"Now you owe me!"
Before Sofia's words had even fully fallen—
She suddenly raised her fist and slammed it straight into John Wick's face.
Bang!
John was sent crashing to the ground, unable to get up for a moment.
"…Damn."
He clutched his nose and sat up with a grimace.
"When did you start cultivating too?!"
John stared at Sofia in disbelief.
For her to knock him down with a single punch—when he was already a Foundation Establishment cultivator—her strength was clearly not low.
At the very least, she had reached the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Stage.
"Everyone needs a few friends, don't they?"
Sofia grabbed his hand, pulled him to his feet, and casually patted the dust off his chest.
"Now take me to see the Chairman."
"…Alright."
…
…
Under the High Table's new rule, the cultivation world gradually stabilized.
The chaos that had once swept across the globe began to subside.
The Continental Hotel once again became an absolute safe zone recognized by all.
At the same time, official forces began to intervene more actively.
With these changes, openly killing other cultivators for resources became increasingly difficult.
For a brief period, the entire cultivation world entered a rare phase of peace.
Everyone focused on cultivation.
Everyone dreamed of breaking through to higher realms.
When most cultivators had fully refined their first acupoint, the shrewd managers wasted no time.
To recover their costs, they quickly introduced the method for condensing the second acupoint.
Although they couldn't afford to buy out the full pathway to Foundation Establishment,
purchasing smaller portions—individual acupoints and meridians—was still manageable.
But the managers were not fools.
The cultivation methods they released only covered the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and 362 acupoints.
Anything beyond that—
They kept for themselves.
Those advanced meridian structures and additional acupoints were reserved strictly for their own families.
Because those hidden methods were their true advantage.
Eighteen meridians and 362 acupoints…
How could that compare to fifty-six meridians and 830 acupoints?
Even among cultivators at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, one of them could easily defeat a dozen ordinary counterparts.
That was the difference.
With new cultivation methods being released step by step, Cyber Cultivators once again threw themselves into practice.
Second acupoint.
Third.
Fourth…
No one knew exactly how many acupoints were required to reach the end.
But no one cared.
Each new acupoint brought a clear increase in strength.
That alone was enough motivation.
As long as there was a path forward, they would keep walking it.
To speed up their progress, cultivators began thinking of every possible method.
And the simplest solution was—
More people.
More people meant more sources of spirit energy.
So, they recruited.
They expanded.
They pulled ordinary people into cultivation on a massive scale.
But those newcomers only became the lowest tier—
Beasts of burden, endlessly exploited.
Meanwhile, ever since Xiao halted the self-replication of Cyber Aura, the total amount of spiritual energy in the world became fixed.
And increasingly scarce.
As more cultivators appeared, that already limited resource was stretched thinner and thinner.
Cultivation slowed.
Then stagnated.
Faced with slower progress, cultivators had only one solution—
Pull in even more people to gather energy for them.
Thus, the entire cultivation world fell into a vicious cycle.
At first, some ascetic cultivators who adhered to righteousness stepped forward.
They publicly condemned the Continental Hotel.
They urged everyone not to recklessly bring more people into cultivation.
They pointed out a simple truth:
Spiritual energy was limited.
The more people shared it, the less each individual would receive.
In the end, only a tiny handful would succeed.
But those who had already tasted profit ignored them completely.
They were used to harvesting the labor of others.
Why would they stop now?
Instead, they doubled down.
They recruited even more people.
Extracted even more energy.
The wave of cultivation spread like wildfire.
And as it spread, the existence of cultivators became fully exposed to the public.
Countless ordinary people—who might never have had the chance—began yearning for it.
They wanted in.
At any cost.
Five years into the Cyber Era, cultivation had become common knowledge.
Nearly one in ten people had stepped onto the path.
The result was inevitable.
The already scarce spiritual energy in the world was nearly exhausted.
No matter how hard cultivators tried, they could barely gather even a trace.
There was no path forward.
At this point, only two options remained.
First—wait.
If no one could cultivate, then eventually, someone would die.
And when they died, their remaining spiritual energy could be absorbed by others.
Many major families had already begun adopting this method.
At the same time, the Spirit Gathering Array—once highly effective—became useless.
With no ambient energy left to gather, cultivators began modifying it.
They fused it with the decomposition properties of the Great Blood Fiend Art.
The result was a new formation:
The Blood Spirit Array.
By burning flesh and blood, it could forcibly convert matter into spiritual energy.
Anyone thrown into the array would be broken down and refined—
Their life turned into fuel for others.
Second—reduce the number of cultivators.
If too many people were competing for limited energy…
Then simply kill the excess.
Remove the "useless ones," and the remaining resources would naturally become abundant again.
But reality was not so simple.
Most cultivators—over ninety-nine percent—were still at the Qi Refining Stage.
Yes, they were stronger than ordinary humans.
But in front of modern weapons—
They were nothing.
Try killing a few people and see what happens.
The authorities would track you down.
Then throw you—along with your victims—
Into a Blood Spirit Array.
And refine you both.
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