"..."
Su Min stared excitedly at the pill resting in her palm, her focus so absolute the world around her seemed to fade. This was it, without a doubt the only Unity Pill left anywhere on the continent.
The fallen couldn't refine pills anymore, so the one she held was absolutely one-of-a-kind, a final, perfect relic of a lost art.
Gulp—
Without a second thought, she tossed the pill into her mouth and swallowed it whole. The effect was instantaneous. A torrent of raw, overwhelming energy detonated deep within her dantian, a wild storm that threatened to shred her meridians and tear her internal organs to pieces.
"Damn, is the reaction always this violent?"
Feeling the chaotic state of her own body, Su Min nearly cursed out loud. This was her very first time breaking through to the Unity stage, and she had no master to guide her, no one to warn her what to expect.
The little Golden Crow was also at the Unity stage, of course, but the physiology of a divine beast and a human were fundamentally, completely different. The Golden Crow had advanced smoothly all the way to the Mahayana stage without any of these struggles, but Su Min didn't have that luxury.
Every single bottleneck was present and accounted for, with only one silver lining to be found, her unique player constitution ensured she would never be permanently stuck, no matter how difficult the barrier seemed.
Pfft—
Right then, Su Min couldn't hold back any longer. A mouthful of fresh, coppery-tasting blood sprayed from her lips. She quickly adjusted her sitting posture, planting her feet firmly on the ground and steadying her breathing. At the same time, a faint, phantom silhouette began to slowly materialize in the air behind her, the nascent form of a Dharma Form, the signature power of every Unity stage powerhouse.
Now, Su Min rapidly circulated all the frantic energy raging inside her body, striving to harmonize it, to force it under her control. Only by truly reaching the Unity stage would she be strong enough to face the challenges that lay ahead. Time flowed slowly in the depths of her secluded retreat, and in what felt like the blink of an eye, another ten years slipped quietly past.
Meanwhile, back within the Immortal Sect, Lin Yao was the first to emerge from her own long seclusion. She had successfully entered the Dao Comprehension stage, a realm of power she could never, ever have dreamed of achieving in her original, humble world.
"I wonder how Master is doing now."
The thought crossed her mind, bringing with it a familiar, bittersweet curiosity. Though she had been in deep seclusion, she hadn't been entirely cut off from the outside world. She had felt the distinct tremor in the sect's spiritual energy that signaled Su Min's return. Her own breakthrough had gone remarkably smoothly, especially since the sect already had several other Dao Comprehension stage cultivators whose presence seemed to stabilize the path.
"How do I compare to Master back then?"
The idea of measuring herself against Su Min intrigued her. She now knew Su Min's cultivation level when they had first met all those centuries ago, early Dao Comprehension stage, the exact same as her current self.
Hundreds of years had passed since then, a significant span of time even for long lived cultivators, let alone for mortals, for whom it would encompass multiple entire lifetimes. Her own family, for instance, had all passed away of old age, with only a single descendant of her younger brother still drawing breath in the mortal world.
The thought always left her sighing with a quiet, profound sadness. Had she not met Su Min, she likely would never have even reached the Golden Core stage in her lifetime. It couldn't be helped. No matter how extraordinary her innate physique was, without the right cultivation methods and guidance, progress was nearly impossible.
"Congratulations on reaching the Dao Comprehension stage."
Just as Lin Yao finished her private reminiscing, a cold, clear voice sounded directly behind her, sending an involuntary shiver skating down her spine. To her ears, it sounded almost ghostly, materializing from empty air.
She hadn't sensed the speaker's arrival at all, not even a whisper of their presence.
A breath caught in her throat before she forced herself to turn. Standing just a few paces away was Xie Yingying, her long, dark hair slightly tousled by the wind, her silver robes swaying like living mist around her slender form. Her gaze was unreadable, but Lin Yao felt that stare like a physical touch of frost licking against her skin.
Unity stage.
Lin Yao's mind registered the truth instinctively, even before her spiritual sense could confirm it. The pressure was subtle but suffocating. And yet, what unsettled her more than the sheer cultivation gap was the simple, unnerving fact that Xie Yingying had never, ever greeted her like this before.
Not once.
She hadn't imagined it, the chill in the woman's voice was real. For reasons she had never quite been able to grasp, the sect's second-in-command seemed to carry a quiet, persistent dislike for her. Or perhaps "dislike" wasn't even the right word. It felt more like, suspicion. Possessiveness. As if she, Lin Yao, were something dangerous that needed to be watched, monitored, kept at a careful arm's length.
