Hermit in the Mountains

Although the Purple Gold Pavilion is composed of nine elders, the old man, as the first elder, holds a position far superior to the other eight elders, and he is the one who truly makes the final decision.

The Grand Elder, seated at the head of the table, exuded authority without anger. He gently tapped the table in front of him to signal everyone to be quiet. He set the tone with a single sentence: "Establish the National Spiritual Energy Restoration Administration Bureau to be responsible for matters related to spiritual energy restoration."

"The National Spirit Bureau is a direct subordinate agency of the Purple Gold Pavilion, with Xiao Zhang serving as its first director." The old man paused for a moment, then turned his head slightly to the left. "The National Spirit Bureau is led by the second brother."

The old man's gaze swept over everyone in the room. "What do you all think of my arrangement?"

"No problem..." Everyone nodded in agreement with the old man's suggestion.

The First Elder glanced at Zhang Tianhu and said, "Little Zhang, you have a heavy responsibility. Report any problems to the Second Elder immediately."

"Yes, Elder." Zhang Tianhu felt no joy at the promotion; instead, he felt a heavy sense of pressure.

The National Spirit Bureau is responsible for the restoration of spiritual energy throughout the world, which involves cultivation, resources, and longevity—each of which is a matter of life and death.

Although he was personally appointed by the Grand Elder and protected by the Second Elder, the National Spirit Bureau is too special and has too much power, so the position of director is too hot to handle.

He was no novice in officialdom, and some members of his family held important positions, but the National Spirit Bureau was a lucrative area that the Zhang family could not possibly touch.

He could roughly guess why the First Elder appointed him as the Director of the National Spirit Bureau. The Zhang family's power was not top-tier and they could not truly control the National Spirit Bureau's discourse. The Second Elder was also there to back him up, because the First Elder was afraid that he and the Zhang family would be crushed by external pressure.

If an elder were to be appointed as the head of the National Spirit Bureau, or if someone from their faction were to hold that position, it would lead to an imbalance of power and create the risk of one faction becoming too powerful.

As for placing Zhang Tianhu of the Zhang family in the position of bureau chief, at most it would elevate the Zhang family to the top tier of power. During this process, it would require balancing various forces and time for development, and it would be possible to maintain this balance effectively in the long term.

The allure of immortality is too great; under the temptation of "immortality," humanity, ideals, and ambitions become the least valuable things.

Following the conclusion of the top-secret meeting, an organization called the "National Reiki Restoration Administration" was quietly established.

This news immediately caused a stir among top-tier and near-top-tier forces.

They reacted the fastest, grasping the organization's scope of authority and responsibility immediately, and recommending their own people to secure a good position.

The revival of spiritual energy, the pursuit of immortality, and the attainment of eternal life...

They all knew in their hearts that an unprecedented upheaval had begun, and whoever could take the lead would be able to stand firm in the future and ensure the continuation of their family line.

The day after the establishment of the National Spirit Bureau, branches of the National Spirit Bureau were secretly established in each province, municipality, and autonomous region to be responsible for the local spiritual energy revival.

On the third day after the establishment of the National Spirit Bureau, all registered Taoist temples, Buddhist temples and traditional martial arts schools in the world secretly welcomed the National Spirit Bureau's visit. All ancient books related to cultivation were taken away for copying, and the original ancient books were only returned after the copying was completed.

Ordinary people outside are still working nine-to-five, trying to earn a meager living to support their families;

Those in power at the top, those in the know...

Gu Changsheng on Changsheng Peak also heard the news, but he wasn't greatly affected. He continued cultivating and raising his spirit pets as usual... What did the outside world's disturbances have to do with him?

His scheme was already well-established. Although he was a paper tiger in the eyes of the state, he could withstand some troubles. As long as he did not violate the taboos above, he could remain firmly on Changsheng Peak.

The network he had Zhang Yuanfu build was not for vying for fame and fortune, seizing the right to speak, or territories, nor would he continue to expand it. Rather, it was for gathering intelligence, resisting external troubles, and allowing him to cultivate in peace on the mountain.

In the living room of the wooden house, Gu Changsheng threw the letter sent back by Zhang Yuanfu into the stove in front of him, and soon the letter turned to ashes.

He glanced at Yang Dashan, who was delivering a letter at the door, and asked, "Dashan, how's your Bajiquan training going?"

Yang Dashan, who was sitting cross-legged at the door, replied respectfully, "Reporting to Peak Master, I just entered the Lesser Completion Realm yesterday."

Gu Changsheng smiled with satisfaction, "Not bad, not bad, you've mastered Bajiquan to a minor level in less than a month."

Yang Dashan looked grateful. "It's all thanks to you, Peak Master. Otherwise, I wouldn't even have been able to get to the bottom of Bajiquan."

He also learned from Gu Changsheng that he had no spiritual root and could not follow the path of magic cultivation. With Gu Changsheng's help, he chose to follow the path of body cultivation.

