Chapter 3 – The Nine Great Saints: So This Is a Bigshot of the Immortal Realm?

Beneath the small tree.

The Nine Great Saints were locked in a fierce battle with the spider.

No one could have anticipated that the so-called Nine Great Saints of the lower realm would become this weak upon arriving in this world.

They were struggling to even deal with a single bug.

To the spider, the nine tiny figures looked like nine pieces of prey. Its legs churned across the ground in rapid alternation, moving at a speed that was nothing short of astonishing.

Swish, swish, swish…

To Su Ning, the spider's speed was merely average — but to the tiny figures, it was utterly terrifying.

"Supreme Sword Emperor Art!"

A majestic little figure clad in golden armor and a dragon robe blazed with golden radiance, like a tiny glowing light bulb, with faint golden dragon patterns swirling around him.

Nine dragons roared with regal might, transforming into nine heavenly sword beams that shot toward the spider.

The swords, however, were tiny — even smaller than toothpicks.

Su Ning watched with amusement. The special effects were more entertaining than any movie he'd seen.

But when those sword beams struck the spider, they had absolutely no effect — like a few pinpricks of light grazing its body.

The spider blinked across the ground in an instant, appearing before one of the Saints. Its claws pinned the tiny figure down, its tail spun out silk, and its legs began to rotate.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

In just a few seconds, the tiny figure was wrapped in spider silk, cocooned like a ball of yarn into a white chrysalis. No matter how the figure inside struggled, no matter how brilliantly they glowed, they could not break free from the silk's binding.

"Great Xia Sovereign…"

Everyone watched in dismay as Great Xia Sovereign was restrained by the Chaos Creature in a single exchange, rendered completely powerless. Their hearts tightened with dread.

A Chaos Creature — truly terrifying!

But the spider had no intention of letting any of its prey escape. Pure hunting instinct drove it to continue.

Swish, swish, swish…

Its eight legs moved like they were fitted with electric motors, clacking rhythmically across the ground.

Thud…

Another ascender was pinned down, and after a flurry of motion, a new white chrysalis appeared.

The special effects these tiny figures produced looked impressive, but their actual combat power was pitifully weak.

"This Chaos Creature is too powerful… At this rate, we'll all be wiped out." Kunlun Immortal Maiden's breathtakingly beautiful face was etched with anxiety.

And indeed, things unfolded exactly as she feared.

The remaining Saints were captured one after another.

They had absolutely no power to resist.

Even the mightiest among them — Nameless Sword Immortal — was no more than an ant before the Chaos Creature.

"It's over…" Kunlun Immortal Maiden's face turned deathly pale as she stared at the Chaos Devil Spider in horror.

"Is this… where I fall today?"

She was deeply unwilling to accept it.

She had come to the Immortal Realm hoping to carve out a name for herself, only to face death the moment she arrived.

Kunlun Immortal Maiden could sense that the Chaos Devil Spider had nearly exhausted its strength and wanted to devour her to replenish its energy.

"Kunlun Technique!"

She pressed her palms together, then spread them apart — a circle of yin-yang energy materialized between her palms.

This was the Yin-Yang Technique, embodying the supreme principles of yin and yang.

An extraordinarily profound cultivation method.

It was also the signature technique through which she had attained the Saint Realm.

This Cultivation Technique had an immense reputation throughout Qiankun Realm, and its power was genuinely fearsome.

Through this technique alone, Kunlun Immortal Maiden had slain countless enemies.

It was said to be an invincible art — capable of slaying immortals and gods.

Boom…

She thrust both palms forward.

The Yin-Yang Technique surged out, carrying faint arcs of lightning, and crashed down toward the spider.

This was Kunlun Immortal Maiden's final trump card.

After unleashing this attack, her body collapsed straight to the ground.

Completely drained.

Pop…

But what she had believed to be an immortal-slaying, god-killing trump card burst against the creature like a tiny soap bubble — utterly useless.

It couldn't even tickle the thing.

"So this is… the terror of a Chaos Creature…"

"This world is so frightening. No wonder the ascenders who came before us warned against Ascension. No wonder there are so many skeletal remains of past ascenders scattered around…"

"Haah…" Kunlun Immortal Maiden collapsed to the ground, her strength completely spent.

She could only smile bitterly as she watched the spider rapidly lunge toward her.

She was going to die…

That was her first thought.

