The Programmer Cultivator

His expression grew heavier. The fact that their opponent wasn’t a pure brute-force fighter wasn’t good news for them.

If it relied solely on strength, a glancing blow would mean injury, and a direct hit would almost certainly mean death.

But compared to their current predicament of being completely unable to break its defense, that situation clearly wouldn’t be any worse.

Amidst the battle, Zhang Deming and Li Shifan exchanged a look and chose to unleash their full power almost simultaneously.

"Swordsmanship: A Time of Blooming Flowers!"

Li Shifan wielded his sword single-handedly, moving it with incredible speed. One after another, sword blossoms materialized out of thin air, glinting with a biting cold light as they flew toward the Qiu Ape.

CLANG...

The sword blossoms struck the Qiu Ape, producing a dense cacophony of ringing metal. All they left on its body were faint white marks; they couldn’t break through its defense at all.

"ROAR..."

Stung by the pain, the Qiu Ape roared and resumed its frenzied assault on Li Shifan.

Seeing this, Zhang Deming’s gaze sharpened. Without further hesitation, he made his move.

"Technique: Thorny Earth Spike!"

Zhang Deming abruptly dropped to the ground and slammed his hands down. In the area around the Qiu Ape, dozens of spikes glinting with a cold light suddenly erupted from the earth.

Since Li Shifan’s Sword Techniques had only managed to leave faint marks on the Qiu Ape’s skin, Zhang Deming deliberately channeled most of the Thorny Earth Spike’s power into just a few of the spikes.

Under his guidance, these few spikes stabbed directly into the Qiu Ape’s groin and rear.

"ROAR... ROAR???"

The rampaging Qiu Ape froze instantly. Its entire body—er, its entire ape body—was hoisted rigidly up to the cavern’s dome.

Its face was a mask of confusion, bewilderment, and shock.

Li Shifan was at a loss for words.

He shot an incredibly peculiar look at the forest of spikes and the areas where the Qiu Ape had been impaled. ’Did he just get it from the front and the back?’

’As expected of a senior from the Outer Sect who entered before me. His attack methods are truly one-of-a-kind!’

’So *this* is how you’re supposed to use Earth Spike-type Techniques!’

’As his junior, I am thoroughly impressed!’

With a stone-cold expression, Zhang Deming unhesitatingly injected a Seed of Spiritual Power through the spikes.

At this, even Zhang Deming couldn’t stop his own expression from twitching.

’There’s something a little... off about this move I developed,’ he thought.

’Especially when used in tandem with the Thorny Earth Spike Technique, targeting both the front and rear.’

’But you can’t blame me for this. When you know you can’t break through its defense and you’re fighting for your life, who cares about the method?’

’Besides, it’s not like I’m attacking a person, so there’s no need to be so particular. A stab’s a stab, no matter where it lands!’

The Qiu Ape was already six or seven meters tall, and the dome was only about ten meters high.

After being hoisted by the spikes, it was pinned directly against the dome.

The entire ape hung there rigidly, momentarily unable to process what had just happened.

But Zhang Deming didn’t waste time gawking. With another burst of Spiritual Power, the spikes impaling the Qiu Ape began to swell and extend.

Unable to join the attack, Li Shifan could only watch as the spikes began to squirm and burrow into the creature’s body, his expression growing even more bizarre.

"ROAR..."

The Qiu Ape snapped back to its senses. In an instant, its eyes turned blood-red, and the creature went completely berserk.

It savagely stomped on the vines beneath it, shattering them and crashing to the ground.

Blood and a strange, foul-smelling liquid began to drip incessantly from its lower body. Clearly, it was injured.

But having witnessed the recovery speed of the smaller ape from before, Zhang Deming didn’t hold out much hope.

As the berserk Qiu Ape landed, its eyes glowing red, a strange ripple of energy spread out from it.

’Crap, it’s the Gravity Aura again.’

’It’s even stronger than the last one. This has to be at least five times normal gravity.’

Instantly, both of them felt their bodies grow heavy.

The Qiu Ape seized the opportunity and charged straight at Zhang Deming.

"Technique: Vine Growth!"

Zhang Deming barely dodged the Qiu Ape’s pounce and immediately activated the Seed of Spiritual Power he had injected into its body.

The Qiu Ape’s body stiffened as vines began to sprout from its groin.

Li Shifan’s face twitched. ’Today’s battle has been a real eye-opener,’ he thought. ’Now I understand what it means to call him a senior of the Outer Sect.’

Zhang Deming’s expression suddenly sank. The Seed of Spiritual Power had activated, but it couldn’t extend deeper into the ape’s body.

