Spiritual Energy Revival (5): 

Gu Juntian was in pain the whole night, and by morning he was utterly exhausted.

However, when he thought about soon seeing Zhou Qinghao, his mood brightened.

He went to the original owner’s bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

While doing so, he looked at his pale, aged face in the mirror and couldn’t help but sigh.

This appearance of his was really unlikable!

The original owner used to live roughly, but in recent years, unable to bear his rapid aging, he had started paying attention to his image.

Following his example, Gu Juntian applied some skincare products and neatly combed his messy hair from a night’s sleep.

After staring at himself in the mirror for a while, he even picked up a pair of scissors and trimmed his eyebrows.

As some people grow older, their eyebrows grow longer—that’s probably why depictions of ancient longevity gods always show them with long brows.

The original owner’s eyebrows had grown a bit long, making him look less spirited.

After carefully tidying himself up, it was only seven in the morning.

Once he was sure he looked like a kindly, energetic old man, he sent Zhou Qinghao a message asking if he wanted to have breakfast together at the cafeteria.

He quickly received a reply: “Godfather, I’m in Shennongjia, I can’t join you for breakfast.”

Gu Juntian froze when he saw the message.

Overnight, Zhou Qinghao had already left the Bureau and run off to Shennongjia?

He extended his divine sense to investigate Zhou Qinghao’s room. As expected, he didn’t “see” him inside. A wave of disappointment washed over him.

Though the Bureau’s headquarters looked shabby, it was actually the most secure place in the country against demons, monsters, and even cultivators.

Here, ghosts would be forced to reveal themselves, and divine sense was easily detected.

The dormitory building was constructed with very special stone materials!

Because of this, the original owner had been able to secretly practice demonic arts inside without being discovered. It was also why Gu Juntian hadn’t used his divine sense to check on Zhou Qinghao before.

He hadn’t expected Zhou Qinghao to leave just like that.

Gu Juntian wanted to spend more time with him, but if Zhou Qinghao left in such a rush, he must have had urgent matters. He couldn’t just call him back.

Forget it—he could work on building their bond later.

For now, the most important thing was cultivation, and improving his cultivation method.

That morning, Gu Juntian went about handling the original owner’s usual work.

After finishing, he pulled up the Bureau’s collection of righteous cultivation methods on the computer and carefully studied them.

The original owner had focused mostly on demonic techniques, and had barely looked at these righteous ones, so Gu Juntian couldn’t rely on his memory for help.

But it was better this way. Reading them himself, he could come up with improvements.

While studying these methods, he also thought about which cultivation method would best suit Zhou Qinghao.

Zhou Qinghao possessed an innate spirit body, so he could cultivate any technique, but not all were equal.

For him, the best methods were those that absorbed spiritual energy the fastest.

A cultivator’s talent largely came down to their affinity with spiritual power.

Zhou Qinghao’s affinity was extremely high, making his cultivation speed astonishing.

Ordinary people, with low affinity, couldn’t cultivate at all.

His own broken body was no better than an ordinary person’s—unable to store spiritual energy, and in some ways even worse.

The original owner wasn’t completely powerless now only because he hadn’t followed the usual cultivation path; instead, he had tempered his physical body.

But even his body was on the verge of collapse. Fine then—he’d start over and temper it again.

Gu Juntian devised a domineering cultivation method tailored only for Zhou Qinghao.

If Zhou Qinghao practiced it in a place rich with spiritual energy, his cultivation would skyrocket.

Of course, that place’s spiritual energy would also be sucked dry.

This method was only suitable for Zhou Qinghao, not for others in the Bureau.

In fact, every person needed a method that fit them individually.

But at the Bureau, only a few basic methods were available—far from enough.

So Gu Juntian thought for a moment, then went to the Bureau’s new recruit training area.

The Bureau recruited twice a year, and after training, assigned the newcomers to different posts.

They had just finished a round of recruitment recently.

Gu Juntian arrived and watched the recruits train.

He stayed until dinner time before leaving.

Once he was gone, the new recruits began whispering curiously:

“Why did Director Gu come here?”

“So that’s Director Gu?”

“I heard he’s really powerful…”

…

Most of the newcomers didn’t know much about him, but some did.

“Of course he’s powerful! The Bureau was founded under his leadership!”

“They say he’s the strongest human.”

“He’s Zhou Qinghao’s godfather. Zhou Qinghao even admitted publicly that he’s no match for him!”

…

The chatter grew lively as they retold Gu Juntian’s past feats.

An older Bureau member passing by, seeing their enthusiasm, couldn’t help but smile.

But among them, a few showed dismissive looks.

Gu Juntian had been strong in the past, but now he was just a cripple. Only those ignorant of the truth still praised him.

