I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

At the summit of Kunlun, the gale-force winds are like knives.

High above, wind and snow swirled. Violent air currents surged upwards from the abyss, carrying temperatures and pressures capable of tearing steel apart, swirling and howling across the mountain peak. The entire main peak resembled a long sword piercing the clouds, its tip a forbidden zone for humankind.

Gu Qing sat quietly alone above the sea of ​​clouds, like an ancient, unmoving statue. The swirling snowflakes, three feet away from him, were broken down into primordial water vapor by an invisible force of rules. It wasn't spiritual energy protecting him, nor was it simple evaporation at high temperatures; rather, it was a deeper "reconstruction"—the molecular structure was dismantled, the state was reverted, and existence itself was modified.

The wind and snow could not get close to him.

Rules are his robe.

Gu Qing was not cultivating.

His vision had long since surpassed the limits of the naked eye and divine sense, entering a "high-dimensional data landscape" that only he could see.

It was a golden ocean.

Countless fine golden threads, as thin as hair, rose from every corner of the earth, traversing the atmosphere and crossing the ionosphere, finally converging at the summit of Kunlun, intertwining around him. They were not physical entities, but a conceptual projection of energy—the quantum collapse of belief, the convergence and feedback of the consciousness field, and the emotional wave function of a civilized group.

Each delicate golden thread connects to a human being on Earth.

Those threads convey awe, worship, and prayers for miracles in despair; they are the whispers of parents praying for their children's safety, the unwilling roars of warriors before their deaths, and the unwavering determination of young people gritting their teeth and persevering on the training ground.

They converged into a massive torrent, constructing the "Trust Pool" that supported Gu Qing in altering the rules of reality's physics.

That was civilization's vote for the gods.

However, glaring cracks appeared in this magnificent golden sea.

"Smack."

A thread broke.

The voice wasn't real, yet it resonated clearly deep within Gu Qing's consciousness, like a string suddenly snapped.

Immediately afterwards—

"Slap, slap, slap..."

At the edge of vision, hundreds upon hundreds of golden threads snapped in quick succession within seconds. They abruptly dimmed from their bright gold, turning into dust and vanishing into nothingness.

The breaking of each thread signifies the complete demise of a vibrant life.

It was not a wavering of faith, but the end of life.

Gu Qing remained expressionless.

His pupils reflected the tremors of the entire golden ocean, the "loss curve" on a macroscopic scale slowly but steadily sloping downwards.

[Warning: The natural and unnatural mortality rates at global credit nodes are rising.]

[Current Stage of Cultivation Civilization's Advancement: A Period of High-Pressure Warfare.]

[System Assessment: The host's current projected mortality rate has exceeded its natural reproduction rate.]

[Recommendation: Contain high-purity information nodes, establish an absolutely secure zone, and stop unnecessary tug-of-war at the defensive line.]

The system's voice was calm, precise, and devoid of any emotional fluctuation. It was solely responsible for efficiency.

"Captive breeding?"

Gu Qing slowly opened her eyes in the wind and snow.

Those eyes seemed to pierce through the clouds and atmosphere, landing directly on the entire blue planet.

A faint, yet chilling smile played at the corners of his lips.

"Like livestock, confine them in a safe zone. Offer sacrifices, pray, and generate faith every day. Do not give them war, do not give them choices, and do not give them failure."

"Let them become stable energy batteries."

[This is the most efficient solution for maintaining the stability of the information pool.] The system replied.

"Shut up."

The wind and snow suddenly stopped for a moment.

"Do you even know what civilization is?"

Gu Qing stood up.

He gazed down at the azure planet beneath his feet, his deep eyes swirling with complex emotions. It wasn't mere pity, nor was it simple arrogance; rather, it was the somber weight that only comes with standing at the pinnacle of civilization's timeline, looking back at history.

"What I need is not a bunch of parasites that only provide energy."

"They are not a flock of lambs raised by gods."

"What I want is a race that dares to draw its sword even when facing the abyss of the universe."

"It is a civilization that can grasp the 'Tao' and ultimately break free from all shackles, striving for self-improvement."

Gu Qing reached out and gently pinched something in the air.

