The Stone Heart was the spiritual core of the stone demon, equivalent to the demonic core of a flesh and blood beast, but far rarer and more valuable. For any object to develop sentience and begin cultivation was incredibly difficult. Just look at the piles of inert spirit ore lying around the cultivation world, how many of them could actually think?
Most demonic beasts originated from animals that already possessed some degree of innate intelligence, some even quite high. Take, for example, a certain legendary giant panda from her old world that was said to have held a grudge against its keeper for over twenty years. An ordinary person could rarely sustain such focused resentment for that long.
Thus, for a stone, a completely insentient object, to become a demon was exceptionally rare. However, the trade off for this difficulty was that their requirements for reaching the equivalent of the Golden Core stage were much lower. They did not even have to face the deadly heavenly tribulations that flesh and blood cultivators dreaded.
But there was a steep price for avoiding the tempering of tribulations. Their mastery of spells and techniques was severely limited, barely capable of performing any complex magical operations. Their behavior was largely instinct driven, making them little more than slow, predictable, brute force attackers.
This particular Stone Spirit was no exception. It swayed unsteadily as it fully stood up, then began lumbering toward the two women with ground shaking steps before—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed as its massive, stone fist slammed into the ground where they had been standing moments before, leaving a deep crater in the magically reinforced floor.
"Do not interfere. Let me test the limits of my new physique."
At that moment, Su Min turned her head and spoke calmly to Xie Yingying. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she pulled a single, glowing crimson feather from her sleeve and sent it shooting toward the Stone Spirit's approaching arm.
BOOM!
In an instant, a flash of intense crimson light erupted upon impact. The explosion reverberated throughout the vast chamber, and to Xie Yingying's astonishment, the stone demon's thick, ten meter long arm shattered completely, collapsing onto the ground in a pile of rubble and dust.
"How is that possible?!" Xie Yingying gasped, her composure breaking for a second. What Su Min had just thrown was a manifestation of Nanming Lihuo, a flame of immense power, but it should not have been this effective against a creature of pure earth and stone. Moreover, according to the five elements theory, fire nurtured earth, meaning earth attribute beings typically had high innate resistance to fire. This outcome was utterly baffling.
"The joints are relatively fragile compared to the main body. And my Nanming Lihuo is no longer pure, it is now mixed with and amplified by the Eastern Azure Wood," Su Min explained, her expression unchanging and unfazed by Xie Yingying's astonishment.
Her Nanming Lihuo was not pure anymore, it was infused with the vibrant, life giving energy of the Eastern Azure Wood. Wood fed fire, logically enhancing all her flame based attacks to terrifying new levels. Under normal circumstances, this would not be so extreme, since the primary damage source was still the divine flame itself.
But she now possessed the Fire Wood Holy Body. Though not yet a complete Five Elements Holy Body, she already possessed the embryonic form of the holy physique. This allowed her to manipulate elemental interactions. Even if earth inherently countered fire, just as fire countered metal, under the influence of her nascent holy constitution, this counteractive relationship was completely reversed. Instead, it now followed the principle of wood overcoming earth, resulting in this astonishing, disproportionate effect at first contact.
"Just as I expected," Su Min remarked, her voice still indifferent. She was not surprised by this outcome. While an early Nascent Soul stage physical body was formidable, even the toughest body cultivators needed spells and techniques to complement their raw attacks. They could not just tank everything with brute force forever.
Moreover, Su Min had the Eastern Azure Wood, the ultimate wood attribute divine object. This earth attribute stone demon was the perfect training dummy to test her new advantages against.
"With the elemental advantage confirmed, it is time to test the Azure Dragon's legacy—Four Symbols Possession."
In an instant, a surge of violent, draconic energy coursed through Su Min's body, so intense that even her toughened meridians trembled under the strain. Though the Azure Dragon Possession had been integrated into the composite Four Symbols Possession technique, its core effects remained. The moment she activated it, Su Min could not help but shudder. The raw, bestial power was simply too overwhelming for a human form.
The human physique was inherently fragile, far inferior to ancient bloodline demonic beasts or divine spirits. But just as the energy threatened to burst out and cause severe damage, a soothing layer of green light, emanating from the Eastern Azure Wood within her dantian, enveloped her blood vessels and meridians, stabilizing the rampant power perfectly.
