Staring speechlessly at Su Min, the little Golden Crow felt that she herself was still rather naïve by comparison. She had only been thinking about simple robbery and plunder, but the woman before her was already planning a complete hostile takeover of someone else's entire fortune. Indeed, she still had much to learn from her elder sister. Thinking ahead was absolutely crucial.
Of course, Su Min had not come here just to educate a child. She had two practical matters to attend to.
As she spoke, she summoned her life bound weapon. It now glowed with an intense light, having reached the peak of the Mystic Tier. Her intention was to upgrade it to the Low Grade of the Earth Tier, but there was a significant problem. Earth Tier materials could not be properly refined with her current Nascent Soul stage cultivation. She would need to reach at least the late Nascent Soul stage, or even the Divine Transformation stage, before she could attempt it herself.
Therefore, she had no choice but to seek external help, and the only one capable of assisting her was the little Golden Crow and her control over the Sun True Flame.
The Sun True Flame, like Su Min's Nanming Lihuo, was one of the legendary heaven and earth divine flames. However, their properties were completely different. As the literal incarnation of the sun, the Sun True Flame was characterized by its constant, overwhelming high temperature and its property of eternal burning. This made fighting a Golden Crow extremely troublesome. In game terms, the longer you fought one, the more fire based debuffs, like Burn, Ignite, and Scorch, would rapidly stack up on you. Once those debuffs piled up, your health would plummet. Of course, that was just one aspect. As a pure combat flame, the Sun True Flame greatly enhanced its wielder's direct combat power, far more than Su Min's more versatile Nanming Lihuo.
However, the Sun True Flame also had a major drawback. It was highly unsuitable for the delicate arts of alchemy and artifact refinement. For alchemy, the flame's innate, raging temperature could not be sufficiently suppressed, which meant it would incinerate all the precious medicinal materials. As for refining artifacts, it was decent only for crafting large, simple weapons where brute force was key. But for something like intricate armor, which required extremely precise spiritual control and subtle temperature adjustments, it was practically useless. The flame simply could not be lowered enough for such fine work.
This very flaw, however, made it perfect for Su Min's current task with her life bound weapon. The sword did not need delicate artistry, it just needed to be brutally reinforced and fused with new materials. That was precisely why she had come to seek the little Golden Crow's help.
"Aren't you afraid I will melt your weapon instead?"
Hearing Su Min's request, the little Golden Crow was slightly surprised. She knew the volatile properties of her Sun True Flame very well, so she was both shocked and quietly pleased that Su Min trusted her enough to ask for help with something so important.
"No," Su Min replied confidently. "All you need to do is melt these materials and fuse them directly into the body of my weapon. It is a simple, brute force process. Unless you deliberately sabotage it, there is no way you will destroy my treasure."
She scoffed at the very idea. She did not expect the little Golden Crow to be skilled in the fine arts of alchemy or complex artifact refinement, but this specific task was straightforward enough for her.
"Leave it to me. Come back tomorrow to collect it."
Hearing this, the little Golden Crow happily puffed out her chest in pride, a gesture which completely overshadowed Su Min's more modest figure.
"Damn it."
Su Min's face darkened for a second as she cursed under her breath. But she took a deep, calming breath and moved on to the second matter.
"Their spatial passage is now complete. Use your Golden Crow Ancient Bell to see if you can locate their precise emergence point."
The Golden Crow Ancient Bell was an inherited treasure of the Golden Crow Clan. Its grade, much like the mysterious Golden Core Great Dao itself, far surpassed the known Heaven Tier, though which was ultimately stronger, she did not know. But the Golden Crow Ancient Bell had many incredible uses, one of which was traversing and sensing time and space.
"Mhm."
The little Golden Crow nodded seriously at Su Min's instructions. Then, Su Min left her secluded cultivation area and set up a pill furnace nearby to begin refining. After all, her weapon was soul bound. If it strayed too far from her during the process, it would automatically return to her side.
"Might as well refine the pills for the Azure Dragon and the Peacock King while I am at it."
Squinting at the timepiece on her wrist, Su Min began the refining process. The Azure Dragon King and the Peacock King had been instrumental in helping her establish the sect's foundation. Otherwise, with her hands off approach to management, the sect would have collapsed long ago. The reason she was only fulfilling their request now was that the two divine beasts had only recently managed to gather all the necessary, rare materials. Even though Su Min was not charging them any labor fees, she certainly could not be expected to procure the ingredients herself.
"After reaching the fifth grade, my alchemy progress has slowed down significantly."
