Refining Puppet

Holding the crystal in her hand, Su Min couldn't help but sigh.

Although this was a Five Elements Crystal, its essence was the energy dispersed after that guy's self-severance. She had no idea what method he had used, but one thing was certain, she had to purge his aura before absorbing it.

This meant wasting a significant portion of the crystal's energy. Of course, Su Min only felt a slight regret. As long as it was useful to her, that was enough.

"After absorbing this, I should be ready to attempt the breakthrough to the Unity stage. Sigh… The further you go, the harder it gets."

She rubbed her temples, but there was no helping it. The continent was far from peaceful now. The Black Seal's Third Seat had already appeared, and the Skeletal Emperor was likely awake.

This posed a huge threat to her.

With the Skeletal Emperor's methods, he could quickly recover to the Unity stage. But advancing to Mahayana wouldn't be so easy. Although he couldn't compare to Yao Xian'er, Su Min was still no match for him in her current state. If they clashed now, her chances of survival would be slim.

"At the very least, I need to reach the Unity stage. That way, I can at least escape if things go south."

With this last thought, the ocean fell into silence. Only a few sea spirit beasts patrolled the perimeter—disciples of the Azure Dragon King, guarding Su Min's seclusion.

Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, over a decade had passed.

Meanwhile, in the Ancient Battlefield…

"Huff… huff… huff…"

Several cultivators stood with ashen faces, staring at a young girl before them. She looked no older than a teenager, but eerie flames flickered around her body.

"Hand over that corpse."

"No."

"You—!"

"Go ahead, take revenge on me. You all know where my sect is."

The group exchanged glances, but not a single one dared to threaten retaliation. That was the Immortal Gate—one of the top powers in the world.

Seeking revenge? Not worth it.

At worst, they'd lose a few corpses. But if they provoked the Immortal Gate, they'd lose far more than that.

"Hehe, then I'll be going."

With a smirk, Lin Yao turned and fled, leaving the group seething in frustration.

"What kind of 'Holy Maiden of the Immortal Gate' is this? She's more like a demoness!"

"Damn it! I went through hell to kill that beast!"

"Forget it. It's just a corpse. She didn't touch the core inheritances anyway."

With resigned sighs, the group dispersed.

Lin Yao wasn't just borrowing authority—she was wielding it like a weapon. And her own strength was terrifying enough that none of them could oppose her.

"I've collected quite a few corpses now, though most are just ancient bones long devoid of vitality."

As she ran, Lin Yao pondered her haul.

After years of trials in the Ancient Battlefield, she had not only grown stronger but also obtained a legacy inheritance. Now at the Half-Step Dao Comprehension stage, she was virtually unmatched in this region. These corpses were something Su Min had requested, so Lin Yao had no qualms about flexing her sect's influence to gather them.

Of course, she hadn't crossed the line, she never killed living cultivators for their bodies. All the corpses she took were already dead, remnants of the ancient battlefield. Still, her actions had infuriated many. But since the corpses had little practical value after so long, no one was willing to risk their lives fighting her over them.

"This batch includes three Unity-stage corpses… That was a close call."

After reviewing her spoils, Lin Yao decided it was time to return. She was on the verge of breaking through to the Dao Comprehension stage, all she needed was a Dao Comprehension Pill. Since she didn't know the specific pill for her physique, she'd have to settle for a generic one. Thankfully, the Immortal Gate still had a few in stock.

After all, not every Divine Transformation cultivator could advance with just a pill, so the sect's Dao Comprehension experts were few. But the pills Su Min had left behind were still available. With the sheer number of corpses she'd gathered, Lin Yao's contributions should be more than enough to claim one, even if Su Min wasn't around to approve it.

"I wonder why Lady Xie holds such a grudge against me… She won't deliberately block me, right?"

Lin Yao shuddered slightly. She still didn't fully understand Xie Yingying's inexplicable hostility. It wasn't murderous intent, but more like… annoyance.

"Ah, whatever. Time to head back. This Ancient Battlefield is too dangerous."

Suppressing her doubts, Lin Yao sprinted away. She had gathered enough. As for what Su Min needed the corpses for?

Puppets, most likely.

As long as she wasn't using living people, Lin Yao didn't care. Power and techniques were neither good nor evil, it all depended on how they were used. With that thought, she vanished into the distance.

Ten Years Later

The mountain in the ocean had completely disappeared. Su Min sat cross-legged where it once stood, her cultivation having reached its peak limit—the late-stage Dao Comprehension, the pinnacle before the next breakthrough.

"All that's left is the Unity Pill."

She exhaled slowly.

Reaching this stage was like climbing to the top of a hundred-foot pole—she needed one final push.

But this pill wouldn't be easy to refine.

"The Unity Pill will attract at least two, possibly three-colored heavenly tribulation lightning. To withstand that, I'll need Unity-stage protectors—and one won't be enough. The Little Golden Crow, Ao Xue…"

She had never refined this pill before, so she wasn't sure how powerful the tribulation would be.

But before that, she needed to craft her puppets.

Puppet-making was simple for her, but it required massive amounts of materials. And she certainly wasn't going to kidnap living people for it.

