"Now, it's just a matter of who kills whom. Heh."
Watching the group disperse, Su Min revealed a dangerous, sharp edged smile.
The enemy had likely accounted for Xie Yingying and the little Golden Crow, two Unity stage powerhouses, and perhaps even the two Imperial Artifacts of the Golden Crow Clan. But they could never have anticipated everything else she had prepared, all the hidden cards up her sleeve.
As for the other two super divine beasts and the Great Desolate Holy Body? The enemy had no clue, not even an inkling.
Su Min's assembled forces were more than sufficient for the task. After all, most of the Black Seal's top experts were only at the Unity stage. Even at their peak, they wouldn't be much of a threat to her gathered allies.
The only ones worth worrying about were the Skeletal Emperor himself and the organization's second in command. The Skeletal Emperor was one thing, a known, terrifying quantity, but the second seat was no pushover either. Though he lacked a special constitution, he had honed his ordinary body to a truly terrifying degree through sheer, brutal effort.
Apart from the Skeletal Emperor, Su Min planned to leave none of them alive. She would wipe the slate clean.
She would have the little Golden Crow and the Dragon Princess team up to pin down the second seat. As super divine beasts wielding their own divine artifacts, they could handle him together.
Killing him outright might be difficult, Su Min knew his most dangerous trump card. He had developed a secret technique that allowed him to create a perfect, powerful clone of himself as long as his true body remained safe within a hidden altar.
The only way to kill him for good was to storm his lair and destroy his original form.
But that wouldn't be easy. Su Min intended to wait until her Five Elements Holy Body reached Great Completion before charging in to finish him off personally. After that, she would head to the edge of the cosmos to investigate the faint, persistent summons she had been sensing.
Time passed minute by minute, then day by day.
For cultivators, lengthy conferences were completely normal. This continent, which was more of a massive floating island than a planet, was unimaginably vast, easily dwarfing an entire solar system if it were fully spread out.
Gathering all the participants from its far corners took ages.
Modern technology didn't work here, either. Electrical systems frequently short circuited and fried due to the chaotic spiritual energy fluctuations. Even the phone Lin Yao had brought from Earth burned out in a puff of smoke the moment she took it out of her pouch.
So the conference proceeded intermittently, with many attendees arriving halfway through the proceedings.
Less than a year after Lin Yao's departure for that conference,
ROAR.
A deafening, ancient cry echoed across the land as a colossal kirin, wreathed in shimmering black and white light, emerged fully into the world. Its aura surged violently, sweeping across hundreds of kilometers in an instant.
Even coastal cities in the Eastern Mulberry Continent sensed the spiritual disturbance. Though its cultivation was only at the early Dao Comprehension stage, the purity and density of its energy was astounding.
"It's time."
Su Min's eyes snapped open from her meditation, a flash of brilliant light within them.
She was now one single step away from Great Completion of her Five Elements Holy Body, a goal she had pursued for centuries. The anticipation was almost unbearable. It was like playing a game where a strategic satellite took millennia to deploy. Most players would go mad waiting. Though Su Min had remained patient throughout, now that the final step was within reach, how could she not feel the excitement?
Her thousand year dream was about to be realized.
"There's no point delaying further. The Skeletal Emperor's peak strength is already established. If we drag this out, he'll reach the Mahayana stage before I do."
"The war begins now."
With that final thought, she vanished, reappearing in a flash beneath the gigantic kirin. A pulse of light later, the massive creature shrank rapidly, its form shifting.
In the blink of an eye, a young girl with long, ash black hair and striking heterochromatic blue and gold eyes stood meekly before Su Min.
The sight gave Su Min a momentary pause.
"Junior Mo Yun thanks Senior Su for her salvation. Now that I've reached the early Dao Comprehension stage, I can summon the Kirin Ancestral Land from the dimensional seams. The Central Wutu Divine Earth is there."
Mo Yun, the Ink Kirin in human form, bowed deeply and respectfully. She knew her entire race would have gone extinct without Su Min's intervention and protection.
As for the Central Wutu Divine Earth, she disclosed its location freely. Though Su Min hadn't been present for the specifics, Xie Yingying and the little Golden Crow had made her swear a powerful soul oath, that if she ever withheld the Central Wutu Divine Earth from Su Min, the resulting backlash would annihilate the entire kirin race.
Not that the treasure was irreplaceable for them, anyway. The kirin possessed many divine artifacts, including the Imperial Heaven Earth as a backup core.
"Don't rush. Things won't go smoothly this time. Where is your Kirin Secret Realm, and how far is it from here?"
"The Western Sea."
Su Min's neck stiffened slightly.
The Eastern Mulberry Continent, as the name suggested, lay on the eastern edge of the massive continent. The Western Sea was, all the way on the opposite side.
Since the Heavenly Continent wasn't spherical, the only way there was to traverse the entire landmass, a journey of incredible distance.
"Damn. We'll have to enter the void and use spatial compression to reach the west directly. Crossing realm by realm would take far too long."
Su Min rubbed her temples, a sly, calculating glint in her eyes.
Unity stage battles would shake the very heavens. Fighting in the empty void was ideal, at her current level, a full power strike could split small asteroids. On land, the aftershocks alone would devastate entire regions.
