In the dim space, Su Min tightly closed her eyes. Her body was undergoing rapid changes, even entering a state between existence and nothingness.
"Hu..."
At this moment, Su Min suddenly opened her eyes, as the energy throughout her body surged wildly. As she slowly opened her eyes, she felt countless laws roaring within her body. The power throughout her body burned at this moment, yet it did not damage her physical form or her origin.
"The Law Crucible is complete. Although these laws cannot compare to my primary law of Time, Yao Xian'er's second incarnation likely sought to balance all laws to prevent any single one from dominating. Regardless, another piece of the puzzle has been added, and..."
At this point, Su Min narrowed her eyes. Almost immediately afterward, the aura around her underwent a drastic transformation. Having completed the Law Crucible, her various origins rapidly recovered.
The Five Elements Holy Body, the Five Divine Artifacts, and the Yin-Yang Qi all returned at this moment. In an instant, Su Min felt a fission-like reaction occurring within her body.
Originally, the Five Elements Holy Body and the Yin-Yang Qi coexisted peacefully. But now, integrated into the Law Crucible, they began to undergo a metamorphosis.
"Pfft—!!!"
In that instant, Su Min couldn't help but spit out another mouthful of blood. Three forces within her body continuously fused, separated, clashed, and repelled each other. This was something no one had ever experienced before. Any one of these three abilities would allow an ordinary person to reach the pinnacle and contend for the title of Great Emperor.
Yet now, all three were gathered within a single body, something unheard of.
At this moment, Su Min felt like a massive fusion furnace. Simultaneously, a special energy layer enveloped her completely, forming a giant cocoon. Su Min's consciousness was now completely cut off, unable to perceive anything from the outside world.
Meanwhile, above the Dark Continent, terrifying waves of energy spread endlessly. Yao Xian'er, wielding the imperial artifact Law Fusion Furnace, fought one against two with unparalleled bravery. However, the dark matter permeating the space greatly suppressed her power.
The suppression was even harsher on Su Min's Five Elements Holy Body. As the constitution most attuned to nature, it had greater resistance to dark matter. Only by reaching the Transcendence stage could one ignore it entirely, but Su Min had not yet met these conditions.
If this battle were taking place outside, Yao Xian'er would have long since slain the two consciousnesses born from the remains. But here, she could only engage in a prolonged struggle.
The situation was even worse for the others. The Little Golden Crow, relying on her Unity mid-stage strength and two imperial artifacts, held off two Mahayana early-stage cultivators alone.
On this battlefield, one could see a radiant three-legged Golden Crow entangled with two black Golden Crows.
"Blood... the royal bloodline!!!"
The eyes of the two black Golden Crows were filled with darkness and greed, this was what they coveted most. As beings born from the remains of fallen Golden Crows, they had long since broken free from bloodline suppression.
Yet their desire was overwhelming, especially when faced with a pure-blooded royal. Combined with the restrictions of darkness and the difference in cultivation stages, even the Little Golden Crow found it difficult to slay them.
Ao Xue's situation was similar. Her opponents were two divine dragons covered in black pattern, remains of her kin who had fallen in battle and had not been recovered.
Compared to the divine beasts, the human side had it slightly easier. Human bodies were inherently inferior to those of divine beasts, and their origins dissipated quickly after death. Aside from a few special constitutions and exceptionally powerful individuals, most remains could not support the birth of new consciousnesses.
Their souls would scatter across the dark cosmos, eventually turning into fragments.
Thus, they did not have to face their ancestors or kin directly. But even so, the situation was far from easy. Though holders of special constitutions were rare, the accumulation over time meant their numbers were still considerable. Fortunately, none possessed the Five Great Constitutions.
After all, humans were meticulous in recovering such remains. The only Yin-Yang Twin Corpses had already been destroyed by Su Min. As for the Five Elements Holy Body, it was even more impossible, few ever achieved its full mastery.
Moreover, upon the death of the host, the divine artifacts would detach and return to the normal universe. Even a fully realized Five Elements Holy Body would be left powerless. Yet despite this, the pressure was immense.
Divine beasts at least had an innate understanding of their kin's techniques. Even if they couldn't win, they could hold out for a while. But for humans, it was like opening a blind box, no one knew what tricks their opponents might have.
This was why Yao Xian'er and Tian Yang had been unwilling to wage the final battle in this universe. In such an environment, the gap between the two sides was far too great.
But compared to the outskirts of the Dark Continent, the world below was even more tragic.
