I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

Location: Basement level three of a private estate in Sheshan, Shanghai.

This was an auction that had no written record whatsoever.

There were no invitations, only an unmarked black card as the admission ticket. The thirty-odd people sitting here control nearly 30% of the liquid capital in the Yangtze River Delta region of China. Among them are real estate tycoons, internet upstarts, and real families who live behind the scenes and exist only outside the Forbes list.

But at this moment, these big shots who usually wield great influence in the business world are staring intently at the auction stage like primary school students waiting for their teacher to turn their hair into curlers.

The air was thick with anxiety, greed, and... the fear of death.

Standing on the auction stage was not a professional auctioneer, but a young man dressed in sportswear who looked somewhat flustered.

His name is Zhang Xu.

He was one of the 342 Kunlun students who were "advised to withdraw." On the mountain, due to his dull aptitude, he even struggled to master the "Eighteen Forms of Body Forging," ultimately stopping at the Trial Tower out of fear. He was judged to have "weak Dao heart" and lost his eligibility to remain. (Memory is hazy)

But here, he is still a disciple of the immortals.

"Mr. Zhang," a gray-haired elderly man sitting in the first row said, his voice trembling slightly. He was the founder of a pharmaceutical group worth hundreds of billions. He was currently sitting in a wheelchair, breathing oxygen. "Please...please take the things out. We understand the rules. Whether they work or not, money is not an issue."

Zhang Xu swallowed hard.

He subconsciously touched the hard object in his inner pocket.

That was a "resource" that Kunlun gave to his disciples—a low-grade spirit stone.

In Kunlun, this thing is the basic currency, a consumable used by the senior disciples to set up spirit-gathering arrays. But before leaving the mountain, the dean didn't take it back, only saying lightly, "Keep it as a souvenir."

Zhang Xu's hands trembled slightly as he slowly pulled out the tiny, milky-white crystal, no bigger than a thumb.

hum-

Without any light, the stone itself emitted a hazy glow.

The basement, which had been filled with the smells of cigars and perfume, was suddenly filled with a refreshing scent. It was like opening an ice-cold Sprite in a scorching desert; the invigorating feeling made the old man on oxygen sit up abruptly and even remove his oxygen mask.

"This...this is..."

The old man took a deep, greedy breath, his cloudy eyes gleaming with a wolf-like light. "I can feel it! My lungs... don't hurt anymore!"

Although it was merely a psychological effect and a slight physiological activity resulting from the dissipation of spiritual energy, for these wealthy individuals who were terrified of death, it was a miracle.

"Starting price..." Zhang Xu stammered, trying to speak.

His family had been poor farmers for three generations. His father worked as a bricklayer on construction sites, his back bent from the hard work of sending him to school. For him, 100 million was a number that only existed in the news.

"One hundred million!"

The old man immediately raised his hand, his voice hoarse but firm, "Cash! Transfer immediately!"

"Old Li, that's not funny."

A middle-aged man in a Tang suit sneered, twirling the Buddhist prayer beads in his hand. "You think you can buy 'Immortal Fate' for 100 million? You think this kid is so naive? I'll offer 200 million! Plus a large river-view apartment in Pudong, and a free license plate!"

"Three hundred million!"

"Five hundred million!"

"Five hundred and fifty million! Mr. Zhang, if you just nod your head, I'll give you my private hospital!"

The area is closed.

Those business tycoons who would normally haggle for half a month at the negotiating table over a few percentage points of profit were now throwing their chips around like madmen.

They weren't fighting over a stone.

They were fighting for their lives.

Ultimately, this low-grade spirit stone was auctioned off for a staggering 1.2 billion to the elderly man from the pharmaceutical group.

Based on this calculation, the spirit stone weighs approximately 15 grams.

One gram, eighty million.

It far surpasses gold, far surpasses diamonds, far surpasses all other precious metals in the world.

……

Location: 749 Bureau Headquarters

On the screen, live footage of the underground auction in Shanghai is being broadcast.

Seeing the crazy bidding, and watching those usually shrewd big shots argue heatedly over a low-grade spirit stone, the senior investigators couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.

"Chief, should we intervene?"

"This seriously disrupts the financial order," one investigator asked with concern. "Moreover, the fact that such a strategic resource as spirit stones has fallen into private hands could lead to uncontrollable consequences."

Li Guozhong sat behind his large desk, his fingers tapping lightly on the surface.

His expression was unusually calm, even carrying a hint of... pity.

"Don't worry about it."

Li Guozhong turned off the screen and said calmly, "Let them fight over it. The more fiercely they fight over it now, the more ridiculous they'll find themselves to be in the future."

"Ridiculous?" the investigator asked, puzzled.

Li Guozhong did not explain, but subconsciously recalled the content of the telepathic message.

