I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

The first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar.

08:32 AM.

It was a lazy morning enveloped by a hangover and the warmth of the heating.

The snow was still falling outside the window, adorning the whole world in a silvery white. The air was filled with the smell of sulfur after the gunpowder had dissipated, mixed with the aroma of breakfast wafting from kitchens in thousands of homes. Red lanterns hung in the streets and alleys, and sanitation workers swept up the red paper from firecrackers scattered on the ground—the color of "peace."

In Suzhou City, Jiangnan Province, there is an inconspicuous old alleyway.

The Zhang family's old house was already bustling with activity.

"Xiao Fan, don't just focus on drinking porridge and eating vegetables."

The mother placed a piece of glistening braised duck into her son's bowl, her eyes brimming with undisguised affection. "You've gotten so thin up in the mountains, your face is all shriveled up. Is the food in Kunlun not to your liking? I brought you some sausages, take them to school with you."

Zhang Xiaofan, a disciple of Kunlun, helplessly protected his bowl and said with a wry smile, "Mom, we eat spirit rice on the mountain. It's a high-energy substance. It keeps us from getting hungry and helps detoxify, which is why we're thin. This is called having an ethereal and otherworldly appearance, not malnutrition."

"Go away, what kind of otherworldly air is this? You're as skinny as a monkey."

My second aunt's husband chimed in, a cigarette between his fingers, leaning closer with a mysterious look: "Xiao Fan, I have a favor to ask you. I heard that all cultivators need to learn how to draw talismans? Could you draw me a 'Wealth and Treasure Talisman'? Business hasn't been doing so well lately, could you help me keep things going?"

Zhang Xiaofan sighed, put down his chopsticks, and tried to explain using the theoretical knowledge he had learned at the academy: "Second Uncle, the first lesson in the talisman studies taught at school was about the 'Law of Conservation of Energy.' Talismans are essentially devices for storing and releasing spiritual energy, mainly for defense, explosion, and purification. They don't have the causal function of 'modifying the probability of wealth.'"

"Okay, actually I don't know how yet..."

The relatives burst into laughter, creating a warm and harmonious atmosphere, full of the unique warmth and human touch of the mundane world.

Looking at those familiar smiling faces, Zhang Xiaofan felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

Is this the meaning of his cultivation of immortality?

It's not for immortality, but so that I can sit here, listen to my second aunt's husband's nagging, and eat the braised duck my mother makes.

He picked up his chopsticks, preparing to pick up the piece of duck meat.

Right in this very second.

"Buzz—!!!"

There was no prelude.

A sharp, deep buzzing sound, as if it were exploding directly inside his skull, pierced his eardrums without warning.

The sound didn't sound like a cell phone ringtone at all. It carried a high-frequency spiritual vibration that instantly drowned out the noise of the television and even caused physical resonance—the porcelain bowl on the table began to shake violently, and the piece of braised duck slipped off the chopsticks and fell onto the table with a "thud".

The smiles on everyone's faces froze instantly.

"What happened? Was it an earthquake?" My second aunt's husband was so startled that he dropped his cigarette.

Zhang Xiaofan's face drained of all color in an instant.

That whiteness wasn't from fear, but rather a conditioned reflex etched into one's very bones.

That was a sound he had heard countless times in the "combat simulation class" at Kunlun. Every time he heard it, it meant that a hellish life-or-death test was about to begin.

Level 1 combat readiness alert.

He abruptly pushed back his chair and stood up, the movement so forceful that it overturned the mahogany stool behind him. Under the astonished gazes of his relatives, he pulled the jade pendant, a symbol of status and honor, from his robes with trembling hands.

At this moment, the jade pendant, which was usually as smooth and lustrous as mutton fat, was vibrating violently, emitting a heart-stopping scarlet light.

The temperature on the surface of the jade pendant instantly rose, becoming as hot as a piece of freshly baked charcoal, but he held it tightly as if it were his life.

Immediately afterwards, a mechanical voice devoid of any emotion, mixed with Gu Qing's majestic will as powerful as the Heavenly Dao, exploded directly in his mind:

"All of Kunlun's subordinates, please obey orders."

Zhang Xiaofan subconsciously stood at attention in the dining room, legs together, back straight, his eyes instantly transforming from a docile junior into a drawn sword.

"This is not a drill."

"Highest level warning: Level 1 war mobilization."

"Coordinates: North-central Pacific Ocean (specific location has been synchronized to the navigation array)."

Gu Qing's voice was extremely fast, with a chilling tone, each word like a nail driven into one's heart:

"It has been detected that the vast majority of disciples' cultivation levels are insufficient to support long-distance sword flight across provinces."

