Inside the room.
Jiang Tu climbed up from underground, closed the hidden door, and moved the farming tool rack used as cover back in front of it. Only then did he quickly sit by the bed and sink into the depths of his consciousness.
"Agricultural Dao Sequence" "Sequence Number: 01" "Current Evolution Progress: Eighth Grade · 'Field Steward'" "Total Cultivators in This Sequence: 109" "Sequence Influence Level: lv0.9 (Its reputation has begun to emerge within Dajiang County)" "Harvestable Causality Value: 605"
Over the past five years, the number of Agricultural Path Cultivators had unknowingly surpassed a hundred. With the boosts from the "Premium Quality" trait and the "Favorable Weather" blessing, this growth was far faster than Jiang Tu had initially expected.
He quickly flipped through the dazzling array of previous events...
"Triggered Events" "(New) Dajiang County farmer Zhao Tiezhu awakened Awakened Wisdom and attained Ninth Grade 'Farmer' (Causality Value +2)" "(New) Dajiang County farmer Liu Gen successfully planted one stalk of premium wheat seed (Causality Value +15)" "(New) Dajiang County farmer Sun Xiaoniang successfully planted one stalk of premium medicinal herb (Causality Value +10)" "(New) Twenty-one Ninth Grade 'Farmers,' including Zhang Laoshi, Li Mancai, and Wang Shitou, were chosen by the Daoist Sect as outer disciples (Causality Value +105)" "(New) Ninth Grade 'Farmer' Chen Dayong died suddenly (Causality Value +10)"
"Another one died?"
Jiang Tu's gaze stopped on the latest sudden-death event, and his brows twisted tightly together.
Over the past five years, a total of thirty-seven Ninth Grade "Farmers" had been selected by the Daoist Sect to become outer disciples. Yet by tonight, including the first Chen Cun, thirty-five had already died within the Daoist Sect—without a single exception.
Meanwhile, the lucky fish who had not been selected by the Daoist Sect were living perfectly well. They farmed and harvested, rose at sunrise and rested at sunset. One of them had even broken through to Eighth Grade "Field Steward" in the fields, becoming the only Eighth Grade cultivator born in this local world.
Jiang Tu remembered that man was called Sun Fu. He had never left the farmland in his life. On the day he broke through, he demonstrated the Earth Escape technique in public. Less than three days after word spread, people from the Daoist Sect came to take him as a disciple and even designated him as the first inner disciple among the farmers!
His glory soared to the heavens. The entire county beat gongs and drums and held a grand feast. Then there was no then—the thirty-sixth one was gone.
Lingjiang Temple proudly unlocked the achievement of thirty-six kills in five years. Tragic report.
Jiang Tu fell silent for a moment. He estimated the final two would not last much longer either... This could not possibly be a coincidence!
Without question, Chen Cun's death had not been an accident, nor an isolated case. It had been inevitable!
There was something seriously wrong with the Daoist Sect!
So many lives lay before him, the evidence ironclad! Being chosen by the Daoist Sect had never been a heaven-sent match—it was a sheep walking into a tiger's jaws!
He had made many guesses about this.
Was the Daoist Sect secretly harvesting Agricultural Path Cultivators? Had strange entities infiltrated the Daoist Sect, with "outer disciples" actually being sent away as nourishment? Or was the Daoist Sect using these farmers who had awakened Awakened Wisdom for some unspeakable... experiment?
Every possibility was chilling, and every possibility was plausible, but he had far too little information.
For five years, he had never stopped probing for information about the Daoist Sect among the common folk. Yet the outside world had only one version of events—the Daoist Sect was righteous and benevolent, protecting the people and slaying strange entities. It deserved the people's respect and devotion.
Whenever the villagers mentioned Lingjiang Temple, they spoke with nothing but reverence and gratitude.
"Those Daoist masters are incredible! With a wave of their hands, endless Daoist arts erupt, and strange entities turn to ash on the spot!"
"If it weren't for the Daoist Sect, this place would have long since been crawling with strange entities like everywhere else!"
No one had ever doubted it.
The enormous discrepancy between reality and rumor filled Jiang Tu with ever-deepening dread. He always felt that something huge was about to happen, yet he could not say what it was, much less when it would come.
More than once, he had wondered whether he should leave Xiaopei County as soon as possible, leave Lingjiang Temple's territory, and go somewhere beyond the Daoist Sect's reach.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
If even the Spirit River was like this, the outside world would only be more chaotic. At least the Daoist Sect in Jiang Prefecture still maintained a thin veil of decency and had not indiscriminately slaughtered ordinary people. Who knew what things would be like elsewhere?
In troubled times, the most important thing was to find a place to put down firm roots, survive, and quietly build strength.
Just as he was thinking about it.
The Golden Tome began fluctuating violently again—
Jiang Tu suddenly sat upright. The total number of sequence cultivators had begun to plummet!
109. 105! 98! 87!
The numbers dropped with terrifying speed, falling by a huge chunk every short while. Jiang Tu's pupils shrank, and his hands unconsciously clenched into fists.
63! 51! 42!
New events erupted frantically, line after line, packed so densely they simply would not stop—
"(New) Ninth Grade 'Farmer' Zhao Tiezhu suffered a sudden attack and died suddenly (Causality Value +5)" "(New) Ninth Grade 'Farmer' Liu Gen suffered a sudden attack and died suddenly (Causality Value +5)" "(New) Ninth Grade 'Farmer' Sun Xiaoniang suffered a sudden attack and died suddenly (Causality Value +5)" "(New) Ninth Grade 'Farmer' Chen Tang suffered a sudden attack and died suddenly (Causality Value +5)" "(New) Ninth Grade 'Farmer' Wang Xing suffered a sudden attack and died suddenly (Causality Value +5)"
Every line represented a living person!
