Just how overwhelming was Su Min's firepower?
The nickname "Crimson Blazing Bird" might have sounded almost cute to a casual listener, but no one who had actually faced her on the jade stage was laughing. The sky-scorching Nanming Lihuo, combined with the lethal precision of her dual-element sword strikes, made the act of approaching her a waking nightmare. The air around her vibrated with a dry, intense heat that smelled of sun-baked stone and ancient embers.
Han Chaoyan knew this better than anyone else in the arena. Even with his own divine water artifact—an element that should have naturally countered and doused any fire—he understood that trading ranged attacks with Su Min would end in a swift and humiliating defeat. He had already seen what happened to Luo Changshui. He wasn't about to let himself be the next cautionary tale.
So his strategy was simple. He would use the Earth-grade treasure he had looted from a perilous ancient ruin to bridge the gap. If he could force her into the messy reality of close-quarters combat, Su Min wouldn't dare to detonate her Vermilion Bird Saint Avatar. The explosion at such a range would inevitably injure her as well. With his artifact's shimmering protection, any mutual damage would favor his own resilience.
For once, the hunter had become the hunted. Su Min, who usually specialized in meticulously countering her opponents, now found herself facing a tool specifically tailored to neutralize her advantages.
"That artifact hard-counters her dual attributes," a spectator murmured. The crowd leaned forward, their translucent forms flickering with excitement. "Unless Miss Su reveals something new, she is in real trouble."
"He is ranked third for a reason. He has been hiding this trump card for the right moment. Melee is undoubtedly the best approach against a walking furnace like her."
The crowd nodded in silent agreement. Only prodigies like Yao Xian'er or Xie Yingying could possibly hope to outblast Su Min in a test of raw spiritual energy. For everyone else, challenging the walking artillery platform head-on was a form of suicide. Then came Han Chaoyan's transformation.
A massive black serpentine phantom materialized behind him, its scales looking like polished obsidian. The aura distorted the very air, smelling of stagnant swamp water and venom, as he activated his bloodline. Beasts—whether they were divine or demonic—possessed a far greater natural physicality than any human. His form swelled with that borrowed power, his muscles tightening like coiled springs.
Su Min's lips curled into a cold, sharp line. She had anticipated this desperate move.
Azure light began to shimmer across her skin, a stark and regal contrast to the Vermilion Bird's flamboyant flames. Compared to that raging inferno, the Azure Dragon's power was restrained and focused, but it was no less potent. It transformed the texture of her skin, reinforcing her skeletal structure with an explosive physical might that made the stage beneath her boots crack.
CLANG!!!
An ear-splitting collision of metal and raw energy reverberated across the arena. Many spectators instinctively covered their ears as the sound echoed in their souls. The Soaring Serpent was formidable, an ancient divine beast in its own right, but against one of the supreme Four Symbols, it was simply outmatched in hierarchy.
Their inheritances were fundamentally different. The Vermilion Bird's legacy was designed to amplify energy attacks, following the path of a devastating mage. Su Min, however, had instinctively refined the Azure Dragon's gift into pure and unadulterated physical reinforcement.
Han Chaoyan's Soaring Serpent inheritance was more balanced, capable of both phantom breath attacks and body enhancement. But in the world of cultivation, 'balanced' also meant 'limited,' especially when the base bloodline was of a lower tier.
Once Su Min added the Eastern Azure Wood's comprehensive physical boost to her frame, the result was inevitable.
THUD!
Han Chaoyan flew backward much faster than he had charged. He cratered into the ground with a sickening thud, coughing up a spray of crimson blood that sizzled against the heated jade.
"Such terrifying strength! Those azure flashes confirm the Azure Dragon's legacy. Vermilion for ranged, Azure for melee. She is a perfect combatant."
"With his bloodline active, Han Chaoyan's physique should have rivaled the Great Desolate Holy Body's. Yet she overpowered him in a single breath."
"A tyrannical goddess in human skin..."
The audience gasped collectively. They had expected Han Chaoyan to lose eventually, but not with such a total lack of resistance. It was total domination. Su Min's slender and seemingly delicate frame hid a monstrous power. There were no bulging, grotesque muscles. There was only a seamless and integrated lethality.
In a distant corner of the stands, a fiery-haired girl nudged the gaunt young man beside her. "Brother, how do you compare to that?"
The inheritor of the Great Desolate Holy Body kept his expression grave, his eyes never leaving Su Min. "I'm stronger in raw force. But facing her would still be dangerous for my foundation."
