I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

On New Year's Eve, every household is lit up.

Jiangnan Province, an unremarkable third-tier city. Red lanterns hang in the streets of the old town, firecrackers crackle and pop, and the air is filled with the aroma of sulfur and reunion dinner.

A figure that blended almost seamlessly into the night appeared silently in the sky above the "Happy Home" residential community.

Gu Qing didn't fly on his sword, nor did he even activate any spiritual energy fluctuations. He was like a ghost, hovering outside the fourth-floor window, silently watching the room through the thin glass.

That was his home.

Or rather, it was his only refuge when he was "Gu Qing, the mortal".

Inside, the television was playing a pre-Spring Festival Gala program, and the coffee table was covered with melon seeds, peanuts, and cut fruit.

In the kitchen, a young man wearing a gray sweater and an apron was making dumplings.

The light fell on his face, making his skin look warm and natural, with the rosy glow left by years of regular sleep patterns. His features were almost identical to Gu Qing's outside the window, with no difference in the contours of his eyebrows and eyes. However, his skin was no longer pale and translucent, nor did it have that aloof coldness. Instead, it had a relaxed and down-to-earth quality that belonged to an ordinary person.

That was a clone left behind by Gu Qing using the "Avatar" supernatural power at the beginning of the establishment of Kunlun. This clone had no ambition, no fluctuations in cultivation, and its only task was to take the place of the high and mighty Lord of Kunlun and fulfill his filial duties here.

As Gu Qing watched this scene, the divine indifference in his eyes flickered slightly.

"Divine Sense Replacement".

There were no sound or light effects, and no one was alerted.

The clone in the kitchen paused for a fraction of a second, then instantly blurred and disappeared into the shadow behind Gu Qing. The real Gu Qing, however, took a step forward, instantly traversing the distance in space, and appeared in front of the kitchen counter.

He picked up the dough that his clone had just put down, his fingers touching the cold flour.

The realistic tactile sensation made his heart, which had gradually become accustomed to cold data, skip a beat.

From this moment forward, he is Gu Qing. The true son of the Gu family.

"Xiaoqing, stop wrapping them, take a break!"

Mother Gu walked in from outside carrying a plate of freshly fried crispy pork, and casually stuffed a piece into Gu Qing's mouth, "Try it, is it salty enough? I think I put too much salt in this year."

Gu Qing chewed on the piece of crispy pork.

For him, who had already abstained from grains and was accustomed to spiritual food, this piece of meat was full of the greasiness of oil and the impurities of seasoning. But at this moment, he felt that it was the most delicious thing in the world.

"Not too salty, just right."

Gu Qing swallowed with a smile, her voice carrying a long-lost warmth that belonged to an ordinary person, "Mom's cooking is still so amazing."

He poured a glass of warm water for Gu's mother: "Mom, your back isn't good, don't stand for too long, I'll take care of the rest."

As he spoke, he did not use any earth-shattering supernatural powers, but simply sent a wisp of the purest primordial life force through his fingertips as he handed her the water glass, silently into her body.

Gu's mother, whose lower back was sore from years of hard work, suddenly felt a warm sensation, as if a pair of invisible hands were gently easing the pain.

"Hey? My back is actually doing pretty well today, it doesn't hurt at all." Mrs. Gu twisted her waist, looking pleasantly surprised. "Looks like the plaster your dad bought worked."

Mr. Gu, who was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper, snorted and proudly took off his reading glasses:

"That's right! Let me tell you, since the last six months, I've felt incredibly healthy. I can climb six flights of stairs without getting out of breath, and everything I do goes exceptionally smoothly. What do you call that? That's what you call being in high spirits when good things happen!"

Gu Qing skillfully pinched the dumplings while a slight smile appeared on her lips.

Which plaster works?

That was the clone adding a trace amount of "marrow cleansing fluid" to their food every day. It was the clone using divine sense to gently cleanse their aging meridians while they slept.

Gu Qing was not incapable of enabling them to instantly become immortals.

But he remembered that when he first obtained the system six months ago, he had jokingly tested his parents.

He asked, "Dad, Mom, if there were a medicine that could grant immortality and the ability to fly, would you take it?"

At the time, Gu's mother was picking vegetables and didn't even look up: "Why eat that stuff? You live for hundreds of years, only to see all your relatives and friends die, leaving you all alone. That's suffering! I just want to see you get married, have children, and live a peaceful life. Then, when you're done, go play mahjong with your grandparents. Wouldn't that be great?"

Father Gu chimed in, "That's right. The most important thing in life is to be down-to-earth. You can't just fly around and not be afraid of falling."

Gu Qing quietly released a wisp of divine thought, which swept over the two elders' thoughts. What he sensed was without hesitation or concealment, and was the most simple and genuine thought.

At that moment, Gu Qing understood.

Ordinary life is the happiness they actively choose.

If that's the case, why should he force them into that world of cultivation, full of killing and danger, just for his own selfish reasons?

