I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

Guanghan Base.

Inside the underground control room, a series of minimalist data streams with faint green light flickered on the large screen.

"The stability index of the boundary marker channel has increased significantly, and the spatial repulsion force reading has dropped to within the safe threshold." The operator's voice trembled uncontrollably as he spoke from the communications console.

Wang Mingyuan stared intently at the final calculation results on the screen, and his previously tense shoulders finally relaxed.

The advance team won their gamble. "The domain suppression has decreased by one level, and the current channel capacity can now support small-scale continuous teleportation." Wang Mingyuan turned to look at Zhou Lan in the holographic projection, his eyes gleaming. "The Crying Goddess is not the end; she is the first brick we need to knock on this door."

"Proceed according to the plan." Zhou Lan's voice was cold and decisive. "The cultivation level of all personnel entering the territory must be strictly controlled at the Qi Refining stage. Absolutely no equipment or modern heavy firepower beyond the local understanding will be allowed to pass through. We are going to a living world with an instinct for repulsion, not to fight a reckless war of annihilation."

This was by no means a massive, rapid advance by a large army, but rather an extremely restrained and meticulously planned systemic support operation.

Inside the top-secret underground base of New Chang'an, the second advance team, totaling ninety-six people, who had already assembled, were conducting a final equipment check. They were not wearing any futuristic interstellar armor, nor were they carrying beam weapons. Instead, they wore tattered coarse cloth robes, mud-stained merchant's attire, and patched-up straw hats.

The configuration of these 96 people precisely corresponds to all the functions required for the establishment of the "bridgehead":

Combat cultivators (30): All of them are at the peak of the Qi Refining stage. They are divided into six groups of five and disguised as镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) and 商车护院 (guards/protectors of merchant caravans).

Formation Masters (12): Disguised as feng shui masters and wandering Taoist priests, their core mission is to reinforce boundary markers and establish the first low-spiritual-pressure communication node in the first realm.

Medical Cultivators (10): They carry medicine kits treated with low spiritual pressure and are responsible for establishing clinics in the local area and gaining the trust of the locals by saving lives.

Talisman Cultivators (10): Specialize in concealment, sealing doors, masking qi, and identity forgery.

Intelligence agents (8 people): Disguised as blind fortune tellers, refugees, and accountants, they are responsible for analyzing the language, household registration, government structure, and trade routes of the Dayu Dynasty.

Engineers (6 people): Disguised as bricklayers, they are responsible for transforming the outpost into a fortress with underground warehouses and secret teleportation anchors.

Logistics recorder (10 people): Responsible for material coordination, sample sealing and fixed-point return of minimal information.

......

The outer edge of the seventh region on the far side of the moon.

The dark gold patterns on the outer ring of the star gate glowed with a soft light. The ninety-six people were divided into eight groups. Pushing disguised old carts and carrying wooden boxes filled with ordinary medicines and cloth, they stepped into the gray water membrane one by one, like silent ancient caravans.

The pressure inside the passage was much more stable than the first time, but the pressure from the rules still caused the Qi Refining stage cultivators' blood and qi to surge. They gritted their teeth and disappeared behind the water film.

The first boundary, Huai'an County.

Its daybreak.

As the first rays of sunlight pierced through the thick fog and fell upon the cobblestone streets, an extremely eerie atmosphere permeated the entire county. It wasn't the cheers of survivors, but rather a deep, incredulous terror.

The shopkeeper of the paper money stall on the street corner sat blankly behind the counter, still clutching a handful of untied white paper in his hand. Usually at this time, people with red eyes would have already knocked on the door to buy paper money, but today, the street was eerily quiet.

Several families cautiously peered through the cracks in their doors, but they didn't see the disgusting, wet footprints.

"Last night... I don't think I heard any crying." An old man selling tofu lowered his voice, as if he were talking about something taboo, his voice trembling violently.

"Shh! Don't talk nonsense, or we'll bring her back!" someone nearby immediately shouted sternly.

The people were unaware that the Weeping Goddess had vanished into thin air; fear had long been etched deep into their bones.

Meanwhile, in the shantytown where Zhou Aman's family lived, Lin Xiaolu had changed into a clean, faded white cloth dress.

After the chill of illness subsided, Zhou's mother miraculously regained the ability to walk. Taking advantage of this, Lin Xiaolu set up an extremely simple medicine shed outside the courtyard. Using boiled local herbs and extremely secretive massage techniques, she provided free medical treatment to several poor mountain villagers suffering from chronic illnesses.

The takeover of the earth quietly took root from these bowls of steaming medicinal soup. The grace of survival is always the sharpest weapon for establishing local credibility in places of despair.

Infiltration and Transformation

In a secluded landing spot outside the city and underground in a small courtyard, the first nine-person team was methodically receiving the arriving supporters in batches.

