55: Chapter 55 I'll use your heads to mourn my husband

Undying Mountain.

A trace of deeply hidden self-reproach flashed across Chu Tianjiao's Face, his eyes complex and indescribable.

Beside him, Xiao Shitou watched silently, his heart also twitching with pain.

After all, that was his own younger sister, the Nannan he had protected while growing up.

Watching her endure the pain of believing she had lost her closest kin alone, and growing up in solitude into an Emperor who suppressed an entire era, how could Xiao Shitou not feel heartache?

But he knew that all of this was necessary.

The teacher's plan was far-reaching; this was not only a test for his younger sister, but also to allow her to thoroughly stimulate her potential in desperate situations and walk out a Supreme Dao that belonged uniquely to her.

Those sacrifices and deceptions were for a longer and more stable companionship in the future.

"Alright, do not be sad anymore."

Chu Tianjiao withdrew his hand, and the water mirror image faded away. He turned around, his expression having returned to calm, though a trace of imperceptible tenderness still remained deep within his eyes.

"Xiao Nannan has now become an Emperor, her Chaos Body has reached Perfection, and her combat power can rival multiple Supremes. We no longer need to worry about her." He looked at Xiao Shitou, his tone turning solemn, "Next, I will enter deep seclusion to deduce and perfect the subsequent path. As for you..."

He paused: "If you wish to go into seclusion to consolidate your Emperor Realm, you may stay in Undying Mountain. If you wish to travel outside to search for the Opportunity of your second life, you may do as you please. Just remember—you must conceal your aura and do not expose your identity."

Xiao Shitou nodded heavily: "Disciple understands."

Chu Tianjiao said nothing more and turned to walk toward the quiet room.

Xiao Shitou stood in the courtyard, standing still for a moment, his gaze once again cast toward the location where the water mirror had originally been. After a few breaths, he took a deep breath, a look of determination flashed in his eyes, and he also turned and walked toward another quiet room, beginning his own seclusion.

...

Outside, in the starry sky of the Universe, the landscape quietly changed due to the sudden emergence of the Ruthless Emperor.

Xiao Nannan attained the Dao and became an Emperor, not only filling the vacancy left by the fall of Emperor Yuhua, but also intimidating all Life Forbidden Zones with her peerless, overbearing posture.

The Supremes in the five major Life Forbidden Zones—Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning, Reincarnation Sea, Immortal Mausoleum, Shangcang, and God Ruins—after witnessing the Ruthless Emperor kill Emperor Yuhua, pursue the "Immortal Emperor", and even dare to break into the Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning alone, all restrained their arrogance.

They had lived long enough and seen enough to know how to judge the situation. Facing a Chaos Body Emperor who displayed Heaven-Defying combat power just after attaining the Dao, no Supreme was willing to be the first bird to be shot, to touch this bad luck.

Thus, the five major Life Forbidden Zones unanimously chose to fall silent.

Black mist retracted, auras were contained, and the Supremes either fell into deep slumber or shrank back without emerging, as if they had returned to the state when Emperor Jiaoheng suppressed the world back then.

And Xiao Nannan, since that day when she failed to pursue the "Immortal Emperor" from the Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning and returned to her old residence in Qingshi Town, began to live a reclusive life.

She cultivated quietly in the small mountain gate every day, polishing her Chaos Body and comprehending the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art. Occasionally, she would walk out of the courtyard and stroll around the outskirts of Qingshi Town, watching the Cultivators who came for the reputation to make pilgrimages and discuss the Dao, but she never interacted with them.

Time passed quietly in this tranquility.

In a blink of an eye, a thousand years passed.

A thousand years of time is the change of dozens of generations for Mortals, and for Cultivators, it is also a not-insignificant period of years.

Xiao Nannan had developed her Chaos Body to the extreme of her current Realm.

And as her cultivation progressed, the murderous intent in her heart towards the Supremes in those Forbidden Zones grew stronger.

Those people had once jointly besieged her teacher and were one of the culprits that led to her teacher's "fall".

This hatred was irreconcilable.

But Xiao Nannan did not act rashly.

She remembered her teacher's teachings from back then—to deal with the Forbidden Zones, one cannot be in a rush.

There were numerous Supremes, and each of them had once been an Emperor or Sovereign. If they were forced into a corner and collectively performed Ultimate Sublimation, even if she could survive, all living beings in the Universe would suffer a catastrophic disaster.

What she wanted was not mutual destruction, but... boiling a frog in warm water.

Take it slow, one by one, letting those Supremes head toward demise without realizing it.

