"Hu—"
Su Min let out a soft, measured breath, the still air in her quiet bamboo grove stirring gently in response. More than a week had passed since the confrontation that painted the foothills with blood. The treasure was securely hers, resting against her hip, and not a single soul had dared to disturb her peace since. In the ensuing, profound quiet, her cultivation had smoothly and steadily advanced, the energies consolidating until she had reached the mid stage of Qi Refining. Yet, such progress felt almost trivial now, a minor step on an endless road. For a practitioner, these early hurdles were the easiest, the foundation of the foundation. The true, monumental gate that loomed ahead, vast and imposing, was Foundation Establishment.
She knew from the inherited knowledge in her soul that Foundation Establishment was divided into three distinct paths, Heaven, Earth, and Mortal. The Mortal Path was the simplest, the most common, requiring only that one build their foundation directly with the resources immediately at hand, a serviceable but ultimately limited base. The Heavenly Path, however, was far more arduous, a path of legend. It demanded the gathering of five rare and powerful spirit items, each a perfect representative of one of the core elements, to construct a foundation of unparalleled purity and potential.
She had already, through a decade of patience and a stroke of immense fortune, secured a rare Wood element spirit treasure in the form of the Qiankun Gourd. Now she needed to seek out the remaining four, Metal, Water, Fire, and Earth, to ascend via the supreme Heavenly Foundation path. As someone who always pursued perfection, who would never compromise when a better, more powerful path existed, she knew the time had come to leave her sanctuary and set out on this grand, necessary journey.
"It is time to bid this place farewell," she murmured to the quiet, familiar grove, the bamboo stalks seeming to listen. "Among the Five Elements, the Wood element, often the rarest and most elusive, is already in my hands." She touched the gourd at her side.
It had been an unexpected, immense blessing, truly. The vine that had birthed the wondrous gourd was itself a natural born spirit object of profound vitality, more than worthy of the task. It was well known in the ancient texts that whenever one of the other four Elemental Treasures emerged into the mortal world, it would inevitably stir up storms of blood and chaos, drawing cultivators into a vicious frenzy.
Except for Wood. Its nature was different, more gentle and nurturing. Its awakening caused forests to flourish and vegetation to thrive, nourishing the land and its creatures without shaking the world's very foundations. The other four elements would not be so merciful. Each would spark a tempest, a visible disturbance in the spiritual currents of the world, and it was these tempests she could track. To do so efficiently, she would rely on the vast, intricate network of the Fuding Merchant Guild.
As the eyes and ears of Prince Yong, they had commercial and informational tentacles sprawling across the entire realm, capable of uncovering news and rumors from the most hidden, forgotten corners. Matters she could not personally search for across the vastness of Great Wei, they could handle with their web of contacts. Moreover, what she sought was no great state secret, just rare natural phenomena, so they would have no compelling reason to refuse. To the public eye, it would merely appear she was a wandering cultivator, a benevolent figure aiding the suffering as she traveled.
"I have arranged for the plant spirits," she said aloud, her preparations complete. "Each nearby village now shelters and is sheltered by one. As long as they offer regular, simple worship and provide ashes from burnt grass and wood as spiritual fertilizer, their safety shall be secured." It was the best protection she could leave them.
She took one last, long glance at the now empty, silent bamboo grove, a faint, unreadable emotion stirring in her heart. She had lived here for ten years, almost half her life in this world. She had even, without ever really intending to, nurtured little bamboo spirits here with her discarded pill dregs, though she used to gleefully pluck their leaves to brew tea when she was bored and restless. Now the awakened spirits had been transplanted to guard the villages, and this place had returned to being an ordinary, unremarkable forest, its magic withdrawn. Having tied up every last loose end, Su Min's figure flickered and then vanished from the grove, disappearing into the distant horizon like mist dispersed by the wind.
Within a quiet, secure chamber at the Fuding Merchant Guild, the steward provided his report, his voice respectful.
"Thus far, the court remains silent, a tomb of quiet. After you slew three of their Qi Refining cultivators so publicly, they must be choking on their own rage and humiliation. Yet, everything on the surface is calm, unnervingly so."
Su Min chuckled lightly, a dry, humorless sound at that. The truth was, the public order in the region had improved considerably, a dark irony. Previously, the city and the surrounding roads had been plagued by foreign refugees, landless and desperate people displaced by the empire's decay who often turned to banditry out of sheer need. The misguided, horrific sacrificial ritual conducted by the rogue cultivators had, grimly enough, incinerated most of that troublesome, unstable population. The few survivors had long since fled in terror, fearing they were next. With that rabble gone, a fragile, uneasy peace had returned.
The imperial court, entangled in its own deep, internal turmoil and the Demon Queen's schemes, could barely extend its withered reach to this remote corner of the realm anymore. As for Su Min herself, among the common folk, she was quietly revered as a mountain guardian spirit, a protector. Because of her known, violently strained relationship with the court, the worship was subdued, held in the privacy of back rooms and at small, hidden shrines. Yet it grew steadily nonetheless, a quiet undercurrent of faith.
