Silence.
Looking at Su Min's innocent and carefree smile after saying something so chilling, the group fell into an unusual, heavy quiet.
"Please do not say such terrifying words with such an innocent appearance."
It was clear that despite Su Min's youthful, almost doll like appearance, everyone now silently regarded her as being on the same dangerous level as those ancient, scheming old monsters.
"Ahem, let's set out immediately then. With exactly five people now, as long as we can obtain that crystal, we might finally have a chance to reach the Dao Comprehension stage."
Seeing Kuang Batian take the initiative to change the subject, the tense atmosphere in the room instantly shifted again. Everyone, including Su Min, revealed expressions of intense desire.
Their desire was for the mythical Dao Comprehension stage, while Su Min's was a perfectly feigned mimicry. She had grown much calmer and more controlled over her long life, especially since she now possessed the absolute ability to protect herself no matter the situation.
Thus, while the Five Elements Crystal would be very useful to her, she absolutely could not let the greed for it drive her to madness or carelessness. Moreover, there was likely a powerful fallen one lying in wait inside.
The Five Elements Great Sage, an existence second only to a true Emperor, similar to Jiang Xi and that Mahayana Holy Body she had encountered on the ancient battlefield, was someone Su Min knew she had to face with extreme caution.
Naturally, she was not as fanatical as the others, but she still had to pretend to be. Did they not see how everyone's attention had completely shifted away from her and onto the mountain upon hearing this news?
At this moment, she had to follow the crowd, to be one of them. They were all useful cannon fodder for her plan. As for their ultimate fates, it would depend entirely on whether they behaved appropriately or not.
The Next Day
"Is this the Five Elements Mountain?"
Su Min looked at everything before her with great, genuine surprise.
In her memory, so called secret realms were mostly special pocket spaces separate from the main world. But this one was completely different. From a distance, it appeared as a dazzling, violently colorful mountain range towering tens of thousands of meters high from the ground.
It was completely unlike any secret realm she had seen before, yet it was quite spectacular in its own bizarre way. However, for someone like her who had already reached the late Dao Comprehension stage, the sheer height of the mountain meant nothing. She even possessed the ability to traverse the void of space itself, let alone care about something as trivial as a tall mountain.
"Correct. About ten years ago, this mountain descended from the sky in a rain of fire, crushing an entire city of over a hundred thousand people beneath it. At the time, no one in the city survived. It was a true calamity."
"Mmm."
Hearing Su Min's exclamation, Kuang Batian chuckled dismissively. As for those who had died, it meant nothing to him, they were just worthless mortals and low level cultivators anyway.
What he did not know, however, was that this casual comment confirmed a dark suspicion for Su Min. As she thought of this, a cold glint flashed in her eyes, and without Kuang Batian noticing, she imprinted a subtle, nearly undetectable soul mark onto him.
Su Min was already a late stage Dao Comprehension cultivator, and her spiritual power was even more terrifying, surpassing that of many early Unity stage experts. Thus, Kuang Batian had no idea what had just happened and was still greedily eyeing the mountain range, dreaming of the power within.
To the current Su Min, not even a mere late stage Divine Transformation cultivator was worth mentioning. Most ordinary Dao Comprehension cultivators were like ants before her now.
Thus, none of the people present noticed her subtle, lightning fast actions.
"Dao Comprehension stage... the laws... we are so close..."
Seeing the mountain, the others licked their lips in barely contained excitement.
"Enough, rein in your greed. I can sense the terrifying power contained within. Moreover, this mountain is protected by a special elemental barrier. To enter, we can only fight our way in from the outside through specific weak points."
Just then, Su Min's calm voice rang out, cutting through their avarice. The barrier was far too obvious to her senses, these people surely knew about it as well. And she could see even more, this Five Elements Mountain was extremely dangerous, containing even some Dao Comprehension stage entities. Against those, the persona she had created for herself would be completely inadequate.
Without being able to freely use her own laws or summon her divine artifacts, she could only rely on brute force and the sand gourd. Facing those Dao Comprehension stage beings would be very dangerous for her crafted identity, and she might even risk exposing her true self prematurely.
Thus, it was only natural for her to be wary. The only thing she was truly curious about was what those Dao Comprehension stage entities actually were. They likely were not human, perhaps not even living beings in the conventional sense.
She had seen an Emperor's tomb before, filled with countless Dao Comprehension stage puppets. There were even Unity stage and Mahayana stage entities, but those had all been sealed by the Medicine Buddha, so she had not been able to observe them in action.
"Mm. There are about ten known entrances, weak points in the barrier. It does not matter which one we take, the things on the outskirts are useless to us anyway."
