Oh no, it's all over!

"St... stop!"

Tudigong scrambled over, arms outstretched to block Xiruan's path.

"Little Ancestor, you can't! This absolutely cannot be done!"

This little child wasn't just picking peaches—she was digging up the very foundation of the Heavenly Court!

Xiruan tilted her little head, looking at the short old man before her, crying with snot and tears streaming down his face.

This village bully's hired hand was quite loyal.

She stretched out her chubby little hand and gave a gentle push.

Tudigong spun like a top, turning seven or eight circles on the spot before landing on his rear with a thud, stars swimming in his vision.

"Move aside. I need to raise money for Daddy to pay off his debts."

Xiruan's face was serious, her tone full of righteous conviction.

[Ding! Host's choice confirmed, reward issued!]

[Congratulations, host, for obtaining the Innate Supreme Treasure: Qiankun Cauldron!]

A flash of light.

A three-legged bronze cauldron, ancient and heavy, covered in Runes of the Great Dao, materialized out of thin air before Xiruan.

The Primordial Qi emanating from its body made the immortal energy of the entire Pantaoyuan boil with its mere presence.

"Wow, what a big pot!"

Xiruan's eyes lit up.

She'd been worrying about where to put all these peach trees.

The system was so thoughtful!

Tudigong was already dumbstruck.

The... the Qiankun Cauldron?!

The one Nuwa used to mend the heavens?!

The one Taishang Laojun used to refine pills?!

And it was being used as a sack by this Little Devil King?!

Xiruan had no idea what Tudigong was thinking. She walked up to the nearest 3000-Year Peach Tree and wrapped her chubby little arms around it.

"Heave-ho!"

Her little face flushed red from the effort as she strained upward with all her might.

Rumble—!

The entire Pantaoyuan shook violently!

The Immortal Vein connected to the tree was forcibly torn, and countless streams of spiritual energy erupted from the ground, forming visible rays of multicolored light.

Under Tudigong's horrified gaze, that immortal root—which would take several immortals working together to even budge—was being ripped out of the ground by a three-and-a-half-year-old milk baby?

"Done!"

Xiruan clapped her hands in satisfaction and casually tossed the entire peach tree into the Qiankun Cauldron.

The cauldron contained its own space; the massive tree fell in without even a sound.

"Next!"

She strutted over to the second tree with a swagger that acknowledged no authority.

"No... no!"

Tudigong let out a heart-wrenching scream and grabbed Xiruan's calf.

"Ancestor! My Little Ancestor! Leave me one! Just one, please?!"

"No." Xiruan shook her head, her little face full of resolve. "A debt must be repaid—that's only right and proper! Not a single hair of the village bully's property can remain!"

She lifted her foot, and the weight clinging to her leg was flung away.

What followed was the most horrifying scene in the history of the primordial era.

A tiny little toddler, huffing and puffing, pulled up trees.

Pull one, toss one.

Her movements were incredibly practiced, her efficiency astonishing.

The three-thousand-year ones—pulled!

The six-thousand-year ones—also pulled!

Soon, most of the Pantaoyuan was bare, as if gnawed clean by the Xiaotian Dog.

Tudigong collapsed completely, sitting on the ground, eyes hollow, muttering to himself over and over: "It's over... it's all over..."

The Heavenly Court's fortune drained away at a visible rate.

Xiruan wiped the sweat from her brow, her gaze falling on the deepest part of the garden.

There stood a few most peculiar peach trees, wreathed in purple mist and radiant with multicolored light, each fruit larger than her face.

"Huh? These radishes are the prettiest!"

She pattered over, plucked a 9000-Year Peach, cradled it in both hands, and took a bite.

"Crisp—"

It was exceptionally crisp.

"Sweet~"

The next second, a surge of vast life essence exploded within her body!

"Burp... tastes okay, but a bit filling."

Xiruan patted her round little belly and casually tossed aside the 9000-Year Peach—enough to make a mortal ascend to immortality on the spot—to the side.

Just then.

The space above Pantaoyuan rippled like water's surface.

An old man with crane-white hair and a childlike face, clad in a gossamer robe of the Eight Trigrams, rode a Green Ox as he leisurely emerged from it.

It was none other than one of the Three Pure Ones, the good corpse of Taiqing—Taishang Laojun.

He had been refining pills in Doushuai Palace when he suddenly sensed chaos in the Heavenly Court's fortune. Counting on his fingers, he realized Pantaoyuan had suffered a Change of Events.

But when he saw the scene before him, even his sage-like Dao Heart twitched violently.

The ground was a mess, the Immortal Vein severed.

A delicate, jade-carved Little Girl stood amid a grove of bare peach trees, beside a cauldron filled with countless uprooted trunks.

Taishang Laojun's gaze froze instantly.

Xiruan noticed him too.

She looked up, her big, jet-black eyes curiously sizing up this new old man.

Riding an ox, holding a whisk, with an immortal, wind-borne bearing.

He seemed stronger than that village bully Haotian from earlier.

He must be here to collect debts for the bully too! And a big boss at that!

Xiruan instantly grew alert. She stretched out her Little Hand and hoisted the Chaos Baby Bottle back onto her shoulder.

Her big eyes fixed on Taishang Laojun, she barked in a milky voice:

"Hey! Another rent collector? Get in line!"

Taishang Laojun, riding the Green Ox, felt his Dao Heart waver.

For eons, it had been as still as an ancient well—but now, it wavered!

"Little friend..."

He spoke with difficulty, his voice dry.

"Shut up!" Xiruan cut him off with a fierce, babyish tone. "Don't call me little friend, I don't know you!"

She looked him up and down, her Little Nose wrinkling.

This old man had a pleasant scent of medicinal pills, far more fragrant than the peaches.

Clearly a rich old man.

"You're with that village bully from before, right? He's the village chief, and you're the accountant?"

Xiruan's little mind whirred rapidly, already assigning him a role.

Taishang Laojun: "..."

Accountant?

He, the foremost of the Three Pure Ones, the good corpse of the Moral Heavenly Lord, was being mistaken for a mortal bookkeeper?

"This poor Daoist..."

"Poor what! You don't look like a good person at all!" Xiruan said fiercely, her voice still babyish. "I admit my Daddy owes you money! But you can't just lock people up and bully them every day!"

"Let me tell you, these peach trees are the interest! As for the principal, I'll go move it from your house!"