"Ugh..."
In front of an old, weathered five-story building, its paint peeling and concrete cracking, Lin Yao was trudging home with reluctant, heavy steps. The excitement from the awakening ceremony had long since faded, replaced by a gnawing anxiety. An upper-grade mutated fire spiritual root was considered decent talent, a ticket out of poverty for sure, though not as explosively promising as those legendary heaven-earth spiritual roots, it was enough to attract some initial attention and modest benefits from the school district.
But then... nothing else substantial happened. No powerful cultivator swept in to take her as a disciple, no government official offered a full scholarship.
Because she, and the authorities, had quickly discovered an awkward and frustrating truth: she was completely incompatible with all the standard fire-attribute cultivation techniques available. Although this world had advanced technology in many areas, it severely lacked the profound, accumulated heritage of Su Min's original cultivation world.
Especially when facing rare, special physiques like hers, there were simply no established methods or tailored techniques to develop them properly. In the end, after some baffled consultations, the local education authorities had just dumped a generic pile of basic, low-grade fire cultivation manuals on her, telling her to "figure it out herself" and "explore her unique path."
But figuring it out was infinitely easier said than done. She wasn't even at the foundational Body Refining stage yet, a complete novice. The so-called Heavenly Revelation period, where one might intuitively grasp a suitable method, had already ended in this spiritually diluted environment, leaving her no choice but to brute-force her way through these ill-fitting manuals, a process as effective as trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
"Xiao Yao, you're back! How did it go? Did you awaken anything?"
As soon as she opened the creaking door to their small, cramped apartment, she saw her mother, a middle-aged woman with a hunched back from years of manual labor, looking at her with desperate, expectant eyes. The hope in her mother's gaze was a physical weight.
"Amazing, Mom! We did it!"
Seeing her mother's fragile expression, Lin Yao forced the brightest smile she could muster, though her cheek twitched with the effort of maintaining it.
"High-grade mutated fire spiritual root! The teachers were shocked!"
"That's wonderful! That guarantees you'll become a cultivator! Our fortunes will change!"
"Mhm, I'm going to go study the manuals they gave me now. I need to start right away."
Facing her mother's unbridled joy, Lin Yao could only whimper internally, her own doubts screaming in her head. She squeezed out another happy sound and pointed at her worn backpack. This immediately alarmed her mother. Cultivation manuals in this world were strictly regulated commodities, they weren't just printed papers but proper soul-bound scrolls that imparted knowledge directly. Even the lowest-grade manual in her backpack had cost the authorities several thousand dollars, an amount equivalent to three months of their family's total expenses.
"Great Goddess, where are you...? I'm in real trouble here."
Thinking of this, Lin Yao couldn't help but sigh deeply once she was alone in the hallway. She recalled the transcendent existence who had given her that miraculous pill, that noble and utterly mysterious aura, like a true goddess descending from the heavens. In front of her, Lin Yao had felt like a mere worm, insignificant and base. Moreover, she had already guessed the woman's identity, she was the same female powerhouse the world government was now desperately searching for, the one who had even trended across the global net.
Not only had she withstood their ultimate secret weapon, the hydrogen bomb, but she had also casually obliterated the colossal monster that had turned several major coastal cities into radioactive ruins. But her moment of dejection lasted less than a second before she froze solid, her hand stopping on her bedroom doorknob.
Because when she pushed the door open, she saw a woman lounging casually on her modest single bed with one leg crossed over the other, her shabby, decade-old computer floating in mid-air in front of her. On the dusty nightstand beside her sat an ice-cold, condensation-beaded bottle of cola.
And since she was in a private residence, the woman was dressed in incredibly casual attire, tiny hot pants and a simple tank top, exposing those long, sculpted, snow-white thighs that made Lin Yao's heart race inexplicably. The woman didn't even look up from the floating screen when Lin Yao entered, instead grumbling in a voice laced with genuine annoyance:
"What a garbage computer. This graphics card isn't just worse than a 4090, how the hell is it even worse than that 200-dollar mining card I bought that was worthless except for being cheap? The manufacturing date is ten years ago, this thing is a fossil..."
"Senior! Save me!!!"
Though her clothes and overall aura were completely different from the regal goddess on the news, Lin Yao recognized her instantly. Like a drowning person finally spotting a lifeline, she lunged forward without caring for propriety or why Su Min was in her bedroom, only to be kicked square in the face by a pale, swift foot and sent flying back against the door with a thud.
"What are you doing, rushing me like that? Have you forgotten? You still owe me for that pill. That wasn't a gift."
"Wuu... I remember..."
At this stark reminder, Lin Yao shuddered, the memory crystal clear. She had personally witnessed how Su Min had conjured and refined that pill from thin air.
"What grade was that pill anyway, Senior?"