Staring into the flickering flames of the pill furnace, Su Min fell into deep thought. She was still not completely proficient in refining the most basic fifth grade Lower Tier pills, let alone the more complex fifth grade Middle Tier ones. It seemed she had hit a tangible bottleneck in her alchemy skills. Of course, this bottleneck had come relatively late. Many fifth grade alchemists were old monsters at the Divine Transformation stage, and even they could typically only refine Lower to Middle Tier fifth grade pills. But by the time Su Min reached their cultivation level, she would undoubtedly be able to refine sixth grade pills.
"Looks like I will have to attend the Great Thunder Temple's Buddhist Assembly after all." She stored the successfully refined pills for the two divine beast kings. "Blood Puppet Sect, you better hurry up and get here."
The two batches of pills had taken a full day to refine. When she went to retrieve her weapon from the little Golden Crow, it was already completed, floating serenely in the air. With a mere thought, it flew back to her side, its weight and balance perfectly attuned to her.
[Five Elements Sacred Sword (Earth Tier - Mid Grade)]
[Effects]
[① Magic Sword: Enhances all five elemental attributes.]
[② Power Sword: Enhances melee combat effects, including armor-piercing and suppression.]
"Damn, that is brutally straightforward."
Looking at the description on her status panel, Su Min did not know whether to laugh or cry. The weapon's evolution was perfectly tailored to her hybrid combat style, which blended ranged sword techniques with devastating close quarters combat. This upgrade powerfully enhanced both aspects, making it ideal for her. However, it would not be nearly as useful for anyone else. The sword's enhancement for any single elemental attribute was not remarkable, but the synergistic power of the combined five elements was extraordinary.
But Su Min did not dwell on her new weapon for long. Her attention was quickly drawn to the little Golden Crow, who was now carefully holding a golden egg about twenty centimeters tall.
"Did you lay an egg?"
For a moment, Su Min was completely stunned. She knew that some birds, like chickens, could lay unfertilized eggs without a mate, eggs meant for eating, not hatching. Considering the Golden Crow was also avian, she supposed it made a strange kind of sense. But since the little Golden Crow was alone, this egg probably had great culinary value. She could not help but wonder how a divine beast's egg would taste.
"What are you thinking?"
Noticing Su Min's strange, appraising gaze, the little Golden Crow shuddered involuntarily and quickly hid the precious egg behind her back.
"I was not going to steal it!"
Su Min felt a pang of guilt. She really had been considering whether to make it into a tea egg or a fried egg.
"First of all, I did not lay this. Second, this is the condensed bloodline essence of our Golden Crow Clan."
"Just from you?"
"What are you imagining?" the little Golden Crow huffed. "The Fusang Ancient Tree is our clan's inherited treasure. Over countless years, thousands of my clansmen have imprinted their bloodline essence onto the tree. As long as a Golden Crow of the royal line activates the tree, those bloodline imprints will resonate, and a new Golden Crow egg will form on its branches."
"Oh, I see."
Su Min nodded, her curiosity piqued. She had known the Fusang Ancient Tree was deeply connected to the Golden Crow bloodline, but she had not realized it worked in this way. The Golden Crow Clan had always been incredibly small, even at its peak, it never exceeded twenty members. So, the imprints of thousands of clansmen must have been accumulated over an unimaginable span of time. But the idea of Golden Crow eggs growing like fruit on a tree was also strangely amusing.
"This is the first egg the Fusang Ancient Tree has produced since I gained control of it. The next one might take who knows how long. I plan to place it in a deep magma flow and use geothermal heat to incubate it. So, why are you sighing—"
Before the little Golden Crow could finish, Su Min let out a genuinely regretful sigh. She had briefly imagined a mother hen brooding over her eggs. Clearly, divine beasts had quite different reproductive methods from ordinary chickens.
"What about the royal bloodline?" Su Min asked, curious. After all, when she had first met the little Golden Crow, she had also been in an egg.
"A current royal must sacrifice a large portion of their own essence and blood to create one," the little Golden Crow explained. "The royal bloodline will always dominate in the resulting offspring. My father seemed to have encountered some unforeseen event back then. He poured nearly all of his essence and blood into the Fusang Ancient Tree, which directly led to my birth."
"I see..."
Su Min nodded, her expression turning more understanding, and she did not press further. Jokes aside, there were more pressing matters to attend to.
"Now, come with me to confirm where those guys will descend. Since they have made the first move, do not blame me for being ruthless."
