The Programmer Cultivator

”So, Pavilion Master, you’re saying he’s just browsing randomly, without any purpose? Is that even possible?” Dang Mengfu asked incredulously, glancing from the Zhang Deming in the hall to the Zhang Deming in the projection.

In the hall, Zhang Deming was making some effort to be discreet, but the Zhang Deming in the projection... anyone could tell he was flipping through the Magic Scriptures with a clear purpose.

Zhao Yuan paused for a moment before saying, ”It’s obviously impossible for him to have no purpose. I just said we can be certain he isn’t trying to copy the Daoist Collection. As for any other goal, I have no idea.”

Dang Mengfu asked hesitantly, ”In that case, Pavilion Master, have you discovered any special Dao Seeds?”

There are many Hongmeng Demon Cultivators. Some of their methods are quite bizarre; they like to use certain channels to plant Dao Seeds in other Cultivators for ulterior motives.

Zhao Yuan was slightly taken aback. He shook his head and said, ”What are you thinking? You really do spend all day cooped up in the Main Pavilion, completely oblivious to everything else.

Knowing he’s a Reincarnator, how could the Sect not have checked him for Resentful Spirits? If he were a Demon Cultivator, forget about making it all the way to us—he wouldn’t have even passed the initial screening at the Celestial Spirit Hall.

The reason the Sect places so much importance on this kid is precisely because he’s too clean. When he was tested, forget Resentful Spirits, he didn’t even have much accumulated resentment.

In his past life, he might not have ever killed a person, or even taken many lives at all. He’s exceptionally pure and clean. That’s why the Sect speculates he wasn’t very old before he reincarnated and was likely a genius.

For all these reasons, plus the fact that he’s a Spirit Nurturing Master, the Sect holds him in such high regard. Otherwise, do you really think just being a Reincarnator would be enough to get him this level of clearance in our Sect?”

Upon hearing this, Dang Mengfu didn’t pay much attention to the other details. The main thing he picked up was that there were no abnormal Dao Seeds, and the weight on his chest lifted.

Or rather, he simply didn’t care about anything else. He was from a Direct Lineage of Guardian Towers and had been a Guardian Tower for centuries; he’d long since settled into being a ’salted fish’. Even with the surname Dang, he had no desire to get involved in the internal conflicts of the Sect’s various departments.

At that moment, the scenes before Zhao Yuan changed rapidly, showing everything from the Outer Sect Scripture Pavilion to the Spirit Nurturing Peak Sub-Pavilion. The entire recording played out in a flash.

When all the footage was pieced together, it was clear that Zhang Deming definitely had some kind of objective.

After the footage finished playing, Dang Mengfu asked, ”So what on earth is he doing? It’s obviously impossible for him to be aimless.”

Zhao Yuan also frowned deeply. ”I’m not sure. I’ve checked every angle I can. I can’t be sure about other things, but there’s at least one thing I’m certain of: he’s probably not after the Daoist Collection.”

Hearing this, Dang Mengfu’s mindset instantly reverted to that of a salted fish. ”Oh,” he said. ”In that case, this Disciple knows how to proceed.”

As long as Zhang Deming wasn’t after the Daoist Collection and wasn’t setting up some secret scheme in their Scripture Pavilion, Dang Mengfu couldn’t care less about anything else. Zhao Yuan didn’t react to this, either.

The two old salted fish watched this obviously suspicious scene, but once they confirmed the target wasn’t after the Daoist Collection and wasn’t planting any traps, both of them lost all interest in investigating further.

It was a testament to just how much of a salted fish he was. This incident also revealed how the entire culture and attitude of the Guardian Towers had come to be.

Before Zhao Yuan’s illusory form could dissipate, both men froze. Zhang Deming, who had been flipping through books nonstop, had suddenly stopped.

······

Zhang Deming, who had been flipping through books relentlessly, made a slight effort to cover his tracks by glancing at each Technique. Although it was just a brief scan, he at least looked at every single one.

He knew this was still suspicious, but his current strength and status were enough to allow him this leeway. As long as he wasn’t targeting the Scripture Pavilion itself, he believed there was no real danger.

At most, it would pique some people’s curiosity and desire to investigate, but with his current power, he was no longer afraid of such things. The reason he bothered with a bit of concealment was simply a show of respect for the Main Pavilion. ’A gesture of goodwill, perhaps?’

Because of this, he had a rough idea of the effects of every Technique he picked up. The reason he stopped now was that one particular Technique had caught his attention.

In the Dao Mark category, there were all sorts of Seed Dao Skills. Of course, these weren’t malicious traps; most were intended for use on the Sect’s own Disciples, with many functioning like a pair of eyes.

To put it more vividly, it was like planting a ward on a Disciple. Most of the Techniques in the Dao Mark section were protective in nature, meant to safeguard junior Disciples. Of course, there were also plenty of others with all sorts of strange and varied effects.

Some of these Techniques had bizarre effects, while others had strange cultivation requirements. All in all, it was a chaotic, motley collection.

What caught Zhang Deming’s eye was a Tier One Technique, the *Splitting Skill*. After browsing the technique’s description and its effects, he was completely captivated.

Description: This is a mutated Technique. The original developer, in the process of jointly developing the Soul Splitting Technique, Puppet Avatar Technique, and Possession Dao Mark Technique, was attempting to split a soul into an avatar to achieve a true avatar summoning, similar to a second Incarnation.

The goal was to create a second Incarnation indistinguishable from the Main Body, achieving the effect of a high-level Life-Saving Technique.

However, during development, the Technique mutated. Instead of achieving a second Incarnation, it developed the effect of Splitting the Dao.

Using this Skill, one can temporarily split one’s own Dao and, using any Dao Mark method, plant the splintered Dao into a Disciple or a marked target to provide them with protection.

Special Reminder: As this is a mutated Technique, do not use it to plant a Dao Seed unless the recipient is an extremely close junior.