I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

As the first rays of dawn pierced the eastern clouds and illuminated the perpetual snow atop the Kunlun Mountains, the viper awoke.

He found himself kneeling on the cold stone slabs, his bones aching as if they were falling apart. Looking up, he saw a scene that made his heart stop.

This is not a secret prison or an interrogation room, but a huge, fairyland-like square.

Clouds and mist swirled around his feet, and in the distance were pavilions and towers suspended in mid-air.

And around him were hundreds of people.

The young people in blue robes were looking at them with eyes full of curiosity, inquiry, and even... disdain.

It's like a group of tourists at a zoo watching some kind of ugly monkey that has just been introduced.

"Is this what foreigners look like? They look so strange, their pores are so big."

"Senior brother, can I have this gun to play with? It looks quite heavy, but I just tried it and it couldn't even scratch the skin of the Golden Bell Shield."

"Don't touch that thing, it's a weapon, it's too full of malevolent energy, be careful it doesn't corrupt your Dao heart."

The once arrogant top mercenaries now huddled together, trembling like toothless old dogs. Their top-of-the-line equipment—priceless night vision goggles, communicators, and exoskeletons—had been stripped off by the students and piled up like junk.

"Make way, everyone."

A calm voice pierced through the noisy crowd.

The crowd parted automatically, and Gu Qing, dressed in white, walked slowly in, bathed in the golden light of the rising sun.

He didn't release any pressure, but the moment he appeared, all the noise disappeared, and even the air seemed to freeze.

Standing behind Gu Qing was Li Guozhong, the director of Bureau 749, who was wearing a heavy military overcoat and whose face was still a little pale.

Li Guozhong was still shaken. Just an hour earlier, he had arrived in the latest Z-20 helicopter. If he hadn't been clutching the "pass jade token" specially bestowed by Gu Qing, which marked the helicopter as a "friendly unit" within the formation, he probably would have been torn to shreds by the terrifying thunderstorms just as he approached the Kunlun airspace.

Even so, when passing through the layers of the sea of ​​clouds, the oppressive feeling of being crushed by the power of heaven and earth at any moment still made his legs go weak.

This is not a mountain, it is clearly the abode of immortals.

Gu Qing walked up to Viper and looked down at the former king of soldiers.

Viper gritted his teeth. He'd received special forces training in counter-interrogation and knew he had to seize the initiative in the conversation. He suddenly straightened his back, and though kneeling, he raised his head and shouted in broken English, his voice sharp but weak:

"I am a security consultant for Blackwater! I am a legitimate warfighter!"

"According to the Geneva Conventions, you must treat me as a prisoner of war! I have the right to see my lawyer, and I want to see my consul at the embassy!"

"This is illegal detention! If anything happens to me, my country will not let you off the hook!"

These words may seem a bit ridiculous here, but they are his last trump card. In the mortal world, they might be able to fool quite a few people.

But on Kunlun Mountain, these words only earned him a few barely suppressed sneers.

Li Guozhong couldn't help but cover his forehead and sigh.

This foreigner still doesn't understand the situation...

Gu Qing tilted her head slightly, glanced at Li Guozhong, and asked, "What is he saying?"

Li Guozhong quickly stepped forward and whispered, "Dean, he said he has diplomatic immunity and wants to see the embassy. He's using international law to pressure you."

"international law?"

A playful smile curved Gu Qing's lips.

He extended a long, slender finger and gently touched the viper's brow.

It didn't touch the skin, but the viper felt as if a mountain was pressing down on its head. With a "bang," it uncontrollably slammed its head against the bluestone slab.

"This is China, this is Kunlun."

Gu Qing's voice was calm, yet it resounded throughout the square: "This place is not under Geneva's jurisdiction, it is under mine."

"In my territory, there is no diplomatic immunity, only the rules of the cultivation world."

The viper struggled to raise its head, its face covered in blood: "You...you're declaring war on the whole world! The laws of modern civilization..."

"Modern civilization?"

Gu Qing interrupted him, her gaze sweeping over the mountain of guns and equipment piled up beside her.

"Is this what you call civilization—these iron pipes that kill people using bursts of chemical energy?"

Gu Qing reached out and grabbed at the air.

