90: Chapter 90 System Reboot Countdown!

Old Ancestor Kurong was enlightened by a single word and achieved a Breakthrough to the Void Refining Realm on the spot.

This news was tantamount to a magnitude-12 earthquake in the world of immortality.

Centered on the Taixuan Sect, it stirred up monstrous waves, sweeping across the entire Eastern Wasteland in just one day and spreading madly toward even more distant great domains.

If there were still people who harbored doubts about the previous incident where a single word exterminated a Devil Head, thinking it was an exaggeration by the Taixuan Sect...

...then this time, it was witnessed firsthand by tens of thousands of Cultivators.

An old Devil Head at the Great Perfection of Soul Transformation, famous for nearly ten thousand years, achieved Ascension on the spot!

This was a miracle.

It was a true miracle that no words could refute, one that could only be looked upon while kneeling in worship!

At this moment, the name of Su Changge, the "Dao Ancestor," was thoroughly deified and pushed onto a pedestal unseen for eternity.

Outside the gates of the Taixuan Sect, the number of Cultivators coming to make a pilgrimage not only did not decrease but actually increased.

In just a few short days, the number of people skyrocketed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

A dense sea of people spread out from the foot of the mountain, extending all the way to the edge of the horizon.

Countless gazes converged on Changge Peak, filled with burning, devout, and nearly fanatical worship.

They had only one request.

"We implore the Dao Ancestor to open the altar and preach the Dao, to save all living beings!"

Since even a peerless Devil Head like Old Ancestor Kurong could be enlightened, they firmly believed that as long as they could hear a single true word from the Dao Ancestor—even just one character—it would be enough to undergo a rebirth and clear the path to the heavens!

Inside the small courtyard, Su Changge listened to the mountain-shaking, sea-roaring cheers outside that seemed capable of overturning the heavens, and his head throbbed with pain.

Preach the Dao?

What should I preach?

The mysteries of calculus? Or the uncertainty of quantum mechanics?

He shut himself tightly inside the room, refusing to show his face regardless of the heaven-shaking shouts outside.

He knew very well that the more one speaks, the more mistakes one makes.

Getting by last time was purely a stroke of luck, running into a brain-supplementing monster with an imagination that broke through the heavens.

This time, however, there were hundreds of thousands of eyes outside!

A single mouthful of spit from each person would be enough to drown him, this "fake Dao Ancestor," alive on the pedestal.

However, while he wanted to play the tortoise, the Sect Master of the Taixuan Sect, Qin Wudao, would not allow it.

"Dao Ancestor! I beg of you!"

Qin Wudao knelt for a long time outside the courtyard gate, tears streaming down his face, crying until he was hoarse.

"My Taixuan Sect has been in decline for a thousand years, suffering endless scorn and bullying. It was not easy to finally look forward to this ray of dawn that is you, to hope for the rise of our Sect!"

"Now, hundreds of millions of living beings in the Eastern Wasteland are waiting in anticipation; please have mercy and open the lecture altar just once!"

"This is not only their supreme Opportunity, but also a once-in-a-millennium chance for my Taixuan Sect to establish a heritage that will last for ten thousand generations!"

"As long as you are willing to speak, even if it is just one word, everyone in my Taixuan Sect will erect an eternal memorial tablet for you and worship you day and night!"

Qin Wudao cried heart-wrenchingly, banging his head against the ground with a "thud, thud" sound. Given that posture, if Su Changge did not agree, he would surely bleed to death on the spot.

Su Changge was annoyed and restless from his noise, his temples throbbing wildly.

He knew that he had already been placed on the fire.

The incident with Old Ancestor Kurong had pushed him onto a high pedestal from which he could not climb down.

If he refused blindly, it would only arouse suspicion.

Once faith collapsed, the fate of this imposter would be absolutely miserable.

Gamble it is!

Su Changge gritted his teeth, a surge of reckless madness welling up in his heart.

He spoke toward the door, uttering three words in a voice that even he felt was strange, so distant and ethereal that it did not seem to belong to the human world.

"Three days later."

The crying outside the door ceased abruptly.

The next instant, Qin Wudao was overwhelmed by immense ecstasy!