"High-grade fourth-tier. I just checked the local equivalent prices online. In this world's economy, this single pill is worth enough to buy several prime commercial buildings in your city center. So your current debt to me is in the range of several hundred million dollars."
"Uh... Several hundred... million?"
Hearing this, Lin Yao nearly choked on her own saliva. What kind of terrifying, astronomical price was that? For a moment, she felt utterly hopeless, the weight of the debt crushing her spirit. The highest-level alchemist known in this world was only a fifth-tier master. A high-grade fourth-tier pill was practically a mythical relic, priceless and unobtainable, and she had just swallowed it like a piece of candy. Her entire life's earnings, even over ten lifetimes, couldn't even compare to the value of that single pill.
"What does Senior want me to do? I'll do anything."
But Lin Yao, with the pragmatism of the truly desperate, quickly gave up thinking about the impossible number. For an ordinary modern person, the logic was simple: if you owed 100,000, you'd stress over it day and night; if you owed a million, you'd try everything, legal or otherwise, to repay it; but if you owed hundreds of millions? At that point, you'd just think, "Whatever, it's not like I can ever pay this back anyway, so why worry?"
So Lin Yao decisively stopped worrying about the debt itself. She probably couldn't repay this even if she sold herself into slavery for a thousand years. Her focus shifted entirely to being useful.
"Whatever method you use, I need you to infiltrate this world's upper echelons, the government, the military, the five great families. I want you to gather some specific information for me, about ancient legends, about strange occurrences, about anything related to powerful, hidden beings."
Su Min spoke indifferently, finally looking up from the screen. Just like now, she was using Lin Yao's internet access and her physical address to live here undetected. But that was just convenience, not the main goal. She needed to uncover the secrets hidden deep beneath this world's surface, the truth behind the Kirin's call and subsequent silence. She had zero interest in getting involved in urban cultivation stories or "Pill King Returns" style tropes.
She just wanted to find concrete clues related to the Kirin, retrieve the final treasure, and then leave. This world's internal affairs and conflicts had little to do with her, after all, she was personally powerless against the source of that ancient battlefield's corruption; that was a problem for entire worlds to solve.
"Wuu... Infiltrate the upper echelons..."
Hearing this, Lin Yao's knees felt weak, and she slumped down to the floor in despair. The task seemed as impossible as the debt.
"What now? Is the task too difficult?"
Su Min looked genuinely puzzled. "Was this girl really so mentally fragile?"
"I don't have a compatible cultivation technique. I can't advance at all! None of the existing techniques suit me. How can I get into the upper echelons as a weakling? Senior, please help me, this is absolutely the last time I'll ask for help!"
"Hmm? You still can't cultivate?"
Su Min's eyebrow twitched in mild irritation. She had fixed Lin Yao's physique, but forgotten about the technique. Lin Yao's Netherflame Body was special, it required a very specific fire-attribute technique with strong yin tendencies to balance its internal conflict. What Su Min hadn't expected was that this world's foundational cultivation knowledge was so lacking that even with a powerful, activated special physique, there were literally no methods available to develop it. It was like giving someone a supercar but no keys or fuel.
"Fine, fine. Since I've helped you this far, I might as well finish the job. Consider it an investment. After this, I'll be going into dormant cultivation for a few years. You'd better work hard and make progress during that time."
With that thought, Su Min sat up properly on the bed, the floating computer settling onto her lap. As she expected, she couldn't find any concrete, useful information about the Kirin or major secrets on the public internet. In that case, she'd have to let Lin Yao operate in the shadows as her agent.
As for herself, it was finally time to prepare for the Dao Comprehension stage breakthrough. Once she reached that stage, even if this world hid some old monsters, she could likely suppress them with her full Dao Comprehension cultivation and arsenal of abilities. After all, this world showed no signs of Fallen Ones yet, and when those beings acted, the death toll was never in the mere thousands, but in the tens of thousands or more.
The only confirmed high-level threats in this world so far were the occasional Divine Transformation-stage mutated beasts emerging from the rifts. There were no clear signs of Fallen Ones, or perhaps such information was being heavily suppressed by the powers that be.
As for helping Lin Yao one more time... she might as well give her a proper start. She was bound by an unbreakable soul contract anyway, she couldn't reveal anything about her through any means, even under soul-searching torture. With that thought, Su Min produced a blank, pristine jade slip from her spatial ring.
As her spiritual sense flickered across it, dense, complex information began appearing on the slip, characters and diagrams glowing with inner light. Su Min didn't personally know any pre-made yin-attribute fire techniques either, but she was a peak Divine Transformation expert on the verge of the Dao Comprehension stage.