Eastern Azure Wood, as one of the divine wood attributes, was fundamentally different from the blazing, destructive fury of fire based divine objects. While its direct offensive power paled in comparison, its true, immense value lay in its protective and supportive qualities, protecting meridians, enhancing recovery, fortifying the body, and expanding spiritual energy reserves. All of these synergized perfectly with specific techniques and skill combinations to maximize combat potential and sustainability.
For body cultivators, a wood based divine object like the Eastern Azure Wood offered far greater benefits than a purely offensive fire based one. And just as Nanming Lihuo stood as the most versatile and powerful among fire based divine objects, Eastern Azure Wood held the same position for wood, a well rounded all rounder.
It might not excel in any single extreme aspect compared to hyper specialized divine objects, but its incredible adaptability made it the most reliable tool in complex and unpredictable situations. A prime example was the Azure Dragon's legacy. Without the Eastern Azure Wood's protection, activating it would instantly inflict severe, possibly crippling damage to the meridians. The power of the Azure Dragon, one of the supreme Four Symbols, was not something an unaugmented human body could hope to endure. Thus, without the Eastern Azure Wood, the Azure Dragon's legacy would be rendered utterly useless, a death sentence for any cultivator.
"Now, let us see the physical changes in practice."
Her primary offensive methods had not changed much. She still relied on Nanming Lihuo as her main ranged attack, with the Eastern Azure Wood serving as a potent support and amplifier. But the synergy between the two created a devastating 1+1>2 effect, making her overall combat power truly terrifying.
So Su Min sheathed her sword and leaped into the air, her right hand glowing with a brilliant azure light. A massive, phantom dragon claw materialized in the air before her as she slammed it down onto the stone demon's broad back.
"Azure Dragon's Claw!"
"ROAR—!"
The monster howled in surprised pain as a small, but deep, claw shaped imprint was scorched into its stony back.
"Must you, a female cultivator, fight so… brutally? So manly?" Xie Yingying facepalmed mentally, watching Su Min's straightforward, powerful attack. While this strike was not as visually devastating as the earlier fiery explosion, it was a display of pure, condensed physical power. The dragon claw was more like concentrated energy, enhancing the blunt impact force. This was the hallmark of body cultivators, internal techniques.
Internal techniques focused on amplifying raw physical power with minimal additional elemental effects. External techniques emphasized elemental or energy based enhancements and wide area effects. Neither was inherently superior, it depended entirely on the situation. Against a monster like this, with sky high physical and elemental resistance, external techniques with their armor piercing and explosive properties were obviously better.
Almost immediately, not giving the creature time to recover, Su Min's other fist rose high, glowing with a mix of green and azure light, before smashing down with brutal, earth shattering force.
"Azure Dragon's Heavenwood Fist!"
BOOM!
This time, the stone demon was not so lucky. Its massive body trembled violently from the impact, and a gaping hole was blown clean through its torso, rubble and crystalline dust spraying out from the exit wound.
"Tch. I still have a long way to go." Looking at the crater she had punched into the stone demon, Su Min muttered to herself, slightly dissatisfied. Currently, when using the Azure Dragon Creation Art's physical techniques, she could only harness the Eastern Azure Wood's power directly, not yet fully integrate Nanming Lihuo into the melee strikes. This meant she could not exploit the wood feeds fire advantage in close quarters, making her pure physical combat slightly inferior to her hybrid ranged attacks.
Still, even this level was formidable. The Azure Dragon's legacy, combined with the Eastern Azure Wood, was one of the most elite and powerful inheritances available in the entire Golden Core Avenue. But she could feel there was room for improvement, synergies she would have to discover and develop herself through practice and insight.
"A big, dumb brute with strength but no intelligence. Time to end this." Having tested her new abilities and gotten a feel for her limits, Su Min had no interest in dragging this fight out. While her attacks had been effective, the stone demon's sheer size and resilience meant she would be whittling away at it for a long time. She only needed to gauge her new techniques, not waste spiritual energy on a prolonged, pointless fight.
Besides, despite its physical might, the stone demon's low intelligence and predictable attack patterns made it far from a real threat to someone of her caliber. Any halfway decent late stage Golden Core cultivator with the right elemental advantage could dismantle it slowly and safely. And that was just an average Golden Core cultivator, not even one who had survived the brutal Six Nine or Nine Nine Heavenly Tribulations.
