An endless, dense tide of Cyber Aura surged from every corner of the world, flowing continuously into the Continental Hotel.
This pure and powerful Cyber Aura was both the result of exploiting other Cyber Cultivators and the precious nourishment driving the managers' advancement.
What surprised them even more was that as the Cyber Aura accumulated, their bodies began to undergo astonishing changes.
The first thing they realized was a simple truth.
Cultivation techniques were not the most important thing.
Cyber Aura was.
Once the first acupoint filled with Cyber Aura, the excess energy naturally overflowed into the rest of the body.
Even without mastering additional cultivation techniques to guide it, they could continue accumulating Cyber Aura and steadily increase their strength.
Not only that, but they also began to awaken a variety of remarkable abilities.
Basic enhancements such as Steel Body, Physical Reinforcement, and Immense Strength quickly became commonplace.
But the truly astonishing discovery came afterward.
They realized they could use Cyber Aura to refine weapons and tools, imprinting their templates directly into their bodies.
At critical moments, they could transform parts of their bodies into these weapons or tools at will.
This ability finally allowed the Cyber Cultivators—who had long been confused about their own identity—to understand the truth.
It also explained why their cultivation differed so greatly from the traditional methods of the Chinese myths.
The path they followed and the deity they worshiped shared the same name:
Cyber.
A name that embodied the future and technology.
Naturally, these seasoned operators had not ignored the study of traditional cultivation.
Almost immediately after learning about cultivation, they had purchased large quantities of related knowledge from China.
The differences quickly became obvious.
As their cultivation deepened, their internal bodies were gradually becoming metallic.
This was not traditional cultivation.
It was the path of Mechanical Ascension.
The ultimate destination of their evolution was not the immortals described in myths and novels.
Instead, it resembled the Cybertronians from the Transformers films.
But did that really matter?
Their consciousness remained unchanged.
Only their biological structure had transformed.
They had merely evolved from carbon-based life forms into silicon-based life forms.
What humans were most reluctant to give up was the pleasure of sensory experience.
Yet even though their bodies gradually became metallic, their emotions and senses remained intact.
Aside from enhanced strength, their appearance and perception still felt no different from flesh and blood.
Given this reality, why cling to the rigid distinction between flesh and machine?
For that reason, many of them welcomed Mechanical Ascension.
Some enthusiasts even embraced it wholeheartedly.
They began refining and absorbing countless weapons and devices.
Everything that could be installed into their bodies was installed.
Supercomputer brains.
Engine hearts.
Alloy skeletons.
Armored skin.
Rocket-propelled legs.
They treated their bodies like experimental platforms.
Fortunately, no matter how radically they modified themselves, the Cyber Aura prevented rejection or collapse.
In daily life, they could still maintain their human form.
Only in battle would they switch to their mechanical combat state.
This discovery shattered their previous understanding and filled them with anticipation for the future.
But rapid power often brings arrogance.
The managers had harvested immense amounts of Cyber Aura in a very short time by exploiting lower-level cultivators.
Their ambitions began to swell.
Some of them even started to believe they no longer needed to buy those outrageously expensive cultivation techniques from Caine.
All they needed to do was accumulate Cyber Aura, modify their bodies, and refine external equipment.
Whether they possessed Caine's techniques seemed irrelevant.
After all, thanks to their early expansion, they commanded hundreds of thousands of Cyber Cultivators beneath them.
The Cyber Aura flowing into their hands every day exceeded Caine's own harvest by more than ten times.
At this rate, it seemed inevitable.
Sooner or later, they would surpass Caine.
And then replace him.
However, their confidence did not last long.
Before long, these arrogant individuals discovered something horrifying.
After the Cyber Aura inside their bodies reached a certain level, it stopped increasing completely.
Not even a single thread more could be stored.
Yet the contracts they had signed continued to funnel Cyber Aura into them.
The excess energy began to overwhelm their bodies.
The endless Cyber Aura was like an infinite ocean pouring into a fragile vessel.
Their bodies slowly began to tear apart.
Because of the Cyber Aura's built-in pain editor, they felt no pain.
But they could clearly sense something was wrong.
Their bodies were leaking.
As time passed, more and more cracks appeared.
Cyber Aura surged out through those fissures like golden mist.
The energy inside them tried desperately to repair the damage.
But those repairs consumed their lifespan and cellular vitality.
For people who had already stepped onto the path of immortality, such a result was unacceptable.
They would rather die in battle and lose their treasures than perish because of their own greed.
To prevent their precious Cyber Aura from being wasted—and to save their own lives—the managers acted quickly.
Using their abilities, they refined the excess Cyber Aura into shimmering golden Spirit Coins.
Soon, piles of Spirit Coins rose like small mountains.
Yet none of them felt any joy.
Because no matter how many Spirit Coins they possessed, they were useless to them now.
Their bodies had already reached total saturation.
They could not absorb even a trace more Cyber Aura.
And aside from purchasing Caine's cultivation techniques, there seemed to be no other way to utilize those coins.
Which meant that, at this moment, the Spirit Coins were nothing more than a pile of useless metal.
If they wanted to break through their current predicament, they needed new cultivation methods.
But they neither knew how to use Spirit Coins properly nor wished to hand their Cyber Aura back to Caine.
They would rather solve the problem themselves than let their wealth benefit that black-hearted merchant.
So, their eyes turned toward China.
The legendary birthplace of cultivation.
While studying its theories, they noticed something interesting.
Traditional Chinese medicine described the human body through meridians and acupoints.
In many cultivation novels, these concepts were fundamental.
Perhaps those ideas contained the answer they were looking for.
Perhaps they could discover a new direction for their own cultivation.
Thus, they made a bold decision.
They attempted to use Cyber Aura to simulate meridians and acupoints, creating new storage pathways for their overflowing energy.
Unfortunately—
Reality quickly proved otherwise.
Cyber Aura was extremely difficult to control.
No matter how hard they tried, they could not stabilize the simulated meridians and acupoints for long.
Their experiments repeatedly collapsed before they could produce any real results.
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