The Programmer Cultivator

’Hmm, ”accusation” might be putting it too strongly. There was certainly dissatisfaction, but the rest was mostly just diplomatic buck-passing and bickering.’

Upon hearing this, Yang Guizhong and Dang Xiangjun both frowned. Dang Xiangjun looked at the silent robots scattered across the ground and said:

”General Shang is not wrong. My Sect also finds this exceedingly strange. Take a look at these things. Don’t they have the look of your Celestial Universe’s handiwork? They’ve recently caused considerable turmoil within our Sect, and our losses have been significant.

I hear your Celestial Universe Federation has quite a few so-called ’gangster’ Noble Families, yes? Why don’t you take a look and see if you can figure out which one of those malicious families or sects is behind this?

That way, we can go and plead our case to the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land, then pay a visit to your Celestial Universe and stir up some trouble for whichever of those malicious forces is responsible.”

’Damn. As expected of Ancestor Dang, the man who put Guk Liancai in his place. This talent for pinning the blame on someone out of the blue... I’m genuinely impressed.’ As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Zhang Deming looked at Dang Xiangjun, his eyes shining.

Hearing this, Shang Tingjie’s body stiffened slightly. ”Fellow Daoist Dang, you must be joking,” he said. ”As I see it, these are merely puppets of a peculiar design. Isn’t this the very essence of your Celestial Spirit Sect?”

Dang Xiangjun’s brow furrowed at the remark.

Seeing this, Zhang Deming hesitated for a moment before speaking up. ”Is that so? For some reason, they remind me of the Celestial Universe’s ’robot’ Artifact Refining Dao.

Oh, and by the way, regarding that metallic spherical puppet you mentioned, General Shang... I’ve had the good fortune to see one before.

If I recall correctly, the central intelligence core in the capital ship of every one of your fleets is of that standardized model, isn’t it? Hmm, and as I recall, intelligence hubs of that level also have standardized serial numbers, correct?

Oh, and I’ve also heard they have a universal command interface—one that can be forcibly accessed if you have high enough clearance. What’s the matter, General Shang? Didn’t you try to get in touch with them beforehand, to coordinate?”

Dang Xiangjun, who had been frowning, suddenly found his eyes lighting up. He looked at Zhang Deming with pleasant surprise. They had left in such a hurry that they hadn’t brought the head of the Array Department. He’d thought their party was lacking someone with this expertise, but he never expected Zhang Deming to be so well-versed in the Celestial Universe’s technology.

Upon hearing this, Shang Tingjie went completely still. These exchange conferences had been going on for decades, yet you could count the number of Hongmeng Cultivators who understood the Celestial Universe this well on one hand.

Although Zhang Deming had only spoken a few sentences, the information he revealed was not something one could glean from the official materials provided by the Celestial Universe Federation.

He paused, not answering the question. Instead, he asked with a puzzled expression, ”And this is?”

Seeing that the general was about to play the status card, Zhang Deming didn’t reply at once. Instead, he glanced at Dang Xiangjun, and the Jade Pendant at his waist trembled faintly.

Dang Xiangjun paused briefly, then said with a smile, ”This is one of the Four Peak Masters of our Celestial Spirit Sect’s Spirit Nurturing Peak.”

”I, Zhang Deming, greet all of you from the Celestial Universe... Comrades?!!” Zhang Deming said, playing along with Dang Xiangjun’s introduction and giving a formal bow to the Celestial Universe contingent.

The Peak Master of another peak might not hold much sway here, but Spirit Nurturing Peak... Forget just the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land; even within the two great Holy Lands of Spirit Mountain and Hongmeng, that title carried significant weight.

Thus, the ’status’ angle was now completely shut down.

Shang Tingjie saw that in the space of just a few sentences, he was losing more and more ground. Despite his side suffering heavy casualties, they were on the verge of being made the scapegoat. His face suddenly flushed red, and he doubled over.

”COUGH, COUGH... COUGH, COUGH...”

Violent coughs wracked his body, and dark red blood spurted from his mouth, even more than before.

”Seniors,” one of Shang Tingjie’s first mates said, rushing to support him with an anxious look on his face, ”our captain’s injuries are extremely severe. Could we please go to your Sect for treatment first and discuss the details of today’s situation later?”

Zhang Deming’s face twitched, and he was rendered utterly speechless. ’What an advantage, being a walking sickbed,’ he thought. ’Just cough up a little blood and suddenly everything, absolutely fucking everything, can be brushed aside.’

Yang Guizhong and Dang Xiangjun exchanged a look and didn’t press the topic any further. That’s just how diplomacy worked. Sometimes, what seemed like a grave matter was really just an occasion for bickering. If it came to a real fight, there would be far less of this diplomatic song and dance.

This kind of diplomatic wrangling was usually just that—wrangling. Whether you were being scapegoated or dealing with a genuine issue, shouldering the blame wasn’t necessarily a huge deal, especially when nothing had been definitively pinned on you.

And if it wasn’t pinned down, it just meant the war of words would continue down the line.

Since the other side was playing the victim card with their injuries, and were also the party that had suffered fatalities, a cunning old fox like Dang Xiangjun would certainly not press the advantage.

After all, they still had an exchange conference to host. If this devolved into a full-blown diplomatic bitch-fest, it wouldn’t be very conducive to the ’friendly’ exchange that was meant to follow.

”We can discuss other matters later,” Dang Xiangjun said. ”But first, there is one thing you must tell us.”

Shang Tingjie’s violent coughing subsided somewhat, though he didn’t stop completely. The first mate supporting him, ever the smooth operator, took the initiative to answer. ”What is it your esteemed Sect wishes to know?”

’He asked the question quite directly. After all, if it turned out to be a question he couldn’t answer... well, he was just a first mate, wasn’t he?’

”My Sect has dubbed this incident the Five Elements Disaster. After more than half a month of clean-up, even the surrounding prefectures have been stabilized.

Small-scale disturbances have become rare. Because I and several others took action, the Five Elements Remnants have gone into hiding and practically vanished.

I want to know what on earth you were carrying that would make their leader risk being discovered again just to ambush you.

This has the feel of a desperate, all-or-nothing gamble. It couldn’t have been an ordinary robbery,” Dang Xiangjun said, his expression grave.

The first mate shook his head. ”We truly don’t know,” he said.

Dang Xiangjun’s brow tightened. ”General Shang,” he said, ”your Celestial Universe has established exchanges with twenty-eight Upper Sects to get to where you are today.