The Programmer Cultivator

However, you couldn’t just craft this item—at least, not at a low level. You could only use certain materials to mitigate the strain, but the rest had to be brute-forced. Making just one of these could easily take half your life.

Zhang Deming played with the talisman for a long time with a joyous expression before carefully stowing it away in his storage bag.

’Something so precious should, by all rights, be kept in a vault. But given this thing’s function, it would be completely useless if I just left it in storage.’

Zhang Deming emptied the rest of the contents from the storage bag. There was nothing else worth noting.

’If it weren’t for the Substitute Talisman, this guy’s storage bag would have been even cleaner than my own. At least I still have a good number of Tier One Spirit Nurturing Pearls I’ve crafted, along with other materials.’

’The previous owner... really cleaned it out thoroughly!’

’Still, this one Protective Talisman made the whole thing worthwhile.’

After sorting through everything, Zhang Deming placed the storage bag in his storeroom.

He now owned a total of five storage bags and was already wearing three. He had barely used a fraction of one, so there was no need to carry so many. If someone saw him, they’d think he was some rich-and-tacky buffoon!

After putting his things away, Zhang Deming checked on his promotion resources. He had now gathered everything he needed. All that was left was to wait for his AFK farming to max out his Experience Points.

Leaving the Cultivation Room, Zhang Deming walked out of his quarters and into the small courtyard. He took out his Identity Card and tapped it lightly.

A moment later, Yang Guangfu walked in and bowed to Zhang Deming. ”Senior Brother Zhang, what can I do for you?”

Zhang Deming smiled and said, ”I need to go to the Scripture Pavilion on Spirit Nurturing Peak. Could you please help me exchange for an Entry Order?”

Yang Guangfu was slightly taken aback, then he took out his own Identity Card and fiddled with it for a moment. ”It’s done, Senior Brother Zhang. You can now use your Identity Card to enter the Scripture Pavilion on Spirit Nurturing Peak.

The Inner Sect’s Scripture Pavilion is different from the Outer Sect’s. The Outer Sect has servant disciples who need Techniques, but servant disciples don’t have Identity Cards.

To make management easier, the Sect uses Command Tokens uniformly in the Outer Sect.

But in the Inner Sect, you can just use your Identity Card unless there are special circumstances. Of course, the required Contribution points will still be deducted all the same.”

Zhang Deming paused for a moment. ”Alright, that works. I need to go to the Scripture Pavilion to pick up a few Techniques.”

”Would you like me to show you the way, Senior Brother Zhang?” Yang Guangfu asked considerately.

Zhang Deming shook his head. ”No need. Although I haven’t explored Spirit Nurturing Peak much, I have looked at a map of it, and I have one on me. You can go about your business.”

Yang Guangfu smiled. ”Since you’re not familiar with the path, Senior Brother Zhang, looking at a map can be inconvenient. I’m not busy anyway, so why don’t I take you there?”

’Fine,’ Zhang Deming thought. ’If you’re this eager to kiss my ass, I might as well let you. If I keep refusing, you might think I’m some kind of weirdo.’

With that, Zhang Deming nodded. ”If that’s the case, then I’ll have to trouble you, Junior Brother Yang.”

Hearing this, Yang Guangfu broke into a brilliant, sunny smile. His name certainly suited him well.

He looked at Zhang Deming with a smile and asked, ”Shall we go now?”

Zhang Deming nodded. ”Yes, let’s go now.”

With that settled, the two of them got up, left the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower, and went to the edge of the cliff.

Yang Guangfu and Zhang Deming went to pick up Yoo Xiaoluan. Every time Zhang Deming went to get a crane, he was met by the same disciple and was always given Yoo Xiaoluan.

It even made Zhang Deming suspect that the three elders of Spirit Nurturing Peak had specially assigned Yoo Xiaoluan to be his personal mount.

’And to avoid being too conspicuous, they just set up a public Immortal Crane pickup point as a front.’

’There was no other explanation. How could it be that the same disciple was always on duty at the pickup point, and he was always given Yoo Xiaoluan?’

...

The Scripture Pavilion of Spirit Nurturing Peak wasn’t built at the Mountain Peak Cloud Pool, but halfway up the mountain.

This was to accommodate the large number of disciples who needed to acquire Techniques.

If it were built on the peak, given the sheer number of disciples on Spirit Nurturing Peak, you would see countless disciples running back and forth between the mountainside and the summit every day. This would also disrupt the environment of the Mountain Peak Cloud Pool.

After all, that was the location of the sole spiritual nexus, so the Spiritual Power there had to be kept abundant.

All the Advanced Apprentices and the struggling ’Quasi-Inner Sect’ disciples would definitely take any chance they could to freeload on the spiritual energy there.

The two rode the Immortal Crane, with Yang Guangfu constantly finding topics for small talk to grow more familiar with Zhang Deming. Before long, they arrived at the Scripture Pavilion of Spirit Nurturing Peak.

The two of them swiped their cards and entered the pavilion. The layout of the Spirit Nurturing Peak Scripture Pavilion was similar to the one at the Outer Sect Headquarters. Just inside the entrance was a counter, and behind it sat a Guardian Tower, head down and absorbed in his own business.

However, the Guardian Tower behind the counter here was far more formidable than the one in the Outer Sect. He was at the Duality Peak of Cultivation, yet he was still just a salted fish.

The position of Guardian Tower was famous throughout the entire Celestial Spirit Sect for being a salted fish job with a very stable income.

Well, any Guardian Tower whose income became unstable would, either voluntarily or involuntarily, be transferred to another department.

Zhang Deming had heard this was because the Pavilion Master of the Guardian Tower was a salted fish himself and preferred his subordinates to be salted fish as well. He absolutely detested disciples who were smooth operators.

As a result, there were almost no social climbers in the entire Guardian Tower corps. At most, you’d find some who were a little more active and slightly closer to the people from the Dharma Transmission Hall.

This situation created the ’transcendent and detached’ attitude of the Guardian Tower within the Sect.

Basically, every disciple treated this group of people as if they were invisible.

This, combined with the stable source of income from the Scripture Pavilion, created the bizarre state of the Celestial Spirit Sect’s Guardian Tower today.

They existed within the Sect and were a part of the disciples’ daily lives, yet they lived as if they were recluses. It was a true reflection of the saying, ”The greatest hermit is one who lives hidden in plain sight.”

’Well... to put it bluntly, they’re just a bunch of ultimate salted fish!’