Yin and Yang had coexisted here in a state of perfect, delicate harmony. This secluded garden was a sanctuary of balance, hidden deep within the deadly secret realm.
But that balance was now shattered. Vast amounts of Taiyang Qi were being pulled from the air, involuntarily absorbed by Su Min's awakening body. The equilibrium broke, and as it did, the Lunar Sovereign Emperor's legacy finally manifested in response to Xie Yingying's presence.
Xie Yingying had no time to question what was happening to her. From what she could see, despite the overwhelming influx of masculine energy, Su Min showed no signs of internal conflict or imbalance. Her body was accepting it all.
"Could the Five Elements Sacred Body have secrets even I do not know?" she wondered. "Without the true Five Elements Ancient Scripture, she will have to figure this out on her own."
Watching as Su Min adjusted her breathing and began to hover mid air, bathed in the brilliant light of the Taiyang Qi, Xie Yingying turned her attention to her own destiny. She walked to the other side of the flower field, where dense, gentle Taiyin Qi gathered like a silvery mist.
This was where she would receive the Lunar Sovereign Emperor's legacy.
Yet, even as she sat and began to absorb the inheritance, an inexplicable sensation prickled at the edge of her awareness. It felt like a thread of fate being pulled taut.
From a bird's eye view, the scene was striking. The two women sat at opposite ends of a natural Yin Yang Taiji diagram, their positions perfectly symmetrical.
Su Min's spot was especially peculiar. Though she was surrounded by a vortex of blazing Taiyang Qi, the ground directly beneath her brimmed with a deep, cool pool of Taiyin Qi.
Neither of them noticed this detail. Both had already sunk deep into the trance of meditation.
~
"This is an unexpected windfall," Su Min thought, calmly assessing the storm inside her.
She did not fully understand the mechanics, but one thing was crystal clear: her dormant Taiyang Qi was reacting violently. This energy had lain silent within her since she faced the Golden Core Heavenly Tribulation. Whether it was awakened by that lightning or had always been a hidden part of her, like the Five Elements Holy Body, she could not tell. But now, the slumbering power trembled with vibrant, demanding life.
"I have absorbed so much pure Taiyang Qi, yet I feel no discomfort. If anyone else, even a true Lunar Sovereign Physique wielder, tried this, their Yin Yang balance would collapse and they would explode on the spot."
Then, abruptly, a stream of pristine information descended into her mind, as if delivered from the heavens themselves.
Su Min froze.
"What the? Solar Sovereign Ancient Scripture? 'Conditions not met. Sealed within the soul for now'?!"
Her eyes flew open in surprise, though it made no difference as her system interface was projected directly onto her retina.
[Cultivation Method: Solar Sovereign Ancient Scripture]
(Due to host's insufficient conditions, only partial information is available.)
[Physique: Solar Sovereign (Initial Awakening)]
"It feels like I have triggered something huge, but never mind that for now."
A strange, inevitable sense of destiny tugged at her, but she forcefully pushed it aside. There would be time for existential questions later.
"First, cultivation."
Though most of the ambient Taiyang Qi had been devoured by the newly awakened potential in her body, a part of her still grumbled, "Seriously, how does this even count as part of my physique?" The residual energy was still substantial, and she needed to refine it.
As for the eerie feeling of fate intertwining with Xie Yingying, she had her theories. "Her clan elders must have foreseen something. Without her, I would never have come here. A deadly secret realm oozing annihilation energy? I would have noped out after one glance."
But one thing was certain. She was not a pure Solar Sovereign Physique wielder. Her Taiyang Qi was weak and nascent compared to her Five Elements Holy Body, which had already been enhanced by two divine materials.
"Better keep this power under wraps. The Five Elements Holy Body is flashy enough. If people find out I can also wield the Solar Sovereign Physique, who knows what trouble that will bring?"
Her decision was made. No unnecessary displays.
~
Time lost all meaning.
"Hah, I have hit a bottleneck. Why is she still absorbing her legacy? So slow!"