Their single exchanged palm strike during their earlier clash had been his full power, and she had matched it without flinching. The gap wasn't large at all.
Su Min didn't let up her pressure. As Han Chaoyan struggled to rise, his robes matted with blood and dust, her Vermilion Bird unleashed a concentrated fireblast from above.
BOOM!
The arena became a swirling inferno of red and gold. Yet through the flames, a dark figure continued to charge forward with a stubborn persistence.
"That artifact is Earth-grade, plus his divine water's protection is buffering the heat. He can tank my flames for a short time," Su Min noted inwardly.
Being countered was an annoying experience, but unlike the absolute and soul-crushing suppression of that woman in white, this was a manageable problem.
CRACK!
A small, translucent shield materialized around Han Chaoyan's chest and shattered into a thousand shards. It absorbed the Nanming Lihuo's immediate fury and bought him a precious moment of breathing room.
"All or nothing!" he growled, his voice rasping.
Outranged and outmuscled, Han Chaoyan activated his final, desperate gambit. The very air twisted and shimmered like a mirage as an illusionary realm began to unfold across the stage.
"Yinfire... the Soaring Serpent's innate ability?"
Su Min's eyes narrowed in instant understanding. The Soaring Serpent wasn't water-aligned by nature; it was one of the Eight Divine Emissaries governing fire. Han Chaoyan's water affinity must have come from his personal physique, which had altered the inheritance's expression over time. But now, by burning his very essence, he was revealing its true and venomous nature.
"He is trying to trap me in an illusion!"
Su Min didn't hesitate for a heartbeat. She hurled her Vermilion Bird forward in a violent and preemptive strike. She couldn't risk the illusion fully forming around her senses. Even if she might have been able to break free later, prevention was a far better cure than recovery.
BOOM!!!
The deafening explosion disrupted the spreading Yinfire, sending ripples of distorted light through the arena. Blood trickled from Han Chaoyan's lips from the spiritual backlash, but with a desperate roar, he sacrificed two more drops of precious essence blood to forcibly complete the technique.
Reality twisted into a kaleidoscope of shadows. For high-level cultivators, vision and hearing were secondary; spiritual perception was paramount. This realm sought to distort both space and Su Min's internal senses, trying to pull her into a world of total deception.
"It's done. Even if you..." Han Chaoyan began, a flicker of triumph lighting up his battered face.
The words died in his throat.
A massive and ornate mirror now hovered high over the battlefield. Its surface glowed with a pure and revealing light that pierced through the shadows like a needle. It was only a Mystic-grade mid-tier artifact, and its glow lasted for mere seconds before the glass began cracking under the immense strain of the high-level illusion. But that was all the time Su Min needed.
Golden lightning suddenly enveloped Su Min's entire frame, the crackle of energy drowning out the sound of the wind. Her form blurred as she channeled a dangerous technique to briefly surpass her own physical limits. She crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, all her power concentrated into a single and heaven-sundering strike that glowed with the intensity of a falling star.
"You?!" was all Han Chaoyan could manage to gasp.
His widened eyes were the last thing Su Min saw before the Golden Core Heavenly Ranking's protective barrier activated. The golden light hissed, whisking his defeated and broken form away before the strike could connect.
"I planned for this," Su Min said with a quiet smirk. The golden light transported her back to the spectator stand, her breathing only slightly elevated. "Did you think you were the only one who prepares for their enemies?"
The moment she had seen Han Chaoyan's name on the tournament bracket, she had designed this exact counter in her mind. The Mystic-grade mirror might have been inferior to his Earth-grade treasure in raw quality, but she only needed a single second of clarity.
She only needed the moment of an opponent's hesitation when their illusion first takes hold and they have won. That single moment, combined with the Thunder Avatar's sudden burst of power, had sealed his fate. His techniques were no secret to her; his profile was laid bare on the Heavenly Ranking for any who cared to look.
"Without the ranking's protection, that strike would have killed you," she thought. She felt the weight of the crowd's collective gaze, which now held a newfound layer of reverence and fear.
"You are actually insane," Xie Yingying exhaled sharply. Her usual frosty composure was visibly cracked, her eyes wide. "I might not have reacted in time to that move."
Su Min had never used that specific combination against her during their spars. Seeing the illusion trap begin to form had genuinely made her sweat.
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Eight Divine Emissaries (八神) – Mythological beings governing fundamental forces in Chinese cosmology.