"You—!!!"
Staring at the hand that had pierced straight through his chest, the old man's face was a mix of shock and pure disbelief. Not only was this man's life firmly in his grasp, but there was also a soul oath binding him. On top of that, how could a mere Divine Transformation cultivator possibly evade his perception and land a blow like that?
He acted on pure instinct in the very next instant. His hand shot out and grabbed the stunned and utterly bewildered Kuang Batian, yanking him violently away. With a swift, sharp chop, he severed the arm that was still buried in his chest. Since Kuang Batian was just an ordinary Divine Transformation cultivator, and the attack had not been infused with the power of laws, the damage was, for someone of his level, relatively limited.
But then, he froze completely solid.
His sharp eyes had caught something. A thread, so incredibly fine it was nearly invisible to the naked eye, was attached to Kuang Batian's body. His gaze followed it, tracing the line back to its source, and he was shocked to find the other end held delicately in the hands of the young girl.
"Puppetry?" he murmured, his voice a low rumble of dawning realization. "A technique that controls the living… Are you the successor of the Puppet Ancient Emperor?"
"What?!"
"Miss Le, you—"
Hearing this, the two remaining sect leaders, Tian Mengchan and Li Liu, stared at Su Min with utter incredulity. Being the inheritor of an Emperor's legacy was no small matter; it meant Su Min possessed even more hidden cards up her sleeve than they could have ever imagined.
"No wonder Miss Le did not care about any of this at all," Tian Mengchan thought, her mind racing. "She is an Emperor's successor, with Emperor grade secret techniques at her fingertips. No wonder she was so indifferent to our offerings and acted with such natural arrogance." The thought was followed by a sharp, hot pang of shame. In Su Min's eyes, their earlier antics and negotiations must have looked like a ridiculous clown show.
Li Liu felt much the same way, his own pride stung. But right now, neither of them could afford to dwell on their wounded egos. Though they had been scheming against each other, they had never, in their darkest dreams, imagined someone would literally devour people alive.
"Little girl, release him."
The old man narrowed his eyes, his voice dropping to a low, resonant tone that carried an undeniable, crushing authority.
"Spare me…"
Kuang Batian, now completely under the control of an overwhelming force he could not comprehend, looked at Su Min with desperate, pleading eyes.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Su Min chuckled lightly, a soft, almost airy sound. Hearing that chuckle, Tian Mengchan and Li Liu almost immediately wanted to agree, just to secure a chance to escape this nightmare. After all, the old man before them was a genuine Dao Comprehension stage expert.
He was not like the mindless stone spirit below, which could not even use its power properly and had ended up blasting its own shell apart in a display of brute force without finesse.
But…
Squelch!
In the very next instant, Su Min clenched her fist. High in the air, Kuang Batian's body contorted violently, his limbs and torso twisting and compacting into a grotesque, unrecognizable meatball before exploding into a mist of blood and bone. As a Divine Transformation cultivator, Kuang Batian was no longer useful in the upcoming battle, and more importantly, Su Min could not risk him somehow interfering later.
"!!!"
Everyone was stunned into silence, even the old man. He was horrified to realize he had not been able to stop it at all, the speed and finality of the act leaving him no time to react.
Plus, the fact that Kuang Batian had managed to land a sneak attack under this girl's control meant she was extremely dangerous, far more than her surface cultivation suggested.
So, almost immediately, the old man raised his hand…
BOOM!
A massive, energy formed palm descended from the sky, its target enveloping all three of them, or rather, it was aimed squarely at Su Min, completely.
At the same time, a towering, semi transparent phantom figure slowly materialized behind him, radiating immense pressure.
"Dharma Form… Unity stage?!"
In that instant, the two sect leaders paled, their faces losing all color. This was nothing like the crude, makeshift constructs they could create; this was a true avatar, a manifestation of profound power. The old man before them was actually a Unity stage powerhouse. For a moment, both of them looked completely ashen faced, their courage crumbling.
"Just as I thought. Inflicting that initial injury was the best outcome I could hope for."
Su Min knew this was the best result she could achieve with the puppet. Earlier, she had secretly used the Time Law and channeled part of her power through the threads to manipulate Kuang Batian into launching that surprise attack.
It had, in fact, exceeded her expectations.
Even though the old man had recovered to the Unity stage, his body was far from complete. Su Min could tell his physical strength was nowhere near what a true, peak Unity stage expert should possess.