Su Min grumbled internally. The difference between their situations was obvious. Xie Yingying was receiving a complete legacy, the Lunar Sovereign Ancient Scripture, along with combat insights and ancestral knowledge. Su Min had gotten a sealed book and a metaphysical headache.
But it did not matter. This was a bonus round for her anyway. The energy here was so incredibly dense that her cultivation had skyrocketed, now brushing firmly against the barrier to late Golden Core. And for that, she had pills.
Not the reckless, foundation wrecking kind, but proper breakthrough elixirs, tailored for specific bottlenecks. The moment one of these pills dissolved within her, the barrier cracked. Then, it shattered completely.
Late Golden Core.
But it did not end there. A familiar wave of dizziness crashed over her, a sensation she knew well.
Her innate ability, Heavenly Dao Insight, had activated again.
And not just one revelation this time, but multiple, interlinking truths flooding her consciousness all at once.
"Slaughter Path, Longevity Path, Salvation Path, Merit Path, all resonating at once. Did my cultivation breakthrough just unlock this?"
Four grand Daos blazed in her mind, a torrent of cosmic knowledge.
["Changchun Gong" has evolved into "Changchun Xinshui Gong."]
[New skill acquired: "Golden Earth Resonant Chant."]
"Ugh!" The pain was sharp but brief, subsiding as the techniques finished imprinting themselves onto her soul. But Su Min was left baffled.
These were not new cultivation methods. They were just singular, standalone techniques, and they had surprisingly low power ceilings.
"What is the point of, wait." Her irritation halted mid thought.
"Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, all Five Elements are now present. Did the Five Elements Flags trigger this? And my innate ability enhanced the revelation?"
Normally, Heaven's Revelations bestowed fragmentary knowledge, requiring the recipient to spend years piecing it together. But these two techniques were complete and polished, on par with her Three Layered Fire Wood Transformation Method.
"So my Heavenly Dao Insight balanced my elemental foundations," she realized. Players had no innate affinities; their cultivation methods dictated their strengths. Now, with three elements equalized, she saw the bigger picture.
"The banners are paving the way for the Five Elements Ancient Scripture." It was a shame her Changchun Gong had been prematurely upgraded, but the pieces were falling into place. "Turtles symbolize longevity in myths, of course it is Water aligned. The Five Elements Ancient Scripture, I am more curious than ever. That must be a true cultivation method, not just a technique."
She quickly checked her status.
[Name: Su Min]
[Cultivation: Late Golden Core]
[Talent: Immortality (having infinite lifespan and not aging)]
[Innate Divine Ability: Heavenly Dao Insight (Over time, comprehend techniques from the cosmos)]
[Physique: Five Elements Sacred Body—Fire-Wood Holy Body, Solar Sovereign Body]
[Acquired Abilities: Four Symbols Slaughter—Tiger; Four Symbols Heavenly Sun—Vermilion Bird; Four Symbols Primordial – Azure Dragon; Mastery of the Five Thunders]
[Cultivation Arts: Changchun Xinshui Gong; Golden Earth Resonant Chant; Fire-Wood Transformation Method (Layer 3)]
[Mental Methods: Great Sun Tathāgata Sutra; Solar Sovereign Ancient Scripture (Sealed)]
[Skills: Sword Control Technique; Mystic Firewood Sword Art/ Xuanhuomu]
[Secret Technique: Revival Art]
[Possessed Heavenly Treasures: Nanming Lihuo; Heavenly Thunder; Eastern Azure Wood]
[Possessed Innate Spiritual Treasure: Heaven and Earth Qiankun Gourd]
[Life-bound Spirit Treasure: Vermilion Bird's Flameblade / Nanming Lihuo Sword (High-tier Mystic Grade)]
"Excellent. Now to wait for Yingying to finish, hm?" Su Min descended from her meditative float, feeling refreshed and powerful.
She noticed the Taiyang Qi in the garden was nearly depleted.
"Might as well test my Taiyang Qi's effects."
