The Five Elements Domain served as the core of human inheritance, its secret realms opening on a regular cycle. These pockets of space, left behind by ancient powerhouses, were a cultivator's greatest opportunity. While the world outside might have lacked an abundance of supreme experts, over countless years, the Golden Core Avenue had accumulated a deep well of these powerful legacies.
Naturally, Su Min had ventured into many. She had never been interested in the core inheritances themselves; her focus was always on the supporting materials. She became a ghost in the machine, slipping into secret realms and stripping them of rare herbs and precious ores before the true heirs even arrived. As long as she steered clear of the central legacy, no one was willing to make an enemy of her. Everything else was negotiable.
During this time, she had also delivered the five pills she promised. It was no surprise that none of her clients had the patience to wait for the superior high tier Grade 4 version; they had all requested the more achievable mid tier. With those five transactions complete, Su Min's reputation was sealed. She was universally acknowledged as the top alchemist on the Golden Core Avenue.
Now, business came to her without any effort. She still accepted commissions, but the price for her services had skyrocketed. She demanded exorbitant fees. Yet, the Golden Core Avenue was truly a land of plenty, overflowing with resources. In less than half a year, she had gathered enough ingredients for three full batches of the coveted Nascent Soul Pill, plus a hoard of other rare and valuable herbs.
"I will hold off on attempting the Nascent Soul Pill for now," she mused, staring at her cauldron. "It is a low tier Grade 5 pill, a step too far. But the herb abundance here is insane. I can push for high tier Grade 4 instead."
High tier Grade 4 pills were treasures that would make even seasoned Nascent Soul old monsters grovel. Here and now, she could strut through the Golden Core Avenue completely unchallenged. After the crowd had witnessed the Wood Madman's brutal and public dismemberment, everyone had learned a single, bloody lesson: do not provoke Su Min.
In this place, few people cared about your background. Your sect was ancient and powerful? So was mine. Who was scared of whom?
Her terms were simple and ruthless. Three complete sets of materials per commission, which she kept regardless of success or failure, plus a hefty additional pile of the Avenue's finest herbs as her payment. Onlookers could only watch and salivate, powerless to match her skills. The barrier to becoming a top alchemist was impossibly high. While a few other alchemists existed here, none of them had surpassed Grade 3.
The leap from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core was a chasm; the jump from Grade 3 to Grade 4 was an abyss. Few possessed Su Min's unique advantages. The divine flame, Nanming Lihuo, seemed tailor made for alchemy, and her player bestowed Five Elements Holy Body provided incredible bonuses. Without that specific flame, her alchemy success rate would plummet, and her ability to forge artifacts would be crippled.
For anyone else to craft a Grade 4 pill, they would first need to reach the Nascent Soul realm, leveraging the all around stat boost from that monumental breakthrough.
"What is your timeline?" Su Min asked, turning to Xie Yingying. "That legacy site is opening soon. I can attempt high tier Grade 4 now. Should we wait?"
After refining the Eastern Azure Wood, Su Min's growth had skyrocketed. While Nanming Lihuo enhanced her base stats, the Eastern Azure Wood's comprehensive boost was on another level entirely.
She had come to understand that divine materials each had their own specialties. Metal and Fire excelled in offense, with Fire dominating area attacks and Metal focusing on armor piercing strikes. Earth dominated pure defense. Water prioritized recovery and stamina. And Wood, her Eastern Azure Wood, enhanced all her attributes in a beautifully balanced way.
Of course, these were primary focuses, not absolutes. There was some cross functionality. Her Eastern Azure Wood could heal, for instance, though not as effectively as a Water based divine material could.
"Go for it. There is no need to rush," Xie Yingying replied, a cold smirk touching her lips. She understood the fundamental duality of all things. Yin and Yang required each other. Singularity bred only destruction.
The legacy site left by that Lunar Sovereign Body expert would be a barren, frigid place, holding nothing of material value except the Lunar Sovereign Ancient Scripture at its heart. In fact, Xie Yingying would not even dare to venture too deep without Su Min there. Her companion's Eastern Azure Wood was the only thing that could counter the lethal, concentrated Yin energy that would permeate the core.
"Let the fools rush in first," Xie Yingying said flatly. "Their deaths will not be my fault."
Besides, Su Min mastering high tier Grade 4 pills would only increase their odds of success in all their future endeavors.
"Alright," Su Min agreed. "Taking it slow is fine with me."
Closing her eyes, she focused inward, recalling the endless stream of recipes from her player acquired Alchemy and Artifact Manual. With her skills, she would never lack for formulas. Her only limit was the personal power required to execute them. The niche, specialized pills requested by others were not in her tome, which focused on mainstream, powerful elixirs. The world was simply too vast for any single compilation to cover everything.