Among them were skilled farmers and experts in medicinal herbs. Some had only just married; some had children still swaddled in cloth... Yet the event list was covered in glaring crimson... What the hell kind of list was this? This was a death list!
Gulp.
Jiang Tu's throat went dry. He unconsciously swallowed, opened his mouth to say something, but could not force out a single word.
Ten years of accumulation! A sequence path of 109 people had been driven to its end in mere moments! It was on the brink of collapse!
What was happening?
What the hell was happening?!
The most painful part was that he did not even know what had happened. Separated by the Golden Tome, all he could see were strings of icy numbers and lines of blood-red death records. He could not see the truth.
He could think of only two possibilities capable of causing a change on this scale.
First, the Daoist Sect could no longer tolerate the growth of Agricultural Path Cultivators and had simply launched a massive purge.
Second, a Strange Calamity.
But no matter how he looked at it, the second possibility made no sense. Dajiang County lay deep within the Spirit River region and was one of the Daoist Sect's core territories, cultivated for years. The surrounding strange entities had been cleaned up fairly thoroughly. Even the occasional stragglers could not amount to much. By all rights, large numbers of strange entities could not suddenly appear, much less trigger a Strange Calamity sweeping across an entire county.
So no matter how he looked at it, this whole matter reeked of something eerie. No matter how he guessed, it was impossible to separate it from the Daoist Sect!
Jiang Tu took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. This was not the time to panic. The total number of cultivators had already crashed below thirty, while the influence that had nearly reached Level 1 had almost fallen to zero!
If it kept dropping, the Agricultural Dao Sequence might vanish from the face of the earth. He could not sit by and do nothing!
"Harvest!"
Whoosh—
"Causality Value: 775"
Seven hundred and seventy-five points of Causality Value—everything he had accumulated over the past five years, plus the gains from tonight's plummeting events. Jiang Tu swept his gaze over the options and locked onto one without hesitation.
"Bestowal Descends: First Time, 100 Causality Value"
Bestowals could affect every sequence cultivator in the current world. It was the most urgent measure available to him right now! It was also the only measure!
"Add!"
Whoosh—
"Consumed 100 Causality Value. First bestowal descent complete." "You have successfully bestowed—Kindling Flame" "Bestowal: Kindling Flame" "Quality: White (Ordinary)" "Duration: One Hundred Years" "Note: After the duration expires, you may directly spend the corresponding Causality Value to reactivate it. There is no need to bestow it again." "Description: You have successfully bestowed the 'Kindling Flame' gift upon all sequence cultivators in this local world, including yourself. The effects of sequence cultivation through master-disciple inheritance, father-son inheritance, and bloodline inheritance are doubled. As the kindling flame passes on, the sequence shall not cease."
Jiang Tu froze for a moment. Bestowals... actually had duration limits?
A duration of one hundred years was not short. Once it expired, he could spend Causality Value to reactivate it without needing to roll for it again. But blessings, by comparison, were permanent and could affect both evolution and reality at the same time.
Between the two, bestowals truly were somewhat inferior.
Still, the effect was straightforward. The "Kindling Flame" bestowal was equivalent to a massive accelerator for the [Inheritance Method]. It doubled the effects of transmitting the Dao between masters and disciples, fathers and sons, and blood relatives. Given enough time, it should help Agricultural Path Cultivators in the real world comprehend a complete [Inheritance Method] faster and accelerate the sequence's expansion.
But in the current situation...
Jiang Tu gave a bitter smile. Everyone was about to die out, so what the hell was there left to inherit? Distant water could not put out an immediate fire!
"Keep adding!"
Whoosh—
"Consumed 300 Causality Value. Second bestowal descent complete." "You have successfully bestowed the rare gift—Endless Renewal" "Bestowal: Endless Renewal" "Quality: Purple (Rare)" "Duration: One Hundred Years" "Description: You have successfully bestowed the 'Endless Renewal' gift upon this local world. Wildfire cannot burn it all away; when the spring wind blows, it grows anew. So long as the sequence's inheritance is not completely severed, every developmental low point of the sequence will gather strength for a counterattack, bringing an even more forceful rise and rebound. The path of the sequence shall renew without end."
Jiang Tu's eyes suddenly lit up. He was completely stunned.
Holy shit! Purple! Rare!
Could it be that the Golden Tome had also seen how dire things were, how close the sequence was to collapse, and had finally left him a sliver of hope?
Wildfire could not burn it all away; when the spring wind blew, it grew anew! Every low point meant an even stronger rebound and counterattack!
This "Endless Renewal" bestowal was filled with hope and a future!
Thump thump thump!
Jiang Tu's heart pounded like war drums. He was wildly excited, but after the excitement passed, reason quickly returned. He noticed the words in the description: "So long as the sequence's inheritance is not completely severed."
The prerequisite was that it could not be severed.
If every Agricultural Dao Sequence cultivator in reality died, could new ones still be born? Would the Professional Sequence be loaded again? How long would the cooldown in between be?
Jiang Tu did not know the answers to these questions. He only knew that he had already done everything he possibly could.
The two bestowals had consumed four hundred Causality Value. The next bestowal would require five hundred points, and he no longer had enough Causality Value.
Now, he could only hope that the Agricultural Path would not be extinguished, that a single breath still remained.
Jiang Tu leaned against the bed and closed his eyes for a long while.
Outside the window, the night wind howled past, and the winter cold wave invaded, freezing him to the marrow.
"Don't really break..."
Before you continue