The Programmer Cultivator

Upon hearing this, Dang Mengfu immediately shook his head vigorously. "No way. My great-granduncle spent a full thousand years searching for a prescription for Ancestor Yunfei, and he just barely managed to find it. If we go and screw it up...

"Forget about being a Guardian Tower—I wouldn't even have a chance of getting into the Dharma Transmission Hall. They'd probably send me off to the mortal world to manage trivial affairs.

"After grinding away at that for a few hundred years... I'd rather just go to Wanghui Peak and survive on nothing but air with Senior Brother Zhou Li."

Zhao Yuan heard this and spread his hands. "Well, that settles it. When your great-granduncle gets serious, even I can't handle him. I can't, just for the sake of curiosity, have him pestering me for a spar every other day and disturbing my peaceful cultivation, can I?"

Dang Mengfu looked at Zhao Yuan, wanting to say, 'Pavilion Master, you call this peaceful cultivation?'

'Someone viewed every single Technique in the Main Pavilion, and you only bothered to watch a recording of it through the Scripture Pavilion's monitoring Array. Compared to your brand of "peaceful cultivation," you can hardly call me a slacker, can you?'

As these thoughts flashed through Dang Mengfu's mind, Zhao Yuan's illusory figure slowly dissipated. He left without a single word of instruction—a real slacker.

Just then, Zhang Deming, guided by the point of light on his fingertip, exited the domed hall of Cultivation Techniques and arrived at the counter where Dang Mengfu stood.

Zhang Deming tossed the ten manuals in his hand onto the counter. "Senior Brother," he said, "let's ring these up."

Dang Mengfu looked down and began to flip through the books.

The first things that caught his eye were two Tier Five Cultivation Techniques: the *Fire Separation Body Cultivation Method* and the *Wu Earth Storage Qi Method*. He paused, his brow furrowing slightly. "You chose two? Haven't you decided yet?"

Zhang Deming nodded. "Mmm... not exactly. I just picked them up to have a look!"

Hearing this noncommittal reply, Dang Mengfu's brow tightened.

Zhang Deming looked at him. "Is there a problem?"

Because of Dang Xiangjun's instructions, Dang Mengfu glanced at Zhang Deming and said, "There's no problem, per se. Of the four Tier Five Cultivation Techniques available this time, you can take any of them besides the *Turtle Water Defense Array*, which you don't need.

"But, as I said, it's best not to choose this way unless you have to. The waste is a secondary concern. I'm mainly worried you're planning to give them to other Disciples. That's an issue that isn't exactly huge, but it's not trivial, either."

Dang Mengfu looked at Zhang Deming, fulfilling the basic duties of a Guardian Tower—duties that, yes, went beyond those of a slacker.

Zhang Deming smiled. "Don't worry, Senior Brother. I'm a regular at the Spirit Nurturing Peak Information Room. I understand the basics. I know not to try and take advantage of the Guardian Tower."

Seeing this, Dang Mengfu nodded. "As long as you know..."

He hadn't even finished speaking when he froze, his eyes fixed on the third Technique. His brows knitted into a deep frown.

"*Splitting Skill*? What did you pick this for? This Skill looks potent, so it's drawn a lot of attention over the years, especially from Summoning Dao Cultivators like you."

He paused, then flipped to the fourth book, *Dao Mark Summoning*. He tapped the Magic Book and continued:

"See? They had the same idea as you. They wanted to use this to add a Dao Mark to a Summoning Object, control it via the Splitting Dao, and create some kind of variant second Incarnation. They thought it was a genius idea that would guarantee the safety of their Main Body.

"Exploring ruins, searching for resources, even going to the back mountains... they thought they could do it all without their Main Body ever having to leave home.

"And what was the result?

"Their Main Body was safe, sure, but the Elixir Department gained a few new walking apothecaries who'll be their patients for years to come.

"Using the Splitting Dao to create a substitute, controlling a summon and evolving it into an Incarnation... how could it possibly be that easy?

"If the Summoning Object is damaged, the piece of your Dao that you split off is ruined along with it, and you can't get it back. What's left is a Dao injury—and a self-inflicted one at that. Do you think that's easy to recover from?

"Even the most classic and powerful techniques of the Medicinal Dao are no guaranteed fix for a Dao injury.

"Once you have a Dao injury, there's no immediate danger of death, but your path forward is severed. You're just clinging to life. What's the difference between that and being dead?"

His great-granduncle—Supreme Elder Dang Xiangjun, the current head of the Dang Family—had specifically instructed him to look after Zhang Deming.

As a result, he was paying close attention to Zhang Deming, at the very least fulfilling his professional duties as a Guardian Tower with diligence.

Hearing this, Zhang Deming just smiled. "Don't worry, Senior Brother. I've read the descriptions. I'm well aware of the consequences."

Dang Mengfu's frown didn't relax. "I've met plenty of Summoning Disciples who said the same thing. Every last one of them is a walking apothecary now. Once you use this Skill, getting injured is inevitable.

"Walk by the river long enough and your shoes are bound to get wet. An accident isn't a matter of 'if,' but 'when.' You can't rely on blind luck in cultivation."

"Yes, I understand. I'm just going to take a look," Zhang Deming replied with a smile, not showing a hint of impatience.

Hearing the obvious brush-off, Dang Mengfu shook his head. "Suit yourself. In any case, I've warned you repeatedly. If you insist on this path, all I can say is, you're on your own."

He glanced at Zhang Deming and continued flipping through the remaining Techniques.

The rest of the Techniques weren't strange, at least. Six of them were Secret Level Bloodline Transformation Techniques, and very ordinary ones from the Main Pavilion at that.

Normally, this would be a perfectly reasonable selection. But for a Summoning Dao Cultivator to choose them... that wasn't normal at all.

Looking at this odd assortment of ten Techniques, Dang Mengfu glanced at Zhang Deming again. "Are you sure you want these?"

Zhang Deming nodded and said with a hint of deeper meaning, "I'm very sure. I painstakingly selected these from the entire Scripture Pavilion."

Hearing this, Dang Mengfu looked up again, giving Zhang Deming a strange look. He turned and tossed the books into a recording slot. "Fine," he said. "You don't need to pay any Contribution this time. This will all be covered by your reward."

"Including these Techniques?" Zhang Deming asked in surprise.

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