The Programmer Cultivator

By this point, the four of them were already in the air above Spirit Nurturing Peak. Gan Zili said, ”Yes, there should be plenty to do today. Let’s part ways here for now.”

Zhang Deming paused at his words, giving Gan Zili a puzzled look before replying, ”Alright. I’ll remember what you said, Senior Brother.”

The group then parted ways. Zhang Deming flew toward the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower, while Gan Zili and the other two headed for the Mountain Peak Cloud Pool.

...

「Celestial Spirit Sect, Inner Sect—Wanghui Peak.」

Wanghui Peak as a whole was not just a place to punish disciples; it was also where the Celestial Spirit Sect handled all its unsavory affairs.

This included the slaughter of higher-tier farmed Demon Beasts, the disposal of their lingering resentful energy, and even the rare excretions of Cultivators and the waste from Advanced Demon Beasts. The resulting accumulation of Spiritual Feces was used to produce High-Tier Spiritual Fattening, which in turn fertilized the Star-Level Spirit Fields.

All these things—anything that might blemish the Sect’s immortal image—were processed here.

Despite the Celestial Spirit Sect’s Inner Sect appearing filled to the brim with Immortal Qi and projecting an otherworldly, immortal ambiance...

There were still plenty of mundane, unclean matters. Before reaching the Duality realm, for instance, a Cultivator couldn’t avoid the need to relieve themselves. After reaching the Duality realm, however, those on certain cultivation paths were able to resolve this issue.

Take Zhang Deming for example. Even at the Tai Chi stage, he could use his Vine Technique to handle excretory functions. After reaching Duality, he could transform his entire arms into vines—so what else couldn’t he transform?

The reason one so rarely caught a whiff of this so-called ”Red Dust” within the Inner Sect was simply because Wanghui Peak handled it all.

Thus, Wanghui Peak was known among the Inner Sect peaks as the one with ”an odor,” which was also why it was designated as a place of punishment.

Punishments here weren’t limited to the traditional ”facing the wall in contemplation.” For more serious offenses, there was facing the wall in the Evil Wind Cave. And beyond that, there were even more unconventional punishments...

Well... while they might be unconventional by the standards of other Immortal Sects, they had long since become traditions at the Celestial Spirit Sect.

At the Celestial Spirit Sect, for punishments requiring a trip to Wanghui Peak, the oft-mentioned wall-facing wasn’t the ultimate penalty. It was merely the Entry-Level punishment.

The various forms of ”reform through labor” were the advanced punishments. Among these, special labor assignments where one was forbidden from using Techniques or Artifacts, or even had their Spiritual Power sealed, were the ultimate penalties.

If one did a stint here and underwent this ”reform through labor,” in the eyes of other disciples, you’d carry ”an odor” for several years after your release.

Even the management positions on Wanghui Peak were considered ”odorous” and a form of special punishment. As a result, only two core departments were involved with the entire peak: the Miscellaneous Affairs Department and the Law Enforcement Team.

The Law Enforcement Team’s involvement was minor, at that. It was mainly because they sent the most people here for punishment, so they needed a standard quota of personnel to help manage the peak.

This made it the only one of the Inner Sect Fifteen Peaks free from the complex infighting of the four core departments. In this regard, it was even more clear-cut than Spirit Nurturing Peak.

Of course, while these factors were significant, they shouldn’t have been enough to completely eliminate infighting on Wanghui Peak. After all, wherever there are people, there is profit; and wherever there is profit, there is conflict.

Normally, these factors should have only resulted in less infighting and conflict over profits, not a complete absence of it.

Surprisingly, however, Wanghui Peak was not just a place involving only the Law Enforcement Team and Miscellaneous Affairs Department; it was also a place with no conflicts of interest, making it unusually pure. It seemed to be nothing more than a place of punishment.

The reason for this state of affairs, beyond the inherent factors of the peak itself, was an Inner Sect clan that managed Wanghui Peak: a Noble Family of ”salted fish” comparable to the legendary Salted Fish Guardian—the Guan Family of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department.

As a Three Talents Clan, and a long-established Jingnian Sancai Family at that, they should have held significant influence within the Inner Sect.

But from top to bottom, the Guan Family was exceptionally unambitious—true ”salted fish.” Their presence in the Sect as a whole was minimal, and it was low even within the Miscellaneous Affairs Department.

Their ancestor, Guan Shouxin, was so unambitious that to avoid trouble, he had voluntarily relinquished the vast majority of the profits generated by Wanghui Peak—resources like Spiritual Fattening, Evil Qi, and Filthy Blood, all produced with free labor.

Even though the Guan Family controlled the vast majority of Wanghui Peak, they didn’t skim any profits. Every one of them lived an austere life, focusing on their cultivation. The entire clan truly possessed some of the legendary bearing of an Immortal Family.

They cultivated diligently, kept their heads down, and focused on their duties, rarely involving themselves in the Sect’s messy internal politics.

Furthermore, the disciples of the Guan Family could either be found working on Wanghui Peak or serving as Spirit Farmers in the Wu Earth Secret Realm. Only in these two places did they have any noticeable presence.

In other areas, there were actually quite a few members of the Guan Family, but most of them worked quietly, never fighting or vying for power. They were exceptionally unambitious, and because of this, they were actually very well-liked.

This also caused many among the Sect’s upper echelon to take notice of them. They specifically sought out Guan Shouxin, asking him to pick a side so they could support his family in becoming a top-tier Noble Family of the Inner Sect.

But all these invitations vanished without a response. Guan Shouxin and the Guan Family simply continued to dutifully guard the ”odorous” Wanghui Peak, quietly going about their business.

As a result, members of the Guan Family had spread throughout the Inner and Outer Sects over the years... though only in low-level positions involving actual, practical work. In other words, they were the ones doing the manual labor.

Today, as he had for countless years, Guan Shouxin was cultivating peacefully in his Cave Mansion. Suddenly, in the midst of his meditation, his expression shifted. He focused his senses for a moment, then his brow furrowed deeply.

He immediately reached out and gave a gentle wave of his hand. The Array in the Cultivation Room flickered, and Guan Shouxin’s figure vanished.

When he reappeared, he was in an unknown location. All he could determine was that he was deep underground—very deep.

Judging by his surroundings, there were also sizable structures in this subterranean place.

Guan Shouxin appeared in a massive chamber. The room contained only a single, enormous, specially crafted altar. Its style was somewhat similar to the Celestial Heart Altar, but it lacked the five attributes; this one was purely of the Earth Attribute.