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

The atmosphere on the holographic projection screen was extremely oppressive.

Li Changqing's words, "Heaven's will cannot be deceived," resounded like nine thunderbolts in the hearts of every sect leader. The patriarch of the Taixu Sword Sect turned pale, and even his natal flying sword trembled slightly. The sect leader of the Hehuan Sect dared not flirt any longer, shrinking his neck as if he wanted to squeeze himself into the crack of the screen.

In the world of cultivation, the Heavenly Dao is absolute truth and an irresistible rule.

But in Jia Zang's eyes, this was just a string of code that needed optimization.

"be opposed to."

A lazy voice, coming through the huge metal loudspeaker, interrupted Li Changqing's sentencing.

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a metallic, grating quality, clearly resonating throughout the entire Sunset Peak and reaching the ears of every powerful figure through the system channel.

Jia Zhuang pushed up his barely-there glasses on the bridge of his nose, holding the modified spirit stone microphone in his hand, and slowly walked out like an old man haggling at a market.

"Enforcer Li, don't be so sure of yourself." Jia Zhuang pointed to the roaring diesel generator behind him. "You say the Way of Heaven cannot be deceived, then why did your Heavenly Court's servers freeze for three seconds just now?"

Li Changqing frowned: "What lag? That's the majesty of Heaven!"

"No, that's a data overflow." Jia Zhuang wagged his finger. "I just had the system retrieve the 'Spiritual Energy Income and Expenditure Report' from plane 073. Enforcement Officer Li, do you dare to read this report aloud in front of all the sect leaders?"

Li Changqing was taken aback: "What report?"

"This is the one."

Jia Zhuang snapped his fingers.

[System notification: Submitting the "Analysis Report on the Circulation and Energy Loss of Dimensional Spiritual Energy in Plane 073" to the Heavenly Arbitration Tribunal... Submission successful.]

The holographic screen in the sky suddenly flashed, and the interface that originally displayed the "crimes" was forcibly covered, replaced by a densely packed Excel spreadsheet.

On the table, the red and green numbers were jumping wildly.

"Look here, everyone." Jia Zhuang picked up his pointer and pointed to a line of data on the table. "This is the total amount of spiritual energy consumed by the cultivation world over the past ten thousand years. And here is the actual value of this spiritual energy."

He suddenly swung his pointer, pointing to the huge red negative number at the very bottom of the table.

"Deficit." Jia Zang coldly uttered two words, "The cultivation world is bankrupt."

The entire audience erupted in uproar.

The patriarch of the Taixu Sword Sect widened his eyes: "Bankruptcy? How is that possible? My sect still has 30,000 top-grade spirit stones in its treasury!"

"That's the existing stock, not the flow." Jia Zhuang sighed, as if he were educating a group of illiterate people. "You only know how to mine spirit stones and use them, but you don't know where the waste gas goes after the spirit stones are burned. According to my calculations, in the past ten thousand years, the 'entropy increase' generated by burning spiritual energy in the cultivation world has exceeded the carrying capacity limit of the plane itself. Simply put, this server... is going to explode."

Li Changqing's pupils contracted sharply as he looked at the data on the screen.

These data were so precise that they terrified him.

"Nonsense...nonsense!" Li Changqing tried to remain calm. "Spiritual energy is the essence of heaven and earth, ever-flowing and inexhaustible, how could it..."

"How could it dry up?" Jia Zang continued, "Because you only take and never give! You cultivators absorb spiritual energy to temper your bodies, and finally ascend to immortality, taking your cultivation with you. It's like... like drawing water from a pond without ever adding it back in! No wonder the pond dries up!"

He turned around, his gaze fixed intently on the bigwigs on the screen.

"Sect leaders, do you think you are the chosen ones? In the eyes of Heaven, you are nothing but a bunch of... parasites."

The word "parasite" was like a slap in the face to all cultivators.

There was a deathly silence on the screen.

