"Heavens, must you torment me like this?"
With a look of utter despair plastered on her disguised face, she stared up at the five figures battling fiercely in the air above her. All of them had already reached the Golden Core stage.
One day to reach Qi Refining, three days to Foundation Establishment, and now, after a mere seven days, they were at Golden Core.
Their advancement speed was truly, utterly absurd. Even she, with all her experiences, could not help but feel stunned. Nearly half a month had passed by now, and it was clear that this place operated with the cold efficiency of a spiritual assembly line.
That creature was clearly cultivating its prey, fattening them up before the harvest to enhance their flavor and potency. It made a grim sort of sense. After all, as a Mahayana stage cultivator, it would naturally disdain consuming beings who had not even reached the Body Refining stage. But this meticulous process left Su Min in a rather awkward and frustrating position.
Countless times over the past days, she had considered whether to just smack all these nascent cultivators dead with a single palm strike. With her mid Unity stage cultivation, even a single, concentrated murderous glance from her would not only annihilate these Golden Core cultivators but would likely cause even Divine Transformation stage cultivators to drop dead on the spot.
But she knew, with absolute certainty, that doing so would almost certainly, or rather, inevitably, ruin her carefully laid plans to ambush the Mountain God.
For now, she could only endure, silently watching from her corner as these newly minted Golden Core cultivators fought to the death in the cavernous sky above. Their most powerful attacks would not even tickle her if they somehow managed to land. Another dozen or so days passed in this monotonous, brutal fashion, and the cultivators before Su Min had now broken through to the Divine Transformation stage.
She also confirmed something else during this time. Due to the pervasive influence of the dark substance that saturated this space, the Heavenly Dao's detection was completely disrupted. Thus, the Golden Core tribulation lightning could not descend. Otherwise, Su Min estimated that none of these hastily advanced people would have survived. They would have been struck dead by the heavenly tribulation the very moment they tried to advance to Golden Core.
However, once these cultivators reached the Divine Transformation stage, their mutual slaughter finally came to an end, as if an unspoken signal had been given. At the same time, Su Min sensed that the space they were in had also stopped moving, having reached its final destination.
"Ahaha… the world… flowers, grass, birds, trees, flesh, tentacles… uwaaah—" one of the final survivors babbled, his eyes rolling back into his head.
"Damn it, he is completely lost it," Su Min muttered under her breath.
Seeing this, she could not help but cover her eyes in secondhand embarrassment. This creature had fused the shattered, corrupted soul fragments of over a hundred people into its own soul. Now, it was being violently bombarded by a cacophony of chaotic memories and personalities that were systematically tearing apart its last shreds of sanity. This state would likely persist for over a thousand years before it could even begin to sort through the mental mess.
Until then, it was nothing but a raving, useless lunatic. And even after somehow organizing those foreign memories, the person that finally emerged would have no connection left to the original owner of this body.
"What a tragic world," she sighed.
BOOM—
At that moment, the entire space trembled violently. Simultaneously, Su Min's expression grew solemn and focused. She sensed the barriers of this pocket space collapsing, and an overwhelming aura of darkness, filled with madness and chaotic memories, rushed toward her like a tidal wave.
The Fulu Mountain God, early Mahayana stage.
He had finally appeared in person.
The moment the spatial barrier vanished, Su Min disappeared from her spot within the space. She had no desire to stay near this thing any longer. It felt like sitting next to a festering, sentient pile of filth. If they were outside in the open, she would have already slapped it to death without a second thought.
But the moment she dashed out into the main cavern, her pupils constricted sharply.
Before her now was a face, a colossal stone face tens of thousands of meters tall, carved into the far wall of the immense hollow. Slowly, agonizingly, its massive maw opened, and the several Divine Transformation stage cultivators were sucked inside without any resistance, like dust into a vacuum.
"This body is strange. That thing must be in a half awake, half asleep state, running on instinct. I need to find its weak point, its core. I cannot engage it directly yet," she analyzed quickly.
Studying the gigantic face carefully, Su Min noticed something peculiar. The creature had not just claimed the mountain range, it had merged its very consciousness with the entire geological structure. If a full fight broke out, it could simply withdraw its consciousness and flee at the first sign of real danger.
That would render all her patience and efforts utterly futile. The fact that it had survived under Yao Xian'er's pursuit for so long was proof enough of how difficult it was to pin down and kill. So Su Min was not in a hurry to act. Let it snack on a few more of its cultivated treats. It would make no difference in the end.
After all, once the real battle began, the mere shockwaves of their clash would be enough to reduce those Divine Transformation stage cultivators to dust.
"Is there a weakness?" she wondered, her mind racing.
Staring at the enormous, impassive stone face, Su Min narrowed her eyes and subtly placed a hand on a nearby rock wall. As the wielder of the Five Elements Holy Body, a being beloved by the natural elements, she could communicate directly with earth and stone.
Right now, the Central Wutu Divine Earth power within her surged wildly, connecting with the vast mountain range. Quietly, carefully, she began to assimilate a portion of the mountain's consciousness without alerting the creature.