Which made no sense to her. She had always respected Su Min. Looked up to her. Cared for her deeply.
Maybe too deeply.
Xie Yingying, however, seemed unusually relaxed today. Her robes fluttered softly in the breeze, her eyes distant, as if something far beyond the sect's cloud draped boundaries held her thoughts. Her cultivation had surged just days ago, pushing her seamlessly into the Unity stage without any apparent bottlenecks. As someone who carried the legendary Lunar Sovereign Physique, her path forward was clear, almost inevitable.
Maybe that was why she didn't seem inclined to argue today.
Whether she could go beyond that was anyone's guess.
"…Your aura carries traces of the Lunar Sovereign Ancient Scripture," Xie Yingying said at last, her voice quieter than before, almost contemplative. "The cultivation method you practice…"
She trailed off, narrowing her eyes slightly, not with suspicion this time, but with a spark of genuine curiosity.
For the longest time, Xie Yingying had simply found Lin Yao, irritating. There had been no logical reason for it. Lin Yao was polite, talented, respectful, by all accounts an ideal disciple. But that was precisely the problem.
She was too close to Su Min.
Too familiar. Too at ease. She spoke to her master like an equal, accepted precious pills from her hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, laughed without restraint and called her 'Master' in that soft, devoted tone as if it were a term of affection, not just respect.
And so, despite herself, she'd treated Lin Yao with quiet hostility. Nothing overt, never cruel or confrontational, but just enough to keep her at a distance. Just enough to remind her whose shadow she walked in.
But now, for the very first time, that old, familiar sensation was gone. Instead, she detected something unusual. A faint, almost imperceptible ripple, echoing in the depths of Lin Yao's cultivation. Something that tugged gently at the very foundation of her own Lunar Sovereign Scripture, like two strings vibrating in perfect harmony across a great distance.
"Master created the technique for me," Lin Yao explained, her voice respectful. "She built it using the Ancient Blazing Scripture as a base, but wove in fragments from the Lunar Sovereign Scripture. She said it matched my constitution, and would help me handle the innate imbalance in my spiritual root."
Xie Yingying stared at her a moment longer, then let out a slow, measured breath.
"…That girl really is bold."
Her tone wasn't critical, but held a note of faint awe. Integrating two fundamentally incompatible scriptures, one of pure fire, the other of serene moonlight, was not something most cultivators would ever dare attempt, much less offer to a disciple. But Su Min had done it. And, judging by the clear, stable resonance she felt emanating from Lin Yao now, she'd done it flawlessly.
"And you didn't encounter any issues?" Xie Yingying asked, her curiosity genuine.
Lin Yao shook her head. "None so far. I, I struggled with cultivation for a long time before. But this method feels natural, like it was made for me from the very beginning."
It was the first time they'd ever spoken like this. Calmly. Without the usual undercurrent of tension.
Xie Yingying didn't know when it had changed, couldn't even say what had changed. But the old, defensive tightness she always felt coiling in her chest around Lin Yao, it wasn't there anymore.
Gone was the sharp, possessive tug whenever she saw the girl linger a moment too close to Su Min. Gone was the cold, instinctual urge to step between them, to shield, to claim.
Something had shifted. Quietly. Subtly.
And though Xie Yingying didn't think it through, didn't try to name it, some deep, unspoken part of her knew.
Lin Yao had already stepped back.
Somewhere along the line, the girl had learned to draw her own lines. She no longer looked at Su Min with that hungry, unguarded longing. No longer clung to her with that intimate, effortless closeness that had once made Xie Yingying want to tear her away by force.
Whether it was fear, or respect, or simple, painful acceptance of reality, Lin Yao had stopped reaching.
And because of that, Xie Yingying could finally breathe.
Just then, Lin Yao noticed something odd, her eyes drawn to the weapon at Xie Yingying's hip.
"Lady Xie, that sword of yours..."
She couldn't help herself. A Unity stage cultivator still wielding a mere Mystic grade blade, it was absurd. At this level, such a weapon should have shattered under the strain of a single, full powered clash. Even she, barely through the threshold of Dao Comprehension, had already begun forming bonds with nascent spirit forged artifacts.
But Xie Yingying said nothing in reply.
She just gave a faint, almost imperceptible shake of her head. Not dismissive, but, private. This sword was a gift from Su Min, earned during the Golden Core Heavenly Rankings all those years ago. Though its original purpose had been to somewhat restrain her at the time...
Lin Yao's breath caught in her throat. The answer wasn't in words, but she understood completely, the understanding settling in her chest like a cold stone.