So she had no intention of continuing the charade. While the monster was still flailing its remaining arm at her like she was an annoying insect, she used a swift movement technique to dart in, seizing the small, glowing Fire Flag from its chest, ensuring it would not be caught in her next attack. Then, without a moment's hesitation, Su Min formed a series of complex hand seals mid air. In an instant, the colossal Vermilion Bird Holy Idol materialized behind her, its crimson form blazing with incandescent power.
BOOM!
A concentrated torrent of white hot flames erupted from the Idol's beak, engulfing the stone giant in a sun like inferno. The amplified Nanming Lihuo, fueled by the Eastern Azure Wood, burned with an intensity that defied reason. Within seconds, the massive Stone Spirit was reduced to a pile of glowing, molten slag and then to ashes.
"This must be due to her physique," Xie Yingying analyzed coldly as she watched. "The Five Elements Holy Body is only a legend in most texts. But even if Su Min has not fully mastered it, the effects are already terrifying."
She had realized that such overwhelming, logic defying power had to stem from Su Min's unique physique, one that was destined to rival her own Lunar Sovereign Body.
"Reversing elemental counters… If perfected, it would be absolutely oppressive, a nightmare for any elemental cultivator." Expressionless, Xie Yingying fully grasped the implications. The Five Elements were the foundation of the entire world, all other attributes were derived from them. If Su Min achieved a complete, stable Five Elements cycle within her body, she would inherently counter everything while resisting all elemental attacks. Only a handful of supreme physiques, like the Lunar Sovereign Body, the Solar Sovereign Body, or certain monstrous pure body cultivators, could stand against her. And even then, none would hold a true, definitive advantage.
"The set of Five Elements Flags is secured," Su Min announced, landing lightly beside the pile of ashes. "Hmph, the quality of this Stone Heart is decent, about on par with a peak Golden Core stage demonic beast's core." She plucked a glowing, amber colored crystal from the ashes, the condensed essence of the Stone Spirit.
As she spoke, the remains of the stone demon finished disintegrating completely under the relentless assault of her flames. Despite its monstrous physical resistance, it had stood no chance against the divine fury of Nanming Lihuo, especially when amplified by the Eastern Azure Wood and her holy physique.
The Fire Wood Holy Body not only granted her partial Five Elements manipulation abilities but also directly enhanced the innate potency and control of her fire and wood attributes. Su Min was quite satisfied with her current state of power.
"With the full set of Five Elements Flags collected, let us backtrack and gather the spiritual herbs we passed earlier," Su Min suggested, storing the flags and the Stone Heart safely. "While the ultimate legacy is not an immediate must for us, it is still worth investigating. There might be other auxiliary treasures or insights there as well."
This was not a safe or appropriate place to attempt activating the flags and communing with the legacy. Moreover, legacy trials for physiques like hers were notoriously brutal, both as tests for the inheritor and as safeguards to prevent the legacy from being wasted on the unworthy.
There was no need to rush headlong into it. In fact, her trial might be even more absurdly difficult than Xie Yingying's future Lunar Sovereign Legacy trial. If it proved too much for her current level, she would not hesitate to bail and return later. She had her Heavenly Dao Insight talent as a fallback for finding other opportunities. It was not worth dying for this one legacy.
"Agreed," Xie Yingying nodded. "But I am more curious about that Wood Madman's fate. This secret realm is vast, who knows where he has run off to, or what is left of him?"
Xie Yingying smirked darkly. Su Min had underestimated the allure of her own offer. She thought people would not risk their lives for a chance at a few pills, but in reality, for many, it was absolutely worth the gamble. For example—
At that very moment, on the completely opposite side of the massive ruins, the Wood Madman, Mu Fengzi, was being ruthlessly hunted down by a veritable mob of elite cultivators.
"Han Chaoyan, you ungrateful bastard! Are you not afraid that after the heaven and earth are fully connected, our Blood Puppet Sect will hunt you down and destroy your entire lineage?!" Looking at a familiar figure among the people who were surrounding and attacking him, Mu Fengzi felt like vomiting blood from pure rage and despair. Of course, he was more afraid than angry, because more than a dozen people from various sects wanted him dead. What was even more terrifying was that all his life saving methods and treasures had been blown away by Su Min, and now he did not even have the ability to drag one or two of them down with him in a final, suicidal strike.
