"What's the rush? You carry no bamboo token, nor do you bear any injuries."
Su Min's tone was calm as she looked at the panting messenger. The local chieftains ruled like petty kings, holding power over life, death, and even the so-called "first night rights" of young women. But to Su Min?
Meaningless.
"Not for those matters. The three chieftains humbly request your presence for urgent discussions."
The messenger spoke with deep respect. Everyone knew that bamboo tokens couldn't be forged. A visiting Daoist priest had once explained that each token carried a unique spiritual imprint. Fear and reverence kept the messenger's tone steady.
"All three chieftains? Interesting."
Su Min paused in thought. These three ruled over the hundred-mile radius where she had secluded herself to await the treasure gourd's maturation. For them to summon her together meant it wasn't something trivial. A token of respect was warranted, so she decided to humor them with a visit.
At that moment, on a terrace overlooking the village, the three chieftains were gathered. Their faces were grim as they stared at what lay before them.
Though each was powerful in his own right, they had managed to stay united. Without that unity, they would have long been swallowed up by rival chieftains or by the Great Wei to the north. Living deep in the mountains offered protection but not isolation. They still felt the pressure of the outside world. Resources were better here, yet so were the dangers. Staying together was their only path to survival.
But what lay before them now went beyond any territorial squabble.
A corpse lay stretched out on the ground, and it was horrifying to behold. The man's arms were spread wide, his face twisted in terror. His eyes bulged from their sockets, and his mouth hung open far wider than humanly possible. The strangest part was that this man had only been in his early twenties.
Now, overnight, he looked as if he were seventy or eighty. The sight alone made their blood run cold. And this wasn't even the first case. They had stationed guards around the area last night, yet recalling the silent massacre still sent chills down their spines.
With no other choice, they had decided to seek help from the "immortal lady" who had appeared two years ago—Su Min. The shock of her arrival had never faded. Even these hardened chieftains treated her with utmost caution and respect. It wasn't only fear that restrained them, but awe.
"Gentlemen. What troubles you?"
A voice, light as drifting snow. Su Min descended from the sky, her cyan robes fluttering. She certainly wasn't about to walk all the way here. After confirming the location, she had simply flown over. As for the poor messenger? Left far behind, probably still catching his breath somewhere.
"Greetings, Master."
The chieftains immediately bowed as she landed. It wasn't just because of her strength, but also her unmatched healing skills. A person who could both kill and save was someone to respect—and to fear.
One chieftain trembled slightly. He was the unfortunate soul Su Min had once "used to establish her authority." Though she possessed a special identity, her current appearance was crafted by her own hand. She wasn't the kind of beauty that shattered kingdoms, but her ethereal grace left people breathless.
When she first arrived, it was like a peacock strutting into a flock of plain white chickens. And as the saying went, "Trouble brews at a widow's door." Su Min wasn't a widow, yet the kind of trouble she drew was even worse.
To secure a decade of peace, Su Min had decided to make an example out of someone. The chieftain before her had been foolish enough to volunteer by storming in with a mob, trying to force her into marriage.
Su Min had shattered his thighbone on the spot, then proceeded to give his men a collective beating, leaving every one of them bruised and broken.
But that was only the beginning.
After breaking his leg, she even treated him with her own Black Jade Bone-Mending Paste, which healed him completely in less than three weeks—a miracle by local standards. Yet just as he started to recover, Su Min broke the same leg again exactly thirty days later.
And she did it again. Another thirty days, another broken leg. No matter where he hid or how many guards he hired, she always found him. Once, when he tried conspiring with other chieftains to plan against her, she caught him right after he left the meeting and—crack—another leg broken.
As for how she tracked him down every time, it was simple. She had marked him with a spiritual seal. Normally, any cultivator could erase such a mark with ease, but unfortunately, neither he nor anyone in his village had the faintest bit of cultivation.
Eventually, the man broke down, weeping and begging for mercy. Only then did Su Min relent. Her display of power had been extremely effective. From that day on, no one dared to provoke her. Even the other chieftains treated her with genuine reverence.
The only side effect was that the poor man she had chosen as her example seemed to have developed severe trauma. To him, Su Min's beautiful face now resembled that of a jade-faced demon.
"Tsk. The elderly often succumb to time's embrace. My skills won't— Wait. Spiritual residue? Demonic aura?"
Su Min's dismissive wave froze mid-air.
"He wasn't old," the chieftain blurted out, his voice trembling. "He was barely twenty. He aged overnight! And this is already the fourth case in the village!"
Even the traumatized chieftain forgot his fear. Whatever was happening here was far deadlier than Su Min's punishments.
"They've encountered something unclean," Su Min said after a moment's inspection. "Their essence blood has been drained."
Her frown deepened. Essence blood was a vital energy that every human possessed, whether they cultivated or not.
For cultivators, losing too much could cripple their strength or cause rapid aging.
For ordinary people, it was even worse—their very lifespan depended on it. Once drained, death followed soon after.
But draining essence blood wasn't as simple as spilling ordinary blood. Even Su Min couldn't do it without using special methods.