"The sky, the birds, the flowers, the grass—everything seemed so beautiful. Back then, the Five Elements Great Emperor slew a fallen immortal during the Mahayana stage, though he was already at the late Mahayana phase. With my current cultivation, even though I'm only at the early Mahayana stage..."
Feeling the power within her, Su Min slowly turned her gaze toward the depths of the cosmos. She could sense violent fluctuations emanating from there—clearly, a great battle was raging.
At this moment, in the dark universe, Yao Xian'er's expression grew increasingly grim.
A pitch-black sun hung in the void, casting its ominous light over the battlefield.
This was the weapon of the being who had descended here—a tool capable of unleashing vast waves of dark, deathly energy. It suppressed Yao Xian'er's power, leaving her in dire straits.
And she wasn't the only one. The entire battlefront was collapsing.
Under the oppressive force of the black sun, Yao Xian'er was forced back to the Celestial Palace.
Pfft—
At that moment, Yao Xian'er couldn't hold back any longer and spat out a mouthful of blood before shouting to everyone, "Retreat! We can't keep fighting! If this continues, we'll all die here!"
She had never expected the immortal to possess such means. Even though he couldn't leave the depths of the dark core, he had summoned this black sun to suppress them all. Worse, under its light, the dark cultivators' combat power had surged dramatically.
With their own strength waning and the enemy's growing, the entire battlefront was crumbling. Casualties had already appeared, and Yao Xian'er knew they had to withdraw.
"Tian Yang, pull everyone back NOW!!!"
She sent an urgent message to Tian Yang, but her expression darkened when she received no response. The message had vanished without a trace. The situation below was equally dire.
Originally, Sha Lang was certain to die, but the black sun had also enveloped the Dark Continent. Worse, his forces had no imperial artifacts to protect them, and now, even he had deteriorated to a horrifying degree.
"Uncle-Master!!!"
Elsewhere, the three senior brothers of Kong Hui's sect also sensed something wrong. The three of them were jointly channeling the Purple-Gold Alms Bowl, barely holding off a mid-stage Mahayana cultivator under the black sun's suppression. But they could do no more—even self-preservation had become a struggle.
If their uncle-master fell here, it would be an irreparable loss for the Great Thunder Temple.
A heartbeat later, Tian Yang opened his eyes.
He had sensed it. The irreversible shift. The sky above was now an endless storm of black sand, blotting out every ray of light. They had lost the advantage. The air was thick with death and dark qi that gnawed at the body and soul. Their strength wasn't enough, and they all knew it.
Yet his gaze didn't rest on the battlefield. It was on her
Xie Yingying.
Blood streaked her pale cheek. Her robes were torn, soaked in ash and flame. Yet she stood unbowed, sword in hand, her Taiyin aura burning cold and sharp as a crescent moon. Her eyes held no panic. Only silence. Stillness.
"Amitabha."
Tian Yang's voice was low, calm, as if speaking to the wind.
"This old monk has lived through nearly a hundred cycles of reincarnation. It is only natural I face this tribulation in turn. But you, Miss Xie… I must send you away."
Tian Yang looked at her—not as a junior, nor as a fellow cultivator—but as someone bound tightly to Su Min's fate.
Not merely her companion. Not merely her cauldron or cultivation partner. She was the anchor Su Min had chosen in this turbulent world. A thread Su Min had tied her fate to, willingly, with eyes wide open. Her one weakness. Her root.
And if something happened to Xie Yingying—
Tian Yang shuddered. He truly didn't know what that woman might do in her rage, maybe Su Min would burn the world for her. That was why he made his choice. Even if it cost him his life, even if the others fell around him—he would not let Su Min's heart break here.
"Go," he said gently. "This battlefield no longer needs you. She does."
Truly, this was the power of an immortal's artifact. It had suppressed them to the point of helplessness while strengthening their enemies to terrifying heights. And the environment itself was against them—the dark energy corroded their bodies, forcing them to divert much of their strength just to resist.
Otherwise, they might have at least held their ground. But now, there was no choice.
"How could this junior retreat now?"
She understood exactly what was at stake.
Xie Yingying wiped the blood from her lips. She knew the purpose of this mission—to buy time for Su Min outside.
Whether this cycle of annihilation could be broken depended entirely on Su Min.
If she fell here, so be it.
But she would not leave.
Not when Su Min still needed her.
Not when this world's last chance depended on the woman she had chosen to follow, heart and soul.
And it wasn't just Tian Yang. Yao Xian'er was in a similar predicament. Facing the combined assault of the Wind and Thunder Emperors, she was being pushed back step by step.
Her Ten Thousand Laws Crucible had been suppressed by the black sun to the point of near-uselessness—after all, a significant portion of its power was focused directly on her.