Creating a perfect new technique from scratch might be difficult and time-consuming, but integrating concepts from existing top-tier knowledge wasn't hard for her. She had, after all, completely read and memorized Xie Yingying's complete Lunar Sovereign Ancient Scripture. Combining those profound lunar, yin principles with the fire section of her own Five Elements Ancient Scripture would easily produce a complete, high-grade technique tailored for Lin Yao.
The Five Elements Ancient Scripture was a complete emperor-level scripture that had once filled the foundational gaps in her entire sect's technique library. As a scripture created by the legendary Five Elements Great Emperor, even splitting it into five separate elemental parts would still result in individual top-tier techniques, and some rare dual-attribute cultivators could even practice two parts simultaneously.
Now, using the Ancient Blazing Fire Scripture as a base and deeply integrating the concepts from the Lunar Sovereign Ancient Scripture, Su Min had quickly created a new technique perfectly suited to Lin Yao's Netherflame physique. And since she now planned to have Lin Yao work as her long-term agent, Su Min decided to spare a few days to properly guide her through the initial stages.
After all, the girl was genuinely talented once her block was removed, giving some foundational guidance wasn't a big deal for Su Min. Plus, with the soul contract firmly in place, she wasn't worried about any funny business or betrayal down the line.
"Take this and study it. Imprint it into your soul. And throw away that garbage in your backpack, it's useless to you now."
"Mhm! Thank you, Senior!"
Lin Yao nodded so excitedly she nearly bit her tongue, immediately accepting the warm jade slip and pressing it to her forehead, beginning her cultivation right there on the floor. Guided by the perfectly suited technique, the dam broke. In less than an hour, a surge of potent energy erupted from her body, a mix of ghostly blue and pale silver light that scattered loose papers and small items around the room.
"Xiao Yao, what happened?! Are you okay?!"
Her mother rushed in, alarmed by the noise, only to see the small room in complete disarray, her daughter glowing faintly in the center.
"Mom, it's nothing! It's great! I just reached the Body Refining stage, my first breakthrough! I'm a real cultivator now!"
"That's wonderful! Incredible! I'll make you something special to eat tonight! We must celebrate!"
Overjoyed, the middle-aged woman hurried off to their small kitchen, her spirits lifted for the first time in years. Though their family was poor, this was a real chance to change their circumstances forever. Meanwhile, Su Min remained cross-legged on the bed, serenely browsing the computer, not disturbing the heartfelt mother-daughter moment. She was already considering how to best lay an unshakable foundation for Lin Yao.
Soon, after the celebration...
"Senior, why couldn't my mother see you? She looked right at the bed."
"I've placed a subtle perception block on myself. To anyone but you, I'm invisible and undetectable in this room. It won't affect her health or mind negatively, she just won't notice me."
Su Min replied casually, sipping cola through a straw she'd manifested. She didn't want anyone but her contracted agent to know of her presence; it was a needless security risk.
"Senior, can I... can I become your formal disciple? If not, I'll even be your dog! Your loyal hound!"
"I'm not taking any disciples for now, it's too much responsibility. As for being a dog... well, the number of peak Divine Transformation cultivators back in my world lining up to be my dog could form a reinforced company. Try asking again after you've reached the Divine Transformation stage yourself."
"Uh... A company of Divine Transformation... dogs?"
Lin Yao was utterly stunned. Divine Transformation cultivators numbered in the single digits worldwide here, each one held immense, nation-shaking power and status. And they were willing to be Su Min's dogs?
Since when was being someone's dog an honor to be competed for? And why was there a waiting list for it?
"Enough with the nonsense. I need you to be effective in your work for me, so I'll provide some foundational resources. Though your talent is decent now, your newly activated physique still has latent impurities and instability."
With a lazy wave of her hand, Su Min summoned her glowing Treasure Gourd. A small amount of shimmering, fragrant liquid floated out like condensed moonlight, and under Lin Yao's twitching gaze, Su Min used a delicate spiritual pipette to extract a single, tiny drop, then mixed it meticulously into a full bowl of cold water.
"Senior, isn't this a bit... overly precise?"
Lin Yao internally cursed Su Min's apparent stinginess but obediently drank the entire bowl without complaint.
Half an hour later, Lin Yao was reconsidering her definition of "stingy."
"How was your little naked jog? Don't worry, that was inside my private spatial treasure. No one else saw you."
"Uh... It was... invigorating, Senior."
Lin Yao smiled awkwardly, her body still tingling from the intense purification.
She'd never call Su Min stingy again. That single, minuscule drop had set her entire body on an internal fire, making her sweat out thick, black impurities uncontrollably and run until she thought her legs would fall off. Now that it was over, she didn't feel tired, just incredibly light, pure, and bursting with vibrant energy.
The Treasure Gourd had evolved to an extraordinary level since its early days. Back then, Su Min herself had spent over half a year purging her own impurities through brutal trials. Now, for a Body Refining cultivator, a single forced jog powered by a drop of its essence was enough.
