A full year later, at the very edge of the Heavenly Continent…
Su Min hovered in the empty void, casting one last, long look at the familiar land sprawling below. A wave of nostalgia washed over her, a quiet pang for the world she was leaving behind. But her purpose was clear, and with a final, steadying breath, she turned her back on the continent and faced the infinite, star-dusted depths of space.
At her current cultivation level, the Unity Middle Stage, every step forward felt agonizingly slow, like trying to wear down a mountain with a single drop of water. She knew she needed greater opportunities, the kind that could only be found far beyond the familiar stars. More than that, a deep-seated need drove her to investigate the mysterious calamity that had ensnared both Yao Xian'er and the little monk. And so, she turned away, her figure a solitary speck against the cosmos as she once again ventured into the universe's vast unknown.
Time passed swiftly in the relentless journey, and in what felt like the blink of an eye, another year had slipped away. Su Min couldn't help but halt her steps, a sigh escaping her lips, her expression tinged with a profound sense of helplessness.
"Even with my current speed, it took a full year," she murmured to the silence around her. "Just how impossibly far away is that place?"
She had come to a complete stop now, having entered the truly desolate edges of the universe. An eerie, profound silence pressed in on her from all sides, so absolute it felt like a physical weight. The nearby galaxies, which should have been vast and magnificent, appeared no larger than simple plates in her vision, their light faint and distant. Yet the actual distance separating her from them remained unimaginably vast. Shaking off her hesitation, Su Min took a deep breath and resumed her flight.
Five more years trickled by, marked only by the passage of countless star domains beneath her feet. Finally, Su Min came to a halt once more. She realized that, at some point without her noticing, she had drifted into a realm of absolute darkness.
Every surrounding star had vanished, as if snuffed out. They were replaced by an oppressive, pure blackness that seemed to swallow all light and sound. The chilling emptiness was so profound it sent a shiver down the spine of even a seasoned Unity Stage cultivator like her.
This place was far from ordinary. All starlight had been utterly extinguished, leaving her floating in an abyss of pure black. What unsettled Su Min even more was the strange spiritual energy she could sense, far denser than anything found on the Heavenly Continent, but it was tainted, saturated with a palpable malice. Had she not already reached the Unity Stage and solidified her spiritual foundations, she might have been corrupted by this vile energy right then and there.
"Since when does spiritual energy exist in the void of space?" she wondered aloud, her voice a quiet disruption in the silence.
Spiritual energy typically existed only on celestial bodies, with almost none permeating the void itself. It was only upon reaching the Unity Stage that cultivators developed an internal, self-sustaining source of spiritual energy, allowing them to traverse the cosmos, though they still couldn't actively cultivate while doing so. But this strange, malevolent spiritual energy left Su Min deeply uneasy.
The only small consolation was the incredible distance. This place was impossibly far from the nearest inhabited planet. If she weren't at the Unity Stage, the journey here from the Heavenly Continent might have taken tens of thousands of years, a journey for a lifetime.
"Huh? Dharma Body—Manifest!!!"
Suddenly, Su Min's expression sharpened into focused intensity. With a sharp clap of her hands, a colossal Dharma Body several thousand meters tall materialized behind her in the void, its form shimmering with power. Then, with a powerful, sweeping motion, the massive arms of the Dharma Body intercepted a nightmarish maw that lunged at her from the utter darkness, intent on devouring her whole.
In the next instant, the gaping maw was held back purely by Su Min's raw strength, and a monstrous creature, all scales and rage, was dragged from the darkness.
"A Taotie?!"
Recognizing the beast's distinct form, Su Min was genuinely stunned. She never expected to encounter a legendary Taotie here, and one that was aggressively attacking her without provocation. Moreover, its power was at the late-Unity Stage. This was beyond abnormal. Since when did the Taotie clan have such formidable members?
"Whatever. I'll just kill it."
With that simple thought, Su Min exerted her force. A terrifying crack echoed through the void as the Taotie's maw was ripped apart, and its entire body shuddered before exploding into a mist of gore. The resulting blood was swiftly collected by the small, hungry gourd in Su Min's hand.
"Something's wrong. Very wrong."