Not long ago, a streak of light flew from the direction of Kunlun and entered his mind directly.

That was Gu Qing's "telepathic message" to him.

Gu Qing's cold and indifferent voice echoed in Li Guozhong's mind once again:

"Director Li, worldly wealth is useless to me, but I need order."

"In exchange, I can reveal some information to you."

"With the global resurgence of spiritual energy and the awakening of dragon veins, the Earth's 'spiritual veins' have been activated. At this very moment, global crustal movements are undergoing subtle adjustments."

"Seventy-two miniature spirit stone veins are forming deep underground in the five continents."

"Thirty-six of them are located within the territory of China."

"I've already engraved the coordinates in the jade slip. Instead of focusing on the scraps the students have, we should grasp the real 'gold mine' in our hands."

Recalling those words, Li Guozhong's heart was still pounding.

The world's rich are fighting tooth and nail for a 15-gram piece of low-grade spirit stone, while the nation is about to gain control of thirty-six mineral veins!

That's hundreds of millions of tons of strategic resources!

"Notify the geological exploration team and the engineering corps."

Li Guozhong suddenly stood up, his eyes sharpening. "Set off tonight according to the coordinates I gave you!"

"Remember, be quick!"

"Seal off all these mines before foreign powers can react! They are the lifeblood of the nation's future!"

Although the investigator didn't know what had happened, seeing the chief's serious expression, he immediately stood at attention and saluted: "Yes, sir!"

Looking at the night outside the window, Li Guozhong felt even more awe for the "dean" on Kunlun Mountain.

A single, casually released piece of information can create an enormous debt of gratitude for the nation.

At the same time, it also forced the state apparatus to revolve more closely around Kunlun.

This is Yang Conspiracy.

……

[Location: Kunlun Main Peak, Wendao Pavilion]

Gu Qing stood with his hands behind his back.

The Dao Asking Pavilion was deserted at this moment. All the disciples were cultivating desperately, unaware of the tremendous changes that had taken place in the world that night.

Gu Qing stood alone at the pinnacle of power.

A huge holographic map floated in front of him, with seventy-two red dots flashing on it.

System Monitoring Report

[Current Aura Concentration: Slowly Increasing]

[72 miniature spirit stone veins have been generated]

[Intelligence Status: Proactively leaked to a third party (Chinese government).]

Just then, a line of cold red code flashed before Gu Qing's eyes, and the system's monotone mechanical voice resounded deep within his mind.

[Logical warning: Host has been detected relinquishing control of high-energy resources.]

[Data Analysis: These thirty-six mineral veins contain a massive amount of psionic energy. If Kunlun monopolizes them, they can serve as a strategic reserve. Transferring them to lower-level civilizations carries high risks of waste and inefficiency.]

[Judgment: This decision deviates significantly from the "resource benefit maximization" model.]

"Maximizing profits?"

Gu Qing looked at the flashing data streams, calmly shook his head, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"System, your calculations are limited to 'static holding,' while I value 'dynamic transformation.'"

He stretched out his finger and gently traced the glowing dots representing mineral veins on the map.

"These spirit stones, buried underground, are just dead rocks; they don't change the energy level of the environment at all."

"If I hoard them in Kunlun's warehouse, they'll just be a bunch of meaningless inventory data."

Gu Qing's gaze pierced through the clouds, looking at the vast starry sky, his tone indifferent yet profound.

"What I want is not wealth, but speed."

"Only by handing these spirit stones over to the state, allowing them to mine, circulate, and use them, can we enable thousands upon thousands of people to embark on cultivation through these stones, and let spiritual energy permeate every corner of the city..."

He paused, a decisive glint flashing in his eyes—the decisiveness of a chess player making a crucial move for the greater good.

"Only in this way can the global spiritual energy recovery be forcibly accelerated."

"The future we face (the void) is one we don't have much time left to do."

"In order to raise the overall energy level of the Earth as soon as possible, these hundreds of millions of tons of spirit stones are the catalyst I have scattered to the human world."

At this point, Gu Qing gently flicked his sleeve, looked at the flashing system interface before him, and softly asked:

"Besides... do we, who have access to the system's shop, really lack spirit stones?"

The system remained silent for a moment, then the light stream flashed rapidly on the virtual interface, as if it were recalculating this massive variable.

A few seconds later, the red warning box disappeared, replaced by a line of green confirmation messages.

[Logic restructuring complete.]

[Introducing variables: Civilization evolution rate / Plane upgrade requirements.]

[Analysis revised: Resource diffusion is beneficial for improving environmental energy levels, which aligns with the highest priority directive of "countering the void."]

[Evaluation: The decision is approved.]

Gu Qing withdrew her gaze and refused to look at the map again.

For the gods, giving up gold and silver is to awaken the entire world.