"For the next week, take official leave from your school and tell them you're secluding yourself to study the new technique. I'll personally help you lay a perfect foundation and leave you with a supply of tailored pills. After that, you're on your own. Don't disappoint me."
"Yes, Senior! I won't let you down!"
Lin Yao sighed, accepting the intense schedule. For the following week, she trained entirely under Su Min's direct, no-nonsense guidance, often inside Su Min's portable Earth-grade spatial treasure. Similar to the pocket realms used during the Golden Core Avenue trials and major sect competitions, this one had its own stable, customizable space. Su Min could teach her here for hours without worrying about attracting attention from the outside world or causing spiritual disturbances.
Moreover, she was only building Lin Yao's foundation, not directly boosting her power with external energy, so there wouldn't be any future instability issues. During this intensive week, Su Min also, as an afterthought, completely healed Lin Yao's father as a gesture of goodwill. He had been paralyzed from a severe spinal injury years ago, but to Su Min, administering a single, specially refined third-tier regeneration pill was enough to mend his shattered bones and damaged nerves in a day.
Over that transformative week, Lin Yao caught a tiny, awe-inspiring glimpse of Su Min's true capabilities and resources. Those "priceless" pills she mentioned? Su Min could refine batches of them with a single hand, no cauldron or preparation needed, pulling energy and materials directly from the air. This level of alchemy was beyond Lin Yao's comprehension, something out of myth. She also understood, with crystal clarity, that she absolutely, positively had to complete whatever task Su Min gave her. Failure was not an option.
Finally, the week ended...
"This spatial ring has a seal I placed on it. Inside are all the pills I'm leaving for you, categorized by stage. You can open the corresponding compartments once your cultivation reaches the required level. But don't blame me if this gets stolen. I didn't place a soul-binding contract on the ring itself, only on you. The total value of the resources here is enough to drive even veteran Nascent Soul cultivators into a mad, killing frenzy."
"Huh? Nascent Soul cultivators would kill for this?"
Lin Yao's hand trembled as she accepted the simple-looking ring, handling it as if it were a live bomb.
With everything arranged, Su Min prepared to leave. She could no longer suppress her own cultivation; the pressure was becoming a constant hum in her bones. Back in the ancient battlefield, after refining the White Tiger's treasure, she had already met all the conditions for the Dao Comprehension stage. She had only come to this world to search for Kirin-related clues as a side quest. Now, with an agent planted, it was time to focus on her own advancement; only by reaching Dao Comprehension could she progress further and face greater challenges.
As for returning to her own world, the method was simple in theory: traverse the starry skies. The Dungeon Save technique she had mastered was originally created by ancient masters for crossing the vast emptiness between galaxies. This world didn't have the same heavy, innate dimensional pressure as her original continent, making void travel somewhat less dangerous.
For her secluded breakthrough, a process that could take years and create massive disturbances, Su Min had chosen the absolute depths of the northern polluted ocean, in the planet's deepest trench. With the Northern Water's Profound Origin protecting her, she could withstand any abyssal water pressure or toxic pollution the trench could offer.
"According to the geological records I accessed, this is the planet's deepest trench, over 10,000 meters down. The pressure and background interference should completely isolate any spiritual fluctuations from my breakthrough. Plus, no other cultivator or submarine can possibly reach this depth. I just need to set up a few perimeter arrays to prevent disturbances from curious mutated creatures."
Gazing into the pitch-black, crushing abyss from a ledge near the trench wall, Su Min mused aloud. Breaking through to the Dao Comprehension stage wasn't a simple, quick process like the earlier stages, especially with her rare and complex time-attribute laws. Tian Hao had managed it in just ten years because he had a Mahayana-stage skeleton's foundation seamlessly merging with him.
But how long would she, relying on her own accumulation and comprehension, take? She wasn't sure. A decade? Several decades? But worrying was pointless now, the die was cast. This world was vast, and she couldn't search every inch of it personally. Many places, like the territories of the five families or certain natural formations, had powerful arrays or strange terrain that blocked even her spiritual detection.
Moreover, acting recklessly and probing those areas without sufficient strength might alert the hidden enemy, and she didn't even know what, or who, had happened to the Kirin clan.
She had prepared two main approaches: the first was Lin Yao, her planted agent in the mortal world. If Lin Yao grew strong and influential enough, she could potentially access state secrets and restricted archives. The second approach, openly cooperating with this world's government or challenging the families, would require at least her full Dao Comprehension-stage strength.
Only then would she have the absolute dominance and security to negotiate from a position of unassailable power. After all, in this world, she had no Little Golden Crow to summon, no external imperial artifact to borrow. Here, she could only rely on her own two hands and the power she cultivated herself.