The Programmer Cultivator

After pulling into its shell, the Crocodile Turtle tried to extend its limbs again, but the vines Zhang Deming had grown blocked the opening, trapping them inside.

Seeing this, Li Shifan took a deep breath. His Spiritual Power surged as he began to charge up an attack.

Zhang Deming glanced over. Just as Li Shifan’s charge reached its peak, he retracted the vines.

The Crocodile Turtle, which had been struggling to break free, suddenly found the obstruction gone. Its head shot out, overextending from the excessive force.

"Basic Sword Technique: Sword Slash!"

With the long charge and the furious surge of Spiritual Power, the Long Sword flashed like a beam of light. In a single slash, the Crocodile Turtle’s head was lopped clean off.

Turtle blood sprayed out like an arrow, shooting a great distance.

The Crocodile Turtle twitched a couple of times and then went still.

After quickly dispatching the Crocodile Turtle, the two of them turned to look aside.

Anyone who made it this far possessed at least a temporary Cross-Tier strength. An Advanced Apprentice-level Crocodile Turtle, despite its tough hide, was no match for them on land.

When they turned, they saw that the other Crocodile Turtle was also dead.

Its state was rather strange, however. There were no visible injuries on the Crocodile Turtle’s body, only faint wisps of black smoke continuously drifting out of it.

Meanwhile, Qu Hua stood before the Crocodile Turtle’s corpse, coughing up blood nonstop.

Xue Su was watching the spectacle from the side while Sha Xingping was getting dressed. The two of them seemed to have confirmed something, their eyes fixed coldly on Qu Hua as if they were enjoying his performance.

Zhang Deming was taken aback by the scene.

’So those two left the Crocodile Turtle for Qu Hua, trying to set him up, but he ended up dealing with it easily.’

’Looks like no one here is a fool. Everyone’s busy with their own little schemes!’

’Heh! "Heavily injured?"’

At that moment, all four of them looked at the blood-coughing Qu Hua and had nearly the exact same thought.

Just then, Zhang Deming’s expression shifted. A transparent, lively stream of water swirled in his palm.

"There’s a lot more in the water. We need to get away from the shore before we draw them all out," Zhang Deming said, crushing the stream of water in his hand.

Hearing this, the group instantly ran further onto the island.

As for the materials from the Crocodile Turtles, they had no choice but to abandon them in such an uncertain situation.

A moment later, they saw several more Crocodile Turtles crawling out of the water in the distance.

Once on the shore, they actually began to eat the corpses of their own kind.

Watching this scene and realizing just how many Crocodile Turtles there were, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

They were lucky they had acted decisively and hadn’t lingered by the water. Thanks to Zhang Deming’s early warning, they hadn’t been swarmed.

Otherwise, that many Crocodile Turtles would have been incredibly difficult to handle. Their defenses were simply too strong, and the group’s armor-piercing techniques weren’t something they could use repeatedly.

They looked around. The entire island wasn’t very large, perhaps ten li across at most. You could practically see from one end to the other.

The only feature on the island was a small hill at its center, upon which some buildings were faintly visible.

After surveying their surroundings for a moment, the group headed directly for the center of the island.

When they reached the center of the island, they found that there weren’t many buildings. Aside from a pavilion at the very heart of the area, only a few other structures were sparsely scattered about.

The group investigated and found that the surrounding buildings looked like living quarters for Disciples.

At the center of all these buildings stood a pavilion. On it, the words "Turtle Water Pavilion" were inscribed in an elegant, soaring script.

After a brief look, they all stepped into the Turtle Water Pavilion together.

The moment they entered the pavilion, they all froze.

"Is this... a Scripture Pavilion?" Xue Su asked, looking uncertainly at the pavilion’s layout.

"It looks a bit like one," Li Shifan replied with a nod.

But Zhang Deming frowned. "So these are the ruins of some Sect’s promotion assessment?"

Li Shifan shook his head. "No, it was probably a Noble Family. A very powerful one, at that.

"Or perhaps a branch of a Sect. In any case, this doesn’t feel like a Sect’s core territory.

"I started to guess as much from the buildings outside.

"If I’m not mistaken, those Crocodile Turtles in the lake were probably resources being raised by this family.

