374: Chapter 374 The Roadside Tea Stall and the Legend of the "Taoist Ancestor"

The tea stall was set up on the edge of the market town, with a few rough wooden tables covered by a large awning. Several large ceramic teapots sat on the stall. The waiter was a dark-skinned, sturdy youth who was quick on his feet and very talkative.

Su Changge and his group of three sat at a table in the corner. Zhao Tian ordered three pots of tea, pushed one to Su Changge, one to Ye Qingyao, and held onto one for himself to drink.

The tea was bitter, and the aftertaste was slow to come, but in a place like the Dragon Vein Ancient Continent, having something hot to drink was already considered quite good.

Su Changge held his teacup, leaning against the rough wooden table, and slowly opened his ears.

Scattered around were a dozen tables of Cultivators. The voices from two of the tables were significantly louder than the others, and they were discussing a matter that had recently become very widespread.

"Have you heard about the Chixiao Dao Domain?"

"I heard. The Ten Thousand Immortals Assembly, right? Four Demon Dragons were suppressed, and the entire layout of the Chixiao Dao Domain has changed."

"That's not all. Do you know who suppressed those four Dragons?"

"That Dao Ancestor, right?"

"What Dao Ancestor? That person is a true enlightened being. On the day of the Ten Thousand Immortals Assembly, the entire sky of the Chixiao Dao Domain cracked open. They say it was shaken apart by a single Aura from that person."

The man who said this was a burly local with a resonant voice, drinking his tea heroically.

A person at another table immediately chimed in.

"I heard that too, but the version I heard is different. They say when that person made a move, thirty thousand li of Purple Qi fell from the sky, shrouding the entire Chixiao Dao Domain. The four Dragons were like worms tied up by ropes, unable to move at all."

The first man shook his head.

"Your version is still too conservative. I heard from people who came from the Chixiao Dao Domain that when those four Dragons were suppressed, even their Primordial Spirits trembled. They couldn't even form the thought of resisting, you understand? Not even a thought."

Zhao Tian held his teacup, his lips pressed against the rim without drinking, his ears pricked straight up.

Ye Qingyao sat upright, drinking her tea, her gaze scanning the tea stall calmly.

Su Changge lowered his head, looking at the tea in his bowl.

"Not even the thought of resisting..."

"That's actually quite accurate. Those four Dragons truly didn't have the thought of resisting, but the reason was that the System's special effects scared them until their legs went weak, not because I truly suppressed their Primordial Spirits."

The discussion at that table continued, becoming more and more outrageous.

"I also heard that the Dao Ancestor doesn't look like a living person. They say time leaves no trace on him; just standing there, he looks like a painting."

"That's not all. I heard that just by standing still, he can make the surrounding Spiritual Qi revolve on its own. He doesn't need to operate any Cultivation Technique; the Spiritual Qi actively walks around him. This is the true Realm of Dao merging with the body."

"There's an even more amazing one. It's said that someone had evil intentions at the Ten Thousand Immortals Assembly, and before they could even get close, they were bounced away by something invisible. They flew twenty miles with their feet on the ground, and when they landed, they didn't even know how they had taken off."

Zhao Tian almost spat out his tea, covering his mouth and shrinking into the corner.

Su Changge tapped his finger lightly on the table.

"Flying twenty miles with feet on the ground, bounced away by something invisible..."

"These special effects are indeed impressive, it's just that I don't have this one."

The topic over there became increasingly absurd, moving from the Dao Ancestor's suppression of the Dragons to his background, and from his background to his origins.

"I think that person isn't an ordinary Cultivator. Perhaps he is a sage left over from the ancient era, just having slept for too long and only recently re-emerging."

"A sage? Are you talking about those people from the ancient Cultivation era? That was how many tens of thousands of years ago."

"So what? How many people have you seen who can suppress four Demon Dragons in one go? If a person like that isn't a sage who has slept for too long, what else could he be?"

"Wrong, wrong. I heard another version saying that the person has no cultivation at all, just a Mortal. But he is a Mortal who has reached the end of cultivation. After practicing the Dao to the point of unity, he turned into a state of having nothing. This is called Return to Simplicity, which is higher than all cultivated Realms."

This statement made everyone around quiet for a moment.

Su Changge's hand holding the teacup paused slightly.

"Return to Simplicity..."

"What they said is true, but the understanding is skewed."

"I truly have no cultivation, but it's not because I reached the end and unified; I had nothing from the start. I'm a genuine Qi Refining First Layer, a total waste. It's just that I happened to have a good face and the System provides special effects. It has nothing to do with Dao unity."

He took a sip of tea.

The tea was bitter.

Very bitter.

Ye Qingyao suddenly spoke, her voice kept extremely low, directed only at Su Changge.

"Revered Master, among these rumors, one sentence is correct."

Su Changge looked at her.

Ye Qingyao's eyes were very serious.

"Regarding the point about Spiritual Qi automatically circulating around Revered Master, when Disciple first observed Revered Master, I had a similar perception. That is not a rumor; it is what Disciple saw with my own eyes."

Su Changge stared at her for three breaths.

"..."

"The System's passive special effect."

"Any probing method that falls on me will return an unfathomable signal. What others perceive as Spiritual Qi circulating is actually their probing technique being deflected."

"But I can't explain this."

Su Changge picked up the teacup, took a sip, and did not answer Ye Qingyao's words.

Ye Qingyao took it as his tacit confirmation, a hint of hard-to-conceal certainty in her eyes as she turned back to continue drinking tea.

Zhao Tian buried his head in his teacup, struggling to suppress the urge to make a sound.

Su Changge kicked him.

Zhao Tian immediately tightened his face and straightened his back.

The topic of the two tables shifted from the Dao Ancestor to the recent situation in the Dragon Vein Ancient Continent. Their voices lowered quite a bit, but the content became more practical.

"Recently, the tremors of the ground in the Dragon Vein Ancient Continent have been more frequent than before. Three spiritual springs in my village have already dried up. They say it was sucked away by something underground."

"It's not just your place. I came from the edge of the Broken Peak Barbarian King's territory. They have been driving away outside Cultivators recently, saying that the Stone King wants to expand the blockade. He wants to bring the entire area around the Dragon Spine Mountain Range under his control."

"The Blood Pattern Canyon side is even more exaggerated. I heard Tu Lie has been recruiting desperadoes in large numbers recently, offering very high terms. Many Loose Cultivators without a Foundation have gone to join."

"If you ask me, these four sides are about to fight. This time it's going to be a real big fight, not the small frictions of three days of fighting and seven days of war like before."

"Then shouldn't we withdraw first?"

"Withdraw where? The Dragon Vein Ancient Continent is only this big. Once the four sides start moving, the whole Domain will suffer. You can't withdraw."

Su Changge put the teacup back on the table and looked into the distance.

"The four sides are about to have a big fight."

"We arrived at this exact time node."

"The timing is excellent, though it's excellent for my doom."

Just as he was thinking this, a sudden sound of someone slamming the table came from the nearby table, shattering the quiet of the entire tea stall.