The Programmer Cultivator

At the same time, a powerful Spiritual Power Sea Absorption erupted from between his eyebrows and his Dantian.

It first swept through the entire Flying Spring Waterfall Tower, a Three-Star Spirit Vein Cave Mansion, causing the absorption to pause for a moment. As the Rune between his eyebrows flickered without stop, the Spiritual Power Sea Absorption surged once more.

In just a moment, it enveloped the entire Spirit Nurturing Peak. Only then did the Spiritual Power Sea Absorption falter and come to a stop.

...

Many disciples on Spirit Nurturing Peak stopped their Cultivation, their gazes drawn toward the center of the massive absorption—the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower.

Above Spirit Nurturing Peak, Yue Mengsheng and the other two also rose into the air, looking toward the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower at the enormous Spiritual Power vortex.

Gu Liancai said, ”Isn’t this just recovery for the Duality realm? A single Three-Star High-Grade Spirit Vein can barely sustain him. If not for the lack of other phenomena, I would’ve thought he was breaking through to the Three Talents Cultivation realm! What in the world is the foundation of his Rune Core path?”

Yue Mengsheng shook his head. ”It must be some extraordinary Path. After all, in the Duality realm, the stronger the Rune, the stronger the Spiritual Power Sea Absorption, and the more energy one needs to replenish. For his recovery alone to cause such an exaggerated commotion...”

With that, the three fell silent, staring dazedly at the massive Spiritual Power vortex.

...

Inside the Cave Mansion, Zhang Deming’s body remained suspended in the air for a long while. As the absorption gradually ceased, he slowly descended.

Once everything had concluded, Zhang Deming’s aura stabilized, and he officially became a Duality First Transition Cultivator.

Zhang Deming opened his script and looked at the information panel.

Cultivation Technique: Water Wood Divine Control Method (Tier Six)

Cultivation: Duality Lv1 (0/6,000,000)

Rune Core: Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill Lv3 (30/50)

Branch Runes: Enhancement Skill Lv3 (255/500), Oratory: Words Lv3 (10/50), Sleeve Qiankun Lv3 (20/100)

Skills: Ruyi Jade Demon Blood-Sucking Vine Lv3 (0/50), Hidden Breath Technique Lv3 (0/50), Flying Technique Fragment Lv3 (0/50), Spiritual Shield Lv3 (0/50), Yin Yang Chess Dao: Position Lv3 (0/50), Heart Dream Control Lv3 (0/50), Reconnaissance·Spiritual Eye Lv3 (0/50)

Spiritual Power Recovery: 200 Spiritual Power/3 minutes

Experience Growth: 20 Experience/3 minutes

Looking at the information, he felt a headache coming on. The Experience Points required had jumped to six million.

Aside from that, Zhang Deming was pleasantly surprised, especially by his Enhancement Skill. It had gained a full 200 proficiency points, saving him 200 points of Qi Fortune. His Rune Core proficiency had also increased by twenty.

From the breakthrough alone, he had netted a gain of 220 Qi Fortune. If he had chosen Sleeve Qiankun, he definitely wouldn’t have seen this kind of result.

However, when Zhang Deming tried to comprehend the fused Rune Core of his Enhancement Skill and Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill, he froze.

He had completed his First Transition, but the fusion of the two Skill Runes hadn’t unlocked any new functions.

Well, to be precise, it was more like his treasure chest hadn’t been opened yet, not that it had failed to open.

This was because the Enhancement Skill was a nascent path, but not in the same way as Oratory: Words. The path of Oratory already existed in essence; his was just a new branch. The Enhancement Skill, on the other hand, was an entirely new path altogether.

The Enhancement Skill was a completely new category, much like Summoning.

Therefore, for a new function to emerge from the Rune Core, he needed to advance both Skills to at least the Law Level. Only then would the Enhancement Path truly begin to open!

After all, for any path, reaching the Law Level was considered the first major breakthrough.

After processing this information, Zhang Deming paused. He then looked at his inventory. After another three months of accumulation, earning over thirty Qi Fortune per month, his current stats were: Merit: 43.4, Qi Fortune: 326.2, Karma: 1.4.

The total accumulation over more than half a year wasn’t enough to raise all his Techniques to Tier Four, but over three hundred points should be enough to upgrade his Enhancement Skill and Rune Core.

’After all, I don’t know what will happen when the Enhancement Skill advances. The commotion today has already attracted plenty of attention. If another incident occurs right after this one, people might connect the dots. I should focus on stabilizing my Cultivation first,’ he thought.

With that, Zhang Deming began to calm his mind and stabilize his Cultivation.

The script spun rapidly, replenishing his depleted Dantian.

...

Half a month passed in a flash, and the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower was exceptionally quiet.

On this day, Zhang Deming sensed that his Cultivation had more or less stabilized. Half a month had passed. Thus, with a thought, he accessed his inventory. Looking at the numerous Energy Light Balls within, he began the upgrade.

”Consume 20 Qi Fortune to upgrade Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill?”

”Yes!”

”Consume 245 Qi Fortune to upgrade Enhancement Skill?”

”Yes!”

”Nascent path detected. Please provide a mature path’s theoretical framework to weave the new Dao!

Note: As this path is not being pioneered through an epiphany, you may input any concept or future possibility. However, the more closely your theory aligns with the foundation of the Enhancement Path, the greater the chance of success.

Furthermore, since this is not path-pioneering via Enlightenment, there will be no universal blessing to supplement and perfect this Dao. The submitted theory requires a clear conceptualization and a sufficiently detailed internal analysis to substitute for the intuitive understanding gained through an epiphany.”

Zhang Deming blinked, processing the strange message from the editor. He was suddenly and completely baffled.

’What is this?’

’I have to come up with a theoretical framework for a new path? Like some kind of cutting-edge research paper from my past life?’

’When other people have an epiphany, they probably just need a spark of an idea and a few concepts. They don’t need anything too detailed because the universal blessing automatically perfects it for them.’

’But I’m basically using the editor to hijack the opportunity presented by the Enhancement Skill, using the Enhancement Path as a catalyst to forcibly edit a new path into Hongmeng. So I don’t just need an idea; I need a fully mature theoretical framework and a vision for its future.’

’Isn’t that just like a cutting-edge research paper from my past life? And not just any paper, but a foundational one that establishes an entirely new field of study!’

’No, wait. It’s not just a paper. I don’t just need a preliminary theory, but also a viable path to implementation—at least one possible direction that could support it up to Tier Four.’

’So where am I supposed to get a theory for the Enhancement Path?’

At this moment, Zhang Deming was truly at a loss. In two lifetimes spanning less than fifty years, he had never once tried to ’edit’ a Dao.

Even if this particular Dao was only just beginning!

’Would Eldest Sister Keli’s philosophy of ’anything is possible with enough money’ work?’

”This pertains to a branch of the Enhancement Path—Artifact Enhancement. It lacks an intrinsic core theory and is insufficient to support the weaving of the nascent Enhancement Path.

This process requires laying the foundation for the Enhancement Path; a complete, core theory is necessary.”

’Even Eldest Sister Keli’s method won’t work? What am I supposed to do? I’m just a programmer. It’s not like I can just write some code, can I?’

’Wait a minute...!’