Perched on the windowsill of a several hundred meter high pavilion, Su Min sat with her legs crossed, idly sipping a cup of fine wine while overlooking the sprawling, chaotic city below.
"Hmph, trying to play games with me, you little ones."
Since that day, Su Min had temporarily settled here within the Savage Lion Sect's compound. According to their hastily made plan, the several late Divine Transformation cultivators would gather in just three days to jointly enter the Five Elements Mountain and hunt for the legendary crystals.
Their ulterior motives were completely transparent to Su Min, just as she knew they were aware she had her own agenda. It was a farcical situation of mutual distrust, though what they did not realize was Su Min's complete and utter indifference to their schemes. She valued them only as disposable bait. Had they been genuinely saintly or righteous figures, she might have felt some flicker of guilt about using them. But seeing their true, predatory natures up close had alleviated any such concerns.
Soon, a figure appeared respectfully before Su Min. It was the Savage Lion Sect's deputy leader, an early Divine Transformation cultivator whose aura was noticeably weaker than her displayed power.
"Lady Le Xi, the sect leader and the other dignitaries await you in the main hall."
"Understood."
With a simple nod, Su Min transformed into a faint streak of light, descending instantly to the sect's main hall below. She meticulously maintained her suppressed cultivation level, allowing her presence to be fully detected by the others as she arrived.
Then, as her feet touched the polished stone floor,
Boom!
The ground trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly, as fine grains of sand swirled up from between the stones to dance around Su Min's ankles before settling.
"Incredible earth cultivation. What profound technique does she practice?"
Murmurs of surprise and appraisal spread through the hall as all eyes noticed the large, ornate object now slung across Su Min's back, a high Earth grade artifact that made more than one pupil constrict with envy.
[Purple Sand Divine Gourd, Earth grade high, Contains a special purple gold sand that is perfectly manipulable by its user's will.]
While Earth grade artifacts might seem flimsy and common to Su Min now, they remained precious, life saving treasures for ordinary Divine Transformation and even early Dao Comprehension cultivators.
The gourd's unique design and function actually drew inspiration from a certain panda eyed ninja from Su Min's past life memories, one of her few remaining whimsical indulgences in a world of brutal cultivation.
"Lady Le Xi, that gourd on your back is truly extraordinary."
Kuang Batian's envy was palpable in his voice. His own best artifact was only a mid Earth grade broadsword, far inferior in both grade and utility, and it was useless to him anyway as a non earth attribute cultivator.
"Won it through life and death trials in a secret realm years ago. I nearly died obtaining it."
Su Min brushed it off casually with a practiced lie, never revealing she had crafted the thing herself in an afternoon when she was bored.
"Lady Le Xi is truly fortunate. Let me introduce everyone. This is the Harmony Union's leader, Liu Xunhuan."
Kuang Batian gestured to a sinisterly handsome man in flowing silks whose undisguised, predatory gaze as he looked Su Min up and down made her brow furrow slightly in distaste. His intentions were unmistakably vile.
"What a perfect cultivation cauldron, late Divine Transformation while still retaining her primal yuan yin. Intimate dual cultivation with her would bring immense benefits. I must find a way to negotiate this with Kuang Batian later."
Liu Xunhuan's internal thoughts, which Su Min could practically feel radiating from him, disgusted her. His so called harmony arts were not mere yin absorption, they supposedly benefited both parties, or so he claimed. Though he had bedded countless women, outright coercion was supposedly rare for him.
With just a beckon, many female cultivators apparently flocked to him willingly. Rumor claimed he had reportedly slept with nearly every woman in his own sect. Upon seeing Su Min's current form, intimate dual cultivation was his first and only thought.
A pity the timing for such an endeavor was not right, with the expedition looming.
"This is the Flowing Cloud Sect's Leader, Li Liu."
A stern faced man with a long beard gave a curt nod.
"And the Skull Cult's Leader, Boneframe."
A gaunt man clad in dark robes, whose face was half obscured by a skeletal tattoo, merely grunted.
"And finally, the Silkworm Sect's Leader, Tian Mengchan. She is an ancient frost cicada who has taken human form."
