"Haaah..."
With a long, weary exhale, Su Min flicked her wrist, and the fierce flames before her snuffed out instantly. The heat in the room remained thick and oppressive, shimmering in the dim light. The alchemical furnace, already warped and glowing a dull, angry red from the intense heat, seemed to sigh in relief, though the reprieve was fleeting.
Crack!
The very next second, the battered furnace gave up entirely. It split apart with a sharp, metallic sound that echoed through the hut, scattering dark shards across the stone floor. A few embers skittered toward the corners of the room, dying out in the dust.
"Success. Three Qi-Inducing Pills."
She ignored the broken pieces and the ruined equipment. Her focus remained entirely on the three pills resting in her palm. They were perfectly round and lustrous, catching the stray light from the window. A rich, soothing medicinal fragrance drifted from them, smelling of cool mountain air and crushed herbs. These were unmistakably top-grade Qi-Inducing Pills. If their existence became known to the outside world, it would drive countless cultivators to madness.
"First, I will deal with those two," she murmured to herself, her fingers curling around the warm treasure. "Then I will need absolute quiet to break through. After that, I can finally focus on refining spiritual artifacts. Ten years should be enough."
Soon, the two men returned to her small courtyard. They stood near the stone table, the merchant looking anxious while Zhao Yiping tried to maintain a stoic facade despite his labored breathing.
"This is the second-grade Detoxification Pill I crafted," Su Min said, placing a jade-green pill into Zhao Yiping's trembling hand. The surface of the pill was smooth, almost glowing against his pale skin. "As for whether it can fully purge the poison from your body... I can't say for certain."
He swallowed it without a moment's hesitation. He didn't even stop to ask about the price or the risks.
"Hurry and guide the medicinal energy. Beyond this, may fortune be on your side," she added. Her voice remained calm, though she felt a flicker of uncertainty as she watched him. She wasn't exaggerating the danger. His survival truly was a matter of luck. Not only had he recklessly forced a breakthrough, which had accelerated the toxin's spread through his meridians, but he had also apparently absorbed new poisons in his battles. His body was a tangled mess of corruption.
The merchant guild representative silently stepped back, his boots crunching softly on the dry grass. As a mere early-stage Body Refining cultivator, he knew his place was to observe from a distance. He was also deeply curious. Their own guild's best physicians had written Zhao Yiping off, saying the man should simply go home and prepare for death. To see a cure in action was a rare sight.
As Zhao Yiping closed his eyes and activated his cultivation technique, the faint, sickly black patterns visible beneath his skin began to pulse. They receded slowly, drawn toward his core. The pill was clearly working, its potent energy forcefully suppressing the deep-seated poison that had been eating away at his life force.
"Hmm?"
Su Min, who had been watching his chest rise and fall, suddenly narrowed her eyes. In a fluid motion, she sidestepped away from him.
Spurt—!
The next instant, Zhao Yiping convulsed and coughed up a mouthful of inky-black blood. It splattered onto the grassy ground, looking more like thick tar than a person's lifeblood. The liquid sizzled and burned tiny, blackened holes into the earth, releasing a sharp, acrid stench that stung the nostrils and made the merchant gag.
A cold sweat dripped down the merchant's forehead. This is beyond extreme, he thought, his face turning a shade of sickly grey.
"Tsk... Looks like it's mostly cleared," Su Min said. She waited for the fit to pass before moving back to check Zhao Yiping's pulse. His skin felt clammy, but the unnatural bulging of his veins had subsided. "But the damage to your meridians and organs runs deep. From now on... you will have to live with it." She met his weary gaze, her own eyes clinical. "And don't hope for some miracle cure later. You have delayed the poison for too long."
"This junior understands," Zhao Yiping replied. His voice was hoarse, sounding as if he had swallowed glass, but his gaze remained steady. He sounded resigned, but not broken. Given how far the poison had spread, this outcome was far better than he had any right to hope for. "It's already more than enough. The time I have left... I have my own plans for it." He let out a long, shaky sigh.
"Since you provided so many rare materials," Su Min added, pulling a small porcelain vial from her sleeve and tossing it to him, "I will give you one more Detoxification Pill. If the poison flares up critically again, swallow this. It should save your life one last time."
"Thank you," he said, clutching the vial as if it were made of gold. "Even if I don't use it, it will be invaluable for those who come after me." He managed a wry smile. He knew his own body was a lost cause, but this pill could save another who had been poisoned recently, leaving them completely unscathed.
The merchant to the side watched this exchange, his eyes wide with awe. Any medicine capable of pulling a high-level expert like Zhao Yiping back from the brink was beyond price. It wasn't greed he felt, but a profound respect for the power he was witnessing.
"If there's nothing else," Su Min said, her tone growing lazy as she straightened her robes, "then I must ask you to leave. And remember my warning. Within a hundred years, none shall rival the Demon Queen."
"Senior, there's one thing I must ask," Zhao Yiping said quickly, stepping forward before she could shoo them away.
"What is it?"
"Why does the Demon Queen not simply leave the palace and kill us all? She has the power."
"Likely, she can't stray too far from a certain object," Su Min answered after a moment's thought. The mountain wind picked up, tugging at her hair. "As for what that object is... I don't know. Perhaps something within the imperial palace, or perhaps... the Emperor himself."
In truth, she had no concrete idea. It was a rule from the game that had bled into this reality, a mechanic designed to give players time to grow. How that translated into an actual reason here was a mystery. She had never been one to memorize every scrap of lore, and it was better that way; knowing everything would have been suspicious.
"In that case," Zhao Yiping said, his gaze hardening with resolve, "I will use what remains of my life to uncover the truth for the world. Otherwise, everyone will remain cowed by that witch's tyranny, too afraid to resist."
"Well then, I wish you success, Hero Zhao," Su Min murmured softly. She dipped her head in a slight, rare show of respect, her eyes softening for a brief second.
She could only sigh and offer her blessings. The simple truth was that within a hundred years, she stood no chance against the Demon Queen. But after that period passed? She would personally settle the score. Until then, she had to advance, one careful step at a time.
"Time to break through. I will disappear for a while."
She glanced again at the precious Qi-Inducing Pill in her hand. Refining it had cost her a furnace. If the Detoxification Pill was a low-tier second-grade elixir, then this was a mid-tier one. The difference in difficulty was stark, and the energy contained within it was far more volatile.
With a wave of her hand, every item in the room vanished into her storage ring, leaving the house barren and cold. Then, she left without a backward glance. Having cultivated here for so long, she had long since prepared a perfect, secluded spot for closed-door meditation, a place where she would be completely undisturbed. For a breakthrough attempt, that silence was everything.
Soon, she was seated cross-legged on a simple rug inside a hidden cave, nestled high in a cliff face. The air here was thin and crisp, untouched by the scents of the village below. Without any further delay, she tossed one of the glowing pills into her mouth.
Her body, long since tempered to the peak of the Body Refining realm, was more than ready. This was the final step into the Qi Refining Stage. Moreover, as a soul from another world, one touched by the game's own logic, her foundation was uniquely pure and full. She faced no natural bottlenecks.
In the game, players began at Qi Refining. The Body Refining phase was just a brief tutorial, over in a matter of minutes. For her, this breakthrough wasn't a desperate gamble, but the next logical, inevitable step on her path.