At the foot of the mountain, villagers had even pooled their meager resources to erect a small, but proper, shrine in her honor. Now both mountain folk and cautious city dwellers came from time to time to burn incense and offer simple prayers for health and safety. The one who had discreetly provided the final, necessary funds for the temple's completion now stood respectfully before her, the steward of the Merchant Guild himself.
Su Min had not refused this offering. Faith incense, the power of belief, after all, might one day prove valuable in ways she did not yet fully understand, a currency of the soul. She had only one strict instruction for its upkeep, burn incense if they must, but no forced donations, no corruption from the temple keepers, and no allowing it to become a source of chaos or extortion.
"There has been no movement from the capital, no new edicts, no troop movements," the steward confirmed, pulling her from her thoughts. "The court likely simply lacks the strong, readily available cultivators to dispatch anymore. You have… depleted their reserves here."
"Good," Su Min replied, a single word of satisfaction. "Then let it be known across the realm, through your channels, that I have left this place to wander the world. Spread the word far and wide."
This, too, was a deliberate part of her plan. She knew neither the demon queen nor the emperor would swallow their grievances so easily. It was better to mislead them, to draw their attention and any potential, delayed retaliation to her moving, elusive figure, away from this place and its people. Let the mountain folk live in peace, forgotten. Not that she truly feared their retaliation, but it was an unnecessary complication, a distraction from her true goals.
"Miss Su is departing?" the steward asked, a clear note of surprise and apprehension in his voice.
"Indeed. My business here was tied solely to the object I obtained some days ago. With that matter fully resolved, I have no further reason to remain. It is time to wander the vast lands and see what fate has in store." She paused, her voice dropping to a soft murmur meant only for herself, yet audible in the quiet room. "After all, my divine arts are stifled here. This place has given me all it can."
To awaken more of her innate talents and to seek new, powerful spells and techniques, she needed broader skies, deeper wells of spiritual energy, and greater challenges. Staying in one place, no matter how comfortable, would only slow her growth to a crawl, trapping her in mediocrity. She still had treasures to seek and tasks to complete that no one else could accomplish for her.
"This..." the steward hesitated, his mind clearly racing through the implications, but seeing the firm, unshakeable resolve in Su Min's eyes, he dared not voice any objection or plea.
"My master instructed me to ask, should the opportunity arise..." he began again, cautiously, choosing his words with care, "does the immortal lady know how one might, truly and properly… enter the Qi Refining Stage? Not through… forced means."
"First, you need a proper, complete cultivation method. That, your own Tianqi inheritance should have provided. I will not interfere with the secrets of another faction. Second, you must temper your body to its absolute peak, purging all impurities and blockages, until it is a flawless vessel. Lastly," she said, her tone shifting slightly, becoming more pointed, "you must consume a Qi Induction Pill. It is the key that turns the lock."
"Qi Induction Pill?" the steward repeated, his eyes widening with a mixture of hope and awe. He had heard the legends.
Su Min smiled faintly, a knowing look in her eyes. She produced a single, perfectly smooth and faintly luminous pill from her sleeve. It was exquisitely made, radiating a pure, fragrant spiritual aroma. She placed it gently on the lacquered table between them. It was her last one. To her, now firmly anchored in the mid stage of Qi Refining, it was utterly useless, a relic of a previous stage. There was no reason to hoard it.
Gulp—
The steward swallowed audibly, his throat dry, his eyes locked on the pill as if it were his firstborn child. He knew its value all too well. The demon queen could mass produce cultivators, but her creations were flawed, unstable, and tragically short lived, mere tools. Su Min's pills, however, were renowned for their near perfection, with almost no discernible side effects. Each one was a priceless treasure that could found a noble lineage or secure a faction's future for a generation. It was a shame, he thought, that she had yet to take a formal disciple to pass on this art. Of course, he did not know that Su Min was not fundamentally opposed to the idea of teaching.
But to become a true alchemist or an artificer of her caliber required exceptional, innate talent, a specific affinity so rare that fewer than one in a thousand possessed it. She had simply not yet encountered a candidate who met her exacting standards.
"Miss Su... how much... for this pill?" the steward asked, his voice hushed with reverence as his hands trembled slightly, stretching almost involuntarily toward the gleaming object on the table.
"Bring me four pieces of information," Su Min said, her voice calm and level, all business now. "The pill shall be yours. Besides..." she added with a piercing, knowing look, "even if you acquired it in a rush, it would be useless to you or your master right now. I doubt anyone in Prince Yong's entire household has yet tempered their body to the required state of flawless perfection. The pill requires a perfect vessel, or it is wasted."
"This—" the steward started, then stopped short, his enthusiasm dampened as he realized she was undoubtedly correct. Their methods were crude compared to hers.
Su Min already had her plan. The pill was of no use to her, but letting the right person use it under the right conditions could enhance her own Path of Merit, creating a ripple of positive karma. And to set the vast, resourceful Fuding Merchant Guild scurrying to scour the lands for the four specific pieces of news she needed, she had to offer them a proper, irresistible bait, a goal worth any price.
"What information do you require?" the steward said, his back straightening with sudden vigor, all traces of hesitation gone. "Please, instruct me!" He slapped a hand to his chest, his expression solemn and eager, as if vowing to complete a mission of life and death. The prize was now within sight, and he would move heaven and earth to grasp it.