"The Four Disasters?" the steward asked. His brow furrowed as he processed her request, his mind clearly sifting through the countless reports and local missives that crossed his desk daily.
"Exactly," Su Min confirmed. Her voice was steady, the sound carrying a cool authority that filled the quiet chamber. She saw the understanding dawn in his eyes.
The Five Elements materials needed for the supreme Heavenly Foundation path were each powerful enough to cause a significant, localized stir upon their emergence into the world. However, they were ultimately meant for Foundation Building cultivators. This meant their power, while formidable, was contained within a certain scope. A skilled and well-prepared Qi Refining practitioner like herself could handle them without facing impossible odds. The resulting disturbance would be contained: a regional event, not a continent-shaking catastrophe that would draw the attention of every hidden power.
If a water-attributed innate spiritual object awakened, its power would at most ravage a single region. It might cause severe, unseasonal flooding in a coastal province or create a strange, permanent fog over a lake. It would be impossible for it to submerge an entire country and affect millions of lives. The impact would be just right for her purposes: a noticeable blip on the spiritual radar, neither too grand to be unbelievable nor too insignificant to be missed. It's a perfect signal.
With the poor, slow spread of information in this pre-industrial world, news of such an event would likely vanish beyond the affected county or prefecture. It would be swallowed by distance and isolation, unnoticed by the wider empire. Solving this puzzle and finding these specific needles in the land's vast haystack required an organization's support. It needed far-reaching eyes and ears like those of a major merchant guild. The perfect partner was, without a doubt, the Fuding Merchant Guild. Their commercial branches and informants spanned the entire land, from the capital to the most remote trading post.
"Now that you mention it," the steward said. He tapped his chin thoughtfully as he rifled through his memory's vast archives and recent reports. "There's something I have heard, a rumor from the eastern coast. They speak of a mysterious, giant clam demon that has appeared in the Eastern Sea. It's been devouring fishermen whole and sinking their small boats. The local Demon Slayer Division even sent a small team from the nearest city to capture it, but they were men of the land who were unfamiliar with the sea environment. They lost two men to the waves and the creature, then retreated without any further action taken. The matter was quietly buried."
"Hmm."
Su Min's eyes narrowed slightly in consideration. The Demon Slayer Division, for all their aloof and cruel reputation, wasn't entirely indifferent to the plight of common folk, at least not when it was convenient. Their very name carried a certain public mandate, and they did make a show of clearing out monsters around the capital and a few other major, economically vital cities. The Wei Dynasty's core territory stability was, after all, involved. The emperor, despite his many shortcomings and depravities, wasn't foolish enough to let monsters run completely rampant in his own backyard, where the nobles and wealthy merchants could see.
The smaller, more remote towns were often left to their own fate, deemed not worth the resources. But this southern city had been relatively fortunate. The mountain monsters had been frightened into hiding deeper into the wilderness by Su Min's potent presence. Even the fiercest tiger demons had been personally sought out and slain by her for their materials. Now, the awakened plant spirits formed an invisible, living barrier of safety for the populace. One could imagine that in the future, this place would become a rare sanctuary, a peaceful corner untouched by the outside chaos slowly consuming the empire.
"Give me a map. Mark this clam demon's location for me. I will leave now."
Since the lead was promising and specific, Su Min saw no reason to delay any longer. Whether the clam demon had actually consumed a water-attributed innate spiritual object or not, the creature itself was bound to possess materials and a core essential for her water element path. She would make her move regardless. It was a worthwhile destination.
"We just so happen to have some fine, swift horses here, Miss Su, to speed your journey east," the steward offered. He sat forward, eager to be of service.
"No need," she refused with a simple shake of her head. The offer was polite but useless.
For someone of her cultivation level, an ordinary horse was more of a hindrance than a help. She could move with swift, supernatural speed without relying on roads or trails, easily bypassing rough terrain, deep ravines, and wide rivers. A horse, bound to the roads and needing rest, would be far less efficient than her own feet powered by spiritual energy. She was her own best mount.
The steward watched, slightly stunned, as Su Min turned to leave the room immediately after speaking. She wasn't one for long farewells. He quickly recovered his wits and hurried to his desk to write a coded, urgent secret report for his master, Prince Yong. He detailed the alchemist's new quest and the bargain they had struck.
On the other side, Su Min had already passed beyond the city walls, her form a blur as she headed east toward the distant coast. Just as when she had first entered the Southern Border years ago, she didn't take the main, guarded roads. Instead, she ventured through deep, untamed forests and over rugged, lonely mountain ranges, a silent ghost flitting through the wilderness. But even traveling through these remote areas, the Wei Dynasty's internal decay was starkly apparent, and the sight unsettled her.
