Extraterrestrial demons invaded; I laid the groundwork eight years in advance.

Eighteen days after the spiritual energy was restored.

Xiaoqingshan Villa.

At six o'clock in the morning, Shen Bai opened his eyes from his cultivation. The spiritual power within his body surged like a great river, his blood and qi roared like a tide in his meridians, and the range of his spiritual power had expanded to a radius of one hundred meters—the peak of the ninth level of the first rank, only one step away from the second rank.

He slowly finished his practice, his gaze slightly narrowed.

Three days ago, he had already reached the peak of the first rank, and these days he has been consolidating his realm and refining his three cycles. But the time to break through to the second rank has not yet come.

If the concentration of spiritual energy is insufficient, the heavens and earth cannot sustain high-level cultivators. Forcing a breakthrough is not impossible, but the cost is extremely high—at best, cultivation will stagnate; at worst, one's realm will regress, or even leave permanent internal injuries that damage the foundation.

Moreover, if the concentration of spiritual energy is insufficient, breaking through the bottleneck is already extremely difficult, and forcing it will only waste energy and damage one's meridians.

It can't be rushed.

He exhaled and got up to leave the cultivation room.

In the study, a raven perched on the windowsill, watching the morning light outside. These days, the raven no longer huddled on top of the bookshelf, but instead boldly occupied the southernmost corner of the windowsill—where the sunlight first reached.

A raven flew from the windowsill to his shoulder and nuzzled his neck with its head.

This crow has been following him since the spiritual energy revived, and it is now at the seventh level of the Apprentice realm. Shen Bai doesn't know if it's due to its exceptional talent or the different cultivation paths of spirit beasts compared to humans, but its speed is indeed ridiculously fast.

He reached out and touched the raven's back feathers; the feathers were as smooth as silk, gleaming with a deep blue luster in the morning light.

  

"You're so easy to deal with," Shen Bai said in a low voice.

The raven tilted its head to look at him, "Caw—"

Shen Bai turned and walked into the kitchen.

There were also a few pieces of monster meat chops in the refrigerator, the latest batch sent by the research institute. The meat was firmer and had higher energy content than before.

With a sufficient supply of monster corpses to be recovered, Dawn Group has established a complete cold chain logistics system, ensuring that the entire journey from the battlefield to the research institute and then to the canteens of various bases takes no more than twelve hours.

He took out two pieces of meat and laid them on the cutting board to thaw. He then rummaged through the refrigerator and found some greens, a few mushrooms, two eggs, and a piece of pork belly—it's good to change things up occasionally when you eat monster meat every day.

He first boiled a kettle of water, then sliced ​​the pork belly into thin slices and stir-fried them in a pan. As the oil slowly heated up, the edges of the pork slices began to curl up and the surface turned slightly golden brown. He then sprinkled in some chopped green onions to sauté until fragrant, poured in half a kettle of hot water, and brought it to a boil over high heat.

As the soup simmered, Shen Bai added a handful of thin noodles, some greens and mushrooms, then poached an egg, and drizzled on some soy sauce and sesame oil.

While cooking the noodles, he casually made himself a cup of tea. The tea was ordinary Longjing, which Zhao Ya had bought from the supermarket a few days ago, saying it would help him stay alert.

The noodle soup was bubbling in the pot. He turned off the heat, put the lid on, and let the noodles simmer in the pot for a while longer.

Taking advantage of the lull, he set up a frying pan on another stove, poured in oil, and heated it. The sizzling sound of the pork chops hitting the pan was particularly clear in the quiet kitchen, and the aroma of the oil mixed with the fragrance of the noodle soup filled the air, making it exceptionally tempting.

A raven flew over from the dining table and landed on the kitchen chandelier, looking down at the pork chops in the pot, making a low cooing sound in its throat.

"What's the rush?" Shen Bai said without looking up.

Three minutes later, he placed the fried pork chops on a plate and then took out a large bowl to scoop out the noodle soup. The noodles and pork chops were served together, along with a bowl of noodle soup and two servings of fried pork chops. A raven flew down from the chandelier, landed on the dining table, and pecked at the food with great concentration.

