The Programmer Cultivator

Chapter 727: Chapter 152: The Essence of Communication

After completing his enlightenment, the man immediately bowed toward Zhang Deming’s floating island and said, “I thank you, Ancestor Zhang, for guiding my enlightenment. I will hold this kindness in my heart forever.”

As he spoke, everyone turned to look at the floating island where Zhang Deming was.

Zhang Deming returned to his senses, paused, and then said, “Think nothing of it. It was simply your Karma Technique. Since you were able to directly achieve enlightenment and advance, your future path should be much easier. Cherish this hard-won opportunity.”

“I will cherish it!” the man said, deeply moved. He was clearly a veteran Outer Disciple with a story of his own.

During their exchange, the entire area fell unusually quiet. The eyes of many disciples gleamed as they gazed at Zhang Deming. At that moment, the recording of his promotion announcement seemed even more believable.

In the Celestial Universe Floating Island Group, Shang Tingjie and his companions frowned.

A public enlightenment and advancement was supposed to be their trump card for later, a way to initiate the second phase of their plan. To this end, they had Mysterious Man Number Three prepare a designated person to be their “enlightenment tool.” This was meant to pave the way for intelligent runes, preparing for that Dao to spread like wildfire throughout Hongmeng.

But who would have thought? The event had only just begun, and someone had already achieved enlightenment…

Now, even if their “tool” managed to achieve enlightenment and advance, the impact would be greatly diminished. After all, there’s a huge difference in the amount of attention you get for being the first to do something compared to being the second.

And what if the “tool” didn’t achieve enlightenment and only presented some novel Daoist theories? Heh, in the current circumstances, they wouldn’t be able to generate any hype for it later!

This turn of events cast a pall of gloom over the members of the Celestial Universe delegation.

“Sigh… From the moment I first met him and realized how deeply he understood our Celestial Universe’s technology, and even our culture, I had a bad feeling,” Shang Tingjie said, watching disciple after disciple achieve breakthroughs. “It looks like that feeling is coming true.”

Hearing this, Yuu Guang added, “You’re right. A scene like this… it must be on par with a sermon given by the ancestors of their Blessed Holy Lands, an event that only happens once a millennium!”

“Heh. In terms of benefiting Low-Tier Disciples, this man is even more effective,” Shang Tingjie said. “You can tell from his words that he’s already grasped the fundamental principles behind the birth of our various Celestial Universe technologies! For a Cultivator to so clearly understand such things… a person like him is a huge problem for us in the Celestial Universe!”

“Captain, I think you’re worrying too much,” Yuu Guang said, disagreeing. “It’s true that technology is born from life, but our current technology has completely surpassed its origins!”

“But it’s not so difficult when you supplement it with the data we provided,” Shang Tingjie said with a cold, hollow tone.

Yuu Guang’s expression faltered. He’d forgotten about that. After a moment of silence, he said, “Well, there’s no use dwelling on it. Let’s focus on the here and now. If worse comes to worst, we can contact headquarters after this is all over. We can have the field operations department handle it. Abduction, assassination… both are options.”

Shang Tingjie stiffened slightly. He didn’t reply, his gaze instead drifting to the scene below.

Down below, the Dao Discussion was growing increasingly fervent. More and more disciples joined in, truly kicking off what could be called a “Dao Discussion for All.”

As they each came to understand the nature and essence of communication, they began to expand upon the concept in every direction. Sparks of thought flared, spreading and burning with a steady, rising heat.

…

Zhang Deming opened his Light Screen and took a look. Dao Discussion Points: 10,045.

Zhang Deming was rendered speechless.

‘What the hell? Does the Spirit Nurturing Celestial Bead think *that* highly of me? Minus the fifty… wait, I used five points to enter the discussion, so that leaves a base of forty-five points… and it just dumped ten thousand more on top of that?’

‘Just how satisfied was it to cause such a Dao manifestation? Don’t tell me the Spirit Nurturing Path managed to capture and link to the Communication Dao within the Dao Net because of this…’

‘If this were the Main Body of the Spirit Nurturing Celestial Bead, and I pulled this off a few more times, couldn’t I just make off with the thing?’ Staring at the solid ten thousand points, Zhang Deming was lost in a jumble of chaotic thoughts.

「Three days passed in a flash.」

The discussion on the Communication Dao was more or less complete. Any further major developments would likely only occur after the recordings of this conference spread and had time to ferment.

Three days of non-stop discussion had little effect on some of the disciples and the Elders.

However, the largest group present—the Advanced Apprentices—were already exhausted. It was like being a regular student who had to sit through four consecutive classes followed by half a day of activities.

Thus, when Sect Leader Dang Jun’an announced the conclusion of the first topic, most of the attendees transformed into streaks of light, each carrying a small mote of Spiritual Light, and returned to their original seats from before the opening ceremony.

Of course, some remained behind to continue their discussions.

After a day or two of rest, they would begin the discussion on the second topic. This process would repeat; if things went well, the entire conference would last for about a month. If not, it would be over in about ten days.

Of course, the next session wouldn’t have an opening like today’s. When it began, they would only need to tap the Spiritual Light in their hands to return to their discussion spots.

As the crowd descended, the entire Sect buzzed with excitement. This lively atmosphere began to spread beyond the Sect’s borders as recordings of the Dao Discussion were distributed.

The Communication Dao quickly became a trend, much like *Oratory: Words* had in the past. However, without the members of Celestial Universe fanning the flames this time, just how big of a splash it made would depend entirely on the influence of the Communication Dao itself.

After leaving the conference, Zhang Deming turned his Heart Spirit inward and checked the Energy in his repository. Merit: 25.4, Qi Fortune: 67.7, Karma: 8.4.

His Qi Fortune had increased by over ten points, and his Merit by more than one. In other words, just from the opening of this conference, nearly one hundred disciples had achieved some form of enlightenment because of his words!!!

And that was just the beginning. As word spread and the effects fermented, that number would only grow. By the time this conference was over, he was in for a massive harvest of Energy!