"Mid Foundation Establishment?"
Upon hearing Su Min's quiet mutter, Cao Yuanmu visibly flinched. As the head of intelligence for Prince Yong's faction, they had spent years meticulously gathering information on every known expert across the realm. Talented cultivators never truly escaped their notice, yet their vast network had no record of this mysterious figure.
Everyone leaves traces as they grow and consume resources. Even someone as extraordinary as Su Min had a verifiable history. According to their compiled intelligence, she had started from the humble beginnings of Body Refining, slowly and steadily cultivating over several years to reach her current, formidable Foundation Establishment stage.
Even her path in alchemy left tracks. They possessed samples of her earliest, crudely refined pills, mostly low tier Grade One elixirs, which showed a clear progression in skill until she gradually advanced to the pinnacle of crafting Foundation Establishment Pills.
But this person, it was as if they had manifested from thin air, with no past, no history of resource acquisition, no recorded conflicts. How could that not be deeply alarming?
"Doesn't matter," Su Min said with an air of indifference, already turning her gaze away from the distant ridge. "His target is clearly the ancient mansion too. We will cross paths sooner or later inside. He is likely just another self proclaimed 'secluded master' who has been hiding in a cave for a century."
She could not be bothered to dwell on it overmuch. In this new era, it was no longer strange for powerhouses to appear seemingly out of nowhere. Su Min never wasted precious time and mental energy thinking about such uncertainties. Since they were all headed for the same destination, they were bound to meet eventually. With that pragmatic thought, she turned and led her group away from the cliff edge.
In just a matter of days, this once quiet, nameless valley had become a stormy sea of activity. Cultivators from all over Weiwu Prefecture and its neighboring territories had gathered, their auras creating a low hum of spiritual pressure. And for good reason. The scale of the descending ancient estate was colossal, and the path of cultivation was long, bitter, and fraught with bottlenecks.
Not everyone enjoyed Su Min's immense advantages, being a "player" blessed with heavenly opportunities and foresight. Just look at Prince Yong's faction: they had somehow recruited and elevated a dozen new Qi Refining disciples almost overnight after distributing the pills. Clearly, many talented individuals had long been stuck at the peak of Body Refining, lacking that final, crucial push.
To break through such barriers, a fortuitous encounter or a rare resource was often needed, one that might never come again in a lifetime. The more one cultivated, the more deeply this harsh truth sank in. Su Min, of course, was the exception. So far, with her alchemy and unique path, she had never faced the kind of soul crushing despair and stagnation that plagued others.
Naturally, those hungry for such a life changing opportunity gathered here. After all, not everyone had the right or the means to ask Su Min to concoct pills for them. She certainly did not offer her services for free or out of charity; it would exhaust her spiritually and physically to death trying to fulfill the needs of every aspiring cultivator.
So she had instinctively, and rightly, raised the threshold for her services. Sky high.
Most people knew on some level they were not qualified to seek her aid anyway, and not every body could even withstand the potent effects of her high grade pills. Take, for example, the three Foundation Establishment Pills she had just refined. For all their power, no one in their faction, not even Cao Yuanmu, had yet felt prepared or stable enough to dare consuming one.
"It is certainly lively these days," Su Min murmured to herself as she gazed from her temporary camp at the distant mountain ridges now dotted with other cultivators' camps. "I didn't expect that in just twenty years, even with the royal family growing increasingly corrupt and inward looking, Great Wei's overall cultivator strength has risen this significantly."
Though she had not made a move or revealed her full power recently, her sharp spiritual sense could detect numerous auras flickering across the mountain range. They were not quite on her level, but they were solidly in the Qi Refining realm, and their spiritual density was significantly stronger than that of the cultivators from twenty years prior.
It was a sobering thought: if the infamous fused Flame and Earth Elder were to appear now, they would not necessarily need her personal intervention. The current generation of practitioners, working in concert, could likely drive them off through sheer numbers and improved quality. Of course, the casualties without a Foundation Establishment cultivator to face them head on would be considerable. They would have to pile on lives to prevail.
"Have you found any news about that mid stage Foundation Establishment cultivator?" Su Min's brows drew together as she looked at Cao Yuanmu, who had just returned from making inquiries among the other groups. "The hostility he radiates is directed specifically toward me."
