"That person?"
"Another Chaos Physique?"
Many of the onlookers were utterly stunned at the sight of the man descending from the thunderclouds. Though he looked completely different from Su Min in appearance and bearing, their core auras were ninety nine percent identical, a perfect mirror.
This wasn't due to any bloodline connection or familial relation. It was the profound resonance that occurred when two individuals possessing the same supreme, one of a kind physique met, their very essences recognizing each other.
Another Chaos Physique? What was going on? The legends spoke of only one.
"The Heavenly Dao can only record spiritual fragments of the strong from the river of time, but it can't create them from nothing. It seems that at some point in the distant past, in some unknown corner of the multiverse, a Chaos Physique was indeed born. That's why those people from the Burial Lands were so wary. No, it wasn't just wariness, but outright, primal fear." At this moment, Yao Xian'er's expression turned deeply solemn as she pieced together the clues.
The fundamental reason the forces of light and dark, the clear and turbid qi, were kept so violently separate was to prevent the very birth of a Chaos Physique. Su Min had clearly become the one who forged a second path, a miracle they had tried so hard to prevent.
Now, Yao Xian'er was genuinely, burning curious. Back in the early days, she had secretly investigated Su Min's background. It had seemed so ordinary, just a daughter from a minor aristocratic family with no extraordinary lineage. So, she was truly puzzled about Su Min's ultimate origins. But in the end, she realized it didn't matter anymore. Su Min had long since surpassed all of them, and now, the entire cosmos was her stage, her origins irrelevant.
...
Compared to the shock of the others, however, Su Min's own emotions were far more complicated, a turbulent sea of realization and grim resolve. The Heavenly Dao's initial trial had consisted of three high ranking immortals. For a Mahayana cultivator to face three high ranking immortals at once was already absurd, a death sentence for any other.
Back then, before her severances, Su Min's combat power had surpassed that of an ordinary low tier immortal, but against a single high ranking immortal, she would've undoubtedly died. And yet, the Annihilation Heavenly Tribulation had forced her to face three at once, a challenge history stated no one had ever achieved or survived.
But now, this man, this predecessor, had descended. What did that mean? Su Min understood all too well. His presence here was the final, ultimate test, a barrier beyond the three immortals.
Sure enough, in the next instant, the man didn't attack. Instead, he shattered into countless glowing fragments of memory and law that surged directly into Su Min's mind like a tidal wave. In that moment, all of his past experiences, his entire life, everything he learned about the Nether Prison, and even the deepest secrets of the Chaos Physique itself flooded into her consciousness.
Su Min, usually so composed, couldn't help but show a look of pure astonishment as the memories unfolded within her. This man had been born in a small, underdeveloped universe, one that had been completely devoured by dark matter and sunk into the depths of the Nether Prison. Relying solely on his unique, nascent Chaos Physique, he had barely survived the assimilation, escaping through a unstable rift to a neighboring universe after countless near death experiences. But that new universe wasn't paradise either, rife with its own conflicts. In the end, left with nothing but the clothes on his back, his heart burned with an eternal, searing hatred for the Nether Prison and all it represented.
Eventually, through sheer will, he reached the Mahayana stage. However, he had been too impatient, too consumed by his need for vengeance. The Immortal Tribulation he faced was brutally simple in its structure. It required battling projections of past immortals. The lowest level tribulation only required facing a single low ranking immortal, and one didn't even need to kill them, just survive ten exchanges. The mid level tribulation required killing a low ranking immortal. And the highest level, the Annihilation Tribulation? Facing three high ranking immortals at once. But even a single low ranking immortal would force a peak Transcendence stage emperor to stake their life, often requiring the mobilized resources of an entire universe to achieve a costly defeat.
The man from the past had only passed the mid level tribulation. Unlike Su Min, he hadn't continuously severed his cultivation or used other esoteric methods to push his limits beyond reason. Thus, he had fallen short of the highest trial. And more importantly, he couldn't wait. The fire of revenge demanded action. He had to take his fight to the Nether Prison.
