"Haaah..."
With a long exhale, Su Min flicked her hand lightly, and the flames before her were snuffed out.
The furnace, already deformed from the intense heat, finally caught a breath — though it was only for a fleeting moment.
Crack!
The next second, the battered furnace shattered completely, scattering shards across the floor.
"Success. Three Qi-Inducing Pill Pills."
Su Min paid no mind to the broken furnace. Instead, her eyes gleamed with excitement as she examined the three perfectly round pills in her palm—smooth, lustrous, and exuding a rich medicinal fragrance. These were clearly top-grade Qi-Inducing Pill. If word got out, countless cultivators would go mad trying to obtain them.
"First, I'll deal with those two. Then I'll need a quiet place to break through. After that, it's time to focus on refining spiritual artifacts. Ten years should be enough."
Soon, the two men returned to her small courtyard.
"This is the second-grade Detoxification Pill I crafted. As for whether it can fully purge the poison from your body... I can't say for certain."
Placing a jade-green pill into Zhao Yiping's hand, Su Min watched as he swallowed it without a moment's hesitation.
"Hurry and absorb the medicinal power. Beyond this, may fortune be on your side," she added quickly, her voice calm but her heart uncertain.
Su Min wasn't exaggerating. Whether the pill could fully cure him was genuinely uncertain. Not only had Zhao recklessly forced a breakthrough, accelerating the toxin's spread, but he had also apparently absorbed new poisons in battle. At this point, his survival depended entirely on luck.
The merchant guild representative, meanwhile, silently stepped aside. As a mere early-stage Body Refining cultivator, he had no place to interject in front of these two. Besides, he was curious about the efficacy of a second-grade pill—especially since he knew just how dire Zhao Yiping's condition was.
On the brink of death.
Had Zhao Yiping not possessed such formidable cultivation, he would have long since perished. Even the best healers in their guild had concluded that saving Zhao was impossible; prolonging his life a little longer was the best they could hope for.
As Zhao Yiping closed his eyes and activated his cultivation technique, faint black patterns across his body began to fade, slowly but surely. Clearly, the pill was working — the poison was being suppressed.
"Hmm?"
Su Min, who had been observing closely, suddenly frowned. In a flash, she sidestepped away.
Spurt—!
The next instant, Zhao Yiping coughed up a mouthful of inky-black blood. The blood splattered onto the grass, sizzling as it burned holes through the ground, releasing a sharp, acrid stench.
"..."
A cold sweat dripped down the merchant's forehead. This is beyond extreme.
"Tsk... Looks like it's mostly cleared. But the damage to your internal organs runs deep. From now on... you'll have to live with it," Su Min said after carefully checking Zhao Yiping's condition.
"And don't bother hoping for some higher-grade cure either. You've delayed the poison too long."
"This junior understands. It's already more than enough. The remaining time... I have my own plans. Sigh..." Zhao Yiping's tone was resigned, but not despairing. Given his condition, this outcome was better than he'd dared hope for.
"Since you provided so many rare materials," Su Min added, tossing him a small porcelain vial, "I'll give you one more Detoxification Pill. If the poison flares up again, swallow this — it should save your life one last time."
"Thank you. Even if I don't use it, it'll be valuable for the ones who come after me."
Accepting the vial, Zhao Yiping gave a wry smile. Although he no longer had much use for it, passing it on might one day save someone else's life. If this pill were consumed within three days of poisoning, it would leave no lasting harm.
Meanwhile, the merchant to the side couldn't hide the flicker of astonishment in his eyes — not with greed, but with genuine awe. Their guild's resident physicians had examined Zhao Yiping before, and their conclusion had been blunt: "Be grateful you're alive. Go home and prepare for death."
Clearly, each of these pills was priceless. Any medicine capable of saving a high-level expert like Zhao would command an astronomical price.
"If there's nothing else," Su Min said lazily, "then I must ask you to leave. Remember my warning: within a hundred years, none shall rival the Demon Queen."
"Senior, there is... one thing I must ask." Seeing that Su Min was about to shoo them off, Zhao Yiping hurriedly stepped forward.
"What is it?"
"Why does the Demon Queen not simply kill us all?"
"Likely, she cannot stray too far from a certain object," Su Min answered after a moment's thought. "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 idea. It was a rule set by the soul-game that intertwined with reality, ensuring players had a chance to grow instead of being wiped out immediately.
As for how it translated into the real world — that remained a mystery.
~Edit and rewritten by Rikhi, Reiya_Alberich, ReiNyam~
Influenced by soulslikes, much of the lore was hidden in item descriptions and obscure clues. Su Min wasn't a lore enthusiast. Though she'd watched playthroughs, she hadn't memorized every detail. It was normal not to know everything—if she did, that would've been suspicious.
"In that case," Zhao Yiping said, his gaze firm, "I'll 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, bowing her head.
Su Min could only sigh and offer her blessings. Within a hundred years, she'd stand no chance against the Demon Queen. But after that? She'd personally settle the score and sever this karmic bond. Until then, she had to advance step by step.
"Time to break through. I'll disappear for a while."
She glanced at the pill in her hand—the precious Qi-Inducing Pill. Refining it had cost her a furnace. If the Detoxification Pills was a low-tier second-grade elixir, then this was mid-tier second-grade. While the alchemy manuals didn't categorize them so finely, the difficulty gap was undeniable.
With a wave of her hand, everything in the room vanished into her storage ring, leaving the house empty. Then, she departed. Having cultivated here for so long, she'd long since prepared a secluded spot for closed-door meditation. There, she'd be completely undisturbed—critical for a breakthrough attempt. Soon, inside a hidden cave nestled in a cliffside, Su Min spread out a rug and sat cross-legged. Without delay, she tossed a pill into her mouth.
Her body, long since at the peak of the Body Refining realm, was ready. One final step — and she would enter the Qi Refining Stage. Moreover, as a transmigrated soul influenced by the soul-game's mechanics, her foundation was pure and full, with no natural bottlenecks.
In the game, players started at Qi Refining outright. The Body Refining phase was just a brief tutorial, completed within fifteen minutes. So for her, this breakthrough wouldn't be too difficult.