The Programmer Cultivator

As the voice rang out, the surrounding atmosphere grew even more heated. On the platform, the two fighters, who had been engaged in what seemed like a playful bout of Magical Combat, paused.

”Junior Brother Zhou, it seems a master is watching. Looks like we need to show some real skill!”

”Senior Brother Dang, I’m determined to win that pearl. I won’t be holding back anymore!”

After exchanging words, they immediately began to fight again. The entire battle was exceptionally fierce, even comparable to a life-and-death struggle between Cultivators.

Zhang Deming watched this sudden change, his expression faltering for a moment.

’Is this... immersive virtual reality simulation technology? Isn’t the Celestial Universe at most one era more advanced than my previous life, a technological gap of a century at best? Isn’t full-dive virtual technology supposed to be their frontier?’

’This thing... is a little too sci-fi, isn’t it?’

”Is this... Outer Realm technology?” Zhang Deming asked, the thought flashing through his mind.

Song Huidong smiled and nodded. Seeing this, Zhang Deming frowned. ”Aren’t we just now being exposed to the Celestial Universe’s basic technology? Is this considered basic tech for them?”

Song Huidong smiled and said, ”No. To be precise, this isn’t Celestial Universe technology, it’s our Hongmeng’s technology. Didn’t you notice the power of the Array Dao?”

Zhang Deming nodded. ”I did, but the Outer Realm style is so obvious that my guess leaned in that direction.”

Song Huidong maintained his smile and explained, ”This isn’t really an Outer Realm product. It’s something constructed from a Three-Star Illusion Array combined with a Trapping Array.

”Identity control is handled by a puppet-type Killing Array, and we’ve added specialized detection Arrays. This thing was created by layering multiple Arrays. It’s advanced, yes, but it’s not something particularly difficult to create!”

Zhang Deming frowned slightly. ”If that’s the case, why haven’t I seen it elsewhere? Shouldn’t this be incredibly helpful for a Disciple’s Magical Combat and Technique Cultivation?”

Song Huidong didn’t answer directly, but, as was his habit, posed a question instead. ”Junior Brother Zhang, do you know what the Celestial Universe’s two major frontier ’Magic Daos’ are today? Or rather, what paths is the Celestial Universe Federation vigorously developing?”

Zhang Deming replied, ”I do know about that. The records on Spirit Nurturing Peak seem to mention intelligent technology and virtual reality technology, right?”

Song Huidong nodded. ”Correct, those are the two major paths. And it’s because they’ve hit a bottleneck in developing these two paths that they’re so eager to communicate with us, hoping to achieve a breakthrough.

”When it comes to the path of Intelligent Arrays, we’re about on par with them, perhaps even slightly behind. Because of this, the Array Department, and indeed most Hongmeng Array Cultivators, have been focusing their efforts in this direction in recent years.

”As for this Virtual Reality Array Dao... it’s a difficult point for them, but for us, it’s merely a matter of combining and applying some basic principles.

”It’s not hard to combine the power of the Array Dao with the Outer Realm concept of virtual reality to create a lifelike virtual world.

”If you then combine it with the Puppet Dao and the Medical Dao to create ’Hibernation Pods’ and the ’Master Puppet’ technique, well, you get what’s in front of us. This is supposedly the difficult ’Magic Dao’ bottleneck the Celestial Universe is currently stuck on.

”But for us, it’s nothing special... A Law Level Duality Array Cultivator could create it, given enough time.

”As for why you don’t see it often in the Sect, it’s because for Hongmeng, this is also the frontier of the Array Dao.

”Implementation is simple, but operation is a serious problem. Without a Rune Life to maintain it, this thing requires at least ten Array Cultivators working behind the scenes to keep it running!”

Hearing this, Zhang Deming stiffened and said in astonishment, ”You’re saying that underneath this Array Platform...”

Song Huidong didn’t reply. He reached out and tapped lightly, and a small Light Screen emerged from the edge of the circular platform, floating before them.

As he summoned the Light Screen, Song Huidong said, ”If this were an Ordinary combination of Arrays, it certainly wouldn’t require all this.

”But while this thing is built entirely using Hongmeng Array Dao Techniques, its core concept is completely based on the Outer Realm’s idea of virtual reality.

”Therefore, to make it run, it requires a so-called ’intelligent brain’... hmm... Since it’s an Array, it must have a Rune Life as its core to support its operations.

”However, the Rune Life branch of Hongmeng’s Array Dao is currently still in the basic infrastructure phase.

”So, this thing is easy to build, but difficult to operate. For us, it’s still a frontier Magic Dao. Because of all this, Array Cultivators have increasingly come to realize the importance of intelligent life...

”...er, the importance of the Rune Life path. That’s why Array Cultivators throughout All of Hongmeng are pouring their efforts into it.”

Zhang Deming didn’t reply to Song Huidong. His entire Heart Spirit was captivated by the Light Screen.

On the Light Screen, the scene displayed was that of the main control room in the Array’s core, located beneath the platform.

Inside the small Array core room, a total of thirteen Disciples were frantically operating all sorts of things. The scene was pure chaos.

”Boss, the display for the Illusion Array Fire Splitting Technique isn’t up to spec! Senior Brother Dang has noticed the anomaly, his Heart Spirit is fluctuating wildly, and he looks like he’s about to wake up...”

”Activate the Forced Immersion Array and calm him down!”

”Boss, Senior Brother Zhou’s Fist Skill has some kind of mutated development. It doesn’t match the registered profile, and the visuals look a little off.”

”Ignore it. It’s his own fault for not providing clear notes in his profile.”

”Junior Brother Baii, hurry up and run a diagnostic on their status! Activate the Heart Spirit Array and send feedback. Crank it up, throw more at them, and wear them out! Let’s get them panting for breath and into ’halftime’ before we talk about anything else.

”Otherwise, if those two keep fighting this hard while they’re still full of energy, we’re going to be the ones collapsing.

”Besides, Senior Brother Dang’s Technique profile is seriously off. His immersion is unstable and his consciousness fluctuations are a bit too strong. We’re about to have a problem. This will help him calm down so he doesn’t get forcefully ejected.”

”This is bad! Senior Brother Yueh, quick, quick... Senior Brother Zhou is about to unleash a massive attack! Activate the light and shadow display for the Flash Spirit Concealment Breath Fist! Project the hit probability, project the Technique’s area of effect, project the Spiritual Power consumption, project the degree of Senior Brother Dang’s injuries, project...”

”Boss, this is bad! Senior Brother Dang is about to unleash a big move too...

”But the Music Skill he’s using for this Magical Combat burst isn’t in the system at all! The detection Array didn’t pick it up during immersion entry. He must have hidden it on purpose! It’s a custom variant, I can’t replicate the effects! What should I do?”

”Use the standard version, or just throw in a blurry phantom of Spiritual Light to get by!”