Observing the group inside the battleship, Su Min felt extremely curious.
They gave her the same aesthetic feeling as when she read novels about groups being tricked by someone into piloting battleships to bombard the seven forbidden lands.
Actually, she had arrived at the very beginning but held back out of curiosity. She wanted to see what tricks these people could come up with, and the results proved they were indeed just tricks. Pure energy supply couldn't shatter those skeletons formed by laws.
Just as she was about to intervene, she detected someone peering at her. This wasn't ordinary observation, but a special method of glimpsing through karma and reincarnation. This made her extremely displeased - being spied on through karma. Moreover, after reaching the Unity stage, all cultivators gained a special ability:
The power to fold space. This was precisely what enabled Unity-stage cultivators to traverse the cosmos. Decades ago, it took her years to travel from Lin Yao's planet back to the Heavenly Continent. Now, the same journey would take only about a week.
When she pursued the Skeleton Emperor before, both of them had moved similarly through space. Of course, this ability had limitations - it didn't work as well on planetary surfaces, being most effective in the void of space.
Su Min directly folded space and appeared before them. The strongest among these people were only at the Divine Transformation stage, with none even reaching Dao Comprehension stage, completely incapable of interfering with her actions.
Thus, the bridge fell into an eerie silence.
To everyone, it seemed like a goddess had descended - cold, mysterious, arrogant, with eyes that looked down on all living beings. Especially those eyes, transmitted through cameras to everyone's screens, poured cold water on their agitated hearts, instantly calming them.
Just one glance from Su Min had quelled countless riots. As a Unity-stage existence, Su Min's entire being was wrapped in laws. Even those watching through screens could feel the influence of these laws, like lower lifeforms facing ancient gods. In her current state, Su Min's power rivaled that of so-called ancient gods or old gods.
The only difference was that she didn't despise life nor would she cause unnecessary trouble.
This was people's first impression of Su Min, though if she knew, she'd definitely find it hard to keep a straight face. At most, she might be too lazy to look at people, but she would never look down on any lifeform.
Unaware of these thoughts, her attention focused on a pure white girl in the crowd. With a slight wave of her hand, the girl felt an irresistible force lifting her up.
"Interesting..."
Looking at the girl's pure white eyes and the two trails of blood from them, Su Min was intrigued. For a Divine Transformation cultivator to spy on an absolute superior like herself without having her brain explode was quite telling.
"Quite interesting, little girl. Where's your Heavenly Eye?"
Su Min recognized this state - it indicated an extremely rare talent: the Third Eye.
Similar to Erlang Shen from Journey to the West or Grand Tutor Wen's Heavenly Eye from Investiture of the Gods. Encountering someone with a Heavenly Eye here surprised her. But clearly, the eye hadn't awakened, or perhaps this world simply didn't know how to awaken it.
This was similar to Lin Yao's situation - a physique their civilization couldn't develop. In fact, this world's understanding of cultivation might be even worse than Lin Yao's, since that world had a once-Mahayana stage cultivator sleeping within it.
That cultivator, wanting better and more abundant resources, had been pushing that world's development. But this world clearly lacked such influence - Su Min detected no one here who had even touched the threshold of Dao Comprehension stage.
"Little girl, I'm quite interested in you."
Looking with interest at the pale girl, Su Min felt genuine curiosity. If this girl could truly awaken her Heavenly Eye, it would be of tremendous help for her future. She couldn't directly observe the river of time - that would create an anchor point for that future existence. But through laws of karma, she might glimpse some corners of it, which would be very useful.
"Great one, if you can save our civilization, we're willing to offer everything - even becoming your servants or slaves."
"Oh?"
Su Min's eyebrows twitched slightly at this. She glanced around at the others, who all lowered their heads in agreement. In fact, it wasn't just them - people across the planets were holding their breaths. Like drowning people clutching at their last straw, anything was better than being devoured by that thing.
"Agreed."
Su Min narrowed her eyes as she spoke. Her original goal was that thing anyway - everything else was just bonus. Moreover, she had no interest in being any kind of ruler.
