The Programmer Cultivator

”If it ever comes to that, you’re on your own! I’m just saying, if that day really comes, I won’t be able to handle you!”

With that, Yue Mengsheng turned and walked away. After a few steps, he paused, looked back, and said, ”Don’t bicker with him so much. You’re already starting to sound like him.”

Having said his piece, Yue Mengsheng entered his courtyard without another glance back.

Gan Zili sat there alone for a long time before muttering in confusion, ’Am I really? Doesn’t everyone say I’m the easiest of Spirit Nurturing Peak’s Peak Masters to get along with?’

The interactions between the three old geezers were always so amusing.

·········

Zhang Deming left the Mountain Peak Cloud Pool and had just returned to the waterfall when his expression faltered. His Heart Spirit entered the Spirit Nurturing Space, where a scene was playing out.

The scene showed a Cave Mansion that, by its style, resembled one of the specialized promotion Cave Mansions of the Celestial Spirit Sect’s Inner Sect.

At that moment, Qu Qingxian was seated cross-legged in the Cave Mansion, a Black Dragon circling behind him. He immersed himself in thought for a moment, then began to form the hand seals for the Promotion Technique.

Unlike a normal promotion, as he formed the Spell, the sole Rune in his Dantian flew out from between his eyebrows and fused with the Black Dragon behind him.

The instant the Rune and the Black Dragon combined, Qu Qingxian’s aura began to change slowly.

From the looks of it, he would likely succeed even without any materials, though the process would be much slower, possibly taking many years to complete.

After Qu Qingxian transformed the materials before him into Spiritual Light and merged them into the Black Dragon on his body, his aura began to change rapidly, as if it were the natural course of things.

However, the change in his aura was exceptionally strange. When others advanced, their aura would simply strengthen. But as his aura strengthened, it also began to split apart.

Pure goodness and clarity converged on Qu Qingxian, while extreme malevolence and turbidity converged on the Black Dragon.

Amidst the shifting auras, the man and the dragon formed a stark contrast—an extreme separation, yet an exceptionally harmonious pairing, like a black-and-white motif.

”ROAR...”

As the promotion completed, the Black Dragon’s hollow eyes became completely animated. With a long, melodious roar, the Black Dragon unwound itself from Qu Qingxian.

Upon separating, the Black Dragon became even more malevolent, the animation in its eyes turning to ferocity.

But before the Black Dragon could go berserk, a single reversed scale slowly emerged on its neck. Qu Qingxian transformed into a ray of Spiritual Light and merged into it.

The Black Dragon shuddered. Starting from the reversed scale, a line of white scales appeared all the way down to its lower abdomen. The Black Dragon’s berserk aura returned to normal, and even its ferocious scales appeared somewhat smoother.

Once the transformation was complete, the Black Dragon’s eyes regained their animation. It then flew out of the Cave Mansion and began to soar through the sky outside, attracting the attention of many.

Here, the scene ended. It signified that Qu Qingxian had advanced to the Duality realm. Furthermore, it appeared his Rune Core had also been promoted to the Law Level along with him.

At this time, the Energy in the repository surged once more. His Merit increased by a tiny amount, while his Qi Fortune increased by another eight points.

It didn’t seem like much, but there had been a previous gain of around twenty points. This meant Qu Qingxian’s single promotion to the Duality realm had provided him with a total of about thirty points of Qi Fortune—a truly great harvest.

······

Five days later, Zhang Deming brought Qin Shizhong and Yang Guangfu to Feiquan Plaza early in the morning. When he saw Song Huidong, Zhang Deming was taken aback. ”You’re going too?”

Song Huidong gave Zhang Deming a wry smile. ”In previous years, this wouldn’t have been necessary. After all, Master Guk was always the one to go. When our Spirit Nurturing Peak leads the team, there’s no need to put up a fancy front.”

”But this time, Master Guk suddenly decided not to go, so Master arranged for me to accompany you, Junior Brother, and help you handle any potential issues that might arise.”

Zhang Deming nodded and glanced at the crowd of Disciples waiting in the plaza. ”This is quite the spectacle. I was expecting something much shabbier.”

Song Huidong shook his head. ”It’s because our peak is the main welcoming party every year. Most of these are newly promoted Disciples. The few senior ones were chosen by drawing lots.”

”Uh, it’s a Blessed Land, after all. Is this really necessary?” Zhang Deming replied.

Song Huidong gave another wry smile. ”This isn’t in any of the records, and you didn’t ask anyone, Junior Brother Zhang. If you had, you would’ve known. This so-called ceremonial welcome used to be just a formality.”

”In the past, those Wish Cultivators were fond of ascetic practices, so when we went to receive them, we often wouldn’t even see the actual guest of honor. It would just be a team of ceremonial disciples; the real guest would have long since departed.

Everyone got used to it and just went through the motions. By the time the welcoming party returned to the Sect, the guest would usually show up on their own.

But some years ago—about four hundred years ago, I think—Master Guk was feeling restless after a long period of peace and decided to take on the job of leading the delegation.”

”Then, when he failed to meet the guest in person, Master Guk went off and chewed out their ceremonial team so badly they were left speechless. After returning to the Sect, he even specifically challenged people to debates at the Dao Conference. After losing a match, he’d bring up this incident and use it to rail against his opponent.”

”He’d say things like, ’So what if you’re from a Holy Land of Blessing? You’ve all forgotten basic etiquette! No matter how skilled you are in Dao debates, it’s all for naught. You can’t be considered qualified Wish Cultivators—you’re all frauds, selling dog meat under the sign of a sheep’s head!’”

”Mm... and he didn’t say this in private. He shot it back at them directly during the Dao Conference, which was how he barely managed to salvage a shred of his dignity.”

”The consequence, however, is that... from that year on, our delegation became the main event. Now when people from Spirit Mountain arrive at our Sect, they no longer rush off to their ascetic practices. They wait for our people to receive them.”