Valley of Death

The atmosphere within Prince Yong's Manor was deathly cold, a lingering chill clinging to every corner. Su Min sparked Nanming Lihuoi once more, casting a faint golden warmth across the room and muttering under her breath at Xie Yingying.

That troublesome woman—clearly capable of restraining her frigid aura completely—insisted on letting a sliver of it leak out, as if trying to cultivate the image of some lofty, untouchable immortal.

Fortunately, Cao Yuanmu had stepped into the Foundation Establishment realm, so the cold didn't bother him much. But the same couldn't be said for the ordinary mortals sharing the room; their lips were turning blue.

Su Min had half-expected that Xie Yingying wouldn't care, but to her surprise, the moment her flame appeared, the other woman silently reined in her aura.

"What's the current status of that creature?" Su Min asked, her tone steady.

She hadn't been wholly focused when refining her last batch of pills, having left a thread of her consciousness free for monitoring the situation. Prince Yong had been updating her diligently, knowing full well that she was the only one who could handle the emerging threat. Worse, the creature's lair was situated near Yongzhou City—his own stronghold.

If it truly awakened, his domain would be the first to fall. He didn't need Su Min to urge him to act; he was already deeply invested.

"So you're saying it's begun absorbing corpse qi at a faster rate?" Su Min frowned. "It's trying to break free within the month? What's the rush?"

A corpse demon born crippled by nature, rushing its awakening? Was it eager to die?

Then again, this one had reached the Golden Core stage in undeath. There was a real chance it retained a shard of its former consciousness—twisted, but dangerously sharp. Prince Yong was visibly uneasy. A Golden Core corpse demon was a nightmare: cunning, brutal, and cursed with dark power. But only the two standing before him had any hope of stopping it.

He had three Foundation Establishment cultivators on his side, and while Master Mo had a longstanding bond with them and acted as their voice in the martial world, and Master Hui Ming would never sit idle in such a crisis—none of them could be fully relied on. He still remembered the horror atop the Yongzhou walls twenty years ago. Against such evil, no one but these two had proven themselves.

Even Master Mo was just a representative. Only Su Min—of those outside the ancient royal bloodline—had earned the right to stand alongside the lineage of the Prince Yong, whose inheritance stretched back centuries and claimed dominion over tens of millions.

"Three days from now will be the full moon," Su Min said slowly. "If that creature absorbs lunar essence, it could stabilize its flawed foundation. Whatever it loses by awakening early, it will more than reclaim under the moon's blessing."

"I see..." came Xie Yingying's voice from behind her, thoughtful and calm.

Su Min fell silent for a moment, pondering her companion's words. This sort of detail hadn't been mentioned in the game-world's lore. It might've been hidden in some obscure item description, like those soul games loved to use. But she'd never played them—of course she wouldn't know.

"I'm ready to act whenever. What about you?" she asked.

A few months' difference meant little to her. Cultivation was not a path for the impatient. She had just stabilized her breakthrough and wouldn't rush toward the later Foundation stage. Besides, against a corpse demon with a shaky Golden Core foundation, her current cultivation paired with techniques designed to counter such beings was more than enough.

Xie Yingying didn't even blink.

"I'm ready. I'll hold its attention. All corpse demons carry a chilling yin aura—their attacks won't do anything to me. You focus on offense. Your Nanming Lihuo will burn through it like paper."

"Then there's no need to wait. Let's leave now," Su Min said briskly. She was never one for delays. The creature had only just begun its awakening. If they struck now, they might be able to sever it before it reached its peak.

"In that case, this Prince, on behalf of the Eight Prefectures and Three Counties—and its millions of residents—, offers our deepest gratitude," the Prince Yong said solemnly.

The others in the room followed his lead, rising to their feet in unison and offering Su Min and Xie Yingying a formal bow. Even Xie Yingying was taken aback by the gesture. In that moment, she began to understand why Su Min's reputation carried such weight.

"That's enough. You don't need to be so formal," Su Min said. "What's more important is that you keep people away from the site. Once the fight begins, neither of us can guarantee control over the battlefield. Anyone nearby will be swept up and likely killed."

"Understood," the prince replied. He took a deep breath but held his tongue.

Before he could say more, the two women vanished in a blur of motion, already gone.

Not long into their journey, Xie Yingying broke the silence.

"After this… do you want to seal yourself with me?"

Su Min glanced sideways, not stopping.

Her voice was steady, but softer than usual. "I know your Su Clan still holds that grudge against the old witch from the Hehuan Sect. But that can wait until you reach Golden Core. You know as well as I do—sealing at Foundation stage is far easier than trying it after forming a core."

Su Min's slowed ever so slightly. The wind stirred her sleeves, but her expression remained unreadable.

"…So you dug that far back," she murmured.

She didn't sound angry. If anything, her tone was thoughtful—quiet as an old scar being traced. There was no bitterness in her tone—just quiet astonishment. Not because the memory had faded for her, but because someone else had bothered to carry it too.

She didn't look at Xie Yingying. Her gaze remained ahead, fixed on the path winding through the mountain pass, as if the answer could be found etched into stone.

"There's no need." Su Min's voice was like a door closing softly. "I've already made my preparations."

She reached up, adjusting her sleeve, though nothing was out of place. "Three hundred years from now," she added, almost as if reciting a vow, "we'll meet again on Golden Core Avenue."

Xie Yingying studied her for a moment, perhaps weighing whether to press further. But in the end, she only nodded.

"Very well. Just don't forget your grudge," she said. "If you leave it to rot, it'll turn into a heart demon."

Su Min gave a faint smile, but there was no warmth in it. Not anger, either—just a deep, unwavering calm that had taken years to cultivate.

Forget? She had endured because she remembered.

Of course she knew what Xie Yingying was truly offering. A fragment of her own Sealing Crystal—no small gesture. Something that precious wasn't given lightly, not even to a friend. It was an invitation: not only to safety, but to walk beside her on the long and uncertain road toward immortality.

Their spiritual roots were opposites. Their inheritances wouldn't interfere. A perfect match on paper.

But Su Min didn't need it.

From the moment she had sat before her screen, fingers hovering over the choices that defined a lifetime—she had already chosen. Immortality. Heavenly Dao Insight. A path meant for solitude, for those willing to endure centuries in silence for a future no one else could see.

What use was sealing oneself when she had already committed to outlasting the world?

"I appreciate the thought," she said after a long moment, "but I won't need it."

There was nothing arrogant in her voice—only certainty. She would cultivate quietly, endure quietly, and when the time came, she would walk forward while the rest of the world turned to dust.

Eventually, they arrived at a barren land, not a single blade of grass in sight.

"This is the so-called Valley of Death. After that last emperor's blood sacrifice, this place was shrouded in corpses for centuries. Any living thing that approached met a gruesome end. But now, as the monster absorbs the corpse energy, life is slowly returning."

Kneeling, Su Min observed the barren ground—where tiny green sprouts had begun to emerge.

The corpse energy had dissipated, and the Valley of Death's range was shrinking.

"We wait atop the ridge," Su Min said. "We're strong enough to ignore lingering corpse qi, but there's no need to alert it too soon. Once it shows itself, we strike and end this quickly. And the full moon's energy might give you a slight boost too."

Xie Yingying nodded. "Understood."