Throughout the entire battle, not one of the Nine Great Saints had noticed that high above them, a giant was watching their fight, eyes fixed upon them.

By the time the battle was nearly over, Su Ning had seen enough.

Just as the spider was about to strike Kunlun Immortal Maiden, he extended a single finger and pressed it down onto the ground.

Crack…

The spider was crushed flat by his fingertip.

Its eight legs and head twitched against the ground twice, then went still. Dead.

The spider's fluids splattered across the earth.

"Ugh… that was careless. A bit gross. I should've just poked it with a stick." Su Ning muttered with distaste.

Fortunately, his hand wasn't particularly clean to begin with — after a full day of farm work, it was already caked with mud, so it didn't feel all that much dirtier.

Pat, pat, pat…

He dusted off his hands.

As if he had just done something utterly trivial.

Which, to him, it was.

But down on the ground, Kunlun Immortal Maiden was struck speechless with shock.

Just now — just when she had thought she was about to die — a colossal finger had descended from the heavens and crushed that invincible Chaos Creature… into paste, in a single instant?

This…!

She knew full well the power of the Chaos Devil Spider. All Nine Great Saints combined couldn't do a thing to it. And yet that finger… had annihilated it in an instant?

Just who in the world was the owner of that finger?!

Was this… a being of the Immortal Realm?

She was utterly stunned.

She looked up, and for the first time noticed the giant looming in the sky above.

The giant's form filled the entire heavens.

Impossibly tall. Impossibly large.

The figure in the sky was young, with a handsome, refined face — like a gentle and cultured scholar.

Quite good-looking, actually.

Of course, Kunlun Immortal Maiden had no intention of taking that gentle appearance at face value. He had casually crushed a Chaos Creature with a single finger. And that muttered "so gross," paired with that look of pure disdain on his face… only made her more certain that this person was no ordinary being.

As for his age…

In the cultivation world, one never judged a person's true age by their face. Someone this powerful had surely lived through countless ages.

He was undoubtedly a great figure of the Immortal Realm.

Even if he wasn't the sole sovereign of this world, he was certainly a colossus of one domain or another.

"Many thanks to Senior for saving us. May I ask which sovereign of the Immortal Realm you are? We are cultivators who ascended from the lower realm. If Senior does not find us unworthy, I would willingly join Senior's sect — please, Senior, take us in." Kunlun Immortal Maiden's sharp instincts told her that this could be a tremendous Fortuitous Encounter — perhaps the only chance they had to survive in this world. The remains of past ascenders scattered around the World Tree were a stark warning.

"Though it is presumptuous of me to ask, please take us in, Senior — even as Menial Disciples by your side would be enough." She had no choice but to be so forward. This was a lifeline, and the piles of bones surrounding them were the lesson. Without a backer, mere survival in this terrifying world was in question.

Latching onto this powerful figure would be nothing but beneficial.

A single Chaos Creature had been enough to overwhelm all the ascenders — and yet such a creature had been snuffed out with a single finger. One could only imagine how dangerous this realm truly was.

So… she had to seize this chance at survival.

No matter what.

"Uh… a sect? A sovereign?" Su Ning felt a little awkward hearing that.

She sounded like a storyteller spinning a tale.

I'm just an ordinary person in this world — one who's about to kick the bucket, at that.

"I have no sect, nor am I any kind of sovereign." Su Ning could hear the tiny figure's words. Though her voice was extremely faint, if he listened carefully, he could make out what she was saying.

His own voice, on the other hand, hit their ears like rolling thunder.

"Whether or not you are a sovereign, please take us in, Senior… We are willing to attend to you at your side. Even without formally becoming disciples, that would be fine." Kunlun Immortal Maiden said.

Attend to him at his side?

If word of this ever reached the lower realm, countless cultivators would be left speechless. She was Kunlun Immortal Maiden — supremely proud at all times. Normally, even daring to look at her was considered an affront. And yet here she was, offering to attend upon Su Ning.

Of course, she had no other choice. She had no desire to end up like the heap of bones around her — her beauty fading into nothing.

Right now, no matter what it took, she had to survive first. And without question, this giant… was their only chance at life.

Only under the protection of an immortal could they hope to survive here.

In Kunlun Immortal Maiden's eyes, Su Ning was a being of unfathomable, heaven-defying power. To follow him would be nothing short of an honor.

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