Countless Mahayana experts clashed here. Since the Dark Continent's landmasses were not divided but existed as a single entity, all the shockwaves were absorbed by the continent itself.
In such a world, all living beings felt nothing but fear.
The earth cracked, the sun and moon reversed. Darkness, daylight, storms, and thunder alternated endlessly. One moment, the world was pitch black; the next, the sun blazed brightly. In the blink of an eye, snow fell, only for the temperature to skyrocket before the flakes could land.
Countless lives perished in an instant. Meanwhile, Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators desperately fled toward the sky, trying to escape the continent. But the moment they reached the outskirts, they were obliterated by residual energy.
Even scattered energy surges were enough to annihilate those below the Divine Transformation stage.
And this was Yao Xian'er's deliberate doing. Though she usually avoided mass slaughter, having spent a thousand years in the dark cosmos without large-scale killings, she could no longer afford restraint.
The Dark Continent was the perfect breeding ground for that existence, and its inhabitants were his feed. Though reluctant, she had no choice. Every day she delayed meant one less day of suffering for the beings of the normal universe.
Thus, the Dark Continent became the necessary sacrifice. Of course, the primary targets were the cultivators. Ordinary people only had to face natural disasters, while the cultivators were struck by attacks falling from the sky.
A few could ignore this chaos, the five Mahayana cultivators. Since these were only Mahayana-level battle fluctuations, their cultivation allowed them to remain unharmed.
But now, they all held their breath, not daring to make a sound. They sensed that the combatants had unleashed power on a terrifying scale. They also had an inkling of why the battle was taking place here, to refine them into a great medicine. Naturally, they were extremely cautious.
Yet no matter how cautious they were, misfortune would still befall them. And given that none of them were virtuous, those who struck would feel no guilt.
"This desert is the lair of a Mahayana mid-stage cultivator—the Sand Wolf."
Tian Yang's expression was grave as he gazed at the endless desert below. Back then, the two of them had been at a loss against this desert. Not everyone was like Su Min, with a Five Elements Holy Body that could merge with nature.
Those Mahayana cultivators who survived did not necessarily rely on sheer strength but on incredibly robust self-preservation methods, just like the one before them.
"Senior, how should we proceed?"
Seeing the vast desert, Xie Yingying asked with concern. She had expanded her spiritual sense to the limit, but it paled in comparison to Su Min's. Thus, she could detect nothing. But she knew the situation was urgent, there was no time for a drawn-out battle.
"Everyone, unleash your attacks. If that guy can hide, then we'll flip the entire desert upside down to force him out."
Tian Yang narrowed his eyes. Though the weakest among them were at the Unity stage, none possessed an imperial artifact, all such treasures were in the sky, holding off the Mahayana experts.
Thus, they had to be cautious. Aside from Xie Yingying, the others were all weak against Mahayana cultivators. Of course, they wouldn't be instantly killed, they could still flee if necessary.
Xie Yingying's combat power was now on par with a Mahayana early-stage cultivator, making her the second strongest here.
"Understood."
Though the Unity-stage fighters were weaker, they were not useless, especially in a situation like this, where brute force was needed.
In the next moment, the entire desert began to churn violently. On the Heavenly Continent, battles between Unity-stage cultivators could devastate entire regions, forcing them to fight in the outer realms.
But here was different. In an instant, countless grains of sand were flung tens of thousands of meters into the air. From a distance, the desert looked like a massive yellow dune.
Xie Yingying and Tian Yang led the group in dismantling the desert, determined to erase it entirely.
Sure enough, a furious roar soon erupted.
"You go too far!!!"
The sand coalesced into a colossal face, charging at the group. Tian Yang stepped forward, forming a seal with one hand. A ten-thousand-foot-tall Buddha materialized, smashing the sand face apart. The desert then transformed into swirling vortices—the battle had truly begun.
Even with the group's assistance, Tian Yang did not dare relax. Though defeating the Sand Wolf might not be difficult, killing him completely required exhausting every means.
"I'll hold off most of his power. You track down and eliminate the energy sources marking this desert."
Tian Yang glanced at the foe who had no choice but to fight him to the death, then turned to Xie Yingying. As the strongest here after him, with her Unity late-stage cultivation and the power of the Lunar Sovereign Body, she would not be easily overcome.
This would be a battle lasting months, even years, completely different from Su Min's style of ending fights in a single decisive clash. Like solving a puzzle, he had to dismantle the enemy's methods step by step.
"Understood."
Xie Yingying nodded and immediately dashed off.