The vines he had summoned were simply growing out of its front and rear orifices, unable to penetrate further.

The Qiu Ape grew even more furious. It grabbed the sprouting Spiritual Power Vines and ripped them out of its body, roots and all.

The action tore open its already-healing wounds, making them even more severe.

But it paid the injury no mind, crushing the Spiritual Power Vines in its grasp before charging at Zhang Deming once more.

Vines shot out from Zhang Deming’s waist, pulling him swiftly upward until he was clinging to the dome.

Moving and dodging on the ground was too dangerous under the Gravity Aura.

Therefore, he chose to rely on his vines for mobility, a more conservative and safer option.

With bloodshot eyes, the Qiu Ape leaped up and smashed its fist toward him.

Zhang Deming dropped without hesitation. The Qiu Ape’s fist punched a massive hole in the dome.

And so it went, with Zhang Deming constantly dodging and the Qiu Ape relentlessly pursuing.

Li Shifan seemed to have been completely ignored. He raised his sword and gave chase, slashing at the beast, but it paid him no attention whatsoever.

"Stop letting it hit the dome! If this keeps up, the whole place could collapse!" Li Shifan suddenly shouted as Zhang Deming dodged.

Zhang Deming paused for a fraction of a second. Every one of the Qiu Ape’s blows made the entire mountain cavern tremble.

Zhang Deming hadn’t paid it much mind, but now that Li Shifan pointed it out, he saw that his evasive maneuvers had led the ape to create numerous craters and cracks in the dome.

Zhang Deming’s expression soured. He dropped back to the floor, using his vines to help him dodge on the ground.

After another sudden dodge, Zhang Deming once again slammed his hands onto the ground.

"Technique: Thorny Earth Spike!"

Dozens of spikes erupted once more, but the Qiu Ape’s body suddenly swelled. A violent blast of energy sent both Zhang Deming and Li Shifan, who was behind him, flying.

The abruptly appearing spikes failed to land a successful hit this time.

However, the Mother Qiu Ape’s muscles merely swelled; it didn’t grow a meter or two taller like the previous one.

Apparently, it didn’t possess a Bloodline ability like Wishing Size.

After swelling up, the Qiu Ape lunged at Zhang Deming. Thrown off balance by the blast of energy, Zhang Deming missed his best window to dodge.

Just as the enormous, frenzied fist was about to connect, Zhang Deming barely managed to shift aside, avoiding a direct hit.

His Spiritual Shield was grazed by the fist. It trembled for a moment before shattering completely, and Zhang Deming was sent flying.

BOOM!

Zhang Deming slammed into the cavern wall. His vision went black, and he nearly passed out.

Just then, Li Shifan rushed in front of him, grabbed him, and pulled him into a roll.

The Qiu Ape’s next attack landed right where they had been.

PFFT...

Only then did Zhang Deming cough up a mouthful of blood, spraying it all over Li Shifan.

Li Shifan paid it no mind, tucking Zhang Deming under one arm and doing his best to evade the attacks.

After a few more evasive leaps, Zhang Deming managed to catch his breath. He patted Li Shifan and said, "Thanks."

Li Shifan quickly tossed Zhang Deming aside. "Don’t mention it. If you die, I won’t make it out alive either."

"Besides, if you hadn’t drawn its aggro, I’d probably be the one in your shoes. You wouldn’t have just left me to die, would you?"

"And I still owe you a favor. You can’t die before I pay you back."

Dodging another attack, Zhang Deming said, "Ha, in that case, I’d better hold on to that IOU. I might need someone to save my life again."

After he spoke, Zhang Deming paused, then looked at Li Shifan. "I’m going all in. If we drag this out any longer, we’ll both die here."

"If you have a trump card, get it ready. If not, just prepare to use your strongest attack."

Li Shifan heard him and nodded grimly.

After dodging one more of the Qiu Ape’s attacks...

...the vines around his body abruptly dissipated. Zhang Deming stood his ground, cupping his hands and raising them slightly.

"Summoning: Spirit Nurturing Summoning!"

As he raised his hands, a white sphere of light appeared before him. Within the sphere was a blurry human figure.

Vaguely, one could make out a small courtyard. In the courtyard, beneath a large tree, a young man sat at a stone table, calmly sipping tea.

The power of Pseudo Tai Chi emanated from the sphere of light.

’Still not enough!’

Zhang Deming looked at the sphere of light and, without a second’s hesitation, directed his Heart Spirit. The Enhancement Skill within his body flowed directly into the Spirit Nurturing Technique’s Rune Ball.