Under normal circumstances, she would not have cared about a random hostile expert. But this one, the intensity of that gaze demanded caution. Though her combat prowess was exceptional for her level, and most ordinary mid Foundation cultivators posed little direct threat to her with her armor and flames,
There were always exceptions. She remembered that some of those "Heaven's Chosen" NPCs in the game boasted better gear, more complete legacies, and more powerful innate physiques than her own. Though her newly awakened Blazing Sun Body was rare and potent, it was not considered top tier in the grand scheme. In the game's internal hierarchy, it was classified only as a Tier 2 physique.
If she came up against someone with a true Tier 1 divine body or a supreme legendary constitution, she would be at a natural disadvantage, perhaps even in genuine danger. Unless she could somehow obtain the components for the elusive Five Elements Sacred Body, she would remain just outside the innermost circle of elite prodigies.
"I have heard the Eastern Azure Wood, one of the components I need, will be a key contested item on the Golden Core Road. There is no avoiding a future clash for it."
She sighed inwardly. The so called Golden Core Path, also known more dramatically as The Heavenly Pride Road, was a legendary trial ground that could only be entered by those who had genuinely reached the Golden Core stage. You could not cheat your way in by artificially suppressing your cultivation or by severing your own foundations to lower your realm. Your power had to be real and stable. But it would not open for another few centuries at least, so worrying about it now was pointless. Besides, the path was rumored to be intrinsically tied to the mythical Azure Dragon Legacy.
"No solid leads on that person yet," Cao Yuanmu admitted, frustration evident in his tone. "No one recognizes his description or aura. He is most likely another relic from a previous era, like the Flame and Earth Elders, someone who has been hiding in deep seclusion all this time."
Su Min frowned but said nothing more, storing the information away. "What about the other Qi Refining cultivators gathered here? Who are the major players?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Mostly new sect leaders and prominent lone wolves," Cao Yuanmu reported. "In the past twenty years, many of them received fragments of the Heavenly Revelation. But the content differed for each person, and many of the revelations were incomplete or cryptic. So they have gathered here partly to compare notes and insights, hoping to piece together a more complete picture. A lot of the newer, smaller sects have actually sprouted from this collective effort." He then ventured a personal question. "Danxianzi, do you have any plans to found a sect of your own?"
"I do," Su Min smiled faintly, "but not yet. The timing is not right."
Founding a sect, it was something she would likely do eventually. High level alchemy and cultivation required a vast, steady stream of resources, and she could not possibly gather it all by herself. That would be far too time consuming and inefficient. As for where to establish her future sect's headquarters, she already had several hidden paradises and blessed lands in mind from her game knowledge. The only problem was they had not opened or manifested in the world yet, so she could not currently access them.
"Most of the cultivators here are early stage Qi Refining, with a few mid stage mixed in," Cao Yuanmu continued. "If they enter the estate carelessly, they will die. That place is not as simple as it looks."
"Forget about that mysterious man for now," Su Min concluded. "I will deal with him myself when the time comes."
Su Min said no more on the matter. She sat down quietly on a meditation cushion outside her tent and resumed sipping her tea, appearing perfectly calm. As the ancient mansion's descent neared its final hours, the entire mountain range grew visibly restless with anticipation and tension. Soon, everyone who entered that space would become potential rivals, if not outright enemies. Trust would be scarce and constant vigilance would be the rule. No one dared approach her small camp, of course. Her concealed cultivation base was far beyond theirs, but she had masked her aura so thoroughly that to most, she felt like a placid lake, hiding unfathomable depths.
Three Days Later
The designated clearing at the center of the spatial distortions was now packed.
The spatial distortions had grown so dense they were almost tangible, warping the light and making the air hum with power. A massive, palatial structure flickered in the sky like a grand mirage, except everyone knew this was no illusion. The pressure it emitted was all too real.
A true secret realm was descending.
Dozens of cultivators had gathered at the edge of the clearing, including Su Min's group of four. But she now wore a loose, common black robe and a wide brimmed, veiled hat that obscured her features and hair entirely. Yet, despite that deliberate anonymity, she and her group instantly became the center of attention. The reason was simple: the auras of the three men with her were among the strongest present.
"Three late stage Qi Refining experts, Prince Yong Manor's foundation is truly terrifying. But who is that robed figure they are escorting?"
"Maybe it is Hui Ming the Monk? Hiding his identity due to his sect's rules against overt involvement?"
"Unlikely. Even covered up, the build is all wrong, this person is shorter and has a slighter frame than Hui Ming."
Whispers and speculative glances spread through the crowd, but no one dared to approach and ask. After all, in the ruthless world of cultivation, uninvited curiosity often led to a very early and very permanent grave.