When she had traveled south a decade ago, the land had been relatively peaceful. She had seen countless farmers working their fields in the sun and had heard children's voices reciting lessons in village schools. But now, everything was different. There was nothing left of that fragile peace.
Most of the villages she remembered from her journey were completely abandoned. Their wooden skeletons rotted quietly back into the earth, reclaimed by ivy and moss. Once fertile farmlands were now choked with weeds and thorns. Even more unsettling, she had passed through the remnants of at least three ghost markets along the way. These were places where hope had died.
These were genuine ghost markets, not just abandoned towns. Massive iron cauldrons used for rendering human flesh still stood in town squares, their interiors stained dark and filled with scattered, anonymous human bones. The victims' souls, steeped in potent, undiluted resentment, couldn't find peace. They would manifest on moonlit nights, wandering the mortal world in silent, endless agony. Though she had mentally prepared herself for the sight, Su Min still found the reality of it deeply disturbing.
It wasn't that she feared these wandering souls. A single, concentrated Demon Slayer Thunder blast from her gourd would likely vaporize half the market and the spirits within. The real, practical concern was the inefficient use of her power. The number of spirits in such places was simply overwhelming, a tide of sorrow. She didn't know if she would get caught in an endless, draining battle against a foe with infinite numbers. A disturbance that lasted the whole night would eventually exhaust even her deep spiritual energy reserves.
Moreover, these ghosts could never be completely eradicated by force alone. Their resentment was a bottomless well fed by the empire's crimes. She was unwilling to waste her precious time and energy on such a futile, Sisyphean task. Although she had the potential for an endless lifespan, her immediate goal of reaching the Golden Core stage within a hundred years was a pressing one. She couldn't afford to be sidetracked.
If she failed, she would be facing the fully awakened and undoubtedly furious Demon Queen without the necessary power to resist. That's a prospect far more dangerous than any ghost market.
After a week of swift, relentless travel, moving from dawn until deep into the night, Su Min finally arrived at a high, rocky peak overlooking the churning sea. When she had left the south, the air still held the last warmth of autumn. By the time she reached her destination, a cold, biting autumn wind was sweeping in from the gray water. It carried the sharp scent of salt and a faint, underlying odor of decay.
"Ah, this should be the clam demon's location according to the map," Su Min murmured to herself. She glanced at the scroll in her hand before squinting out at the vast, gray, and seemingly endless expanse of water.
According to the steward's descriptions, the clam demon's base strength was at least that of a mid-level Qi Refining cultivator. If it had truly consumed one of those special innate spiritual creatures, its power would have surged dramatically. It would likely push into the late Qi Refining stages. There was even a small chance it could have reached the Foundation Building stage, a possibility Su Min found completely unacceptable.
However, there was no need to worry too much yet. Based on the information, this clam demon had only been causing trouble for less than half a year. Even if it had consumed a treasure, its newfound power would be raw and unstable. If given another ten years to consolidate the power, it might have a real chance to break through to Foundation Building, but for now, it was probably only at the peak of the Qi Refining stage.
Even then, its cultivation wouldn't be solid. Its control would be clumsy, making it far easier for her to outmaneuver. The real, immediate challenge would simply be finding it in its own element. In such trackless waters, while she could walk on the waves for a time using her spiritual energy, her reserves would eventually be depleted far from shore. She would need the help of the local fishermen. They, at the very least, had to guide her to the creature's general territory.
"Let me head down to the village first and find a place to rest," she decided. She rolled up the map with a crisp motion. "This mad dash has left me in need of a proper bath and a hot meal. And it seems the emperor hasn't even issued a warrant for my arrest yet." She had been listening for news of it during her journey, but heard nothing.
Perhaps he thought it was pointless, that no local constable could actually stop her. Or maybe, in a rare moment of political cunning, she didn't want to openly offend a skilled alchemist of her growing reputation. After all, in the cultivation world's unwritten rules, matters of treasure hunting were all about individual ability and fate.
Life and death in such pursuits were in heaven's hands, and lasting grudges weren't so easily formed over them. But in any case, after traveling so far, she hadn't seen a single wanted poster with her face on it. As for her original identity as a disgraced noble's daughter, that was ten years in the past: a forgotten story. She had fully grown into her power and features now. No one would recognize the thin, terrified girl from those old tragedies, nor would anyone even remember her name.
When she finally arrived at the small, weather-beaten seaside village, however, she froze at the outskirts. The entire settlement was in a state of frenzied, desperate celebration. Supplication might be a better word. People were banging on old, hide-covered drums and wearing garish, faded costumes of red and green. Under the lead of a strange, painted priestess shaking a gourd rattle filled with bones, they were performing a wild, rhythmic dance by the water's crumbling edge, as if conducting some sort of last-ditch ritual to appease the unforgiving, hungry sea.