Chapter 2: The Nine Great Saints Will Definitely Conquer the Immortal Realm!

Swish, swish, swish...

Su Ning swung his sickle and hoe, clearing the weeds from the land around his house.

He had worked the fields with his father since childhood. Even after years away from farming, he still moved with practiced ease — clearly someone who knew how to get things done.

His house sat in a remote spot, right in the middle of his own fields.

In the countryside, homes usually clustered together to form villages, where neighbors could look out for one another.

But Su Ning's father had been a reclusive man who disliked dealing with people. He had built the family home out in the fields — convenient for farming, and far from the village.

"Sigh... this ALS is really a nuisance. I've barely been at it and I'm already nearly exhausted. Back in the day, my muscles could handle plowing ten acres without breaking a sweat, let alone pulling a few weeds," Su Ning muttered with a half-joking smile.

He kept weeding.

The land had been left fallow for years, overrun with wild grass.

He lost track of how long he worked.

At last, Su Ning cleared the last of the weeds from the field.

Without the grass, the land looked far more presentable.

Much more level, too.

Huff, huff, huff...

He laid the hoe flat on the ground, leaned on the sickle, and sat on the hoe handle, gazing at the fruits of his labor with quiet satisfaction.

After resting a short while, he went back to gathering the weeds.

"Huh... what's this?"

Su Ning was raking the weeds into a pile to burn when something small and exquisite suddenly caught his eye.

"A skeleton? A human skeleton?"

"But this skeleton is way too tiny..."

Nestled among the weeds was a human skeleton no bigger than half a thumb — and it gleamed like a diamond.

"Did someone drop a piece of craftwork?" Su Ning turned it over in his hand, immediately assuming it was a decorative figurine.

"But the craftsmanship is incredibly detailed — so lifelike. Whoever made something this small with this much precision must be a true master artisan." He held the tiny skeleton up in his palm and studied it carefully.

It was a beautiful little thing.

Exquisitely detailed.

After a moment, his curiosity faded. He pocketed the tiny skeleton and went back to gathering weeds.

But soon, another similar skeleton appeared from within the pile — this one a deep crimson, like a red diamond.

Intrigued, Su Ning began searching more carefully.

He found many more tiny skeletons hidden in the grass.

Not all of them were human-shaped. Some resembled animals. One even looked like a serpent's bones — and on closer inspection, Su Ning realized it appeared to be shaped like a dragon.

Probably a dragon-shaped craftwork.

"So many of them? Who dropped all these?"

There were a full eighteen of them in the pile.

After one more thorough search turned up nothing new, Su Ning set fire to the gathered heap of weeds and watched the flames rise.

The fire crackled and roared.

Su Ning had no interest in watching the flames dance. He picked up the tiny skeletons again and admired them one by one.

These little things were stunning.

Each one shimmered like a colored gemstone.

Su Ning wasn't much of a collector, but the moment he laid eyes on them, he couldn't put them down.

"The skeletons were tangled up in the weeds, and the weeds came from the field — so there might be more out there. There have to be!" he thought.

He bent down and began searching the field.

Sure enough, he found more.

He picked them up one by one, filling his pockets as he went.

Then he reached a small tree — and stopped in surprise.

He remembered this tree. His father had left behind a seed of some unknown plant, and Su Ning had casually planted it back in middle school without giving it much thought. He hadn't expected it to grow this large. He'd never paid it much attention before.

He still had no idea what kind of tree it was. It looked rather unusual — though previously, Su Ning hadn't given it a second thought.

Within a one-meter radius around the small tree, a ring of tiny white bones lay scattered on the ground.

They formed a glittering golden circle.

But what truly stunned him wasn't the ring of gleaming little figurines.

It was what was happening beneath the tree right now: a creature was locked in fierce combat with a group of tiny people.

That's right — a group of tiny people, none of them even half a finger's height.

"What the f—"

Su Ning couldn't help but curse under his breath. He rubbed his eyes hard.

"They're actually tiny people... and... they can fly?!"

"Is that the Sword-Riding Technique?"

"Oh no, oh no... I'm not having hallucinations from my illness getting worse, am I...?"

Su Ning couldn't believe his own eyes.

No sane person would believe what he was seeing.

Except perhaps someone who had lost their mind.

"But... I've never heard of cancer causing hallucinations," Su Ning muttered, shaking his head.

There was no time to overthink it.

His gaze was completely drawn to the battle unfolding beneath the small tree.

One, two, three...

A full nine tiny figures were surrounding and attacking a spider the size of a thumb.

Each of the nine struck a different pose. There was a woman in white robes so pristine they outshone snow, her sashes trailing in the air. There was a Daoist in a flowing robe, holding a Horsetail Whisk. There was a monk gripping a Staff, a great solar halo blazing behind him. And there was a dark figure wreathed in black light, clutching a sinister Soul-Summoning Banner...

The nine tiny figures and the spider were locked in a ferocious battle.

And from the looks of it, the nine were at a disadvantage.

