The Programmer Cultivator

”Old Ancestor!” Li Shifan murmured resentfully, but he didn’t resist.

Hearing this, Li Cheng paused. The movement of his hand stopped, and he spoke. ”Fellow Daoist, are you still not going to show yourself? Do you truly wish to take a trip inside my painting?”

”The ladle of the Sinan, cast upon the ground, its handle points south, revealing the path ahead!”

Following the soft chant, a bronze-colored ladle appeared within the Scroll floating above Li Cheng’s head. The ladle twitched slightly before leaping directly out of the Scroll.

It came to a stop a short distance in front of Li Shifan and Li Cheng.

The bronze ladle spun a few times, and an Eight Trigrams pattern appeared beneath it. The ladle instantly became still.

Behind it, two figures slowly materialized.

One old, one young. The old man appeared to be around sixty, while the boy was still green, only about thirteen or fourteen years old.

”An Artifact Cultivator?” Li Cheng said, his expression darkening as he looked at the Sinan.

”Greetings, Fellow Daoist. I am the old Daoist, Xu Baiqing. A pleasure to make your acquaintance!” the old man said respectfully to Li Cheng after appearing.

Li Cheng nodded slightly in response. ”Hello. A Sinan Artifact is either skilled in tracking or has a Mastery of the Karma Technique.

”In that case, was it you, Fellow Daoist, who lured that Enchanting Spirit Deer here? I wonder what your intentions are.”

The old man, Xu Baiqing, smiled faintly. ”No particular intention. My young companion was just being mischievous for a moment. Your Disciple wasn’t harmed, so I trust you won’t mind, Fellow Daoist.”

Li Cheng’s brow furrowed slightly. ”If that’s the case and you’ve explained the ’accident,’ then please be on your way.”

”Third Uncle!” At that moment, the boy beside the old Daoist couldn’t help but call out as he looked at Li Shifan on the ground. Xu Baiqing glanced at the boy, giving him a reassuring look.

Then, he turned to Li Cheng, a broad smile on his face. ”This old Daoist has an impudent request. I was wondering if you could...”

Before he could finish, Li Cheng cut in coolly, ”If it’s an impudent request, then don’t bother making it. We are complete strangers and have no such friendship between us.”

Xu Baiqing paused for a moment, maintaining his amiable smile. ”Fellow Daoist, while you may have barely managed to attain Duality Cultivation, it must be due to a sublimation of your Painting Dao, correct?

”Furthermore, judging by the way you acted just now, you must have forcibly sublimated your Lifebound Painting. That must have triggered some kind of penalty from the Painting Dao, and the cost was surely not small, was it?

”Otherwise, you wouldn’t have suddenly stopped. I imagine you sensed my own Cultivation and realized that truly trapping me would have come at a great cost.

”Though I may be unworthy, I am, at the very least, a veteran Duality Cultivator. Under these circumstances, are you truly certain you don’t wish to hear my request, Fellow Daoist?”

These words, which were practically a naked threat, made both Li Shifan’s and Li Cheng’s hearts sink. Li Cheng remained silent. Li Shifan, having caught his breath, stood up and said, ”Senior, I wonder what business you have to discuss with my ancestor and me.”

Li Cheng glanced at Li Shifan but said nothing.

Seeing this, Xu Baiqing once again revealed his amiable smile. ’It must be fate,’ he thought. ’Due to his Physique, this junior of mine is quite suited to begin on the Heart Spirit Path.

’He has some talent, but as you know, Fellow Daoist, progressing in the Heart Spirit Dao is exceedingly difficult at the Low-Tier Secret Levels.

’That is why I specifically used my Artifact this time to perform a divination. I brought him into the mountains to seek his Karma Technique.

’And what do you know? Shortly after entering the mountains, we serendipitously ran into you two. It seems this junior of mine has quite the Blessed Source.’

Li Shifan froze upon hearing this, then asked hesitantly, ”Senior, could it be that you want the thing on my back?”

Li Cheng’s face darkened. He shot Li Shifan a look as if he were staring at an idiot. ’Isn’t that just giving him an opening to demand it!’

Xu Baiqing took it all in. A pleased expression appeared on his face as he thought, ’It seems the younger of this pair is still too inexperienced.’ He then said aloud, ”Little friend, you truly are a reasonable person. And I am not a greedy man.

”I believe what you’ve harvested is the Heart-Connected Lotus Root, correct? I won’t ask for much. Just five sections of the lotus root and one Lotus Platform will suffice.”

Looking at Xu Baiqing’s amiable smile, Li Cheng’s already dark expression grew even more grim, a cold light flashing in his eyes.

They had a total of a Six-Section Lotus Root and one Lotus Platform. The fact that the man could so accurately offer to leave them with just a single section proved he must have been following them for some time.

His face grim, he sneered, ”You’ve got some nerve, Fellow Daoist. Are you robbing us? Do you think you have us dead to rights?”

Xu Baiqing once again revealed his amiable smile. ”What do you mean by that, Fellow Daoist? Am I not having a friendly discussion with you two? Where does this talk of robbery come from?”

Li Cheng gave a cold laugh. ”So what if we’re unwilling and just turn around and leave?”

Maintaining his friendly smile, Xu Baiqing said, ”I would advise you to think it over carefully, Fellow Daoist.”

At this, Li Shifan said fearfully, ”Senior, these things aren’t ours. We can’t make the decision.”

Hearing this, Li Cheng shot Li Shifan another glare, disappointed in his lack of backbone.

Xu Baiqing’s expression flickered. ”Oh? Then whose are they?”

Li Shifan glanced timidly at Xu Baiqing and said, ”They belong to an elder in our family. We are just looking after them on his behalf.”

’An elder?’ Xu Baiqing thought, glancing at Li Cheng. ’If I recall correctly, this boy has been calling him ’Old Ancestor’ this whole time.’

Xu Baiqing smiled amiably. ”No matter. If your family elder truly comes looking to assign blame, you can just tell him to find me. How does that sound, little friend?”

Hearing this, Li Shifan wore a timid expression. He looked as if he wanted to say something but held his tongue, wanting to object but not daring to.

Watching Li Shifan’s performance, Li Cheng felt he was losing face. His expression darkened as he looked at Xu Baiqing and said, ”Hmph. It doesn’t matter if these things are mine or not. Even if they were, we’d have to settle this with a fight first.”

”Since you are so intent on a spar, Fellow Daoist, it would be disrespectful of me to refuse.” With that, he waved his hand, sending the boy standing beside him away from the confrontation.

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