I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

[Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C., USA]

The morning sunlight streamed through the bulletproof glass onto the mahogany desk, but it couldn't dispel the icy chill that permeated the office.

The president held tightly in his hand a beautiful obsidian paperweight, which was originally his favorite desktop ornament, from an ancient mine in Africa.

At this moment, his movements were as stiff as a wax figure, his knuckles drained of color from excessive force. His eyes were tightly closed, a fine layer of sweat beaded on his forehead, and his lips moved slightly as he repeated those two syllables from the East over and over in an extremely awkward, even somewhat comical tone:

"Gan... Qi..."

"Sense... the... Qi..."

"Gan... Qi..."

A minute passed.

Five minutes passed.

The paperweight remained a cold, lifeless object. Far from "emitting a warm glow" as described in the intelligence reports, it didn't even change temperature; it remained icy cold.

"Fuck!"

The president suddenly opened his eyes, an unprecedented sense of frustration causing him to lose his composure. He slammed the heavy paperweight onto the mahogany desk.

With a sharp "bang," a piece of the valuable obsidian chipped off a sharp corner, much like the pride of the American elites, which had been so proud of it but was now shattered.

"Tell me, why is that?"

He abruptly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the three men standing in front of the desk—the White House Chief of Staff, the CIA Director, and the Chief Scientific Advisor.

His voice suppressed a roar about to erupt, and his trembling finger pointed at the huge electronic screen on the wall, which was playing a short video from the China Internet on a loop: a rural toddler wearing open-crotch pants was holding a lump of mud with snot on his face, the mud emitting a faint but real earthy yellow light in his hand.

"Why?! Huh? Can anyone give me a reasonable explanation?"

"Why is it that our intelligence shows that in China, even in that remote mountain village, even an eight-year-old child and an illiterate old farmer can make mud shine! But we—"

He pointed to himself, then to the room full of well-dressed elites:

"We have law degrees from Ivy League universities, we have top physics experts from MIT, we have the highest average IQ in the world! But we can't even light up a damn rock?!"

The office was deathly silent.

No one dared to look the president in the eye. It wasn't just anger; it was a deeper fear—the fear of being left behind by a more advanced civilization.

After a long silence, the chief scientific advisor wiped the cold sweat from his brow and took a difficult step forward. He held a thick report analyzing both linguistics and psychology in his hand, his voice dry and strained:

"Mr. President... this is not a matter of intelligence, nor is it a matter of physics."

"Based on our emergency consultation with five hundred linguists, theologians, and anthropologists... the core of that 'test' lies in the incantation: 'Gan Qi'."

"It's not just a sound." The consultant swallowed hard, trying to explain metaphysics in scientific terms. "It's a conceptual anchor with strong Eastern philosophical undertones. In their cultural context, 'qi' is the origin of the world, it's breathing, it's energy, it's everything. They grow up hearing this concept, and this understanding is ingrained in their subconscious."

He paused, then desperately spread his hands:

"When we pronounce 'Gan Qi,' our cerebral cortex doesn't resonate at all. Not a single neuron in our brain can understand what it means. According to the 'Kunlun System,' we... are 'illiterate.'"

"You mean…" the president narrowed his eyes, his gaze dangerous, "that God has become racist? Or that the master of Kunlun is an extreme nationalist?"

"No, perhaps the situation is worse."

The CIA director, who had been silent all along, stepped forward with a grim expression and handed over a top-secret file. The cover of the file was printed with the words "TOP SECRET" in bright red.

"Mr. President, we conducted emergency testing in Chinatown and the Asian community in San Francisco. The sample size is three thousand people."

"The results showed that, although the proportion was much lower than in mainland China, a very small number of Asian Americans—about three—successfully produced a weak thermal response from the object."

The bureau chief pointed to the data in the report, his voice so low it sounded like he was reading a verdict:

"This shows that it's not a matter of geographical location, and it may not even be a matter of bloodline."

"What is that?" the president asked eagerly.

The bureau chief took a deep breath and uttered a word that filled all Western elites with despair:

"It is 'belief'."

"Those Asians who are successful often have families that still maintain the custom of ancestor worship, or have been exposed to Taoist culture since childhood. They subconsciously 'believe' in the existence of this system."

"And we..." the director gave a bitter smile, looking out the window at the towering Washington Monument, "We believe in God, in mathematics, in logic, in E=mc²."

"Within the rule system established by 'Kunlun,' we are neither not smart enough nor not strong enough."

"We are just... heretics."

……

New York, Wall Street, Stock Exchange

[Time: 09:30 Eastern Time]

The opening bell did not bring the usual clamor, but instead a wave of panic selling.

