The Programmer Cultivator

"Not only is this completely unreasonable, but you’ve also drained our past reserves. What is the meaning of this? Do you really think that just because you’ve made it onto this Celestial Heart Altar, we can’t do a thing to you, you Demon? That we’re just supposed to hold our noses and accept it?"

Duan Yuanbing replied in a mechanical, standardized voice, "First, I have not taken any advantage of you.

"Second, I did indeed act as the main force and invested a large portion of my Karma. Although the Geng Metal Secret Realm is lost, I merged with more than half of it, and the Duan Clan’s Underground City has now become a ghost town.

"All things considered, I have fulfilled my promise. The Sacrificial Power and Resources I contributed are absolutely enough to initiate the majority of the sacrifice.

"The reason for the current state of affairs is the unexpected consumption during Combat while I was protecting my clan’s lands and the Celestial Heart Altar.

"An enemy capable of consuming so much Karma must have been incredibly strong. Under those circumstances, I managed to keep the Celestial Heart Altar, which had no defenses before the sacrifice began, completely unharmed. This should not only be counted as my contribution, but the portion that was consumed should be considered an extra merit on my part.

"Third, the Duan Family still has its Martial Artists. Whether we’ve suffered a true loss or not is still uncertain."

Guan Shouxin was already unimpressed with Duan Yuanbing’s condition—or rather, utterly repulsed by his half-Outer Realm Demon appearance. Now, seeing the other party talk back so bluntly made him even more furious.

He looked at Duan Yuanbing and said, "Ha! You have the audacity to talk to me about the families sent to the outside world?

"The Cyan Wood Guann Family was sent out and they just messed around like idiots, provoking a whole gang of bald-headed curs from Jinshan Temple. Not only did they get their own clan wiped out, but they also dragged down the Qu Family and the Five Races.

"Our Wu Earth Official Family had no choice but to move our entire clan out, go into hiding in the outside world, and carry on the sacrifices under great difficulty.

"The Turtle Water Qu Family was sent out, and they simply vanished without a trace. From the looks of it now, all their efforts were for nothing.

"As for the Geng Metal Duan Family and the Fire Separation Lu Family, I can forgive you for abandoning the Immortal Dao for the Martial Arts Dao. After all, it was the best choice given the circumstances.

"But I have no idea how well you’ve prepared. You started your reckless shenanigans before the sacrifice even began! Do you have any idea the risks I took, the effort I had to expend, just to suppress the incidents of Martial Artists being devoured within the Celestial Spirit Sect’s territory?

"Aren’t you half some kind of AI Demon? Here, why don’t you run the numbers for me? For an Upper Sect like the Celestial Spirit Sect, no matter how little they care about mortals, how much they look down on them, or how vast the chasm between Immortal and Mortal is...

"...do you think you can just go around capturing their Sect Disciples day in and day out, with reports going up layer by layer, and have it all be ignored?

"Run the numbers again! To suppress something like this, to stop the reports from being consolidated, to keep the higher-ups from realizing the severity of the problem, how many Dark Pawns did I have to activate? How many Disciples in key operational positions did I have to mobilize as a United Force?

"Calculate this, too: if this incident is discovered, how many of those Disciples do you think can get away with it by using the ’divide between Immortal and Mortal’ as an excuse?

"And one more calculation for you! Under that kind of scrutiny, when they discover that everyone involved is from my Guan Family, what do you think the Celestial Spirit Sect will do?"

Duan Yuanbing, who still retained a shred of his humanity, was struck speechless by Guan Shouxin’s furious tirade. It was a long moment before he replied, "Why are you still worried about this? Once the Celestial Heart Sacrifice is complete, none of this will be a problem."

"Hah! You should focus on completing the initial phase of the sacrifice first! The way things are going, if the Fire Separation Lu Family doesn’t pull their weight, it’ll be pointless for our Wu Earth Official Family to start it alone.

"After all, the ’hearts and will of the people’ they chose is a critical step for the success of the sacrifice," Guan Shouxin said, his expression unreadable as he reined in his emotions.

"Let’s make our move. We’ll know once we go take a look," Guann Zhenzhen said, seeing the atmosphere had eased somewhat.

The three of them paused at her words and nodded slightly. Guann Zhenzhen’s group of three once again transformed into a twisted black mist, an alluring flower, and a metallic sphere, floating back into the altar.

The instant the three of them floated inside, Guan Shouxin frowned and glanced at them, giving an imperceptible wave of his hand.

Only then did he transform into an ugly clay doll covered in sores and get pulled by the altar into the center of the Earth Attribute pool, where he began to float.

Immediately, the miniature altar began to suck up the vast majority of the sludge and slime from the larger altar in the room. It only just managed to stop when a very small portion remained.

The miniature altar finally went from a state of depletion to one of sufficiency. But by this point, the altar had already undergone a slight transformation.

Before, with Guann Zhenzhen’s group of three, although their strengths fluctuated, no single one held a crushing advantage. The auras of the Wood, Water, and Metal paths could be seen clearly intertwined on the miniature altar.

Now, after being replenished, the single Earth Attribute was powerful enough to suppress the United Force of the Metal, Wood, and Water paths.

Once the altar was replenished, the four objects upon it vibrated in unison. With a flicker, the miniature altar vanished from its spot.

...

After the miniature altar disappeared, the great hall fell silent.

A long while later, specks of silver light suddenly flickered on the floor. Countless points of light then converged, slowly forming a silvery stream.

As the stream writhed, a miniature metal figure condensed from within it. It was only the size of a finger, its eyes devoid of any Spirit as they flickered with a mechanical glow.

"Exiting standby mode. Activating recording and Reconnaissance protocol. Recording current environment. Initiating Reconnaissance to determine location..."

The little metal figure had just activated and was mechanically beginning to run its mission program. But before the program could fully initialize, the spot where the figure stood suddenly turned to quicksand.

The quicksand writhed, forming a great mouth that swallowed the figure whole. After a few CRUNCHING sounds, the mouth chewed, and the little metal figure vanished without a trace.

After devouring the metal figure, the quicksand did not stop. The entire surrounding floor began to vibrate slightly as wisps of black mist drifted out from it.

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