The Programmer Cultivator

A moment later, when everything settled, his Merit had increased by five and a half, and his Qi Fortune had also increased by five and a half. It was a standard amount, just like with Feng Mingyou, but slightly better.

Now, in his inventory, with a month’s savings plus the contributions from the three people he had helped, his stats were: Merit: 30.4, Qi Fortune: 56.7, Karma: 1.4.

Fifty Qi Fortune was enough to raise one Technique to the Law Level. If he chose Oratory, he’d have enough left over to upgrade a Tier Two Technique as well. His Merit, on the other hand, was more than plentiful. Looking at his resources, an idea struck Zhang Deming.

”Consume one Merit to unlock a mounting slot?”

”Yes!”

”Mount Sword Control Skill? Please note: this is not a Cultivation Technique slot. Once mounted, it cannot be removed.”

”Yes!”

”Consume forty Qi Fortune to upgrade Oratory Word Spirit to Tier Four?”

”Yes!”

”Consume ten Qi Fortune to upgrade Sword Control Skill to Tier Three?”

”Yes!”

As his Qi Fortune was rapidly consumed, the Techniques on his panel began to change.

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Cultivation Technique: Water Wood Divine Control Skill ● Law (Tier Six)

Cultivation: Duality Lv1 (11.3/600/10,000)

Rune Core: Spirit Nurturing Summoning Technique Lv4 (0/100)

Branch Runes: Enhancement Skill Lv4 (0/600), Oratory Word Spirit Lv4 (0/100), Sleeve Qiankun Lv3 (20/100),

Skills: Ruyi Jade Demon Blood-Sucking Vine Lv4 (0/100), Hidden Breath Technique Lv3 (0/50), Flying Technique ● Remnant Lv3 (0/50), Spiritual Shield Lv3 (0/50), Yin Yang Chess Dao: Position Lv3 (0/50), Heart Dream Control Lv3 (0/50), Reconnaissance·Spiritual Eye Lv3 (0/50), Sword Control Skill Lv3 (0/50)

Spiritual Power Recovery: 200 Spiritual Power/3 minutes

Experience Growth: 20 Experience/3 minutes

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With Oratory Word Spirit reaching the Law Level, Zhang Deming could sense a deep entanglement between it and his Rune Core. However, because he hadn’t used Word Spirit to achieve his First Transition, something was still missing.

’If I want some strange transformation to occur from the entanglement of these two techniques, I’ll probably have to wait until my Second or Third Transition.’

As for the Oratory skill itself, by reaching the Law Level without a specialization, it not only gained the abilities of all three branches, but each was also far stronger than if he had focused on a single one.

In addition to this, he could now use Word Spirit to activate other Techniques, not only eliminating the need for hand seals but also enhancing their effects.

After a long while, Zhang Deming finally finished processing the benefits of his Technique’s promotion and looked at his inventory again.

Merit: 29.4, Qi Fortune: 6.7, Karma: 1.4.

’I’m poor again. It’s always like this, I’ve never been rich! What a sad state of affairs!’

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After a long while, Zhang Deming finally exited the Spirit Nurturing Space. The moment he came to, he saw Li Shifan staring at him as if he were a monster.

Zhang Deming paused, slightly taken aback. ”What’s wrong?” he asked. ”Why are you looking at me like that?”

Li Shifan said in amazement, ”Senior Brother, did you just have a breakthrough?”

The promotion of a Law-Level Technique didn’t cause a huge disturbance, but Li Shifan, who was standing guard beside him, had at least sensed the fluctuations in Zhang Deming’s aura.

Although he didn’t know what Zhang Deming had upgraded, he couldn’t have been mistaken about the signs of advancing Cultivation and a strengthening aura.

Zhang Deming paused for a moment before nodding. ”Mm, I had a sudden moment of insight just now. A small gain.”

’I thought you were in spiritual communion with someone, just like me, but now you’re telling me you just had a sudden feeling and... broke through just like that???’

Li Shifan was completely baffled. Before he could say anything more, a scroll materialized in his palm. He and Zhang Deming whipped their heads around to look at Li Cheng, who was also standing silently.

Li Cheng stood silently to the side as the miniature scroll flew from Li Shifan’s palm. It began to grow, hovering above Li Cheng’s head before slowly unrolling.

The scroll originally depicted a landscape with a thatched cottage. Now, in the small courtyard in front of the cottage, a Spirit Sword slowly coalesced into existence.

Once the Spirit Sword was fully formed, it leaped out of the scroll and appeared before Li Cheng. The newly born Sword Spirit was excited and nimble, darting rapidly around him.

Zhang Deming sensed the Sword Spirit’s aura and found it was remarkably similar to that of the Sword Shadows he had just shattered.

Li Cheng was also exceptionally excited as he looked at the Spirit Sword. For over four hundred years, ever since he’d become a ”salted fish” scroll, his strength hadn’t increased one bit.

Now, thanks to the five beads, he had finally overcome the hurdle of the Duality realm and was no longer in a state of fluctuation.

More importantly, this promotion had caused a change in his Lifebound Painting. It was as if he could finally see the hope of his Cultivation advancing once more, dispelling the endless despair.

Furthermore, the birth of this Spirit Sword meant he no longer had to draw on and consume Li Shifan’s Qi Fortune every time he acted.

However, the Spirit Sword also inherited the characteristics of the previous Sword Shadows—both their strengths and weaknesses. Its attacks were strange and powerful, but it was also incredibly fragile.

Moreover, he only had this one Spirit Sword for now. If it shattered, Li Cheng would be in for a world of hurt. Therefore, even though this method no longer consumed Qi Fortune, it definitely couldn’t be used as a conventional tactic.

But no matter how you looked at it, this was a good start.

Following Li Cheng’s breakthrough, Zhang Deming felt a surge of Qi Fortune and Merit, but because it was only a physical entanglement and lacked the deep connection of the Spirit Nurturing Technique, his Qi Fortune and Merit only increased by less than half a point each.

This pained Zhang Deming somewhat. After all, according to the preliminary rules of ”Destiny Alteration” he had worked out, changing the destiny of a ”salted fish” like Li Cheng—who could barely even be considered a whole person anymore—should have yielded a far greater reward than what he got from Feng Mingyou and Qin Shizhong’s Foundation Establishments, if only he’d been connected through the Spirit Nurturing Technique.

”Old Ancestor, you broke through too?” Li Shifan asked, looking at Li Cheng with a strange expression.

Li Cheng gave a heartfelt smile, nodded, and replied, ”Mm, and I have Little Friend Zhang’s Spirit Beads to thank for it. With their help, this old man finally has hope of restarting his path of cultivation.”

Zhang Deming smiled and replied, ”It has little to do with me. It was all due to Senior’s exquisite Cultivation.”

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PS: My district is about to go into lockdown because of the pandemic. I’m going home today so I don’t get trapped inside and miss the New Year...

If I can get out, the second Chapter will depend on what time I get home. If it’s too late, there might only be one Chapter today. If I can’t get out, the second Chapter will be at the usual time. Er, now that I mention it, you guys aren’t all going to curse me to get trapped, are you?

Mmm, you probably wouldn’t. My readers are too good for that. You’ll act like decent human beings!