Silence.
Looking at Su Min's innocent and carefree smile, the group fell into an unusual quiet.
"Please don't say such terrifying words with such an innocent appearance."
It was clear that despite Su Min's youthful appearance, everyone silently regarded her as being on the same level as those old monsters.
"Ahem, let's set out immediately then. With exactly five people now, as long as we can obtain that crystal, we might be able to reach the Dao Comprehension stage."
Seeing Kuang Batian take the initiative to change the subject, the atmosphere in the room instantly shifted again. Everyone, including Su Min, revealed expressions of desire.
Their desire was for the Dao Comprehension stage, while Su Min's was feigned. She had grown much calmer now, especially since she had the ability to protect herself.
Thus, while the Five Elements Crystal would be very useful to her, she absolutely couldn't let it drive her mad. Moreover, there was likely a fallen one inside.
The Five Elements Great Sage, an existence second only to an Emperor, similar to Jiang Xi and that Mahayana Holy Body on the battlefield, was someone Su Min had to face with extreme caution.
Naturally, she wasn't as fanatical as the others, but she still had to pretend. Didn't they see how everyone's attention had completely shifted away from her upon hearing this news?
At this moment, she had to follow the crowd, they were all useful cannon fodder. As for their fates, it would depend on whether they behaved appropriately.
The Next Day
"Is this the Five Elements Mountain?"
Su Min looked at everything before her with great surprise.
In her memory, so-called secret realms were mostly special spaces separate from the world. But this one was different, from a distance, it appeared as a dazzling, colorful mountain towering tens of thousands of meters high from the ground.
It was completely unlike any secret realm she had seen before, yet it was quite spectacular. However, for someone like her who had already reached the Dao Comprehension stage, the height of the mountain meant nothing. She even possessed the ability to traverse the void of space, let alone care about something like this.
"Correct. Ten years ago, this mountain descended from the sky, crushing a city of over a hundred thousand people beneath it. At the time, no one in the city survived."
"Mmm."
Hearing Su Min's exclamation, Kuang Batian chuckled. As for those who died, it meant nothing to him, they were just lackeys anyway.
What he didn't know, however, was that this confirmed something for Su Min. As she thought of this, a glint flashed in her eyes, and without Kuang Batian noticing, she imprinted a mark onto his soul.
Su Min was already a late-stage Dao Comprehension cultivator, and her spiritual power was even more terrifying, surpassing that of many Unity-stage experts. Thus, Kuang Batian had no idea what had happened and was still greedily eyeing the mountain range.
To the current Su Min, not even a mere late-stage Divine Transformation cultivator was worth mentioning, most Dao Comprehension cultivators were like ants before her.
Thus, none of the people present noticed her subtle actions.
"Dao Comprehension stage... the laws..."
Seeing this, the others licked their lips in excitement.
"Enough, rein in your greed. I can sense the terrifying power contained within. Moreover, this mountain is protected by a special barrier. To enter, we can only fight our way in from the outside."
Just then, Su Min's voice rang out. The barrier was far too obvious, these people surely knew about it as well. And she could see even more: this Five Elements Mountain was extremely dangerous, containing even some Dao Comprehension-stage entities. Against those, the persona she had created for herself would be completely inadequate.
Without being able to use her own laws or divine artifacts, she could only rely on brute force. Facing those Dao Comprehension-stage beings would be very dangerous for her, and she might even risk exposing herself prematurely.
Thus, it was only natural for her to be wary. The only thing she was curious about was what those Dao Comprehension-stage entities were. They likely weren't human, perhaps not even living beings.
She had seen an Emperor's tomb before, filled with countless Dao Comprehension-stage puppets. There were even Unity-stage and Mahayana-stage entities, but those had all been sealed by the Medicine Buddha, so she hadn't been able to observe them.
"Mm. There are about ten entrances. It doesn't matter which one we take, the things on the outskirts are useless to us."
As soon as Su Min finished speaking, Liu Xunhuan stepped forward and spoke up. Since the Five Elements Mountain was in their territory, they naturally knew more about it.
"Then let's move."
Glancing at the others, Su Min narrowed her eyes slightly. These people were all very wary of her and hadn't told her anything about the deeper parts of the mountain. It seemed they wanted her to suffer a major setback so that when it came time to distribute resources, she wouldn't have enough strength to compete with them.
A nice idea, but to Su Min, it was a joke.
In an instant, the five of them arrived before an opening in the barrier and plunged inside.
"Were those five people just now the four great sect leaders?"
"Correct. The other one must also be a cultivator of the same level. For such existences to team up and enter... it seems they plan to go deep inside."
"Mm, no doubt about it."
As the five of them entered, the surrounding onlookers began murmuring.
None of them had concealed their movements, so it was clear to everyone. Soon, expressions of astonishment appeared, after all, these were all late-stage Divine Transformation experts, practically like gods to them.
"I think there might be some major changes happening here. For now, I'll take my leave. If five such existences start fighting, the entire Five Elements Mountain might be thrown into chaos. Although the things we Golden Core cultivators need are useless to them, getting caught in the crossfire would be disastrous."
One of the smarter individuals immediately realized something and chose to leave without hesitation. Though the Five Elements Mountain was vast, it wouldn't hold up against the destructive power of Divine Transformation cultivators. For experts of this level, without opponents of equal strength to restrain them, they could reduce a city of millions to ashes in mere minutes.
"Brother Sun, you, "
"Farewell."
Hearing his words, the others tried to persuade him to stay. After all, good teammates were hard to come by, and even fewer could be trusted to watch one's back.
