The Programmer Cultivator

Zhang Deming stood frozen, lost in thought for a long time before he came back to his senses. After a while, the profound sense of ancientness enveloping his body slowly faded away.

Looking at the now-calm black mist before him, Zhang Deming pondered for a moment. As his Spiritual Power surged, the black mist, under a sky full of dreamlike Spiritual Light, slowly took on Zhang Deming’s appearance.

The figure was somewhat ethereal and blurry, like a low-quality holographic image.

This was Zhang Deming’s first true Dream Spirit. From the moment he learned Heart Dream Control, it had developed a Summoning-oriented extension due to the influence of his Summoning core.

But now that he had developed it to the Tier Four Magic Level, he had never extracted anyone’s soul as material to create a permanent Dream Spirit.

Before, the most he had done was spend some time to condense a Dream Spirit with a bit of Spiritual Wisdom, but those things couldn’t exist permanently.

However, this Dream Spirit before him, created using Qu Wenbai’s Residual Soul as material, could be granted Wisdom and even memories if Zhang Deming wished, allowing it to become a true living being.

Looking at the ethereal figure, Zhang Deming tossed it into the Incarnation lying in the Cultivation Room. The Incarnation, which had been like an empty shell, began to transform continuously, appearing like a real person lying there, sleeping peacefully.

Even Zhang Deming himself, without relying on his internal connection, couldn’t tell which was the Incarnation and which was his Main Body just by looking at their external appearance.

Looking at the physical Incarnation lying before him, Zhang Deming smiled. This Incarnation had truly become a second body, and in some ways, it even surpassed the concept of one.

A second body could be used as a physical form, and one could even transfer their consciousness to it if their Main Body perished, but the Cultivation of the incarnation and the Main Body were not shared.

As for Qu Wenbai, with half his Soul Mist remaining, he probably wasn’t completely dead, but he couldn’t be considered alive either! And there was little to no chance of him ever recovering.

At least, as long as this Incarnation of Zhang Deming’s existed, he would have no chance of recovery.

...

After dealing with the black mist, Zhang Deming took out the strangely ordinary Celestial Heart Treasure Box. Thanks to his exploration of the memories, Zhang Deming was now completely certain that this battered box was indeed the Celestial Heart Treasure Box.

As for what was inside the Treasure Box, he knew, and yet he didn’t.

As his thoughts raced, Zhang Deming performed the Spell according to the method in the memories. As his Spiritual Power surged, the Celestial Heart Treasure Box, which he had been unable to open no matter what he tried before, opened with a CLICK.

A strange fluctuation spread out, and a bead resembling a Luminous Bead appeared in the box.

Inside the bead, numerous fragmented Runes could be clearly seen floating about. The entire bead emitted a strange fluctuation, but other than that, there was nothing else.

No matter how Zhang Deming examined it, he couldn’t find anything else special. His own knowledge contained not a single scrap of information about this thing, and the memories he had searched only contained an impression of this bead.

Qu Wenbai hadn’t known what it was either, only that it was the key to the Celestial Heart Sacrifice. Without it, the Celestial Heart Sacrifice could not proceed beyond a certain stage.

Zhang Deming looked at the bead and studied it for a long time, but eventually had to give up. He didn’t try anything rash. With the grand assembly approaching, now was not the time for reckless experiments.

If he caused some major disturbance, it would attract the attention of many people, and this was no small matter. Even if he were to experiment, he would have to wait until things in the Sect calmed down and he had proper protections in place.

...

Zhang Deming closed the Celestial Heart Treasure Box again and, after checking it over, carefully returned it to his storeroom.

He glanced around the storeroom, which was now quite well-stocked. However, most of the items were from his Peak Master allotment and the like; the truly precious things only filled a single shelf.

Well, since he had plenty of space in his storage bag, he had moved the most valuable items into it.

He originally had no intention of carrying them on his person, but now, the change in his Spirit Nurturing Space—its existence as a completely physical space—had given him an idea.

He walked up to a shelf and, with a tentative wave of his sleeve, his storage bag actually budged. Although it wasn’t ultimately pulled in, it wasn’t because it was impossible, but simply because the physical space of the storage bag exceeded the capacity of his Spirit Nurturing Space.

Even so, Zhang Deming smiled. This meant his Spirit Nurturing Space was not an ordinary type of space; it was a Grotto Heaven, or rather, a small world type of space.

This was because ordinary Mirror Space-type dimensions could not store storage bags.

It was like how a large-volume storage bag couldn’t hold a small-volume one; only a space like a Grotto Heaven could contain a storage bag.

And as for his Spirit Nurturing Space, although it failed to absorb the storage bag due to its size, the failure was one of insufficient volume, not inability. This meant his Spirit Nurturing Space was the beginning of a Grotto Heaven small world. ’A very small beginning, of course.’

Zhang Deming took some precious items from his storage bag and placed them inside his Spirit Nurturing Space. ’It’s safer here than in the storeroom, isn’t it!’

...

After testing things for a long time, Zhang Deming finally left the storeroom, taking a wristband with him.

A message had come from the Watch Tower. On the surface, it said the decision was up to him, but the fact that they contacted him at all meant they hoped he would consider it. So, holding the wristband, he pondered for a long time before deciding to give it a try.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a face-to-face meeting. He was on the verge of reaping his rewards and didn’t want any accidents. But indirect, remote contact was still possible!

Having made up his mind, Zhang Deming lightly tapped his Identity Jade Pendant.