Soon, Su Min witnessed everything, the memories playing out like a tragic epic. The moment he ascended to immortality, he charged alone into the heart of the Nether Prison, a single blade against an empire of darkness. What followed was a century long war of annihilation. One immortal after another fell to his hands, high ranking immortals, low ranking immortals, even the so called Kings, the pinnacle existences. Billions of dark beings and corrupted cultivators perished under his righteous wrath. And in the end, as he stood triumphant but weary, they had unleashed their final, desperate weapon.
"The Zhexian Curse? So that's what they used on me?" At this moment, Su Min nearly laughed aloud, a sound of pure irony. She had finally figured out the true meaning behind that cryptic, lifespan draining curse that had barely tickled her.
"My concept of immortality is so advanced that it even surpasses the endless lifespan of a natural immortal. It's almost as if this was all arranged, preordained. But if that's the case..." Su Min slowly closed her eyes, processing the totality of the knowledge. She realized now that she had an inevitable destiny, to achieve what the previous Chaos Physique had failed to accomplish, to finish his war.
If that man had waited a few hundred thousand, or even a million years, allowing himself to pass the Annihilation Heavenly Tribulation first, the Zhexian Curse would've been useless against him, just as it now was for Su Min. The last vestiges of the curse in her own heart had already completely vanished, dissolved by her perfect ascension.
What intrigued her even more was that the path ahead of her seemed wide open, stretching into infinity. The previous Chaos Physique, after passing his lesser tribulation, had found his road at an end, his potential capped. But Su Min's wasn't. Clearly, those who passed the Annihilation Heavenly Tribulation could ascend to even higher realms.
And now, having inherited everything from him, his experiences, his regrets, his power, she was already stronger than he had been at his peak. She had even surpassed the known peak of immortality, faintly glimpsing an even higher, more profound realm. What was it? Immortal King? Immortal Emperor? Or something beyond all naming? But there was no need to dwell on that now. She had more pressing, immediate matters to attend to.
The Nether Prison, the source of countless tragedies across the cosmos, the engine of devoured universes. The end of eras, the fallen cultivators, the dark armies, the remnant immortals, all were their doing. It was time to settle the score, once and for all.
Without another glance at the stunned crowd waiting to congratulate her, their faces frozen in awe, Su Min simply raised her Chaos Sword and slashed forward horizontally. The fabric of space itself tore open like parchment, revealing the chaotic, turbulent passage to the Nether Prison. Without a moment's hesitation, she plunged inside, her figure swallowed by the darkness. She left behind a utterly stunned audience, none of whom dared to follow, knowing that what lay beyond was a battle far beyond their comprehension.
—
Meanwhile, in the Nether Prison
The five great families and all their assembled high ranking immortals wore expressions of grave, palatable dread. After exhausting every means at their disposal, the three messengers who had gone to kill Su Min had finally used a sacrificial art to send back a thunderous, final message,
"The Zhexian Curse had missed its mark. The Chaos Physique was still alive."
For a moment, the five families were dumbfounded, their minds refusing to accept it. Had those ten sacrificed high ranking immortals died for nothing? They wondered if they were trapped in a collective nightmare. But soon, they discovered an even bigger, more terrifying problem. That world, their target, had vanished from their scrying mirrors and spatial coordinates, as if it had never existed. Someone had hidden it, veiled it completely from their perception. And the only one who could do that was the Chaos Physique herself.
They were on the verge of madness, a cold fear gripping their hearts. It was as if a blade now hung over their heads, invisible and poised to strike. Without coordinates, they couldn't even retaliate, couldn't send forces. So, they gathered all their remaining forces, setting up layer upon layer of defenses, an inescapable net across their core territories, ready to fight to the death when she eventually came.
