The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Yang Wanqing stopped when he turned to the eleventh page.

"Yaoyao, look at this."

Chen Siyao took it. The document began with a line of small print...

"On the eve of going to the Taiyin Realm. Peak of the Mahayana stage."

The following is Chang'e's complete description of her cultivation state at that time. She was at the peak of the Mahayana stage, and her spiritual power had reached perfection, but she was still one step away from the next transformation.

Chang'e used the phrase "looking at the mountains across the river" to describe that state.

Chen Siyao put down the document and picked up the next one.

This timeline jumps quite far, directly to the 1200th year of the Taiyin Realm's garrison.

The art style of the content has completely changed.

It is no longer a daily practice reflection, but a text that has been repeatedly revised, deleted, and rewritten countless times.

Chen Siyao could see that the surface of the jade disc had been engraved multiple times, with old characters being covered by new ones, and new ones being covered by even newer ones.

The final version that survived reads...

"The 1200th year. Finally, I touched that barrier. It wasn't that my spiritual power was insufficient, but that my understanding of the 'Dao' was inadequate. No matter how abundant my spiritual power is, it's just quantity. Quantitative change doesn't lead to qualitative change. Qualitative change requires—comprehension."

Chen Siyao ran her fingers along the edge of the document for a moment before continuing to read.

"The 1500th year. The barrier remains. The daily adjustments made to the Jade Rabbit 1 have given me inspiration from the patterns of spiritual energy tides."

"The spiritual energy between heaven and earth is not static; it has its own 'will'—or rather, its own 'way'."

"The second millennium. Three attempts to break through the barrier, three failures. But each failure brought me one step closer to the answer."

"The 2600th year... has been broken."

Chen Siyao stopped.

Chang'e recorded her breakthrough process in extremely simple words. There were no flowery descriptions, no earth-shattering phenomena. Just one sentence.

"Only when the Nine Heavens Thunder Tribulation descended did I understand... why this trial is called the 'Dao Tribulation'."

Yang Wanqing leaned closer to read this passage, then looked up. "A Dao Tribulation?"

Chen Siyao flipped to the next document. Chang'e had explained this realm in detail on this document...

"Above the Mahayana stage is the Dao Tribulation Realm. Breakthrough requires passing through a Heavenly Tribulation. The Heavenly Tribulation is not a punishment, but rather a test and recognition of the cultivator by the Heavenly Dao. Only those who pass through the Heavenly Tribulation can be called 'Saints'."

"So the Great Ascension stage is followed by the Dao Tribulation Realm," Yang Wanqing muttered. "The name is quite straightforward."

Chen Siyao nodded. "As I said before, the realms beyond the Mahayana stage are directly related to the 'Dao'."

She continued reading. Chang'e's document stated that breakthroughs to the Dao Tribulation Realm were extremely rare even in ancient times.

Of the 272 people in the entire Beichen Immortal Sect, only three have reached this realm.

Senior Brother Tianpeng.

Chang'e herself.

Yisheng.

"The Three Saints of Beichen," Chen Siyao read aloud. "So that's where the title 'Three Saints' comes from—three people who have transcended the Dao Tribulation."

Yang Wanqing counted on her fingers: "Only three out of two hundred and seventy-two people? That's an incredibly low probability."

"This is still the environment with the most abundant spiritual energy in the Thirty-Three Heavens." Chen Siyao turned to the next page.

"It was written by Chang'e. The entire Jade Void Holy Temple, with its seven sects combined, has only about twenty cultivators above the Dao Tribulation Realm."

Seven sects, totaling twenty Dao Tribulation Realm cultivators.

Yang Wanqing whistled. "Less than one in a thousand."

"That's not all." Chen Siyao pointed to the next paragraph on the document, "This realm isn't just about reaching it. It has nine levels."

Nine Heavens Tribulation.

Chang'e's notes clearly state that the Dao Tribulation Realm is divided into nine levels, and one must undergo a Heavenly Tribulation to break through each level.

