The Programmer Cultivator

’This Qian Ruyan really is something else!’

’She actually used the initial opportunity of the Enlightenment Dao, combined with his Spirit Nurturing Bead and the Inheritance Technique, to forcefully break through Qian Xiaogong’s initial threshold.’

’Once he learned the Tier Three Growth Skill, the foundation for the set of Techniques Zhang Deming had tailored for him was completely laid.’

’Using the Tier Three Growth Skill to comprehend other Spirit Nurturing Beads and begin branching out into other Vine Techniques would be incredibly easy. A Spirit Root of ten-plus points wouldn’t even be a major issue anymore!’

’What an insanely overprotective mother!’

’The kind of mom whose kid is her entire life! Her protectiveness was already a bit pathological.’

’And why would I say that?’

’Qian Ruyan cultivated the Incense Dao, and her business was in beauty products—Refining Youthful Appearance Pills, selling and making incense, that sort of thing.’

’On such a path, even if the Earth Evil Seventy-Two Technique was incredibly amazing and powerful, Zhang Deming could still understand her learning something like Wishing Size or the Seventy-Two Transformations.’

’After all, even if these Techniques were unrelated to the Incense Dao, if it could increase her means of protecting her path, and she happened to obtain the Technique by chance, there was no harm in studying it in her spare time.’

’But the Inheritance Technique was completely unrelated to her Dao!’

’Moreover, because of the relationship between the Inheritance Technique and the Spirit Nurturing Technique, the price of this Technique had been driven to astronomical heights. Many Cultivators knew of this outrageous price.’

’Nowadays, it was almost impossible to obtain this Technique by chance or through a lucky find.’

’Under these circumstances, she had clearly paid a bloody fortune for this Technique, then spent a tremendous amount of effort, and only managed to learn it with the help of talent and luck.’

’As for what she planned to use it for?’

’Heh, did he even need to guess the outcome?’

’It was all laid out right before his eyes. Zhang Deming could even roughly guess her intentions from these actions!’

’If her search for Spirit Nurturing Beads went well, she would use the Spirit Nurturing Beads as a foundation, activate the Inheritance Technique, and use the comprehension within the beads to perform the inheritance, doing everything in her power to help Qian Xiaogong with his Enlightenment Dao.’

’If her search didn’t go well, she would probably use her own body to perform the inheritance, passing down the Incense Dao she cultivated as purely as possible, without any of her personal biases.’

’The only difference between the two methods was that the former would cause less damage to her foundation, while the latter would seriously harm her.’

’After all, the Inheritance Technique was originally intended for those on the verge of death!’

’For the sake of her child’s tiny advantage, for his little bit of progress, one could only imagine how much she had done, both openly and in secret!’

’This level of dedication... it went beyond normal, right? It was a little pathological, wasn’t it?’

As Zhang Deming’s thoughts flickered, all three layers of Spirit Nurturing light specks began to twinkle.

At that moment, Jade Vines began to sprout around Qian Xiaogong again, but the vines he produced now were already different from Zhang Deming’s.

Zhang Deming’s vines were pure, like jade—verdant and translucent.

But on Qian Xiaogong’s vines, faint pink threads appeared, flowing like smoke, and the vines even emitted a fragrance.

’Ha, this Growth Technique even mutated a little. And from the looks of it, it’s a mutation extremely suitable for the Flower Wood Dao. Just how much of her own personal touch did Qian Ruyan add?’

The light specks flickered for a moment, then all three layers of them dispersed at once with a POP.

And the pink, misty fragrance around Qian Xiaogong was forcefully dispersed by the fluctuation of the light specks.

"Ngh..."

Qian Ruyan, who was already swaying and deathly pale, let out a muffled groan the instant the misty fragrance was dispersed.

Her body went limp and she plopped right down on the ground. But then, seeing that Qian Xiaogong was about to finish, she struggled back to her feet.

For a dignified Three Talents Great Cultivator to be weakened to this extent, she had clearly injured her very foundation—and not lightly.

Just then, Qian Xiaogong opened his eyes. Before he could even feel happy, he saw Qian Ruyan with blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

Qian Xiaogong instantly grew anxious and exclaimed, "Mother!!!"

"It’s nothing. I just used a Technique, and the toll was a bit high." Qian Ruyan forced a relaxed smile, gently stroking the head of Qian Xiaogong, who had rushed into her arms.

With tears streaming down his face, Qian Xiaogong looked up at Qian Ruyan and said, "Mother, do you think Xiaogong is a fool? That I would believe such a lie?"

Qian Ruyan dotingly stroked Qian Xiaogong’s head and said, "Hehe, my darling Xiaogong is so cute, how could you possibly be a fool!"

"Mother," Qian Xiaogong said, looking up at Qian Ruyan.

"Yes?" Qian Ruyan replied.

"Let’s forget what happened today. But from now on, I will walk my own path. You can help me, Mother, but if you ever do something like this again... I... I will cripple my own cultivation and live out my life as a mortal."

Qian Ruyan froze. She looked at her son, who was looking up at her from her embrace with an incredibly serious expression. Tears welled in her eyes. After a long moment, she finally nodded and said, "Alright. Mother will remember."

...

The scene ended there, shattering into a speck of light that twinkled in the sky of the Spirit Nurturing Space. Zhang Deming was dazed for a moment.

Just then, a fluctuation from the warehouse pulled him back to his senses. Merit slowly condensed, and Qi Fortune rapidly gathered.

After a moment, about 0.5 units of Merit had formed. It was a little better than an Enlightenment Dao for three Techniques, but not by much. The Qi Fortune, on the other hand, was quite good, increasing by six units.

Zhang Deming paused at this. ’This one is a mixed-breed sheep with a decent amount of wool, but it definitely doesn’t live up to my expectations.’

’I thought I had a big golden-fleeced one, or at least a long-haired white one.’

’As it turns out, in the ’golden fleece’ category, he’s no match for Li Shifan or the recently recruited Nangong Cheng. And in the ’white wool’ category, he doesn’t measure up to Tong Hou.’

’Still, at least there were extra gains. Compared to the standard package from other people’s Enlightenment Daos, this was much better. He can reluctantly be classified as my number four reserve sheep—the mixed-breed one!’