"Huff, huff, huff..."
At this moment, the Skeleton Emperor was gasping heavily for breath, the sound a wet, ragged rasp that echoed strangely in the void. Colliding with Su Min was no joking matter. With each shattering impact, he felt a soul-rending pain, as the pervasive, corrosive power of the Five Elements continuously assailed his very spirit, seeking out every weakness.
What was even more terrifying was the extreme elemental resistance her body exuded, a passive field that forced him to use only the most basic, brute-force methods. It felt like trying to swim through solid stone. Most of his esoteric power was being suppressed before it could even fully form, while every one of Su Min's attacks, no matter how simple, carried a devastating, law-rending force.
This profound sense of frustration was unbearable for him, a former emperor. Such was the sheer terror of a fully realized Five Elements Holy Body.
To put it in gaming terms, it was both incredibly tanky while dealing massive, true damage. Fighting such an existence was truly despair-inducing. You'd unleash a beautiful, intricate combo of skills, only for them to simply grab you and land one charged, unblockable punch that obliterates your health bar.
Then they'd casually light a cigarette and say: "That idiot almost combo'd me to death. Good thing I'm just more skilled."
The Skeleton Emperor's face, or what remained of it within the vortex, was now frighteningly dark with fury and strain as he actively disengaged from Su Min. Despite its massive size, the ten-thousand-zhang tall blood giant moved with incredible, shocking speed. In the blink of an eye, he had retreated hundreds of kilometers, though for beings of their level and size, this distance was practically nothing, a mere step.
Su Min didn't recklessly pursue, because she knew all his tricks by heart. Just like the old witch who had nearly killed her right after her transmigration, she was very familiar with the Skeleton Emperor's patterns. There was no helping it. The former was the first chapter boss in the game. As players, they would naturally grind and learn much about this initial gatekeeper boss.
"It's coming. Skeleton Myriad Blades."
Watching the blood-red giant create distance, Su Min simply observed calmly, her Dharma Aspect standing poised and ready. This gave the Skeleton Emperor the deeply irritating feeling of punching cotton. His delaying tactic, his feint, was being seen through completely. The skill he was about to use would instantly release countless razor-sharp bone spikes, a technique meant both to protect himself and ambush a pursuing enemy. Yet Su Min just watched with the unshakable demeanor of a grandmaster observing a disciple's form, rendering his careful preparations useless and pathetic.
"Skeleton Myriad Blades, Bones Give Birth to Heaven and Earth."
In the next instant, innumerable bone spikes, each the size of a mountain range, erupted from the blood-red giant's body like a horrific cosmic flower blooming, then fused back into its form, reinforcing it. Had Su Min pursued blindly, she would have been instantly impaled by this forest of bone. This was the Skeleton Emperor's final trump card, completely merging the fractured imperial artifact within his body with his crimson dharma form. Though this blood-red giant matched Su Min's size, it wasn't actually the true Dharma Aspect technique.
The reason it could maintain such massive size and roughly match Su Min was because it had been forcibly constructed by devouring the lives and essence of countless worlds. Naturally, this came with a major, fundamental weakness. It had absolutely no staying power, with each powerful attack causing permanent damage to his own foundation.
He couldn't necessarily win even at full strength, let alone now, in this degraded state. So he could only go all-in now, engaging Su Min in a single, decisive life-or-death struggle.
Escape wasn't an option either. After achieving full mastery of the Five Elements Holy Body, Su Min's perception and sensitivity to spiritual energy had increased dramatically. The moment he turned to flee, he'd expose his back to her storm-like assault, a guaranteed death sentence.
Thus his only choice was a desperate, head-on confrontation, charging directly at Su Min like a crimson meteor.
"Here it comes."
Though Su Min knew all his cards, she didn't make any special, fancy preparations. Against an imperial artifact, even her heavenly-tier treasures were relatively insignificant. The only option was to meet overwhelming force with her own force, so the ancient Future Maitreya Bell began spinning violently again above her palm, its sutras glowing with activated power.
Though the Future Maitreya Bell wasn't her native imperial artifact, when the Sinful Buddha forged this treasure, he had used the profound time law as its core. Since his fall, no one in Future Maitreya Mountain could truly activate its deepest powers.
But Su Min was different. As the bell rotated, space around her twisted and warped. Several nearby planets began experiencing severe time dilation, some accelerating through ages in seconds, others slowing to a near standstill. Bizarre, shimmering scenes of temporal distortion radiated outward from Su Min like ripples on a pond.