Her playful expression faded completely, replaced by a cold focus. Though she had not gotten to see how a Golden Crow incubated an egg, dealing with the imminent threat of the Blood Puppet Sect took absolute priority.
Su Min was known for her patience. Before making a move, she would never let her enemies detect her intentions. Back in the Wei Wu Region, she had waited decades, until she safely reached the Golden Core stage, before finally settling scores with the Demon Queen. So, when it came to the Blood Puppet Sect, if she did not act, that was one thing. But once she did, she would ensure their complete and utter annihilation, leaving them no chance of recovery whatsoever.
"Alright."
The little Golden Crow nodded. With a wave of her hand, a massive, intricate teleportation array glowed to life on the ground below. Through the array, Su Min could see flickering, molten magma within. Without a single word of warning, the little Golden Crow casually tossed the priceless Golden Crow egg directly into the searing magma below. Su Min's eyebrow twitched violently.
At least two things were confirmed, Golden Crow eggs were incredibly sturdy, and this egg probably could not be fried, it was better suited for being preserved as a century egg. After all, being thrown from such a height into magma without breaking or cooking said a lot about its durability.
Of course, the little Golden Crow had no idea what Su Min was thinking. Otherwise, she would have likely lunged over and taken a few bites out of her.
"It should be around here," the little Golden Crow announced, focusing on the task. "I can sense the space here is extremely fragile, as if something is about to break through. They have hidden it well. Without my clan's inherited treasure, I would not have been able to detect it."
Soon, she pinpointed the exact location. Su Min's face darkened instantly. The spatial emergence point was right above her sect's main headquarters. She did not know if these people were doing it on purpose, but if they were planning to descend right on top of her, then she would not hold back. As the sect's core, this place was naturally the most heavily fortified. If they dared to land here, she would make sure they regretted it for the single minute they had left to live.
"Activate all the defensive formations. This time, however many come, none shall leave alive."
A cold, sharp smile played on Su Min's lips as she activated the sect's grand protective formation. This was no ordinary sect. Though its foundational techniques had been lacking initially, everything else was top tier, especially since it utilized the Golden Crow Clan's own grand formation as its core. And if the little Golden Crow herself served as the formation's core, even Enlightenment Stage experts could die if they were not careful.
With everything prepared, Su Min closed her eyes and meditated, quietly awaiting their arrival.
Meanwhile, in the main hall of the Blood Puppet Sect...
"Hah..."
A long, weary exhale echoed as the massive, shimmering spatial tunnel was finally stabilized. First, they had hastily cultivated a batch of pseudo Nascent Soul experts using their forbidden technique. Then, they had poured their resources into opening this enormous spatial passage. Even with their sect's vast accumulated resources, their treasury was nearly drained.
But it was a necessary sacrifice. The top ranked genius on the Heavenly Rankings, just the thought of her potential was terrifying. To protect themselves, they had to strike first and eliminate her before she grew any stronger. Otherwise, once she reached the Divine Transformation stage, their entire sect would face annihilation. Someone like her would not stop at Divine Transformation. Whether it was the Enlightenment Stage, the Unity Stage, or even the legendary Mahayana Stage, who knew? But she did not even need to reach those heights. At the Divine Transformation stage, she could likely wipe out their entire sect alone.
"Elders, what if she has already left Eastern Mulberry Land?"
A Nascent Soul cultivator, the only normally advanced one left in the entire Blood Puppet Sect, voiced his concerns to the two elders. He had been severely injured during his tribulation decades ago and had to recuperate for a long time, missing the Golden Core Heavenly Rankings entirely. Ironically, that misfortune had made him the sole surviving Nascent Soul elder, a strange stroke of luck.
"Then we will slaughter everyone in the Eastern Mulberry Region," Mu Kui said, his voice cold. "Someone who has reached her level is already bound to that land by karma. As for that sect of hers... heh." He sneered. A region he had never heard of could only mean one thing, it was a newly emerged, backward realm. Only such a pristine place could produce such a monstrous talent from nothing. But talent alone was not enough. Its foundations were undoubtedly too weak. With one mid Divine Transformation and one peak Divine Transformation elder leading the charge, they could easily crush any resistance. Even if that girl had reached the Nascent Soul stage, it would not matter. Their confidence was unshakable. Fear was not an option. Even if they suspected these people were connected to that woman, it no longer mattered. They were all going to die.
In the next moment, the spatial passage flared with blinding light. Two Divine Transformation experts, several dozen artificially elevated Nascent Soul cultivators, and a host of Golden Core disciples drew their weapons and charged through into the unknown.