"Haaah..."
With a long, weary exhale that seemed to release the accumulated tension of the past several days of intense focus, Su Min flicked her wrist. The fierce flames that had been roaring before her snuffed out instantly, leaving behind a sudden, heavy stillness in the small room. The alchemical furnace, already warped from the strain and glowing with a dull, angry red from the intense heat, seemed to sigh in relief at the sudden absence of the fire, though the reprieve was fleeting.
Crack!
The very next second, the battered furnace gave up entirely. It split apart with a sharp, echoing sound that filled the house, scattering dark shards of hot ceramic across the stone floor.
"Success. Three Qi-Inducing Pills."
She ignored the broken pieces cooling on the ground, her focus entirely on the three pills resting in her palm. They were perfectly round and lustrous, gleaming with a soft, inner light and emitting a rich, soothing medicinal fragrance that seemed to clarify her very thoughts. These were unmistakably top-grade Qi-Inducing Pills, the kind that required a perfect control of temperature and spiritual intent. If their existence became known to the world outside these mountains, it would drive countless cultivators to madness with desire.
"First, I will deal with those two," she murmured to herself as she looked toward the doorway. "Then I will need absolute quiet to break through. After that, I can finally focus on refining spiritual artifacts. Ten years should be enough for what is to come."
Soon, the two men returned to her small courtyard, their faces etched with a mix of hope and anxiety as they stood before her.
"This is the second-grade Detoxification Pill I crafted," Su Min said. She placed a jade-green pill, cool and smooth to the touch, into Zhao Yiping's trembling hand. "As for whether it can fully purge the poison from your body... I can't say for certain."
He swallowed it without a moment's hesitation, his throat bobbing as he forced the medicine down.
"Hurry and guide the medicinal energy through your meridians. Beyond this, may fortune be on your side," she added. Her voice was calm and steady, though she felt a flicker of uncertainty deep within. She wasn't exaggerating the danger. His survival truly was a matter of luck now. Not only had he recklessly forced a breakthrough when his body was already compromised, accelerating the toxin's spread through his blood, but he had also apparently absorbed new, unknown poisons in his recent battles. His body was a tangled, rotting mess of corruption.
The merchant guild representative silently stepped back, making himself as small as possible against the wall. As a mere early-stage Body Refining cultivator, he knew his place was to observe from a distance. He was also deeply curious about the outcome. Their own guild's best physicians, men who had spent decades studying the arts of healing, had written Zhao Yiping off months ago, saying the man should simply go home and prepare for his death. To see a potential cure in action was a rare and terrifying sight.
As Zhao Yiping closed his eyes and activated his cultivation technique, the faint, sickly black patterns visible beneath his skin began to recede. The pill was clearly working with a violent efficiency, its energy forcefully suppressing the deep-seated poison and driving it back from his heart.
"Hmm?"
Su Min, who had been watching the flow of his energy intently, suddenly frowned. In a fluid, instinctive motion, she sidestepped away from him.
Spurt—!
The next instant, Zhao Yiping convulsed and coughed up a mouthful of inky-black blood. It splattered onto the grassy ground of the courtyard, sizzling and burning tiny holes into the earth while releasing a sharp, acrid stench that stung the nostrils and brought tears to the eyes.
A cold sweat dipped down the merchant's forehead as he watched the grass wither and turn to ash where the blood had landed. This is beyond extreme, he thought, his face pale and his breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
"Tsk... Looks like it's mostly cleared," Su Min said. She moved back to check Zhao Yiping's pulse after the violent fit passed and his breathing began to stabilize. "But the damage to your meridians and organs runs deep. From now on... you will have to live with it." She met his weary gaze with a look that brooked no argument. "And don't hope for some miracle cure later. You have delayed the poison for too long."
"This junior understands," Zhao Yiping replied, his voice hoarse but steady despite the pain racking his frame. He sounded resigned to his fate, but his spirit wasn't broken. Given how far the poison had spread and how close he had been to the grave, this outcome was far better than he had any right to hope for. "It's already more than enough. The time I have left... I have my own plans for it." He let out a long, shaky sigh.