Her current target was the most renowned high tier Grade 4 pill: the Golden Core Heart Pill.
Its purpose was simple and immensely valuable. It assisted in breaking through the stubborn bottlenecks within the Golden Core stage.
After forming a Golden Core, a cultivator's progress slowed to a crawl. Even moving between the three sub levels of the stage was an arduous task. Advancing required not just accumulating and refining vast amounts of spiritual energy, but repeatedly assaulting minor, yet firm, barriers.
Reaching late Golden Core could easily take over a century under normal circumstances. Su Min's own rapid ascent was thanks entirely to the Eastern Azure Wood. Xie Yingying's speed came from her Naiqiong Divine Ice. But now, the initial grace period from the Eastern Azure Wood had ended.
To reach late Golden Core after saturating her energy, Su Min needed external aids. Hence, the Golden Core Heart Pill. Before this, she had been lax, seeing no pressing need. With the Eastern Azure Wood and the Azure Dragon legacy secured, the Golden Core Heavenly Ranking's rewards meant nothing to her.
Now? To claim that final inheritance tied to the Five Elements Flags, she had to push harder.
~
One month later, a satisfied sigh echoed in the quiet cave.
"Whew. High tier Grade 4. Done."
Two lustrous, spirit filled pills rolled gently in the bottom of her cauldron. Su Min exhaled in deep relief. This success had been preceded by two failed batches that turned her precious ingredients to worthless ash. Luck had blessed her this time, yielding two pills instead of just one.
"One for me, and one for trade," she decided, carefully bottling them.
She considered their fates. Xie Yingying's Lunar Sovereign Body naturally bypassed cultivation bottlenecks, so this pill was useless to her. As for the Nascent Soul Pill she planned to make later, its purpose was different. It was designed to safeguard the body during the dangerous breakthrough process and accelerate Nascent Soul formation. The transitions from late Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, and from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, had no barriers to break. They only had soul crushing risks of catastrophic failure. Their associated pills existed solely to mitigate those life ending perils.
She called one of her helpers over. "Oh, spread the word. I have a Golden Core Heart Pill. If anyone wants it, they have got thirty years to trade me an Earth grade artifact."
Over time, Su Min had recruited a few lackeys to handle errands and gather intelligence while she focused on her alchemy. They were not fighters, just helpers who knew how to find things.
"An Earth grade artifact?!" one of them gasped, his eyes wide.
The demand was daylight robbery. A high tier Grade 4 pill was priceless, but an Earth grade artifact was a legend. In the Golden Core Avenue, no one could bring such powerful items in from the outside. Crafting them here was impossible. Even with her Nanming Lihuo, or the forge optimized Six Ding Divine Fire, Su Min knew she could not produce Earth grade items yet.
The few Earth grade artifacts that did exist here were spawned by the Golden Core Avenue itself, rare treasures generated every few centuries from the lingering power of deceased experts. Su Min had not been lucky enough to find one.
"Oh, and add this," she said casually. "I am only refining this once. Take it or leave it."
This, at least, was the truth. She could not make more. The two failed batches had exhausted her core ingredients for the Golden Core Heart Pill. Like the three irreplaceable herbs for the Nascent Soul Pill, these specific materials were untradeable.
"Understood," her lackey said, exchanging a knowing glance with the others. They sensed her predicament. Though Su Min's demand was outrageous, they knew desperate buyers would eventually bite. For most, having only ninety years to advance from early to late Golden Core was impossible. Yet the Golden Core Heavenly Ranking's rewards, the 300 year lifespan extension and the protective baptism, were too crucial to miss.
Besides, an Earth grade artifact that did not match your cultivation path was little more than a glorified paperweight. Trading one for the pill, while painful, could be a calculated and worthwhile sacrifice.
As expected, her announcement sent shockwaves through the entire Golden Core Avenue. Holy Sons and Daughters were mobilized, their calm demeanors shattered. The top five spots on the ranking were not meant for ordinary six nine tribulation Golden Core cultivators; only elites like them stood a real chance.
A frenzied competition erupted for newly appeared secret realms, all to scrape together the astronomical price Su Min had set. It felt like swallowing flies, but they had no other choice.
While the rest of the world scrambled and fought, Su Min and Xie Yingying simply departed. Their helpers were not invited. It was time to head for the legacy site. Extreme Yin begets Yang. The site's core surely harbored a unique space, one Su Min needed for her own cultivation. Without the powerful energy there, reaching late Golden Core would be a far more difficult and tedious struggle.