Silently feeling the cool touch against her forearm, Su Min didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The mighty Dragon Emperor was hiding in her sleeve like a pet—wasn't this just asking to be ridiculed?
But with this arrangement, Su Min finally dared to venture into the Black Tortoise's secret realm. After all, Liao Jie's cultivation was half a step into the Dao Comprehension stage, and that Black Serpent had likely recovered to a similar level.
Facing one of them alone, she could rely on Xie Yingying's blood essence to enter that special state and suppress them. But if she had to fight both at once? The only outcome would be a desperate escape.
And yet, the Black Tortoise's secret realm was a place she had to enter. If she missed this chance, the next opening wouldn't be for another thousand years.
By then, it'd be far too late. The world might not even have many people left.
This left her in a dilemma. Even if she sought help, options were scarce. Human allies lacked the necessary combat power, and demonic beasts… well, she didn't dare trust them too much. Besides, an ordinary Soul Transformation-stage demonic beast probably wouldn't be much help anyway.
But now, that wasn't a problem anymore.
Dragons took pride in their honor—once they gave their word, they wouldn't go back on it.
"Should I just charge in recklessly?"
"Do as you please. I'm in no hurry."
After this brief exchange, Ao Xue fell silent, clearly leaving the initiative to Su Min. For divine beasts like her, lifespan was measured in millennia. A little extra waiting meant nothing. This gave Su Min plenty of room to maneuver. At the very least, she wasn't about to let this dragoness's strength go to waste.
"Let's make a deal. How many people did that monk bring, and what are their cultivation levels?"
Licking her lips, Su Min hatched a ruthless plan. Since they'd come looking for trouble, she wouldn't hold back. She intended to wipe them all out—every last one.
"Aside from him, there are two others, both at mid-stage Soul Transformation."
"Three sixth-tier pills in exchange for their lives. How about it?"
"..."
Silence.
Even the Dragon Emperor couldn't refuse such an offer. Everything in this world had its price, and Su Min knew the allure of high-grade pills was irresistible to demonic beasts. Alchemy was a human-exclusive art—no beast could replicate it.
That was why pills were even more precious to them, and why the three great clans had instinctively sided with her before. Without any prior grudges, they naturally sought to curry favor.
"Right now, I can only refine low-grade sixth-tier pills. But once I reach the Soul Transformation stage, I'll be able to produce mid-to-high-grade ones. What do you think?"
Smiling faintly, Su Min sweetened the deal. A half-step Dao Comprehension expert was a rare and dangerous foe in this era. If he escaped, he'd lurk like a venomous snake—who knew how strong he'd become at his peak? What if he surpassed even the Golden Crow's power?
That would spell absolute disaster for her. Su Min wasn't about to take that risk. Besides, now that she'd reached late-stage Nascent Soul, combined with Xie Yingying's blood essence, she stood a real chance of suppressing him.
Killing him? That was another matter.
But if her Yin-Yang Soul-Sealing Seal landed, his cultivation would plummet to at least early-stage Soul Transformation. In that weakened state, she was confident she could finish him off.
And let's not forget—this was the Weak Waters.
All humans, unless protected by a water-attribute Heavenly Treasures, would suffer a significant drop in combat power here. Su Min, however, was an exception. With the Black Tortoise's mark now in her possession, the balance of power had shifted in her favor. And if that still wasn't enough?
Well, according to her memories, the Black Tortoise's secret realm held external forces she could leverage.
"Deal!"
Sure enough, the Dragon Emperor agreed without hesitation. Su Min knew how desperately spirit beasts and divine beasts coveted pills. Over the years, she'd refined countless elixirs for them—their demand was insatiable.
Clearly, the dragoness was tempted.
While the dragon clan did have fire dragons among their ranks, those brutes were better suited for forging weapons. Ask them to refine pills? They'd probably just incinerate the ingredients into ash.
Having a high-tier alchemist as an ally was invaluable. And since Su Min was offering, why refuse?
This wasn't a lack of confidence in her own strength—just an extra layer of insurance. Two mid-stage Soul Transformation cultivators?
In the Weak Waters?
Killing them would be as easy as slaughtering chickens. As a supreme divine beast on par with the Golden Crow, her combat prowess was no weaker than that of humanity's most exceptional special physiques.
"Heh."
A cold smirk curled Su Min's lips, her eyes gleaming with murderous intent. That monk had tried to screw her over in the secret realm before. If she'd been even slightly weaker, she'd have died then and there.
"The Black Tortoise's secret realm will emerge in three months. Right now, most of the demonic beasts have withdrawn. You won't find any other helpers—and as a human, you can only enter once."
"Damn it!"
Su Min cursed inwardly.
No wonder the place was so deserted—everyone had cleared out, leaving only the top experts to handle things. Like the dragoness before her, who'd been entrusted with this task. As a pure-blooded divine beast, the bloodline legacies here were useless to her.
Hell, even ordinary spirit beasts had no use for them. Su Min's original plan had been to bribe a group of Soul Transformation experts. Even if it meant spending two or three months doing nothing but refining pills to repay the debt, she'd have made sure those monks died. After all, asking them to fight one-on-one was suicide. But ganging up on an enemy in a lopsided battle?
That was a different story.
Cultivation wasn't just about brute force—there was also diplomacy and strategy.
Calling in a group beatdown was just good sense.
"What a shame."
Sighing internally, Su Min resigned herself to making some final preparations during the remaining time. Soon, as time flowed onward, a tremor ran through the Weak Waters. The Black Tortoise's secret realm had emerged—right on schedule. Meanwhile, outside, four figures stood with cold killing intent radiating from them. Three were monks, their faces twisted with malice beneath halos of Buddhist light.
The last was a hunched, elderly man—the human form of the Black Serpent.
The two groups had struck a deal.
Future Maitreya Mountain only wanted Su Min dead—nothing else mattered.
As for the Black Serpent?
It craved her flesh.
As a human cultivator—and one of the most gifted of her generation—devouring her would yield nourishment equivalent to several Soul Transformation-stage demonic beasts.
This was the same reason that old witch had targeted her all those years ago.