"Kunlun Immortal Maiden, draw the Chaos Creature's attention."

"Sumeru Buddha, move to the creature's rear and be ready to strike at any moment."

"Abyss Devil Lord, use the Soul-Summoning Banner to disrupt the Chaos Creature's mind."

A small figure in cyan robes, holding a longsword, was issuing commands with a grave expression.

"Everyone else — with me!" The cyan-robed figure leveled his iron sword and shouted.

"Fellow Daoists, though the Chaos Creatures of the Immortal Realm are powerful, we must never tarnish the name of those who have achieved Ascension. Even if we perish and our Dao is extinguished, we will fight with unyielding will!"

The tiny figures discussed their tactics with complete seriousness.

It looked remarkably convincing — like a scene from an immortal-hero drama playing out in real life. Su Ning stared, jaw nearly hitting the ground.

Though the sheer smallness of the figures made it all look a little absurd.

"Where did these tiny people come from?" Su Ning wondered, baffled.

* * *

One hour earlier...

Qiankun Realm.

The Nine Great Saints shattered the void and ascended together, stunning countless Cultivators across the world.

The Nine Great Saints:

Kunlun Immortal Maiden of the Kunlun Sacred Ground.

Abyss Devil Lord of the Abyss Devil Domain.

Sumeru Buddha of the Undying Buddhist Order.

Nameless Sword Immortal of the Endless Sword Domain.

Way-Seeking Elder of Way-Seeking Mountain.

Azure Emperor of the Soaring Serpent of the Demon Clan.

Great Xia Sovereign of the Undying Dynasty.

Naga King of the Deep-Sea Leviathans.

Golden Crow Emperor of the Divine Beast Clan.

Their brilliance was unmatched across the ages. They had cultivated their Dao to the very pinnacle of this world.

Seeking to go one step further, they disregarded the warnings sent down through the Ascension channel by cultivators who had gone before — warnings that read: "Do not ascend."

They resolved to storm the Immortal Realm regardless.

The Nine Great Saints agreed to ascend on the same day, so they could watch each other's backs.

That day was the most extraordinary day Qiankun Realm had ever seen.

Countless powerful figures, great sects, and imperial dynasties all fixed their eyes on the Ascension Platform in the Central Continent, eager to witness a spectacle that came once in a hundred years.

The Nine Great Saints arrived as promised.

Each one radiated an aura so overwhelming it inspired reverence.

"So this is the power of those who have achieved Ascension?"

"Terrifying beyond words!"

"Ah... if only I could reach that level someday..."

The onlookers gazed up at the nine figures standing on the Ascension Platform as though staring into a row of suns.

The Nine Great Saints were simply too powerful.

Their every word and movement seemed to influence the very operation of the Dao Laws.

Some observers, merely by looking at them a moment too long, suddenly achieved enlightenment and broke through on the spot.

This gave the Cultivators of Qiankun Realm an even deeper understanding of the Nine Great Saints' power.

"They... have likely reached a level where they could slay immortals!"

"This realm can no longer contain them. With cultivation like theirs, even in the Immortal Realm they would shine brilliantly and dominate all before them!"

Some of the ancient, long-lived elders sighed with emotion.

"When I once fought the Azure Emperor to prove our Dao, we battled for three full days and nights across nine heavens and ten lands... Even then, his victory over me was hard-won. Now... I suspect a mere snap of his fingers would be enough to overwhelm me." An ancient fossil of a Saint Realm elder remarked.

They were all certain the Nine Great Saints had become invincible.

At least within the limits achievable in the lower realm, there was nowhere left for them to advance.

Now that they were ascending together to the Immortal Realm... surely they would cut through every enemy and forge an immortal legend.

"They've already grown this powerful — why would they still risk ascending?"

"You don't understand. The strong always seek to become stronger. Besides, even at the very peak of what this world allows, there are still beings that stand above them... To grow stronger still, Ascension is the only path."

"Are you referring to the Chaos Creatures...?"

"Shh, silence — don't mention them. Otherwise..."

"Understood!"

"Open—"

The Nine Great Saints made their move. Space shattered, and a spatial channel appeared — filled with the breath of chaos, its laws utterly indiscernible.

The nine exchanged brief nods, cast one last glance back at the homeland where they had fought and grown, then turned away without lingering and flew into the channel.

"We bid farewell to the Azure Emperor..."

"We bid farewell to the Saintess..."

"We bid farewell to the Sovereign..."

Countless Cultivators of Qiankun Realm called out. Some direct descendants wept openly, tears streaming down their faces, unable to bear the parting.

Yet they were also filled with anticipation — hoping their ancestors would shine brilliantly in the Immortal Realm, forge an invincible path, and crush every enemy in the heavens.

In their imaginations, with the cultivation their ancestors possessed, it was surely achievable — especially since they weren't acting alone, but alongside the other Eight Great Saints.

A lineup like that — wouldn't it be an unstoppable force in any world?

When the day came for them to return to Qiankun Realm, what a sight that would be.

And yet...

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