During the meal, Xiao Cheng's voice rang in my mind.

"Master, today's rift prediction data has been updated. Seventy-six rifts appeared globally yesterday, with the highest-level monsters being Tier 1, Level 5. All have been dealt with."

"Understood." Shen Bai paused in his eating. "What's the prediction data for the next intrusion?"

"Based on the rising trend of spiritual energy concentration and the model of fissure activity, the second large-scale invasion is expected to arrive in twelve days. At that time, the number of fissures is expected to reach tens of thousands, covering the entire globe."

Shen Bai put down his chopsticks and tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"Notify Liu Feng, Li Zhou, Gu Weijun, and all members at the detachment leader level and above to attend a meeting at the base at 9:00 AM."

"receive."

He disconnected the communication, cleaned up the dishes, and went back to his room to change his clothes.

As he came out of the bedroom, a raven flew from the dining table to his shoulder and nuzzled his neck with its head.

Shen Bai glanced at it sideways: "I'll take you with me to the base today."

"Caw—" the raven cawed, seemingly expressing satisfaction.

Shen Bai drove down the mountain. A raven perched on the center console, watching the scenery rushing past the window, occasionally letting out a cry.

While waiting at a red light, Shen Bai habitually opened his phone and browsed the news summaries pushed by Xiao Cheng.

Eighteen days after the spiritual energy revived, with the establishment of the Extraordinary Management Bureau, online discussions have evolved from the initial "red light conspiracy theory" into a diverse array of observation posts about cultivation among the general public. Several trending posts caught the eye—

"A man in Guangzhou livestreamed himself crushing walnuts with his bare hands, claiming he had practiced a three-day basic body-strengthening method. Netizens called it outrageous."

"Many residents in Yanjiao have reported a significant improvement in their running speed, with some claiming they can now catch up with buses during the morning rush hour."

"In many places, 'cultivation mutual aid groups' have emerged. Group members check in every day to practice standing meditation, meditation, and weight training. Some internet celebrities have posted before-and-after photos of their cultivation, showing obvious changes in muscle definition."

Shen Bai scrolled through the screen, reading each item one by one, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

A wave of cultivation is spreading—the cultivation methods published by Shuguang have already circulated among ordinary people. Some are practicing standing meditation following videos, some are meditating according to the instructions, and some have formed morning running groups to practice breathing while accumulating kilometers. The results vary, but the direction is correct, which is much better than wandering around aimlessly.

He came across another live stream clip with the title "Ancient Martial Arts Master Instructs: How to Cultivate in the Era of Spiritual Energy Revival." After watching for a few seconds, he saw a middle-aged man in a Taoist robe demonstrating breathing techniques in front of the camera, saying, "This is an ancestral transmission technique that can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

The comments were sparse, with some asking "Does it work?" and others replying "I've tried it for three days and I feel better."

Shen Bai turned off the video.

He had studied those so-called ancient martial arts and Taoist cultivation methods many years ago. In essence, they were nothing more than shallow spiritual energy guidance techniques—classified by system quality, they were basic colorless quality, with a few advanced ones reaching white quality.

Historically, those who occasionally achieved success in cultivation and were recorded as "immortals" or "true men" were mostly people with extremely high talent, but they were born in the Dharma-ending Age, where spiritual energy was so scarce that normal cultivation couldn't even reach the threshold of the first level, so they could only force their way through. However, forcibly breaking through inevitably damages one's foundation, and since the concentration of spiritual energy is insufficient to support subsequent cultivation, the path forward is cut off after breaking through.

Aside from living a few decades longer and displaying some extraordinary abilities, there's nothing else.

Now that spiritual energy has revived, those ancient cultivation techniques are beginning to shine again. But relying on them alone is far from enough to gain a foothold in this era.

The true cultivation system will emerge at dawn.

As the vehicle drove along the city streets, the surrounding buildings gradually thinned out, and the outline of the headquarters base came into view in the distance.