The huge electronic display screen was a ghastly green.

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, in particular, experienced a precipitous collapse.

Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck... these once invincible pharmaceutical giants saw their stock prices halt three times in just ten minutes.

"Sell it! Sell it all!"

A seasoned fund manager, tie askew and drenched in sweat, roared into the phone, "Don't you understand? What does that 'Kunlun University' admissions brochure say? 'The mundane world, birth, aging, sickness, and death, are all cages!'"

"If cultivating immortality could truly grant eternal life, and if 'spiritual energy' could truly cure all diseases, who the hell would buy our medicine? Who would buy our insulin?"

"But it's fake! That's not scientific!" The customer on the other end of the phone was still struggling.

"To hell with science!" The manager pointed to a screen not far away, which was showing footage of the thirty-three fairy islands floating in the clouds of Kunlun Mountain in China. "Tell me, can Newton's laws explain that stuff? Times have changed! The hard currency now isn't the dollar, or even gold... it's that damned 'spiritual root'!"

In a corner of the exchange, several Jewish tycoons who usually wield considerable influence are gathered together, their faces pale.

The wealth they possess is enough to buy up small countries and launch local wars.

But now, they find that their trillions of dollars might not even buy a "ticket" to that mountain.

"Contact them..." A big shot lit a cigar with trembling hands. "No matter how much it costs, no matter what means I use, I need a plane ticket to Kunlun Mountain. Or... even just a brand new, most basic 'Cultivation Textbook'."

……

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

Inside the enormous church, the usually sacred and solemn organ music had vanished, leaving only a suffocating silence.

The Pope knelt alone before the enormous cross, his aged body trembling slightly.

Above him, in the dappled sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows, the aftershocks of last night's "global projection" still lingered. Though the golden Chinese characters had faded, the oppressive aura, like divine might, remained etched into the souls of every clergyman.

"Lord..."

The Pope's voice was old and hoarse, tinged with an unprecedented wavering, "Was that a miracle of yours? Or... the devil's temptation?"

If it's a miracle, why did it appear in the far east?

Why does it use a pagan script?

Why does it promote not "redemption" or "original sin," but that blasphemous term—"cultivating immortality"?

Cultivating immortality, that is, mortals achieving godhood directly in this mortal world through cultivation, is, in the teachings of the Bible, the greatest transgression, a reenactment of the Tower of Babel!

Meanwhile, in St. Peter's Square outside the church, tens of thousands of believers who had traveled from all over Europe were in chaos.

The situation briefly spiraled out of control.

Some people held a cross and tried to "feel the breath," chanting the name of Jesus while making Eastern meditation gestures, which looked incongruous and ridiculous.

Some people are breaking down in tears, feeling that this is a harbinger of the Last Judgment and that they have been abandoned by the Lord.

Even more frightening is that a rumor is spreading like wildfire among the clergy:

Several cardinals, after secretly trying to "feel the breath" while holding the Bible and receiving no response, experienced a collapse of their faith on the spot. Some even went insane, shouting "God is dead" in the basilica.

If God truly exists, why did He remain absolutely silent when that Eastern deity descended and broadcast the "Great Way" to the world?

This silence is more unsettling than any disaster. It silently speaks of a possible truth:

Perhaps, this sky has a new owner.

……

[Internet · Reddit / Twitter (X) / Facebook]

Compared to the oppression in reality, the Western online world has completely exploded.

Panic, jealousy, anger, self-doubt... a mix of emotions intertwined, forming a tsunami of public opinion that was enough to drown out reason.

u/NewYorker: "This is unfair! This is blatant discrimination! We must protest! Why can only Chinese people go to that 'Kunlun University'? This is a trampling on human rights! Where is the United Nations? Where are the human rights organizations? I don't believe that 'Kunlun' can ignore international law!"

u/ScienceBro: "Don't be silly, upstairs. International law? Because you tried to use the law to restrain 'God,' they gave you a bolt of lightning. Please check it out. It's clearly written: 'Those who are destined will reside here.' What does 'destined' mean? Translated, it means: the one who can light the stone. You couldn't light it, who's to blame? Blame it on not being born into the right family?"

u/LostFaith: "I tried all night... I've held the flowerpots, the spoons, even my cat, but there was no reaction. Am I useless... or rather, are we not even considered intelligent beings in the eyes of those 'immortals'? Like how we look at monkeys?"

u/KungFuFan: "I told you guys to watch more Xianxia Novel! You didn't believe me! Now look what happened! I didn't react either, but at least I know what 'spiritual roots' are. It's a genetic lottery, you know? Like the wizarding bloodline in Harry Potter, Muggles can't learn magic! Just accept it!"

u/Area51_Watcher: "I don't believe this is magic! This must be some kind of alien technology! That Kunlun Mountain is actually a disguised alien spaceship! They're not selecting cultivators, they're selecting samples for some kind of biological experiment! Don't go! You'll be dissected if you go!"