Just then, the evening news was interrupted on the living room TV.

"...This afternoon, a disturbance caused by a demonic beast occurred in a mountainous area in the southwest. However, with the assistance of local cultivators stationed there, the crisis was quickly resolved. Footage from the scene shows several young sword cultivators working together to slay a demonic beast..."

The television screen was shaky, and you could vaguely see a few flashes of sword light, followed by a bloody scene of a giant beast falling. Although the image was pixelated, the brutality of the battle was still palpable.

Father Gu frowned as he looked at the monster, putting the melon seeds back on the plate. "Tsk tsk, the world has really changed. Look at that monster, it's bigger than a small car! If an ordinary person encountered it, they wouldn't even be able to run away."

"That's right." Gu's mother said with lingering fear as she set out the plates, "Although everyone online says that cultivating immortality is good, that you can fly and fight, I think it's like going to war, living with your head on the line. A few days ago, a kid in the next neighborhood awakened and was specially recruited. His mother cried until her eyes were swollen, afraid that her child would not come back."

At this point, Gu's mother turned her head and looked at her son, who was putting dumplings into the pot in the kitchen. Although her eyes showed some disdain, they were filled with a sense of reassuring relief.

"It's so much better to have our Xiaoqing like this. Although she doesn't have the destiny to cultivate immortality, and even changing a light bulb requires her to stand on a stool, so she can only stay at home and write articles. But at least it's peaceful, she doesn't have to fight monsters, and Mom can sleep soundly at night."

Gu Qing carried the steaming dumplings out of the kitchen, placed the plate on the table, and a simple, honest smile appeared on his otherwise unpretentious face.

"Mom is right. Those kinds of fighting and killing make my legs weak just looking at them. Eating Mom's dumplings at home is the most comforting thing. Even gods don't get that kind of treatment."

"You're such a smooth talker! What a glutton!"

Mr. and Mrs. Gu burst into laughter. The fleeting glimpses of swords and blades on the television screen were ultimately no match for the steaming plate of dumplings inside the house.

The family of three sat around a small dining table.

Gu Qing picked up a dumpling; it was filled with chives and eggs.

In his perception, the chives were not washed very clean, the eggs were not from a spirit bird, and even the flour tasted of bleach.

But that didn't stop him from eating heartily, sweating profusely and feeling his heart burning.

He listened to his father reminiscing about the past and his mother rambling on about Aunt Wang's second child next door.

He did not use his divine sense to block out these trivial matters.

Like a greedy beggar, he desperately sucked in the last vestiges of life to fill the ever-expanding void of divinity that had grown from his spiritual practice.

This meal took a long time to finish.

Until the Spring Festival Gala's "Unforgettable Tonight" played.

"Dad, Mom, I'm going downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes and to help with my digestion."

Gu Qing stood up and put on the ordinary black down jacket.

"Why are you buying cigarettes so late at night! Smoke less!" Gu's mother called out from behind. "Come back early, I left you some soup in the pot!"

"understood."

Gu Qing waved, pushed open the door, and stepped into the cold wind.

……

Downstairs, in the shadows near the entrance to the building.

Gu Qing stopped in her tracks.

He turned around and took one last, deep look at the still-lit window on the third floor.

"call……"

He exhaled a breath of white air, which condensed in the air and did not dissipate.

"Go."

He said in a low voice.

From the shadows, the clone that had been in standby mode emerged. Holding a pack of cigarettes that had just appeared, the clone's eyes instantly lost the depth that belonged to Gu Qing, reverting to the clarity and dullness of "mortal Gu Qing."

The clone bowed slightly to Gu Qing, then wrapped its coat tighter, stomped its feet and complained, "It's so cold," before quickly running into the stairwell.

Hearing footsteps coming from the stairwell, Gu Qing knew that her "filial son" had come home.

And it's time for him to leave.

He reached out and gently pressed his hand against the old residential building through the air.

"Imperial edict."

An invisible golden rune silently merged into the wall.

It was a top-level "Nine Revolutions Vajra Formation," but he had modified its outward appearance. There were no fluctuations in spiritual energy, and it wouldn't attract the attention of demons.

From this moment on, this building will no longer be just a structure. It will become the most solid fortress on Earth, standing until the very last moment after everything else has collapsed.

"You don't need to know who I am."

"All you need to know is that your son has always been home, always well-behaved, and always... loves you very much."

Gu Qing withdrew her hand and turned around.

In that instant, the tenderness in his eyes receded like a tide, replaced by eyes of absolute rationality, eyes capable of suppressing the stars with his very being.

He should go. The simple pleasures of life are wonderful, but he carries on his shoulders the responsibility of protecting humanity from the storms of life.

call out--

A streak of light pierced the night sky and vanished into the horizon in an instant.

The child downstairs, who was setting off firecrackers, rubbed his eyes, pointed to the sky, and shouted, "Mommy! I saw a shooting star! It was blue!"

"Silly child, there are no shooting stars on New Year's Eve, those are fireworks."

……