Forced to become a top influencer, I rely on my tu cao to ruin the cultivation world.

The air around Luoxia Peak was filled with a pungent sulfurous smell, the lingering odor of the "spiritual haze." But at this moment, Jia Zhuang had no time to care about the air quality; all his attention was focused on the "cross-border drilling platform" he had modified beyond recognition—that is, the old-fashioned tractor.

Since delivering that "fully automatic merit harvester" to the Heavenly Tax Collector, Jia Zang felt that the sword of Damocles hanging over his head had finally been removed.

"Elder Wang, how's the data?"

Jia Zhuang held a rag in his hand, wiping the scorching hot engine cover of the tractor while asking loudly.

Elder Wang Teng stared at the rows of complex instrument dials, his brows furrowed.

"Chairman Jia, something's not right." Wang Teng pointed to the pointer that showed the flow of interdimensional energy. "Look, this reading... it's fluctuating."

Jia Zhuang leaned over and took a look.

Sure enough, the pointer, which should have been stable in the red zone, was now jumping wildly left and right like it had malaria. One moment it showed sufficient energy input, the next it suddenly dropped to zero, and then bounced back sharply.

"Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—"

The enormous pipe connecting to the void also emitted abnormal tremors, as if something was violently colliding and struggling inside the pipe.

[System Prompt]

[WARNING! WARNING! Cross-dimensional energy flow is extremely unstable!]

[Anomaly detected in the energy level of the source world (Earth). It is recommended to suspend extraction for inspection!]

Jia Zang glanced at the red warning on his retina and waved it off dismissively.

"Inspection? What's there to repair? A one-hour downtime costs tens of thousands of spirit stones! It's definitely due to aging equipment or a poor connection."

Jia Zhuang casually grabbed a large wrench from the toolbox and slammed it hard against the trembling pressure gauge.

"Snapped!"

"See? Just tap it and it's fine." Jia Zhuang said confidently. "That's the charm of mechanics; sometimes it just needs a little 'physical reassurance.'"

Wang Teng's lips twitched slightly: "Chairman Jia, but the system is prompting..."

"Don't believe the system's alarmist talk; it just wants us to slack off." Jia Zhuang interrupted him, his eyes sharpening. "I see now. This isn't equipment malfunction; it's clearly the 'soil' on Earth that's failing!"

"Soil?" Wang Teng looked completely bewildered.

"That's right! Think about it, we've been sucking away so much spiritual energy for so long, we must have almost completely depleted the Earth's already scarce spiritual energy. It's like drinking milk; by the end, the straw is full of air, so it's naturally not smooth anymore."

As Jia Zhuang analyzed the situation, he circled the tractor, his eyes revealing a fanatical obsession.

"Since the soil isn't working and we can't suck it up, let's go all out!"

"Increase the horsepower?" Wang Teng was startled. "Chairman Jia, this tractor's engine is already running at overload. If you increase it any further... it will explode!"

"Bullshit! As long as we don't give up, there's always a way!"

Jia Zhuang suddenly pulled open the tractor's hood, revealing the core inside, which had been modified beyond recognition—a "spiritual energy booster pump" pieced together from countless fragments of spirit stones and rare earth metals smuggled from Earth.

"Elder Wang, go! Bring us those spare 'lightning attribute spirit stones' from our warehouse!"

"That's for the mountain-protecting formation!"

"Stop talking nonsense! I'm going to install a 'nuclear supercharger' on this tractor! Since it can't suck up air, I'll give it a turbocharger!"

……

Meanwhile, on Earth.

What should have been a sunny weekend afternoon was instead filled with an inexplicable eeriness.

Deep in the mountains of China, in an ancient Taoist temple.

An elderly Taoist priest with white hair and beard was sitting cross-legged on a futon, meditating. Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide, his eyes filled with terror.

"The ley lines... why aren't they moving?"

The old Taoist priest trembled as he reached out and pressed his hand to the ground.

In the past, he could clearly feel the ceaseless pulse of life in the earth beneath his feet; it was the earth's "breath." It was the foundation for the growth of all things.

But now, this pulse has become extremely weak, even... intermittent.

It's like someone being choked, making their last desperate struggle.

"Buzz—"

The ground suddenly shook slightly.

This wasn't a devastating earthquake, but rather a dull, throbbing spasm, as if it came from the depths of the earth.

The teacup on the table clattered and rolled to the ground.

The old Taoist priest's face turned deathly pale: "This...this is the earth crying out in pain! Who is it? Who is sucking Mother's blood dry?!"

On the other side of the city.

In the laboratory of the geology department of a university.

A group of students are gathered around a sophisticated geomagnetic monitoring instrument.

"Teacher! Look! The geomagnetic readings are messed up!"

"How is that possible? There's no solar storm today!"

"No...look at this waveform, this doesn't seem like a natural phenomenon, it looks like...it looks like something is forcibly extracting energy from the Earth's core!"

"Don't be ridiculous, who could extract energy from the Earth's core? Unless they're aliens!"

