Forced to become a top influencer, I rely on my tu cao to ruin the cultivation world.

Qingyun Sect, Luoxia Peak, Qingyun Heavy Industry Control Room.

A burnt smell filled the air, the distinctive odor of an overloaded psionic conduit.

Jia Zhuang stood in the driver's seat of the modified "cross-border drilling platform"—an old-fashioned tractor—his brow furrowed. He wasn't enjoying the thrill of plunder, but rather conducting a meticulous calculation.

"Old Wang, the data's wrong." Jia Zhuang muttered to himself as he adjusted the throttle valve and looked at the readings on the instrument panel. "We just wanted to extract some free spiritual energy from the surface world (Earth), but why is the suction like a bottomless pit? And the color of this spiritual energy... why is it black?"

Elder Wang Teng nervously wiped his sweat from his brow: "Chairman Jia, this...this might be 'turbid air' from deep underground, right? Should we stop for a moment?"

"Stop what? Stopping right after starting? Wouldn't all our previous investment be wasted?" Jia Zang said this, but his hand unconsciously went to the red "emergency brake" lever. Although he was greedy, he wasn't stupid. As a transmigrator from Earth, he had an instinctive awe for that world.

He looked up at the floating live broadcast screen.

The screen displays an image with overlapping coordinates—Earth, deep in the mountains somewhere in China.

The once lush and verdant forest now presented an eerie grayish-white hue, like withered plants drained of all moisture, so fragile that even a gust of wind could turn them to ash.

[Livestream chat]

*[ID: Forest Ranger Lao Zhang]: "Holy crap... how did these trees wither? I just turned around, and all the pine trees on the mountain are dead?"

*[ID: Geological Bureau Monitor]: "Something's wrong! The geomagnetic readings are dropping rapidly! The life-giving magnetic field in this area is disappearing! It's like... like it's been drained of its life force!"

*[ID: Fellow Villagers Meet Fellow Villagers]: "Brother Jia! I'm from your hometown! Look at the comments! Is this the mountain next to your hometown? It's dying! Stop it!"

Jia Zang's heart sank.

"Dead? How is that possible?" Jia Zhuang's eyes widened as he stared intently at the screen. "I only absorbed some spiritual energy, not the earth's core! How could I die?"

He subconsciously increased the extraction power, trying to see if it was a false alarm caused by equipment malfunction.

"Buzz—!!!"

The tractor let out a low growl, and the suction in the pipe instantly intensified.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

On the screen, the gray-white mountain suddenly collapsed without warning.

It wasn't the shaking of an earthquake, but rather like a sand sculpture, it instantly collapsed. The entire mountain, in just a few seconds, turned into a lifeless pile of rubble and dust.

At the same time, the Sunset Peak (the cultivation world) beneath Jia Zang's feet also trembled violently.

"Snap!"

A crack appeared in the wall of the control room.

"What's going on?!" Jia Zang exclaimed in shock.

[System Prompt]

[WARNING! WARNING! The ecosystem at the source world (Earth) coordinates has completely collapsed!]

[A broken "dimensional anchor point" has been detected!]

[Serious Warning: The cultivation world and Earth are inextricably linked; their fortunes are intertwined, and their losses are interdependent! The death of a point on Earth will cause the corresponding region in the cultivation world to lose its support, triggering a chain reaction of collapse!]

"Interdependent? Or mutually destructive?"

Jia Zhuang's mind went blank.

He had always thought that Earth and the cultivation world were two separate spaces; if the air in one space was drained, the other space would at most feel a little stuffy. But he never imagined that these two spaces actually belonged to the same origin—Earth.

His pull just now didn't draw spiritual energy from another dimension; it dug up his own very foundation!

"What...what did I do?"

Jia Zang's hands began to tremble violently, and his face turned deathly pale, looking even worse than Elder Wang Teng beside him.

On the screen, the mountain collapse continued, the rising dust obscuring the sky. Meanwhile, the viewers who had been watching the spectacle fell into a deathly silence, followed by an explosive surge of terror.

*[ID: Forest Ranger Lao Zhang]: "The mountain... is gone... really gone..."

*[ID: Spectator]: "That's Luoxia Mountain! That's a scenic area! How come it's gone?"

*[ID: Fellow Villagers Meet Fellow Villagers]: "Jia Zang! You've drained all the mountains from your hometown! You bastard!"

"No...it wasn't intentional...I just wanted to get some energy..."

Jia Zang muttered to himself, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. Looking at the pile of ruins, he felt as if he were seeing his own childhood memories being buried by his own hands. Those were the mountains and rivers of his hometown, the place he longed for, now turned into the souls of the dead in his hands.

"Stop! Stop it now!"

Jia Zhuang finally realized what was happening. He lunged at the red lever and pulled it down with all his might.

"Stop right there!!!"

"laugh--"

With a long, depressurizing whistle, the tractor's frantic roar finally ceased. The suction in the pipes vanished instantly, and the heart-pounding vibrations gradually subsided.

The control room was deathly silent, save for Jia Zhuang's heavy breathing.

He slumped in the driver's seat, covering his face with his hands, a look of despair seeping through his fingers.

"It's over... I've destroyed the Earth..." Jia Zhuang's voice trembled with tears. "I'm an Earthling... How could I do such a thing..."

Elder Wang Teng was too frightened to speak; he had never seen Jia Zhuang like this before. The ever-confident, ever-greedy, and ever-devious Chairman Jia was now like a child who had done something wrong, filled with helplessness and remorse.

[System Prompt]

Cross-domain extraction has been forcibly terminated.

[Current Status: Ecosystem dead at Earth coordinates; dimensional connectivity damaged.]

[Recommendation: Immediately repair this plane; otherwise, the Luoxia Peak area of ​​the cultivation world will experience a ground collapse within 24 hours.]

"Repair...repair..."

Jia Zang suddenly raised his head, a glimmer of light rekindling in his eyes—the frantic desperateness of a drowning man grasping at a last straw.

"Yes! Fix it! I have the system! I have the skills! I can fix it!"

He grabbed Wang Teng by the collar, his eyes bloodshot, and roared, "Old Wang! Quick! Bring out all the 'spiritual soil' and 'rejuvenating dew' from the warehouse! Also, contact the sect elders and tell them... tell them I want to buy all the low-grade wood-type spirit stones! No matter the price! I want them all!"

"Chairman Jia, what... what are you trying to do?" Wang Teng stammered.

"What are we doing?" Jia Zhuang pointed at the black screen, gritting his teeth as he said, "I blew up the mountain back home, now I have to fill it back in! If I don't, we'll all die! The cultivation world will collapse too!"

He stood up, his legs still trembling, but his eyes had become incredibly determined.

"Pass on my order! All personnel of Qingyun Heavy Industry to enter Level One combat readiness! Mission objective: Mend the Sky!"

"Anyone who dares to stop me, I'll fight them! Not even myself!"

Jia Zhuang strode out of the control room, his back view slightly unsteady, but exuding an unprecedented determination.

He knew he had just made an unforgivable mistake. But now was not the time for regrets; he had to do everything in his power to mend the hole that had nearly destroyed two worlds.

Because that's Earth, that's his home.