"Hah..."
The world's eyes were fixed on this moment, but Su Min's heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. The woman's pressure was suffocating, a heavy, cold tide that ignored the shimmering golden barrier between them. It felt as if the realm's entire weight were pressing down on her shoulders, making even the act of breathing a struggle.
"I can't hold back," she thought, her fingers twitching at her sides. "If I do, I will be obliterated instantly."
Though the battle hadn't officially begun, Su Min was already weaving through a dozen different strategies. She had to go all out from the very first second. Any hesitation, any attempt to conserve her strength for a later stage, would lead to her immediate defeat. She might not even get the chance to swallow a pill once the first blow landed. Without delay, a small porcelain vial appeared in her hand, its surface cool against her damp palm.
"Is she going to take a pill right at the start?"
Tian Hao's brow twitched as he watched from the stands, his knuckles white where he gripped the stone railing. His Great Desolate Holy Body had pushed physical strength to its absolute limit, yet even he felt a chill radiating from the arena.
Su Min's Azure Dragon Creation Art was formidable, but it couldn't compare to the raw dominance he was witnessing. Yet that single pill had bridged the gap between them during their own fight, turning the tide with a surge of medicinal power.
Alchemists were terrifying in battle, and he knew that better than anyone. Back when Su Min had fought him, she hadn't resorted to pills immediately, choosing instead to test his strength with her own. The fact that she was doing so now spoke volumes about the sheer terror Yao Xian'er inspired.
"But that alone won't be enough," Tian Hao muttered, his voice low. "My confidence in facing her came from my Martial Saint Dharma Body. If you don't have an equivalent trump card, you might as well surrender now."
As the only person in the Golden Core Avenue who hadn't been instantly crushed by Yao Xian'er, Tian Hao understood the woman's power all too well. If Su Min only had the same tricks she had used against him, this battle was already over. He leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. What else did she have hidden in her sleeves?
"Starting with this? The pressure must be immense."
Unlike the others, Xie Yingying was the only one who truly understood Su Min's plan. That vial had come from her; inside it were four drops of her own Taiyin Essence Blood.
She wasn't sure whether the power Su Min wielded came from the blood itself or if it merely acted as a key to a deeper lock, but one thing was certain. In that state, her combat prowess reached a monstrous level—a level where she could see through all techniques and overturn all laws.
Under the watchful eyes of thousands of spectators, the golden barrier between the two fighters began to dissolve, shimmering into nothingness like morning mist.
"I have no interest in competing with juniors for fortune," Yao Xian'er thought, her expression unreadable behind a mask of frosty calm. "But if you want to take it from me, you will have to prove your worth."
As her thoughts settled, ten thousand laws resonated around her, painting the sky with radiant, shifting light. A vast, oppressive aura swirled through the air, so overwhelming that even the Golden Core Heavenly Ranking trembled in response. Her past didn't matter anymore. She had severed everything—her physique, her divine abilities, her cultivation—all of it. Only her memories remained.
To others, this was madness, but to her, it was the only path forward. By discarding everything and reverting to a mortal body, she had achieved something unprecedented: a state where all laws merged seamlessly within her.
Even the most heaven-defying physiques of this era paled in comparison to that purity. If she had kept her original Spirit Dao Body, she would have been confined to a single path. Now, she had surpassed it. And when the time came, everything she had discarded would return stronger than ever before.
The moment the golden barrier vanished, the audience collectively held their breath.
Then.
BOOM!
Ten thousand radiant light streaks descended from the heavens, striking toward Su Min from every possible angle. To her, it felt like heavenly punishment itself had been unleashed. The last time she had faced something this overwhelming was the final strike of the Ninety-Nine Heavenly Tribulation. Each beam of light carried the same destructive force as that tribulation's lightning.
Xie Yingying had once blocked a similar attack, but only at the cost of shattering two Earth-tier artifacts. Even now, at the Golden Core Late Stage, Su Min knew she wouldn't survive unscathed if she met it head-on.
So.
CRACK!
A crisp sound cut through the roar of the descending light.
And then.
Everything froze.
"What?!"
"How did she do that?"
"Is that a light-dark divine artifact? No, that isn't it..."
