111: Chapter 111 A Senior's Guidance? I Just Roasted a Sweet Potato!

Xia Yi's voice drifted over the deathly silent city gates.

Every syllable trembled violently due to uncontrollable fear.

Su Changge sat on the back of the Old Yellow Ox, his expression calm as water, while his heart was already churning with raging waves, cursing the System from head to toe ten thousand times over.

What kind of situation is this!

He only wanted to quietly come to the Central Plains, find a corner, and lay low; how did it turn into this magical scene of the masses making a pilgrimage?

"At your service?"

I'm afraid you all will "serve" me straight into oblivion!

Su Changge kept a straight face, frantically calculating all possibilities in his heart.

Run?

Running now would make him a living target and only make him look more guilty.

Don't run?

Heaven knows what these people are up to; what if they're trying to lure him into the city to trap him like a dog in a kennel?

He chose silence.

Not a single word.

Loose lips sink ships—this was the only truth he had learned through blood and tears since his Transmigration.

However, his silence, in the eyes of Xia Yi and the various powerful figures of the Central Plains, transformed into an unfathomable, supreme majesty.

"Senior says nothing."

"Is this a test of our sincerity?"

"Or could it be that some part of our words and actions just now offended his divine countenance?"

Cold sweat broke out instantly on Xia Yi's back, soaking his nine-clawed dragon robe, and his legs went weak, almost causing him to kneel on the spot.

He dared not ask again, only burying his head lower, his posture humble to the point of being in the dust.

"Senior... it is the Junior... it is we Juniors who have been abrupt!"

"We have already prepared an absolutely quiet villa in the city for Senior, where no worldly people will disturb you."

Xia Yi's voice carried a hint of a sob, his words full of pleading.

"We invite Senior... to move into the city and take a brief rest."

Behind him, those Holy Land Masters and Imperial Dynasty Rulers, who could make the entire Central Plains tremble just by stomping their feet, were holding their breath, their hearts nearly leaping out of their throats.

The corner of Su Changge's eye twitched almost imperceptibly.

A quiet villa?

Sounds... alright.

It's better than being gawked at like a rare animal here.

Thus, he nodded slightly.

The movement was minimal.

So small it was almost imperceptible.

But in Xia Yi's eyes, this slight movement was no less than the voice of the Heavenly Dao, a decree from a Saint!

"Many thanks, Senior! Many thanks, Senior!"

Xia Yi felt as if he had been granted an amnesty, so excited he was incoherent. He quickly turned around and, with a hoarse voice of someone who had just survived a disaster, waved and hissed to the crowd behind him.

"Quick! Welcome Senior into the city!"

"Everyone, maintain your posture! Do not look up! Do not release any Divine Sense!"

"Anyone who disobeys will be treated as blaspheming against a deity, and their entire clan will be executed!"

Xia Yi roared the last four words with murderous intent, his face ferocious.

No one doubted the truth of his words.

At this moment, if anyone dared to make this indescribable existence frown, they wouldn't need Senior to act; the Great Xia Imperial Dynasty and all the factions present would be the first to pounce and tear him, along with his Sect and Divine Soul, into the finest dust.

"Respectfully welcome Senior!"

A sound like a mountain collapsing and a sea roaring erupted again, yet everyone used all their strength to suppress it to an extremely low frequency, full of infinite awe and submission.

Riding the Old Yellow Ox, Su Changge slowly walked into Wangxian City amidst the bowing and bending of these hundreds of contemporary powerful figures.

That scene was billions of times more exaggerated than a Mortal emperor patrolling the heavens.

...

The villa prepared by Tianji Pavilion for Su Changge was truly worthy of the word "quiet."

It was located on the core Dragon vein of the Central Plains Holy City, yet it was shrouded by supreme Formations, forming its own world.

Inside the courtyard were pavilions and towers, small bridges and flowing water, and the Spiritual Qi permeating the air was so dense it had almost condensed into tangible Spiritual mist.

Tianji Pavilion Master Mo Wentian, after personally leading Su Changge into the villa, bowed and retreated very tactfully.

"Senior, this Junior will be waiting outside the villa. If you have any instructions, just a single thought is needed, and this Junior will come at any time."

After speaking, he backed out and personally closed the courtyard gate that separated the two worlds.

"Phew—"

Su Changge let out a long breath, his legs went weak, and he slumped onto the stone bench in the courtyard, his face pale.

"Oh my dear mother, that scared me to death."

He stroked his wildly beating chest, feeling as if he had just danced a whole tango in front of the gates of hell.

The Old Yellow Ox appeared much calmer, strolling leisurely to the side, opening its mouth to munch on a glowing, unknown Spiritual Plant, as if everything just now had nothing to do with it.

Su Changge made up his mind.

Before he figured out the situation, he wouldn't step a single inch out of this courtyard even if it killed him!

He just wanted to have a good sleep now to calm his nerves.

However, while he wanted peace, the people outside the courtyard were destined not to let him have it.

From the moment he moved into the villa, this door became the most sacred place of pilgrimage in the entire Central Plains.

The first day.

"Junior, Master of the Dayan Holy Land, has brought my unworthy son to seek an audience, hoping Senior will not begrudge us some guidance!"

"Junior, Old Ancestor of the Jiuxiao Imperial Dynasty, has come specifically to pay respects, willing to serve Senior through thick and thin, never refusing even death!"

Voices of various people announcing their identities rang out respectfully outside the Formation.

Mo Wentian blocked them one by one, announcing to the outside: "Senior is currently contemplating the Mortal World and does not like to be disturbed by outsiders."

Su Changge knew nothing of this.

He was busy catching up on sleep, sleeping until the world went dark.

The second day.

There were even more people seeking an audience.

