"!!!"
The expressions of the opposing group darkened instantly, their smug confidence evaporating. The clear numerical advantage they had enjoyed just moments ago had now completely vanished with the arrival of Mo Shaosheng and his disciples.
As for Su Min being one minor stage below that opponent in nominal cultivation, Sect Master Mo did not consider that an issue at all. He had witnessed her slay two fused elders whose combined power far surpassed the early Foundation Establishment stage. Why would a single, arrogant mid stage cultivator be any different? Besides, in the world of cultivation, high risk often yielded high rewards. Without showing initiative and sacrifice now, how could he ever expect such a monumental return as a Foundation Establishment Pill later?
"Thank you for the assistance. Once this matter is concluded, you will be duly rewarded."
Su Min nodded slightly in acknowledgement. He had clearly recognized her despite her plain attire, but that did not matter now. She only hated annoying, clueless flies; those who knew how to read a situation and behave appropriately were fine. The Three Mysteries Netherwood was far too critical to her future plans. She absolutely had to secure it, and his help reduced the variables.
"Good. Very good." The leading man's voice turned sharp and venomous, brimming with unrestrained killing intent. "Rebels of the Prince Yong's estate and you worthless rabble from the jianghu, today I will wipe you all out in one fell swoop." His gaze then locked onto Su Min with predatory focus. "And you," he sneered, "you are the woman my royal father and that wretched mother of mine so deeply feared. I will drag you back to the capital and make you my personal consort, a trophy to prove my supremacy."
At his chilling and arrogant proclamation, all eyes in the garden turned to him. Su Min's own heart flared with a cold, pure murderous rage—but then, she faltered for the briefest moment, a flicker of confusion in her eyes.
"Demon Crown Prince?"
This title, this identity... this guy did not exist in the game's lore she remembered. But then, this was not the game anymore. Reality did not have to follow a predetermined script. The Butterfly Effect was real.
The others' faces, however, twisted in horror and hatred as they realized exactly who he was claiming to be. In that moment, even Mo Shaosheng's eyes burned with a deep, personal killing intent. Almost as one, the cultivators from Prince Yong's faction and the jianghu lunged forward. The martial world and the Prince's faction might have their differences, but in this, they were united: Kill the damned emperor and his vile offspring.
And Su Min?
She moved even faster, a blur of decisive motion. The moment the prince finished his vile declaration, she blitzed toward him, ignoring his subordinates entirely. Their collision was instant and brutal.
CRACK—!
A deafening shatter of concentrated spiritual energy echoed through the garden as two palms, one large and masculine, one small and feminine, met in a direct clash. Violent, visible waves of power erupted outwards, tearing the loose black robes Su Min wore to shreds and revealing the gleaming glazed armor beneath. She scoffed coldly, not even flinching, and unleashed a fierce, concentrated surge of spiritual power from her core. With that single, explosive push, she sent him flying backward like a discarded ragdoll.
"Pfft—!"
The Demon Crown Prince slammed hard into a stone wall, the impact cracking the masonry. Blood spurting from his lips, he stared at Su Min in utter disbelief and shock.
"No wonder you reached the mid stage of Foundation Establishment while still in your twenties," Su Min stated, her voice analytical and cold, devoid of mockery. "You must have undergone fetal modification in the womb via the Demon Queen's secret arts, then continued forcibly refining your body with demonic methods after birth. That is the only way your cultivation could skyrocket so unnaturally fast. But shortcuts are still shortcuts. Your foundation is weak and full of holes, and the grade of your Foundation Establishment is utter trash."
A single, probing exchange was all it took for Su Min's expert senses to see through the facade of his power.
So that was how he had gained such superficial strength—not through true comprehension or diligent training, but through borrowed, vile power. His stats were artificially inflated by brute level boosts. Against true experts of the same nominal level, he would be at a severe disadvantage. And Su Min was no ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator; she walked the supreme and demanding path of Heaven.
Lowering her eyes, she examined her gloved hand. Her expression darkened. Faint, corrosive flames of a venomous nature crawled rapidly over her palm, trying to seep into her skin, before her Nanming Lihuo flared and the wisps of black miasma slowly evaporated into nothingness. The Demon Crown Prince—or more likely, his wretched mother who had prepared these techniques for him—was well aware of the insidious aftereffects of such attacks. No wonder he favored underhanded, poisonous techniques to compensate for his lack of real skill.