The cultivators in the stands, including Tian Hao, were lost in confusion. The rays of light had descended from the sky, but they didn't fall; they hung suspended in the air like glass needles. What concerned them more was Su Min's physical condition.
A mysterious aura, swirling with milky white and deep ink, bled from her body. It stained the surrounding air, dyeing the space in the monochrome hues of an ancient ink wash painting. Su Min simply waved her hand. It was a small, effortless gesture, but the myriad light rays were directly wiped out as if they didn't exist. It was as if they had never been drawn upon the world's canvas at all.
This attack would have been incredibly dangerous even for Tian Hao. He would have been forced to use his Dharma body to launch hundreds of attacks in a short period to create a safe zone for himself.
And this was just Yao Xian'er's casual opening move.
"My path is still long... but so what? I will crush everything beneath me!"
At that moment, Tian Hao's Dao Heart grew even firmer, his resolve hardening in the face of such overwhelming power.
"Taiyin and Taiyang... how did you break through those blood immortals' eternal curse? No, this isn't a Solar Sovereign body; it's just a breath in the body. As for the Lunar Sovereign, no wonder..."
Yao Xian'er was more shocked than the spectators because she was familiar with Su Min's current state. At this moment, Su Min possessed the characteristics of both the Solar Sovereign and the Lunar Sovereign. However, neither was complete. It was a state achieved through simple stimulation and mixing.
But even so, this was terrifying. She could sense that Su Min had read her Dao and erased it.
"No wonder those people were willing to carve such a curse on the Heavenly Dao even at the cost of several kings' deaths. It seems that all things' roar that day was because of you two. The meeting of the moon and the sun could actually produce such a terrifying change."
At this moment, Yao Xian'er's eyes were filled with genuine shock. Su Min wasn't a Solar Sovereign body—at least not a perfect one. What Xie Yingying had given was just a drop of blood. Su Min wasn't in a perfect state now and hadn't yet achieved the perfect fusion of yin and yang. There was even something missing, but even so, it's enough to make the heavens tremble.
"Being able to see through my own myriad ways at a glance... one can imagine how terrifying an offspring would be if the perfect sun and moon merged. That's something that could only be born after the reincarnation of all things and time's baptism.
From the moment an embryo is formed to the time it is born, the laws of nature will automatically make up for its deficiencies. It's simply unimaginable what kind of power a person born in that way would have. No wonder those people are terrified and pay a huge price to prevent it."
"It's a pity," Yao Xian'er thought. "If you were a true Solar Sovereign Body, I would have willingly sacrificed ninety percent of my lifespan to protect you until you reached your peak."
But Su Min wasn't.
And so.
"Enough talk. Let's fight."
"There's nothing to regret. I'm very lucky to be in this state today."
Su Min understood the pity in Yao Xian'er's gaze, but she was already thankful to have achieved this much.
"Finally, I have one more question."
"What is it?"
Seeing Yao Xian'er's confused look, Su Min said calmly.
"Why do you, a woman, have a Solar Sovereign body? Are you a metamorph?"
"Scram!!"
Su Min was too annoyed to entertain the question, which was the same one Xie Yingying had asked. Su Min wasn't a real chaotic body yet, but she had touched that threshold. In this state, she possessed two special abilities.
[All Laws Revealed: She could see through and nullify any technique at its source.]
[Yin-Yang Fusion: She could merge the opposing forces of Taiyin and Taiyang into a single, devastating attack.]
The former allowed her to easily dissolve the light beams, and the latter was her next move. She put her hands together, a terrifying wave of energy condensing in her palms, and then threw it outward.
BOOM!!!
Facing this attack, Yao Xian'er didn't dare to be careless. She raised her hand, and countless light streams shifted in front of her, breaking the blast apart. A flash of light ignited in her pupils, and the world fell into turmoil. The clear sky was instantly smothered by thunderclouds. Countless lightning bolts turned into silver dragons that tumbled in the air before circling down toward Su Min.
"This person is actually mobilizing the power of the thunder tribulation. What kind of thunder is that? I have never seen it before, even during a heavenly tribulation."
