I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

Four o'clock in the morning.

The late autumn air in Beijing is already chilly, but a two-kilometer-long queue has formed in front of the National Library.

Two weeks ago, this scene would only have been seen at the launch of a new iPhone or in front of a trendy bubble tea shop. But today, these people, wrapped in military coats and clutching thermos flasks, have an intense thirst for "knowledge" shining in their eyes.

It's not for the purpose of taking the postgraduate entrance exam, nor for the purpose of taking the civil service exam.

"The door is open! Don't push!"

With a loud shout from the security guard, the crowd surged in like a floodgate being opened.

They didn't rush to the bestseller section, nor to the film and television section, but instead frantically rushed to that long-abandoned, dusty corner—the [Ancient Books/Philosophy/Religion Section].

"The Daoist Canon! I want the complete Daoist Canon!"

"Does the *Huangdi Neijing* still exist? I need the original text, not a modern Chinese translation!"

"Who took the last copy of the *Zhouyi Cantongqi*? I'll pay ten times the price! Sell it to me!"

In just ten minutes.

The bookshelves are empty.

Even those obscure and difficult books like "Yunji Qiqian" and "Baopuzi," and even "Zangjing," which discusses feng shui, were snapped up.

An elderly curator with gray hair looked at the scene, which resembled a bandit invading a village, took off his glasses, and wiped away tears from the corners of his eyes.

"They've gone mad...they've all gone mad."

"I've been guarding this pile of old papers for forty years, and I never imagined that one day they would be more sought after than gold."

This is not an isolated case.

On Dangdang, JD.com, and Taobao, sales of all books related to "Taoism," "Traditional Chinese Medicine," and "Meridian" have surged by 10000%. Paper prices have skyrocketed as a result, and printing plants are running their machines 24/7, yet demand still exceeds supply.

Why?

Because in the "Sword Debate" section of the "Spirit Realm" forum, a top-ranked expert (actually Gu Qing's alternate account) posted a pinned, highly recommended thread:

The essence of cultivating immortality is the resonance between the human microcosm and the macrocosm of heaven and earth. Without understanding Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the meridians, you can practice your whole life and still only become a strong, brute.

This sentence directly elevates the importance of "academic subjects" to the highest level.

In the past, people thought that classical Chinese was dross and a burden on exam-oriented education.

Now?

That's the "decoder of the heavenly book"! It's the "instruction manual for becoming a god"!

……

[Shanghai - Financial Center]

If the sell-out of books represents an inner awakening, then the external aesthetic transformation is even more direct and intense.

Nine o'clock in the morning, rush hour.

In the past, this place was a sea of ​​suits and ties, an exhibition of uniforms from modern industrial civilization.

But today, the style has changed drastically.

The elevator doors in the office building opened, and those who stepped out were no longer wearing tight shirts and trousers that made it hard to breathe.

Instead, they are a group of professional elites dressed in modified versions of "Hanfu/Taoist robes".

This is not for cosplay, nor is it for showing off.

This is pure pragmatism.

"Mr. Wang, your 'cloud pattern training uniform' is quite nice. Is the fabric made of silkworm silk?"

"Not at all, it's just for the convenience of practicing the 'Eighteen Basic Body Strengthening Forms'. You know, those old suits were so tight that it was difficult to even raise an arm, and the pants were so tight that they squeezed your crotch. How could you possibly gather your qi in your dantian? The clothes of our ancestors were much better, with wide robes and sleeves, breathable, and easy to guide the qi."

Yes, suits are obsolete.

In an era where everyone is cultivating immortality, one might need to practice a set of movements or sit cross-legged for a while to exhale and breathe. Tight-fitting modern clothing has become a shackle that restricts the body.

International fast fashion brands such as H&M, Uniqlo, and Zara have suffered an unprecedented setback, with their stores seeing very few customers.

Instead, domestic trend brands have risen.

[Li Ning Enlightenment Series]

[Anta · Leisure Travel Series]

【Bosideng · Wind-Riding Down Robe】

On the streets, young people dressed in cross-collar robes with their hair tied up with hairpins can be seen everywhere. They wear cloth shoes, carry computer bags (or backpacks disguised as sword cases), and walk with a brisk pace.

This aesthetic has even been exported abroad.

At Paris Fashion Week, LV's designers abruptly removed the original runway collection and replaced it with a batch of incongruous "Tai Chi element" outfits, with models holding whisks and walking the catwalk with serious expressions.

