News of the Solar Sovereign Body

Deep within the Church of Light, the captured cultivator was tied up in the center. The extra button on his clothing went completely unnoticed by anyone.

Everything unfolded just as Su Min had predicted. As the sacrificial light flashed, the cultivator vanished—and along with him, Su Min disappeared as well.

"Well, well, so that's how it is."

When the light faded and space stabilized, Su Min couldn't help but feel a flicker of surprise.

"This is deep within the planet's core, and there's an independent space carved out here. Interesting. This guy is really cautious."

Narrowing her eyes, Su Min assessed their current location. The enemy had indeed hidden himself well—buried at the planet's core, within a specially constructed pocket dimension. If anyone tried to attack the planet, he would sense it immediately and use the folded space to escape undetected.

Whether he was strong or not was debatable, but his hiding skills were top-notch. Typical of the Dark Universe, where the law of the dark forest reigned supreme.

In this primal, violent, and emotionless dark forest, only the strong and the well-hidden survived. Such a brutal environment was unheard of in normal universes, where cultivators might be wary of each other but not to this extreme.

But since this was the world she was in, Su Min had no complaints.

"Let me see your true form. What's your cultivation level? Mahayana? Unity? Hmm… Unity late-stage? Perfect."

A cold smile curled on her lips as she watched a massive figure emerge from the void. A Unity late-stage cultivator, just a step away from Mahayana, was the ideal target for her. Just as Su Min was silently gloating, the figure rapidly shrank to normal size and approached the captive. With a single grasp, he lifted the man and stared into his eyes.

Then, with effortless ease, the Unity cultivator forcibly extracted the poor Qi Refining cultivator's Three Souls and Six Spirits.

"Hmm… this soul is strange. A Qi Refining cultivator with no residual soul fragments, his soul is intact. It's as if he absorbed purified soul fragments. Where did he get them?"

The Unity cultivator frowned in confusion. Who would bother purifying soul fragments? The process wasted over 90% of their essence. Normally, consuming one could elevate a mortal straight to Foundation Establishment, yet this guy had only reached Qi Refining.

But his confusion didn't last long—

Squelch!

"!!!"

The Unity cultivator froze as he stared down at the hand that had just pierced through his chest from behind. Clutched in that delicate palm was his still-beating heart.

Then—

Crunch.

The heart was crushed.

"Gah—!!!"

The Unity cultivator coughed up a mouthful of blood. While a Unity-stage expert wouldn't die from a crushed heart, the attack had severely wounded him. Su Min hadn't just stabbed him, she had infused Time Laws and Chaos energy into his body.

"Y-You… who are you?!"

Trembling with terror, the Unity cultivator stared at the black-haired woman who had appeared behind him without warning. Once a cultivator reached Unity, their Nascent Soul fully merged with their physical body, otherwise, Su Min would have gone straight for his soul.

"No need for you to know."

Su Min sneered, and in the next instant, her furious battle armor materialized around her. Sword in hand, she lunged forward. With him already heavily injured from the ambush, the fight would be straightforward. The only thing Su Min had to worry about was whether he would resort to self-destruction and blow up the planet.

And indeed, that was exactly what the Unity cultivator was thinking. Having lurked on this planet for centuries, he had contingency measures in place. But the next moment, despair filled his eyes. An unfathomable power had already sealed the entire space.

Imperial Artifact.

While the Dark Universe's top cultivators might surpass those of normal universes, they had one critical weakness, they lacked Imperial Artifacts. That was why, even if they escaped the Dark Universe, they would never dare approach the Heavenly Continent.

The major factions there could easily teach them a brutal lesson with their Imperial Artifacts. Trapped under the suppression of an Imperial Artifact, the Unity cultivator had no chance to make a desperate last stand. Back then, Su Min had expended tremendous effort to dismantle the Mountain God's Thousand Slaughter Formation. But against this guy? She didn't need to waste nearly as much energy.

Soon—

"Done!"

Holding the collected soul fragments, Su Min smiled in satisfaction. After a brief pause, she set up a killing formation in the space. While she wasn't a master of formations, her cultivation level alone allowed her to create a trap capable of annihilating Divine Transformation cultivators with ease.

Her reasoning was simple—

The cultists would continue sacrificing people to their "god." But now that their master was dead, any offerings would be instantly obliterated by her formation.

To be honest, Su Min was a little disappointed. She had given that man resources to survive his madness. Once he regained his sanity, he could have used the information within the soul fragments to cultivate properly.

Yet, a dog can't stop eating shit.

This planet's cultivators were beyond redemption. Su Min wouldn't hold back. Hunting them down one by one was impractical, but ensuring the planet's original order remained intact was the best she could do.

"Consider this my only mercy."

