"This old hag... looks like I'll have to report this to His Majesty."
The governor said nothing aloud, but inwardly, he cursed. Setting fire to the mountains would surely bring the wrath of the mountain gods upon them. According to ancient tales, burning the mountains often led to plagues of mice and failed crops, disasters viewed as divine punishment. And if the heavens chose someone to blame, he would be the one to suffer.
In truth, he felt a touch of pity for the Su family. A good Ministry of Revenue official, now completely destroyed. With that thought, he lost interest in lingering any longer. He turned his horse around and rode back toward the city, leaving behind the brothel madam, who watched everything with venom in her eyes.
Her master hadn't punished her yet, which meant she still had a chance. Otherwise...Just thinking about it made her shudder uncontrollably.
A few days later, inside the imperial palace.
"Escaped? Useless fools! You can't even keep track of a little girl, and now you expect me to send more troops? Summon ten thousand soldiers from three neighboring provinces to hunt one person? That's absurd!"
Emperor Wei of Great Wei narrowed his eyes as he stared at the memorial in his hand, absentmindedly stroking a jade ruyi scepter.
"I even gifted you the daughter of the Su family. You let her escape, and now you want me to move the army? Do you have any idea how much a mobilization of that scale costs?"
"Your Majesty... do you desire immortality?"
Before his voice had even fully faded, a sharp, rasping tone came from the jade scepter. It was the same eerie voice the madam had heard days before.
"Hoo..."
At those words, Emperor Wei's breathing grew a little heavier. But the voice continued, sensing that his reaction wasn't enough.
"That girl is naturally suited for cultivation. In desperation, she has already managed to release minor spells. But without proper methods to guide her, she cannot refine or absorb spiritual energy properly. Right now, if we send a few fearless men, she can still be captured easily. However..."
"Speak!"
The emperor, his heart already tinged with envy, urged impatiently. He lacked the girl's natural gift, and he was far too old to change that.
"You must realize that the heavens have reopened and the world has awakened. Beings like me are no longer unique. If she happens to encounter another fateful opportunity... don't forget, Your Majesty, you wiped out her entire family. She will surely seek revenge.
Therefore, Emperor, stop hesitating. I am only one step away from full restoration, and she is that step. This cannot be solved later by simply sending more troops."
"I understand. Summon General Mu. I have a task for him."
After hearing all this, Emperor Wei no longer hesitated. A being like that girl, one who bore such hatred toward him, could not be allowed to exist. No matter the cost, he would capture her. No one could be permitted to threaten him, not even the smallest chance.
—
In the mountains.
"Huff... so hot... but it should be done. This body really is like a standard player's physique."
Carefully extinguishing the fire before her, Su Min picked up a freshly refined pill. She sniffed it lightly and smiled. She had successfully made a bigu dan. At the same time, she noticed something strange about her new body, something that reminded her of a player's setup in a game.
In cultivation, most practitioners faced bottlenecks. But player characters—heroes in games—did not. They could even delay their advancement to gather better resources. For instance, at the Foundation Establishment stage, there were three possible paths: Heavenly, Earthly, and Human.
Most players would hold back until they could walk the Heavenly Dao, spending years gathering rare items. It wasn't that they couldn't advance, but that they chose not to. There were also secondary professions like alchemy, forging, and array crafting that players could freely master.
So when a main character appeared in a cultivation world, they would naturally be an unrivaled genius. Su Min's situation was the same. Otherwise, how could she have entered the Body Refining stage overnight with only a damaged and incomplete cultivation method?
Now that she had refined the bigu dan, she no longer had to worry about food. The next step was to focus on cultivation. Only by growing stronger could she survive. With that thought, Su Min pulled out her spirit weapon. Unfortunately, she couldn't refine it further until she reached the Qi Refining stage.
The Body Refining stage merely prepared one's body for Qi Refining, guiding energy inward. Her current method, the Changchun Gong, was a Qi-gathering art. Even while resting, she needed to constantly draw in spiritual energy to temper her body.
That was what she had been doing for the past few days. Since being hunted by the authorities, she hadn't dared to sleep deeply. Instead, she maintained a semi-meditative state, using cultivation to stay alert. In the deep mountains, wolves, tigers, and leopards roamed freely, and sleeping too soundly meant courting death.
However, she hadn't been cultivating for long when a series of heavy footsteps reached her ears. Su Min's eyes flew open as she scanned her surroundings. Her sword was already in her hand, ready for action.
Swoosh!
A piercing sound split the air. Su Min reacted instantly, slashing her sword forward — splitting the incoming projectile.
A sharp sound sliced through the air. Su Min reacted instantly, slashing her sword forward to deflect the incoming projectile.
"An arrow?"
Seeing what she had struck down, Su Min's heart tensed. Only then did she realize she was surrounded. Soldiers with shields and machetes had closed in from all directions. The arrow had been just a probe, fired by a single archer. After seeing her deflect it, the archer abandoned his bow, raised his shield, and moved forward.
"A hunter among them... that explains it."
Even surrounded, Su Min stayed calm. She quickly scanned the group and spotted a rugged hunter in their midst. Although she had been cautious, she wasn't professionally trained. No doubt she had left subtle traces behind—nothing ordinary soldiers would notice, but obvious to a hunter.
"Daughter of the criminal Su clan, surrender your weapon immediately!"
A soldier shouted loudly. Su Min rolled her eyes. His outburst caused a brief distraction among the others, who all waited to see her reaction.
"Now's my chance."
Seizing the moment, Su Min lunged forward, stepping on the shoulders of two soldiers, crushing their bones beneath her feet, and vaulting out of the encirclement. In an instant, she appeared before the hunter. Before he could even react, she slit his throat in one clean motion.
Then she darted into the forest and vanished, leaving behind two screaming soldiers clutching their broken shoulders and a fresh corpse on the ground. The rest of the troops could only stand frozen in shock.
Such speed!
Her movements were too swift, and with the mountains high and the forests dense, she disappeared in the blink of an eye. Though the soldiers were trained, they were still only human and had no hope of stopping her.