The Programmer Cultivator

Dang Mengfu nodded and said, ”Yes, that includes these Techniques.”

As they spoke, ten hardcover books appeared on the counter. The two Cultivation Techniques in particular, though not as exquisite as the samples from earlier, had clearly been handled with great care.

Zhang Deming picked up the books and glanced through them before putting them away. He looked at Dang Mengfu and said, ”Well then, I won’t keep you from your research on Daoist Techniques.”

With that, Zhang Deming turned and left the Scripture Pavilion. Dang Mengfu watched his back for a long time before lowering his head and returning to his work.

He was a competent Guardian Tower; matters outside the Scripture Pavilion were not his concern. The only reason he had offered so much advice before was because his surname was Dang, and he had a second great-uncle to answer to.

...

After leaving the Scripture Pavilion, Zhang Deming focused his mind. With a mere thought, a pair of magnificent, enormous, fluorescent wings coalesced from countless points of spiritual power behind him.

With a gentle beat of his wings, Zhang Deming left Celestial Spirit Peak and headed for the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower.

’Completely breaking free from the shackles of gravity, making the leap into flight, and soaring freely through the sky... it’s truly an amazing experience.’

’This is completely different from an airplane. No wonder so many people in my past life fell in love with wingsuit flying, despite the extreme danger. Flying... it’s a truly unique experience.’

He used his Identity Card to pass through the protective barrier of the Flying Spring Waterfall and enter the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower. Zhang Deming went straight to the Cultivation Room on the third floor.

With a flip of his hand, he took out the ten new Technique manuals he had just received. First, Zhang Deming picked out the two Cultivation Techniques: the *Fire Separation Body Cultivation Method* and the *Wu Earth Storage Qi Method*.

Looking at the two Cultivation Techniques, Zhang Deming felt a surge of excitement. After a long moment, he calmed himself and began the fusion of the two techniques.

Holding the two Cultivation Techniques, Zhang Deming willed it, touching two Qi Fortune Light Balls to begin the integration.

Just as he had expected, the system didn’t require him to unequip his existing Cultivation Technique. The two new ones were fused and integrated on top of it.

This time, the integration wasn’t instantaneous. The swirling, vortex-like Cultivation Technique Script spun for a long time before the fusion was complete.

When it was finally complete, Zhang Deming looked at the Cultivation Technique Script.

Cultivation Technique: Five Elements Secret Scripture: Fragment (Pseudo-Seven Tier)

Cultivation: Duality Lv1 (12.3/4,000,000)

Rune Core: Spirit Nurturing Vine Demon Summoning Skill Lv4 (0/200)

Branch Runes: Omitted...

Skills: Omitted...

Spiritual Power Recovery: 300 Spiritual Power/1 minute

Experience Growth: 30 Experience/1 minute

By fusing two Tier Five Cultivation Techniques, Zhang Deming had thought he could reach Tier Seven, but he had clearly been too optimistic. He had only managed to take half a step forward.

’It seems the leap from a Law Level technique to a Scripture is not so easy to make. Still, even though the Cultivation Technique only reached the Pseudo-Seven Tier, the improvements are immense.’

’First, the Experience Point cap has dropped again, from six million down to four million—a full two-million-point reduction. It seems a Pseudo-Seven Tier Cultivation Technique really optimizes cultivation at the Duality stage.’

’Second, the Spiritual Power Recovery and growth rates have made a groundbreaking leap. At a glance, you might just think my Spiritual Power Recovery went from two hundred to three hundred, and Experience Growth from twenty to thirty.’

’But if you look closely, the time frame has been reduced by a factor of three. What does that mean?’

’It means the circulation speed of my Cultivation Technique has increased by at least threefold. And that brings much more than just a small boost.’

’A faster-circulating Cultivation Technique means faster Qi replenishing. The amount of Spiritual Power I can output in a given time increases, and the power of my Techniques will multiply. In short, it’s a comprehensive upgrade.’

’Upgrading a Cultivation Technique is different from upgrading a Technique. A Technique provides a specific improvement, while a Cultivation Technique provides a comprehensive one.’

After a long while, Zhang Deming finished exploring the changes from his upgraded Cultivation Technique. He then took out another manual: the Tier One Technique, *Splitting Skill*.

Focusing his mind, he began to edit the Technique.

Although the technique’s effect was peculiar due to a mutation, the editing process itself was standard. This suggested that using it wouldn’t be strange either.

Once he was done with that, Zhang Deming took out the fourth Technique manual, *Dao Mark Summoning*. This was a Tier Two Technique, and editing it required two portions of Qi Fortune.

After a moment’s hesitation to carefully consider the technique’s effects, Zhang Deming decided not to use the standard two portions of Qi Fortune. Instead, he selected a ’Branch’ and a ’Sequence’ rune.

’Nowadays, he could always find a few ’Sequence’ light balls among a batch of dozens. The probability was quite stable. With a decent supply, they were no longer considered rare and he could get one whenever he needed.’

”Ordinary Energy: 2. Small plug-in can be edited.

Editing conditions met!

...”

As the prompt appeared and the Qi Fortune was consumed, an exceptionally simple line of code materialized.

Zhang Deming: Dantian > {Initiate Technique, Generate Dao Mark}

Looking at this exceptionally simple passive core code, Zhang Deming pondered for a moment. ’With this technique’s effect, does it matter if it’s passive?’

’Or rather, would it be better for this technique to be completely passive?’

’After all, this technique’s purpose is to place Dao Marks on a Summoning Object. If it becomes a passive skill, then every time I summon something, any Summoning Object will automatically be tagged with a Dao Mark.’

’There’s no downside for me in that—at least, none that I can see.’

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Deming decided not to change it into a semi-passive skill but to keep it fully passive. However, just to be safe, he still made one small tweak.