He crushed the data panel about the "captive breeding program" into pieces, which then dissipated into specks of light.

But the gloom in his eyes did not disappear as a result.

Ideals are grand.

Reality, however, consists of cold, hard physical parameters.

The growth cycle of carbon-based life is too long.

Ten months of pregnancy, fifteen years to adulthood, and another ten years to draw qi into the body, build a foundation, and comprehend the world... The formation of a generation of cultivators often requires twenty or even thirty years of accumulation.

And those void monsters crawling out of the cracks, those mutants accelerated by high-dimensional radiation—

They don't need a childhood, they don't need education, and they don't need a certain state of mind.

They only need to devour minerals and flesh.

Within a few days, they can amass an army of 100,000, much like cell division.

In high-dimensional contaminated fields, they can even share simple attack commands and complete tactical coordination through collective consciousness.

To exchange lives in the mud with a generation that takes twenty years of painstaking effort to cultivate, and with brainless beasts that can be produced in a few days on an assembly line.

This is not just a huge loss in terms of resources.

It will also cause the nascent cultivation civilization to bleed to its last drop of blood in its cradle.

Gu Qing closed her eyes and whispered:

"Human beings need to be tempered by the fires of war to grow."

"But that doesn't mean we should send them to their deaths for no reason."

They need time.

It takes time to comprehend the techniques.

It will take time to perfect the alchemy and formation techniques.

It will take time to establish its own cultivation industry system—spiritual energy smelting, array calculation, rune standardization, and mass-producible magical artifacts.

The leap of civilization is never achieved overnight.

But the void, unfortunately, doesn't grant time.

When Gu Qing opened her eyes again, a chilling light had already appeared deep within them.

Since the malice of the universe is surging in like a tidal wave.

Since the human body, made of flesh and blood, cannot build a dam to resist the invasion of higher dimensions in a short period of time—

Let him create a dam out of thin air.

"I possess the authority of the Creator."

"All things can be born from the primordial Qi."

He raised his right hand.

A pure, golden light slowly swirled in the palm of his hand. Within that light, countless superimposed projections of double helix structures, protein folding models, basic particle trajectories, and rune matrices faintly emerged.

That was the original blueprint for the editing of life.

Gu Qing quickly sketched out a new set of species parameters in his mind.

Higher intelligence is not required.

Wisdom can breed fear, doubt, and retreat in dire situations.

No long growth period is needed.

It must be able to draw energy from extreme environments, hatch quickly, and mature rapidly.

No pain receptors are needed.

Pain is a biological self-protection mechanism, but it is also a source of instability.

One must possess absolute obedience to the "Creator," which is etched deep within one's genes.

Physical strength is pushed to its limit.

Even if cut in two, it can continue fighting with its remaining body.

"They don't need to understand what 'Tao' is."

"Their sole purpose in existing is to serve as absolute cannon fodder."

Gu Qing's voice was calm to the point of being cruel.

"Use millions of soulless bodies to fill the cracks in the void."

"To shield humanity from the most deadly war of attrition."

"Buy time for this fragile civilization."

His fingers clenched tightly.

The primordial energy in his palm exploded, transforming into countless profound runes that swirled around him. The wind and snow were pushed aside, space slightly distorted, and the array on the main peak of Kunlun Mountain lit up layer by layer.

[Host intent detected.]

[Life editing engine activated...]

[Gene template construction in progress...]

Gu Qing turned around, her gaze falling on the back of Kunlun Mountain.

It was an area sealed off by layers of arrays, shrouded in mist year-round, and never opened to the public. It was a "forbidden zone" prepared for extreme contingency plans.

"Activate the highest level isolation formation."

"Seal off the back mountain."

His voice was icy cold, devoid of any warmth.

The entire Kunlun Mountains trembled slightly.

One after another, array-like light curtains rose from the depths of the earth's veins, nesting and closing one another, completely isolating the back mountain from the real world.

Gu Qing strode forward.

To protect the light of humanity.

He didn't mind pushing open the gates of hell belonging to the forbidden creation himself.

The sea of ​​clouds surged.

The formation is closed.

The first round of creation experiments is about to begin.