Those on the planets couldn't witness this spectacle though. Their super telescopes and cameras had already been fried by the earlier shockwaves. Not just the sensors. Even the massive support fleet had been forced to retreat to a much safer distance, their role as spectators now over.
Only the single flagship remained, holding its position, as the Divine Transformation cultivators present considered it akin to a religious pilgrimage to witness what was nominally a Unity-level but effectively a Mahayana-level battle.
As the saying goes: "Hear the Dao in the morning, die content at night."
For those who had reached their perceived limits, nothing was more enticing than glimpsing a new, higher path. Their only thought was that after this concluded, they'd even be willing to shamelessly flatter and serve Su Min if it meant learning more, if it meant taking a single step forward.
This was the Dao itself, the pursuit of power. They didn't believe in so-called gods, but they knew, intellectually, there were always greater existences. Whether Su Min was a deity or not didn't matter. She represented a lifeform far beyond them, perhaps the legendary ultimate lifeform they had only theorized about.
Of course, Su Min was unaware of these thoughts.
Otherwise she might have struck a pose and said something like "I am the ultimate lifeform, the XXXX warrior, XXXXXXX" or similar nonsense. Ironically, as her cultivation grew higher and her power more profound, she sometimes regressed into these moments of chuunibyou outbursts, a secret side she showed to no one.
But she remained oblivious and utterly uninterested in her audience. Because at this moment, she was channeling all her power, her comprehension of time and law, into the Future Maitreya Bell as she clashed with the Skeleton Emperor again. This time, there was no conventional explosion. Observers felt reality itself distort and scream as the two colossi collided. Rather than detonating, everything in the vicinity began silently annihilating, turning to nothingness.
Silent death and absolute destruction.
This was everyone's sole impression as they watched entire planets within the area of effect simply disintegrate into fine dust, utterly mesmerized and horrified. While they were entranced, the Skeleton Emperor's expression finally changed to one of dawning horror. He had discovered something horrifying. His life force, his very lifespan, was rapidly depleting, draining away like water through a sieve. This was no good sign at all. Though he was already burning lifespan to fuel this fight, such rapid, violent depletion at his level simply shouldn't be happening. Soon, cold realization dawned on him.
"Time law???"
The Skeleton Emperor immediately guessed correctly. This was critical intelligence he'd never obtained. Su Min's ability had a peculiar trait. It was useless against significantly stronger opponents, and unnecessary against weaker ones. Nor could it be used in friendly sparring, as it would inevitably turn into a lethal deathmatch.
But against him, a peer opponent, it was perfect. Su Min wasn't rushed at all. Trading lifespan for lifespan was perfectly fine with her when hers, due to her unique constitution and the nature of her immortality, vastly exceeded even ten-thousand-year-old monsters. The Five Elements Holy Body's defining characteristics were an extremely high floor for power and truly incredible endurance.
Her opponent wasn't a pure physical cultivator, yet was being forced into this primitive, draining clash of attrition. Moreover, each of her attacks carried that corrosive Five Elements power that permanently weakened him. So Su Min remained completely, utterly unhurried, a predator waiting for its prey to exhaust itself.
But while she was calm, the Skeleton Emperor was panicking internally. What all cultivators ultimately sought was longevity and freedom. Wealth and status meant nothing to them in the grand scheme. Even a mere Golden Core cultivator could easily become a local emperor on many backward worlds. Thus, anything that directly affected lifespan was extremely sensitive and terrifying for cultivators. Facing direct, unavoidable lifespan depletion, the Skeleton Emperor knew he had to go all out, right now.
He had no choice. Continuing like this would leave him too weak to even fight back. So he did something that shocked even the unflappable Su Min. With a mighty, final exertion, he repelled her blade for a moment. Then from the center of his chest, from the very core of his being, emerged a ten-thousand-zhang long blade of condensed bone and hatred... which immediately shattered with a sound like a universe breaking. He had destroyed his own imperial artifact to fuel this one, desperate attack.
"Madman!"
Su Min couldn't help inhaling sharply, immediately swallowing a pill she had prepared in her mouth.
[Heavenly Spirit Blazing Sky Pill (8th-grade, 3-colored lightning): Burns a significant portion of lifespan to greatly enhance all attributes for a short time.]
"Black Tortoise as anchor, sheltering all directions."
Instantly, the Black Tortoise manifestation on her Dharma Aspect armor shone with brilliant, profound light, turning the entire armor a deep, resilient black and gold, focusing all its defensive power to the front.
Simultaneously, the Skeleton Emperor roared with everything he had left, his voice a final, desperate scream:
"STRIKE!!!"