"Hah... I'll have to detonate my imperial artifact and fight to the death."
Seeing that the situation was beyond salvation, Yao Xian'er gathered a radiant light in her palm. She was prepared to detonate both her weapon and her life's essence—otherwise, total annihilation was inevitable.
She couldn't be blamed for this. No one had ever encountered such methods before. Her original plan had been to retreat safely even if they failed.
But now, everything had spiraled beyond her expectations—or rather, the immortal who had descended here was simply too terrifying.
"Ten Thousand Laws Eternal, Annihilation Returns to— Ugh— Pfft!"
Just as she was about to self-destruct, she suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. A force had surged from afar, interrupting her strongest attack. The backlash of spiritual energy made her vomit blood.
"It's not yet time for mutual destruction."
A familiar voice rang in her ears. Then, a figure descended from the heavens, standing between her and the black sun. In an instant, Yao Xian'er felt an overwhelming sense of relief—the terrible suppression had vanished.
Not just the black sun—all the dark energy in the surroundings was now surging toward the figure before her.
"What are you doing?!"
Yao Xian'er couldn't hold back a cry of alarm. Absorbing darkness so recklessly—did she have a death wish?
"Chaos embraces all things—even death and destruction."
Su Min's voice was calm. The dark energy could no longer suppress her—instead, it had become nourishment. Even the black sun, radiating darkness and corruption, was nothing more than sustenance to her.
In the next moment, Su Min appeared before the Wind and Thunder Emperors.
With a single palm strike toward each of them—a seemingly simple motion—the two emperors' expressions twisted in horror. They couldn't dodge.
But if they couldn't evade, they would meet it head-on.
Boom!
The next instant, two small palms collided with massive fists.
And in that moment—
The Wind and Thunder Emperors' faces contorted in agony.
An indescribable force surged into their bodies, wreaking havoc within.
"Creation returns to Chaos."
As Su Min spoke—
Pfft!
The bodies of the two emperors exploded.
Had it not been for the black sun and the dark energy suppressing them, Yao Xian'er would have slain them long ago. Now, facing Su Min—who had turned this battlefield into her domain—they stood no chance.
In the next moments, Su Min's figure flickered like lightning.
Countless silhouettes burst apart.
None of the Mahayana-stage dark cultivators could withstand a single blow from her.
"Is this… the power of a Chaos Physique?"
Yao Xian'er watched in shock. She now understood—Su Min had surpassed her completely. Some kind of transformation had occurred within the secret realm, and though Su Min was only at the early Mahayana stage, she now wielded strength that rivaled—no, surpassed—many Great Emperors.
"Not yet. I'm still incomplete."
Su Min shook her head before turning her gaze to the black sun. Just as she was about to act, a furious roar echoed through the dark universe.
"Good… Very good. I was just one step too late. The Chaos Physique—back then, we sacrificed fifteen Immortal Kings just to alter the world's laws and seal away this physique. And yet, you still appeared."
The voice sent shivers down everyone's spines, even Yao Xian'er's. It felt like thunder exploding in their ears, despite the vast distance and the fact that the speaker dared not step out of the dark core.
If he truly emerged, everyone present except Su Min would be annihilated instantly.
"Since you know, why don't you scram?"
Su Min smirked. She wasn't afraid of him. Though her Chaos Physique wasn't yet perfected, she was no longer someone to be trifled with. Even if she couldn't defeat him now, if he dared step out of the core, the Heavenly Dao would lock onto him. All she had to do was stall him—and his death would be certain.
"Don't celebrate too soon. So what if you have the Chaos Physique? It's not yet complete, and you haven't even stepped into the Immortal Dao."
The voice was cold. Then, the black sun slowly faded away. Maintaining it across such distance while evading the Heavenly Dao's detection had been a tremendous burden—and now, it was meaningless.
With the black sun gone, the tide of battle shifted instantly.
Tian Yang's power returned in full. Xie Yingying unleashed her Lunar Avatar and charged into the fray.
"ARGH—!"
A scream rang out as Sha Lang, caught off guard, was instantly slain. In his greed, he had abandoned all caution to kill his foes, but with Su Min's arrival, the decades-long stalemate had been overturned in mere moments.
The dark cultivators were routed, fleeing in complete disarray.
But Su Min did not pursue the fading enemies.
She simply stood there, suspended above the scarred skies of the Dark Continent, her gaze locked on the wasteland below. After a long pause, she murmured a few words under her breath. No one caught them. The winds swallowed them whole.
Tian Yang soon flew up to meet her.