"Hmm, there is something here," she murmured to herself.
Soon, a cold, triumphant smile crept onto her face. She had found something deeply interesting buried within the mountain range's spiritual network, the primary spiritual link between the creature's core consciousness and the endless mountains. This was its emergency escape route.
If she severed it, the creature would not be able to re establish the connection quickly. In that brief window, it would be trapped. In that instant, a sharp flash of killing intent flickered in Su Min's eyes. Her cultivation had stagnated recently, and this creature's massive, condensed soul fragments would serve as the perfect fuel for her progress.
"Earth Pulse Strangulation!!!" she whispered, unleashing the technique.
ROAR—
The next moment, heaven and earth seemed to overturn. The colossal earthen face suddenly snapped its eyes open, two pools of molten rage locking directly onto Su Min. A deafening roar erupted, shaking the very foundations of the mountain, and the surrounding space twisted violently.
Su Min felt the entire mountain range tremble as her technique took hold. She had just cut off its retreat. Its soul could no longer flee through the earth. Now, it had only one option, fight this sudden intruder to the death. And since Su Min was only at the mid Unity stage, the creature likely did not fear her at all. A flawless, powerful mid Unity soul would be an irresistible temptation for it.
In the blink of an eye, the entire mountain range quaked in earnest. Countless boulders tore themselves free from the walls and ceiling, flying from all directions and merging with the gigantic face. Within moments, a towering colossus of stone and rage stood between heaven and earth in the vast hollow, over one hundred thousand meters tall.
Compared to it, Su Min was less than an ant.
Then, an even more massive fist, the size of a small mountain itself, came crashing down toward her location.
Despite its immense size, its speed was terrifyingly fast.
BOOM—
The next instant, the earth shook, and mountains of rubble fell from the cavern ceiling. The entire Fulu Mountain Range trembled as internal peaks tens of thousands of meters tall crumbled into dust in an instant. It was like the apocalypse itself, a sight that would chill any observer to the bone.
But then—
Countless emerald green rays of light, vibrant and full of life, erupted from beneath the giant's stone fist.
CRACK—
In the next moment, the massive arm split apart cleanly at the middle, its lower half plummeting into the endless abyss below them. Su Min realized they were not fighting on the surface but deep inside a vast, hollowed out core within the mountain range itself.
"Aside from being big, you are utterly useless," Su Min's voice echoed, laced with contempt.
Amidst the swirling green radiance, Su Min shot forward like an arrow. A pure earth element construct? Her Eastern Azure Wood elemental power could shred it effortlessly. That enormous body might look intimidating, but to Su Min, it was just a clumsy, slow giant. Its attacks could not even scratch her defenses.
The only thing that mildly annoyed her was that the creature had chosen to fight her here, in this enclosed space, instead of moving the battle to the depths of the void. After all, battles between Mahayana level cultivators could devastate entire regions. But then again, this was the Dark Continent, a place already damned. What could she really expect?
Just as Su Min prepared to dismantle the stone golem completely, something unexpected happened. The gigantic stone golem began dissolving at an alarming speed. Its hundred thousand meter tall body shrank rapidly, the stone compressing and refining itself until it condensed into a sleek, humanoid figure roughly her own size.
But this was no human. It resembled a perfectly sculpted stone puppet. It had metallic glowing skin, an expressionless ancient bronze mask for a face, and flickering, chaotic soul flames visible in the eye slits. This being had clearly abandoned its original flesh long ago, merging fully with the mountain range to become this entity.
"A delicious aura… Are you a powerful outsider?" a hoarse, grating voice emerged from behind the withered mask, the sound making Su Min's lips twitch slightly. It sounded like it came from the deepest depths of the Yellow Springs, enough to make one's hair stand on end. This thing was far more twisted than those two Dark Divine Beasts she had fought. Those two at least had intact bodies, and though corrupted by darkness, their consciousnesses had remained somewhat coherent.
But this thing? It was pure, distilled chaos and darkness.
"Yes," Su Min replied simply. She did not bother to deny it, instead narrowing her eyes to examine its new, condensed body. Realizing that its massive form was useless against her, the creature had compressed itself, endowing its new body with multiple, balanced attributes.
Earth, Fire, Wood, Water, Metal, all five elements combined into one form.
This was clearly its final trump card, a flawless fusion of the five elements, granting it all rounded offense and defense.
But it was facing Su Min?
This thing was just cosmically unlucky enough to run straight into her greatest specialty.
Using the five elements against the one who wielded the Five Elements Holy Body?
That was simply suicide.
Without any further hesitation, Su Min lunged forward, her sword gleaming as it slashed down mercilessly.
"An ant from a peaceful world could never comprehend our might," the stone man sneered, raising a solid arm to block the seemingly simple strike.
But in the next instant, its expression changed behind the mask, a flicker of shock in its soul fire.
The sword, imbued with Su Min's elemental power, sliced through its hardened palm effortlessly, cleaving the arm in two from wrist to elbow.