After a long silence, the Tower Master of the Pill Tower asked in a trembling voice, "Then... then according to Chairman Jia's opinion, what should we do? Are we all going to have to dissipate our cultivation and start over?"

"Of course not." Jia Zhuang's lips curled into a sly smile. "Dissipating one's cultivation is impossible; it's impossible for me to dissipate my cultivation in this lifetime. There's only one way to solve the spiritual energy crisis—a circular economy."

"Circular economy?" Li Changqing repeated subconsciously.

"That's right." Jia Zhuang pointed to the factory behind him, "We recycle waste gas, refine waste residue, and collect the chaotic energy that has dissipated between heaven and earth. That's the purpose of my industrialization. I'm not destroying spiritual energy; I'm... purifying it!"

This absurd logic actually elicited frequent nods of approval from several bigwigs.

A glint of light flashed in the eyes of the patriarch of the Taixu Sword Sect: "No wonder...no wonder I've been feeling the heat is unstable when I'm refining pills lately. It turns out there are too many impurities in the spiritual energy!"

"Exactly!" Jia Zhuang pressed his advantage. "My factory, though emitting black smoke, is burning off impurities! Though it's noisy, it's purifying through vibration! I, Jia Zhuang, am the true environmental ambassador of this world!"

Li Changqing's face turned extremely ugly.

He never expected that Jia Zang could describe "pollution" as "environmental protection" in a logically consistent way, and even... even resonate with those foolish mortals.

The comments section at the bottom of the screen has already started to flood with messages:

[Chairman Jia is awesome! So the black smoke was actually for purifying the air!]

[Tears welled up in my eyes; I never knew Chairman Jia had carried so much burden.]

[Heavenly Court, listen up! Restore Chairman Jia's innocence!]

"Lies!" Li Changqing roared. "Even if you have some merit, altering the rules of a plane without authorization is a grave crime! The Heavenly Dao System will not allow such an uncontrollable factor to exist!"

"Uncontrollable?" Jia Zang laughed. "Enforcer Li, have you ever considered that the reason the Heavenly Dao System is stuck is because it's too rigid? It only knows how to 'prohibit,' not how to 'guide.'"

As he spoke, Jia Zang took out a thick document from his briefcase and threw it into the air.

The document transformed into a streak of light and directly entered the arbitration interface of the Heavenly Dao System.

[System notification: A suggestion regarding optimizing the spiritual energy tax system of Dimension 073 has been received from administrator Jia Zhuang.]

"A proposal?" Li Changqing was taken aback.

"That's right." Jia Zhuang crossed his arms. "Since spiritual energy is a public resource, its use should be taxed. What you used to collect was a 'spirit stone tax,' which was a tax in kind, too rudimentary. I suggest changing it to a 'flow tax.'"

"Every cultivator must pay a certain percentage of the spiritual energy they absorb to the system as a 'purification fee.' This fee will be collected and processed by my factory, transformed into pure 'spiritual energy,' and then given back to heaven and earth."

Jia Zang paused, then gave a standard businessman's smile.

"In this way, Heaven gains income, the environment is improved, and cultivators have a reason to continue their cultivation. It's a win-win situation for all three parties, so why not?"

Li Changqing's hands trembled as he looked at the proposal.

This isn't a proposal; it's clearly a contract of servitude!

Once implemented, the economic lifeline of the entire cultivation world will be in the hands of this mortal, Jia Zang!

"No! Absolutely not!" Li Changqing gritted his teeth. "You're turning the Heavenly Dao into your...your ATM!"

"What's wrong with the ATM?" Jia Zhuang shrugged. "It's better than the server crashing, right? Enforcer Li, you can refuse. But if you refuse, I'll shut down my factory. Then, with more and more impurities in the spiritual energy, let's see how your Heavenly Court collects taxes!"

This is a conspiracy.

A blatant and irresistible conspiracy.