Mo Yun, however, looked utterly lost, confused by the sudden tension.
"What's happening?"
Su Min gave her a quick, efficient rundown of the situation. By the time she finished, Mo Yun's lips were twitching uncontrollably. Having awakened so late, she was severely lagging behind the other divine beasts. While they had reached the Unity stage, she was stuck at early Dao Comprehension.
Worse, without her clan's full resources and inheritance, her progress would crawl to a halt. Super divine beasts could advance unimpeded to Mahayana peak, but only with vast resources, which required their ancestral inheritance to access.
The other kirin were in an even worse state, all stuck at the Golden Core stage. Their race currently had no real means of self defense.
In exchange for the Central Wutu Divine Earth, Su Min would offer them protection, and in return, the kirin would obey her commands.
"A Great Emperor... I'm afraid I can't participate in this battle."
Mo Yun smiled bitterly. Though proud as a super divine beast, she wasn't stupid. This fight was far beyond her current capabilities. Her head drooped in shame. Her bloodline was on par with the Five Clawed Divine Dragon and Three Legged Golden Crow, yet here she was, weak and helpless.
"Don't blame yourself. Your father's the one who got backstabbed by his own servant."
Su Min patted her shoulder reassuringly. She still needed the Central Wutu Divine Earth, after all, so it paid to be nice.
Though the kirin would face hardships ahead, they wouldn't be insurmountable. Divine beasts had a long standing mutual defense pact, a relic of the ancient Human God Wars, when sheer human numbers had nearly driven them all to extinction.
If Mo Yun swallowed her pride, she could seek refuge with another clan. But Su Min, a grandmaster alchemist, was the best patron available. Being her "dog" was far more honorable than being a stray mutt with no master.
Mo Yun's face flushed a bright crimson at the blunt analogy.
Her father, the previous Kirin Emperor, had indeed brought this shame upon them all.
"Come with me. I've gathered enough strength for this."
Su Min's smile turned predatory, her killing intent so palpable that Mo Yun shrank back instinctively. Divine beasts might look down on ordinary humans, but none dared disrespect the truly strong, least of all someone like Su Min.
Soon, in a modest, secluded chamber:
Su Min sat at the head of the table.
To her right sat Tian Hao and Xie Yingying.
To her left sat the little Golden Crow, the Dragon Princess, and the Nine Colored Heavenly Phoenix.
Mo Yun took the last seat, no surprise, given she was the weakest present. She couldn't even summon her clan's Imperial Artifacts yet.
"Everyone understands the situation. This will be a battle of terrifying scale, one that could shake the entire Heavenly Continent. Our enemy includes a former Great Emperor. If anyone wishes to back out, do so now. I won't stop you."
No one moved. Not a single person shifted in their seat.
These were no ordinary cultivators. They were the pinnacle of talent, and they hungered to test themselves against a fallen emperor.
"Good. The plan is simple. There is no plan. The Skeletal Emperor is yours."
Su Min nodded at the Golden Crow and Dragon Princess.
"With two Imperial Artifacts between you, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Leave it to us."
The two divine beasts exchanged a glance, a spark of understanding passing between them. As neighbors who frequently sparred, they knew each other's combat styles intimately.
"The rest of you will handle the rabble. As for the Black Seal's second seat, he's mine."
Su Min's grin widened, showing a hint of teeth.
Earlier, in a shadowy, concealed hall far away:
"The Ink Kirin has awakened. Though only at the Dao Comprehension stage, her aura swept across the Eastern Mulberry Continent. She'll likely head for the Kirin Secret Realm soon."
The assembled figures exchanged uneasy glances. Mo Yun's emergence had been impossible to miss, her uncontrolled energy surges had broadcasted her presence to every powerful being in the region.
Under the Skeletal Emperor's leadership, they had regained much of their former strength. Ten Unity stage experts now stood in their ranks, a force no single faction could hope to withstand.
Yet at the mere mention of Su Min, shoulders hunched instinctively.
The alchemy grandmaster had slain their third seat while still at the late Dao Comprehension stage. A full century had passed since then, who knew if she had broken through to Unity?
For most cultivators, advancing to Unity in a mere hundred years was a joke.
But for her? No one in the room doubted it was possible.
As an eighth grade alchemist, she likely had Unity Pills and other high tier recovery aids in abundance. The thought of fighting her was, unsettling.
"Hmph."
The Skeletal Emperor's cold snort cut through the thick tension like a blade. Leading these fallen wrecks was a constant headache. Stripped of their former ambition, they obeyed only under duress, and even then, only half heartedly.
"I will take action personally. Your task is to delay the others. Dismissed."
He waved a skeletal hand in dismissal.
"The kirin's destination is the Western Sea, too far from the Eastern Mulberry Continent. She'll have to traverse the void. We ambush her there."
"Yes."
The hall fell silent again, the air thick with grim resignation.
The Skeletal Emperor massaged his own temples wearily. Dealing with these walking corpses was exhausting.
But the plan was set.
Su Min would die here.
Then, as his master had commanded, he would await and eliminate the Child of Chaos.
Only then would true immortality be theirs.