As soon as Su Min finished speaking, Liu Xunhuan stepped forward and spoke up. Since the Five Elements Mountain was in their territory, they naturally knew more about its specifics than an outsider.
"Then let's move. The dawn energy is fading."
Glancing at the others, Su Min narrowed her eyes slightly. These people were all very wary of her and had not told her anything substantive about the deeper, more dangerous parts of the mountain. It seemed they wanted her to suffer a major setback first, so that when it came time to distribute resources, she would not have enough strength left to compete with them fairly.
A nice idea, but to Su Min, it was a complete joke. Their schemes were like children playing in a sandbox before a tsunami.
In an instant, the five of them arrived before one of the shimmering openings in the chaotic barrier and plunged inside without hesitation.
"Were those five people just now the four great sect leaders?"
"Correct. The other one must also be a cultivator of the same terrifying level. For such existences to team up and enter... it seems they plan to go deep inside, to the core."
"Mm, no doubt about it. Something big is happening."
As the five of them vanished into the barrier, the surrounding onlookers began murmuring amongst themselves.
None of them had concealed their movements or auras, so their departure was clear for all to sense. Soon, expressions of astonishment and speculation appeared, after all, these were all late stage Divine Transformation experts, practically like gods to the Golden Core and Foundation Establishment cultivators here.
"I think there might be some major changes happening here. For now, I will take my leave. If five such existences start fighting amongst themselves, the entire Five Elements Mountain might be thrown into chaos. Although the things we Golden Core cultivators need are useless to them, getting caught in the crossfire would be disastrous."
One of the smarter, more experienced individuals immediately realized the potential danger and chose to leave without hesitation. Though the Five Elements Mountain was vast, it would not hold up against the destructive power of multiple enraged Divine Transformation cultivators. For experts of this level, without opponents of equal strength to restrain them, they could reduce a city of millions to ashes in mere minutes.
"Brother Sun, you, are you sure?"
"Farewell. I advise you all to consider leaving as well."
Hearing his words, the others in his team tried to persuade him to stay. After all, good, reliable teammates were hard to come by, and even fewer could be trusted to watch one's back in a deadly realm.
But unfortunately, the man had already made up his mind. Without looking back, he turned and began walking away from the mountain.
"Ah, what do we do now? Without Brother Sun, we cannot deploy our combined defense formation."
"What else can we do? Besides, Brother Sun has always been the most cautious among us. Following his lead might not bring great benefits, but at least there will not be major, unexpected dangers."
"Fine then. Brother Sun, wait for us..."
With that, the entire group decided to leave together. Of course, their departure did not mean all the other cultivators would do the same.
Humans, like divine beasts, were inherently greedy, especially in the ruthless world of cultivation. Thus, many more began rubbing their hands in anticipation, seeing the experts' entry as an opportunity. They were not foolish enough to compete with Su Min's group directly, but they could still follow at a safe distance and pick up the scraps.
In less than a day, the entire periphery of the Five Elements Mountain was in an uproar. A large crowd chose to follow in the footsteps of the five experts, entering the mountain just as they had. And just as they had hoped, there were plenty of low level gains along the way, as the powerful entities seemed to have been drawn deeper in.
At that moment, deep in the mountain where the elemental energy was thick enough to taste:
Crush.
Looking at the massive, flame formed crystalline giant barring their path, Su Min simply extended her hand and clenched her fist. Instantly, the giant was utterly crushed by the constricting bands of purplish gold sand.
The sand then slowly flowed back into the gourd on her back, leaving the others clicking their tongues in amazement and a little fear.
Though Su Min appeared very young, her methods were ruthless and efficient. Every crystalline creature she killed was left without a complete corpse, reduced to a dissipating cloud of elemental essence or a bloody mist if it had a physical core.
"Sister Le Xi's gourd seems quite impressive. A truly fine treasure."
Tian Mengchan eyed the gourd behind Su Min, which was about the same size as her current body, with great interest. Though her words sounded casual and complimentary, the calculating gleam in her eyes betrayed her true thoughts.
In truth, these old schemers were all unwilling to expend their own energy or reveal their trump cards, so they kept pushing Su Min, the newcomer, to deal with the Nascent Soul stage and early Divine Transformation stage crystalline creatures blocking their path. But she could not be bothered to argue over such trivialities. With the Northern Water's Profound Origin secretly replenishing her energy, her consumption was far outpaced by her recovery.
Thus, with a hint of mischievous nostalgia, she emulated a certain panda eyed character from her past life's comics, though with significant, deadlier differences. Her destructive power with the sand far surpassed that character's, but even so, the others grew increasingly wary of her with each display.