Clearly, the flesh he had devoured was not enough to restore him to perfection. He had prioritized recovering his laws and cultivation level, since once the Dharma Form was manifested, physical limitations mattered less, unless one's laws were heavily body focused.
At this point, there was no need to hide anymore.
In the world of cultivation, few bothered with convoluted schemes in the end. In the face of absolute power, most trickery often looked ridiculous.
Besides, so called "high level battles" often came down to the simplest methods, assassination and kidnapping. But in this world, that was almost laughable.
High level cultivators either had no living close relatives, or those relatives were nearly as strong as them. Kidnapping was practically impossible.
As for distant descendants? They might not even care about them at all.
So, Su Min saw no reason to keep up the act.
Almost instantly, she drew her weapon…
Slash!
A brilliant, multicolored arc of light, shimmering with condensed power, shot forward and clashed directly with the descending palm. In that moment, both forces annihilated each other in a silent, blinding flash, leaving nothing behind, as if nothing had ever happened.
"!!!"
The three onlookers were horrified. They could not even comprehend the nature of Su Min's attack. Even as an Emperor's successor, she should not have been able to fight across an entire realm like this, to directly counter a Unity stage expert's strike.
But among the three, the old man was the first to react. Because in that instant, he had sensed something familiar, something that triggered a deep seated alarm.
The reason he had hidden away in the Crystal Mountain, luring prey with the promise of crystals, was simple. If he went out and slaughtered an entire region, he would be hunted down and eradicated by the world's major powers. But if "unlucky fools" died inside a secret realm, drawn by their own greed?
Well, that was just natural selection, the way of the cultivation world.
The problem was, despite being a Unity stage expert, he was not yet complete. And this world did have beings who could deal with him. At his peak, he had been nearly invincible, but he was no Emperor.
Moreover, many of the supreme divine beasts had likely already reached the Unity stage. Add in the ancient families with their hidden reserves of power…
Unless he fully restored his Unity stage strength, he dared not reveal himself to the wider world.
That was why Kuang Batian had been his puppet, spreading rumors of the Five Elements Mountain's fabulous riches, but carefully ensuring no true powerhouses took a serious interest.
But now, his worst nightmare had come true. The person before him might very well be one of those supreme experts he feared. And what made his scalp tingle even more was…
"Who are you? A true expert should not hide their, Huh?!"
Before he could finish his sentence, a trickle of dark blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Su Min's earlier attack, the one that had killed Kuang Batian, had left a severe internal wound. At the very least, her primary goal had been achieved.
"Hmph. So what if you are Unity stage? Third Seat of the Black Seal, Five Elements Great Sage, Yuan Wangtian."
Su Min sneered, a cold, confident curl of her lips. Then she took a single, deliberate step forward. The next moment, the two behind her instinctively covered their eyes against a sudden, blinding light…
Flash!
Where the petite girl had stood, a figure clad in form fitting, full body armor now stood. She was tall, with a perfectly proportioned figure visible even through the sleek plates of her armor, a far cry from the flat chested child she had pretended to be.
But what truly terrified them, what made their hearts seize with dread, was her aura.
Late stage Dao Comprehension.
Just one step away from Unity stage.
"Tch…"
Tian Mengchan and Li Liu exchanged a single, frantic glance, their hearts filled with a cold, sinking dread.
Dao Comprehension stage.
The highest echelon of power in this world. Before such beings, they were nothing but ants. Only now did they realize the full truth. Su Min had been playing with them this whole time. They had already been shocked by her identity as an Emperor's successor, but they had still underestimated her, completely and utterly.
"E, esteemed senior, you are…?"
Tian Mengchan's voice trembled with awe and fear. There were quite a few Dao Comprehension stage experts in the world, so they could not immediately recognize Su Min just by her cultivation. But while they might not know, someone else present certainly did.
"AHHH!!!"
A roar filled with shock, bitter envy, and pure, undiluted hatred erupted from Yuan Wangtian. The very world seemed to tremble at the sound as the old man suddenly went berserk. Blazing, multi colored flames erupted to life, engulfing the sky. The violent, oppressive heat forced Tian Mengchan and Li Liu to their knees instantly.
Even as Divine Transformation experts, gods in the eyes of ordinary cultivators, they could only kneel under this overwhelming pressure, desperately summoning every ounce of their spiritual power just to form a thin protective barrier around themselves.
And it was not just them.
This terrifying aura shattered through the confines of the Five Elements Mountain, enveloping the entire region in an instant. A Unity stage expert's emotions could shake the heavens themselves. Yet Su Min remained standing perfectly upright, her arms crossed casually over her chest, an unshakable reef amidst the storm.