"A Crocodile Turtle’s Turtle Shell is one of the finest defensive materials available during the Apprentice Stage."

Zhang Deming glanced at Li Shifan. ’On that subject, I probably have more of a say than anyone,’ he thought.

"So this really is a Scripture Pavilion? Then where are the books?" Sha Xingping asked, voicing the question on everyone’s mind.

Li Shifan explained, "This place clearly belonged to a family from at least several thousand years ago. Setting aside the possibility that it was plundered, there wouldn’t be any books here anyway.

"Books only became common in the last few thousand years, and Array Cards have only become popular in recent times.

"In the past, the Scripture Pavilions of Noble Sects only contained Jade Scrolls."

"Judging by the state of this place, it doesn’t look like it was ransacked. Let’s search first and see if we get lucky."

Hearing this, the others nodded and began to explore the pavilion together.

After a full sweep of the pavilion, they had found nothing. Frowning, Sha Xingping was the first to speak up. "Something feels off."

Zhang Deming said, "The space is wrong. The interior is far smaller than the pavilion’s exterior footprint.

"Besides, this pavilion clearly has more than one floor. Based on the height of this level and the overall height of the building, I’d predict it’s a three-story structure. But we’ve walked the entire perimeter and haven’t found a single staircase."

Hearing this, comprehension dawned on Sha Xingping. "Right, it’s too small! That’s what felt so off."

Just then, they all turned in unison to look at Xue Su.

Runes were already swirling in Xue Su’s eyes as he scanned his surroundings.

After a moment, he suddenly walked up to a wall and tapped it a few times. The wall shimmered with a faint light, revealing an indentation.

Xue Su frowned at the indentation, but Zhang Deming’s expression flickered as he took out the Scoring Token he had obtained earlier.

Seeing Zhang Deming’s action, everyone’s eyes lit up.

Under their watchful eyes, Zhang Deming carefully placed the Command Token into the indentation.

A faint light flickered. A soft wave of Spiritual Power rippled out as the wall suddenly slid open, revealing a small Cultivation Room.

The group stepped forward to inspect it for a moment before Xue Su spoke. "It must be a Cultivation Room. There’s a Gathering Spirit-related Array underneath.

"The effect is probably decent, but it’s completely useless to us.

"After all, it’s not like we can pack up this whole Turtle Water Pavilion and take it with us."

The others nodded, their minds racing with the same implications.

They left the room, and as Zhang Deming removed the Command Token, the Cultivation Room sealed itself shut again.

Everyone took out their own Command Tokens. They now had a rough idea of their function; they were probably similar to the Celestial Spirit Sect’s Identity Cards.

After his initial success, Xue Su found several more hidden locations, all of which were similar Cultivation Rooms.

"This first floor must be a place for Cultivation, which means there has to be a second floor.

"The arrangement was probably to browse the Jade Scrolls upstairs, then come down here to a Cultivation Room to meditate and comprehend what you’ve learned," Zhang Deming theorized.

Xue Su paused at his words. After observing the room’s layout for a long while, he walked to a corner. "Based on the layout, it would make the most sense for it to be here."

As he began a detailed search, Zhang Deming recalled that the Cultivation Rooms they had found all seemed to have specific markings.

Suddenly, in one corner, Zhang Deming spotted a unique mark.

He reached out and touched it lightly. A Light Curtain abruptly appeared on the wall.

The others were stunned. Being the closest, Zhang Deming tentatively reached out to touch it. The Light Curtain suddenly exerted a powerful suction.

In an instant, Zhang Deming vanished right before the other four’s eyes.

The others froze for a second, but the "heavily injured" Qu Hua was the calmest of all. He followed Zhang Deming’s lead, reached out to touch the Light Curtain, and promptly vanished as well.

The remaining three reacted in a flash, touching the Light Curtain and disappearing from the pavilion in unison.

Zhang Deming’s vision blurred. When he came to his senses, he was in a different place.

He scanned his surroundings. The decor was identical to the floor below, so this was presumably the second floor of the Turtle Water Pavilion. However, it was far too empty.

Before Zhang Deming could make a move, Qu Hua appeared beside him, immediately followed by Li Shifan and the others.

They all took a look around, frowning at the empty second floor.

"Holy crap!" Sha Xingping suddenly cursed as he happened to look up.