"Five Elements Ancient Scripture..."
Now that she had reached the Nascent Soul stage, Su Min finally had the capacity to properly study the profound inheritance she had obtained.
First, she confirmed that the Five Elements Ancient Scripture was fundamentally different from the Lunar Sovereign and Solar Sovereign Ancient Scriptures. This scripture possessed a unique flexibility; it could be split into separate, self-contained parts. Because the Five Elements Holy Body could naturally harmonize all five elements, the original scripture was designed to be divided and cultivated individually.
However, this method was really intended for ordinary cultivators, not for someone like her with the complete physique.
"Even when split into five parts, each one remains a top tier cultivation method," she mused. "I will leave them in the sect later. They will help fill the gaps in our inheritance."
Her sect had always faced a major problem. Its techniques were a patchwork of miscellaneous methods gathered from here and there. Aside from the Firewood Art she personally practiced, the rest were disorganized, lacking a coherent core inheritance. This was exactly why she had been so envious of Xie Yingying's well preserved sect legacy.
But now, with the Five Elements Emperor's complete inheritance, this issue could be resolved for good. Even when divided into five separate methods, they were designed to complement each other. As long as a disciple had an affinity for one of the five elements, they could cultivate the corresponding part. As for those rare disciples without an affinity for any of the five basic elements, well, Su Min had no immediate solution for them. They would just have to rely on natural enlightenment and gradual exploration.
After all, the five basic elements, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, accounted for over eighty percent of all cultivators. The rest were niche cases, so they would have to figure things out on their own.
"Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth," she recited, channeling her spiritual power. "I have already prepared five jade slips for them." Five slips of pure jade materialized before her, each glowing with a different colored light representing one of the elements. "The Five Elements Ancient Scripture is surprisingly versatile in some ways. But this is just the surface level. I am still far from mastering its true power."
Of course, these divided versions were not the true, unified form of the scripture. Only someone with the complete Five Elements Holy Body could draw out its full, world shaking potential. With that thought, she retrieved the five floating bamboo slips and set them aside on a stone pedestal. She would deposit them in the sect's archives once she left seclusion.
"What comes next is what truly matters," she whispered, her expression turning serious. "I must gather all five divine treasures." A wry smile touched her lips. "But that is impossible right now. I cannot substitute them with inferior replacements either, or my body might literally explode from the imbalance."
The true essence of the Five Elements Ancient Scripture lay in the perfect interplay and mutual generation between the five elements. To fully unleash its power, she needed to collect five specific divine treasures, reaching a state of Great Completion.
Before she could accomplish that, though, she had a temporary workaround. If she could not obtain the genuine divine treasures, she could use high purity beast cores as a substitute. They were far weaker, mere shadows of the real things, but they were still better than relying solely on her own internal energy. The only problem was that this method required an enormous amount of refined beast essence, something that could only be harvested from powerful beasts at the Golden Core stage or above. Such resources were notoriously rare and difficult to acquire.
She did not have any on hand, but her sect's treasury certainly did. The ocean was vast, far larger than all the landmasses combined, and it teemed with Golden Core stage demonic beasts. Though the East Mulberry Land province was dominated by humans and spirit beasts, powerful, wild demonic beasts still occasionally emerged from the depths.
The Eastern Sea Immortal Sect, drawing on the resources of the sea, had stockpiled a considerable amount of this precious beast essence over the centuries.
"This was exactly why I established a sect in the first place," she said with a satisfied nod. "So I would not have to hunt them all myself."
Killing enough Golden Core level beasts alone would have been exhausting, if not outright impossible in a short amount of time.
"It is time to leave seclusion."
Stretching her limbs lazily, feeling the potent energy of the Nascent Soul stage coursing through her, Su Min shattered her protective formation with a single, casual slap. She then soared into the sky above her secluded valley. The overwhelming aura of a Nascent Soul cultivator erupted from her without restraint, instantly alerting every strong figure in the sect.
Within moments, a crowd had gathered below, their faces a mixture of awe and excitement.
"Congratulations, Grand Elder, on reaching the Nascent Soul stage!"
The current sect master, Tian Yinzi, stepped forward with a deep, respectful bow. Now that the barriers between heaven and earth had fully opened, any sect without a Nascent Soul or Divine Transformation expert was in grave danger. Their interactions with other provinces had been extremely cautious, and their expansion had been carried out quietly, in strict accordance with Su Min's instructions to maintain a low profile.
Still, having a Nascent Soul elder in residence, especially their founder, brought immense reassurance to everyone. The Golden Crow might have been a Divine Transformation expert, but it only obeyed Su Min. No one else could command it. Su Min, however, was the sect's heart and soul.
"Place these five jade slips in the Scripture Pavilion," Su Min instructed, descending gracefully. "And I will need to visit the Treasure Vault to refine some items."
She tossed the jade slips to Tian Yinzi, who caught them with care. He skimmed their contents with his spiritual sense, and his face immediately lit up with unrestrained joy. Previously, their sect only had the core inheritance of the Heavenly Yin Sect, which had extremely strict requirements and limited applicability. Many talented disciples had failed the Six Nine Heavenly Tribulation precisely because their legacy was incomplete and could not support them fully. But now, with these five foundational jade slips, that critical problem was solved. The sect's overall strength would skyrocket in a very short time.