She lacked both the desire and the time. She was only somewhat interested in this girl before her - being able to spy on someone two major realms above without having her head explode indicated remarkable talent. And she happened to have methods to develop that talent - after all, hadn't the Future Maitreya Mountain's monks, unable to master time, turned to karma instead? Before she destroyed them, that is.
Though she'd sold their Buddhist scriptures to other Buddhist sects, she'd naturally kept copies for herself - enough to help this girl fully awaken her eye.
With that decided, Su Min turned and left the battleship, arriving in the starfield ahead. In just this short time, that thing had drifted much closer, growing from peanut-sized to basketball-sized in their view. This distance was enough - any closer, and even if Su Min destroyed it, the aftermath could still cause mass extinction on these planets.
"As earth follows heaven, heaven follows dao, dao follows nature... Dharma Aspect!!!"
Facing the approaching giant flesh sphere, Su Min silently recited.
Let's not forget the mental cultivation method she practiced was the Great Thunder Temple's core secret - Great Sun Tathāgata Sutra. Now, with her Five Elements Holy Body reaching Great Completion, Heavenly Dao Insight triggered again.
This time, she directly comprehended a long-desired divine ability - the Dharma Aspect from Journey to the West, Sun Wukong's true trump card. It represented a complete evolution of dharma manifestations, and she was now unleashing it for the first time.
Simultaneously, the five-element halo behind her began radiating dazzling light, rapidly expanding until it became colossal in the battleships' views. Following this came celestial phenomena - Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, the four sacred beasts swirling upward and converging together.
"Hiss—"
The next moment, gasps of astonishment echoed everywhere. Everyone witnessed an extremely spectacular scene - not just those present, but also people behind the screens.
Because at that moment, an overwhelmingly oppressive and terrifying figure began rapidly enlarging. In the blink of an eye, a ten-thousand-zhang tall figure clad in armor formed from the four sacred beasts appeared before everyone.
In that instant, they all felt unparalleled pressure and despair from that figure - an existence far beyond their reach. After the initial fear passed, many felt somewhat reassured. At least this person could protect them. Having witnessed the horror from cosmic depths, they'd learned a lesson: how fortunate it was to find a powerful protector.
A dog with an owner is better than a stray barking aimlessly without knowing who its master is.
Unaware of these thoughts, Su Min - after fully manifesting her Dharma Aspect - disappeared from her spot, reappearing before the giant tumor. Though she couldn't see inside, she could sense a certain eye-filled with wariness-looking back at her.
"Come forth, Future Maitreya Bell. Lift your restrictions."
Su Min raised her hand slightly, and an ancient bell slowly materialized.
Previously, the Future Maitreya Bell had restricted her usage, fearing she'd become overly reliant on its power. But now, that concern was unnecessary. Moreover, her current opponent was no minor character. Even if the Sinful Buddha were reborn, at initial Unity stage, he wouldn't be a match for this thing in its current state.
Sure enough, the next moment, the bell's resistance vanished. Instantly, Su Min gained full control of this emperor artifact. Then, holding a sword in one hand and the bell in the other, she charged straight in.
Crack!
Almost immediately, the bone armor that had stymied the entire fleet shattered. Su Min plunged inward, and the giant tumor came to a complete standstill, silently floating in space.
But everyone knew tremendous turmoil must be happening inside. All they could do now was pray.
Meanwhile, SuMin...
Pfft—
After reaching Unity stage, there was no need for flashy techniques. Though her Dharma Aspect now stood ten thousand zhang tall, compared to this tumor spanning an entire star system, she was still insignificant.
Thus, she faced a sky-blotting rain of blood mixtures - any single drop enough to severely injure a Unity-stage cultivator. Yet now they fell like rain upon Su Min's Dharma Aspect, producing nothing but faint wisps of white smoke - completely ineffective.
Su Min's dharma body had already fused multiple laws, and with her Five Elements Holy Body at Great Completion, her elemental resistances had reached terrifying levels - flawless perfection. These special blood attacks didn't transcend elemental categories, and with the Black Tortoise Armor (now evolved into Four Symbols Armor) protecting her, they couldn't even count as light scratches.
Her every attack was like fire meeting snow, instantly vaporizing everything. Each strike cleared hundreds of kilometers of space.
Thus Su Min rampaged through the tumor, expending almost no energy.
