The Programmer Cultivator

Zhang Deming settled back into his Cave Mansion and began crafting Spirit Nurturing Beads in seclusion. He had stockpiled a great deal of materials from the recent back-mountain incident.

He needed to convert these materials into Spirit Nurturing Beads as quickly as possible.

Of course, he didn’t necessarily need to sell them right away. As it stood, one hundred and fifty a month was already a tremendous amount.

This number far exceeded the monthly output of an ordinary Entry-Level Spirit Nurturing Master and was nearly at the limit of an official Spirit Nurturing Master who took on custom orders.

For several days straight, Zhang Deming worked tirelessly. It had been a long time since he’d ground this hard.

With only one day left on his Cave Mansion’s lease, Zhang Deming had already crafted over three hundred Spirit Nurturing Beads.

That was an average of over fifty per day. He had truly ground relentlessly for an entire week. During that time, aside from when he rested, the Spiritual Power in his Dantian was almost never full, even with the script constantly replenishing it.

Zhang Deming had to stop his work before the lease even expired.

Although the image from the Dragon Turtle light dot’s feed was incredibly blurry, he could still distinguish between movement and stillness.

Zhang Deming noticed that after several days of flickering, the image had finally stopped moving today.

’It looks like the Secret Realm incident is almost over. Time to make my final preparations.’

With this in mind, Zhang Deming packed his things and returned to Qingyou Pool.

Furthermore, he probably wouldn’t be renting a Cave Mansion again for a long time.

Besides a few other reasons, it was also because he had started cultivating passively all day long with a Spirit Crystal.

The cultivation speed from a Spirit Crystal was countless times faster than a Two-Star Cave Mansion. It even surpassed the normal rate of two hundred Experience Points per hour for a Tier Five Cultivation Technique, reaching as high as three to five hundred.

His daily Experience Point gains were as high as eight or nine thousand. His Cultivation was skyrocketing.

After returning to the Sect, Zhang Deming went to the Outer Sect Headquarters to pick up an Entry Order for the Scripture Pavilion.

Zhang Deming arrived at the Scripture Pavilion. His objective was clear this time, so he didn’t linger, heading straight to the second floor to retrieve a Technique manual.

Zhang Deming looked at the three words on the cover—*Blood-Sucking Vine*—and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. He’d been coveting this one for a long time.

After all, when it came to recovery, his Spiritual Power Recovery was a non-issue. With the help of his passive script, even a Three Talents Great Cultivator might not be able to keep up with him.

But his physical recovery was a major weakness.

Holding the Technique manual, Zhang Deming returned to the first floor, walked up with a smile, and said, ”Senior Brother, a copy, please.”

Jiang Hongbin was the same as ever, not even looking up as he busied himself with his tasks. The moment his hand touched the book, however, the texture felt wrong. He paused and looked up.

”It’s you again... Exchanging for another Tier Two Technique to—” Before he could finish, he froze.

He shot to his feet, bowed respectfully, and said, ”Greetings, Martial Uncle.”

Zhang Deming made no effort to hide his Cultivation today. He smiled at Jiang Hongbin and said, ”Senior Brother, aren’t you going to finish what you were saying?”

Hearing this, Jiang Hongbin laughed and said, ”You jest, Martial Uncle. How could this disciple dare to show off his meager skills before you? Please, stop teasing me, Martial Uncle.”

Seeing this, Zhang Deming shook his head and said, ”But I wasn’t teasing you before.”

”Alright, ’Senior Brother,’ please hurry and make the copy. I’ve heard that the back-mountain incident will be resolved in the next few days. I reckon our good days are coming to an end.”

A flicker of understanding crossed Jiang Hongbin’s eyes. He immediately took the *Blood-Sucking Vine* manual and tossed it into the copying compartment.

A moment later, a finely bound copy of the book dropped out.

Seeing Jiang Hongbin’s cautious demeanor, Zhang Deming decided not to tease him anymore. After all, the guy was actually pretty decent.

He took the Technique manual, turned, and left.

Jiang Hongbin bowed respectfully. Only after Zhang Deming had left did he quickly pull up a Light Screen.

He looked at the review application he had submitted previously, which now showed that a result was available.

He opened the review results and read the information.

Preliminary Review Summary:

Heart: Excellent

Talent: Inferior

Cultivation: Intermediate Apprentice

Status Evaluation: Excessively idle

Review Recommendation: Admission is strongly discouraged. The Dharma Transmission Hall already has too many slackers; there is no need to go out of our way to recruit another one. If the Guardian Tower is in need of slackers, the main branch of the Dharma Transmission Hall can allocate some.

Staring at the crude and blunt review results, dark lines seemed to form on Jiang Hongbin’s forehead.

’What the hell is this crap?’

’Other than the part about his Heart, which of these points is even accurate?’

’Are the people at the Dharma Transmission Hall all completely useless?’

’If this keeps up, in a few more years, the Dharma Transmission Hall won’t be the leading Sect Leader Faction anymore!’

He felt like he was on the verge of a breakdown, but he could only complain in his head. After all, he was a member of the Guardian Tower. Although affiliated with the Dharma Transmission Hall and thus part of the Sect Leader Faction...

...given their special role and unique status within the Sect, there were matters he couldn’t get too involved in. He had to maintain a certain level of detachment.

Otherwise, even if he was promoted to the Inner Sect, he wouldn’t be able to continue serving as a Guardian Tower member.

He knew his own temperament, however. He was capable of a bit of minor scheming, but that was all. Compared to the shrewd masters of intrigue in the other departments, he was sorely lacking.

If he were to really try and make his way in another department, he’d likely spend his entire life just struggling to get by.

Being a Guardian Tower member—enjoying an early retirement and losing himself in his own world—was his best option. As for everything else, he just had to do his part and stay out of it.

Every member of the Guardian Tower was required to be a slacker—a ’complacent’ one who would never try to ’make a comeback’ as long as the Sect wasn’t facing a major disaster.

The Sect was too big, there were too many disciples, and far too many were adept at scheming and social climbing. He was content to be one of the slackers in the background. This was the fundamental quality of a Guardian Tower member.

Taiping Dao, a slacker for life.