That night, Gu Juntian once again used his divine sense to seize the surrounding spiritual energy, tempering and purifying his body with it.

But he didn’t spend the whole night cultivating. After a while, he allowed himself a proper sleep.

He was already an old man—without sleep, he didn’t have the energy to cultivate.

This body really was too useless.

While Gu Juntian cultivated, in Shennongjia, Zhou Qinghao was fighting.

His weapon was a great blade.

Many cultivators preferred swords, but Zhou Qinghao liked blades.

He felt their attack power was stronger.

Over the years, he had fought his way through countless enemies with that blade.

That morning, he had come alone to Shennongjia, unsealed himself, and entered.

An innate spirit body was extremely attractive to demons and ghosts. Normally, to avoid being harassed endlessly, Zhou Qinghao kept himself sealed.

Now that the seal was lifted… weak, mindless spirits in the area immediately sensed him and gathered around.

These ghosts had no intelligence and were very weak. Even if they attacked ordinary people, they could only weaken their bodies, causing a small illness.

The Bureau usually ignored such creatures—they were far too many!

Sometimes, they would simply drift about and disappear on their own.

But now…

With a single swing of his blade, Zhou Qinghao scattered all the surrounding ghosts.

He was powerful and dangerous, yet that didn’t stop more demons and ghosts from rushing at him.

Mindless, they charged forward in endless waves.

Zhou Qinghao didn’t hold back, cutting them down again and again.

Eventually, higher-level creatures appeared—not mere mindless spirits.

A fox demon, lured by his presence, came closer. Realizing the danger too late, it tried to flee, but Zhou Qinghao had already noticed it.

It darted frantically ahead, but a blade cleaved through the air, striking the ground before it.

The strike didn’t hit it directly, but the aura from the blade sent it flying, tumbling across the ground.

The little fox curled up, trembling, too afraid to move.

It could feel that the wielder of the blade was far beyond its strength.

Then a cold voice rang out: “Do you know where any treasures are?”

The fox hastily spilled everything it knew.

Sensing it hadn’t committed much evil or bloodshed, Zhou Qinghao spared it. “Lead the way.”

The fox led him toward treasures. Along the way, more demons and ghosts, drawn by his aura, approached.

Those with heavy sins, Zhou Qinghao killed without hesitation, seizing their treasures.

Those without, he exchanged for treasures using demon cores.

And if a demon was unwilling to trade? Impossible.

When Zhou Qinghao revealed a pile of demon cores, what creature would dare refuse?

And so, he “rampaged” through Shennongjia.

Word of this quickly reached the hidden ears of the Demon King.

The Demon King was a dragon who had burrowed underground to sleep long ago, during the era of scarce spiritual energy.

He had awakened eight years ago. At first, groggy from his long slumber, he only ate nearby small demons to recover.

Then, when he was ready to act, he witnessed the human siege of a powerful evil ghost seven years ago.

That ghost had been just one step from becoming a Ghost King, with strength equal to his own at the time. Yet in the end, it was slain by humans.

Unwilling to suffer the same fate, he hid himself.

But his resentment simmered.

Humans were nothing but his food—why should he retreat before them?

Now, Zhou Qinghao was even slaughtering his subordinates.

He had to kill Zhou Qinghao.

Two years ago, he learned that after Gu Juntian slew the evil ghost, his body had been severely damaged, leaving him too weak to kill him.

Had he known back then, he would have destroyed the Bureau, killing Zhou Qinghao while he was still weak.

Then he wouldn’t have had to live so stifled.

Now… he wondered if that old ghost’s schemes had succeeded.

Deep underground, the Demon King stayed hidden, while his subordinates began rallying more and more monsters.

The next morning, as staff at the Bureau’s Shennongjia branch began work, a blood-soaked young man walked in.

He hadn’t triggered the protective array! They were shocked, but soon recognized him—it was Zhou Qinghao.

“Captain Zhou, why are you here?” the branch director asked, excited.

“I have business. Find me a room to bathe, then drive me to Y City immediately,” Zhou Qinghao said.

He had just received word of a terrifying ghost in Y City.

It knocked on doors at midnight. At first, only those who opened the door would be killed. But now, after knocking, it could enter directly and kill the occupants.

The locals couldn’t handle it and had asked headquarters for help. He was going to deal with it.

Gu Juntian also knew about the Y City incident—he had arranged for Zhou Qinghao to go.

In the original storyline, the original owner, intent on harming Zhou Qinghao, hadn’t sent him but others instead.

That decision not only cost the Bureau several lives, but allowed the ghost to grow stronger.

In the end, Zhou Qinghao still had to go and was the one to defeat it.

And after he did, the original owner immediately summoned him back to the Bureau to poison him again…

Gu Juntian took a deep breath and had someone call over one of the new recruits.

He needed to cultivate more capable people.