"Whew, we're out."
As soon as she emerged from the dark cosmos, Su Min couldn't help but tilt her head back and take a deep breath. That oppressive, nauseating feeling was finally gone. Every time she cultivated or healed her injuries, she had to deal with that disgusting stuff while recovering, it was utterly revolting.
"Yeah, after spending so long in the dark cosmos, it's finally nice to breathe some fresh air again."
Hearing Su Min's words, Yao Xian'er nodded in agreement.
"Wait... air?"
Su Min scratched her head in confusion. They were in cosmic space, there wasn't just no air here, there wasn't even spiritual energy.
But before she could finish speaking, she felt someone grab the back of her collar. The next moment, the world spun around her as Yao Xian'er took her on a spatial jump.
At that moment, Su Min felt like a ragged cloth fluttering in the wind behind an airplane.
In less than three days, a thoroughly miserable-looking Su Min returned to the outskirts of the Heavenly Continent. No matter how strong her combat power was, she was still only a Unity-stage late-phase cultivator.
There were some things she simply couldn't compare to a Mahayana-stage cultivator, it was just how things were. So while it had taken her a long time to fly here, being carried back by a Mahayana-stage expert took only a few days.
"The gap is huge... what a headache."
Su Min couldn't help but mutter to herself.
"Don't be discouraged. You're already doing incredibly well. Right now, in the entire Heavenly Continent or even outside the dark cosmos, you're only beneath the two of us. And this is your first life, with no accumulated foundation or reserves."
"Yeah..."
Su Min just shrugged helplessly before turning to fly back to her sect. She had brought back something precious, she had used less than a third of that creature's essence blood, yet it had already allowed her to fully master the power of the Lunar Sovereign within her. The rest could all be given to Xie Yingying.
As for the troubling matters... she'd think about them after returning.
Soon...
"Guess who's back?"
A familiar voice rang out behind her—soft, mischievous, laced with the lightness of someone who didn't quite belong in this moment.
Before Xie Yingying could turn, a familiar warmth engulfed her from behind. Arms looped around her waist, firm and bold. A radiant, white heat pressed against her back, so potent that her breath caught in her throat.
The teacup in her hand trembled.
"Su Min—?" The name slipped out more like a breath than a question.
A hum answered her. Low, deliberate. Then that unmistakable Taiyang energy flared to life, no longer volatile or hesitant but calm, perfected, and achingly alive. It licked at her skin like a caress, not of fire but of presence. Her heart stuttered.
Su Min's voice brushed against the nape of her neck, muffled by the closeness. "Mmm. I missed this scent."
"Mmm—"
The sound escaped before she could stop it. Half-choked. Embarrassingly soft. She wanted to scold her. She should have. But her body leaned back before her thoughts could catch up, craving the contact. Her spine arched slightly, like it remembered that brilliance far too well.
Taiyang. Sacred and white. The very thing she had craved and denied for over a century.
"You're not pulling away," Su Min whispered near her ear, part teasing, part confession.
"You're not stopping," Xie Yingying shot back, voice tight, already breathless. Her cheeks burned, and she hated how easily her body responded, how easily her resolve unraveled.
Then, just like that, the warmth vanished.
Gone. As if the sun had been swallowed by clouds. The loss was instant and sharp, leaving her skin cold, her breath shallow, and her thoughts scattered.
Xie Yingying gasped, reeling from the absence. Her fingers instinctively reached behind her, catching the edge of Su Min's sleeve as if trying to hold onto what had just been there.
"Why… why did you stop?" she asked, her voice quieter now.
Su Min slipped around to face her, eyes gleaming with a crooked smile. "Because if I didn't, you'd tackle me, and we really don't have time for that."
Xie Yingying stared, trying to remember how to breathe. Su Min stood right in front of her, whole and warm and alive. Teasing her like no time had passed at all.
Except everything had.
"You..." She tried to glare, but it came out weak. "What are you doing, hugging me out of nowhere like that?"
Obviously, only someone with Su Min's terrifying spiritual power could sneak up on her like this. Anyone else would have been reduced to ashes or rather, not just anyone, but even many Unity-stage cultivators wouldn't have been able to pull it off.
Su Min leaned in and rested her chin on Xie Yingying's shoulder. Her breath, warm and steady, ghosted across her neck.
"I missed you."
Those three words landed heavier than any Imperial weapon.
Xie Yingying looked down, trying to hide her face. But her fingers trembled slightly on the edge of the teacup. Missed her? Of course. But how many seasons had passed? How many quiet nights had she spent staring into the distance, wishing this exact moment back into existence? She'd stopped counting. It had become easier to bear when she stopped trying to measure what was missing.
Then Su Min's teasing smile softened.
She reached up and brushed her fingers along Xie Yingying's jaw. Tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her hand lingered, warm and steady.
"It's been a long time for you, hasn't it?"
Xie Yingying didn't answer. She couldn't.