"Nanming Lihuo, Eastern Azure Wood, Western Metal's Sharp Gold, Northern Water's Profound Origin…" Yuan Wangtian recited, his voice a mixture of agony and covetousness. "In my entire life, I only ever obtained the Samadhi True Fire.
Good. Very good.
Five Elements Holy Body… Today, you shall become my nourishment, the key to my return to peak strength!"
"Grandmaster Su!!!"
At this point, the two sect leaders were utterly dumbfounded. Who in the entire world did not know of the Five Elements Holy Body's might?
Countless superpowers and ancient clans had emptied their treasuries, offering unimaginable riches, just for one of her custom made pills. The title of Grandmaster shook the entire continent. So, at this moment, overwhelmed by terror and a crushing regret, Tian Mengchan raised her own hand…
SLAP!!!
And gave herself a resounding, stinging blow to the face. In that instant, she was filled with both bone deep terror and bitter regret.
If she had known this "Miss Le" was Su Min, she would not have dared even the slightest thought of scheming against her. Instead, she would have licked her boots without a second thought, even offering up her entire sect if necessary. Just one Dao Comprehension Pill from Su Min would have made her entire lifetime of struggle worthwhile.
Li Liu was no better off, his mind reeling. The legendary Grandmaster, the true pinnacle of this world, perhaps its only supreme expert who stood above all others, had been right before them all along. No one else could even compare. His thoughts mirrored Tian Mengchan's, along with a hint of lingering fear that made his knees weak.
Thankfully, he had not directly offended Su Min earlier. After all, this was someone who could annihilate entire sects on a whim. But since she had not punished them for their earlier foolishness, she probably could not be bothered to deal with them now.
"If you want to live, run."
Su Min could not be bothered with their internal turmoil or their expressions. She spoke indifferently, her focus entirely on the enemy before her. Before the two sect leaders could even fully process her words or react…
BOOM!!!
An ear splitting explosion rocked the world. The very mountains around them trembled and crumbled. The light of the sun and moon seemed to dim.
Because in that instant, Su Min had appeared directly in front of Yuan Wangtian…
And punched.
The shockwave from the impact sent the very earth trembling. But after just one brutal exchange, the two figures separated again, hovering in the air.
"Seems my guess was right."
Su Min smirked at the old man. Because what had blocked her fist was not his own hand, but the massive, shimmering avatar that loomed behind him.
"Hmph."
Yuan Wangtian's face darkened like a thundercloud. He dared not take Su Min's punch head on. His physical body was still too weak, too incomplete. Even a casual strike from her might cripple him. So, he could only rely on his avatar, his manifestation of law and power, to defend himself.
"Shall we take this to the outer realm?"
Su Min grinned, a sharp, challenging expression. Unity stage battles were best fought outside the continent, where their full power would not accidentally shatter the land and draw even more unwanted attention.
As for this old man?
Truthfully, Su Min was not afraid of him anymore. His physical weakness was a fatal flaw he could not hide. Once cultivators reached the upper three realms, starting with Dao Comprehension, they became all rounders.
There were no true weaknesses anymore. Because whether it was laws or avatars, their effects depended on overall strength. A fragile body was a glaring vulnerability, one Su Min had already successfully exploited.
"Sharp tongued brat. I was dominating this continent before you were even born."
Yuan Wangtian's voice dripped with cold killing intent, but he did not refuse the offer.
A full blown Unity stage battle would shake the entire world and drain its spiritual energy. If it attracted certain beings slumbering in hidden realms, he would be doomed.
As for Su Min?
She wanted to monopolize his "inheritance", and ensure no outsiders interfered or tried to claim a share.
In the next instant, both figures flickered and then vanished completely, their auras disappearing from the mountain…
Leaving behind two utterly stunned and bewildered spectators.
"They are gone… Does that mean…?"
Tian Mengchan's eyes, wide with shock, quickly gleamed with a sudden, burning greed as she looked around at the crystalline cavern.
Did that not mean everything here was hers for the taking now?
"Shut up, you brainless bimbo!!!"
But Li Liu's furious roar cut her off, his own face pale with a fear she had not yet registered.
Because at that exact moment…
The entire Five Elements Mountain began to quake violently, as if something massive was stirring deep within its core.
From every tunnel, every crevice, countless Divine Transformation stage crystalline creatures surged forth, their forms glittering with deadly intent, flooding the chamber.