Liu speculated, his voice carrying a hint of impatient killing intent. "They brought all their own followers here, then sealed it again after their own minds deteriorated, to prevent the puppets from wreaking havoc. It doesn't matter. We've come too far to retreat now."
"Fine. We've already burned about ten years of our precious recovered lifespan this past year maintaining this assault. Once we recover a bit of our energy after breaking in, we'll move in and claim our prize," Lao Ba agreed.
"Don't worry, Eighth Brother. On this entire continent, aside from the Lunar Sovereign, the Great Desolate Saint, and that Five Elements Holy Body wielder, who could possibly stop the two of us working together?"
"Hahaha, true! None of those three are anywhere near this place!"
The two of them laughed heartily, their confidence restored.
Right now, they knew that Yao Xian'er and the little monk had been cleverly lured away to a different continent by their allies. And as high-ranking individuals within the Black Seal Society, they were privy to more information; it wasn't just those two.
All the known Unity stage experts on the continent were currently occupied elsewhere, drawn away by various crises and schemes.
That was precisely why the Black Seal Society had grown so bold and active recently.
With the big shots absent, they could run wild and execute their plans.
With that reassuring thought, the two redoubled their efforts, pouring more dark energy into the fading talisman. As for the so-called inheritor who might be inside?
If they encountered them, they'd just capture and devour them, soul and all.
Surely the blood and essence of someone who could inherit a Great Emperor's legacy would be exceptionally delicious, and very nourishing for their own recovery.
Meanwhile, inside the tomb, Su Min had reached the final stage.
"You've now collected all the temporary law seals from the guardian puppets. What remains is the central library chamber containing the core puppet techniques and the Medicine Buddha's final insights. But before you can access that, you must face one final trial, a genuine Unity stage puppet."
The little cauldron floated beside Su Min as she stood amidst the shattered remains of what had been her toughest fight yet.
Su Min, however, was feeling somewhat numb to the challenges at this point.
The corpse before her had been from a real Unity stage mythical beast in life.
The only reason she had been able to dismantle it was thanks to the power of all the accumulated temporary seals boosting her capabilities.
And even then, this Unity stage puppet was only at the initial level, and luckily for her, it lacked any special or exotic laws. Yet dealing with it had still been utterly exhausting, because the damn thing was ridiculously durable, its body tempered to an insane degree.
Destroying it outright with brute force had been impossible. In the end, she had been forced to use her wits, locating its core weak point and extracting its energy source directly.
"What's inside the final chamber, then?" Su Min asked, looking toward the last imposing door.
"A much stronger puppet. Definitely tougher and more complex than this one," the cauldron stated matter-of-factly, gesturing with its tiny form toward the wreckage behind her.
"...Great. Just great," Su Min deadpanned, massaging her temples where a headache was forming.
"And it's been about a year now, right? Since the shaking started?"
"Correct. The assault on the main seal has been constant."
"Those guys outside are about to break in. Thanks to them, I've been feeling tremors through the floor every few days like I'm back in my mortal days during an earthquake. Tch, no matter who they are, I'm going to make them pay for this disturbance."
Su Min clenched her fists, the joints cracking with suppressed energy and promise of violence.
This was one of the many laws she had absorbed - a seal of pure, unadulterated force and physical power.
With her current temporary setup, even if she faced a genuine, living Unity stage expert, she might not necessarily lose, or so she believed.
Whether she could actually win against a skilled Unity veteran was another question, though.
But right now, her anger was boiling over. Even if a real Unity stage cultivator barged in, she wouldn't back down from a fight.
At least, not while fighting on her "home turf" with all her temporary buffs active.
"No need to worry about the final chamber for now. They're breaking the final layer of the main entrance seal as we speak. It'll take them about a day to fully stabilize the breach. When they finally get in... make sure to kill them all. Leave no witnesses," the Medicine Cauldron's voice was cold, its expression dark.
Its primary duty was to ensure the Medicine Buddha's legacy was passed on smoothly and completely. Anyone who dared disrupt the inheritance process, no matter their origin or power, deserved only death.
But alas, as a non-combat innate spiritual treasure focused on refinement and support, it had exactly zero offensive capabilities. And this situation wasn't like the controlled environment of the Secret Realm during the Water-Land Assembly; all it could do now was cheer Su Min on from the sidelines.
Su Min felt much the same way. The intruders were an unpredictable variable.
For now, she wasn't in a hurry to proceed to the final puppet. If those idiots barged in while she was in the middle of a life-and-death battle with a peak-level Unity stage construct, things could go very badly, very quickly.
Better to deal with the external threat first, then focus on the final trial with a clear mind.
A faint, cold smile curled at Su Min's lips as she positioned herself near the main entrance hall, cloaking her presence and readying her techniques.
"Whoever they are... they're going to pay dearly for interrupting my seclusion."