"Oh?"
Su Min regarded the garishly dressed, voluptuous woman with mild surprise, receiving a slow, deliberate, and flirtatious blink in return.
Beasts and even divine beasts could assume human form after reaching the Golden Core stage, and could even interbreed with humans to produce beast blooded offspring, though such hybrids were often unstable.
The alluring, mature looking matron now winked suggestively at Su Min, a sly smile playing on her lips.
"Seduction arts?"
Su Min's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. While such arts were highly effective on most heterosexual men, they did absolutely nothing for her, given her own, very different preferences.
Noticing Su Min's utterly bored and unaffected expression, Tian Mengchan's own brow jumped in surprise.
"Hahaha, Sect Leader Tian. There is no need for such tactics here. We are all allies for this venture. We must cooperate fully if we are to obtain the Five Elements crystals."
Kuang Batian laughed heartily at Tian Mengchan's visible reaction. Despite being female herself, her potent seduction arts were said to work on all genders, bending willpower to her whim.
And for some reason, she particularly adored little girls. A dark rumor even claimed she had "interacted" with hundreds over her long life. Su Min's current youthful, loli like appearance perfectly matched her... specific tastes.
"Sect Leader Kuang jokes. I am merely curious how Lady Le Xi maintains such a vibrant, youthful form. It is quite captivating."
Tian Mengchan covered smoothly with a tinkling laugh, while her eyes continued to devour Su Min with undisguised hunger.
"Damn it, when did I become so appealing to all genders and orientations?"
Su Min cursed inwardly. What cursed luck she was having today, encountering not one, but two absolute perverts. One a standard issue pedophile, and the other, worse, a female pedophile with a thing for eternal lolis.
"I encountered a strange fate when I was just three years old. While herb gathering with my father in the mountains, I fortuitously obtained a mystical plant. It propelled me directly into the Body Refining stage and provided me with suitable cultivation techniques. By twelve, I had reached Foundation Establishment, and my body simply stopped growing then."
Su Min spun her cover tale effortlessly, leaving the four sect leaders exchanging stunned, slightly jealous glances. What absurd, heaven defying luck, and what terrifying innate talent. Their own early progress paled in comparison to such a story.
Of course, they did not know this was a pure fabrication, though it was not entirely implausible, as someone in her own Immortal Sect had actually achieved a similar feat, albeit only reaching the Golden Core stage before their growth stabilized.
"Ah, to reach Dao Comprehension..."
Rather than amazement, her story mostly elicited bitter, knowing smiles, which confused Su Min for a moment.
"Are these people insane? Why that reaction?"
Her puzzlement was short lived, however.
"Even a once in a millennium genius like Lady Le Xi remains stuck at the late Divine Transformation stage. It makes our own paths to Dao Comprehension seem even more arduous, more impossible."
"Uh..."
Su Min rolled her eyes internally. While her own actual Dao Comprehension breakthrough had not been perfectly smooth, it was far from the hopeless struggle they were implying, making their apparent despair somewhat incomprehensible to her.
But feigned empathy served her current purposes perfectly.
"I have been stuck at the peak of Divine Transformation for nearly a millennium without any progress. That is what forced me to make this choice and come here. Dao Comprehension, it is every Divine Transformation cultivator's ultimate dream, is it not?"
"Indeed it is."
All four leaders nodded in grim unison, their expressions somber. All, that is, except for Kuang Batian, whose lips held a subtle, almost imperceptible smirk that did not escape Su Min's monstrously powerful spiritual perception.
"This one is definitely suspicious."
His discreet expressions and the slight inconsistencies in his energy flow betrayed him completely to her senses. Whatever scheme he was plotting would soon be exposed under her scrutiny.
"If he is gathering powerful bait so diligently, he must have some special plans for us. Maybe he really is luring prey for that thing in the mountain? Whatever, I will adapt. Worst case, I just crush him and be done with it."
