In an instant, the scene became eerily quiet, the kind of silence that felt heavy and unnatural, as if the universe itself was holding its breath. Su Min didn't rush in. Instead, she stood her ground just outside the passage, leisurely observing the chaotic scene within. Due to their relentless infighting, the passage behind the immortals was now filled with raging, unstable energy storms that crackled and spat, threatening to tear the dimensional fabric apart.
The immortals found themselves in an awkward and terrifying predicament. Staying here in the passage meant certain death as the storms closed in, but charging out would mean facing Su Min's blade directly. Having no clear idea how the previous person who ventured out had died so instantly, they dared not make a move, frozen by indecision and fear.
Outside, Yao Xian'er stared in stunned shock at the immortal's corpse Su Min had casually collected and stored away. She was absolutely certain. This was no half immortal or some weakened true immortal, but a genuine, full powered true immortal. And Su Min, at only the Mahayana late stage, had single handedly slain him. It was utterly inconceivable, defying all known logic of cultivation.
"She actually killed an immortal alone... The Chaos Physique truly deserves its legendary, cursed reputation." Yao Xian'er couldn't comprehend what had just happened. From her perspective, Su Min had simply thrust her sword forward. There were no flashy techniques, no elaborate movements or grand incantations, yet the immortal had instantly perished, his life extinguished in a blink. It wasn't a battle. It was as if life itself had been simply stripped away from the immortal, a fundamental deletion of existence.
Back in her own prime, Yao Xian'er had fought weakened immortals, and each one had been incredibly troublesome with endless survival methods and secret arts. Killing even one was extremely difficult, and there was always the risk of them resorting to desperate, self destructive final moves. Watching Su Min's effortless actions now, she simply couldn't understand the mechanism behind such power.
"Is the power of chaos truly this terrifying? Unfortunately, we know nothing about the true nature of the Chaos Physique." Yao Xian'er was certain Su Min had tapped into the Chaos Physique's unique power, but what exactly was the Chaos Physique? To what extent had it developed in Su Min? She had no frame of reference, no point of comparison. The Five Elements Holy Body was already mysterious enough, with its terrifying, all encompassing resistance derived from the Great Five Elements Cycle. Many powerful experts had fallen victim to it unknowingly, and even when aware, there was often little they could do to counter it.
The five great physiques had no fixed weaknesses. Any perceived shortcomings were always due to the cultivators themselves, a lack of comprehension or resources, not the physiques themselves. It was like during the Golden Core Avenue trials. Her own physical strength couldn't compare to Su Min's or Tian Hao's, but that didn't mean her physique was weak. Those two were just absurdly strong, exceptions to every rule.
"Regardless, the birth of the Chaos Physique is a blessing for all living beings in our universe. Otherwise, this calamity would have surely destroyed our entire world." Tian Yang, however, remained optimistic, clasping his hands together in a serene gesture. He was deeply grateful his junior from the Great Thunder Temple had established a good relationship with Su Min. The Buddhist sect now had decent, stable ties with her. As for her terrifying strength, he didn't even want to think about it too deeply. He was still several lifetimes away from achieving true immortality through a hundred reincarnations, and each subsequent lifetime was exponentially more difficult than the last. Even if he succeeded in that distant future, he seriously doubted he could handle the current situation any better than Su Min was.
The enemy's forces were simply terrifying, ten true immortals was a number never before seen in any recorded era. In the past, even a single immortal descending was a rare, catastrophic event. Transcendence stage cultivators of those ancient times had to mobilize the entire universe's resources and sacrifice countless lives to kill one immortal, and only if the immortal was first locked onto and suppressed by the Heavenly Dao. But for Su Min to instantly slay one like she was swatting a fly? It was unprecedented.
"Ah..." Tian Hao could only sigh bitterly, a deep sense of futility washing over him. Catching up to her was impossible, a dream he had to let go of. He remembered back in the Golden Core Avenue, Su Min had defeated him primarily due to her powerful pills, though as an alchemist, using pills was a natural and valid part of her strength. A small, stubborn part of him still believed that without them, he might not have lost.
But now, such thoughts were meaningless. Though their cultivation stages were close, late stage and mid stage Mahayana, the gap in their actual combat power was an insurmountable chasm. Moreover, Su Min thoroughly understood the intricacies of his Great Desolate Sacred Physique, while he knew absolutely nothing about the mysteries of her Chaos Physique.
"How long do you plan to hide in there? The storm isn't going to wait for you." Su Min chuckled, a low, confident sound as she watched the immortals scrambling inside the passage. She wasn't reckless enough to charge into that unstable space. Her Mahayana late stage cultivation was formidable, but she knew it was still slightly lacking for a direct confrontation with multiple true immortals on their own terms. She needed to be cautious, to pick her battles. The fewer enemies she had to face at once, the better her chances.
