Spiritual Energy Revival (6): 

In the original story, after Zhou Qinghao died, the Demon Control Bureau fell apart, and this was closely related to the original host.

For the past seven years, although the original host was filled with resentment and disliked the powerful young people in the Bureau, he still cared about his reputation. Because of this, he performed his duties as Director of the Bureau very well.

With his rich experience, he could always assign the right people to deal with demons across the country, greatly reducing casualties within the Bureau.

But after he decided to seize Zhou Qinghao’s body, his methods changed.

Afraid that someone would discover what he was up to, he deliberately sent capable members of the Bureau to their deaths.

This wasn’t hard to arrange.

For example, demons that required at least three Foundation Establishment cultivators to handle, he would send only one Foundation Establishment cultivator with four Qi Refining cultivators. In the end, those four Qi Refining cultivators would drag down the Foundation Establishment one, who not only couldn’t defeat the demon but also had a hard time escaping alive.

He also assigned cultivators who weren’t skilled at fighting ghosts to deal with them, or paired up cultivators who had conflicts with each other.

After all this, the Bureau suffered heavy losses.

Many cultivators joined the Demon Control Bureau not because of noble ideals or a desire to protect national peace, but simply because joining gave them access to cultivation methods and resources.

They were willing to work for the Bureau in exchange for resources, but they never had any intention of sacrificing their lives.

Naturally, these people ran away.

Later, after the original host failed in seizing Zhou Qinghao’s body, many of his actions were exposed—for instance, how he had used countless rare treasures of heaven and earth to maintain his own body.

This made members of the Bureau feel even more resentful. Even if most of those treasures had actually been retrieved by Zhou Qinghao, they still felt it was unfair.

The morale of the Bureau needed to be restored, so Gu Juntian planned to give them some benefits.

He had a newcomer brought before him to cultivate in his presence, then used his spiritual sense to observe the young man’s cultivation.

After noting down his condition, Gu Juntian asked, “Did you choose this cultivation method yourself? Your constitution isn’t very suitable for it. You’d better switch to another one.”

“Director, which method is suitable for me?” the young man, who had just joined the Bureau, asked in confusion.

Gu Juntian replied, “You’re suited for fire-element techniques. I happen to have a fire-element method I’ve personally improved. Do you dare to practice it?”

Without hesitation, the young man said, “I dare!”

“Then I’ll teach you,” Gu Juntian said with a smile, passing on the technique he had just developed.

It was difficult to make the older members of the Bureau change their cultivation methods, and they didn’t have spare time to accept his guidance anyway.

But if the newcomers achieved good results with his self-created techniques, the older members would definitely make time to relearn them.

This world had almost no spiritual energy in the past. Only in the last fifteen years had it suddenly surged.

Because of that, most cultivation methods were riddled with errors and flaws.

Ordinary cultivators had no spiritual sense and couldn’t detect these problems, but Gu Juntian could see them at a glance.

He planned to revise all the Bureau’s techniques!

Gu Juntian’s time was limited—he could only revise one method and guide one person a day.

After guiding this newcomer, he returned to his quarters to continue tempering his body.

The newcomer, meanwhile, went back to his dormitory. As soon as he sat down, others surrounded him. “What did the Director want with you?”

Beaming with pride, he said, “The Director guided my cultivation! He said I’m suited for fire-element techniques, and he even gave me a fire-element method he improved himself!”

The others were instantly envious, eager to receive Gu Juntian’s guidance as well.

Still, they didn’t think Gu Juntian’s modifications could be all that impressive.

It was common knowledge that the Bureau’s techniques all came from the Xuan Sect, and the Xuan Sect had never provided them with their best ones.

The Bureau’s current techniques were far inferior to those owned by the Xuan Sect.

But even so, having the Director personally improve a technique for you was a blessing. Everyone wanted that chance.

And soon, they had it.

The day before, Gu Juntian had called in the first-place newcomer from the last assessment. Today, he called in the second-place one.

He gave him guidance as well.

This man’s chosen method suited him, but the Bureau’s techniques were inherently flawed.

Gu Juntian revised his method slightly and told him to cultivate with the improved version.

Cultivation methods were essentially just ways to absorb spiritual energy, and in essence, they were all quite similar.

Gu Juntian didn’t change much, but the newcomer quickly memorized the adjustments and practiced accordingly.

He found that his absorption of spiritual energy had sped up, and its flow through his body became much smoother.

He was overwhelmed with gratitude toward Gu Juntian, his goodwill soaring.

The Director was truly a good man, as kind and gentle as his grandfather.

Gu Juntian, of course, had no idea the newcomer thought of him as a grandfather.

In the days that followed, he continued to guide more newcomers one by one, while also revising all the Bureau’s cultivation methods.

At this point, Zhou Qinghao finally returned.

When Gu Juntian learned of Zhou Qinghao’s return, he immediately went to find him.

At present, the ghost that kept knocking on people’s doors wasn’t particularly strong. Zhou Qinghao had resolved it without much difficulty and without injury.

But worried about Gu Juntian’s health, the first thing Zhou Qinghao did upon returning was to visit Doctor Liu.

“Doctor Liu, I brought back some things from Shennongjia. I don’t know if they’ll be useful for my foster father,” Zhou Qinghao said as he carefully unpacked what he had preserved.

In cultivation novels, there were often storage artifacts capable of holding items inside.

After the spiritual energy revival, some demons had awakened spatial abilities.

But at this stage, humans still couldn’t create such storage tools.

So Zhou Qinghao had used jade boxes infused with spiritual seals to store and transport the treasures.

He lifted the seals and presented the contents to Doctor Liu.

After a thorough inspection, Doctor Liu said, “They’re all treasures, but none of them are extraordinary.”

Although what Zhou Qinghao had brought back were indeed valuable, they had no special effect for Gu Juntian.

As they spoke, a knock came at the door.

Zhou Qinghao quickly closed the jade boxes. Doctor Liu said, “Come in.”

Gu Juntian entered from outside and asked Doctor Liu, “Qinghao came to see you as soon as he returned—was he injured?”

That door-knocking ghost was very dangerous. In the original story, Zhou Qinghao had suffered serious injuries from it, so Gu Juntian couldn’t help but feel concerned.

“Captain Zhou isn’t injured,” Doctor Liu replied. “He came to me to have these treasures he brought back examined.”

Zhou Qinghao stood quietly to the side, his gaze fixed on Gu Juntian.

Just now, his foster father had shown concern for him.

His heart filled with joy, yet also with sorrow.

His foster father was already in such a frail state, yet still worried about him.

He didn’t want anything to happen to his foster father, but he had no idea how to keep him alive.

If righteous methods wouldn’t work, could forbidden ones?

He thought of the many heretical cultivation techniques he had confiscated in the past, and couldn’t suppress the urge to look through them again.

Perhaps his foster father wouldn’t accept restoring his health through dark methods, but Zhou Qinghao still wanted to find a way to keep him alive.

With this thought, he looked again at the man before him.

His foster father was clearly only forty years old, yet he looked aged. Still, even as he grew older, he remained strikingly handsome. When Zhou Qinghao had first seen him, he’d thought his foster father looked as beautiful as a god.

He wanted to stay by this man’s side forever.