The illusory Tai Chi symbol in the sky began to spin wildly, as if it were performing some kind of calculation.

[System processing in progress...]

[Option A: Refuse the suggestion. The dimensional spiritual energy will be completely depleted within 300 years, with a 99.9% probability of system crash.]

[Option B: Adopt the suggestion, put the dimensional spiritual energy into circulation mode, and improve system stability to 80%, but require authorizing administrator Jia Zang with the highest management privileges.]

[Currently weighing the options...]

Li Changqing stared in despair at the spinning Tai Chi diagram.

He knew that the Heavenly Dao System would definitely choose option B.

Because the system has no emotions, only logic.

Sure enough, after a short while, the Tai Chi diagram stopped rotating.

[Arbitration Result: The recommendation is adopted.]

[Emergency Patch Released – "Heavenly Path 2.0 Version: Environmentally Friendly Cultivation Amendment"]

Effective immediately, a "spiritual energy quota system" will be implemented across all planes. All cultivators must install a "spiritual energy circulation device," otherwise they will be unable to absorb spiritual energy.

[The device was distributed by administrator Jia Zhuang.]

"What?!"

The big shots on the screen were completely in an uproar.

"We need to install more equipment? Isn't that surveillance?"

"Spiritual energy circulation? Isn't that the sewage pipe used in Chairman Jia's factory...?"

"I won't pretend! I'd rather lose all my power than pretend!"

Jia Zang smiled at the group of jumping cultivators: "Everyone, don't get excited. This device is a good thing. Installing it will increase your cultivation efficiency by 20%. Of course, the price is... you'll have to pay a little bit of... protection money every month."

"Enforcement Officer Li," Jia Zhuang turned to Li Changqing, "now that the patch has been released, shouldn't the punishment against me be revoked?"

Li Changqing's face was ashen, as if he had swallowed a fly.

But he had to bow his head.

"Revoke all punishments against Jia Zhuang," Li Changqing said through gritted teeth. "Restore his administrator privileges. And..."

He took a deep breath and squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth: "We are appointing Jia Zang as...the Environmental Ambassador of the Three Realms."

"It's a pleasure to work with you." Jia Zhuang extended his hand.

Li Changqing did not shake hands, but instead cut off the video signal directly.

The screen went black.

Calmness returned to Sunset Peak.

Only the diesel generator was still sputtering away, as if mocking everything that had just happened.

"Chairman Jia...we...won?" Elder Wang Teng finally dared to catch his breath.

"We won." Jia Zhuang took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "However, this is only the first step."

He looked at the distant sky shrouded in industrial fumes, a profound light flashing in his eyes.

"Although the environmental protection patch has been applied, the deep-seated problems in the cultivation world are too profound. Those big shots certainly won't obediently listen. What follows is the real battle."

"What tough battle?"

"Tax payment reminder." Jia Zhuang grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. "From today onwards, anyone who doesn't pay taxes will have their internet cut off!"

……

The Heavenly Court, the Lingxiao Palace.

Li Changqing knelt in the empty hall, his body covered in cold sweat.

"waste."

A cold voice came from the void; it was the voice of the Jade Emperor.

"Your humble servant... Your humble servant knows his crime." Li Changqing trembled.

"That mortal... is quite interesting." The voice seemed to carry a hint of amusement. "Let him cause trouble. Perhaps he really can fix that bug."

"But Your Majesty, his power is too great now..."

"Power?" The voice sneered. "In the face of absolute computing power, power is nothing but data. Li Changqing, go back and tell him that the game has only just begun."

"Yes."

After Li Changqing left, the main hall returned to deathly silence.

Only the enormous illusory Tai Chi diagram continued to rotate slowly, seemingly deducing some unknowable future.

Meanwhile, in dimension 073, Jia Zang had already picked up a wrench.

"Brothers, let's get to work!"

"We're going to give this cultivation world a thorough...clean-up!"