An HK416 rifle flew into his palm as if attracted by a magnet, hovering in mid-air.

"Refine".

As Gu Qing softly uttered a single word.

A ball of blue flame appeared out of nowhere and enveloped the rifle.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of people, the rifle, representing the pinnacle of human individual weaponry, melted instantly at thousands of degrees Celsius. The steel barrel, the engineering plastic stock, and the bronze bullets turned into a boiling liquid in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, under Gu Qing's divine control, the liquid began to spin wildly, purify, and remove impurities.

The black impurities turned into ashes and fell away, leaving only a mass of silvery-white molten iron.

"凝".

Juice stretching, shaping, and cooling.

In the blink of an eye, the murderous gun transformed into a gleaming hoe, no bigger than the palm of your hand.

Yes, a hoe.

Although small, it was incredibly sharp and emitted a faint spiritual light.

"This is the rule of the cultivation world."

Gu Qing casually tossed the small iron hoe in front of the viper, making a crisp "clang" sound.

"Weapons meant for killing, in my hands, can only be used for farming."

The audience was silent.

Then, the Kunlun disciples erupted in thunderous applause and exclamations of amazement.

"The Dean is awesome!"

"That's so cool! This is what they call turning swords into plowshares... no, it's turning swords into hoes!"

Gu Qing stopped looking at the ashen-faced mercenaries and turned to Li Guozhong, saying:

"Director Li."

"Here!" Li Guozhong stood at attention, cold sweat pouring down his face. This "void weapon forging" technique not only shocked the foreigners, but also him.

"These people, now that you're here, aren't leaving."

Gu Qing spoke calmly, as if arranging the fate of a few pieces of trash: "Killing them would be a waste, letting them go would be a pity."

"The spiritual fields behind Kunlun Mountain have just been cultivated. The soil there is as hard as iron, and ordinary tools cannot dig it up. It's perfect for them to turn the soil. Also, the three thousand steps of the Heart-Questioning Ladder need someone to clear the snow every day."

"Seal their meridians and throw them into the servants' quarters."

Tell them, "He who does not work shall not eat."

"Even the best soldiers from the original world have to earn their food here through physical labor. Each person must plow half an acre of land every day; if they don't, they won't get their meal that day."

Upon hearing the translation, the viper completely broke down.

He's an elite special forces soldier! Worth tens of millions of US dollars!

Let him... farm? And if he doesn't finish tilling the land, he won't even get to eat?

"No! You can't do that! I'm an American citizen! I am..."

The viper roared hysterically, trying to stand up and fight back.

But the next second, Chu Tian gave him a cold look.

A sword aura swept past.

The viper's voice stopped abruptly, and he was horrified to find that he could no longer make a sound.

"Noisy," Chu Tian said indifferently.

……

Li Guozhong wiped the sweat from his brow and asked cautiously, "Dean Gu, doing this... might put pressure on the diplomatic front. After all, so many people have gone missing, and they're foreign nationals..."

"pressure?"

Gu Qing stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the surging sea of ​​clouds in the distance.

"Director Li, there's something you need to understand."

"From today onwards, there will only be two kinds of people on Earth."

"One type is cultivators, and the other is mortals."

"So-called national borders, laws, and treaties will all be reshuffled in the face of an absolute disparity in power."

"I spared their lives not out of mercy, nor because I was afraid of trouble."

Gu Qing turned around and looked at Li Guozhong, her eyes terrifyingly deep:

"I want the whole world to see clearly."

"No matter which country's elite troops, even if they are fully armed, once they arrive in Kunlun, they are only fit to use hoes to till the land."

"That's my diplomatic language."

Li Guozhong was shocked.

Looking at the excessively young man before him, he felt an unprecedented sense of absurdity, as well as a strange...thrill.

The rise of a great power is often accompanied by ruthlessness and power struggles.

Now, a sword called "Cultivation of Immortality" has been added to the backbone of China.

This sword doesn't follow reason; it only follows the way of Heaven.

"I see."

Li Guozhong took a deep breath, straightened his back, and said, "Bureau 749 will handle all the 'noise.' As long as we're in Kunlun, not even the Heavenly King himself can take us away."

Gu Qing nodded.

"Very good, thank you for making this trip, Director Li."