Thump! Thump! Thump!
The heavy sound of a heart beating echoed through the sealed stone chamber for a long while before gradually subsiding.
Dark golden Qi and Blood flowed like mercury through Su Yueli's thick veins.
She opened her eyes and exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.
That white pillar of breath struck the black iron rock wall directly, boring a small hole three inches deep before finally dispersing.
This was the thirtieth year of her seclusion.
Yet she had no intention of rising.
Su Yueli glanced at the empty shell of the Ninth-Realm Demon Leech demon core before her, now reduced to ash, then turned her inner sight toward the Flawless Golden Bones beneath her skin and flesh, glowing dark gold.
The physical defense of the Early Heaven-Shaking Realm had been completely locked at the threshold of perfection.
Cultivation was an exceedingly rigorous matter.
With the foundation established, all that remained was the slow work of grinding water through stone.
Su Yueli closed her eyes once more, sinking back into a silent, motionless state of austere meditation.
Another thirty years passed in that sitting.
Altogether, a full sixty years had gone by.
Over those long sixty years, the situation outside had undergone earth-shaking changes.
The Great Li Dynasty and the Great Wei Dynasty erupted into a brutal immortal war along their border, one that continued for decades.
The cause was simple: a medium-sized Superior Spirit Stone mine had been unearthed at the border of Great Li.
To the patriarchs of both sides' sects, whose lifespans were nearly exhausted and who urgently needed resources to cling to life, it was no different from a slab of fat dangling before the jaws of hungry wolves.
Both sides poured out nearly all their forces to fight for ownership of the mine.
High