The shattered fragments of the giant blade, infused with the power of a destroyed imperial artifact, came crashing down with world-shaking, space-sundering force. Space itself trembled and fractured like glass. In less than an eye-blink, it reached Su Min.
BANG!
Su Min felt an overwhelming, irresistible force descend upon her. Her body was helplessly sent flying an incalculable distance backwards, tumbling through the void. She even passed clean through the core of a medium-sized star, the plasma scraping against her armor and leaving her entire body burning with searing pain. Only after what felt like an eternity of uncontrolled flight did she finally manage to stop herself. Her magnificent Dharma Aspect had completely dispersed from the blow, and she coughed, blood streaming from her mouth as she floated in the dark.
"That bastard really went all out. Damn it, I underestimated his desperation. Five strains and seven injuries, what a mess."
Cursing inwardly, she swallowed another pre-readied pill without hesitation.
[Spring Restoration Saint Spirit Pill (8th-grade, 3-colored lightning): Consumes a millennium of lifespan to instantly restore even heavy, foundational injuries.]
As the pill's potent energy took effect, spreading a cooling, reconstructing feeling through her ravaged meridians and body, Su Min felt much better and instantly vanished, folding space to reappear right before the Skeleton Emperor. Now they were barely 100 meters apart. His all-out attack had completely collapsed his blood avatar, leaving only his withered, true form floating weakly.
"How?! Wait... pills! How many did you take to still be able to move like this?!"
Seeing Su Min standing before him again, seemingly operational, the Skeleton Emperor finally showed pure, unadulterated terror. He hadn't expected to kill her in one strike, but her current state was utterly unacceptable, a nightmare scenario. Then he realized the truth. As a master alchemist, Su Min's pill reserves were undoubtedly terrifying, a bottomless bag of tricks.
"Good guess, but no reward."
Su Min didn't deny it. She'd prepared numerous life-risking and life-saving measures for this exact battle. The previous large-scale siege hadn't required them, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be crucial now. So Su Min suddenly drew her sword again, transforming into a streak of blinding light as she charged the exhausted emperor, smashing her weapon down with all her remaining force. Neither of them could maintain their colossal dharma forms now.
No matter. They'd resort to the most primitive melee combat. In cultivation worlds, there was no inherent biological assumption that males were physically stronger than females. If an average adult male cultivator's base strength was 1, a female's might be 0.8. While this showed some difference, further cultivation and body refinement techniques quickly equalized things.
Most female cultivators intentionally avoided pure body refinement paths though, as it risked turning them into overly muscular figures, which was generally considered unaesthetic in their culture.
But Su Min's Eastern Azure Wood inheritance greatly enhanced her physique naturally, and the Azure Dragon legacy granted her incredible, dragon-like strength without affecting her slender appearance. There were no eight-pack abs or other incongruously bulky features on her frame.
So in the next moment...
CLANG!!!
An ear-piercing, metallic collision sounded as the Skeleton Emperor, drained and off-balance, took Su Min's frenzied slash head-on. The impact sent him flying backwards like a discarded ragdoll. Su Min gave no quarter, chasing him as a continuous streak of light. Another powerful strike sent the Skeleton Emperor crashing into the surface of a nearby, Jupiter-sized gas giant. With something solid to brace against, Su Min could finally unleash a relentless, point-blank barrage of attacks with her blade. The distant observers' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Though they could also unleash planet-destroying attacks, whether through their own all-out assaults or specialized planet-buster cannons, all required massive spiritual energy resources and lengthy preparation and charging time. But this casual, seemingly unhurried act of planetary disintegration, using a planet as a mere backstop for a beating, was something they'd never witnessed or even conceived of.
From afar, massive cracks spread across the spherical gas giant's dense core, gradually expanding like a slow-motion video as the entire world slowly caved in on itself, finally exploding in a spectacular, silent eruption of gas and debris when it reached a critical point. Though the two combatants were long invisible to the naked eye within the chaos, their powerful, clashing auras remained palpable, a beacon of violence. Battles of this level didn't allow for concealment. Everything, all their power and fury, was displayed in its full, terrifying glory.
"And this is when both are nearly exhausted, yet they can still casually shatter planets..."
The observers exchanged glances, their faces pale. During the earlier ultimate clash of techniques, they'd felt even a glancing contact with the shockwaves would be fatal. Now they realized that was a gross understatement.
This was truly despair-inducing combat on a scale far beyond ordinary people, even beyond their own comprehension. Even at their weakest, drained of power and resorting to basic swordplay, these two could casually annihilate them all without a second thought.