The sword was a gift. A keepsake. One that didn't need to be useful, or powerful, or practical.
It was from her.
Lin Yao's hand, which had half lifted in a gesture towards the blade, slowly dropped back to her side.
She was no fool.
Even if Su Min had once reached out to her, once walked beside her and handed her precious spirit pills and patted her head like a warm, life giving breeze in a cold, harsh world, that path was long gone. There was no room left beside Su Min now.
Not when she was standing there.
Not when the distance between them was guarded so fiercely, by someone she couldn't possibly hope to match.
She knew when to leave.
Even if her own heart didn't quite want to.
Seeing the subtle shift in Xie Yingying's expression, Lin Yao was very sensible and shut her mouth. She had just entered the Dao Comprehension stage, while the woman standing before her was a genuine Unity stage expert.
Even Su Min, back when she was at the late Dao Comprehension stage, hadn't been confident in her ability to kill a true Unity stage expert.
As the two of them exchanged a few more idle words of chatter, deep within the forgotten continent, Su Min's ordinary clothes had long since been obliterated, turned to dust by the terrifying, uncontrolled energy radiating from her body.
Now she was clad in her full battle armor, and unlike during her Golden Core tribulation, where she'd naively endured over a decade of constant lightning strikes, she was prepared this time.
"It's about to succeed."
Su Min murmured to herself as her cultivation base climbed towards its absolute limit. The phantom behind her grew increasingly solid, its features sharpening, until,
BOOM.
A deafening explosion erupted as a hundred meter tall giant burst up from the ground, sending the earth around it splintering and flying apart. The colossal figure slowly rose to its full height, Su Min's Dharma Form, a towering manifestation condensed from her hard won mastery of ten thousand laws.
"Black and white?"
Su Min turned her head to examine the giant behind her. Cloaked in a monochrome radiance, it was a perfectly proportioned, vastly enlarged version of herself, her very own Dharma Form.
"Huff—"
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Su Min willed the massive figure to vanish, absorbing it back into her being.
She had finally achieved her long desired Unity stage. At this level, a cultivator's lifespan extended to around ten thousand years. Even in the ancient, golden times of cultivation, this would have placed her firmly at the pinnacle of the world.
"Congratulations on reaching the Unity stage. You've finally caught up to me. Care to test yourself?"
A flash of golden light flickered in the air as the little Golden Crow, Donghuang Taiyu, landed gracefully on the ground before Su Min. After all these years, Su Min had finally matched her cultivation. Both of them were now at the Unity stage.
In that instant, the Golden Crow's naturally battle hungry blood ignited.
Previously, the gap between them had been too vast. Even knowing Su Min's freakish strength, she would never have fought her with such an overwhelming advantage. But now, things were different.
Upon reaching the Unity stage, the physical disparity between cultivators and divine beasts had all but vanished.
"You sure about that?"
Su Min smirked, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Dark whirlpools of profound water erupted in the space around her, distorting the very air and light.
"Never mind. Goodbye."
The Golden Crow immediately backed down, turning tail and fleeing without a shred of hesitation. She loved a good fight but she wasn't stupid, engaging Su Min head on like this would be a one sided beatdown, not a spar.
Unlike that brute of a dragon girl, who specialized in pure physical combat, the Golden Crow Clan's power lay almost solely in their dominion over flames.
But Su Min possessed the legendary Five Elements Holy Body, the sovereign lord of all elemental attributes. Fighting her with any kind of elemental attack was utter folly. Faced directly with Su Min's Northern Water's Profound Origin, which perfectly countered her own fiery nature, the Golden Crow decided that discretion was definitely the better part of valor.
"Chicken."
Watching the Golden Crow vanish in a flash of golden light, Su Min scratched her head helplessly.
Soon, however, her focus returned entirely to the task at hand. With a wave of her hand, familiar crimson flames reappeared, dancing obediently in her palm.
"There's still work to do. Time to refine a cauldron. At my current level, I can finally craft Heaven grade artifacts, even if they're only the low tier ones."
Sensing the vast, deep well of energy flowing smoothly within her, Su Min felt real, tangible power coursing through her veins. Now, she could wield the mighty Five Elements Mountain in one hand while fighting freely with the other.
At the very least, she could bluff her way through a fight looking like a certain legendary immortal king.
"Only the Central Wutu Divine Earth remains. The Ink Kirin is about to awaken."
Su Min's eyes flickered with intensity, as if she were piercing through the veils of time itself, her gaze landing squarely on the deeply slumbering form of the Ink Kirin. Its cultivation had already recovered to the late Divine Transformation stage.