A burst of noise erupted from the audience. Yao Xian'er had simply raised her hands to communicate with heaven and earth, allowing the thunder to gather at her command. The silver dragons were even more terrifying than the black magic thunder many had encountered during their own tribulations.
Su Min didn't dare to be negligent. She clasped her hands together, and the Yin-Yang attack reappeared, flying into the storm to disperse the clouds. Although she couldn't communicate with heaven and earth in a single thought like Yao Xian'er, she could sense the weak points in the lightning and break them down. But this wasn't the end. Yao Xian'er could do much more.
Wind disasters, fire disasters, and floods alternated in cycles. It was astonishing to see how high this person's predecessor had reached to possess such terrifying means in this life.
"It's bad. Su Min's current state isn't the perfect chaotic body she mentioned. She can only glimpse a little bit of it. After all, it's only achieved temporarily with my blood essence and her Taiyang energy. Eventually, she will fall out of it."
Seeing the spectacle, Xie Yingying realized the danger. Although neither could gain the upper hand for now, Su Min's state was time-limited. If she exceeded that limit, she would definitely be defeated within ten rounds.
"You have to find a way. If you drag it on, you will lose."
Xie Yingying's heart raced with anxiety. Yao Xian'er's origins were too mysterious. The peak that person had reached was higher than that of the Ancient Emperor Lunar Sovereign; it was even possible she had once been a True Immortal.
On the other side, Su Min had already noticed the problem. She was observing every attack, sensing the rotation of light within the other woman's body. It was her strength's source—a special substance that required a long period of great way tempering to accumulate essence in the heart's depths.
Longevity matter, immortal essence, or something else. Su Min didn't know, but she was sure of one thing: there was only one way to defeat her. Thinking of this, the two ancient books within Su Min's mind began to shine.
"I don't have much time left. I must go one step further."
Su Min's technique changed slightly, a subtle shift that even Yao Xian'er didn't notice.
"Yin Seal. Yang Seal. Twin Polar Karma Seal of Yin and Yang—SEAL!!!"
Endless thunder completely swallowed Su Min, and the crowd was stunned. Why had she been hit so easily before her energy was exhausted?
Xie Yingying understood the gamble: if she didn't change, she would die; if she changed, she might live. If Su Min continued the fight like this, she would be defeated the moment her energy ran out. This risk was her only path to victory.
"Um... cause and effect?"
Yao Xian'er was stunned for a moment as the thunder fell. But then her face changed drastically. A causal force had locked onto her, and a feeling of weakness swept through her body. Her communication with the Heavenly Dao was abruptly cut off.
"A seal? You actually risked everything to seal me... but you couldn't have stopped that lightning just now, unless..."
Yao Xian'er was truly shocked. This was no ordinary sealing technique. It was a combination of the moon and sun's power, executed while she was caught off guard.
But Su Min was still standing there unscathed after the thunderbolt.
"Rebirth type skills?"
Yao Xian'er's expression became serious. Since her most powerful method was temporarily unusable, Su Min finally had a chance to win.
"Fortunately, I'm smart."
Looking at her body's armor, Su Min gave herself a thumbs-up. Ever since she had been left exposed by a previous heavenly tribulation, she had become more cautious. The thunder had aimed for her life, but her armor had held.
"Now at least I can fight you for real. If it becomes a life-and-death fight, you can flee immediately. I'm sure I couldn't stop you with your trump cards."
"Well done. Being able to block me does give you a chance of winning."
Yao Xian'er nodded. This had exceeded her expectations. She had encountered sealing techniques before—even several Saints had tried to seal her in the Golden Core Avenue—but their levels were too low. Su Min had succeeded only because she could directly mobilize the moon and sun's power in that state.
"If you had a perfect physique, I would definitely lose today. Or rather, I would sublimate myself right now, give up everything in this life, and return to my peak to buy you thousands of years of training time."
"What?"
"Because that physique makes people terrified. Those beings erased everything about it. They won't allow a second one to appear. If you really had it, they would pay a shocking price to kill you at the first opportunity."
Yao Xian'er looked at the bewildered Su Min. "Well, those things have nothing to do with us right now. The real battle has just begun."
Yao Xian'er produced a pure white sword from the void without saying anything.