The Programmer Cultivator

We don't have any sort of information network. If you can't arrange for some of our fellow disciples to act as these "State Governors"—to coordinate everything and link it all together—it's going to be extremely difficult to unify a jurisdiction this large.

And even if you manage to unify it, without some form of constant oversight, mortal ambition being what it is, you'll have turmoil within a few hundred years. The transition of power between each generation of rulers will become a vicious power struggle.

You'll go through all this effort to establish it, only for major problems to erupt the moment you go into seclusion. People will be fighting and killing each other all over the place, and you, Martial Uncle, will have no free time to focus on your cultivation.

It'll just be one crisis after another. One Prefecture will need disaster relief this year, and if you don't go, the fields will be littered with corpses. The next year, another Prefecture will need a Rain Prayer, and if you don't go, it'll be a thousand miles of scorched earth. The year after that, there might be a rebellion, with various regions joining in.

In reality, the underlying issues are the same. With or without centralized control, these problems will exist. But without it, they wouldn't escalate so severely. A simple Rain Prayer from an Apprentice could solve a local drought, for instance.

But once you centralize everything, there are so many more opportunities for exploitation, and these mortals...

In the past, some Sect disciples had the same idea: integrate the mortal world using an administration modeled after our own Sect... They experimented with unifying a few city Prefectures, and then... well, there was no 'and then'.

The Outer Sect records are full of classic case studies on this. I've read quite a few—they're all tragic tales of ambitious senior disciples.

The most outrageous case involved a senior disciple... who was ensnared by a mortal woman... ahem...

Qin Shizhong cut himself off, realizing he'd gone off on a tangent with gossip, which was inappropriate for the current conversation.

Hearing this, a muscle in Zhang Deming's cheek twitched.

Of course, he understood the intricacies involved. As an employee of a large corporation in his past life, he was keenly aware of how much politicking could exist within a company's structure, or even a single office.

And that was just corporate politics. If it escalated to the level of national politics... Heh... any civilized person knew how that would end...

'Have a group of Apprentices who've been detached from the mortal world, farming for decades, usher in a new dynasty?'

'Heh... You think Zhu Yuan-what's-his-name conquered the realm by himself, or with a bunch of country bumpkins?'

After a moment of thought, Zhang Deming smiled. "No matter. You don't need to worry about anything at the city level or higher. I have my own methods. You just need to handle the tasks I've given you."

"Oh, right. When you're assigning the officials, remember to make a Liuying recording and have a few intelligent people watch from the sidelines to learn," Zhang Deming added.

"This disciple understands!" Qin Shizhong bowed respectfully. Zhang Deming then used a vine to send him down to the main square, where he began assigning official posts, finally getting to implement the administrative work he had never been able to fully realize.

Zhang Deming paid him no more mind. He took out his Identity Card and sent a message to Li Shifan, giving him a few instructions.

Then, with a stir of his Heart Spirit, a scroll appeared beside him. After its recent period of recovery, the scroll had repaired itself considerably. At the very least, it could now function at the normal capacity of a Three Talents Cultivator's artifact.

"Greetings, Young Master!"

As the scroll appeared, the figure of Yinn Yindi, dressed in a maid's outfit, materialized from it. She immediately bowed to Zhang Deming.

Seeing her outfit, Zhang Deming rubbed his nose in embarrassment. He glanced over at Wang Qian, only to find her stealing glances at Yinn Yindi.

"In your Lifebound Painting's current state, can you use the Painting Dao's basic ability—Tracing?" Zhang Deming asked.

Yinn Yindi nodded. "I can, Young Master!"

"What's the maximum number of copies you can split it into?" Zhang Deming asked.

"Three hundred copies. At three hundred, each can only maintain a Cultivation level equivalent to Tai Chi One Life. If I trace any more, all the scrolls will regress to the Apprentice Stage and lose most of their abilities," Yinn Yindi explained.

Zhang Deming nodded. "That's enough!"

With that, he looked up at Yinn Yindi. After a long silence, he finally spoke. "Back then, in the heat of the moment, I severely damaged your independent consciousness. But I managed to leave you with a shred of humanity, enough that you could still be considered half a person."

"That's why I created this persona in a rush. To preserve that tiny bit of personality you had left, I didn't alter it further. But now, it seems you can't escape this fate. I hope you don't blame me..."

"This servant is willing to accept any of the Young Master's arrangements." Yinn Yindi's personality had been programmed for absolute servility, so of course, she wouldn't resist. Zhang Deming wasn't so much speaking to her as he was trying to console himself.

After all, he had never intentionally reshaped or toyed with someone's soul and consciousness before. Such an act was, after all, far too cruel to inflict on anyone. Thus, as he looked at Yinn Yindi, his words were purely for his own peace of mind.

'Then I'm sorry for what I have to do!' he muttered to himself. 'To be honest, you were practically dead back then anyway. It's for the best that your personality is being completely erased now. Just... think of it as if you signed an organ donation agreement before you died!'

With that, he hesitated no longer. Reaching out, he tapped a finger in the air, and an Array Light Screen materialized before him.

Streams of runic code from the Surveillance Elf began to flash across the Light Screen.

"Ah—"

"My apologies. If you must blame someone, blame yourself for picking the wrong target. Farewell..."

Before Yinn Yindi could even let out a scream, her form dissipated. The entire illusion, now without an independent consciousness or the subjective will to maintain its human shape, instinctively collapsed into a ball of white Spiritual Light.

An ethereal light began to flicker in Zhang Deming's hand. Focusing on the soul, he began to knead it, integrating the principles of the Array Dao to reshape its consciousness.