But the moment she consciously activated it, her body changed. Her familiar Fire Wood Holy Body was instantly suppressed. Her entire physique transformed, temporarily becoming the pure, overwhelming Solar Sovereign Physique.
"What the?!" The difference was staggering. The Solar Sovereign Physique far outstripped her current, incomplete Five Elements Holy Body. It was a genuine top tier physique, rivaling even a perfected Five Elements Holy Body. No wonder it overrode her base form.
A new line of text appeared in her vision.
[Taiyang Qi: Upon activation, temporarily converts the host's physique into the Solar Sovereign Physique. Effects vary by host. If the host's original physique is weaker, it will be suppressed during this period.]
"So it is a Solar Sovereign Physique buff. And the Solar Sovereign Ancient Scripture must have been unlocked by my Heavenly Dao Insight."
The realization dawned on her. This place was not just for the Lunar Sovereign Physique. It also housed the legacy for the Solar Sovereign Physique. The Golden Core Avenue had existed for eons. The Solar Sovereign and Lunar Sovereign Physique wielders who had left these legacies were likely separated by millennia.
Su Min guessed that the Lunar Sovereign master had created this realm, and a later Solar Sovereign expert had modified it, embedding their own inheritance into the heart of the icy wasteland. She had stumbled into it by accident, not a true Solar Sovereign wielder, and had been completely unaware of how to activate her own latent power.
But as she pondered this, a sharp premonition prickled her senses. She whirled around, her palm instinctively lashing out to meet an oncoming force.
CLASH!
Two slender hands met in mid air.
Yin and Yang. Black and White.
Their opposing energies collided, sending a visible shockwave rippling through the garden. The vibrant flora around them withered instantly to dust. The icy walls of the cavern splintered, their surfaces now dyed in monochrome. A titanic pillar of intertwined black and white light erupted from the point of their contact, shooting skyward and shattering the glacial dome above them.
Across the entire Golden Core Avenue, every cultivator jolted, their hearts quaking with a sudden, profound unease.
"What was that?!"
"Why do I feel the very laws of the world trembling?"
"The far north, what is happening?!"
Even the young man with the Great Desolate Holy Body felt a tremor of primal fear. For a single, terrifying moment, the Golden Core Avenue itself seemed to waver on its foundations.
But no one saw the dueling light pillars, as they were shielded by the secret realm's collapsing barriers. No one in recorded history knew what happened when the Lunar Sovereign and Solar Sovereign Physiques met, for they had never coexisted in the same era.
Until now.
But this first, fateful encounter was incomplete. As quickly as it had surged, Su Min's Taiyang Qi faded, rapidly retreating as her body reverted to its more familiar Fire Wood Holy Body. The moment was over, but the world had felt it.
===
Honestly, I kinda think it's both. Five Elements Holy Body and Solar Sovereign Physique were hers.
Su Min's Five Elements Holy Body was already activated back when she was building her foundation, and she even got the Vermilion Bird's inheritance while she was still in Qi Refining. Then, when she went through her Golden Core tribulation, she gained a new divine ability called "Mastery of Five Thunders." To actually master it, she had to endure ten full years of thunder baptism.
During those ten years, lightning kept hammering her body nonstop, and a bit of Taiyang Qi probably seeped into her at that time. But it wasn't enough to awaken her Solar Sovereign Body completely, so it stayed dormant. After she finally stepped into Golden Core, she noticed a line in her profile that said "(Taiyang Qi Unactivated)," which pretty much confirmed it.
And honestly, I feel like that whole lightning tempering process also compressed and purified her own Yang Qi. It makes sense if you think about it. The first physique she awakened back in Foundation Building was the Blazing Sun Body, which is the prerequisite for the Five Elements Holy Body. Her first awakened element was fire, and even before that, she already had the Vermilion Bird's inheritance and its flame, Nanming Lihuo. Both of those are super Yang-heavy, so maybe all that lightning baptism was secretly pushing her Solar Sovereign Body closer to awakening all along.