47: The best in the world? Too weak

The wind stopped.

The clouds halted.

Time, as if held captive by an invisible hand, became motionless at this moment.

Ouyang Feng's ear-piercing, inhuman shriek still echoed in everyone's ears, but his body, as if drained of all strength, collapsed to the ground. His only remaining left hand clutched theFracture of his right shoulder, his entire body trembling like a sieve.

His eyes had long lost any trace of malice or madness.

Instead, there was endless fear, a dazed confusion from a shattered worldview, and… despair… towards a power that was utterly incomprehensible and irresistible!

What kind of sorcery was that?!

How overbearing, how… ethereal!

With just a wave of a hand, his snake staff and arm, which he had honed for decades and which were enough to dominate the world, weathered and dissipated like sand sculptures! Not even a speck of flesh and blood remained!

This was not martial arts!

This was absolutely not martial arts!

“Gulp.”

Northern Beggar Hong Qigong swallowed with difficulty, struggling to pick himself up from the ground. His face, usually adorned with a carefree smile, was now etched with solemnity and… bitterness.

He glanced at his own hands.

These hands, which he prided himself on and which had made him unrivaled with the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, were as fragile as a three-year-old's scribbles in the face of that single finger, easily erased.

Southern Emperor Duan Zhixing, Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi, and Central Divine Wang Chongyang also had ashen faces and their minds were greatly shaken.

They looked at each other, and from each other's eyes, they saw a hint of the sorrow of heroes growing old.

The martial Dao they had pursued their entire lives, the cultivation they prided themselves on, seemed like a joke in the face of this little girl's god-like abilities.

“Sigh…”

Nanny let out a long sigh, her small face clearly displaying the words “bored.”

She casually rubbed the small hand that had just “melted” Ouyang Feng's arm on her pink silk dress, woven from an unknown material and spotless, as if merely brushing off a speck of dust.

“You old men are too weak.”

“Is that all?”

Her big, dark eyes swept over the four old men on the stage who were questioning their existence, then glanced at the one still trembling on the ground. She pouted, full of disdain.

“You can't even beat me, and you call yourselves the number one in the Martial Forest… How boring!”

If these words had been spoken an incense stick earlier, they would have incited furious indignation from all the Martial Forest practitioners present.

But now…

The entire Hua Mountain Sword Tournament was deadly silent.

Everyone was like ducks with their necks squeezed, mouths agape, but unable to utter a sound.

Their worldview, in those brief few breaths, had been repeatedly crushed, reshaped, and crushed again…

Crushed until not even dust remained!

“Little… little friend…”

Wang Chongyang, who was revered as the head of the Five Supremes and the number one Immortal Master of the Great Song Dynasty, now spoke with a subtle… tremble in his voice.

He bowed deeply to Nanny, this girl who looked only three or four years old, putting himself in the lowest possible posture.

“We… we have lost.”

Behind him, Huang Yaoshi, Duan Zhixing, and Hong Qigong also bowed with complex expressions.

They had lost.

Lost wholeheartedly.

Lost… without a doubt.

“The title of ‘Number One in the Great Song Martial Forest’ belongs to little friend… no, it belongs to you, Immortal!” Wang Chongyang's tone was sincere, devoid of any of the Five Supremes's arrogance.

“Oh?” Nanny blinked her big eyes upon hearing this, as if only now remembering this matter.

She waved her small hand, saying indifferently, “What number one in the world? Nanny doesn't care about that!”

“Can that title be exchanged for Liu Ji's roasted chicken?”

At these words, the expressions of the Five Supremes froze once more.

The supreme glory they had pursued their entire lives, in the eyes of this little Immortal, was… was not even as good as a roasted chicken?!

This was simply… a psychological blow!

Wang Chongyang opened his mouth, but didn't know how to respond, his old face turning beet red.

“Alright, alright, I'm not playing with you anymore, it's boring.” Nanny waved her small hand, as if shooing away a few buzzing flies.

She skipped off the Sword Tournament stage and went directly to the already petrified Qin Jiu and Xiao Huohuo.