It could reach the Dao Comprehension stage at any moment now, the threshold of its adulthood. Once it did, and successfully summoned the mythical Kirin Ancient Realm, Su Min could finally claim the last piece of the puzzle.
"Ugh."
Suddenly, Su Min clutched her head, a sharp, stabbing pain lancing through her temples.
"What's this? The Time Laws are acting up again? Am I about to enter that state?"
Alarmed, she recalled the terrifying, immovable figure sitting downstream on the endless River of Time, gazing perpetually upward.
If she so much as brushed against its influence, she'd end up just like the Sinful Buddha, or worse. At least he had been a true Great Emperor when it happened to him. She was just a puny, newly advanced Unity stage cultivator.
"Wait, this isn't me observing the River of Time. It's the river itself giving me feedback. Those who dare to interfere with time will inevitably incur the Heavenly Dao's wrath."
In that instant, a sudden surge of foreign information flooded her mind. The Heavenly Dao, seizing the fleeting opportunity of her post breakthrough epiphany, had sent something across the endless branches of the River of Time to reach her.
This method was subtle, a whisper, not a shout. It wouldn't attract the attention of that dreadful figure downstream, allowing her to receive the message completely undisturbed.
"This is..."
Su Min's pupils constricted to pinpoints.
She saw a vision of a cataclysmic battlefield, where a colossal skeleton spanned the divide between heaven and earth. Each of its world ending strikes seemed to descend from the cold, dark cosmos itself, attacks that she knew could crush her instantly, completely.
"The Skeletal Emperor's Bone Dharma Body, Ugh—"
She recognized this scene from her memories of the game. The only difference, the game's pale, pixelated portrayal was nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to the visceral, overwhelming reality of the vision.
By now, Su Min knew she possessed the power to flip an entire planet. Upon reaching the Unity stage, she had gained the strength to destroy stars. Yet even so, she instantly recognized the being in the vision as an existential threat.
"Heh, trying desperately to stop me from obtaining the final Central Wutu Divine Earth, are we?"
In that moment, Su Min understood completely. The Skeletal Emperor was afraid. In the game, their final, epic showdown had occurred after he'd fully regained his status as a peak Great Emperor.
Now, at best, he was a Unity stage cultivator. Though still formidably powerful, he hadn't fully recovered his ancient strength. And yet he was willing to go this far, to risk so much, to kill her prematurely.
"If you're so eager, then don't blame me for turning the tables. Even the Heavenly Dao itself despises you. Let's see just who I can rally to my side this time."
Su Min's eyes gleamed with fierce determination. The final battle was about to begin, and far sooner than anyone had anticipated. Once it truly started, she'd lose all her precious foreknowledge of future events.
But so what.
If they wanted to go all in, then she would play along, all the way.
"I need to gather allies. The Golden Crow and the dragon girl are givens, but the major established factions might not dare confront him directly. Even at the Unity stage, he'd struggle against those truly ancient monsters. I need top tier talent, I'll recruit Tian Hao too. Assuming he hasn't been killed off already. That guy's always had the absolute worst luck."
Su Min chuckled darkly to herself. His perpetual misfortunes weren't her problem, so she could laugh freely. Still, his raw combat prowess was undeniable. Even at the late Dao Comprehension stage, he'd be a valuable asset. In fact, she suspected he might be nearly on par with her own fighting capabilities.
Though she possessed the supreme Five Elements Holy Body and unparalleled combat power, Su Min's raw cultivation speed had never been exceptional. Aside from her own deliberate suppression and repeated tempering of her foundations, one simple, unchangeable fact remained, she wasn't the fastest cultivator out there.
Just look at Lin Yao, reaching the Dao Comprehension stage in mere centuries. Su Min herself had taken nearly a full millennium, even after accounting for her periods of suppressed cultivation.
Moreover, anyone who made it this far in the ruthless world of cultivation had their own extraordinary opportunities and secrets. While she was formidable, she couldn't claim to overshadow everyone else in every single aspect.
"Before that, it's time for a gear upgrade."
===
It's because you feel jealous and feel threatened by her presence that you feel like that. Now that you already establish your dominance on your 'territory', of course that feeling is gone. You really spooke Lin Yao out of her mind
For someone as old as her, Yingying suprisingly quite innocent and naive about this.
And that sword, [Profound Ice Yin Soul Sword (Earth-tier, High-grade)]. I thought she already change it with better grade. Well, it kind of her first gift to her, maybe some kind of love token? I mean that sword was the first gift after they did intimate dual cultivation together, no?