"Impossible! You are only at the Unity stage?!"
Staring at its severed hand, the Fulu Mountain God was truly stunned.
Its chaotic, jumbled memories prevented it from clearly recognizing the specific power Su Min wielded.
But even if it could not identify her strength, this was still its domain, its territory.
In that moment of crisis, countless pre set formations, thousands of them, lit up across the vast hollow, their runes glowing with deadly intent.
"Tch," Su Min's eyebrow twitched in irritation. Every single one of them was a powerful killing array. Layer upon layer, numbering in the thousands, a labyrinth of lethal energy. She knew better than to underestimate grand formations. But who could have expected it to set up so many, turning its lair into a fortress of traps?
In that case, she could not hold back anymore. Tossing a potent energy recovery pill into her mouth, she summoned an ancient, ornate bell into her hand. This was her ultimate countermeasure, absolute force to counter absolute defense.
"That madwoman's bell?!"
The moment Su Min revealed the bell, the Fulu Mountain God felt a primal chill run down its spine. It recognized the aura. It turned and fled instantly, covering vast distances in moments using a short range teleportation technique. Meanwhile, the countless killing arrays activated simultaneously, engulfing Su Min in a storm of pure annihilation. A master formation expert might have tried dismantling them methodically, finding their cores.
But Su Min was not particularly well versed in complex formations.
So she opted for the simplest, most brutal solution available to her.
"Awaken, Future Maitreya Bell," she commanded, pouring her spiritual energy into the Emperor Artifact.
In that instant, the very fabric of reality warped.
Time twisted and bent wildly around Su Min. The surroundings turned surreal and dreamlike, with time flowing at wildly erratic speeds. Some areas sped up to a blur, others slowed to a crawl. In some places, it even reversed briefly. The intricate killing arrays, each a masterpiece of precision and timing, froze in place, their activation sequences thrown into chaos. Under Su Min's absolute temporal disruption, they all failed simultaneously, their energies fizzling out harmlessly. Within a single minute, every single one of the thousands of killing arrays was rendered completely useless.
"Huff… huff…"
Of course, Su Min did not come out unscathed.
She gasped for breath, her spiritual energy drained significantly by the immense effort.
"Manipulating time to this extent… Even with an Emperor Artifact's assistance, the cost is staggering. That almost exhausted me completely," she panted, leaning against a rock for support.
Putting away the precious Emperor Artifact, Su Min finally allowed herself a moment to relax. This hollow was vast enough to hold the entire planet Earth. What she had just done was equivalent to distorting time across the entire surface of a planet. Even for a mid Unity cultivator wielding an Emperor Artifact, the toll was immense. And in a dark, energy barren world like this, recovering spiritual energy was not going to be easy.
"Trying to run? Impossible. Today, only one of us walks away alive. Even if I—" she began, steeling herself for pursuit.
But before she could finish her sentence, a sudden, acute sense of danger struck her.
Her head snapped upward.
A massive, ancient city, ripped from some distant part of the continent, had been turned into a meteor and was now hurtling straight down toward her.
"Little girl, you are still too naive. Under the weight of my Yin Yang Ancient Jade City, be crushed to dust!" the Fulu Mountain God's voice rang out from the shadows, triumphant.
This was its strongest personal treasure, a Heaven grade high tier artifact capable of suppressing all things. After realizing its killing arrays were useless, it had resorted to its second trump card. But in the very next moment, its triumphant expression stiffened into one of disbelief.
Su Min did not dodge.
Instead, a brilliant green light enveloped her, and the phantom of a majestic divine dragon seemed to coil around her body. Then, to the Mountain God's utter shock, she raised her delicate, unassuming hand and caught the colossal, ancient, and majestic city. With one hand holding the gigantic city aloft and the other gripping her sword tightly, she charged straight through the falling rubble at the Mountain God's core form.
"Even while carrying the abyss, even with one hand holding the Primordial Imperial City, today, I will suppress you for eternity!!!" Su Min taunted, her voice filled with mockery and unwavering confidence.
Hearing Su Min's voice, the Fulu Mountain God could only stare, its stone jaw agape, in utter shock and dawning horror.
====
I'm already finished translating this novel, and Hellcoin Billionaire: My Ghost Shop Fuels My Cultivation also near in completion. For Crimson Lotus, Divine Path I already translate till the newest chapter, the author seems busy as the update per chapter almost 2 week per chapter for now.
I'm considering translating several novels to fill my schedule gaps. Here's what I have in mind:
—A Xianxia-themed novel (transmigration or rebirth plot)
—An ancient-era story (transmigration with a 'child-rearing' app twist - imagine the MC gets transported to the past with her phone, and the only working app lets her raise a child in the real world... with live streaming capabilities!)
As for the third novel, I'm torn. I'd love to translate a yuri story, but that's such a broad genre - should I go for it? Alternatively, maybe another Xianxia, historical, modern, or Quick Transmigration? So many choices... decisions, decisions! (╯°□°)╯"