Staring at the dissipating remnants of the corpse, Su Min frowned deeply. The Taotie existed on the Heavenly Continent as well, but they were infamous troublemakers, often hunted down by powerful sects. Yet this situation was entirely different. How could they possess such strength? Moreover, Su Min now understood why Xie Yingying, who was practically her wife, hadn't received the summons. The possessive woman would have undoubtedly tried to follow, but coming here would have been far too dangerous for her.
"Wait, that thing's intelligence was incomplete," Su Min mused, analyzing the brief encounter. "Otherwise, it wouldn't have relied solely on brute physical attacks. But at least there's a silver lining."
Glancing at the now-sated and trembling gourd in her hand, she acknowledged the unexpected gain, though it didn't make the overall situation any simpler. As Su Min ventured deeper into the darkness, what she encountered left her increasingly unnerved. The beings here were shockingly powerful. Dao Comprehension Stage and Divine Transformation Stage demons were everywhere, of all terrifying varieties, including some with potent divine beast bloodlines. Fortunately, she had only encountered one other Unity Stage creature so far. Otherwise, she might have started doubting her own sanity.
After about a month of further, cautious travel, Su Min finally sensed a familiar presence, a beacon in the oppressive dark.
"Pure and balanced, that's Yao Xian'er's energy signature. Has she already reached Mahayana? Her cultivation speed is truly astonishing. But... huh?"
Suddenly, Su Min paused. Although she had detected Yao Xian'er's aura, it wasn't its usual calm and natural state. Instead, it was turbulent and violently unstable, like a storm-tossed sea.
Then, she realized the reason. Yao Xian'er's aura wasn't alone.
"Three Mahayana auras... She's being besieged."
Su Min's expression darkened instantly, a cold fury igniting in her eyes. Without a moment's hesitation, she transformed into a razor-thin streak of light and shot forward, cutting through the darkness at a blinding speed.
Meanwhile, on a solitary, floating landmass, four figures stood in tense opposition. One was clad in pristine white robes, while the other three appeared grotesquely distorted, their forms exuding an eerie, corrupt aura.
"Ao Shuang, Donghuang Taixin, Huang Wuyu. To think the three of you, who fell honourably in battle, would be reduced to puppets of this dark corruption."
Yao Xian'er's face was grim. Though her white robes were still pristine, her energy was chaotic, and a faint trace of blood at the corner of her lips betrayed the severe injuries she had suffered. Sensing her weakened state, the three distorted figures began to twist and contort further, their bodies expanding violently.
In the blink of an eye, three colossal forms, each ten thousand meters tall, materialized on the barren land, encircling Yao Xian'er's diminutive figure. Had anyone else witnessed these beings, they would have been struck with primal terror. A Three-Legged Golden Crow, a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, and a Nine-Colored Heavenly Phoenix. Each was a supreme monarch among divine beasts, beings that, given time, would inevitably reach the peak of Mahayana. Such exalted figures were unique to their respective races, singular monarchs, yet here they stood, gathered in one place, corrupted.
Yao Xian'er's expression darkened further. At her full strength, these creatures, even in their prime, would have been no match for her. But she had been grievously wounded while slaying a powerful chaotic entity. Though only at the Mahayana Stage now, her combat prowess far surpassed her former peak from the ancient days. Yet that chaotic entity had not been weak. After finally killing it, Yao Xian'er had been left severely injured and drained. These three corrupted beings had pursued her here, and she recognized them with a heavy heart. They were the mightiest of their races from her era, comrades who had once stood beside her in the grand campaign against the distant shore. In the end, they had all perished here. But who could have imagined their sacred corpses would be exploited and defiled like this?
"It seems I'll have to burn my essence blood again," Yao Xian'er thought, her face twisting with frustration. "This time, the recovery will take at least several millennia. I wonder if Jin Chan can hold those other creatures back in my absence."
As the three colossal figures began to close in, their corrupt auras merging into a suffocating dome around her, Yao Xian'er prepared for a final, desperate stand.
"The last Great Emperor of this universe, do you still dare to struggle?"
The massive Golden Crow spoke, its voice a harsh, grating sound dripping with mockery. Though it was a Three-Legged Golden Crow, its magnificent feathers had been dyed a pitch-black, and its once-golden, noble eyes now gleamed with a sickly, eerie red light.