"Now, the first-level seal on the 'Identity Jade Token' is forcibly removed."

"Backup energy pool - full power output."

Click!

A tiny crack suddenly appeared in the jade pendant in Zhang Xiaofan's hand.

The next moment, a powerful, violent, and extremely pure blue spiritual liquid instantly vaporized and rushed into his meridians from his palm!

"Ugh!!"

Zhang Xiaofan couldn't help but let out a low, painful roar.

That's an immense spiritual power that only those at the Foundation Establishment stage possess! It's a trump card that the academy usually stores in jade tablets, used for mutual destruction in desperate situations!

At this moment, this force was frantically stretching open his narrow meridians, and the throbbing pain made the veins on his body bulge.

Gu Qing's icy voice continued:

"The spiritual power I'm lending you has only one purpose."

"fly!"

"Everyone, whether you are in the Qi Refining stage or the Foundation Establishment stage, whether you are eating or sleeping."

"Immediately ascend on your sword! Destination: East Sea!"

"Assemble within two hours!"

"Those who are late will be expelled from the sect and their cultivation will be abolished."

"Anyone who deserts in the face of battle shall be executed!"

"beep--"

Communication was cut off.

Only a blood-red countdown timer remained on the jade pendant: 01:59:59.

And the power that kept flowing into his body, a power that both terrified and overwhelmed him.

The dining room was deathly silent.

The mother looked at her son, who was now radiating a terrifying blue light, with faint shimmering light flowing beneath his skin, as if he had become a completely different person. Her voice trembled uncontrollably: "Xiao...Xiao Fan? What's wrong with you? Why are you glowing?"

Zhang Xiaofan did not answer immediately.

He took a deep breath, enduring the excruciating pain that felt like his meridians were about to burst—the price of his strength.

He glanced at the sumptuous dishes on the table, the taste he had been longing for all year.

But he knew he wouldn't get to eat that meal.

"Mom, I have a mission."

Zhang Xiaofan's voice was a little hoarse, but he didn't turn around; he just strode towards the courtyard.

"So urgent? You want to fly? Didn't you say you can't fly yet? I'll have your dad drive you..." The mother stood up in a panic, trying to pull him back.

"It's too late."

Zhang Xiaofan stood in the snowstorm in the center of the courtyard.

Clang!

The storage pouch at his waist opened automatically, and a fine steel longsword in the style of an academy whistled out.

Under the terrifying energy infusion from the jade tablet, the originally ordinary flying sword instantly grew to three meters in length, radiating a dazzling blue light. The surrounding snow was instantly vaporized by the high temperature, rising into a cloud of white mist.

"Dad, Mom."

Zhang Xiaofan stepped onto the flying sword, swaying slightly, but quickly regained his balance. He slowly floated into the air, looking down at his parents who were stunned, his eyes slightly red, but his gaze as firm as iron.

"Lock the door. No matter what noise you hear, don't go outside."

"If... if I don't come back, there are a few bottles of pills in the box under the bed. I'll keep them for you to take care of in your old age."

boom--!

A loud bang.

Above this small courtyard in Jiangnan, the young man who in previous years wouldn't even dare to kill a chicken has now transformed into a mournful streak of blue light.

He clumsily adjusted his direction, and then, with a resolute gesture, pierced through the clouds in an instant and disappeared into the vast sky!

……

at the same time.

In the north, a small, obscure county town.

There is no hustle and bustle of big cities here, only drab streets and rows of bungalows.

Chu Tian sat in his slightly old-fashioned living room, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, with a plate of melon seeds on the coffee table.

As the senior disciple of Kunlun and a Foundation Establishment stage expert, he did not make a big fuss like the other disciples.

He was wearing a faded old sweater and was quietly listening to his father recount the little things that had happened in the family over the past year—who got married, how much the price of vegetables had gone up, and how old man Li next door had passed away.

Chu Tian listened attentively, nodding occasionally, his expression calm and gentle.

This calmness is the underlying quality he developed after "slaying through" the Demon-Sealing Tower and experiencing countless life-and-death trials.

"Buzz".

A soft sound.

The jade pendant that Chu Tian had placed on the coffee table lit up.

Unlike the outer disciples' crimson bursts of light, his jade tablet only trembled slightly, shimmering with a deep, blood-red light.

But the implications are far more profound.

[Order: Air Assault]

[Identity: Vanguard Officer]

[Mission: Lead the first echelon to hold the East China Sea defense line until the main force arrives.]

Chu Tian put down his teacup.

The water in the cup was completely still.