Had it not been for her Nanming Lihuo and Blazing Sun Body instinctively shielding her, she would have suffered a nasty setback. It was a stark reminder that even as a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator, she could not afford to carelessly shrug off his strikes entirely. One lapse in her spiritual defense would open her body to this vile corruption.
"You... how is this... possible...?"
The Demon Crown Prince's arrogant expression finally cracked, revealing the shock and fear beneath. His ability to remain hidden and build his power until now had stemmed from over twenty years of forced, isolated cultivation in a secret palace chamber. Upon finally emerging, he had crushed all opposition he faced with ease, building his confidence. But his temperament was warped and his fundamentals were critically lacking.
Su Min's eyes narrowed to slits. With a bestial burst of speed granted by the Tiger Soul Possession, she darted forward, not toward the prince, but toward her true objective.
A mid stage Qi Refining cultivator from the prince's retinue happened to stand directly in her path to the Three Mysteries Netherwood and was instantly reduced to screaming ash beneath her palm. Without even a moment's pause to acknowledge the kill, she reached out and seized the gnarled, dark piece of timber behind him, stowing it securely in her spatial ring in the blink of an eye.
This Demon Crown Prince?
He was an annoying obstacle, but he was not even worth fussing over compared to her goal.
Taking advantage of everyone's stunned silence following her lightning fast retrieval, she had made her move to grab the item first.
His other subordinates were all occupied in combat with Mo Shaosheng's group. If they had not been so delayed, they might have seized the Netherwood themselves or at least escaped with it during that brief clash. After all, the prince was still strong enough to potentially stall Su Min for a critical moment.
Boom—!
"Arghhh!"
Suddenly, anguished, soul tearing cries erupted from the prince's location. To the horror of all onlookers, the spiritual essences and souls of his own remaining Qi Refining cultivators were being violently ripped from their bodies, forcibly drawn into the prince.
"!!!"
Everyone in the room froze for a moment, a collective horror seizing them.
In barely a second, excluding the one Su Min had already obliterated, several more withered corpses now lay sprawled on the ground, their life force extinguished to fuel their master.
"Brat, I underestimated you," the prince's voice was now icy and distorted, layered with the tormented screams of the souls he had consumed. "Now I have changed my mind. I will not make you my consort. I will amputate your limbs and turn you into a human pig, a living trophy for my palace."
His power, now fueled by a vile forbidden art, surged violently, pushing him temporarily to the very peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.
Su Min cast a quick, assessing glance behind her at Mo Shaosheng and her own men.
"Go. Now. The aftermath of our battle will not be something you can survive. If this man wants to play with forbidden arts, then I will make sure he stays here in this mansion forever."
At her calm but absolute command, the others did not hesitate. They quickly began a fighting retreat toward the teleportation array. Several new cultivators who had just stumbled through the array into the garden immediately trembled with primal dread and scrambled back the way they came. The air in the room was now thick and oppressive, with two titanic auras colliding like roaring tidal waves. Even Mo Shaosheng, the so-called Martial Alliance Leader and a peak Qi Refining expert, knew he had to retreat from this level of conflict.
Because now, Su Min stopped holding back. She activated her full power.
Nanming Lihuo erupted around her like a blue sun. Her Blazing Sun Body flared, amplifying the flames to a blinding intensity. The phantom wings of the Vermilion Bird Possession unfurled from her back, composed of pure, raging fire.
The temperature in the chamber skyrocketed to lethal levels in an instant. Stone began to glow red hot. Even peak Qi Refining cultivators still in the room would suffer severe, crippling burns from mere proximity.
"IMPOSSIBLE!!!"
The prince's eyes bulged, his confidence shattering for the second time. His forbidden art came with terrible, permanent costs to his soul and longevity; he would never use it unless facing absolute certain death. And one exchange had already told him he could not win a direct confrontation against Su Min's refined power.
Yet here she was, matching his temporary, stolen peak Foundation Establishment state through her own sheer, cultivated strength and profound legacies.
"This should be enough," Su Min calculated coolly, her mind clear amidst the inferno. "Even if he is at the peak of Foundation Establishment, his energy is too chaotic and unstable. He is no match for a real expert who has genuinely reached that level. No need to reveal my final trump cards yet."
Su Min's eyes narrowed, her gaze piercing through the fiery aura. Her gourd's newly evolved spirit nectar and the untested fusion ability remained unused, held in reserve.
This spoiled prince, for all his borrowed power, simply was not worth it.
The true master of this mansion, the slumbering Tianjiao, still had not appeared. That was the unknown variable that demanded caution.