That would violate her principles.

Some rules weren't absolute, but if you abandoned too many, you'd end up like the fallen cultivators—neither alive nor dead, enemies of all living beings. With a flicker of movement, Su Min shot out of the ocean and returned to her sect.

Then—

"Tsk tsk, my precious disciple really went all out. Over a hundred Dao Comprehension-stage corpses, and even three Unity-stage ones… To collect those at the Half-Step Dao Comprehension stage, she must've gone through hell. Now she's in seclusion, preparing to break through. Yingying is also attempting her breakthrough."

After briefly catching up on sect affairs, Su Min was pleasantly surprised.

"Indeed."

Tian Yinzi, the sect's de facto manager, nodded. Now at the Divine Transformation stage, he was the perfect administrator, thanks in no small part to Su Min's pills. The Immortal Gate's foundation was now on par with any top faction, and Su Min's alchemy had played a huge role in that.

"Good. Distribute one of the five Dao Comprehension Pills I left behind. The rest of you… need to step up your game."

With a dismissive wave, Su Min vanished from the hall.

Though she could ask Unity-stage experts to guard her during pill refinement, she couldn't expect them to wait around indefinitely. Refining the Unity Pill wasn't a matter of one or two attempts, it could take years.

These experts might have plenty of time, but she couldn't just waste it.

"Let's see these corpses… I'll use the Unity-stage remains as the core."

After a moment's thought, Su Min collected all the corpses and disappeared into the depths of the continent. After her last incident, she refused to refine pills in the sect. The moment she succeeded with the Unity Pill, the entire world would know, and the Black Seal would undoubtedly come for her.

Having killed their Third Seat, she had made an enemy of them. They wouldn't let this slide. Though the Immortal Gate was safe, the Black Seal could plant spies in Eastern Mulberry Continent and sabotage her breakthrough.

At best, she'd fail her ascension. At worst—instant death.

So she chose the heart of the spirit beast territories, a remote no-man's-land far from human civilization. Anyone who dared approach would stick out like a sore thumb, eliminating any chance of ambush. As expected, the moment she left seclusion, someone noticed and reported it.

But then—silence.

Everyone waited with bated breath, expecting tribulation clouds to gather over the Immortal Gate. After all, Su Min's Unity Pill would undoubtedly summon multi-colored heavenly lightning—the perfect opportunity for sabotage.

But they had no idea she had entered the forbidden depths of the continent. This was the Golden Crow's ancestral land, a human-restricted zone. The coastal regions were already ceded to humans, so no one complained.

"These corpses are such a headache. They've been dead for so long that most of their essence has dissipated. Out of all these, I only managed to refine one usable skeleton."

Su Min examined the floating skeleton before her with satisfaction. For a human puppet, this frame was excellent. The rest of the corpses had been melted down, their decayed bones useless for crafting. But the Puppet Emperor's legacy had a solution, transplanting parts from other corpses.

So, like assembling building blocks, Su Min had pieced together this single perfect puppet.

"Besides the skeleton, crafting this puppet requires vast amounts of metal materials. The sect has already gathered them—three full batches, in fact."

Glancing at the blueprint in her hand, Su Min smirked.

The Medicine Cauldron could only cultivate herbs, it was useless for metals. So before leaving for the Five Elements Mountain, she had ordered a global procurement. After thirty years, they had finally gathered three sets of materials.

"These materials are ridiculously hard to obtain. Thirty years, and only three batches… If I had to wait around for them, I'd go insane."

But three was enough.

Refining puppets was far easier than refining pills. With her current soul power and flame control, it would be child's play. With a thought, piles of materials levitated into the air.

Then—flames erupted.

Under the Nanming Lihuo, the ores melted and fused.

This step was crucial.

In the modern world, there was a field called materials science. The processes for creating alloys were highly complex and closely guarded. Even if you knew the composition, without the exact procedures, you could never replicate them. A difference of a few degrees in temperature could produce entirely different results. And now, Su Min faced the same challenge.

Only with perfect execution could she proceed to the next step. As expected, she succeeded on the first try. The molten metal swirled in the air before coating the skeleton, layer by layer. In the blink of an eye, a metallic humanoid puppet stood in the chamber.

===

Lin Yao and Xie Yingying both carry torches for Su Min—they just don't know they're sharing the same flame.

Xie Yingying has no idea Lin Yao sees Su Min as more than just a master

Lin Yao remains oblivious that Su Min and Xie Yingying are already partners (even if the entire sect low-key knows)

Here's the kicker: While the entire sect politely avoids mentioning Su Min's love life around her disciple, Xie Yingying picks up on Lin Yao's particularly tender way of calling Su Min "Master." That clingy devotion? It rubs Xie Yingying the wrong way—not with murderous rage, but with the prickly annoyance of someone who really wants to wedge herself between them.

The result? An awkward one-sided cold war:

→ Xie Yingying exudes passive-aggressive vibes (think: strategically placing herself between them)

→ Lin Yao just senses unexplained hostility from Xie Yingying

→ And Su Min? Probably blissfully unaware in the middle of it all