Eastern Mulberry Land
"Sigh, don't disappoint me."
Su Min gazed at a small, intricately carved pendant in her hand, a special spatial artifact she had crafted herself.
The space inside wasn't vast, but it housed several extraordinary individuals, her hidden trump cards. Without a moment's hesitation, she swiftly ascended, breaking through the planet's atmospheric barrier in the blink of an eye and arriving in the cold, starry void.
Feeling the immediate absence of gravity and the vast, silent emptiness around her, Su Min couldn't help but take a deep, unnecessary breath. She climbed even higher, reaching an altitude of dozens of kilometers where the last traces of air had completely vanished.
It was the perfect moment to unleash her "Shrinking the Earth to an Inch" technique to cross the immense distance, but just then...
"Hmph."
With a cold snort, Su Min casually backhanded the air, shattering a subtle, invisible sneak attack aimed at her back.
Clap, clap, clap...
A slow, mocking applause echoed unnaturally through the vacuum, and a figure slowly emerged from the shifting darkness, watching Su Min with an amused smile, clearly impressed by her keen perception.
"Is that sound some kind of law manipulation? At this distance, it should be a vacuum, sound can't travel..."
She muttered the scientific fact to herself before immediately dismissing the thought. After all, cultivators routinely defied the known laws of physics, there was no point dwelling on it.
Su Min carefully scrutinizing the man now standing before her. He appeared to be a middle-aged man in his forties, with a sharp face and eyes that exuded the authority of someone long accustomed to absolute power. Though his appearance differed slightly from his in game depiction, Su Min recognized him instantly, the Skeleton Emperor.
The final boss of Path of Immortality's initial version, he would await players at the game's conclusion. By then, he would have reclaimed his imperial throne. If players were too slow in their cultivation, he might even succeed in devouring the entire continent.
"You don't seem surprised to see me."
Noticing Su Min's utterly composed gaze, the Skeleton Emperor grew intrigued, a flicker of curiosity in his dark eyes.
"Come out, all of you."
Instead of answering him directly, Su Min addressed the empty space around her, her voice carrying easily in the void. The moment her words fell, over a dozen figures materialized from the darkness, surrounding her completely.
"Ten Unity stage cultivators and a few at the late Dao Comprehension stage... Is this the full might of the Black Seal?"
Su Min's expression remained unperturbed, almost bored, as she observed the ring of enemies encircling her.
"How do you know of us?"
The Skeleton Emperor frowned deeply at her lack of shock. Their operations had always been supremely covert, leaving the vast majority of the continent completely ignorant of their existence.
Yet Su Min not only knew his name but also showed no reaction whatsoever to their assembled forces, an unsettling realization that dawned on him.
As fallen ones, they operated in secrecy almost by instinct, not just by his explicit orders. But Su Min's calm demeanor suggested prior, detailed knowledge, which baffled him. He decided against immediate action, wanting to pry answers from her first.
"The Dharma Secret Realm."
"It was you?"
The Skeleton Emperor stiffened, recalling their failed attempt to exterminate the Buddhist sect. After the Dharma Secret Realm had closed, their efforts had completely stalled, and the fate of those who had entered had remained a total mystery.
Now it seemed they had crossed paths with Su Min inside, and worse, their captured subordinates might have spilled secrets to save their own lives.
"Damn it, I forgot this woman has ties to the Buddhists."
The Skeleton Emperor cursed inwardly, quickly piecing together what he thought must have happened.
"Hmph, let him speculate."
Su Min secretly smirked at his incorrect assumptions. She had known about him and the Black Seal from the very start, thanks to her player knowledge, but she would never admit it. The less she said, the more he'd overthink, and the more amusing the whole situation became.
"Now, you're all surrounded by me."
With an almost innocent, playful smile that didn't reach her cold eyes, Su Min delivered the line, leaving her enemies momentarily stunned into silence.
"HAHAHA. Is she insane?"
"One person surrounding us? What a joke!"
"Pffft—"
Despite their former prestige and power, the gathered cultivators couldn't help but scoff and laugh at her seemingly delusional statement. Coming from anyone else, it might have been ignored as bravado, but from the usually sharp Su Min, it was downright bizarre.
"Kill her."
A flicker of deep unease prompted the Skeleton Emperor to act. Drawing his sinister, bone white weapon, he led the charge, followed immediately by a barrage of lethal strikes from his allies, all aimed with deadly precision at Su Min's vital points.
They intended to obliterate her on the spot, to give her no chance to react, but...
"Pathetic."
Su Min sneered and flicked her wrist. In that instant, several figures flashed into existence around her, their auras exploding outwards like waking dragons.
BOOM.
A colossal explosion of clashing energies erupted, shaking the very fabric of space around them. Even a casual clash between Unity stage experts could shake the heavens, let alone a concentrated battle involving over a dozen of them.
"!!!"
The Skeleton Emperor froze mid charge, his eyes widening, then his face paled visibly.
"The Lunar Sovereign Physique, the Great Desolate Holy Body, the Three Legged Golden Crow, the Five Clawed Golden Dragon, and the Nine Colored Heavenly Phoenix... I should expect nothing less from a Grandmaster Alchemist. To gather such a lineup..."
His hard won composure shattered as cold sweat dripped down his back. Fighting a master alchemist was always a nightmare, you never knew who they might have bribed or healed into indebted service. Worse, he couldn't fathom how Su Min had pulled this off without a single rumor leaking.
"Gulp— "
While the Skeleton Emperor suppressed his rising panic, his allies erupted into outright chaos. They had expected a simple, easy ambush, overwhelming a single target with their superior numbers.
No matter how strong Su Min was, she couldn't possibly withstand their combined might, especially under the Skeleton Emperor's lead. Her Five Element Holy Body might not be as directly nourishing as the Great Desolate Holy Body, but a Unity stage cultivator was still a prime target for consumption.
Yet in the blink of an eye, the tables had turned completely. Before them now stood a group of formidable experts, all at the early Unity stage, each radiating overwhelming, crushing auras. Three supreme divine beasts and two holders of supreme physiques...
Even with their numerical superiority, a cold, gripping dread seized their hearts.