While Su Min was busy refining the final batches of pills, Xie Yingying completed her own meticulous preparations. Unlike Su Min, who had faced the cataclysmic Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation with only two paltry Yellow-tier treasures, Xie Yingying was armed to the teeth. Her ancient sect had spared no expense in equipping their chosen heir. On the day her tribulation finally descended, nearly every cultivator on East Mulberry Island gathered at a safe distance to witness the spectacle.
The Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation was no joke. Most Golden Core cultivators only dared attempt the Triple Nine Tribulation. Even Su Min had barely survived the final, world-shattering strike of her own Nine-Nine ordeal.
But as the saying went, the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each revealed their divine powers. The method did not matter, only survival.
That day, every cultivator present witnessed an unforgettable sight. The clear blue sky plunged into an unnatural darkness, illuminated only by terrifying, serpentine bolts of lightning that seemed to tear reality itself. Su Min could only watch from a distance, a silent, tense observer.
Interfering with another's tribulation was suicide. The heavenly punishment had no upper limit and would escalate its power to obliterate any intruder without mercy.
BOOM—!!!
A deafening explosion echoed across the sea as the final, concentrated lightning strike landed. In its wake, the unmistakable, soaring aura of a newly forged Golden Core expert erupted into the skies.
"Success," Su Min murmured, a wave of relief washing over her. "Now, let us see what heavenly gift she receives." A wry smile touched her lips. "I had to endure ten years of continuous lightning strikes just to claim the heavenly thunder as my own."
As she mused, a radiant, snow-white figure began to descend gracefully through the dissipating lightning. The sight left everyone, including Su Min, momentarily stunned.
"An Ice Qilin?" Su Min observed, recognizing the majestic, crystalline form. "So her divine ability is related to it." She felt a flicker of satisfaction. "The one I need for the Azure Dragon's legacy is the Earth Qilin. There is no conflict."
With that, she flew to the now shattered and scorched island. At its center, Xie Yingying had encased herself in a beautiful, indestructible cocoon of solid ice. Unlike Su Min's brutal, decade-long ordeal of directly absorbing the lightning, Xie Yingying's method was one of perfect defense and containment, keeping her safe and spiritually stable within the ice.
Su Min hauled the giant, person-sized ice block back to the sect's most secure underground chamber, carefully placing it above a natural ice attribute spiritual spring that was connected to the deep, cold energies of the Crystal Palace far below.
"This environment should help you refine your insights and consolidate your foundation," she said to the dormant figure within the ice. "Don't sleep so long that you miss the opening of the Golden Core Avenue."
With that, she left, returning to her own final preparations. Not long after, she received good news. Xie Yingying, before entering her deep sleep, had left behind two powerful Earth tier defensive treasures for the sect. With their help, Tu Changjun, one of the most promising disciples, had successfully overcome her own Triple Nine Heavenly Tribulation, becoming the sect's first homegrown Golden Core expert.
"Congratulations," Su Min said to the newly ascended cultivator. "You now have two choices. You may join the elder council as a Grand Elder, or you can take over the role of sect leader."
The previous sect leader, while capable, was still at peak Foundation Establishment and no longer possessed the inherent authority needed to manage both a growing sect and the millions of civilians on the island.
After a moment of contemplation, Tu Changjun chose the latter.
"Grand Elder Su," she began, her voice filled with the newfound power of her realm, "I have two questions. Since reaching Golden Core, I have felt a heavy suppression from the world itself. My progress is completely blocked. And there is a strange call, a pulling sensation, that I cannot ignore."
Su Min nodded, having expected this. "First, the world will not fully open for another century. You can still train, study new techniques, and temper your spirit, but your cultivation base will not advance. As for the 'call,' that is the Golden Core Avenue. It is where your master and I are headed. It holds countless treasures, ancient legacies, and the path to further power."
Tu Changjun's eyes blazed with desire and ambition.
"But a warning," Su Min's voice turned stern. "Without having achieved Heavenly Foundation Establishment and survived at least the Six Nine Tribulation, you would be mere cannon fodder there." She paused, letting the words sink in. "Here. Take one strike from me. If you can survive it, I will consider bringing you along."
Without further ceremony, Su Min's aura erupted. Her hair flowed and turned pale white, and her eyes glowed with a fierce crimson light as she tapped into a fraction of her true power.
Tu Changjun gritted her teeth, summoning all her spiritual energy to form a massive, shimmering shield before her.
"Go."
Su Min flicked a single, glowing crimson feather from her hand. It shot forward, not with overwhelming speed, but with an undeniable, crushing weight.
BOOM—!!!
The feather struck the shield. The sound was not of shattering, but of immense, concentrated force meeting an immovable object and winning. Tu Changjun was hurled backward thousands of meters, coughing up blood, her body charred and smoking from the residual heat.
Before she could even hit the ground, Su Min blinked through space, appearing behind her and holding out a potent healing pill.
"Eat this."
"T-Thank you, Grand Elder..." Tu Changjun's hands trembled as she took and swallowed the pill. The message was brutally clear. A single, casual strike from Su Min had utterly crushed her defenses. It was proof that even among Golden Core experts, the gaps in power could be vast, uncrossable chasms. She knew Su Min had held back significantly. A full power strike would have killed her outright.
"I will take the sect leader position," she finally said, her voice firm with newfound resolve.
With her own path to immediate growth blocked, she chose to shoulder the responsibility of leadership, freeing her senior brother to focus entirely on his own arduous preparations for a future tribulation.