"Since you provided so many rare materials for my use," Su Min added, pulling a small porcelain vial from her sleeve and tossing it to him, "I will give you one more Detoxification Pill. If the poison flares up critically again, swallow this. It should save your life one last time."
"Thank you," he said, clutching the vial as if it were a precious treasure. "Even if I don't use it myself, it will be invaluable for those who come after me." He managed a wry smile that barely reached his eyes. He knew his own body was a lost cause in the long run, but this pill could save another who was poisoned recently, leaving them completely unscathed by the corruption.
The merchant to the side watched this exchange, his eyes wide with awe at the casual way she handled such potent medicine. Any medicine capable of pulling a high-level expert like Zhao Yiping back from the brink of a certain death was beyond any price a merchant could name. It wasn't greed he felt in that moment, but a profound respect for the power he was witnessing.
"If there's nothing else," Su Min said, her tone growing lazy as she looked toward the distant mountains, "then I must ask you to leave. And remember my warning. Within a hundred years, none shall rival the Demon Queen."
"Senior, there's one thing I must ask," Zhao Yiping said quickly. He stepped forward before she could shoo them away and vanish into her home.
"What is it?"
"Why doesn't the Demon Queen simply leave the palace and kill us all? She has the power to do so."
"Likely, she can't stray too far from a certain object," Su Min answered after a moment's thought, her eyes looking toward the distant horizon where the imperial capital lay. "As for what that object is... I don't know."
"Perhaps it's something within the imperial palace, or perhaps... the Emperor himself."
In truth, she had no concrete idea. It was a rule from the game that had bled into this new reality, a mechanic designed by the developers to give players time to grow before the first disaster struck. How that translated into an actual, physical reason here was a mystery to her. She had never been one to memorize every scrap of lore in the game's archives, and it was better that way; knowing everything would have been suspicious to those around her.
"In that case," Zhao Yiping said, his gaze hardening with a cold resolve, "I will use what remains of my life to uncover the truth for the world. Otherwise, everyone will remain cowed by that witch's tyranny, too afraid to resist her will."
"Well then, I wish you success, Hero Zhao," Su Min murmured softly, dipping her head in a slight, rare show of respect for his courage.
She could only sigh and offer her blessings to the man. The simple truth was that within a hundred years, she stood no chance against the Demon Queen in a direct confrontation. But after that period passed? She would personally settle the score. Until then, she had to advance her cultivation, one careful step at a time.
"Time to break through. I will disappear for a while."
She glanced again at the precious Qi-Inducing Pill in her hand, the surface reflecting the pale light. Refining it had cost her a furnace and days of effort. If the Detoxification Pill was a low-tier second-grade elixir, then this was a mid-tier one. The difference in difficulty was stark, and the energy contained within was far more volatile.
With a wave of her hand, every item in the room vanished into her storage ring, leaving the small house barren and silent. Then, she left without a backward glance. Having cultivated here for so long, she had long since prepared a perfect, secluded spot for her closed-door meditation, a hidden place where she would be completely undisturbed by the outside world. For a breakthrough attempt into the next major realm, that silence was everything.
Soon, she was seated cross-legged on a simple rug inside a hidden cave, nestled high in a rugged cliff face where only the wind could reach. Without any further delay, she tossed one of the glowing pills into her mouth and felt it dissolve into a surge of heat.
Her body, long since tempered to the peak of the Body Refining realm through sweat and effort, was more than ready for the change. This was the final step into the Qi Refining Stage. Moreover, as a soul from another world, one touched by the game's own logic, her foundation was uniquely pure and full. She faced no natural bottlenecks that might hinder her progress.
In the game, players began at Qi Refining. The Body Refining phase was just a brief tutorial, over in a matter of minutes. For her, this breakthrough wasn't a desperate gamble, but the next logical, inevitable step on her path.