The Programmer Cultivator

The scene showed Lake Heart Island, the pool of slime, and the enormous spatial rift at its center. This entire image occupied more than half the sky.

In the scene, numerous Disciples were scrambling to escape the core area, trying to avoid the slime.

But few of them made it out. It seemed that, just as Zhang Deming had guessed, the Array meant for leaving had failed.

There was a silver lining, however: the Teleportation Array was not the only thing that had failed.

All the Light Curtains around the buildings had failed as well.

As a result, many people had no intention of fleeing at all and were instead busy plundering some of the Secret Realm’s most valuable resources.

········

”What is that? A Dragon Turtle?”

”Looks like it, but what’s that tangled up with it?”

”Hiss... So many vertical pupils packed together... it’s making my skin crawl.”

”Look at the center. Is that another, inner space?”

”I think so. And it looks like there’s something inside... Is that a sea? What’s that growing on the surface? Seaweed?”

”Why is this giving me the creeps?”

”It’s coming out! The Dragon Turtle is coming out!”

”······”

Although the entrance had been closed for days, the surrounding crowd was still quite large.

There were plenty of spectators and opportunists, most of whom were Loose Cultivators.

So, even though the Sect had realized something was wrong and had begun organizing an evacuation the moment the trouble started, their efforts weren’t very effective.

There were still many people around, which was precisely why the Sect rarely issued such large-scale announcements.

They had only done so this time because they had discovered the Cyan Wood Secret Realm. The Sect intended to claim it entirely and needed a large number of Disciples to explore it.

As the crowd watched with bated breath, the Dragon Turtle struggled free from the pool of slime and took flight.

While battling thirteen tentacles, it flew continuously upward, attempting to escape the treacherous slime below.

As it raised its head and let out a long, resonant Dragon’s roar, the entire Secret Realm trembled, and the image in the sky wavered.

The Dragon Turtle shot straight up, flying out of the Secret Realm and into the open sky.

······

”Damn it. Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into a total disaster.” Dang Ketao’s expression changed as he shot into the sky, flying toward the Dragon Turtle.

No sooner had he spoken than the Dragon Turtle burst out of the Secret Realm and into the sky.

During the struggle, its dozen or so tentacles flung globs of slime in every direction, which then rained down below.

Dang Ketao had no time for such trivialities; he flew straight for the Dragon Turtle.

Seeing this, Fang Qing’s expression changed. He rapidly floated into the air and thrust his hands toward the heavens.

”Array Dao: Fish Scale Prison River!”

Endless Spiritual Power surged from his hands. Transparent, scale-like patterns spread rapidly from his palms across the sky, expanding to cover a massive area in moments.

”Lend me a hand!” Fang Qing shouted, his face flushed with exertion.

Zhou Tong and the other two exchanged a look. The three of them floated up, forming a triangle around Fang Qing.

”Life: Spiritual Power Share!”

A Rune emerged on Yang Sinan’s brow, and transparent threads of Spiritual Power linked the three of them into a triangle.

Then, another thread emerged from Yang Sinan’s body and connected to Fang Qing.

The strain on the red-faced Fang Qing eased considerably in an instant.

The endless, transparent scales blotted out half the sky, forming a canopy overhead.

At that moment, globs of slime landed on the canopy, which began to rapidly dissolve.

Fang Qing’s expression changed abruptly. His hand seals for the Spell moved in a blur, and then he tossed the canopy up into the sky. The canopy shot from his control, ascending slowly.

Once it was done, he was still uneasy and even severed his connection to the fish-scale canopy.

The three beside him frowned slightly, but no one said a word.

Only after doing all this did he say, ”It’s extremely corrosive. Long-term contact would be a problem.”

After speaking, he glanced around and saw that many people had already realized something was wrong and had begun to scatter. He breathed a small sigh of relief; at least a major disaster hadn’t broken out.

·········

The situation tensed in an instant. Zhang Deming and Li Shifan, who had been under the scrutiny of a group of powerful cultivators, were suddenly ignored.

Seeing the crowds fleeing for their lives all around them, the two exchanged a glance. Li Shifan said decisively, ”Let’s go!”

With that, the two of them immediately joined the crowd heading in the direction of the Sect.

Li Cheng transformed into a streak of light, vanished into the Scroll, and disappeared from above Li Shifan’s head.

The few Duality cultivators in the sky glanced at them but said nothing to stop them, letting them depart.

Zhang Deming and Li Shifan moved quickly, and soon they were out of the valley.

Feeling the intense Energy fluctuations from the sky, Zhang Deming’s expression was conflicted. ’Should I change my identity and go back to get involved?’

Zhang Deming considered it for a moment, but ultimately decided against it.

’Although my Disguise skills are now fundamental enough that I don’t have to worry about being seen through—making a new identity would be easy.’

’But with my current Cultivation, I could only maintain a Cultivation level equivalent to the Dragon Turtle’s for a few minutes before my Spiritual Power runs critical. The duration is too short, leaving very little room to maneuver.’

’Unless I were inside a Three-Star Spirit Vein, where I could rely on my script’s rapid recovery, I might be able to maintain it for a decent amount of time.’

’So, since I can only keep it up for a short while, my options are too limited. After all, a battle between beings of that Cultivation level isn’t something that ends quickly.’

’If I went up there in Disguise using my Main Body, it would be difficult to extricate myself if I got bogged down in a fight.’

’And if I sent a Summoned Incarnation, having two powerful Incarnations at the Three Talents Cultivation level appear in such a short time... anyone would know something was up.’