"Oh, and take these two as well."
Su Min also handed over two artifacts she had refined upon solidifying her Nascent Soul foundation. One was a Heavenly Thunder Resistance Talisman, a High Mystic Grade treasure that greatly enhanced the user's defense against lightning. The other was a Thunder Shattering Divine Sword, also High Mystic Grade, a blade that dealt devastating damage to all thunder attribute beings.
These were specialized tools designed specifically for overcoming heavenly tribulations. Back when she was weaker, Su Min had only had lowly Yellow grade artifacts to rely on. Now, with her increased power, she could provide her sect with much better protective equipment.
"Grand Elder, this way, please."
Tian Yinzi beamed as he accepted the artifacts, handling them as if they were sacred relics. The Grand Elder had effortlessly solved two of the sect's most pressing problems with a wave of her hand, a complete cultivation inheritance and safer tribulation survival.
He should probably have called her "Ancestor," he thought, but looking at her youthful, vibrant appearance, he could not quite bring himself to say it. If she decided to smack him for the informality, he would just have to take it without complaint.
Soon, they arrived at a heavily guarded cave built into the side of a mountain, protected by layers of intricate formations and multiple expert guards.
"Eight Golden Core cultivators, not bad at all."
Su Min nodded approvingly. The guards stepped out from the shadows and bowed deeply to her. They were all Golden Core cultivators who had already survived the Three Nine Heavenly Tribulation, though the lowered difficulty after the heavens opened had certainly helped. Even so, this defense lineup was impressive for any sect.
"In the twenty plus years since the Grand Elder entered seclusion," Tian Yinzi reported proudly, "our sect has gained over a hundred new Golden Core experts. However, only two have so far survived the Six Nine Heavenly Tribulation, one from the Taiyin lineage, and another who cultivated your personal legacy. But now, with these five new methods, I am certain many more will succeed."
Su Min gave a satisfied nod. The new generation was flourishing, just as she had hoped. She also suspected the neighboring provinces had seen a similar surge in Golden Core cultivators due to the enriched spiritual environment.
"Grand Elder, feel free to use anything you find here. I will go inform the other elders of the good news."
"Go ahead."
Su Min stepped inside the vault, and her gaze was immediately drawn to the vast, orderly collection of rare herbs and spiritual plants. As one of the Three Great Holy Lands, the sect had gathered countless precious ingredients over the centuries, many of which were suitable for refining fifth grade and even sixth grade pills.
"Quite the collection," she murmured, a slow grin spreading across her face. "I will have fun burning through these."
The stores had clearly been reserved for her use. It was not a pure loss for the sect either, since alchemy always produced valuable byproducts. The leftover pill residues and lower grade successes, while useless to her, would be extremely valuable resources for the sect's disciples. But for now, her interest lay deeper inside the vault, in the section where the sect stored materials harvested from demonic beasts. What she needed was not their flesh or bones, but their core life essence.
"Damn, over three hundred different types of beast essence!" she exclaimed softly, her spiritual sense sweeping over the neatly labeled containers. "And for the metal, water, and earth attributes, there are at least fifty samples of each."
She was a little surprised by the sheer abundance. Centuries of accumulation from the vast Eastern Sea had yielded impressively diverse results. Still, she did not need that much, only a dozen or so high quality samples of each element.
With a wave of her hand, several dozen containers on one shelf shattered simultaneously, releasing thick, coiling streams of primal beast essence. The multi hued energies, smelling of ozone, earth, and salt, swirled in the air before gathering above Su Min's palm, coalescing into a brilliantly glowing sphere. Under the intense refining power of her Nanming Lihuo, the earth attribute essence within the sphere began to shudder and transform, its impurities burning away.
Fire begets Earth.
She was using her own divine flame to forge a substance known as Beast Earth, a temporary, artificial substitute for the divine earth treasure she truly lacked. Though it was far, far weaker than the legendary Central Wutu Divine Earth, it would suffice for now to maintain the balance within her. Once she obtained the real thing, she could simply expel this substitute.
The room fell into a deep silence, broken only by the low roar of her flames and the crackle of condensing energy. After an unknown length of time, a peculiar, luminous yellow sand materialized in her hand, cool to the touch and pulsing with a steady, earthen power.
"Done. Beast Earth."
She did not know its exact name, and it was nowhere near as powerful as the Central Wutu Divine Earth, but it would serve its purpose. With a deep breath, she swallowed the handful of glowing sand whole. Her body flashed with a brief, intense light, and within an hour, she had fully integrated and refined it. At the Nascent Soul stage, and with two genuine divine treasures already settled in her body, suppressing a mere Beast Earth was child's play.
Unfortunately, as expected, it did not boost her cultivation level at all. It was a patch, not a upgrade.
"Earth begets Metal," she recited, turning her attention to the next set of containers. "Next up, Beast Metal."
With another thought, a dozen more containers on a different shelf shattered, releasing sharp, metallic streams of essence that filled the air with the scent of ozone and forged steel.