"Heh, I owe you nothing. You brought this on yourself," Han Chaoyan retorted, his expression almost pitying. "Your head is worth five fourth grade pills now. At least die knowing why. What kind of idiot tries to take revenge after being so thoroughly defeated and humiliated?"
Han Chaoyan's logic was cold and pragmatic. Back then, both he and Chang Lu had been soundly beaten and forced to flee, yet neither dared seek retaliation afterward. But this fool just could not let it go. Now that Su Min had openly put a bounty on his head, they had no reason to hold back. It was simply good business.
"Everyone, listen!" Han Chaoyan addressed the surrounding crowd confidently. "Lady Su only asked for his head. With so many of us here, no one can monopolize the reward. So let us compete fairly. The share of the head, or the final blow, that each of us secures will determine our priority for her alchemy services later. And remember, alchemists of her tier require the client to provide the materials. None of us can likely afford to supply everything for five high grade pills alone."
With the Nether Ghost Water already in his possession and his cultivation solidly at the mid Golden Core stage, Han Chaoyan was among the top young masters present. He had the right and the authority to propose this.
"Agreed."
The others, after a moment's hesitation, nodded. Cultivation was not just about raw strength, it was also about politics and alliances. Trying to hog the kill would make enemies of everyone present. And since Su Min had offered five service slots, they could compete for shares based on contribution.
"You bastards—!!!" The Wood Madman's face twisted in utter fury and humiliation. They were discussing how to divide his head and his future as a transaction right in front of him!
"Attack together! Do not let him self destruct! If his body is destroyed, how will we claim the reward?!" someone shouted, and with that, the mob surged forward in a coordinated assault. A Golden Core cultivator's self destruction was no joke, capable of wiping out everyone in the immediate vicinity. And while Golden Core experts had resilient inner cores, they had not yet formed independent souls. If his head was destroyed, he would die for sure. Only at the Nascent Soul stage could one survive the destruction of their physical body. But it was too late for the Wood Madman to achieve that. In less than five minutes of frantic, desperate combat, his golden core was shattered by a concentrated assault. Then, four people each grabbed a limb to hold the body steady and—
RIP—!
His head was unceremoniously torn from his body. To prevent further disputes over the prize, they even used special preservation talismans on the grisly remains. But the chaos did not end there. A chaotic free for all broke out immediately after the deed was done.
"Bastard! I took the brunt of his dying counterattack and wasted a precious life saving treasure! What is the meaning of this?!"
"Screw off! This kill is ours! We landed the final blow!"
BOOM—!
The battlefield descended into utter mayhem. These were all proud young masters and elite disciples, and none would back down easily once fighting over such a prize. Some had indeed sacrificed valuable treasures to survive the Wood Madman's last, desperate stand. Had Su Min been present, she might have felt a flicker of pity for him. Not only was he dead, but his corpse was being fought over by vultures like a piece of meat.
But she was not there. Instead, she and Xie Yingying were busy systematically looting a pristine herbal garden when—
"Do you feel that?" Su Min paused, a rare Fire Blossom in her hand. "There is incredibly chaotic spiritual energy surging from the far side of the realm. Did the Wood Madman put up that much of a fight? Or are they already battling over the pieces of his head?"
Plucking the herb and stuffing it into her spatial ring, Su Min glanced at Xie Yingying. As the mastermind behind the bounty, she knew what was likely happening, but the sheer scale of the disturbance was beyond her initial expectations.
"At this rate, he will be lucky if any single, recognizable part of his body remains intact," Xie Yingying commented dryly.
Though Xie Yingying's spiritual perception was far inferior to Su Min's, the disturbance was too massive and violent to miss. Even those outside the ruins could probably sense the ripples of chaotic energy.
Meanwhile, outside the main entrance, a group of Golden Core cultivators, those who had only endured the weaker Three Nine Heavenly Tribulation, watched the entrance with cold sweat dripping down their backs. Over the past decade in the avenue, they had learned one hard, undeniable truth, they stood no chance against the true monsters inside.
So they had wisely stayed near the entrance, scavenging what they could, and were now profoundly grateful they had not been tempted to enter the main fray. The chaos within was a stark reminder of their place in the food chain.