With everything set, she turned and left. What would happen to this planet after she left? Whether new tyrants would rise to dominate it—that wasn't her concern. The brutal rules of the Dark Universe dictated that she couldn't linger on any planet for too long.

"Next stop—another life-bearing planet, about 1.5 light-years away. Let's see what's there."

With that, Su Min vanished once more. She had discovered a new strategy, using these dark cultivators as bait to lure out the corrupted ones, giving them a nasty surprise. Whether Yao Xian'er had ever used this method, Su Min didn't know. But knowing her pride, she probably hadn't.

The arrogance of the strong.

But Su Min didn't care about such things. If she had that kind of pride, she would've died countless times already.

Time flew by.

In what felt like a blink, nearly fifty years had passed. During this time, Su Min traveled from planet to planet, witnessing many sights. Yao Xian'er had spent a thousand years navigating the Dark Universe. While a millennium was nothing to the cosmos, it was an eternity for living beings.

As Su Min followed the star map, she realized with dismay that many of the marked life-bearing planets had turned barren, some even completely destroyed.

It was unclear who was responsible.

Most cultivators even dark ones, wouldn't casually attack a planet. Normal cultivators weren't inhuman, and dark cultivators valued life-bearing worlds too much, they needed them to harvest soul fragments. Yet, despite that, many planets had been completely drained of life.

Su Min's gains, however, were substantial. Even with many planets destroyed, countless remained.

She had slain: Twelve Dao Comprehension cultivators; Eight Unity cultivators

Now, she possessed a considerable stockpile of soul fragments. But she hadn't absorbed or refined them yet.

"Not enough. This still isn't sufficient to push me to Unity late-stage."

Flipping through her spoils, Su Min sighed. The energy required to advance through the Unity stages was immense. If she absorbed the fragments directly, it would be enough, but she would never do that.

Just look at Jiang Xi, a Mahayana peak expert who had been driven to madness by these things, unable to die cleanly. If Su Min hadn't intervened, he would've been forced to perish alongside the corruption. She knew better than to take such risks. But refining the fragments meant losing most of their energy.

"What a waste. I'll need to hunt more targets. Hm?"

Just as she was about to resume her mission, something unexpected happened. Her waist token was vibrating violently. This was no ordinary token,it was a genuine Heaven-grade treasure with one simple function: Interstellar communication, instant and without delay.

Beyond that, it was useless.

Su Min didn't know how to craft such an item, Yao Xian'er had given it to her before she left. Its only limitation was that it couldn't be used outside the Dark Universe, not even at its edges.

"Oh? What's going on?"

Taking out the token, Su Min raised an eyebrow.

"Where are you? I'm sending you coordinates. Get there immediately—no delays!"

Yao Xian'er's voice was urgent.

"Understood. What's happening?"

Without hesitation, Su Min turned and rushed toward the designated location. If Yao Xian'er was this anxious, it had to be serious.

"According to Tianyang (the young monk's Dharma name), a Mahayana-stage existence just emerged from the dark chaotic zone. He was held up and couldn't stop it in time."

"What?!"

Su Min's eyes narrowed.

This was bad news. If true, she might not be able to defeat this foe. While the Five Elements Holy Body was overpowered, the gap between Unity and Mahayana was vast. And among Mahayana experts, some were exceptionally strong, ones she might not be able to defeat, possibly even forcing her to flee.

"A Mahayana early-stage cultivator. But… his body is a Solar Sovereign Body."

"Huh?"

Su Min paused, then her expression hardened.

"Has 'Yin and Yang Shall Never Meet' been broken?"

"No. That was his body's original state. Now, it's severely damaged and corrupted—no longer a true Solar Sovereign Body."

"Good. In that case… I'll have to test myself against him."

A glint of killing intent flashed in Su Min's eyes. Her ultimate goal in the Dark Universe was to gather enough Solar Sovereign Body essence to perfect her Taiyang Qi. If this enemy was once a Solar Sovereign Body, his flesh must contain Solar Essence Blood.

And that meant, she had to kill him.

With that thought, Su Min warped space, accelerating beyond light speed. In less than a day, she caught up to the target's aura. She didn't know what he was planning, but she couldn't let him roam freely. Cultivators emerging from the Dark Universe's depths were far more stable than those on the Dark Continent, and likely stronger.

The downside? Their soul fragments weren't as dense.

But they also weren't as cautious, these were new lives born from complete bodies, fundamentally different from the others.

Yet, just as she closed in—

"Heh. You've finally arrived."

The Solar Sovereign Body stood calmly, waiting for her.

"?"

Su Min froze, then her expression darkened.

The figure's body suddenly twisted violently—

A slender arm burst from its chest.

One became two.

And what made Su Min's face turn grim was their physiques:

Solar Sovereign Body. Lunar Sovereign Body.

"Well, damn."