Chapter 262 The Harvesting of Faith Reaches a Bottleneck
It has been a full six months since the large-scale appearance of the underworld's ghostly soldiers in the mortal realm.
The seventh material recycling station in the Yellow River area of the Jianghuai defense line.
A massive mutated armored rhinoceros collapsed with a crash. Before its dark red demon blood could even seep into the soil, it was skillfully drawn up and filled by several rogue hunters wearing tattered exoskeletons using specially made containers.
The whole process was smooth and seamless, without fear or cheers, only the sickening sound of metal cutting.
"Old Li, keep the rhinoceros's armor plates. Boss Wang's price for 'scrap metal' has gone up by two percent. The inner core is yours; go to the black market and exchange it for some Forget-River Dew. The bio-root on your back has been getting a bit warm these past few days."
While methodically directing the division of spoils, the captain casually lit a cheap synthetic cigarette.
Just then, the surrounding air temperature plummeted, and a layer of white frost rapidly spread across the muddy ground. Above the massive carcass of the armored rhinoceros, a frenzied beast soul, tinged with metallic turbidity, was slowly coalescing—the embodiment of its resentment before death.
But the hunters didn't even lift their eyelids, continuing to work with their heads down.
Clang.
A crisp clanging of chains echoed through the void. A pale-faced ghostly soldier clad in black lamellar armor floated expressionlessly through the concrete ruins ahead.
The captain skillfully exhaled a smoke ring, took half a step to the side, and even nodded to the ghostly soldier: "Hey, Officer Liu, are you on duty today? This beast is quite resentful, you'll have to work hard."
The ghostly soldier, known as Lord Liu, was unfazed and nodded slightly in greeting. With a flick of his wrist, the eerie blue soul-locking chain precisely encircled the beast's neck, and with a silent wail, dragged the ferocious spirit into the ground.
The temperature rose and the cold wind dissipated.
"Get to work, get to work, try to slaughter another one before dark!" the team leader shouted, stubbing out his cigarette.
Death, mutation, hunting, ghostly soldiers reaping souls.
This terrifying cycle, which would have driven the minds of people in the old era to the brink of collapse, has become a common "daily commute" for these wasteland loners in just six months.
Habit is humanity's most powerful weapon.
High above the nine heavens, at the Kunlun Cloud Peak Heavenly Palace.
Gu Qing sat upright in front of the white jade chessboard, his deep gaze piercing through the layers of clouds, quietly watching the planet below that was ravaged by war.
He closed his eyes, and deep within his consciousness, the virtual panel representing faith emerged.
In this enormous reservoir, the "water" inside rose and fell, fell and rose again, but at this moment the surface of the liquid has become relatively calm. Not only have the rising waves subsided, but even as time goes by, the daily fluctuations in the pressure are slowly declining.
[Current Civilization Awe Value: The growth curve has leveled off.]
[Warning: The biochemical cultivation system has been completely integrated into the structure of mortal society. Human adaptability has been maximized, and it can no longer provide high-level emotional fluctuations and faith resonance.]
Gu Qing opened her eyes, her brows furrowing slightly.
"Human adaptability is truly a terrifying instinct."
Looking down at the Jianghuai defense line stretching for thousands of miles, he knew perfectly well where the problem lay.
He bestowed the technology of biochemical spiritual roots upon mortals, granted the laws of devouring and evolution to the demon race, and even had Zhao Feng reshape the Six Paths of the Netherworld. He forcibly created a perfect, cruel cultivation meat grinder on Earth.
But he underestimated the terrifying resilience of humankind.
Initially, faced with demonic beasts capable of tearing through armor and black-armored ghost soldiers who could rise from the dead, mortals were filled with extreme fear and fanatical awe. That fanaticism of "risking one's life for a divine position" provided Gu Qing with a massive amount of faith.
But now?
They treated implanted spiritual roots as an essential tool for making money, even regarding the aloof, soul-capturing black-armored ghost soldiers as free battlefield sanitation workers. Once miracles become a daily occurrence, they cease to be miracles and become mere physical laws.
But that wasn't what Gu Qing cared about most.
He turned his gaze away from the muddy yellow zone and towards the "green zone" fortress cities shrouded in massive energy shields.
There, live the "orthodox cultivators" who truly possess complete spiritual roots.
These elites, carefully cultivated by powerful clans and the government, never have to wrestle with monsters in the mud. They enjoy the purest spiritual resources, cultivate the techniques passed down from Kunlun, and lord over the flow of resources throughout the wasteland from a high and mighty position.
However, the contribution of faith from this group of orthodox cultivators was even less than that from the lower-level wandering cultivators.
"Too complacent, and too arrogant." Gu Qing's eyes turned slightly cold.
Clans have monopolized existing cultivation resources, turning cultivation into an extremely sophisticated "business," while lacking the spirit of cultivators who dare to challenge the heavens. Those orthodox Foundation Establishment and even Golden Core stage cultivators believe they stand at the pinnacle of evolution and have mastered the laws of Earth's spiritual energy at this stage. They have lost their reverence for higher-dimensional forces.
Whether it's the reclusive cultivators at the bottom who rely on their biochemical spiritual roots to fight for their lives, the orthodox cultivators living in luxury in the Green Zone, or the demon race that has just established order in the deep mountains, they are all caught in a "low-level involutionary balance".
The speed of evolution is too slow.
"The current cultivation system is too much like an assembly line. It lacks that kind of soul-stirring, ethereal yet profound and ancient 'cultivation foundation'."
Gu Qing's fingertips tapped lightly on the white jade chessboard, a hint of absolutely rational calculation flashing deep in his eyes.
If the power to allocate resources is directly delegated to management, then powerful clans will only continue to monopolize it, turning it into a new tool of rule. Ordinary people and demons won't even get a taste.
He needed an extremely brutal and fair resource allocation channel. A channel that could forcibly pull all the high-ranking orthodox cultivators, the struggling cyber nomads, and the bloodthirsty demons into the same arena of carnage.
"Since you all think that there are no secrets left in the cultivation of immortality..."
Gu Qing slowly stood up, and with a wave of his sleeve, a blank virtual world map slowly unfolded before him. The system's computing power was fully utilized, and countless models of ancient sect ruins, broken sword formations, and ancient cultivation manuals were rapidly generated in the void.
"Then I will bury a few of your ancestors for you numb masses."
What if all of humanity and the demon race discovered that this land beneath their feet once housed a glorious ancient civilization of cultivation, whose sword energy could tear stars apart, millions of years ago?
When those "ancient relics" buried by the dust of history burst forth with terrifying ancient pressure, when those ancient flying swords, sword formation diagrams, and jade slips pointing directly to the Great Dao, exuding a world-destroying aura, see the light of day again...
That profound shock from the depths of our blood to ancient myths will instantly shatter all faith fatigue and unleash a global frenzy!
Most importantly, the discovery of historical sites is not based on their origin.
There, the orthodox geniuses of the Green Zone must fight to the death against the biochemical madmen of the Yellow Zone, while human cultivators must vie with the Great Sages of the Demon Race for ancient inheritances. This is an ultimate free-for-all without class barriers; only the strongest survivors will be qualified to wield ancient magical treasures and embrace the future starry sky.
Gu Qing's figure instantly merged into the sea of clouds in Kunlun.
His gaze traversed thousands of miles, locking onto the famous mountains and rivers of China that have been steeped in mythology since ancient times—the Golden Summit of Mount Emei, the summit of Mount Tai, and the deep abyss of the East China Sea.