I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

[Time: Seven days after the launch of the Lingjing APP]

If a satellite were to look down at Earth at this moment, it would discover an extremely spectacular and bizarre phenomenon.

Every morning, as the first rays of sunlight break through the horizon, starting from the land of China in East Asia, parks, school playgrounds, the top floors of skyscrapers... these originally open spaces are already densely packed with people.

They faced east, adopting the same slightly strange posture: their spines arched like dragons, their breathing deep and long, performing a rhythmic breathing exercise in accordance with the movements called "Eighteen Basic Body Strengthening Postures".

This is no longer the radio calisthenics of decades ago, nor is it square dancing.

This is the first instance of active evolution at the species level in human history.

……

[A high-rise building construction site in Shanghai]

Under the blazing midday sun, Liu Dazhu wiped the soot off his face and squatted in the shade of the construction site, eating his boxed lunch.

He was known as the "strongman" on the construction site, but his coworkers noticed that Dazhu was acting strangely these past few days.

In the past, Dazhu would be exhausted after finishing his work, but these past few days he has not only been full of energy, but he also often takes advantage of his rest time to make some strange gestures in front of his phone.

"Dazhu, practicing that 'magic' again?" A coworker grinned and handed over a bottle of water. "Can that stuff replace food?"

"You don't know anything," Liu Dazhu said in a muffled voice. "I've had a herniated disc for several years, and the pain kept me awake at night. But since I started practicing the 'Eighteen Body Strengthening Exercises' on that app, it's only been five days, and my back doesn't ache anymore, and my legs feel strong again. I feel like I have inexhaustible energy."

Just then, a sickening metallic cracking sound came from above.

collapse!

One of the steel cables of the tower crane broke due to metal fatigue.

A bundle of rebar weighing several hundred kilograms fell like the Grim Reaper's scythe from a height of more than ten meters, crashing straight down on a young worker who was playing on his mobile phone.

"careful!!"

The crowd gasped in shock. The worker was so terrified that his legs went weak and he couldn't move an inch.

At the critical moment, Liu Dazhu, who was closest to the target, made a move.

He didn't think; his body reacted faster than his brain. In that instant, the faint "heat" that had accumulated in his body over the past few days seemed to be drawn by something, bursting out from his dantian and flowing throughout his limbs and bones.

The tenth form of the "Eighteen Basic Body Strengthening Exercises" - Fierce Tiger Climbing the Mountain!

Liu Dazhu roared, like a thunderclap from a clear sky. He leaped three meters forward, but didn't push the laborer aside like an ordinary person would, because it was too late.

He did something that everyone thought was crazy—

With his hands outstretched as if supporting the sky, he bravely caught the bundle of steel bars that was falling down!

boom!!

A loud bang was heard, and dust billowed up.

The workers closed their eyes in despair. Hundreds of kilograms of steel bars falling from a great height had an impact force powerful enough to cripple a person.

However, the expected screams did not occur.

The smoke and dust cleared.

Everyone witnessed a scene that shattered their worldview.

The cement ground beneath Liu Dazhu's feet was cracked by his weight, and his legs sank into the ground to a depth of ten centimeters.

His arms were bulging with muscles, veins coiled like earthworms, and his skin even had a strange, rock-like grayish-brown sheen.

He caught that potentially deadly bundle of steel bars with remarkable stability.

"Oh my god..."

Liu Dazhu was stunned. He felt a sharp pain in both arms, as if his bones were about to crack, but they didn't break! He could feel that his bones had become several times harder than usual in that instant, managing to withstand the ton-level impact.

"Quick...someone come quick...my hand is numb..." Liu Dazhu said in a trembling voice.

These aren't migrant workers; they're clearly hydraulic presses in human skin!

……

[Shanghai - Orthopedic Hospital - Emergency Room]

Half an hour later, Liu Dazhu was taken to the hospital for an X-ray. Although there was no fracture, the impact was too great, resulting in severe soft tissue contusion in his arm.

"Whose film is this?"

The attending physician's hands were trembling as he held the X-ray film.

"It's that worker who was just brought in; they said he was hit by a steel bar." The intern looked bewildered. "Teacher, what happened? Is the fracture serious?"

"fracture?"

The old doctor pointed to the bone images on the X-ray, his voice rising eight octaves, "Didn't your medical teacher teach you what normal bone density looks like? Look at this!"

On the lightbox, the image of Liu Dazhu's skeletal arms appears in a striking bright white.

That's a sign of extremely high density.

"This bone density is harder than granite! Forget about hitting it with steel bars; even a hammer probably wouldn't be able to break it!"

The old doctor took off his glasses, his eyes glazed over. "And look at the density of his muscle fibers... Is this even human? This is practically a humanoid Tyrannosaurus Rex!"

This is not an isolated case.

With the popularization of "Eighteen Basic Body Strengthening Exercises", orthopedic surgeons around the world have been alarmed to find that a number of "hard bones" have recently appeared among their patients.

Some fell from the second floor unharmed, while others bent wrenches with their bare hands.

The fragile human body is crossing that red line that has remained unchanged for tens of thousands of years.