"What do we do now?" The immortals inside shared frantic glances, their eyes darting from Su Min blocking the only exit to the violent storm gathering behind them. The passage was narrow, only allowing three or four to pass through at a time, and even then, there was a cooldown period before the next group could go. This spatial limitation was precisely why they had turned on each other so quickly. Those who passed earlier would have a clear advantage in seizing the universe's core essence.
But now, two had already ventured out. One was killed instantly by Su Min, the other was forced back in. The unstable gate meant only two more could possibly pass before it temporarily closed, resetting its energy. Waiting another day or two for the next cycle wasn't an option, not with the storms closing in, and especially not since the first death had so graphically proven the Chaos Physique's lethal power.
"Tiger and Crane Clans, send one each to stall her. Buy us some time to stabilize this, or the storm will catch up, and we will all die here!" Gritting their teeth in desperation, the group turned to the four immortals from the Tiger and Crane Clans, who had allied due to their clans' historically close relations. Their combined strength was formidable, a well known fact. Yet the four remained still, their expressions icy and unyielding. They weren't pawns to be sacrificed.
"You bastards..." one of them muttered under his breath, his voice thick with resentment. They knew exactly why the others wanted them to go. Their combined power was feared. During the earlier chaos, the other six had tacitly prioritized attacking them, leaving them battered and drained. Now, after all that, they were being pushed forward as sacrificial pawns to clear the way.
"Enough squabbling! The three of us will swear a blood oath right here, right now, to renounce all claim to the essence!" Seeing their clear reluctance, the others quickly offered concessions, their voices strained with panic. The essence was a single, ultimate prize, born only after a universe's separation. Their orders were to retrieve it if possible, not to die pointlessly trying.
"Hmph. That's more like it." Satisfied with this concrete guarantee, the Tiger and Crane Clans finally agreed. Two of their members, the ones with the least injuries, steeled themselves and charged out of the passage. They launched a perfectly coordinated joint attack at Su Min the very moment they emerged, a tiger's roar and a crane's cry harmonizing into a wave of destructive force.
"Again with this move?!" Su Min's hands shimmered with a swirling gray white mist, the raw energy of chaos, as she met their ferocious assault head on, not giving an inch.
BOOM!
The very sky seemed to tear open at the collision. Distant stars blinked out of existence as the visible shockwave exploded outward, pulverizing several barren planets in the vicinity and shaking the massive defensive line the allied forces had painstakingly fortified in advance. The air itself vibrated with the aftermath.
Xie Yingying, watching from the safety of the heavenly palace, felt like she couldn't breathe. Not because of the immense pressure radiating from the battle, but because for a single, heart stopping heartbeat, she thought she had lost her.
The world seemed to tilt on its axis. Her nails dug deep into her palms, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles were white. She hadn't even realized how rigidly she was holding herself together until that moment. Her qi, which had been as steady as a placid lake, stirred violently in her core, reacting to her spike of pure fear. "Su Min..." she whispered, the name a desperate prayer on her lips.
The force of the clash crashed like a tidal wave into the outer formations. Even with multiple imperial artifacts reinforcing them, several Unity stage cultivators manning the barriers coughed up blood on impact. Their spiritual weapons trembled violently in their hands, their robes becoming soaked with cold sweat. The sheer power was overwhelming.
"So this is the true power of an immortal..." Tian Hao muttered nearby, his face ashen. Back in the Nether Prison, facing a single warden had filled him with utter despair. Without Su Min's help, they would've had no hope of survival. His caution and decision to seek her out had been absolutely correct, a realization that was both humbling and terrifying.
But Xie Yingying barely heard him. Her entire focus, her very being, was locked onto Su Min, who hovered serenely in the aftermath of the explosive collision, her robes billowing gently as if in a soft breeze, her form completely untouched. Not even her breathing pattern had changed. It was over in an instant, a mere clash of powers, but for Xie Yingying, that moment had stretched into a small eternity. She slowly exhaled, a shuddering breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
Only then did she notice her hands had finally stopped trembling. The worry had been useless, she knew that logically. Su Min was beyond this now, beyond the concerns of mortals and most immortals. Beyond all of them. And yet... she couldn't help it. The fear was not logical. It was not born of strategy or calculation. It was instinct, raw and fierce and possessive.
That moment when she had almost leapt forward from the palace, when her qi had nearly surged past her control, that had nothing to do with cultivation or battle. That was her heart reacting before her mind could catch up. No matter how high Su Min soared, no matter how invincible she seemed, Xie Yingying would never stop fearing for her. Never stop wanting to reach her, to stand by her side.