Su Min resolved this silently. If he proved to be that self severed practitioner's accomplice, she would eliminate him without a second thought. A mere late Divine Transformation cultivator posed no threat to her true power. Of the other four, two seemed relatively decent, if greedy. The remaining pair, however, had earned a firm classification in her mind as irredeemable perverts. It seemed her chosen disguise had attracted some very specific, and very unwanted, attention.
"So when do we act? My earth based techniques are somewhat apparent, and I do not wish to delay."
Su Min refocused the conversation on the main objective, the Five Elements Holy Body's condensed essence. She had never claimed to be a saint, and she would claim this prize as ruthlessly as required.
"Tonight. At the precise moment of dawn's transition, when the mountain's chaotic elemental energy is at its weakest and most stable, we will enter. It is the safest window."
Kuang Batian's eager response made the others' eyes gleam with anticipation. The allure of the crystals, and the power they promised, was undeniable.
"Sect Leader Kuang, do you have detailed maps of the interior? My spiritual perception may fail or be distorted inside such a dense elemental field."
Tian Mengchan's question was accompanied by a languid, deliberate stretch that made her loose collar gape open, exposing a generous amount of snowy cleavage. It was a display utterly wasted on these seasoned, goal oriented veterans.
All of the men politely averted their gazes, long since immune to such obvious seduction attempts from her.
Undeterred, she fixed her hungry eyes squarely on Su Min. To her, this eternal loli, powerful yet trapped in a child's body, embodied her deepest, most twisted desires. And the girl seemed momentarily entranced by her map.
"Little sister, won't you come to big sister's embrace? I can show you many... delightful things."
Everyone in the room except for Su Min visibly twitched at this brazen offer. The woman was truly deranged. That "little sister" was a late Divine Transformation cultivator, a peer. Female targeted seduction arts were supposed to be useless here.
"..."
Su Min remained silent for a long moment, genuinely unaffected by the woman's physical charms. But her inner connoisseur's appreciation for aesthetic beauty was now warring with the pragmatic need to permanently silence this annoying nuisance.
"Sister Tian, you are... so beautiful."
Su Min's voice was soft, almost a whisper, but it carried perfectly in the quiet hall.
"Ha! You see? Little sister, do you want to learn how to become even more alluring? Big sister can teach you."
Overjoyed at the perceived breakthrough, Tian Mengchan completely missed the dangerous, predatory glint that had now entered Su Min's eyes. The others exchanged uneasy, puzzled glances. This was not the reaction they had expected.
"Did she max out her physical defense but completely neglect her mental and soul resistance?"
Their expressions darkened considerably. If Su Min truly fell under Tian Mengchan's control, their entire delicate power balance would shatter, especially with Su Min's powerful defensive earth techniques potentially shielding the cicada woman.
But Tian Mengchan's triumph lasted barely three seconds before a dawning horror wiped the smile from her face.
"Sister is so exquisite, such graceful curves, such peerless elegance." Su Min's voice remained soft, but it had taken on a chilling, obsessive quality. "I would love to make you my collection piece. Wrapped perfectly in my finest purple gold sands, preserved for eternity and displayed in a glass cabinet in my private chamber... you would be my most beautiful, most perfect exhibit."
As she spoke, the Purple Gold Sand erupted from the gourd on her back, filling the air around them with a shimmering, ominous cloud as her voice dropped to a chilling whisper.
Tian Mengchan's face paled dramatically, while the others first gaped in shock, then slowly began to smirk with a kind of morbid fascination.
"The old hag finally met her match, and it seems this girl's particular brand of perversion surpasses even her own."
"What a terrifying child. Underestimating her based on appearance alone would be a fatal mistake."
They now regarded the suddenly yandere Su Min with a new kind of wariness, realizing they were all, in their own ways, equally unhinged.
Of course, this was all a masterful act. Su Min had precisely zero interest in collecting human dolls. But she knew one universal truth, the best way to intimidate and disarm a predator was to out predator them, to show them a reflection of their own madness, but sharper and far, far more dangerous.
===
I really suspect that her yuan yin already given to Yingying, as for this time 'yuan yin', it should be from her pill effect. I mean đź‘€
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Su Min only had interest in Yingying apparently.
Su Min type = Xie Yingying