85: Chapter 85 System Progress 50%, Crisis Lurks

Days passed, one by one, in this strange atmosphere.

Su Changge's daily life consisted of eating, sleeping, and staring blankly at the System panel.

【 System overloaded, emergency reboot in progress... 】

【 Reboot progress: 50%... 】

After a long wait, the progress bar had finally crawled to the halfway point.

Although it was still slow, it at least gave Su Changge a glimmer of hope.

He survived daily on the meals delivered to his door by the Utility Disciple, living a true "homebody" life.

Meanwhile, the enthusiasm of the pilgrims at the foot of the mountain did not wane but instead increased.

They camped outside the Taixuan Sect, bowing and worshiping toward Changge Peak every day, exchanging the Dao Rhyme they had each comprehended from the Dao Ancestor's "breathing" and "kicking trash," creating a peaceful atmosphere.

However, beneath this frenzied atmosphere, a discordant undercurrent was quietly brewing.

In the Eastern Wasteland, on the southern frontier, within a desolate, barren mountain range.

An old man dressed in grey hemp robes, his face as withered as tree bark, slowly opened his eyes.

There was not the slightest emotional fluctuation in his eyes, only utter dead silence.

He was one of the oldest Loose Cultivators in the Eastern Wasteland, Old Ancestor Kurong.

He was a Soul Transformation Late Stage Great Perfection Cultivator who had lived for nearly ten thousand years, with a reclusive and suspicious nature, and unfathomable cultivation.

He had just awakened from a three-hundred-year-long seclusion.

"Annihilating Demon Venerable Moro with a single word? The Dao Ancestor has descended into the world?"

Listening to the news brought back by his Disciple, Old Ancestor Kurong pulled a hideous smile onto his gaunt face.

He had believed in power all his life and never believed in any nonsense about gods descending to the world.

He had heard of Demon Venerable Moro's strength; he was by no means an existence that could be easily annihilated.

Furthermore, during the three hundred years he had been in seclusion, he had never sensed the birth of any new peerless powerhouse in the Eastern Wasteland.

"Taixuan Sect... Hmph, a Sect that has been in decline for a thousand years, thinking they can dominate the Eastern Wasteland with such tricks?"

Old Ancestor Kurong sneered in his heart.

In his view, this was one hundred percent a shocking scam orchestrated by the Taixuan Sect, in alliance with certain forces, in order to rise again.

That so-called "Dao Ancestor" was likely just a Puppet pushed to the forefront, or simply an illusion created by some ancient illusory array.

"This seat shall go and see exactly what kind of sacred being this so-called 'Dao Ancestor' really is."

Old Ancestor Kurong decided to personally head to the Taixuan Sect to expose the truth of what he believed to be a scam.

...

Outside the Taixuan Sect, the atmosphere remained fervent.

But as time passed and Su Changge refused to appear, some people began to have doubts.

"It's been almost half a month, why is there no movement from the Dao Ancestor at all?"

"Indeed, even if he were in seclusion, he should come out for some air, right?"

Although these voices were very quiet and were quickly drowned out by more fervent sounds of worship, the seeds of doubt had already been quietly sown.

Meanwhile, on Changge Peak, Su Changge was about to grow mold from boredom.

To pass the time, and also to cover up the awkwardness of having nothing to do, he found a hoe and cleared out a vegetable patch in the small courtyard.

He planned to grow some vegetables himself to achieve self-sufficiency.

After all, he had grown up in the countryside in his past life; growing vegetables was a task that couldn't stump him.

He swung the hoe, tilling the soil one stroke at a time.

Because there was no Qi reinforcement and he was relying purely on his Physical Body strength, his movements appeared somewhat clumsy, even rigid.

Sweat rolled down his cheeks, and he was panting, completely lacking any of the elegance and composure that a Cultivator should have.

He was working with great enthusiasm, completely unaware.

High in the sky, thousands of meters away, a pair of turbid and icy eyes were watching his every move in the courtyard clearly through some secret technique.

The owner of those eyes was none other than Old Ancestor Kurong, who had quietly arrived.

He hovered amidst the clouds, hiding all his aura, like a ghost.

Watching the young man in white clothes in the image, who was swinging a hoe with clumsy movements and had not a shred of Qi fluctuation about his body, a look of undisguised mockery and disdain appeared on his withered face.

"Not a shred of Qi fluctuation, rigid movements, drenched in sweat..."

Old Ancestor Kurong let out a hoarse sneer, his voice filled with contempt.

"This is the 'Dao Ancestor' you all speak of?"