"But... look at this data, our gravitational constant has shifted within a tiny range! If this continues, even the Earth's rotation will be affected!"

……

Return to the world of cultivation.

"Boom—!!!"

With a roar from Jia Zhuang, the tractor emitted an unprecedented howl.

With tears in his eyes, Elder Wang Teng stuffed three lightning-attribute spirit stones into the modified "boost port".

In an instant, purple arcs of electricity surged wildly around the tractor.

"Forward this to me!!!"

Jia Zang gripped the steering wheel tightly (even though it didn't have wheels) and floored the accelerator.

The drill bit, which was already somewhat sluggish, suddenly unleashed a terrifying suction force under the boost of "nuclear energy".

"Snap!"

A crisp sound rang out again from the void.

This time, it wasn't the sound of the straw piercing the milk, but rather... the sound of sucking up the last bit of residue at the bottom of the cup.

The flow of spiritual energy within the pipe instantly became violent, no longer flowing smoothly, but instead becoming a mixture of mud, sand, rock powder, and even some kind of black silt.

"Cough cough cough!"

Wang Teng, who was operating the control panel, coughed violently from the fumes: "Chairman Jia! What... what is this? How come so much filth is being pumped up?"

Jia Zang looked at the rapidly rising numbers on the instrument panel and burst into excited laughter.

"Great! Excellent! This is 'Miracle Through Strength'!"

"Look, as long as the horsepower is strong enough, I can grind even rocks into powder, let alone bad soil!"

Jia Zang was completely unaware of the seriousness of the problem. Looking at the black sludge mixed with spiritual energy, he actually thought it was a sign of "high purity".

"Filter out all the impurities, and what's left is all money!"

[System Prompt]

[Serious Warning! The Earth's food chain is undergoing irreversible disruption!]

[Anomalies in plate tectonics have been detected, with a very high probability of triggering global geological disasters!]

[We recommend stopping the extraction immediately!]

"Shut up!"

Jia Zang directly stopped the system in his mind.

"What do you know? This is called 'deep development'! People on the other side of Earth are probably thanking me for helping them clear the silt from their underground!"

He stared at the violently trembling pipe, his eyes gleaming with fanaticism.

"Keep it up! I think we can pull off another big win!"

……

Earth, deep in the Pacific Ocean.

The once azure seawater suddenly became murky and turbid.

Large numbers of marine creatures began to frantically surface, not to breathe, but as if they had lost their sense of direction, struggling on the surface of the water like headless flies.

The whale's song became mournful and desperate, a fear born of its biological instincts.

At the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, in a place where even sunlight cannot reach, a massive crack is slowly opening.

It wasn't a natural crack caused by plate collision, but rather... something on that side used a giant drill to forcefully pry open the last line of defense of the earth's crust.

Seawater surged wildly into the crevice, producing a dull roar.

If a satellite were to look down at Earth from space at this moment, it would be discovered that Earth's rotation speed is slowing down by a negligible but real rate.

……

In the world of cultivation, Qingyun Heavy Industry stands out.

"Rat-a-tat ...

The tractor's engine was red-hot, and even its outer casing was beginning to melt.

But Jia Zang didn't care at all.

He watched as the "spiritual mud" kept flowing up, and his heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

"Did you see that, Elder Wang? This is the power of industry!"

"As long as our thinking doesn't falter, the Earth can be burned like coal!"

Wang Teng glanced at the tractor, which seemed poised to explode at any moment, swallowed hard, and asked in a low voice, "Chairman Jia, so... are we still going with that 'gas mask' business?"

"Do it! Why don't you do it?"

Jia Zang grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

"With the smog so heavy right now, it's the perfect time to sell face masks! Tell the workers to work three shifts, keep the machines running, keep production going!"

"As for this tractor..."

Jia Zhuang patted the scorching hot hood, a hint of madness in his eyes.

"As long as it keeps spinning, I won't let it stop. Until I've squeezed every last drop of life out of the earth!"

[Livestream chat]

[He's gone mad! Chairman Jia has completely lost his mind!]

[What you're saying isn't madness, it's "capitalist greed"!]

[The world on Earth is really going to collapse... It's so hopeless.]

Am I the only one who thinks this tractor looks tragic? It's practically crying (belching black smoke)!

[Chairman Jia: As long as the money is there, I don't care if the earth explodes!]

Jia Zang had no idea that by stepping on the gas, he was not only pushing the tractor to its limit, but also setting a countdown to the end of Earth's civilization.

But he doesn't care.

In this world of cultivation, in this era full of opportunities and rampant growth, who cares about the life or death of another dimension on the same planet?

"boom!"

Another loud bang.

The tractor finally gave way under the strain, and a ten-meter-long flame shot out of its exhaust pipe.

But Jiazang remained seated there, like an emperor who had conquered the world, looking down upon his "industrial empire."

"Cool!"

He roared.

"This is what life is all about!"

Beneath his feet, the pipe connecting two different dimensions of the same planet was creaking and groaning, as if it would break completely at any moment, dragging both dimensions into an endless abyss.