A sentiment known as "civilizational anxiety" is spreading rapidly in the Western world.

For centuries, they have been accustomed to mastering technology, mastering truth, and mastering the power to define the world.

They are used to being the "center" and other civilizations being the "periphery".

But last night, the rules changed.

The new rule-maker, standing atop Kunlun Mountain, coldly closed the door to "evolution" with a language they couldn't understand and a logic they couldn't comprehend.

Inside the gate lies the celestial realm of immortality, while outside lies the mortal world of birth, aging, sickness, and death.

They were locked out.

……

【Kunlun Summit - Taiqing Hall】

The world below the mountain was thrown into madness by that enrollment brochure, while Gu Qing, at the eye of the storm, stood quietly on the terrace of the main hall.

At this moment, the wind in Kunlun Mountain was strong, blowing the flowing cloud Taoist robe that the system had conjured on his body, making it flutter loudly.

In front of him floated a semi-transparent system panel, displaying a global distribution map of [Trust Values].

East Asia is a glaring red, with confidence levels soaring like a volcanic eruption, having already surpassed the ten million mark and still growing at a rate of tens of thousands per second.

Meanwhile, Europe and America were shrouded in gloom. Interspersed within that gloom were dark currents of energy representing "fear," "resentment," and "chaos."

[System notification: A large amount of negative sentiment has been detected in the Western world.]

[Analysis of the cause: Cultural barriers lead to an inability to understand the cultivation system, resulting in a sense of "civilization being abandoned."]

[Suggestion: Does the host wish to consume 50 Faith Points to activate the "Western Language/Culture Adaptation Pack"? (After activation, Westerners will be able to understand the concept of "Qi")]

Gu Qing looked at the option and a contemptuous smile appeared on her lips.

With a light swipe of my finger, I clicked "No" without hesitation.

"Compatibility? Why do we need to adapt?"

He turned around, stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze seemingly piercing through countless clouds, looking down upon the masses of people below.

"When they used their powerful ships and cannons to force open our doors, did they adapt to our culture?"

"When they made English the international language and touted their values ​​as 'universal values,' did they ask for our opinion?"

Gu Qing shook his head, his tone calm, yet exuding an undeniable domineering air:

"Now, I am the dealer."

"I set the rules."

"Let them panic for a while."

The light in Gu Qing's eyes flickered, revealing a cold and calculating rationality.

"Fear is also a kind of power, and jealousy is an even greater driving force. What you can't have always stirs your heart. Only when they feel utter despair and helplessness will they offer their most devout faith like drowning people grasping at straws when I unlock the 'Western Mythology DLC' in the future."

"Giving it to them now will feel like charity; giving it to them later will feel like salvation."

Putting away the panel, Gu Qing turned his gaze to the foot of Kunlun Mountain.

There, outside the military's blockade, the first batch of lucky individuals who had passed the "Qi Sensing" test had arrived under the escort of special forces.

Although there are only a few hundred of them, they are the true seeds.

"However, having spiritual roots alone is not enough."

Gu Qing muttered to himself.

The system's mission for him was not only to establish a school, but also to cultivate an army capable of fighting against the "great terror" of the future.

Those who lack a firm will, no matter how high their cultivation level, are merely fodder for the void.

"System," Gu Qing commanded in his mind.

[System: What are your instructions?]

"Initiate the first phase of the 'Quest for the Heart' script."

Setting: Refining the Heart in the Mortal World

"Item Drop: Generate a 'Beggar' NPC."

Gu Qing's gaze fell on the three thousand-step white jade staircase.

"Place it on the steps of the mountain gate."

"Dressed in rags, reeking of foul odor, begging for food with a broken leg."

Gu Qing's eyes deepened:

"I want to see if these lucky people who call themselves 'chosen ones' still have any compassion as human beings when faced with the temptation of instant success."

"If someone has no compassion for the weak, even if they cultivate to become an immortal, they will still be a demon."

"But I, Kunlun, do not subdue demons."

As Gu Qing's will subsided.

At the foot of Kunlun Mountain, beneath the magnificent "Kunlun University" archway.

The air was slightly distorted.

A dirty, huddled old beggar appeared silently in the corner, blocking the only path to immortality.

The show is about to begin.