Chapter 291: The Vexed A Qi

Lin Si sat before the desk of the Heavenly Origin Financial Consortium Branch, his ten fingers striking the virtual keyboard leaving afterimages.

Sweat from his forehead slid down his cheeks and dripped onto the expensive carpet; he didn't even have time to wipe it.

He was revising the energy consumption report for Eleventh City.

Three days ago, the Ancient Immortal Sect took over this city.

Gu Yuan's order was simple: fully promote the Reverse Spirit Technique, and report no abnormalities.

To save his life, Lin Si could only grit his teeth and comply.

Tie Mian and Chen Jiuyuan were doing the same thing in their respective territories.

They used the highest management authority to cleverly disguise the surging spirit aura fluctuations in the underground black market and the plummeting sales of low-grade crystals.

Su Wan pushed the door open and entered Lin Si's office.

Her high heels clicked on the floor.

She wasn't wearing her usual bulky mechanical exoskeleton armor, only a form-fitting silk dress.

Her fair skin glowed with a healthy flush, her breathing long and close.

Lin Si stopped typing, his gaze fell on Su Wan, and his mechanical heart skipped a beat.

Three days ago, Gu Xuan Ce casually flicked a strand of immortal light, turning Su Wan from a monster whose body was ninety percent prosthetic back into flesh and blood.

This flesh body not only had no rejection reaction, it was even more perfect than any top-tier genetically modified body he had ever seen.

"All settled?" Su Wan pulled out a chair and sat, crossing her legs.

"All settled."

Lin Si withdrew his gaze, his fingers tapping twice on the desk,

"The headquarters' inspection scans every half month; I've spread the deficit across the accounts of thirteen scrap recycling stations, enough to fool this round. Next month will be tough."

Chen Jiuyuan's holographic projection lit up above the desk.

The old man leaned on his snake staff, his withered face twitching:

"We can't hide it, but we have to try—Mr. Gu's methods… are beyond our imagination."

The financial consortium's rule boils down to a tight spirit‑aura harvesting chain.

They drain the planet's spirit aura, pack it into crystals to sell to cultivators; after use, the waste crystals are bought back cheap, recharged, and sold dear, turning the whole Heavenly Pivot Source Realm into the consortium's foundation.

Now, that chain is broken.

It breaks at the technique called the Reverse Spirit Technique.

It can draw spirit aura in reverse from the Great Array.

This means the financial consortium's foundation has been shaken.

Heavenly Pivot Forty-Nine Cities.

Eleventh City's short‑term changes can be concealed, but given time problems will surely arise.

Yet they have no choice but to give it their all.

The immortal's power, the immortal's methods, the immortal's chance at longevity…

…are what they crave.

All they can do now is hope… that the immortal prevails.

……

……

And as the overseers of the four great financial consortries began to conceal their movements,

the Ancient Immortal Sect could finally act.

Needless to say, Tie Tu is a capable operative.

He carried out Gu Yuan's three rules without the slightest deviation.

No gang fights, no turf seizures.

The Reverse Spirit Technique was engraved on hundreds or thousands of iron plates, placed at every corner and landfill of the black market.

Adding to that, together with an earlier batch of practitioners and a starving old scavenger Tie Tu found, they broke through to first realm while practicing the Reverse Spirit Technique on the spot, and with a slap shattered the nearby waste oil drum.

The news spread like wings.

The trash heap became a treasure trove.

Previously, scavengers who turned up waste crystals had to gauge the black‑market merchant's mood, trading a few vials of poor‑quality nutrient fluid just to scrape by.

Now, whoever picks up a waste crystal simply sits cross‑legged on the spot and drains it clean.

The backdoor the consortium left in the crystals? The miniature blood‑drawing array? Before the domineering devouring power of the Reverse Spirit Technique, they're all a joke.

Even if no waste crystals are found, it's no problem.

The spirit aura in the Great Array seems inexhaustible and endless—however much you need, it's there.

In just half a month, tens of thousands of first‑ and second‑realm cultivators sprang up from the slums.

The Reverse Spirit Technique spread like a plague, wildly proliferating in the dark corners of Eleventh City.

It requires no talent, no resources—just scrap iron to cultivate.

The crystal monopoly economy the consortium had built over three thousand years collapses from this moment on.

Outside the air‑raid shelter, A Qi leaned against the cold alloy wall, watching the poor gathered in twos and threes practicing fists and kicks, his face drawn tight.

The third‑realm cultivation he prided himself on was now worthless.

Exactly.

After exhausting the resources Gu Xuan Ce gave him, he reached third realm.

Even with his third‑realm cultivation, he could defeat a fourth‑realm rogue lacking any technique.

Yet his heart remained dissatisfied.

You should know that half a month ago, he was still a rare chosen one on this wasteland who could wield power without relying on crystal essence.

But now, the streets are full of cultivators.

Even a random person picked out from the trash has spiritual energy circulating inside them.

The Immortal scattered that heaven-reaching fortune like handfuls of dirt, giving it to everyone.

A Qi clenched his teeth.

He couldn't understand why the Immortal would do such a thing.

He also couldn't fathom why the Immortal wouldn't let him speed up his breakthrough; clearly he had been cultivating nearly a month faster than them, yet he was still only at the third stage.

But whenever he asked, the Immortal always told him not to rush.

You should know, those lowly people who used to only scavenge for trash in the dump…… some fortunate lowly people have already reached the fourth stage!

But he himself is only at the third stage!

Wouldn't it be good if the Immortal's power were held in his own hand?

What use would it be to give it to those lowly people who are like mud?

……

……