It had been a long time. The world had moved on without Su Min. But not her. She had waited through each quiet winter, each passing moon, each ache she could never name aloud. Waiting had become survival.
And now Su Min was here, unchanged and yet no longer the same. Her aura felt steadier now, less volatile, like a sun that no longer flickered. There was still light in her eyes, but it burned quieter.
Xie Yingying lifted her gaze.
"How long can you hold it now?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Su Min smiled, soft and steady. "As long as I want."
Xie Yingying swallowed. Hard. Her fingers curled unconsciously against her lap. It wasn't just her emotions that responded to the Solar Sovereign Physique. Her very body—her Lunar Sovereign constitution—recognized it, resonated with it, hungered for it. That first time, when Su Min had touched the edge of its power, she had nearly lost control. And now... it was complete.
"Then don't come so close," she murmured, voice tight. "It's distracting."
"Mm. Is it?" Su Min leaned back, pulling something from her sleeve with one hand. A small crystal vial, no larger than a thumb.
The moment it caught the light, Xie Yingying froze.
A single drop of Taiying essence blood floated within. Her pupils constricted. Her breathing grew shallow.
"For me?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
This was Taiying essence blood—something incredibly precious to her. Since Su Min's body wasn't a Lunar Sovereign physique, further absorption of the essence blood after mastering Taiying energy would yield diminishing returns.
It was like her body had developed resistance or more accurately, a rejection reaction. But Xie Yingying didn't have that problem. Seeing the essence blood, she couldn't help but swallow hard.
"This is for you. You're already close to the mid-phase of the Unity stage. With this and my elixirs, you might even reach the late-phase."
Once someone reached the Unity stage, there was no such thing as an unstable foundation anymore. The Dharma Form had already solidified, all that was left was to climb higher. At this point, any method to boost cultivation was fair game, and Xie Yingying's opportunity was incredibly rare.
Her mouth felt dry. "I... thank you."
But before she could say more, her brows furrowed.
"Why are you back?" she asked, her voice quieter now. "Senior Jiang Xi said you might be stuck there for thousands of years. I thought…"
She trailed off. She had planned to go find her, once her cultivation was high enough. But now—
Su Min's teasing edge faded. "Because something terrible is coming. The Dark Rebellion is on the verge of erupting. We had no choice but to return."
She paused. "Yao Xian'er, the Great Thunder Temple, and I will soon be issuing a joint statement."
That made Xie Yingying blink. The weight of those names was no joke—two Mahayana-stage cultivators and the only eighth-grade alchemist in the continent. That level of coordination only meant one thing: disaster.
This wasn't just significant—if this were Earth, it would be like all five permanent UN Security Council members issuing a joint declaration. Nobody would dare say a word against it, and anyone who did would be crushed instantly.
But the more authoritative the announcement, the greater the danger it implied. In her past life, the only things that could make all five major powers unite were nuclear weapons or an alien invasion. The same logic applied here—though she didn't yet know what the Dark Rebellion was.
"This isn't just a warning," she said, voice tightening. "It's war, isn't it?"
Su Min nodded slowly.
Xie Yingying exhaled, tension flooding her limbs. "Tell me everything."
So Su Min did. And as she spoke, Xie Yingying's expression turned graver. Her lips thinned. Her fingers clenched. And when the story was over, she stood without a word, gripped the vial tightly, and walked toward her secluded chamber.
But just before she entered, she turned back.
Her eyes met Su Min's, calm and unreadable.
"Wait for me."
Su Min smiled, her voice low. "Always."
And with that, Xie Yingying vanished into seclusion.
Though this might not be enough to reach the Mahayana stage, reaching the late-phase of the Unity stage would at least give her combat power close to Su Min's. Against early-stage Mahayana dark cultivators, she'd stand a decent chance.
After all, the most troublesome thing about those creatures wasn't their strength—it was how to completely eradicate them. Moreover, this was enemy territory for them. If Su Min and that puppet master controlling Lunar Sovereign and Solar Sovereign were here, she could deal with them much more easily.
"Someone! Deliver my invitations to all the major factions."
Su Min issued the order calmly, and someone immediately nodded in acknowledgment.
Now that the three of them had returned, the entire Heavenly Continent was in an uproar. What was even more alarming was that nearly every major faction had received three invitations simultaneously—from the Great Thunder Temple, the Immortal Gate, and the ancient Great Emperor.
The Great Thunder Temple was one thing—a universally despised Buddhist sect, but the strongest branch of Buddhism, with a Mahayana-stage cultivator. The other two were even more formidable, especially Su Min, who made everyone shudder.
Though there were already a few seventh-grade alchemists on the continent, Su Min was the only eighth-grade one. Everyone needed her, and even though she was the weakest in combat among the three, her influence far surpassed the other two combined.
Naturally, upon receiving Su Min's invitation, everyone was all smiles. If they could get closer to her, so much the better—ideally, they could even get her to owe them a favor, making future alchemy requests much easier.