Around her, murmurs rippled through the gathered cultivators. Cultivation was ultimately about achieving longevity and personal freedom, and immortals were the ultimate goal for most. Seeing them in person, witnessing their power, left many cultivators even more shaken. If not for the absolute, inherent enmity between the Burial Netherworld and their Pristine Universe, some of the weaker willed might have even considered defecting for a mere chance at that immortality.
"You, how is this possible?!" The Tiger and Crane immortals stared in sheer horror. Their perfectly coordinated joint attack, something that could shatter stars, had been blocked and neutralized by a mere Mahayana stage cultivator. Such a strike should have annihilated even Transcendence stage or half immortal beings instantly. Their faces darkened further into masks of fury and disbelief as the passage behind them sealed shut with a final, resonant thrum, cutting off any hope of immediate reinforcements. They were trapped outside with her.
"Your plan failed. I'm no glass cannon." Su Min's calm, almost conversational words made their expressions twist with impotent fury. They had assumed a Mahayana cultivator, no matter how powerful her offense, would have relatively weak physical defenses. Their plan had been to trade injuries, to wound her badly enough to buy precious time for more immortals to join the fight. But now, they were trapped outside, alone with this monster.
Su Min, however, was completely unfazed. With her Chaos Physique perfected, she could now wield the primordial energy that existed before the very division of purity and turbidity, the original chaos energy. It was the fundamental substance of creation. No fancy techniques were needed. The chaos energy itself provided both absolute offense and impenetrable defense. In a game, she would be a broken character, overpowered stats paired with an unbeatable core mechanic. But this was not a game. There was no developer to cry for "balance." The Chaos Physique's birth was a near impossible fluke of fate. Su Min herself had never heard of another like her in all the annals she had studied.
With a simple flick of her wrist, Su Min lunged forward. Her Chaos Sword held no intricate techniques or dazzling sword lights, yet each straightforward, direct strike forced the two immortals to retreat in terror, their own immortal weapons barely able to parry. A single graze from that plain looking sword had been enough to consume their comrade's life force entirely. They could only defend desperately, putting all their power into their guards. But when two coordinated true immortals focused solely on defense, even Su Min needed a bit of time to find an opening and break through.
"Activate the second phase now! We will open a path and draw the Heavenly Dao's gaze directly upon them!" From the safety of the heavenly palace, Yao Xian'er and the others exchanged determined glances. Unable to join the fight directly against such foes, they could only assist indirectly, and the most powerful assistance was summoning the Heavenly Dao itself.
Dark matter's primary function was to shield against the Heavenly Dao's perception, which was what gave the dark cultivators their major advantage in this universe. But if the Heavenly Dao was actively drawn to this location, the tables would turn dramatically.
The Heavenly Dao's lightning tribulations, which would target only the foreign enemies, were lethal even to full immortals. Historically, over half of the slain immortals in this universe had fallen to the Heavenly Dao's wrath, not to mortal cultivators. They could try to evade it, but they could never truly resist it. With the dark region now significantly reduced by Su Min's pill refining, the effect would be even more potent and inescapable.
In an instant, several Mahayana cultivators inside the palace channeled their power into another, previously dormant imperial artifact.
[Heavenbinding Chain (immortal Artifact): Summons and manifests the laws of heaven.]
BOOM!
A colossal thundercloud, vast enough to envelop entire galaxies, materialized in the sky above the battlefield. It churned with raw, destructive power, the will of the universe itself. The two immortals battling Su Min visibly paled, their confidence shattering. They hastily activated a combined defensive treasure, a shimmering shield of intertwined light. Accustomed to conquest and destruction, they recognized this scenario, but this time, their usual countermeasures failed. The Heavenly Dao's presence was too strong, too focused.
Seizing the distraction, Su Min moved with blinding speed. She shattered one immortal's sword with a single, precise slash of her Chaos Sword, the immortal metal screaming as it broke. Before he could react, she kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him flying uncontrollably for hundreds of thousands of kilometers, directly into the heart of the gathering tribulation clouds. The immortal's face whitened in sheer terror as he felt the Heavenly Dao's immense, impersonal will lock onto him, marking him for annihilation.
"Now it's just you. Prepare to die." Su Min smirked, turning her full attention to the remaining Tiger Clan immortal. Two immortals had barely held her off. One stood no chance whatsoever. As the remaining immortal struggled desperately against the first bolts of tribulation lightning, Yao Xian'er and the others seized the opportunity from the palace.
Who didn't love kicking a downed enemy? A concentrated volley of attacks, from dazzling sword beams to colossal palm strikes, rained down from all directions. Though not individually fatal to an immortal, they perfectly disrupted his focus and balance, and in the very next moment, as he faltered...
BOOM!
A pillar of pure heavenly lightning, as wide as a mountain range, descended from the churning clouds, erasing him from existence. The light was blinding, the sound a verdict of absolute finality.