……

[A university in southern China - Male dormitory room 302]

Wang Pangzi (ID: Fatty Wants to Cultivate Immortality) was sitting cross-legged on the bed, covered in sweat. He had been practicing the "Eighteen Basic Body Strengthening Forms" for seven consecutive days, combined with the breathing method of "Eternal Spring Gong".

He used to be out of breath climbing just three floors, but now he feels like a powder keg that could explode at any moment, so energetic that he wants to run ten kilometers on the track.

"Inhale...exhale...focus your mind on your dantian..." Fatty Wang closed his eyes, trying hard to capture that elusive "qi sensation".

According to the [Spirit Realm] forum, as long as you can feel a warm current flowing in your abdomen and control this warm current to travel up your spine, you have "entered the gate".

Suddenly, Fatty Wang felt a sharp jolt in his lower abdomen. Unlike the previous psychological jitters, this time it was real! It felt like he'd swallowed a scalding hot marble!

"It's here!" Fatty Wang was overjoyed, but he didn't dare to move. Instead, he gritted his teeth and followed the instructions in the video, using his mind to "push" the "marble".

Ascending... passing the coccyx... rushing along the spine...

Boom! It felt like an electric current had instantly pierced through the top of his head. Fatty Wang's eyes snapped open, and he let out a long roar: "Awesome!!!"

Sizzle—Bang!

Suddenly, something unexpected happened. The instant he opened his eyes and roared, the ceiling light in the dormitory suddenly shattered without warning, turning into countless shards of glass that scattered everywhere. Not only that, the laptop screen on the table suddenly went blue, emitting a piercing electrical crackling sound before going completely black.

"Holy crap?" My roommates, who were playing games with their headphones on, were so startled by the sudden explosion that they almost jumped out of the window. "Fatty, what did you do?! Did you throw a grenade?!"

Fatty Wang sat blankly in the darkness, staring at his hands in horror in the light filtering through the corridor. Just a moment ago, he had clearly felt an invisible force surge from within him, like… static electricity amplified countless times.

He reached out his trembling hand, near a thin tissue on the table. He didn't touch it. His fingertips were still five centimeters away.

Whoosh. The tissue moved on its own, as if attracted by a magnet, and tremblingly stood up, sticking to his fingers.

The dormitory was deathly silent. The three roommates stared wide-eyed, their phones lying on the floor, unresponsive.

"This...this is Qi sensing?" Fatty Wang swallowed hard, his voice trembling with an incredulous fervor. "Brothers...I think I don't need to look for a job anymore. I'm going to Kunlun!"

……

[749th Inning]

The atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy.

The large screen was playing surveillance video of Liu Dazhu catching steel bars with his bare hands. Although the image was blurry, the moment he broke the cement ground was clearly visible.

"This is 'body cultivation'."

An analyst pointed to the paused screen, his voice hoarse, "According to the classifications on the 'Spirit Realm' forum, people who practice the 'Eighteen Basic Body Strengthening Techniques' will break through the limits of human physical fitness in a very short time. That Liu Dazhu, his pure strength data has now surpassed that of a national weightlifting champion."

"And..." the analyst pulled up another chart, "what's even more frightening is the herd effect."

The screen displays a statistical chart of hospital patient reception data from across the country.

"Over the past seven days, the number of outpatient visits to orthopedics and rehabilitation departments in major hospitals across the country has decreased by 30%."

"The self-healing rate for patients with lumbar disc herniation, cervical spondylosis, and rheumatoid arthritis has increased by...400%."

The bureau chief looked at the data and tapped his knuckles lightly on the table.

"The overall physical fitness of the nation has made a leap forward, which is a good thing. But this force came too quickly and too fiercely."

"A knight-errant uses his martial arts to break the law. When someone discovers he can demolish a wall with his bare hands, the law loses its deterrent effect on him."

"Chief, should we impose restrictions?"

"Restrictions? How can they be restricted?" The bureau chief smiled wryly. "Even my grandson, who's in kindergarten, is practicing the third form, 'Child Worshipping Buddha.' It's an inevitable trend."

The bureau chief stood up, his gaze deep.

"Notify the police department that all personnel are required to immediately begin training in the 'Eighteen Basic Body Strengthening Forms' and the 'Eternal Spring Exercise.' The power of law enforcement officers must always be superior to that of ordinary people. Otherwise, this society will descend into chaos."

……

【Kunlun Mountain - Star-Picking Platform】

Gu Qing did not look at those data.

He doesn't need to see it.

Because he can hear.

Close your eyes, and the wind will no longer just be the sound of air flowing.

He heard countless powerful "heartbeats," the roaring sound of blood and qi surging after mortals broke free of the shackles of their physical bodies.

On the system panel, the data in the "Credit Value" column is fluctuating wildly, and a new status bar has appeared:

[Current average physical condition of humans in this plane: 0.8 (sub-healthy) → 1.2 (basic enhancement)]

[Reason for growth: Nationwide physical exercise.]

"The body is the boat, the soul is the oar."

Gu Qing opened her eyes and looked at the myriad lights of homes below the mountain.

The first batch of "non-humans" has appeared. Liu Dazhu's steel body and Wang Pangzi's telekinesis are just the prologue to evolution.