"You three abominations of darkness still can't kill me."
Yao Xian'er sneered, her defiance burning brightly. These were not the true beasts she once knew, but new consciousnesses born of the darkness, corrupting the once-sacred bodies and dragging their former Mahayana peak cultivation down to the early Mahayana Stage. Had Yao Xian'er not been injured, she could have easily slain all three.
"Hahaha! Once you're dead, we will break the ancient Heaven Sealing Grand Formation within a thousand years. This entire universe will become our sacrificial offering!"
The black-golden dragon laughed scornfully, its voice booming across the floating land, while the silent, observant black phoenix subtly shifted, completely blocking Yao Xian'er's last potential escape route.
A battle of cataclysmic proportions was about to erupt. Three Mahayana cultivators, if they unleashed their full power upon the universe, could annihilate an entire solar system without a second thought.
But then,
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion resounded, shaking the very fabric of the floating landmass.
"ARGH!!!"
The next instant, the massive Golden Crow was sent flying backwards, a dazzling surge of multicolored energy exploding against its chest. From the darkness of the void emerged a titanic humanoid figure, a Dharma Body rivaling the three divine beasts in size. As it appeared, an ethereal, shimmering river seemed to descend from the heavens, swirling around its feet, a manifestation of profound temporal power.
"Su Min? You've reached completion?!"
Yao Xian'er was stunned, but she quickly recognized the newcomer. The radiant elemental energies, the distinct flow of time beneath her feet, this was none other than Su Min, arriving at the most critical moment. Yao Xian'er was deeply astonished. In what felt like such a short time, Su Min had not only reached the Unity Stage, but her combat power was clearly terrifying. Though these three entities were only at the early Mahayana Stage, their bodies were once those of supreme divine beasts, incredibly resilient.
Yet Su Min had sent one flying with a single, powerful strike. Her power was undeniably at the Mahayana level. Her Five Elements Sacred Body had truly reached completion. Throughout all of history, only two individuals had ever achieved a complete Five Elements Sacred Body, the ancient Five Elements Great Emperor, and now the woman standing before her. Yao Xian'er was both shocked and elated.
"Are you alright? Take these pills. They're only eighth grade, but they're better than nothing."
Su Min's colossal form shrank down rapidly as she landed softly beside Yao Xian'er, immediately offering several glowing pills. Without a hint of hesitation, Yao Xian'er accepted them and swallowed them dry, feeling a warm, stabilizing energy begin to spread through her damaged meridians.
"Hahaha! To think we'd meet familiar faces here."
Su Min then turned to face the three beasts, a fearless confidence in her stance. Though her earlier strike had been a sneak attack, it still hadn't been enough to kill a Mahayana stage Three Legged Golden Crow, only injure and enrage it. Still, she faced the three titans without a trace of fear.
"Sigh, how many can you handle?"
Yao Xian'er finally managed to catch her breath, though she lamented internally that the pills were only eighth grade. Had they been precious ninth grade, she might have recovered a significant portion of her strength in short order. But it was still far better than nothing.
"Two. Can you hold off that phoenix for me?"
Glancing at the trio while simultaneously manipulating her massive Dharma Body to keep them wary, Su Min quickly assessed the situation. The Golden Crow and the Golden Dragon were familiar opponents in terms of their fighting styles. She had sparred countless times with Little Golden Crow and Ao Xue, especially after she reached the Unity Stage and they were on more equal footing. The proud and battle hungry divine beasts had frequently sought her out for duels.
But against Su Min, especially after her Five Elements Sacred Body reached completion, even their combined efforts always ended in defeat unless they resorted to using their Emperor artifacts. As a result, Su Min was intimately familiar with their abilities and how to counter them. The Nine Colored Heavenly Phoenix, however, was different. While Su Min wasn't afraid of any of them individually, fighting all three at once would be overwhelming. Handling two alone was manageable, but adding the third would inevitably tip the scales.
"Fine. Do your best. Though my current strength is less than a tenth of my peak, I can still manage to hold off a single Dark Phoenix."
Nodding in agreement, Yao Xian'er fixed a cold, determined glare on the three corrupted beasts, ready to play her part.