"You…"
He was stunned. Su Min had undergone a heaven-shaking transformation. Not just powerful, not merely evolved, but primordial. The pressure radiating from her was not spiritual in nature, but existential. Like she belonged to an era before thought itself.
But what shocked him even more was what she did next.
She took the soul fragment in his hand, crushed it, and—without any purification—absorbed it directly.
His eyes widened. He couldn't understand, dark energy wasn't something to be absorbed so recklessly. It contained death, madness, violence, decay—all the foulest things in existence. Even touching it was dangerous for cultivators.
Yet Su Min could devour it without issue.
This… wasn't how it was before. Back in the dark universe, she had been cautious, avoiding contact with these energies.
"Chaos embraces all—both the beautiful and the foul."
Su Min's smile was faint, distant. There was a softness in her eyes, but it did not reach her heart. She looked ahead, not at anyone present, but at something far beyond them all.
A moment later, a figure streaked through the air and collided with her.
Xie Yingying.
The moment she reached Su Min, she threw herself into her arms with almost violent force, like someone grabbing hold of a dream before it dissolved. Her arms wrapped tightly around Su Min's waist, her face buried against the side of her neck.
She breathed in deeply. Once. Twice.
But it wasn't the scent she remembered. The scent clinging to Su Min was different now. Not fire or herbs—it was chaos itself. Ancient, intoxicating, endlessly shifting. Even at the Unity stage, even with all the restraint she'd honed over centuries, she couldn't hold herself back.
"You smell different," she whispered. Her voice trembled. "You feel… different."
Su Min chuckled softly, one hand rising to stroke her back in slow, grounding circles.
"Alright, alright," she said, her tone patient. "Once I reach perfection, I'll draw out a portion of Chaos Origin just for you. You can absorb it freely."
"Perfection…?" Xie Yingying's voice was low, strained, still muffled against her shoulder.
Su Min nodded, chin resting lightly atop her head. "Yes. I still need more. A vast amount of dark energy. Only when the filth balances the purity within me will my Chaos Physique be complete."
Her words left the others speechless.
Neither black nor white—to embrace all things was the true essence of the Chaos Physique. It was a physique close to the origin of the world—or rather, what the world was meant to be.
Before there was light or shadow, before heaven and earth, before the concept of good or evil... there was chaos.
That was the nature of her body. Not the radiant order of the Five Elements Holy Physique, nor the balance of the Yin-Yang duality, nor even the formless comprehension of the Ten Thousand Laws Crucible. Those were the gifts of the Heavenly Dao.
But Chaos came before the Dao. And to perfect it meant embracing not just creation, but also everything discarded, corrupted, and cursed. She needed the darkness. The filth that clung to forgotten corners of the universe. The rot beneath all things.
And she would consume it all.
At the same time, she had glimpsed the truth of the world beyond the darkness—and now, she had a plan.
Xie Yingying's grip tightened. Her qi trembled. This wasn't just cultivation talk anymore. She felt it—the distance in Su Min's tone, the weight of inevitability behind her eyes.
"What are you planning?" she asked suddenly, lifting her head.
"Everyone," Su Min said, her voice calm but resolute, "return to your realms. Do not come back to the dark universe."
There was no warning in her tone. Only finality.
Xie Yingying seized her arm, hard. "What are you planning?" she repeated, her voice sharper this time, thinner.
Su Min turned to her, eyes steady, hand still resting over Xie Yingying's wrist. "I will end this dark universe," she said. "This endless cycle of sacrifice... this realm that devours itself, over and over, across epochs."
"I will let the Heavenly Dao's light shine upon it again—and seal the Dark Clan beyond the boundaries of this cosmos, forever."
Xie Yingying stared at her, unable to speak. Her heart raced. She wanted to argue, to plead. But what words could stop Su Min, when she looked like that?
Calm. Absolute.
And behind that calm... a flicker of something else. A gleam in her eyes, unreadable, as she turned back to the void.
A breath later, her hand dropped to her side, fingers trembling.
She knew Su Min wasn't speaking in metaphor. She meant it. She intended to reshape the structure of this cursed realm itself, to force order upon chaos.
But to do so, she would have to dive deep into corruption—deeper than anyone ever had.
And Xie Yingying couldn't go with her.
She looked away, jaw tight, eyes glistening with a sheen of helplessness she wouldn't show anyone else. She had always known that Su Min walked a different path. But knowing didn't soften the ache.
Legends said that when the world was born, the clear qi rose to form countless universes, while the turbid qi sank into the deepest abyss.
But while the clear qi fragmented into many worlds, the turbid qi remained as one.
That was why the Dark Clan was so powerful—and why they refused to remain in the depths, seeking instead to reclaim the clear qi.
But their very existence clashed with it. Wherever they stepped, corruption followed.