They had all noticed that Su Min's frequent, powerful attacks showed almost no signs of spiritual exhaustion. Clearly, this Earth rank high grade treasure gourd was an immense help to her, or she possessed a shocking innate recovery rate.
"Mmm."
Su Min merely nodded faintly in response, saying nothing more. Instead, she silently turned her gaze forward, her enhanced perception sensing several powerful, rapidly approaching presences.
"Prepare for a real battle. This time, seven crystalline creatures of different attributes are coming at once. These things are special products of the Five Elements Mountain, they cannot leave its bounds, but as pure elemental beings, they are quite troublesome for those without the right counters."
As soon as Su Min finished speaking, the earth beneath their feet shook violently. Several massive, vaguely humanoid figures composed of rock, flame, and swirling water emerged from the mountain walls, startling the others. They had not sensed them at all until they were almost upon them.
Su Min's perception, even suppressed, far exceeded theirs, but they soon rationalized it. The sand floating around Su Min, or rather, the sand controlled by her gourd, was clearly spread out around them, acting as a sensitive detection net. Thus, they silently took note of this new piece of information about her capabilities.
"I am of the earth attribute, so I will handle the water based one. The rest are up to you. If you die, blame your own lack of skill or preparation."
Su Min spoke indifferently, already designating her target. In truth, she did not care about the elemental affinities of any of these creatures. As the Five Elements Sovereign with a true Five Elements Body, she feared none of this elemental nonsense.
"Understood."
Hearing her words, the others nodded grimly. They knew they could not just stand by and let her handle everything this time. Facing seven bizarre late Divine Transformation stage crystalline creatures at once was no joke, even for them.
These things were like intelligent slimes, pure elemental beings with almost no higher intelligence, unable to leave the Five Elements Mountain's energy field. But their incredibly refined and dense elemental power granted them terrifying, straightforward offensive capabilities.
Moreover, they did not have clear early, middle, or late stages, they were all comparable to late stage Divine Transformation from the moment of their birth. This forced the group to proceed with extreme caution, and thus, the chaotic battle began in the very next instant.
As for Su Min, she acted with swift, brutal efficiency, slamming her palms together in the air before her.
Boom!!!
In the next moment, the gourd behind her seemed to explode, transforming into a vast, swirling sky full of yellow and purple sand. As the true inheritor of the Five Elements Emperor's legacy, she was naturally extremely proficient in the Five Elements Ancient Scripture. She had even split the scripture into five parts, leaving them in her sect as foundational inheritance techniques.
Each part was a top tier cultivation method in its own right, so she was highly skilled in manipulating all various attributes. Normally, her basic attacks were mixed element, so she rarely used specialized, single elemental abilities.
But now was different. She did not know if the other party, the Five Elements Great Sage, had also obtained the Five Elements Ancient Scripture, so she relied solely on her sand manipulation, which perfectly concealed the distinct aura of her Earth Scripture.
Even if the other party had also obtained the Five Elements Ancient Scripture, they would not be able to recognize her techniques.
Squelch.
Following Su Min's movements, the massive water based crystalline creature instantly exploded under the pressure of the sand, reverting to its liquid form. As a special aggregation of water element, it attempted to exploit its fluid nature to slip through the gaps in the sand prison. Its limited elemental instincts screamed of danger here.
"Interesting. Trying to elementalize to escape? But my sand is special. It was made to counter such tricks."
Su Min sneered inwardly. Since she had decided to fully conceal her identity, she had to prepare thoroughly, including perfecting every aspect of her alternate persona. Thus, this gourd was not just a prop for her playful cosplay, it was also a carefully crafted, fully functional treasure.
As a core treasure for a dedicated earth attribute cultivator, she had built a complete combat system around it. Thus, the water creature soon realized with a formless panic that it could not escape. Worse, the sand was slowly absorbing its moisture, draining its very essence. For a pure elemental crystalline creature, this was no different from a slow, agonizing death.
Trapped and being consumed, the creature went berserk.
In an instant, the vast cavern space around them transformed into a raging, localized sea. Countless sharp, high pressure water blades shot toward Su Min from all directions, seeking to pierce her defenses.
"Childish."
Looking at the overwhelming barrage of attacks, Su Min spoke flatly, her voice dripping with disdain. She was not in a particular hurry to clash head on. Logically speaking, with the Northern Water's Profound Origin secretly protecting her, she could simply let the creature attack freely without any fear of her defenses being breached.
But since she was acting the part of a specialized earth cultivator, she had to make it convincing. She could not show complete, effortless immunity. Thus, in the next moment, her small figure began to weave and flicker through the storm of water blades, her movements a blur as she dodged ninety percent of them. The remaining ten percent that were too fast or too wide to avoid were solidly blocked by layers of condensed, swirling sand that she conjured around herself.