But soon, the super factions that received the news stopped smiling. They finally understood why these three powerhouses had issued invitations together. The message was brief, but those few words made everyone's hearts tremble:
One month from now, gather at the Immortal Gate to discuss how to face the Dark Rebellion.
Dark Rebellion—those two words made everyone feel like they couldn't breathe. These were ancient factions with long histories; they knew exactly what the Dark Rebellion was. And the more they knew, the more terrified they became.
It was a catastrophic calamity spreading from the dark cosmos. If a Great Emperor were present, they would lead the world's strongest cultivators to wage war against the dark cosmos. But without a Great Emperor...
The outcome would be tragic. The entire universe would be overrun by those terrifying, twisted dark cultivators. That would be a true disaster, because dark cultivators—both in power and numbers—were nothing like the fallen ones.
And then there were the even more horrifying beings—the Residual Immortals.
They were entities capable of shattering universes and destroying imperial artifacts. Many Great Emperors had been mortally wounded fighting them, because these were once true immortals.
What chilled them to the bone now was how quickly the Dark Rebellion was erupting. The continent currently had very few Mahayana-stage cultivators. Though there was a former Great Emperor holding the line, the gap in strength was far too vast.
"While I'm gone, the sect is in your hands. Also, prepare an escape route—have a few Divine Transformation-stage cultivators take people to the cosmic borderlands and hide. Remember, only Divine Transformation-stage cultivators. Dao Comprehension-stage ones would be detected."
Countless sect ancestors were roused from seclusion, staring at the invitations in their hands with grim expressions.
When the nest was overturned, no egg would remain unbroken. Dao Comprehension-stage cultivators were too conspicuous—they would inevitably be hunted down, dragging everyone around them to their doom. Only Divine Transformation-stage cultivators could be preserved, and even they would have to be sealed in crystals, using methods to isolate themselves from the Heavenly Dao and the passage of time to evade detection. They couldn't even bring imperial artifacts.
The cost was staggering—far greater than what they had paid during the era of declining spirituality.
This was no longer something ordinary people could handle. They had no choice but to fight with everything they had. Otherwise, even if a branch of their lineage survived, they would lose the proud legacy they had built over generations.
It wasn't just the humans, either. The various divine beast clans had also received the news, and their reactions were even more intense. After all, compared to humans, divine beasts were far more... appetizing to those creatures.
Moreover, their memories were directly inherited, so they understood the horror of this situation all too well. Just look at what Su Min had encountered when she first entered the dark cosmos—even peak Mahayana-stage divine beasts had fallen in great numbers.
In just a short time, even ordinary cultivators could sense that something was wrong. The atmosphere in the major sects had become suffocatingly tense.
But compared to them, Su Min was actually in a better position. She had already accepted that life and death were beyond her control, she was doomed no matter what. Even if she did what Yao Xian'er had done—severing her cultivation, her Five Elements Sacred Body, her half-step Chaos Body, and starting over completely—
She would still be hunted down and killed through the laws of heaven and causality.
She knew more than anyone else. The mastermind behind all this feared one thing above all else, the Chaos Body. And she was the one most likely to achieve it. The timing of this Dark Rebellion was no coincidence, they were launching their invasion now, at all costs, precisely to stop her.
It was infuriating. She was at the late-phase of the Unity stage, just one step away from Mahayana. Once she reached Mahayana, she could begin unraveling the true secrets of the Chaos Body.
So it was clear, they must have received some kind of warning. They might have even timed the Dark Rebellion specifically to strike before she could reach Mahayana. But so what?
The Heavenly Continent was not defenseless. The cost would be immense, but if the super sects willingly sacrificed themselves to fully awaken their imperial artifacts, they could fight back and repel the invasion.
The price would be horrific, but when survival was at stake, who would hold back?
Another reason Su Min wasn't panicking was that the full eruption of the Dark Rebellion would take at least several decades, if not a century. This was the world of cultivation, those creatures couldn't just descend and prepare overnight. In the meantime, she could make her own preparations.
Like the pill furnace burning before her right now, within which a supremely high-grade elixir was taking shape.
Eighth-grade, eight-colored tribulation lightning.
Her greatest harvest from the dark cosmos had been those soul fragments. Not only had they massively boosted her cultivation, they had also strengthened her spiritual power. Combined with the improvements from her breakthroughs, she was now ready to push her limits again—to refine a ninth-grade pill: the Mahayana Pill.
This was the true pill capable of reshaping heaven and earth, and her greatest guarantee for breaking through to Mahayana.
"Though time is tight, I still have a chance to reach Mahayana. Once I do, I might find the path to the Chaos Body. Achieving the most powerful physique in history while at Mahayana would make my combat power unimaginably strong—perhaps even surpassing Yao Xian'er. It might take a true immortal to stop me then."
Her eyes gleamed as she spoke. The next moment, radiant light enveloped her body. High above, a massive thundercloud was gathering, and soon, a dazzling multicolored tribulation lightning bolt descended, striking straight at Su Min.