Meanwhile, as chaos erupted on the Dark Continent, within the forbidden grounds of the Heavenly Continent's Immortal Gate...
Su Min had already left Yao Xian'er's secret realm, its capacity could no longer contain her.
Fortunately, Yao Xian'er had made thorough preparations before departing. Thus, no one would disturb Su Min's slumber. The cocoon now looked entirely different from before, its dazzling colors had faded, replaced by a steady gray-white hue.
Within Su Min, the Five Elements origin, the Yin-Yang Qi, and the Law Crucible had all vanished.
This did not mean they were gone—they had merged into one.
Su Min's cultivation base trembled violently before suddenly breaking through a barrier. At the same time, her eyes snapped open. In an instant, a gray mist spread for thousands of miles around her.
"The Five Elements as the foundation, Yin-Yang as the root, and the myriad laws as rain. But true fruition is still far off... So this is it. All these are energies of life—what I lack is the deathly energy representing the withering of all things."
Su Min sensed something profound. Chaos, as the sole absolute constitution, had one defining trait—the fusion of all things, including the world's impurities. As someone from the normal universe who had never tread the path of evil, her body contained no tainted energy.
This very lack was the final missing piece.
"Then it's time to emerge."
In that instant, Su Min opened her eyes. The giant cocoon shattered, and she transformed into a streak of light, shooting into the sky.
Mahayana early-stage—this was her current cultivation.
===
I just... need to rant for a moment. (;＿;)
So a few hours ago, I made a post—just a simple post—on the /Baihe subreddit. I said something like:
"Hey, I do fan translations over on Webnovel (linked my account). Most of the novels I work on are Female MC, NoCP, and if there's romance, it's only yuri or baihe. Right now there are only two novels with that tag, but feel free to check them out on my profile if you're interested!"
And then... one of the mods replied with something along the lines of: "A fan translation shouldn't be an 'original work' with zero mention of the actual original work you're translating."
I tried to explain. I told them:
I do include the original title and author on my Patreon [patreon.com/rikhi], and I even put the Chinese names of the authors on most of my novel covers.
If you didn't know, Webnovel divides content into two types: Novels and Fanfics.
Novels are published under "original works" through a writer account. But let's be honest—fan translations don't really fit into the fanfic section either, so I chose the novel section because it made more sense.
And I do include a disclaimer at the beginning of every translation. Some are stated directly, while others are more subtle—but they all make it clear that I'm just translating the novel.
Even if it's not always worded the same way, the meaning is there: I'm not the original author, and this story isn't "mine."
Then the mod replied with this:
"Look, I think your behavior makes it incredibly obvious that you are here to try to make money off of producing low-effort MTL, and I'm just not going to allow for any of that on this subreddit."
When I read that, my heart sank.
Like—seriously? That hurt so much. (｡•́︿•̀｡)
If you've been reading my work, you'd know I don't just dump raw text into a machine translator and call it a day.
I put time and effort into interpreting, not just translating word-for-word.
I even wrote a novel breakdown for this novel, explaining why I adapt or expand certain parts to preserve the nuance. (Stay tune for that, it contain 5 chapters, and per chapter is as long as the 'Goodbye' chapter)
So being called "low-effort MTL" really crushed me.
I replied honestly:
"How could I be making money when I don't even have a contract? Most people only throw in free votes, and that's not even something you can cash out. I don't have any paid subscription on my Patreon. And as for Ko-Fi? In two months, only one person has donated."
That's the truth. I'm not hiding anything.
Also—I don't put the original title or author name directly in the novel description because I worry it might lead to a takedown. I've seen plenty of Baihe translations on Wattpad that had to rename their works to something like "..." just to avoid that risk.
The main reason I keep that information on my Patreon is simply because it's easier to copy and paste from there.
And honestly, I want readers of my translation to be able to find the original version—so if they're able to, they might even support the author directly with a gift or something. That's always been part of my intention too.
.
And then, just like that, my post was gone.
Deleted or hidden, I don't know. No further warnings. Nothing
.
Honestly? I didn't want to rant like this.
But the more I think about it, the more I feel... hurt and wronged.
It's like they didn't even try to understand, just judged everything from a quick glance and flaunted their authority.
And honestly, I don't think they even understand how Webnovel works.
I'm not trying to mooch off anyone.
I'm not putting chapters behind a paywall.
I'm not getting any contract.
I just... love translating stories that mean something to me. And maybe share that love with others who feel the same.
Anyway, thank you if you've read this far.
I just needed to get it off my chest. This whole thing really shook me...
Damn. T_T