The Programmer Cultivator

Chapter 46: Chapter 44: Edit and Mount

The young man finally looked up at Zhang Deming, sizing him up from head to toe. ”I don’t know if you heard some rumor and deliberately chose this technique, or if you just picked it blindly.

As the Scripture Pavilion’s attendant, I have an obligation to warn you.

This Spirit Nurturing Technique... while it’s ranked as a Low-Grade, Secret Level, Tier One technique, learning the basics is harder than for a High-Grade, Secret Level, Tier Three technique.

In some respects, the difficulty of mastering its basics is comparable to that of an Elementary, Law-Level, Tier Four technique.

Do you know what that means?”

Zhang Deming nodded, but before he could speak, the young man answered for him.

”No, you don’t!

It means the difficulty is on par with a High-Tier technique. Forget the Masters of Tai Chi—even for a Duality Ancestor, this thing is an incredibly tough nut to crack.

Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

Zhang Deming nodded. ”I understand.”

Seeing that Zhang Deming had no intention of exchanging the technique, the young man, Jiang Hongbin, understood immediately. He said,

”It seems you’ve heard about Spirit Nurturing Masters and chose this technique for that reason, not just randomly.

I have to say, Junior Brother, you’re very ambitious.

But sometimes, there’s a fine line between being destined for greatness and having delusions of grandeur, and the difference between the two is worlds apart.”

Zhang Deming simply replied, ”Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother.”

When Jiang Hongbin saw that Zhang Deming remained unmoved, he shook his head and said, ”In any case, I’ve done my duty. If you insist on wasting your resources, I can’t stop you.”

With that, he tossed the book into a hidden compartment behind him and went back to studying the book on his desk.

Zhang Deming waited a moment, and a brand-new, thread-bound book emerged from the counter’s outlet.

Zhang Deming took the book and left immediately.

After Zhang Deming left, Jiang Hongbin looked up at his departing figure, shook his head, and muttered, ”These Outer Disciples nowadays... each one is more audacious than the last.”

As he muttered, he pulled up a virtual screen, selected a directory, and bolded an entry.

At this point, there were two bolded entries in the directory.

One was ”New Disciple Zhang Deming: *Spirit Nurturing Technique*.” The other was ”New Disciple Li Shifan: *Basic Sword Dao Heart Technique*.”

He stared at the two bolded names, lost in thought for a moment for reasons unknown.

...

After receiving the technique, Zhang Deming didn’t linger and hurried back to his courtyard.

Having exchanged for the Spirit Nurturing Technique, Zhang Deming was completely broke.

Ten years of savings had been spent down to the very last coin. His pockets were cleaner than a whistle.

On top of that, there was still a payment due to Fatty Zuo.

Now, all he could count on were the remaining four-plus catties of Spirit Rice. He hoped the cost wouldn’t be too high, or he’d really end up in debt.

’Money... it’s a real fickle bitch. Saving it is harder than climbing to heaven, but when you spend it, it vanishes before you even notice.

Goddammit.’

After a rare moment of complaining, Zhang Deming went inside and took out the *Spirit Nurturing Technique*.

He focused his Heart Spirit, opened his panel, and entered the warehouse.

Inside the warehouse were two white light balls, with a new one currently forming. He was also close to having two full golden light balls.

Zhang Deming first took out the *Spiritual Shield* spell and selected a white light ball.

”Ordinary Energy: 1. Small plug-in is now editable.

Editing conditions met!

Only the Dantian Disc category is currently unlocked. Please input a command to jump to the Dantian category and begin plug-in editing.”

The familiar prompt appeared. He input ’/Dantian’ and began editing.

Zhang Deming: Dantian> If () {Spiritual Shield cast successfully} else {Spiritual Shield cast failed}.

Having edited these things many times, he was slowly getting the feeling of coding on a computer as he started to work.

’If (cast Spiritual Shield AND possess a certain amount of Spiritual Power)

{Then, Spiritual Shield cast successfully}

Else {Then, Spiritual Shield cast failed}.’

After checking it over, Zhang Deming selected ”Complete.”

Countless runes surged forth, finally coalescing into a miniature, transparent, eggshell-shaped rune that flew into Zhang Deming’s Dantian.

Seeing that the Spiritual Shield had been successfully edited and stabilized, Zhang Deming didn’t stop. He touched another light ball and took out the newly acquired Spirit Nurturing Technique.

However, when the code for the Spirit Nurturing Technique appeared, Zhang Deming was stunned. This thing was completely different from ordinary magic.

Zhang Deming: Dantian>

’If (input corresponding technique comprehension)

{Spirit Nurturing Technique cast successfully, obtain Spirit Nurturing Light Ball}

Else {Spirit Nurturing Technique cast failed}.’

This was the first time Zhang Deming had encountered a pre-existing restriction within the conditional statement when the basic code framework was auto-generated.

In other words, this was an absolute, unchangeable prerequisite.

Before he began, Zhang Deming organized his thoughts.

The principle behind a Spirit Nurturing Master’s technique was to consume certain Spiritual Materials to manifest a Spirit Nurturing Space. Inside this space, the master would place their comprehension of one or more techniques they had already learned.

This would serve as the core for the Spirit Nurturing, thereby forming a Spirit Nurturing Bead.

When the Spirit Nurturing Bead was absorbed by an animal, a plant, or an artifact (or even a person), the target might awaken its Spiritual Wisdom and obtain the corresponding skill.

This process was called Spirit Nurturing.

The technique comprehension was essential because the entire gestation of Spiritual Wisdom was built upon this technique. The technique served as the extraordinary vessel to awaken the target’s conscious thought and Spiritual Wisdom.

This technique would become the foundation of the nurtured spirit—in other words, its talent or bloodline.

This was also why Spirit Nurturing Masters needed to maintain a reserve of learned magic.

The profession associated with this technique was originally in the Summoning Category. It was developed to raise familiars, enhancing their spirituality, bloodline abilities, and so on.

Of course, it had no Spirit Nurturing effect on humans, but the technique comprehension could still be transferred.

In other words, for humans, this thing became a Skill Book with a certain success rate.

Because of this, combined with the technique’s high difficulty, the current market for Spirit Nurturing Beads had gone completely off track. They were no longer used for nurturing familiars.

The vast majority were used like Skill Books, allowing people to quickly learn techniques. This had even become the mainstream use.

After clearly thinking through the principles of the Spirit Nurturing Technique, Zhang Deming began to modify the code.

’If (possess sufficient Spiritual Power AND input corresponding technique comprehension AND cast Spirit Nurturing Technique)

{Then, Spirit Nurturing Technique cast successfully, obtain Spirit Nurturing Light Ball}

Else {Then, Spirit Nurturing Technique cast failed}.’

After finishing the code modification, Zhang Deming checked it for a moment and chose to complete the upload.

Countless runes flickered, finally coalescing on the panel into a light ball. Within it, the shape of a placenta-like rune was faintly visible.

Before the light ball could fly into his body, Zhang Deming caught it with his mind, stopping it from entering his Dantian.

Immediately after, Zhang Deming touched a golden light ball and input the secondary command ’/Dantian/Cultivation Technique’.

This took the editing page directly to the Cultivation Technique Script section.

”Consume Golden Merit to add a script plug-in mount slot.”