Visiting cards piled up like mountains, from the Ruler of the Great Xia Imperial Dynasty to the Sect Heads of third-rate Sects, covering almost every figure of note in the Central Plains.

The gifts they sent were dazzling, from ten-thousand-year Spirit Medicine to Primordial Divine Metal, piled into several small hills at the villa entrance, nearly blinding the Tianji Pavilion gatekeeping Disciples.

Su Changge still did not see them.

He was in the courtyard studying how to use that wood, which was brimming with Spiritual Qi, to generate electricity... no, to start a fire. Ordinary Mortal fire couldn't be lit here at all.

His behavior further confirmed Mo Wentian's statement.

"Contemplating the Mortal World! Senior is truly experiencing our mundane lives!"

"Return to Simplicity! Senior's Realm has long exceeded our imagination!"

"Senior has the common people at heart; he must be using this method to calculate the Heavenly Dao for the coming great calamity!"

The people outside not only did not leave, but became even more devout.

They firmly believed that Senior not seeing them was a test of their Dao Heart and sincerity.

By the third day.

A middle-aged man carrying an ancient sword on his back, his entire body wreathed in endless sharp Qi, arrived outside the villa.

"It's 'One Sword Levels the Mountain' Li Chungang!"

"Heavens, why has this Sword Saint come out of seclusion? Wasn't he in a death-seclusion, attempting to break through to that legendary Sword God Realm?"

"Rumor has it he's been stuck at a Bottleneck for three hundred years; could it be... that he wants to ask Senior for enlightenment?"

Li Chungang said nothing, simply standing still a hundred feet outside the villa gate, then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

He sat cross-legged, turning into a stubborn stone.

No speaking, no talking, no drinking, no eating.

One day.

Two days.

Three days.

Li Chungang was like a rock, not moving a muscle.

The Sword Intent on his body, however, was continuously accumulating and condensing, becoming increasingly terrifying, causing ripples in the surrounding space.

All onlookers retreated far away, fearing they would be torn apart by that invisible Sword Qi.

Meanwhile, inside the villa.

Su Changge finally solved the fire-starting problem—he discovered that the System could consume a negligible amount of emotion points to release the most basic "Ignite" special effect.

Then, he carefully pulled out two sweet potatoes with the fragrance of soil from his personal pack.

These were ones he had grown himself in the back mountain of the Taixuan Sect; because he couldn't bear to eat them, he had kept them with him all along.

"Heh, it's been a long time since I had roasted sweet potatoes; I really do miss them."

Su Changge hummed a tuneless little ditty, skillfully burying the two sweet potatoes into the ignited fire.

The System intelligently shielded all smoke and fire odors, leaving only the purest aroma of food being roasted.

A faint, sweet scent, carrying a hint of charred fragrance, drifted leisurely out from the villa.

This fragrance was very faint, yet it possessed a magical power that could penetrate everything.

It ignored the protective Formation capable of withstanding attacks from a Saint, drifting lightly outside the gate.

Li Chungang, who was sitting quietly, suddenly twitched his nostrils.

He smelled it.

What kind of scent was that?

Pill fragrance?

No, he had smelled countless Divine Pills and Spirit Medicine in his life, and none of them had this scent.

Was it the exotic fragrance of some matured Earthly Spiritual Root?

It didn't seem like it either.

This fragrance was very simple, very warm, very pure, but within this purity, it contained a supreme charm that he could not describe even after exhausting everything he had learned in his life.

That was not a scent.

That was... the Dao!

Return to Simplicity! The Great Dao is simple!

Inside Li Chungang's mind, billions of thunderbolts exploded with a roar!

The Sword Dao Bottleneck that had plagued him for a full three hundred years actually showed a trace of imperceptible loosening the moment he smelled this fragrance.

His sword was too sharp and exposed, knowing only how to charge forward, splitting mountains and breaking seas.

Yet it lacked the restraint of hiding the blade in its sheath.

It lacked the simplicity of returning to the ordinary.

Senior... is using this supreme Dao method to enlighten me!

This fragrance, it was not pill fragrance, not fruit fragrance, but the fragrance of the Dao!

It was the supreme true meaning of the three thousand Great Daos, ultimately returning to the smoke and fire of the human world!

Li Chungang's body began to tremble violently, not out of fear, but because of an extreme Epiphany!

His eyes were tightly shut, but in his mind, a brand-new sword technique was evolving on its own.

That sword, it was no longer about splitting mountains and breaking peaks, but like a warm spring breeze brushing over a wheat field.

That sword, it was no longer about Sword Qi soaring into the sky, but like the curling smoke rising from a Mortal village.

That sword was the ordinary, it was the Mortal World, it was life, it was home!

"I have understood... I have finally understood!"

Li Chungang opened his eyes abruptly, two lines of clear tears sliding down silently.

Facing the gate of the villa, he performed the great ritual of three kowtows and nine bows with extreme piety.

Every kowtow was extremely solid, his forehead colliding with the bluestone slab, emitting a dull sound.

"Li Chungang, many thanks to Senior for the grace of bestowing the Dao!"

His voice resonated through the heavens, full of infinite gratitude and joy.

As his voice fell, he rose to his full height, his aura having already transformed; the shackles that had plagued him for three hundred years shattered with a roar!

He bowed deeply to the villa once more, then looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, took a step, and his figure vanished into the horizon.

Leaving behind a crowd of petrified onlookers.

And in the villa, Su Changge, who was holding a half-blackened wooden stick, poking at the fire, his face full of confusion.

"Bestowing the Dao? Bestowing what Dao?"

Su Changge laboriously blew the ash off the sweet potato skin, took a big bite while it was still scalding hot, and mumbled to himself.

"That guy outside, screaming and yelling, what is he shouting about?"

"Could it be that he smelled my roasted sweet potatoes and was crying from hunger?"