The Programmer Cultivator

Qu Zhiwen was stunned. He looked at Qu Qingxian in confusion and asked, ”Ancestor, what...?”

Qu Qingxian ignored Qu Zhiwen’s question. Gazing at the dissipating form of Elder Huang, he said somberly, ”The Alliance...”

As the two stood there stunned, the ethereal clouds above the square slowly dissipated.

”Ngh...”

”Ugh...”

”Hmph...”

A series of soft, muffled groans echoed out as the surviving disciples in the square slowly began to awaken one by one.

The first thing they saw was a pile of mangled corpses, all of them the familiar faces of their own kin. Everyone froze on the spot. After a moment, someone in the dazed crowd finally regained their senses.

”No! Xiao Ke!” a father cried, looking at the mangled body of his son before him. He could taste the blood in his mouth as memories of what had just happened came flooding back.

He let out a piercing scream. Ignoring the countless wounds covering his body, he cradled his mutilated son, his roars filled with heart-wrenching agony and endless regret.

But as he tried to lift him, part of his son’s body spilled onto the ground, a cruel reminder of the truth.

The mutilated corpse, the lingering taste of blood—as his memory returned, the scene flashed through his mind again and again, completely out of his control.

It was as if he was lucidly reliving the Purgatory he had just endured, over and over again.

The sorrow of an elder outliving the young is immense, but he had torn his own child apart with his bare hands. As the memory flashed through his mind, his once-whole heart shattered into pieces.

All that remained for the long years ahead was an endless, gray bleakness.

...

”No, I have to be dreaming!” another middle-aged man cried out as he came to. He looked down at the little girl pinned beneath him, his expression turning crazed. As his Dao Heart shattered, he teetered on the brink of madness.

...

”Oh, heavens! What have I done to deserve such a punishment?” cried an elder who looked to be well past sixty. Because he cultivated the Fist Dao, his physique was exceptionally robust.

And for that reason, the scene around him was the most gruesome. Severed limbs and shattered corpses were everywhere. Fragments of viscera clung to his body, and his hands were a bloody pulp.

He himself was barely injured, but his advanced age meant his worldview was firmly set, which in turn meant the psychological blow from certain events was all the more devastating.

He knelt amidst the pile of shredded flesh he had created. As his memories returned, the experience tore him apart from the inside. He remembered that these remains belonged to the little ones who used to run and play at his feet.

He threw his head back and let out a long wail, a sound of pure agony that seemed to weep blood, carrying an endless, desolate sorrow.

”Sixth Uncle, get up! This isn’t your fault! If anyone’s to blame, it’s those Demon Cultivators! It’s those Five Elements Remnants!”

At some point, Qu Zhiwen had already run down from the high platform. Seeing the old man kneeling in the gore, he ignored the grisly scene and struggled to pull him to his feet.

But the elder’s face was ashen. He stared blankly at his own hands, completely withdrawn into himself.

...

”Why? Why did you bring me back?! Wouldn’t it have been better to just let me die?” another Disciple screamed at Qu Zhiwen, unable to accept the reality of the situation.

As more people in the square awoke, no matter how grievous their wounds, few paid any mind to their own injuries after regaining their senses.

Some stared blankly, unable to believe what they had done.

Others fell into despair, their Dao Hearts in such turmoil that their cultivation was on the verge of collapsing into a Scattered Dao, their very Spirit threatening to disperse.

Still others, driven to madness, clawed through the fleshy remains, frantically trying to piece them back together as if that could bring the dead back to life, desperate to undo what had been done...

As everyone in the square awoke and regained their senses, the entire plaza was plunged into grief. This scene, as if they had all just returned from Purgatory, caused Qu Zhiwen—the only one among them who was unharmed—even greater pain.

On the high platform overlooking the square, Qu Qingxian watched his kinsmen below, his expression sorrowful as his Spiritual Power roiled within him.

Even for one of his great age, seeing his people in such a state, watching his own descendants meet such a fate, his Dao Heart was thrown into turmoil and could not be calmed.

Perhaps his preparations had been too thorough. Perhaps his emotions in this moment were simply too turbulent. Or perhaps, this was the very Dao he was meant to walk.

He, who had long been in a state of Mana Overflow, suddenly felt his Spiritual Power surge, and a Water Attribute Dragon Snake materialized.

The Dragon and Snake, part snake and part dragon, had no horns but possessed claws—it was a Snake-Attribute Chi Dragon. After appearing, its lower body coiled around Qu Qingxian, its front claws resting on his shoulders.

Its pair of hollow dragon eyes, devoid of any Spiritual Light, stared blankly at the square below, just like Qu Qingxian. Then, a faint ripple stirred within that empty gaze.

A transparent, ethereal stream of water flowed out from Qu Qingxian’s unconscious body, meandering across the entire square.

Wherever the stream passed, strange motes of Spiritual Light from within the severed limbs and bloody gore were drawn into it. The faint, pervasive aura of sin and corruption also vanished into the current.

The once-ghastly square gradually cleared and purified as the stream flowed through.

When the stream finished its course, all that remained in the square were the wounded and the broken, along with the physical remains. The chaotic, corrupting aura that had afflicted their minds was completely gone.

But the once-clear stream had become turbid, a blood-red tinged with pitch-black, and it now emanated a thick, ominous aura of sin.

The stream, now countless times its original size, flowed directly back, sinking into the body of the Water Dragon and completing its Fusion.