The Corpse Demon was in a dire state. The physical damage it had sustained was secondary, a mere inconvenience for a creature of undeath. What truly shook it to its core was the devastating, soul-deep blow from the Demon Slaying Thunder. It had never expected the woman to be so cunning, to provoke it into such a blind, reckless fury.
In that single moment of unthinking rage, it had charged headlong into the trap, and though it had somehow survived the impact, the blast had forced it to burn through a vast hoard of corpse energy it had painstakingly accumulated over centuries. And now, just as its soul still trembled from the blow, another, even more dangerous ripple of power was gathering in the air above, one that made its death-hardened spirit shudder with primal fear.
There was only one choice left, escape.
This was precisely why Su Min had insisted Xie Yingying come with her. If the Corpse Demon had stayed behind to fight to the death, Su Min, whose heavenly flames and techniques countered it on every fundamental level, could have utterly obliterated it without leaving a trace.
But if it chose to flee... Su Min, focused on her ultimate technique, might not be able to stop it alone.
After all, it was still a creature at the Golden Core stage. Its raw speed, when dedicated solely to flight, was formidable. Especially now, while Su Min was pouring all her concentration and spiritual power into gathering energy for her final, decisive strike, she could not possibly break her focus to give chase.
"Trying to run?!"
Xie Yingying did not need a warning from Su Min. She had been waiting for this exact moment. She understood perfectly that Su Min's impending attack had the power to annihilate the Corpse Demon in its current state. Her own job was to be the anvil to Su Min's hammer, to hold it down and ruthlessly cut off its retreat.
Sure enough, the moment the creature's form blurred, turning to flee into the darkness,
Xie Yingying struck.
A fierce, concussive blow of pure spiritual force sent it reeling backward, breaking its momentum. In the same fluid motion, she sheathed her slender black sword, clasped her hands together in an intricate seal, and roared:
"Netherfrost Prison!!!"
A localized blizzard of concentrated icy energy erupted from her, a whirlwind of absolute zero that flash-froze the Corpse Demon mid step, encasing it completely in a prison of unyielding, soul chilling black ice.
"How?!"
Though it lacked a mouth to speak, the creature's mind reeled in horror and confusion. Corpse Demons were innately yin cold beings, and this environment, saturated with death energy, should have been its natural domain. Earlier in their clash, it had deliberately channeled vast amounts of corrosive corpse energy and killing frost directly into Xie Yingying's body, yet she had shown no reaction, not even the slightest fluctuation in her aura. It had assumed she was merely resilient.
What the Corpse Demon did not realize was that its head had been largely blasted apart by Su Min's earlier attack. Without eyes, it could no longer see the layers of subtle, invasive frost that had been slowly overtaking its body from the inside out throughout their fight. And because its soul was merely piloting this corpse like a puppeteer, it could not feel the creeping cold that was seizing its limbs. All it had noticed was a growing heaviness, which it had mistakenly dismissed as the natural aftermath of its severe wounds.
But now, true, soul deep fear took root.
The fear of final, true death.
Centuries ago, it had willingly abandoned its mortal shell, entombing countless loyal subjects and family members with it in a mad pursuit of eternal undeath. It had clawed its way through the darkness to reach this moment, surviving on hatred and vengeance alone.
And now… it would perish here, in this forgotten valley, having never reclaimed the kingdom it lost.
"This emperor… refuses to fall!!!"
But no one heard its silent, desperate scream, because high above, Su Min had finished her preparations.
"Mystic Firewood Sword—Vermilion Bird Form"
A blazing phoenix, wrought entirely from the concentrated essence of Nanming Lihuo, descended from the heavens. It did not so much fly as it fell, a comet of divine punishment that engulfed the frozen abomination in a sun bright conflagration.
BOOM—!!!
Scorching heavenly flames met the unyielding black ice, triggering a cataclysmic reaction. Waves of superheated air and shards of frigid energy crashed outward through the valley, scouring the earth.
When the light and chaos finally settled,
The Corpse Demon's upper half had been utterly vaporized, while its lower half remained grotesquely encased in the shattered, steaming remnants of the black ice.
CRACK—
As the ice splintered apart, so too did the remaining corpse flesh, crumbling into blackened, inert dust.
"Tch. Nanming Lihuo truly lives up to its name as a heavenly flame. It evaporated even my profound ice."
Xie Yingying smirked faintly, eyeing the scattered, smoking remnants with a clinical gaze.
"But that thing… its core."
"It did not escape. Playing soul shifting tricks in front of an alchemist is suicidal."
As Su Min spoke, a streak of red light, swift as a striking hawk, cut through the smoky sky. When she landed lightly beside the remains, a pulsating, dark grey core rested in her palm. The Corpse Demon's body was worthless, only this condensed core, the source of its power, mattered. She had been watching its every flicker of spiritual movement the entire time.
"Storing your fleeing soul inside the demon core? A clever, desperate move. But utterly useless against someone like me."
Su Min grinned, a sharp, predatory expression. The moment the core had tried to flee the scene, she had snatched it from mid air with unerring precision. Letting it escape would have ruined all their efforts. Unlike ordinary demon beasts, Corpse Demons had no true body of their own, their core was their essence. If it had possessed a living human host, it could have assumed their form, erasing all traces of its original self. Through continuous devouring, it could have eventually regained its full power, becoming a true calamity. But that was all a hypothetical now.
Because now…
"ARGHH—!!!"
A final, silent scream echoed psychically as the core fell permanently inert in her hand, the trapped soul within utterly obliterated by Su Min's crushing spiritual force. As an imperfect, flawed Golden Core demon, its soul was far weaker and more vulnerable than her own, forged through Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.
"The hardest material is finally secured. Gathering the rest will not be a problem."
Storing the lifeless core away, Su Min exhaled a long breath of relief. The Golden Spirit Pill could wait, her current success rate for a third tier high grade pill was still unacceptably low.
"With the Corpse Demon dead, the merit from resolving this calamity has blessed us both. It might seem like an abstract concept now, but come the heavenly tribulation, you will see its tangible worth." She then turned to Xie Yingying. "Now, about your pill… My lifespan is long, but I cannot afford to waste it idling here waiting for you."
"Give me a week," Su Min said, her tone turning businesslike. "Your pill is third tier high grade. I have never refined one of that specific caliber before. I will need to practice first to familiarize myself with the process. Of course, if you are fine with me using your precious materials for those trial runs, I certainly will not complain."
"Hard pass. I only have three sets prepared."
Xie Yingying's eye twitched almost imperceptibly. She did not doubt Su Min's prodigious skills. Anyone who could produce five Foundation Establishment Pills in a single batch was a once in a generation talent. But "practice runs" with her irreplaceable ingredients? That was just polite extortion. Still, what could she do? She needed that pill.
Even seasoned Golden Core experts had to treat a high tier alchemist with deference and care. Their products were indispensable for advancement and survival, and every powerful figure had juniors or disciples to care for.
In a more spiritually prosperous era, a talent like Su Min could have commanded a retinue of Golden Core guards effortlessly.
And when the Golden Core Avenue finally opened, she would not be walking it as a mere lone cultivator. She would soon stand at the center of a terrifying, sprawling web of influence and power, with countless experts owing her favors.