For more than 20 days, he has been practicing Bajiquan rigorously every day, and the weighted iron rings he wears have increased from 10 kilograms to 50 kilograms.

He wore five-kilogram iron rings on his wrists, ten-kilogram iron rings on his feet, and twenty-kilogram iron rings on his waist.

Aside from sleeping and showering, he wears weighted rings all day to push his limits.

Yang Dashan knew he had no spiritual root, and he also knew about the revival of spiritual energy. For his wife and children, and to avoid being abandoned by the new era, he needed to desperately improve his strength.

He was fortunate enough to gain Gu Changsheng's favor and become the guardian of Changsheng Peak, which gave him an opportunity and resources that others could not match.

He was able to master Bajiquan to a minor level in just over twenty days, not because he could have done it by working himself to the bone, but because Gu Changsheng bestowed upon him elixirs and spiritual water to nourish and repair his physical damage; otherwise, his body would have been ruined long ago.

Gu Changsheng nodded in satisfaction upon hearing Yang Dashan's answer. He had his own plan for investing resources in cultivating Yang Dashan.

Firstly, I wanted to try to see if it was possible to embark on the path of cultivation without spiritual roots, and whether it was possible to pursue the path of whole-body cultivation.

Secondly, he was used to Yang Dashan, so he let Yang Dashan run errands, guard the mountain gate, and be responsible for welcoming and seeing off guests, so he didn't have to worry about these trivial matters.

Yang Dashan has embarked on physical cultivation; how could he possibly neglect Dharma cultivation?

Gu Changsheng had Zhang Yuanfu follow the path of cultivation, contrasting it with Yang Dashan's physical cultivation. The two complemented each other, one focusing on external affairs and the other on internal affairs—a clever plan of one literary and one martial.

The National Spirit Bureau has been established, and someone should be coming to visit in a few days.

With this in mind, Gu Changsheng began making new arrangements, "Dashan, the National Spirit Bureau has been established to deal with the resurgence of spiritual energy. It won't be long before guests visit Changsheng Peak;"

"Inform Yuanfu that if it is confirmed that the other party is from the National Spirit Bureau, there is no need to report it; just bring the other party over."

"Secondly, I told Dafu to keep the network he built as it is, not to accept any new collaborators, and not to expand it and cause unnecessary trouble."

"Third, have Uncle Mancang lead the villagers to practice some basic martial arts, just say it's for health and fitness, and don't reveal the secret of the spiritual energy revival."

"Thank you so much, Peak Master. On behalf of the entire village, I express my gratitude to you." Yang Dashan was filled with excitement and quickly bowed in thanks.

He knew in his heart that Gu Changsheng was showing old affection and giving the villagers a chance, even though they didn't have spiritual roots. By practicing martial arts, they could improve their health and gain the ability to fight back.

With his current strength, he can easily take down three to five people.

Perhaps in the future, the peak master will create a body-refining technique, so that the villagers will have a foundation for cultivation.

Yang Dashan saw Gu Changsheng inside the house wave to him, then slowly got up, supporting himself with his hands on the ground, and raised his heavy hands to clasp his hands in farewell.

Yang Dashan's figure disappeared from sight, and Gu Changsheng slowly closed his eyes and sat down to meditate.

He was perfecting the new alchemy method in his mind, and deducing the alchemy method unique to himself, "The Method of Elixir Formation in Withering and Flourishing".

He could have deduced the traditional "fire refining method" or "water refining method," but he abandoned this idea and devoted himself to developing his own unique alchemy method.

He felt that the "Withering and Flourishing Elixir Method" was more promising and aligned with his own cultivation of the "Way of Withering and Flourishing," making it easier for him to use.

Ever since Gu Changsheng started deduce his own alchemy method, he has been thinking of deduce his own spell seals by drawing parallels from one example to another.

He thought of a saying, "The best shoes are the ones that fit you." Only shoes that fit well will not rub your feet.

Gu Changsheng tried to conceive of a simulated alchemy furnace using the withering and flourishing spirit seal in his mind. This idea was inspired by the magic spirit seal.

He was speculating that the essence of alchemy, weapon crafting, array formation, talisman making, and other such techniques was simply the application of different forms of spiritual energy.

In reality, isn't the Heavenly Dao just like an internet operating system, and aren't spells, alchemy, and so on just like individual programs?

He can treat the Spirit Seal as the underlying code of a product app, compiling the functions he needs into a runnable program.

The three techniques of "Gathering Spirit," "Gathering Rain," and "Spiritual Rain" are essentially about identifying and drawing upon the surrounding spiritual energy or water molecules, bringing them together and transforming them into other forms.

Since that's the case, why doesn't he merge the three techniques into a single, universal spiritual seal? When rain is needed, he could inject water molecules into the identification system; when spirit energy is needed, he could inject the corresponding spiritual energy particles...

When the Universal Spirit Seal was created, he wanted to condense the Water Spirit Liquid, so he injected Water Spirit Qi particles into the identification system...