40: Chapter 40 Little Girl Undergoes Saintly Tribulation and Returns to the Big Dipper

Xiao Nannan withdrew her finger and stood quietly in the Void Realm.

The aura around her body churned incessantly; the Saint King Origin she had just devoured was being rapidly converted.

Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth beneath the mask—devouring across realms came with no small backlash.

But in her eyes, there was only a cold clarity.

In the distance, there was a deathly silence.

All the observers, whether they were Great Powers, Saints, or old monsters peering from the shadows, held their breath.

Saint Realm, slaying a Saint King against the odds!

Around them, the Cultivators watching from afar were silent.

"The... Saint King... is dead..."

"She's only in the Saint Realm! Slaying a Saint King across realms?!"

"This Ruthless Person... what exactly is her background?!"

Xiao Nannan—now the "Ruthless Person" who struck fear into hearts on the Ancient Starry Sky Road—slowly sheathed her sword, her eyes beneath the mask as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

She ignored the discussions around her and simply looked up at the sky.

In the sky, tribulation clouds were gathering.

She was about to undergo a tribulation—the Immortal Four Saint King Tribulation!

"She's going to undergo tribulation here?!" someone exclaimed.

"Quickly retreat! A Saint King Tribulation is extraordinary!"

The onlookers fled far away, but a few obscure and powerful auras remained in the distant Star Domain, silently watching.

Those were several Great Saints.

They had lived for long years and knew many secrets. They recognized the ancient long blade that occasionally manifested by Xiao Nannan's side—it was the Emperor's Weapon of Emperor Jiaoheng, the Tyrant Blade!

They also vaguely guessed that this "Ruthless Person" who appeared out of nowhere likely had a deep connection with the recently fallen Emperor Jiaoheng.

Because of this, over the past hundred years, they had not only refrained from coveting the Undying Medicine on Xiao Nannan but had also secretly cleared away several potential threats for her.

Now, seeing her undergo tribulation, the Great Saints tacitly spread their Divine Thoughts to seal off this Star Domain, preventing anyone from disturbing her.

"Boom! Crack—!!!"

The first Heavenly Tribulation fell, and it was actually Chaos Lightning!

Xiao Nannan soared into the sky, circulating the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art, actually swallowing and refining the Lightning Tribulation, turning it into her own nourishment!

"This Cultivation Technique... is domineering!" In the distance, a Great Saint's pupils constricted.

The following tribulations were more terrifying than the last: Humanoid Lightning, phantoms of Ancient Emperors, and even a blurry brand of Emperor Jiaoheng appeared!

Xiao Nannan fought a bloody battle, her body covered in wounds, but the immortal peach tree timely sprinkled divine liquid, instantly repairing her injured body.

She fought with increasing courage, pushing the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art to its limit, her entire being seemingly turning into a black hole that devoured all tribulation light!

For three full days and nights.

When the last Lightning Tribulation dissipated, Xiao Nannan stood in the Void Realm, her aura suddenly skyrocketing as she officially stepped into the Immortal Four Saint King Realm!

She turned, looked at the Great Saints in the distance, and nodded slightly.

Then she waved her hand, and four drops of translucent peach divine liquid, emitting dense life essence, flew toward the four.

"I thank you, Seniors, for your protection during my Dao attainment."

A cold voice echoed through the starry sky, and in the next moment, she had vanished.

The Great Saints took the divine liquid and looked at each other with bitter smiles.

"This one... will likely become an extraordinary existence in the future."

"Though Emperor Jiaoheng has fallen, his lineage and Legacy seem not to have been severed..."

...

After successfully undergoing the tribulation, Xiao Nannan's journey on the Ancient Starry Sky Road became even more rapid.

She was no longer satisfied with challenges from those of the same rank and began to actively seek out veteran Saint Kings and even beings who had just entered the Great Saint Realm to fight.

Every battle was fraught with danger; every time she was injured, she relied on the immortal peach tree to recover; every victory allowed her to devour a portion of the opponent's Origin, accelerating the evolution of her Chaos Body.

Her fame grew louder and louder on the ancient road.

The words "Ruthless Person" became a nightmare for countless Prodigies.