Thus, she continued to wait and continued to accumulate.

This wait lasted another five thousand years.

Xiao Nannan finally walked out of the small mountain gate.

She did not announce it to the world, there was no great fanfare; just a white robe, a silver mask, and hair like a waterfall, she quietly arrived above the Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning.

"Today, I will take one life to sacrifice to my teacher."

Her voice was calm, yet it spread throughout the entire Emperor Burial Star.

The next moment, she stepped into the Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning!

"Boom——!!!"

The battle erupted in an instant!

Black mist surged, Imperial Dao Law boiled, and deep within the Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning, several Supremes woke up simultaneously, their angry shouts shaking the heavens and the earth!

"Ruthless Emperor! You are bullying people too much!"

"Do you really think there is no one in my Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning?!"

However, Xiao Nannan ignored them completely.

Her goal was clear—locking onto one of the ancient Supremes whose aura was relatively weak and obviously near the end of their life, she operated the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art with full power, the Chaos Body fully erupted, and the Tyrant Blade awakened autonomously!

The battle was tragic and brief.

Xiao Nannan traded injury for life, hard-tanking several attacks from other Supremes, her chest pierced by a streak of Imperial Dao Law, blood staining her white robe red.

But she also suppressed that target Supreme tightly, finally cutting off their head with one blade, and forcibly suppressing and sealing their headless divine body!

The whole process took less than half an hour.

When Xiao Nannan walked out of the Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning holding the Supreme's divine body, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, yet her steps still steady, the entire Universe fell silent.

Inside the Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning, the remaining Supremes were furious, but they were held back by fear—if they collectively performed Ultimate Sublimation, they could certainly keep the Ruthless Emperor, but the price would be too high, and they might not all survive.

In the end, they could only watch helplessly as Xiao Nannan left, leaving behind a cold declaration:

"A hundred years later, I will come again."

...

After this battle, the fierce reputation of the Ruthless Emperor reached a new height.

And her actions had only just begun.

A hundred years later, Xiao Nannan arrived as promised and stepped into the God Ruins.

In less than half an hour, she walked out holding a Supreme's divine body, fresh blood added to her white robe, but her aura became increasingly sharp.

Another hundred years later, Reincarnation Sea.

Another hundred years later, Shangcang.

Another hundred years later, Immortal Mausoleum.

Every hundred years, she would visit a Forbidden Zone, use thunderous means to kill a Supreme near the end of their life, seize their divine body, and leave gracefully.

The five major Forbidden Zones were "visited" by her one by one, and each left behind a Supreme corpse.

Her methods were ruthless and precise—only killing the dying Supremes, not forcing the other Supremes to fight to the death. This both weakened the strength of the Forbidden Zones and avoided an all-out war.

This "boiling a frog in warm water" style of hunting made the remaining Supremes both angry and fearful.

The angry part was that, as former Emperors and Sovereigns, they were being bullied like this by a junior Emperor, like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

The fearful part was that the Ruthless Emperor's strength far exceeded their estimates.

The combat power of the Chaos Body was almost invincible among the same level. One-on-one, or even with two or three Supremes joining forces, they might not be able to take her down.

And what shocked them even more was—the Ruthless Emperor seemed... not to have used her full strength yet.

Every time she acted, she was more composed than the last, and her injuries were lighter.

It was as if she was using them as whetstones, constantly perfecting her own Dao and Law in life-and-death battles.

"This woman... is even more terrifying than Emperor Jiaoheng was back then." Deep in the Ancient Mine of Primordial Beginning, an ancient Supreme whispered, their voice filled with deep wariness.

"She is cutting meat with a dull knife, slowly wearing us to death bit by bit." A Supreme in the God Ruins snorted coldly, but could not hide the helplessness in their tone.

"Are we really going to wait for her to kill us all one by one?" In the Immortal Mausoleum, a Supreme was unwilling.

"Then what do you propose? Collectively perform Ultimate Sublimation and fight her to the death? And then what? How many can survive? Even if we win, we won't be far from death." The Supreme of the Reincarnation Sea sneered.

Silence.

All Supremes understood this principle—the Ruthless Emperor had calculated their mindset accurately.

They had slashed themselves, surviving until now, for the sake of waiting for the road to immortality to open, for the sake of eternal life.

If they risked their lives for Face or a moment of anger, then what was the point of these millions of years of surviving?

Thus, they could only endure.

Endure until the Ruthless Emperor's later years, endure until her Qi and blood decayed, endure until... the day she followed in the footsteps of Emperor Jiaoheng.