But they waited. And they waited. For tens of thousands of years. To beings of their stature, tens of thousands of years should've been but a blink, a short nap. Yet now, every moment was torture, every day a century. It felt as if they had endured dozens of epochs, the tension stretching their nerves to the breaking point. And the anxiety only grew worse with each passing year, a constant, gnawing dread.
But today, the silence broke. The vanished coordinates suddenly reappeared on their most sensitive artifacts, blazing like a beacon.
"She's here! Everyone, prepare! This time, no matter the cost, we must kill her!" The Tiger Family Patriarch roared, his voice echoing through the command halls, but his voice abruptly cut off.
Because standing before them in the central plaza of their strongest fortress was a young woman in an ink black robe, holding a simple looking but profoundly terrifying immortal sword. She had stepped out of a rift alone, as if she had always been there. And with her arrival, the entire Nether Prison trembled, its very laws groaning under her presence. An immortal. In such a cosmically short time, she had already become one. And when a Chaos Physique achieved immortality, the last time that had happened was a billion years ago, and the records of that event were written in the blood of their ancestors.
The Tiger Family Patriarch's voice died in his throat, his courage faltering. What horrified him even more was that he couldn't sense her aura at all. She was like a void, a perfect nothingness that consumed all perception.
"Now then," Su Min said calmly, her voice cutting through the tense silence like a knife, "let's tally your sins." With a single, almost casual swing of her sword, a motion devoid of flourish or effort, a vast, monochrome sword light tore through time and space itself. It didn't flash or roar. It simply was, and then it wasn't. And in its wake, hundreds of immortals who had been standing in formation were simply erased, their existences wiped from reality without a sound. Silence. Deeper than any silence they had ever known.
"KILL HER!!!"
The remaining leaders of the five great families inhaled sharply, their blood running cold. A casual strike had just annihilated a hundred immortals, something even they, the family heads, couldn't do with such ease. With a unified, furious, and desperate roar, every remaining immortal in the Nether Prison charged forward, a tidal wave of dark power and hatred. The last Chaos Physique had slaughtered all their immortals.
They knew this one wouldn't stop either, wouldn't show mercy. It was kill or be killed. There was no third option, no negotiation. Thus, the sky darkened as blood rained down upon the Nether Prison, the first of many showers. It was as if the heavens themselves were collapsing, the firmament weeping. Giant bones, the remains of powerful dark beasts and immortals, fell like gruesome rain, as if all existence was descending into final annihilation. Yet amidst the chaos and slaughter, five figures remained unmoved at the very rear, observing with cold, calculated eyes. They were the patriarchs of the five great families.
Their scalps tingled as they watched, for history was repeating itself before their eyes. Their own ancestors hadn't understood the true terror of the Chaos Physique at first. They hadn't committed their full strength immediately, treating it as a minor threat to be managed, until it was far, far too late.
"We can't cast the Zhexian Curse anymore." Now that she had become a true immortal, killing her with the curse would've required ten King level immortals to jointly cast it. But that was impossible. Only five of that level remained in the entire Nether Prison.
"We're going to summon the master. The five of us will use the forbidden art to create a temporal anchor, allowing him to cross the river of time and descend here." The five exchanged a final, grim glance, a silent agreement passing between them. Then, they vanished from the battlefield, retreating into the deepest, most secret sanctum of the Nether Prison.
This act came with two great, ultimate costs. First, they would all die, their souls and bodies consumed as fuel for the ritual. Even their family's accumulated fortunes and bloodlines would be sacrificed, their legacies erased. They would've never considered this unless absolutely desperate, facing total extinction.
Second, even if the master descended, he could only act within the confined space of the Nether Prison. If Su Min chose to leave, he couldn't pursue her, the price of crossing the river of time was too great, his presence too unstable.
But Su Min, currently immersed in her own slaughter and enlightenment, cutting a path through the endless hordes, remained completely unaware of their desperate, final plan.
===
Su Min, did you miss her so much that you wear a black robe?
--
So this the the 'beginning of the loop' of time when the Sinful Buddha gazing into the river of time, right?