~
Ten years passed in the blink of an eye for Su Min, spent in deep meditation and final adjustments. Then, on a perfectly ordinary day, an explosion of pure, concentrated icy energy erupted from deep beneath the East Sea Immortal Gate. The skies above the sect turned white with spontaneously generated blizzards. From the epicenter, a black robed figure emerged Xie Yingying, finally awake and radiating the stable, powerful aura of a consolidated Golden Core expert.
"Took you long enough," Su Min said, landing beside her, completely unaffected by the biting cold that would have flash-frozen a lesser cultivator. "The Golden Core Avenue is about to open. We need to move."
"How many in your sect have the aptitude to cultivate my Ice Heart Jade Scripture?" Xie Yingying cut straight to the point, her businesslike tone returning now that the immediate danger had passed.
"Only five or six in the past decade," Su Min reported. "All are still in the Qi Refining stage. It will take them centuries to truly carry your legacy forward."
"Good enough." To Su Min's surprise, Xie Yingying actually looked relieved. "Quality over quantity. A few dedicated heirs are better than a host of mediocre disciples."
"More importantly," Su Min pressed, "our priorities inside the Golden Core Avenue. How contested is the legacy you are after?"
"The Azure Dragon's legacy is one of the most highly sought after prizes," Xie Yingying explained, her expression darkening. "It is the only publicly known inheritance site of the Four Symbols. Just obtaining a dragon scale, the mere entry ticket, is usually a bloodbath."
Su Min nodded, having expected as much. "And the place you need to go?"
"It is even more dangerous," Xie Yingying said, her voice dropping. "The environment itself is lethal. Even with your Nanming Lihuo, you would need the power of the Eastern Azure Wood and at least mid to late Golden Core cultivation to have a chance of surviving long enough for me to retrieve the scripture."
"Where is it?" Su Min's interest sharpened. This was new information, a detail the game she remembered had never covered.
"The same place as your Azure Dragon legacy," Xie Yingying revealed, a flicker of deep, personal hunger visible beneath her calm exterior. "The deepest, coldest core of that domain houses the Lunar Sovereign Ancient Scripture." She met Su Min's gaze. "It is a core manual that unlocks the full potential of my physique. Without it, even a Lunar Sovereign Physique is just half forged steel, never reaching its true apex."
"So that is your true goal." Su Min studied her, pieces falling into place. "No wonder you were willing to risk this partnership."
"With your Nanming Lihuo, and the Eastern Azure Wood to act as its perfect fuel, you can create a shield powerful enough to protect me long enough to claim it," Xie Yingying stated. "No one else can endure that frozen hellscape without either the Lunar Sovereign Physique or a divine flame of that caliber."
"Then it is settled." The plan crystallized in Su Min's mind. Their objectives were perfectly aligned. They would work together to secure the Azure Dragon legacy and the Eastern Azure Wood for Su Min, and then use that combined power to storm the frozen inner sanctum for the scripture Xie Yingying needed to complete her path.
~
Not long after, a profound, universal tremor passed through the world. Every Golden Core cultivator, regardless of where they were or what they were doing, looked up simultaneously. The call had come. The way was open.
"The Golden Core Avenue is a vast pocket dimension," Xie Yingying explained swiftly as they made their final preparations. "All who can sense the portal can enter, and due to the unique laws inside, everyone begins at the early Golden Core stage, regardless of their external power. One crucial rule, you exit from the same point you entered."
"Understood. Let's go." With that, Su Min focused her will, and vanished from the chamber, Xie Yingying following a heartbeat behind.
When Su Min's vision cleared, she found herself standing in a vast, alien landscape under a strange, purple sky. For the first time in centuries, the heavy, suppressive weight on her cultivation was gone. She felt unshackled, limitless.
"This feels amazing," she breathed, stretching her spiritual senses luxuriously. "I can finally cultivate freely again!"
Xie Yingying materialized beside her, also taking in their new surroundings. Above each of them, three shimmering golden characters hovered, visible to all:
[Eastern Mulberry State]
It was their place of origin a label that every entrant bore.
"This is good," Su Min said, a strategic grin spreading across her face. "We can fly under the radar. Before I arrived, Eastern Mulberry State had zero cultivators. No one will recognize us or know our capabilities, as long as we hide the full extent of our strength."
Her exploits in the Great Luo Tian State had been discreet, and no one there knew she wielded the Nanming Lihuo. As for anyone from Wei Wu State, their cultivators simply lacked the knowledge and perception to identify a divine flame even if they saw it.
"To the Azure Dragon's legacy first," Xie Yingying agreed.
With that, the two women shot into the strange sky atop a sleek, Mystic tier mid grade flying sword, one of the many upgrades Su Min had crafted over the centuries. As they traveled, they passed numerous other Golden Core experts, each party giving the other a wide, cautious berth.
The Great Dao Avenue had just opened, and no one wanted to waste their energy on premature conflict. But even these fleeting encounters made Su Min keenly aware of the sheer concentration of talent gathered here. She sensed several auras that made her instincts prickle with wariness, a feeling she had rarely experienced, even when facing the leaders of the five great sects.
"Besides the legacies," Su Min mused, her mind already racing through possibilities, "this place is supposed to be crawling with ferocious, ancient spirit beasts. Their cores and materials will be perfect for upgrading my gourd and other treasures."
There was so much to do, and the clock was already ticking.