The Programmer Cultivator

Chapter 50: Chapter 48: News Arrives

Seeing an Outer Disciple with a sword on their back wasn’t exactly common.

Unlike the legendary Cultivation Realm, where it seemed everyone had a sword and was eager to wield it, the Celestial Spirit Sect wasn’t like that—at least, not for the Outer Disciples.

Among Outer Disciples, ”Sword Cultivator” was a rather lofty title.

Ordinary Outer Disciples who didn’t start out with Miscellaneous Arts were rare, and they found it very difficult to survive.

Li Shifan nodded. ”Yes, Senior Brother.”

Zhang Deming looked at all his injuries. ’This guy is my backup energy source,’ he thought, so he offered a word of advice:

”You should stay away from the back mountains for now. It’s still too early for an Intermediate Apprentice.”

Li Shifan nodded. ”I know. Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother.”

Zhang Deming exchanged a few more words, trying to build a little rapport. But given how difficult the guy was to talk to, he took his leave after just a moment.

If he didn’t, even with all his years of practice, his communication skills wouldn’t be enough to sustain this awkward conversation.

’Iceberg personalities... Women are one thing, but damn, a guy like that is completely impossible to talk to!’

’As for ”fleecing” him... I’ll let him ”fatten up” for now. I’ll deal with it next time.’

’It’s obvious I won’t get anything out of him by forcing an awkward conversation right now.’

Hurriedly leaving the market, Zhang Deming activated the Agility Technique and returned to Qingyou Pool.

He carefully planted the Spirit-Binding Grass he had bought earlier. He didn’t even keep the few extra stalks, planting every last one.

The Spirit Nurturing Bead had sold for seven Spirit Stones. The materials had cost two, and the Spirit-Binding Grass had cost one.

Now he had four Spirit Stones in savings again, and his financial deficit was finally starting to ease.

’Choosing the Spirit Nurturing Technique was a really good decision.’

Tossing the various materials in his room, Zhang Deming began his routine again: Cultivation and restoring his Magical Power.

In the afternoon, when Zhang Deming had recovered his full Spiritual Qi, he took out the materials he had bought at the street stall.

After sorting for a moment, he found the material with the strongest Spirituality: a leopard’s foreleg bone.

Cradling the leopard bone in both hands, Zhang Deming took a deep breath and activated the Spirit Nurturing Technique.

Most of the Spiritual Power in his body shot out and was rapidly injected into the leopard bone in his hands. The bone began to glow and slowly disintegrate.

The moment Zhang Deming completed the Technique, the leopard bone in his hands suddenly exploded into a cloud of glowing motes.

”Dammit!” Zhang Deming muttered, shaking his head.

He sat down cross-legged again and began to restore his Spiritual Qi.

Several hours later, a ball of white light exploded again.

”Holy crap!”

”Damn it! I’m not gonna let this beat me!”

In the early hours of the next day, after once again restoring his Spiritual Power to its maximum, Zhang Deming picked up the last leopard bone and took another deep breath.

After calming his slightly agitated mood, he cradled the leopard bone in both hands and used the Spirit Nurturing Technique again.

A faint fluorescent glow once again emanated from the leopard bone as Spiritual Power poured into it.

Eventually, the leopard bone melted into countless specks of light, which slowly expanded into a hollow sphere of light that enveloped Zhang Deming.

Zhang Deming quickly threw his insights related to the Agility Technique into it. The sphere of light didn’t explode like before.

At this moment, a pair of miniature Light Wings formed out of thin air in front of Zhang Deming, slowly solidifying and vibrating gently.

As the Light Wings vibrated, the sphere of light surrounding Zhang Deming contracted abruptly.

In the blink of an eye, the wings were enveloped by transparent Energy and transformed into an ordinary glass bead. At the center of the bead, a pair of miniature Light Wings flapped gently.

”Phew, I finally succeeded with one.”

”It seems the quality of the materials is a major factor.”

He muttered to himself, put away the Spirit Nurturing Ball for the Agility Technique, and once again began to restore his Magical Power.

「Two days later」

When Zhang Deming left his room holding two glass beads, he was utterly exhausted, especially mentally.

But he was still young. He had the vitality for this kind of grind.

Looking at the two Spirit Nurturing Balls in his hands, Zhang Deming couldn’t help but smile.

Two Spirit Stones for materials and several all-nighters, exchanged for an income of at least twelve Spirit Stones—a net profit of a full ten Spirit Stones. In two days, he had earned more than his savings from the past ten years.

This kind of profit margin made Zhang Deming smile. No wonder it was so difficult to become a Spirit Nurturing Master, yet many at the Tai Chi and even Duality Great Cultivator realms still chose to specialize in it.

Just this money-making potential alone, even at the Entry Level, was enough to tempt many a broke Tai Chi Great Cultivator.

’It seems that from now on, I’ll be leaving my life as a pauper further and further behind.’

He placed the marble-sized Spirit Nurturing Balls into the Spirit Stone pouch at his waist, went to the kitchen, and used the last of his Spirit Beast Flesh to make braised meat with potatoes.

During his days of non-stop grinding, Zhang Deming had finished off all three pounds of Demon Deer Flesh.

When Zhang Deming ate the last chewy, delicious piece of Demon Deer Flesh, he felt as if he had come back to life.

The warm feeling in his stomach made the already exhausted Zhang Deming feel a bit drowsy.

He looked outside. It was the middle of the night. Zhang Deming went straight into his room and collapsed into bed.

During his grind, aside from the necessary trips out for Casting and eating, he had barely left his home. He was just too tired.

All told, he had been grinding for nearly ten days straight.

「The next morning」

Zhang Deming woke up early—not because he was well-rested, but because he was woken up by a notification from his Identity Card.

Bleary-eyed, he went outside and saw the familiar figure of the portly Zuo Jiagu at the entrance.

Zhang Deming pulled out his Identity Card, activated the Array, and let the other man in for the first time.

Zuo Jiagu, at the entrance, was slightly taken aback, then stepped into Qingyou Pool.

Zhang Deming pointed to the small stone table in the courtyard. ”Have a seat.”

Zuo Jiagu looked at Zhang Deming’s sleepy face and said, ”It seems I’ve come a bit early?”

Zhang Deming shook his head. ”It has nothing to do with you, Junior Brother Zuo. I’ve been busy with something these past few days, so I went to bed very late last night.”

”Junior Brother Zuo, your visit today... does this mean you have a lead on that matter?”

At the mention of business, Zuo Jiagu instantly became much more serious. He looked at Zhang Deming and said, ”Senior Brother Zhang, we’ve found the information you wanted.”

”So quickly?” Zhang Deming said in surprise.

Zuo Jiagu was taken aback upon hearing this. ’Ten days is considered fast?’

Then, as if realizing something, he said, ”It seems you’ve misunderstood something, Senior Brother Zhang. Our information isn’t so detailed that we know everything about Lu Ze’s daily life, down to when he wet the bed at age three.”

”We just looked up general relevant information and his recent activities.”

”If what you want is information on all of Lu Ze’s various indiscretions in the Sect over the years, I think you’re going to be disappointed, Senior Brother Zhang.”

”Besides, even if you had such information, without enough ironclad evidence, you wouldn’t be able to take him down.”

”Going after him through the Law Enforcement Team... it seems you’ve gone down the wrong path, Senior Brother Zhang. You’re essentially using your weakness to attack his strength.”

”After all, a large portion of the Law Enforcement Team comes from the Close Combat Department.”

”The relationship between them is almost like that of a superior and a subordinate department.”

Listening to his words, Zhang Deming showed an expression of stunned disappointment on the surface.