"Thank you, Dao Ancestor! Thank you, Dao Ancestor!"

He kowtowed heavily nine times toward the courtyard, then scrambled down the mountain to announce this heaven-sent good news that would set the entire Eastern Wasteland into a frenzy.

Listening to his retreating footsteps, Su Changge felt all his strength drain away in an instant, and he collapsed to the ground.

The reason he agreed, the reason he set it for three days later, was because he was gambling.

Gambling that his damned System could finish rebooting within three days!

As long as the System recovered and all special effects were active, with things like "Words Become Law" and "Purple Qi Coming from the East for Thirty Thousand Miles," would he still be afraid of failing to bluff this group of natives?

He immediately sank his consciousness into his mind.

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

【Reboot progress: 90%...】

"There is still hope!"

A glimmer of desperate struggle burst forth in Su Changge's eyes.

For the time that followed, every minute and every second was purgatory for him.

The first day passed.

【Reboot progress: 95%...】

The second day passed.

【Reboot progress: 98%...】

The third day, the auspicious time for preaching the Dao was approaching.

【Reboot progress: 99%...】

Then, that thin progress bar seemed frozen by an invisible force, stuck firmly before the finish line.

It did not advance even an inch further.

"Move! Move, damn you!"

Su Changge paced back and forth in the room like a madman, his eyes bloodshot.

It was just this last tiny bit!

Just make a little effort!

But no matter how he prayed or cursed, that damned progress bar simply would not budge.

Meanwhile, outside the Taixuan Sect, a magnificent lecture altar carved from a single piece of thousand-year-old warm jade was already floating in mid-air.

Immortal mist steamed from beneath the jade altar, auspicious clouds swirled, and cranes circled and cried out, presenting a scene of myriad phenomena.

Below the jade altar, hundreds of thousands of Cultivators sat cross-legged in silence; the devotion and fanaticism gathered together caused even space itself to distort.

Further away, above the firmament, space was torn apart from time to time by invisible large hands.

Figures with auras as deep as the sea stepped out from within.

There were Sword Saints carrying ancient swords with Sword Intent soaring to the heavens.

There were Devil Lords with monstrous Devilish Qi dominating their own regions.

There were ancient Imperial Uncles from the Central Plains Imperial Dynasty, draped in Dragon robes.

They were existences truly standing at the pinnacle of this world; a single stomp of their feet could turn a great domain upside down.

At this moment, they had all restrained their auras, hiding within the clouds, solely to listen to the teachings of the legendary "Dao Ancestor"!

Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.

The progress bar in Su Changge's room remained frozen at 99%.

A cold despair rose from the soles of his feet, instantly freezing his limbs and bones.

It was over.

This time, he had really played himself into trouble.

Dong— Dong— Dong—

A distant, lingering bell chime rang out, spanning heaven and earth, clearly entering the ears of everyone.

The auspicious time had arrived.

The door to the small courtyard was slowly pushed open by a pair of hands that were respectful to the extreme.

Qin Wudao had changed into a brand-new, magnificent Sect Master robe, his expression solemn as he performed the most grand ceremony of the cultivation world toward Su Changge.

"We respectfully invite the Dao Ancestor to move to the lecture altar!"

The last trace of color on Su Changge's face faded away, turning into the color of death.

He knew that he had no way back.

Under the gaze of those hundreds of thousands of fanatical, worshipful, and expectant eyes outside, he took stiff steps, one by one, and walked out of the small courtyard.

He walked toward that white jade lecture altar, floating between heaven and earth, the focus of everyone's attention.

He stood on the altar, looking down at the boundless sea of people below.

He felt those burning gazes that were enough to melt steel.

He could even perceive those terrifying gazes deep within the clouds that pierced through the Void Realm.

His mind was a blank slate.

All that remained in his ears was the sound of his own frantic heartbeat.

It was at this moment that a heaven-shaking shout erupted from the crowd below, merging into a wave of sound that shot straight into the clouds.

"The auspicious time has arrived!"

"We respectfully invite the Dao Ancestor to open the altar and preach the Dao, to resolve the confusion of all living beings!"