With the sketch of Huai'an County drawn by Meng Changlu overnight in hand, Han Zhao quickly and accurately deployed ninety-six people to every corner of the county.

"The third and fourth groups of combat personnel, posing as caravan guards, booked the Yuelai Inn in the west of the city as a transit point."

"Engineering team, excavate the underground of this courtyard before dark and seal it off with soundproofing tape."

"The intelligence team disperses. I need to know who owns every tavern, gambling den, and grain shop in the county town before tonight."

Meanwhile, at the Demon-Suppressing Office in the west of the city.

Lu Yan, along with the twelve newly arrived array masters, silently infiltrated the ruins where most of the yin energy had dissipated.

The blank memorial tablets have cracked, but the massive and broken seal array patterns underground still have extremely high research value.

"Don't dismantle it completely, sew it back together in reverse." Lu Yan pointed to the array patterns on the ground. "We're going to transform this place into a research point for the first realm's rules."

The array masters acted swiftly, connecting the array theories they brought from Earth with the local array patterns. This was not to restore the past seals, but to establish a preliminary system of "fake registration documents." With this milestone, the large number of Earth cultivators who subsequently entered this world would possess a legitimate "local registration" that could withstand the scrutiny of the underlying rules.

......

In the center of the county town, the Huai'an County Government Office of the Dayu Dynasty.

Although corrupt, it remains the nominal highest authority. Han Zhao's strategy was extremely clear: he absolutely could not overthrow the county government now; if it attracted the attention of the upper echelons of Qingzhou Prefecture, given their current cultivation level and numbers, it would be tantamount to playing with fire.

"Control it covertly," Han Zhao set the tone.

As the sun began to set, Meng Changlu, fanning himself with a tattered paper fan, sat down quite naturally opposite an old yamen runner at a secluded tea stall in the back alley of the county government office.

It was the same old constable who had whispered to them at the city gate, "Come back before sunset."

Without uttering any unnecessary words, Meng Changlu flicked his wrist, and two heavy pieces of silver, bearing the official seal of the Great Yu Dynasty, slipped imperceptibly into the old yamen runner's worn-out sleeve.

"Brother, our caravan is new here and we'd like to find a peaceful place to eat. We'd appreciate it if you could give us some pointers on the rules and regulations of the magistrate and the other officers."

The old constable felt the weight in his sleeve, a strange light flashing in his previously dull and cloudy eyes. He glanced around and lowered his voice:

"Outsiders, you're lucky to be alive. The city was peaceful last night... but the county magistrate is only concerned with saving his own life. The county's granaries are almost empty. As long as your caravan has grain and medicine, and doesn't cause trouble, you can do whatever you want in Huai'an County."

Meng Changlu smiled as he picked up the rough porcelain teacup. He knew that from this moment on, a hole had been torn in the county government's internal intelligence network.

......

Earth, Kyoto.

Standing before the massive tactical sand table, watching the intelligence reports constantly being transmitted back on the screen, Wang Mingyuan officially promulgated the "Huai'an Bridgehead Plan":

Phase One: Stabilize the Core. Using the Zhou family courtyard, the medicine shed, and the empty government office as three key points, a covert physical and rule-based defense will be established.

Phase Two: Radiation and Infiltration. Secretly controlling the city gate guards, the mortuary, and the area surrounding the county government, monopolizing the local food and medicine supply.

Phase Three: Order Replacement. Without alarming the upper echelons of the Great Yu Dynasty, substantively restore order to Huai'an County and begin large-scale collection of mineral resources and rule samples from the first era.

"We're making rapid progress, but we absolutely cannot let our guard down," Zhou Lan coldly reminded him over the communicator. "The death of the Crying Goddess doesn't mean the First Realm is safe. She's just a piece of rotten flesh on this land. Huai'an County is merely an insignificant dot on the map of the First Realm."

Wang Mingyuan nodded in deep agreement.

……

Night fell once again over Huai'an County.

This was the first night after the second group of personnel entered the area.

The city remained quiet. The people huddled in their blankets, straining to hear, but they never heard the desperate cries and knocking on the door.

But deep underground in the Zhou family courtyard that had been hollowed out.

With the combined efforts of twelve array masters, a complex and sophisticated low-energy-pressure communication node array finally began to operate.

"Buzz—"

With a very slight fluctuation of spiritual energy, a spiritual energy crystal lamp emitting a faint dark golden light at the center of the formation lit up steadily.

Standing under the lamplight, Han Zhao looked at the long list of 96 people assigned to their respective roles, which had been fully laid out in his hand, and took a deep breath. He knew that those nine days of reconnaissance, when he was alone and groping in the dark, were finally over.

From this moment forward, it is up to us to manage and take over the Earth.