……

[Physics Department Lecture Hall, Peking University]

This large classroom, which can hold five hundred people, was now crammed with a thousand. Even the aisles and windowsills were full of people.

Standing on the podium was not an old professor from the philosophy department, but an internationally renowned academician—Yang Dingbang.

The blackboard behind him didn't display physics formulas, but rather a huge "Pre-Heaven Bagua Diagram".

"Students."

Academician Yang tapped the blackboard, his expression fervent, "Don't think this is superstition. After a week of hard work by our research group, we've discovered that the so-called 'Eight Trigrams' are essentially a high-dimensional binary code!"

"The trigram Qian (☰) is three unbroken lines, while the trigram Kun (☷) is six broken lines. This corresponds to the 'excited state' and 'ground state' of energy."

"The so-called 'drawing symbols' is actually constructing an 'integrated circuit diagram' on a two-dimensional plane that can trigger energy resonance in three-dimensional space!"

The students below the stage listened with rapt attention, their pens flying across their notebooks.

"We couldn't understand the I Ching before because our understanding was too limited."

Academician Yang exclaimed, "Now the spiritual energy has been restored, and the key has appeared. I don't know if the end of science is theology, but I can say for sure—"

"All Taoist classics are the 'original code' left to us by the previous civilization!"

"And Classical Chinese is a compiled language! What we need to do now is decipher it! Reconstruct it!"

boom!

The audience erupted in applause.

A literature student cried: "I used to think that studying classical Chinese would make it hard to find a job, but now even physics geniuses are begging me to translate the *Tao Te Ching*!"

The history students laughed: "We've finally turned the tables! Those archaeological excavations and unearthed scrolls are now all top-secret national documents!"

This is a true Renaissance.

It's not about retro trends, but about using cutting-edge scientific thinking to reinterpret the oldest Eastern wisdom.

……

【Kunlun Mountain - Star-Picking Platform】

Gu Qing looked at the system panel.

[Civilization bias: Technological side → Mystic side (in progress)]

Cultural identity: 95.9% (Chinese civilization)

He looked down at the world below the mountain.

A society that was once dressed in suits and ties and admired Western culture has found its roots overnight.

The streets are filled with Hanfu (traditional Han clothing), people are talking about "fellow Daoists," and bookshelves are full of thread-bound books.

This was not something Gu Qing forced upon him.

He only gave the world a drop of water, and the world itself grew a forest.

"This is the most formidable moat."

Gu Qing murmured to herself.

"When every individual in a civilization wholeheartedly identifies with their own culture and draws strength from it... the first thing the void must confront when it wants to invade is this overwhelming will of civilization."

At this moment, a semi-transparent information window suddenly popped up in the void in front of Gu Qing.

[Regulatory alert: A surge in unusual behavior detected]

"What?"

[Event Briefing: Due to the excessive popularity of ancient books, a large number of dangerous misinterpretations and imitations have emerged online.]

[Case 1: A user mistakenly believed that "ingesting mercury can make one immortal" and attempted to swallow the mercury from a thermometer. He has been taken to the hospital for gastric lavage.]

[Case 2: Some users misunderstand "severing the three corpses" as a form of self-harm, posing a serious safety hazard]

"Some people even interpret 'severing the three corpses' as self-harm..."

Gu Qing's lips twitched slightly.

Blindly believing everything in books is worse than having no books at all; these people are really... too hardcore.

"It seems that having textbooks (ancient books) alone is not enough; we also need 'standard answers'."

Gu Qing pondered for a moment, then lightly tapped his finger in the air.

"System, activate the new 'Spirit Realm' feature."

"In the [Scriptures] section, the [Taoist Canon: True Interpretation] has been launched."

"I don't give them the techniques directly, but I give them 'annotations.' I filter out the dangerous, wrong, and outdated content and highlight the correct theories."

As the command was issued, countless invisible data streams surged onto the Internet.

Gu Qing stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the churning sea of ​​clouds in the distance, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

Once, this ancient wisdom was considered feudal superstition and relegated to the dusty corners of history. Now, however, it has become the ark of a new era. Those yellowed pages contain not only methods of spiritual practice, but also the pride and resilience of this ancient people in the face of nature over thousands of years.

"The physical form has been forged, and the soul has returned to its place." Gu Qing smiled faintly, his figure gradually disappearing into the clouds.

"This civilization has finally awakened."