His father, who was sitting opposite him, stopped talking, glanced at the blood-red jade pendant, and then at his son.

The father was a taciturn retired worker. He didn't understand cultivation, but he understood his son's eyes.

"Are you leaving?" the father asked softly.

"Um."

Chu Tian stood up, his movements unhurried and deliberate.

He didn't say much, but simply reached out and straightened his father's slightly disheveled collar, just like when his father would straighten his red scarf when he was a child.

"The tea's gone cold, don't drink it."

Chu Tian said softly.

"Is it dangerous?" the father asked again.

Chu Tian paused for a moment while buttoning his shirt, then calmly finished. "It's alright. Just dealing with some 'garbage'."

The father nodded, took out a pack of Hongtashan cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and took a deep breath: "Go. Don't worry about things at home. You're a man destined for great things, don't fret about home."

Chu Tian smiled.

The smile was faint, yet it carried a reassuring power.

He turned around and pushed open the door.

The cold wind blew in, but his thin sweater remained motionless in the wind.

Clang!

A heavy, jet-black sword appeared out of thin air, hovering above the courtyard. The air around the sword distorted slightly, as if it were swallowing even the light.

This is his signature weapon – the Azure Sword.

Chu Tian stepped onto the flying sword, his figure rising to a hundred meters in height.

He didn't leave immediately, but instead looked down at the drab little county town, and then pressed the communication button on the jade tablet.

His voice was neither angry nor hysterical.

Only a calm and absolute control, as deep as the ocean, clearly reached the ears of every Kunlun disciple through the network of divine senses:

"I am Chu Tian."

"All Foundation Establishment stage disciples, ascend immediately and assemble at an altitude of 30,000 feet."

"Disciples in the Qi Refining stage, stay below civilian flight paths and do not interfere with normal airspace."

"Don't panic, don't be flustered. The spiritual power of the jade tablet is enough to support you to fly to the destination."

"First team, stick close to me."

"Let's clear the way for our junior brothers and sisters."

boom!

The moment the words left his mouth, the black sword light surged dramatically.

Chu Tian seemed to transform into a black cruise missile, leaving a perfect sonic boom cloud in the air, instantly tearing apart the gloom over the county town and heading straight east!

……

At this moment, the skies over China were abuzz with excitement.

This is a scene worthy of being recorded in the annals of human civilization.

Imagine you're standing on a low Earth orbit satellite looking down at China.

You will see that on that ancient land, the scattered lights are being lit up at an astonishing speed.

More than two thousand streams of light.

They rise from the bustling metropolises of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen; from the remote Liangshan Mountains; from the snowy plateau; and from the shores of the East China Sea.

They are colorful, which is the radiance of different spiritual roots.

The sharpness of gold, the agility of cyan, the explosiveness of red, and the depth of blue.

With the spiritual power forcibly infused by the jade tablet, all the low-level disciples who could only run on the ground in their daily lives now gained the ability to fly.

Although their postures were not graceful, some swayed and some even had to crawl on their hands and feet on the flying swords.

But that doesn't stop them from becoming a torrent.

call out!call out!call out!

The dense, whistling sound filled the sky, even drowning out the sounds of firecrackers from other places.

Countless streams of light converged in the air, like tiny brooks, eventually forming a vast river of light that stretched from east to west.

On the ground, countless ordinary people who were offering New Year's greetings stopped in their tracks.

A driver on the highway instinctively slammed on the brakes, an elderly woman in a square forgot to fan herself, and a traffic policeman on duty looked up at the sky and stood there stunned.

They looked up, dumbfounded, at the scene that blotted out the sky, like a mythical arrival.

Nobody knows what happened.

No one knows where these cultivators are headed.

All I know is that those "spiritual practitioners" who usually appear in the news, textbooks, and online videos are leaving all at once on this morning when families should be reunited.

There were no auspicious clouds in the sky, nor was there any celestial music.

Only orderly, silent, and high-speed journeys.

"Mom, was that a meteor shower?"

A little girl pointed to the sky and asked in a childish voice.

The young mother did not answer immediately.

She instinctively hugged the child tighter, her gaze following the river of light that stretched into the distance, yet a sense of unease welled up within her.

That wasn't a celebration.

It didn't look like a performance either.

It doesn't seem like any kind of spectacle worth celebrating.

It's a scene that... makes you instinctively realize that "something is wrong".

In the sky, the River Cam rolls eastward.

On the morning of this Lunar New Year's Day, all the faculty and students of Kunlun University announced the end of the holiday in a way that no ordinary person could understand, yet it was a way that would be etched in their memories for a lifetime.

This also signaled that the era was quietly turning a new page.