The Programmer Cultivator

"You people who walk the path of the Sword Dao have it made. It’s not a crowded field, so materials are plentiful."

"I have my main materials, but for the auxiliary ones, even the Soul-Nourishing Fruits are unavailable. I have to find them myself."

Li Shifan nodded. "Perfect. I also need to get some Soul-Nourishing Wood for my auxiliary materials. Looks like we’re heading the same way."

The moment they agreed to team up, their relationship seemed to take another step forward. At that instant, Zhang Deming sensed a change in his warehouse.

He opened his warehouse and saw that his Golden Merit Light Balls had increased from around 1.4 to 1.9.

His white Qi Fortune Light Balls had increased from 1.2 to 2.4.

’Another bit of wool fleeced,’ Zhang Deming’s mood couldn’t help but lighten at the welcome gain.

’This sheep is worth cultivating. The Qi Fortune is secondary; the main prize is the precious Merit!’

Moreover, today’s events made him fully understand that when he befriended someone with great Qi Fortune, the Qi Fortune he gained wasn’t stolen from them.

He wasn’t exactly sure how it worked, but at least it wasn’t like the Li Family Ancestor, who just forcefully drained it from others.

The two of them then chatted idly while they ate, quickly finalizing the details of their team-up.

After they finished eating, Li Shifan simply hugged his Sword and leaned against the fire fueled by Spiritual Power to sleep.

Zhang Deming shook his head, threw out a tent, and crawled inside.

Those in the Apprentice Stage were still bound by their mortal bodies, so rest was essential.

The day’s work had left Zhang Deming quite exhausted. The enclosed space offered a rare sense of security, allowing his tense mind to finally relax.

A moment later, Zhang Deming was fast asleep, lost in dreams.

...

The next morning, the two woke up. Zhang Deming used the Little Cloud Rain Skill to wash up. After breakfast, they resumed their work of digging the tunnel.

After about two more hours of work, Li Shifan, who was in the lead, suddenly slashed out with his Sword, and rocks abruptly came tumbling down.

Zhang Deming, who was behind him, instantly retracted the vine. The vine wrapped around Li Shifan’s waist pulled him backward at high speed.

Only after confirming there wasn’t a larger collapse did they refrain from turning and running for their lives.

When the dust settled, they saw a clear passage ahead.

"We’re through!" Li Shifan said happily.

Zhang Deming spoke up. "That took about four hours in total. The collapse wasn’t too severe. I think we can risk it."

Li Shifan nodded. "Yeah, it’s definitely worth a shot."

Then, the two of them made their way to the cave entrance and stepped outside.

Standing outside the cave and seeing the light of day again, both of them let out a long sigh of relief.

After resting for a moment, they turned around and re-entered the cave.

Before entering, Zhang Deming took out an Array Card and set up a Concealing Array at the mouth of the cave.

Li Shifan watched quietly. When Zhang Deming finished, he noticed Li Shifan looking at him and said, "Just in case."

Li Shifan nodded silently. "Understood."

The two then returned to the large, domed chamber and stood before the three blocked passages.

Li Shifan had already explored one of them—a scenic, paradise-like valley suitable for retirement. They decided to skip that one for now.

They chose another passage. Zhang Deming once again activated a Vine, wrapping it around Li Shifan’s waist. "Alright, let’s begin!"

Li Shifan nodded, took his Sword, and once again began to clear the path ahead.

Zhang Deming followed behind, managing his end just as before.

After more than half a day of this, their expressions suddenly changed. This time, they had experience. Without needing Zhang Deming to retract the Vine, Li Shifan quickly retreated on his own.

Almost simultaneously, the rocks ahead came crashing down.

When the dust settled, another passage appeared before them. They exchanged a glance and cautiously advanced toward it.

This passage seemed much shorter than the one they had dug to get in, perhaps only half the length.

When they reached the end of the passage, both of them were taken aback.

"A Cave Mansion?" Li Shifan asked in surprise.

Zhang Deming nodded. "It looks like it. But it seems to have been abandoned for many, many years."

