"Father, Elder Brother, we're here."
Before Su Min could say anything, the doors swung open again. Three youngsters, all at the Qi Refining stage, limped in one after another, bruised and battered, clearly fresh from a beating.
"My lady, should we prepare some medicinal pills for them?"
Though Prince Yong knew Su Min had taught the trio a harsh lesson, their miserable state still startled him. With war on the horizon, these three were supposed to be his trump cards, and their injuries looked rather serious.
"You're not a cultivator, so you don't understand their recovery speed. And you three little brats, stop pretending. These superficial wounds won't even take a full day to heal."
"...Uh."
Sure enough, the moment Su Min spoke, the three straightened up at once, not daring to utter a word of complaint. The sight left the Jianghu practitioners in the room wide-eyed.
Because of their recent beating, the trio's auras were unstable and leaking uncontrollably. Yet this very instability made something clear to everyone present: all three were genuine Qi Refining cultivators, not artificially boosted by the Demon Queen's forbidden arts. Moreover, they were still young, unlike the middle-aged Sect Leader Mo.
Among the gathered experts, a few had reached the peak of Body Refining. But precisely because of that, they knew how hard it was to advance any further. Their gazes toward Su Min grew even more intense. Undoubtedly, this was all thanks to a single pill, one capable of defying fate itself.
"Hmph."
Seeing the looks around him, Prince Yong smirked inwardly. These people clearly understood what was at stake now. No wonder even the Demon Queen and the Emperor, despite suffering such humiliation at Su Min's hands, hadn't dared issue a warrant for her arrest.
After all, on the surface, Su Min was just a reclusive wanderer. Though she had business dealings with the Fuding Merchant Guild, she was essentially a free agent. Even at the height of her power, the Demon Queen had chosen to recruit such individuals rather than provoke them. The only pity was that only Prince Yong knew the true depth of Su Min's grudge against the Emperor.
As for the greedy looks directed at Su Min, Prince Yong merely smiled. None of these people could afford her services. Only he knew how exorbitant her prices were. Even his family's centuries-old estate struggled to meet her demands, let alone these small Jianghu sects. As his business partner, Su Min had only one flaw: she was expensive.
But what a single pill could buy was immeasurable. Just look at Mo Shaosheng, the new leader of the Jianghu after Zhao Yiping. He'd finally reached the long-dreamed-of Qi Refining stage after consuming one of Prince Yong's pills. And Prince Yong still had five more of those pills in reserve.
The only regret was that Su Min couldn't refine them casually. It wasn't a matter of skill but of ingredients, which were simply too rare. When she'd broken through herself, she'd taken two pills, while others only needed one to advance. That didn't mean her talent was lacking—it only showed that the pills she refined for herself were of a completely different caliber.
"Enough. Since you called me here, I'll be direct. I have no interest in those grassland nomads. I'll only act if the Flame and Earth Elders show up. Of course, you all must hold off the others and make sure no one interferes with my fight against those two old bastards."
After finishing her words, Su Min leaned back and fell silent. She had no interest in military strategy. Though she'd played Paradox games before, reality was another story. Besides, she understood one golden rule: if you keep your mouth shut, no one will realize you're an idiot. So she chose silence.
Her demand wasn't unreasonable. Su Min wasn't afraid of facing tens of thousands of soldiers, as she could move freely within an army. But there was one condition: the enemy couldn't have experts of her level. If she got dragged into a prolonged fight, things could get dangerous. If these people couldn't even hold back the grassland army's elite fighters, then the war was already lost.
"No problem. As long as the Danxian can handle—or at least delay—those two old monsters, it'll be the key to victory."
Prince Yong didn't dare refuse Su Min's request. Her reasoning was sound, and that was exactly why he'd gathered so many experts in the first place: to prevent anyone from interfering in her battle. The more he learned about those two elders, the more fearful he became.
Though he'd never met them and wasn't a cultivator himself, he knew that even his newly advanced Qi Refining subordinates didn't stand a chance. Among everyone he knew, Su Min was the only hope. Fortunately, she had her own reasons for intervening. Today, he'd brought his heir along specifically to let him meet Su Min in person.
He had taken her earlier advice seriously. No matter what faction you belonged to, you needed a true pillar of strength. That was why his son couldn't inherit his title—the responsibilities were far too heavy. He'd already discussed it with both sons. Fortunately, his heir had no interest in rulership, only in seeking greater power. That made things much simpler.
"Gentlemen, the reason I've gathered you here is this war. The grassland tribes are marching south with nearly two hundred thousand troops, a scale rarely seen in history. But in today's world, numbers alone don't guarantee victory..."
Prince Yong addressed the crowd, noticing Su Min's growing impatience. His words also silenced those who'd been scheming to curry favor with her. Despite their fame in the Jianghu, none of them were worth anything before Su Min, not even Sect Leader Mo.
For the rest of the meeting, Su Min sat leisurely sipping tea, saying nothing. Yet no one dared to criticize her for it. Meanwhile, the three unlucky brats she'd beaten earlier sat quietly in the back, circulating their energy to heal. By the time the meeting ended, their wounds had completely recovered.