The Programmer Cultivator

Zhang Deming rolled his eyes, speechless. ’Was I trying to boss him around or something?’

He had only wanted to use the snake’s body as a Dragon Bone, creating some extra footholds with his vines in case they were needed for combat.

But the other party had refused, so Zhang Deming had no choice but to let it go.

"They’re here!"

"They’re here!"

The two had just finished their exchange when Li Shifan and Zhang Deming spoke at the same time.

A huge mouth suddenly burst from the water’s surface, snapping at them.

Zhang Deming, Li Shifan, and Xue Su all stamped on the snake’s back at almost the same time and leaped into the air.

Sha Xingping’s snake body swam away quickly, dodging the attack. Only Qu Hua remained, bizarrely kneeling on top of him, continuously coughing up blood.

Sha Xingping’s violent evasive maneuvers seemed to have no effect on him at all. Even when the snake flipped over several times in the water, he stuck tightly to its back.

Where the group had just been, a giant crocodile’s mouth shot out of the water.

Zhang Deming and Li Shifan had decent chemistry. In mid-air, Zhang Deming flung out a Vine, which wrapped around Li Shifan’s waist.

Li Shifan flipped in the air, his Long Sword pointing downward.

Seeing this, Zhang Deming whipped the Vine, throwing Li Shifan down like a meteor hammer, using the momentum to adjust his own position.

Violent Spiritual Power erupted from the Sword, stabbing directly at the crocodile’s mouth.

The creature’s head suddenly retracted, and a huge Turtle Shell emerged from the water. It was actually a Crocodile Turtle.

CLANG...

Li Shifan’s Celestial Flying Immortal stabbed right onto the creature’s Turtle Shell. The Long Sword was bent into a deep arc under the pressure he exerted.

Seeing this, Zhang Deming yanked the Vine, pulling Li Shifan back.

The two drifted back down. Several Vines that had been floating on the water’s surface quickly wove themselves into a canoe.

They tapped their toes lightly, landing gently on it. The canoe sank slightly but then stabilized.

Xue Su, without Zhang Deming’s assistance, was not lacking in methods. Runes surged at the tips of his toes as he lightly tapped a floating Vine that Zhang Deming had created.

Normally, the vine wouldn’t have been able to support his weight.

But as soon as his toes touched the vine, a transparent Array Light Curtain extended from them, spreading flat across the water’s surface.

It was as if his foot was now stepping on a huge sheet of transparent glass, providing immense buoyancy.

After dodging the bite, Sha Xingping quickly turned and coiled around the Crocodile Turtle, which now only showed its shell.

It was hard to tell if it was intentional, but as he coiled, he always kept the section of his body carrying Qu Hua facing inward, toward the Crocodile Turtle.

On the snake’s body, Qu Hua was bouncing nonstop while coughing up blood. He looked to be in an extremely sorry state, as if his injuries were truly flaring up.

"It’s a Crocodile Turtle. Its hide is too thick, and we’re in the water. It’s too difficult to deal with. Let’s go!" Zhang Deming said decisively after glancing at the coiling Sha Xingping.

As he finished speaking, a propeller woven from Vines at the stern of the canoe began to spin rapidly.

When Xue Su saw this, his steps faltered abruptly, and he nearly tumbled into the water.

Xue Su watched this maneuver and couldn’t help but think: ’This guy is really something else. Isn’t he afraid of revealing his identity by doing this?’

After stumbling for a moment, he quickened his pace. Every time his feet touched the water, a transparent Array Light Curtain would spread out.

The Array’s Light Curtain increased the contact area between the soles of his feet and the water’s surface, providing buoyancy and allowing him to run across the water as if he were on land.

Hearing this, Sha Xingping released the Crocodile Turtle and began swimming away at high speed.

The five of them split into three groups, each using a different method, and rapidly approached the island.

Just as they were about to reach the island, Zhang Deming and Li Shifan both sensed something and leaped up at the same time. The canoe beneath their feet instantly exploded into a shower of vine fragments.

Another Crocodile Turtle emerged from the water.

The two exchanged a look. Li Shifan once again stabbed at the Crocodile Turtle. When its Turtle Shell appeared on the surface, they both kicked off it, launching themselves a great distance.

Then, another canoe was woven, carrying the two of them forward.

Among the three parties, only the running Xue Su was lucky enough not to be chased by a Demon Beast.

Every time he lightly tapped the water’s surface, a Light Curtain would appear. Among the five of them, his figure looked the most graceful and transcendent.

Zhang Deming’s pair and Sha Xingping’s pair were each being chased by a Crocodile Turtle.

They weren’t close to Lake Heart Island, but they weren’t that far either.

After a bit of a chase, all five of them successfully made it to shore.

The very first thing Sha Xingping did upon reaching the shore was to throw Qu Hua off his back.

If he hadn’t been afraid of upsetting the delicate balance, he would have tried to kill him back in the water.

After the five of them were on shore, their hands became a blur. When they saw the Crocodile Turtles behind them crawling onto the bank, they all attacked without hesitation.

Zhang Deming and Li Shifan chose to deal with the one that had been chasing them.

Li Shifan held his Sword in one hand and attacked without hesitation. The moment the attack was about to land, the Crocodile Turtle retracted its four limbs and head into its Turtle Shell.

CLANG... A sound like metal striking metal rang out.

Zhang Deming frowned slightly as he looked at the metallic sheen on the Crocodile Turtle’s Turtle Shell.

’The few times I’ve encountered mutated and evolved creatures during my two trips to the back mountain, their bodies all seemed to have a tendency toward metallization.’

’Is it because something happened in the south, or has this whole area caught some kind of contagious disease?’

’And now even the creatures in this dilapidated ruin have contracted this "skin disease"?’

The thoughts flashed through his mind, but Zhang Deming’s hands didn’t pause for even a moment.

Vine after Vine spread out.

He wrapped up the cowardly Crocodile Turtle until it was tied up like a dumpling, then used the Vines to seal its five openings.

He had originally intended for the Vines to snake inside, but the Crocodile Turtle’s shell defense was surprisingly all-encompassing. Where its limbs and head retracted, Energy shields automatically formed, connecting to the Turtle Shell.