Fifty years passed in the blink of an eye.

Exactly one hundred years had passed since she first set foot on the Ancient Starry Sky Road.

And the Xiao Nannan of today was no longer the fledgling Saint of back then.

She stood in the starry sky, her aura as vast as the abyss and the sea, with the pressure of a Great Saint vaguely permeating the air—after a hundred years of battle, she had stepped into the Immortal Five Great Saint Realm!

From starting her cultivation in the Wheel Sea Realm to becoming a Great Saint now, she had only taken one hundred and ten years.

Such speed was unprecedented throughout history.

On this day, she suddenly stopped her campaign, looked toward the Big Dipper Astral Region, and remained silent for a long time.

"I want to go back once," she spoke softly.

The Tyrant Blade and the immortal peach tree manifested from the Void Realm.

"Good," the Tyrant Blade responded briefly.

The immortal peach tree swayed its branches and leaves, sprinkling bits of immortal light as if in agreement.

Xiao Nannan hesitated no longer, turned, tore through the Void Realm, and sped toward the Big Dipper Astral Region.

A hundred years.

Some things, it's time to go back and see.

Some grudges, it's also time... to start settling them.

In front of the thatched hut on Undying Mountain.

Xiao Shitou suddenly felt something and looked up into the depths of the starry sky.

He sensed that his sister... was returning.

But he did not move, simply guarding quietly outside the thatched hut.

Because today was exactly the hundredth year of his teacher's secluded meditation.

According to the agreement, he should wake his teacher.

Xiao Shitou stood up, walked to the thatched hut, and bowed respectfully to the layer of Chaos Formation patterns.

"Teacher, the hundred-year period has arrived."

The Formation patterns rippled slightly, but there was no response.

Xiao Shitou didn't mind and continued, "Xiao Nannan has returned from the Ancient Starry Sky Road, and now... she is a Great Saint."

Inside the hut, the speed of the Dao rhythm's flow seemed to quicken by a fraction.

Xiao Shitou continued, "The Hunyuan Heavenly Scripture is spreading smoothly; nine people from the Ji Family have entered the Dragon Transformation Realm, and two have touched the Celestial Stage. This method... is indeed feasible."

The Formation patterns began to ripple like water.

"The Yuhua Divine Dynasty has been purged, its high-ranking members all destroyed, and resources reclaimed. There is no unusual movement from the Restricted Zones for now."

"The Undying Daoist is still suppressed at the bottom of the mountain."

"The void mirror has been gifted to the Ji Family."

Xiao Shitou reported the arrangements and changes of the past hundred years sentence by sentence.

When he finished the last sentence—

The Dao rhythm inside the thatched hut suddenly retracted.

As if a surging river had returned to calm, the noisy world returned to silence.

In the next moment, the door of the thatched hut opened silently.

A figure slowly walked out from within.

Still with black hair and black eyes, still with that handsome and elegant face, but his temperament was entirely different from a hundred years ago.

A hundred years ago, Chu Tianjiao was like an unsheathed sword, his sharpness fully revealed, his dominance reaching the heavens.

But the man walking out now was like a bottomless ancient pool, the surface calm and without ripples, yet containing a power within that could overturn the world.

No aura leaked from his body, yet the surrounding space spontaneously distorted and surrendered. As his eyes opened and closed, scenes of Chaos beginning and galaxies being extinguished seemed to flow within.

Three lifetimes of accumulation, a hundred years of secluded meditation, Fusion and mastery.

The current Chu Tianjiao, though he had not yet stepped into his fourth lifetime, had deduced the Dao and methods of his previous three lifetimes to a new peak.

He looked at Xiao Shitou, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"You've worked hard."

The voice was gentle, yet carried a deep, ancient sense of having seen through all of eternity.

Xiao Shitou bowed: "Relieving my teacher's worries is my duty as a Disciple."

Chu Tianjiao looked up, his gaze seemingly piercing through the Undying Mountain Formation patterns, looking into the depths of the starry sky, at that familiar aura rapidly approaching the Big Dipper.

In his eyes, a flash of complex and inscrutable light flickered.