"Ugh—! Y-You… You're also a refiner!?"
Coughing blood, Earth Elder stared at Su Min, unscathed and gleaming in blazing armor. Supported by the battered Flame Elder, he barely managed to stay upright.
His brother, however, was in far worse shape. A gaping wound tore across his abdomen, left by Su Min's reckless, merciless strike. Worse yet, a sliver of Nanming Lihuo had entered his body, and he was now frantically circulating his spiritual energy, trying to force it out before it consumed him from the inside.
"You damn wench!"
Flame Elder's fury flared, yet he didn't dare advance. He shielded his brother instead, ready to flee the instant danger loomed.
That was exactly what Su Min wanted. She didn't pursue them. It was better to let them cling to false hope and stay here, wasting their strength, than to have them scatter into the chaos of battle, where she might lose her chance to kill them.
"Give them a sliver of hope, make them think they can win. If they bolt now, I might not catch them in this chaos."
From their brief exchange, Su Min had already made a crucial realization: their cultivation levels and elemental affinities were equal—but her Nanming Lihuo utterly suppressed Flame Elder's power. If they clashed head-on again, he would surely perish.
And then there was her armor.
Greed flickered in the elder's eyes. Her enchanted battle-armor was worth more than most high-tier spiritual tools. Forging such armor required an impossible amount of rare materials.
To craft it, Su Min had emptied her personal stores, spent the spoils given by the Desert Tribes, and even melted down bizarre ores harvested from a metal-elemental beast. She had poured in everything, leaving barely enough to forge her own weapon.
Now, facing them in full regalia, she was like a warrior soaked in spiritual gold— pay-to-win warrior—brutally overgeared.
"We have to use that move. The damage will split between us, but we've got no choice. Without it, we can't even scratch her."
Earth Elder steadied himself as he spoke. Despite his serious wounds, a peak Qi Refinement cultivator could still endure. Yet both of them understood the grim truth: his injuries would keep him from fighting at full power, and even though Flame Elder was equal to Su Min in realm, her flames suppressed his. Her armor and strange movement techniques gave her a crushing advantage.
Their only hope… was to combine.
"Damn it! If we'd known she was this strong, we'd have fused from the start!"
Both brothers cursed silently. Yet it was hard to blame themselves. Who would've expected such a young girl to hide so many trump cards? The fusion technique was a precious secret. Once used, it left both users severely weakened afterward.
But now, none of that mattered.
"Old fools," Su Min said flatly from the distance. "still hesitating to merge?"
She didn't attack immediately. Instead, she waited for the short moment of weakness that came during fusion—the perfect opening to strike. This wasn't a game. In reality, cultivators made rational choices. And she had no intention of playing fair. Why risk a straight fight when she could stack every advantage?
~Edit and rewritten by Rikhi, Reiya_Alberich, ReiNyam~
"Little brat, don't think that armor makes you invincible!"
Sure enough, the two elders suddenly widened the distance between them and Su Min. Their hands flashed through seals.
"Now."
"Tiger Soul Possession!"
At that instant, Su Min's own energy shifted. The power of the Tiger Soul within her body surged forth, igniting her spirit. She threw a pill into her mouth in one swift motion, and her figure blurred into a streak of light.
Galeburst Pill (Grade-2)—Temporarily enhances movement speed upon use
As a master alchemist with Prince Yong's entire treasury at her disposal, she had plenty of niche pills.
Originally, this combo was meant for ambushes. Today? No need for subtlety.
SHING—!
In that flash of light, time seemed to stop.
"Defend!!"
Years of battle instinct guided Flame Elder. He raised a massive shield before him, but the next moment it shattered like glass. A blade of flame tore through the air, and blood sprayed in a crimson arc.
"FUSE!!!"
Their desperate shout echoed as their bodies merged.
BOOOOM!!!
Both elders roared as one, unleashing their full power. An explosive wave of spiritual might erupted across the battlefield.
"…Foundation Establishment!?"
The four cultivators who had just recovered their strength paled. That overwhelming pressure meant the brothers had crossed the threshold. They had successfully fused, reaching the Foundation Establishment realm. Despair washed over the reinforcements, forcing them to fall back. This level of battle was far beyond their reach. Instead, they turned their focus to the outer skirmishes, leaping from the wall to slaughter the lesser Body Tempering cultivators swarming the plains.
Su Min, however, remained calm. Her earlier strike had crippled Flame Elder's leg, and now that the brothers were fused, their wounds were shared. Escape was impossible.
"Impressive technique," Su Min said, striding forward, unfazed by the wave of pressure. "But how much strength do you have left?"
As she advanced, a thousand-meter zone of death formed around the fused elder, their unstable aura flattening nearby soldiers. The elder fell to one knee, trembling under his own power.
In game terms:
HP < 50%Crippled MovementSevere Stat Debuffs
A "Foundation Establishment" in name only.
"Y-you—"
The elder's face twisted in disbelief. They couldn't run, not with their legs crippled.
And then, something even more terrifying unfolded.
Nanming Lihuo burst forth from Su Min's body, enveloping her completely. Her hair and pupils turned a vivid, glowing red.
Vermilion Bird Possession: Full Release.