But unfortunately, the man had already made up his mind. Without looking back, he left.
"Ah, what do we do now? Without Brother Sun, we can't deploy our formation."
"What else can we do? Besides, Brother Sun has always been cautious. Following him might not bring great benefits, but at least there won't be major dangers."
"Fine then. Brother Sun, wait for us..."
With that, the group left together. Of course, their departure didn't mean all the other cultivators would do the same.
Humans, like divine beasts, were greedy, especially in the world of cultivation. Thus, many more began rubbing their hands in anticipation. They weren't foolish enough to compete with Su Min's group directly, but they could still pick up the scraps.
In less than a day, the entire Five Elements Mountain was in an uproar. A large crowd chose to follow in the footsteps of the five experts, entering the mountain just as they had. And just as expected, there were plenty of gains along the way.
At that moment, deep in the mountain:
"Crush."
Looking at the flame-formed giant before her, Su Min extended her hand and clenched her fist. Instantly, the giant was crushed by the sand constraining it.
The purplish-gold sand then slowly flowed back into the gourd mountain behind her, leaving the others clicking their tongues in amazement.
Though Su Min appeared very young, her methods were ruthless. Every creature she killed was left without a complete corpse, reduced to a bloody mist.
"Sister Le's gourd seems quite impressive."
Tian Mengchan eyed the gourd behind Su Min, about the same size as her, with great interest. Though her words sounded casual, the gleam in her eyes betrayed her thoughts.
In truth, these old schemers were unwilling to make a move themselves, so they kept pushing Su Min to deal with the Nascent Soul-stage crystalline creatures blocking their path. But she couldn't be bothered to argue, with the Northern Water's Profound Origin in her possession, her consumption was far outpaced by her recovery.
Thus, with a hint of mischief, she emulated a certain panda-eyed character from her past life's comics, though with significant differences. Her destructive power far surpassed that character's, but even so, the others grew increasingly wary of her.
They had noticed that Su Min's frequent attacks showed almost no signs of exhaustion. Clearly, this Earth-rank high-grade treasure gourd was a great help to her.
"Mmm."
Su Min merely nodded faintly in response, saying nothing. Instead, she silently turned her gaze forward, sensing several powerful presences rushing toward them.
"Prepare for battle. This time, seven crystalline creatures of different attributes are coming at once. These things are special products of the Five Elements Mountain, they can't leave, but as pure elemental beings, they're quite troublesome for me."
As soon as Su Min finished speaking, the earth shook violently. Several massive figures emerged from the mountain, startling the others, they hadn't sensed them at all.
Su Min's perception far exceeded theirs, but they soon realized something. The sand floating around Su Min or rather, her gourd was clearly under her control. Thus, they silently took note of this.
"I'm of the earth attribute, so I'll handle the water-based one. The rest are up to you. If you die, blame your own lack of skill."
Su Min spoke indifferently. In truth, she didn't care about any of these elements. As the Five Elements Sovereign with a Five Elements Body, she feared none of this nonsense.
"Understood."
Hearing her words, the others nodded. They knew they couldn't just stand by this time, facing seven bizarre Divine Transformation-stage crystalline creatures at once was no joke.
These things were like slimes, pure elemental beings with almost no higher intelligence, unable to leave the Five Elements Mountain. But their incredibly refined elemental power granted them terrifying offensive capabilities.
Moreover, they didn't have early, middle, or late stages, they were all comparable to late-stage Divine Transformation from birth. This forced the group to proceed with caution, and thus, the battle began in the next instant.
As for Su Min, she acted swiftly, slamming her palms together in the air.
Boom!!!
In the next moment, the gourd behind her exploded, transforming into a sky full of yellow sand. As the inheritor of the Five Elements Emperor's legacy, she was naturally extremely proficient in the Five Elements Ancient Scripture. She had even split it into five parts, leaving them in her sect as inheritance techniques.
Each part was a top-tier cultivation method, so she was highly skilled in manipulating various attributes. Normally, her basic attacks were mixed-element, so she rarely used specialized elemental abilities.
But now was different. She didn't know if the other party had obtained the Five Elements Ancient Scripture, so she relied solely on her sand manipulation, this perfectly concealed her Earth Scripture's aura.
Even if the other party had also obtained the Five Elements Ancient Scripture, they wouldn't be able to recognize her.
Squelch.
Following Su Min's movements, the water-based crystalline creature instantly exploded, reverting to its liquid form. As a special aggregation of water, it attempted to exploit its fluid nature to slip through the sand prison. Its limited instincts warned it of danger here.
"Interesting. Trying to elementalize? But my sand is special."
Su Min sneered inwardly. Since she had decided to conceal her identity, she had to prepare thoroughly, including perfecting her alternate persona. Thus, this gourd wasn't just a prop for her playful cosplay; it was also carefully crafted.
As a core treasure for an earth cultivator, she had built a complete system for it. Thus, the water creature soon realized it couldn't escape. Worse, the sand was slowly absorbing its moisture, for a crystalline creature, this was no different from a slow death.
Trapped, the creature went berserk.
In an instant, the vast space transformed into a raging sea, countless water blades shooting toward Su Min from all directions.
"Childish."
Looking at the barrage of attacks, Su Min spoke flatly. She wasn't in a hurry to clash head-on. Logically speaking, with the Northern Water's Profound Origin protecting her, she could let the creature attack freely without fear of being breached.
But since she was acting, she had to make it convincing. Thus, in the next moment, her figure weaved through the attacks, dodging ninety percent of them. The remaining ten percent were blocked by layers of sand.