“Xiao Jiu! Xiao Huohuo! Let's go!”

“Nanny is hungry! Let's go eat roasted chicken!”

The little girl took their hands and turned to leave, as if the “sword tournament” that had just shocked the entire Martial Forest was truly just a boring game.

“Immortal! Please wait!”

Seeing this, Wang Chongyang grew anxious. He no longer cared about the Five Supremes's demeanor and flashed to block the three of them.

“Immortal, this Junior… this Junior has something to ask of you!”

“What is it?” Nanny looked up, a little impatient.

Wang Chongyang took a deep breath, his face showing extreme longing and reverence, “This Junior… dares to ask, Immortal, is there… truly an Immortal Dao in this world?!”

At these words, Huang Yaoshi, Duan Zhixing, Hong Qigong, and even the Martial Forest practitioners in the distance who could still breathe, all held their breath, their ears perked up like rabbits, staring intently at Nanny!

This, perhaps, was their only chance in this life to touch upon that legendary Realm!

“Immortal Dao?”

Nanny nodded as a matter of course, “Yes, there is!”

“My Master is an Immortal! He's super amazing!”

Boom!

Although they had already guessed, when they heard Nanny confirm it with their own ears, everyone's minds still felt as if a thunderclap had exploded!

Wang Chongyang trembled with excitement. He bowed deeply again, his voice utterly sincere: “I humbly beg the Immortal to guide us. How can we… enter the Immortal Sect?!”

“Enter the Immortal Sect?” Nanny thought about the words Master Lu Yuchen had taught her. She puffed out her chest, imitating her Master, and said in an old-fashioned tone, “My Tai Xuan Immortal Sect values destiny above all when accepting Disciples! You old men have too poor a constitution and too much worldly attachment, so there's no hope for you!”

These words were like a basin of ice water poured over them.

They extinguished the flame of hope that had just ignited in the hearts of the Five Supremes.

And indeed, they were all nearly a hundred years old, long past the optimal age for cultivation.

Seeing the dejected expressions of the Five Supremes, Nanny seemed to feel a little sorry for them. She thought for a moment and added, “However, if you can find lots and lots of shiny, tasty stones and offer them to me as tribute, maybe if I'm happy, I'll ask my Master to accept you as… Outer Sect Disciples who sweep and guard the gate.”

With that, she no longer paid attention to the petrified old men, pulling Qin Jiu and Xiao Huohuo, and scampered down Hua Mountain.

Leaving behind a mountain full of Martial Forest experts who were questioning their lives, bewildered in the wind.

…

Three days later.

The matter of the Hua Mountain Sword Tournament spread throughout the entire Great Song, and even the Nine Great Dynasties, in a way that surpassed everyone's imagination!

The Five Supremes, working together, were no match for a three-year-old girl who claimed to be from “Tai Xuan Immortal Sect”!

The name of Tai Xuan Immortal Sect was once again deeply etched into everyone's hearts.

Countless people went crazy over it!

And at this moment.

In the deepest part of the imperial palace of the distant Great Chu Dynasty.

The ancient bronze stone door, sealed for hundreds of years, slowly let out a soft “click” in an unnoticed corner.

An ancient, decaying, yet immensely domineering and majestic Qi, seeped out in wisps from the crack in the door.

Inside the underground passage, the dim lamplight began to flicker violently, alternately brightening and dimming.

Behind the stone door, a pair of eyes that seemed to have seen through eons of time slowly… opened!

A hoarse, dry voice, as if it hadn't spoken for hundreds of years, echoed faintly in the deathly silent underground passage.

“Interesting… interesting…”

The next moment!

A terrifying aura, far surpassing that of a Celestial, even causing the winds and clouds above the entire Great Chu capital to change color, erupted with a roar!

The Great Chu Old Ancestor, who had been dormant for hundreds of years, officially awakened!

His goal was only one—

To go to Great Song and capture the so-called Immortal Sect Disciple!

He wanted to see what kind of quality this so-called “Immortal” truly possessed!

(My computer broke, the fan is making a lot of noise, which caused some delays. As compensation, I'm releasing four chapters today.)