Only after all nine tribulations have been overcome can one be considered truly fulfilled.

"Chang'e spent three thousand years in the Taiyin Realm and underwent four Heavenly Tribulations," Chen Siyao said. "When she returned, she was at the fifth level of the Dao Tribulation."

Yang Wanqing lay slumped on the table, his chin resting on his crossed arms. "Three thousand years to pass four trials… an average of one trial every seven hundred and fifty years?"

"The earlier ones were relatively easy." Chen Siyao pointed to Chang'e's annotation, "She only prepared for her first heavenly tribulation for three hundred years, and it took longer and longer after that. The fourth one took nearly twelve hundred years."

It gets harder as you progress. This principle applies to any cultivation system.

Yang Wanqing rolled over, lying on her back. "What happens after I've completed all nine levels? What comes next?"

Chen Siyao had already turned to that page.

She did not speak immediately.

Yang Wanqing waited five seconds, then propped herself up and leaned closer. "What's wrong?"

The handwriting on the document had changed. It was no longer Chang'e's usual neat regular script, but a very small and dense script—when writing this passage, Chang'e wrote very heavily, and each stroke was deeply embedded in the jade disc.

"After reaching the peak of the Nine Realms of the Dao Tribulation!"

Chen Siyao read it aloud.

"Refining Emptiness and Uniting with the Dao".

Yang Wanqing didn't react. "Refining to Emptiness...merging with the Dao?"

"The literal meaning." Chen Siyao pressed her finger on the surface of the document and read it line by line: "Refine one's own illusions and unite with the Dao of Heaven."

Chang'e used a lot of space to describe this realm, but it was all a paraphrase. She herself had not reached this level.

She recorded information she heard from her master, the Purple Star Celestial Venerable, and information she found in the Scripture Pavilion of the Northern Star Immortal Sect.

"Those who reach this state become one with the Dao."

"The physical body can be destroyed, and the soul can be annihilated. But as long as the Dao that one has come into contact with still exists between heaven and earth, this person can be reborn through the Dao."

"No matter where or when, as long as that wisp of the Dao's origin is still in operation, it will never truly perish."

Yang Wanqing jumped up from the table.

"Immortal and indestructible?"

"These are Chang'e's exact words." Chen Siyao handed her the document.

Yang Wanqing held the jade disc, read it over and over three times, and then plopped back down on the stool.

"That's practically becoming an immortal? That's just... amazing!"

Chen Siyao didn't reply. She was thinking about something else.

The Realm of Return to Nothingness.

That Tianwu.

Having defeated that Heavenly Wu and shattered its physical body, he should have undoubtedly died. But my brother said something.

"It will take thousands of years for it to recover."

Reborn thousands of years later.

Even if the physical body is shattered and the soul is destroyed, one can still be reborn.

Chen Siyao matched Tianwu's situation with the description in the document. That Tianwu was most likely a being equivalent to the Refining Void and Merging with the Dao.

Therefore, the elder brother could not completely kill it. It wasn't that the elder brother couldn't do it, but as long as Tianwu's wisp of Dao was still operating, it could re-condense from the world.

Unless... that last thread of its essence is also erased.

But that is part of the natural order.

Who can erase the will of Heaven?

Chen Siyao suppressed the thought and continued flipping through the documents. Chang'e's notes contained further details, including some taboos concerning those who had achieved the Dao of Refining Emptiness.

"The names of people in this place should not be spoken directly."

"Because it has merged with the Dao of Heaven, all things in heaven and earth are extensions of its perception. If someone calls its true name, no matter how far away they are, this person will be able to sense it."

"Therefore, the great beings above this realm do not reveal their true names. Instead, they are given 'titles' recognized by Heaven and Earth, such as Heavenly Venerable or Dao Venerable. This is Heaven's recognition and bestowal of titles upon them."

Chen Siyao stopped reading when she got to this point.