It was a vast stone hall. Its layout must have once been grand, but it had clearly been vandalized and now looked utterly dilapidated.

Even the stone-carved plaque above the Cave Mansion had been split in two by someone.

"Profound... Turtle... Hall?" Li Shifan said, staring at the plaque that had been split in two.

Zhang Deming’s expression flickered. "No wonder," he said. "I kept feeling like the layout of this entire cave system was strange. So that’s what it is."

Li Shifan turned to Zhang Deming in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Zhang Deming smiled. "What do you think this entire cave system is shaped like?"

Li Shifan shook his head. "I didn’t notice."

Zhang Deming said, "Like a turtle with no head or tail. The domed chamber is the shell, and the four passages are the limbs."

Hearing this, Li Shifan mused, "Now that you mention it, I think you’re right."

"See? I knew there was something strange about the layout. I’ve finally figured it out."

"Besides, this cave doesn’t look like it was artificially carved."

"It’s like... like a giant turtle was once crushed inside the mountain, and then it suddenly vanished, leaving this cave system behind," Zhang Deming said.

Li Shifan paused. "If that’s true, a Turtle Demon of this size would have to be at the Duality realm of Cultivation or higher."

Zhang Deming paused as well. "Who cares. In any case, it’s impossible for a Great Demon like that to appear at this depth in the Hengduan Mountain Range today."

"If one did, the Array Department would have detected it long ago."

"Since we’re here, let’s search this Cave Mansion."

"It looks pretty dilapidated and has probably been looted more than once, but what if we get lucky?"

Li Shifan nodded, and the two of them stepped into the dilapidated stone hall.

The main hall must have been quite magnificent once, at least for a hall built inside a mountain.

But now, dilapidated and abandoned, it wasn’t a very impressive sight.

The two began to search cautiously. After a cursory search of about ten minutes, they had found absolutely nothing of value.

They returned to the main hall, where Li Shifan said, "This place is at least three or four thousand years old."

Zhang Deming looked at him. "How can you tell?"

"For various reasons, I happen to know a fair bit about this sort of thing."

"The overall style of this hall, along with its decorative elements, matches the style from several thousand years ago."

"I can’t tell anything else; it’s been too thoroughly destroyed," Li Shifan replied.

Zhang Deming nodded. "Then let’s try the last passage and see if we have any luck there."

Hearing this, Li Shifan turned and followed Zhang Deming out of the hall.

They came to the fourth passage. After making their preparations, they began digging once more, with one in front and one behind.

After working together twice, the two of them had become quite proficient.

As a result, it only took them about half the time to dig through the tunnel.

This passage, like the entrance tunnel, was very long.

It probably formed the other hind leg of the turtle, with the entrance tunnel being one and the two shorter passages being the front limbs.

After walking for a long time, they were surprised to see light ahead.

Li Shifan and Zhang Deming exchanged a look but didn’t immediately exit.

They both stopped. Although they had been cultivating as they walked to restore their spent Spiritual Power, it hadn’t fully recovered yet.

So, they stopped right where they were and began to restore their Spiritual Power.

Only when their Spiritual Power was fully restored did they start moving again, heading toward the mouth of the cave.

Cautiously emerging from the mouth of the cave, Zhang Deming and Li Shifan were taken aback. They had no idea how many mountains they had passed through, but they had arrived in a completely unfamiliar area.

They looked around, their faces blank with confusion.

Clearly, not only had Zhang Deming never been here, but even Li Shifan, who had spent a good amount of time in the back mountains, had never reached this place.

BZZZT...

Just then, Zhang Deming’s expression changed as a vibrating sound came from his bag.

Li Shifan looked at Zhang Deming, who quickly pulled a watch-like object from his bag. He activated its display, a Light Screen, which now showed two new dots.

And surprisingly, the two dots were extremely close to Zhang Deming’s position.

Li Shifan stared at the Light Screen in surprise. "Senior Brother Zhang, did you arrange to meet up with other people?"