"Skeleton Emperor, I know you can sense me. Stop breeding clones in there - dare your true self come out and fight?"
Rampaging through the area, Su Min quickly cleared vast spaces, creating a vacuum inside the tumor large enough to hold a moon.
Facing such an existence, Su Min asked with interest. This giant tumor might be somewhat troublesome, but couldn't actually consume any of her energy.
Clearly sensing this, the Skeleton Emperor began recalling all the blood within the tumor. The bloodless flesh rapidly withered, and in just moments, the structure had shrunk considerably.
"Finally bringing out your trump card."
Su Min smirked coldly. The Skeleton Emperor had been forced to use his final reserves - now recalling all blood essence to fuse into himself, abandoning the useless bulk to reach peak condition before battling her.
Su Min didn't stop this - it was already too late. In under ten seconds, the massive tumor completely disintegrated, its remains scattering as cosmic dust. The withered flesh chunks blocked Su Min's attacks temporarily.
Then a humanoid figure as large as her Dharma Aspect descended. But compared to Su Min's exquisitely detailed manifestation, this blood-red giant looked utterly grotesque - completely naked, faceless except for a massive vortex where its face should be. At the vortex's center stood the Skeleton Emperor's withered form.
Clearly forced to this point, the once-emperor, a Feathering-stage cultivator, chose to battle this rising star properly.
"Mid Unity stage? So he's advanced after all."
Sensing the blood giant's aura, Su Min felt slightly surprised. The gaps between Unity stages were enormous - even larger than between early and late Dao Comprehension stages.
Naturally, such large gaps meant correspondingly difficult advancements. Even Su Min wasn't confident about reaching mid Unity stage within a thousand years. But the Skeleton Emperor had clearly gone on a frenzied plundering spree during her seclusion to reach this level - which now pressured her significantly.
Against ordinary mid Unity stage cultivators, Su Min could just crush them. But her opponent was once an emperor. While the so-called top-tier physiques could challenge emperors, that only meant putting up a fight - they'd still be thoroughly suppressed or killed in actual combat.
Thus even with her Great Completion Five Elements Holy Body, Su Min remained extremely cautious. But no amount of caution justified retreat now. Stepping forward, she confronted the blood giant as two colossal figures stood off in the starry void.
Meanwhile, everyone in the distant battleships had rushed to the best viewing positions, holding their breaths as they watched. When the giant tumor disintegrated earlier, they'd erupted in cheers.
But those cheers died within a minute as an even more terrifying presence emerged. From their perspective, the tumor had been like a giant egg - and now they dared not imagine what monster had hatched from it. Their only hope remained that seemingly slender figure. Moreover, their battleships had exhausted nearly all energy, leaving no capacity for further attacks.
As prayers rose from the crowd, battle erupted again.
This time, without any flashy techniques - just Su Min's Heaven-rank mid-grade sword (upgraded again) clashing violently against the blood giant's halberd.
Boom!!!
No fancy tricks - just primal, brutal collisions whose beauty enthralled both the battleship crews and those watching remotely.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Silent shockwaves pulsed through the void as collisions between the titans made nearby planets tremble. On those worlds, continents cracked and quaked - every moment brought earthquakes exceeding magnitude ten.
Or perhaps these couldn't even be called earthquakes anymore - entire planetary crusts were shifting.
Everyone on the bridges and behind screens watched tremblingly. Though they too could destroy planets, that required dedicated planet-busting cannons. Yet this was just collateral from two beings clashing. Without even employing any techniques - just the most basic, primal exchanges.
"So there are realms beyond super-evolved beings - we just didn't know."
Beyond awe, the flagship's crew felt unprecedented excitement. As each planet's highest echelons, they saw religion as tools to control masses. The higher one's status, the less one believed.
Now they thought similarly. While commoners saw deities and saviors, they saw paths to higher realms - roads beyond what they'd thought were dead ends.
Previously ignorant, they'd assumed they'd reached limits. But Su Min and that being proved how narrow their views had been.
As they yearned for higher realms, the first round between Su Min and the Skeleton Emperor concluded.
Her gigantic Dharma Aspect remained unscathed, while the blood giant showed many dents - Su Min had gained absolute superiority.