The Programmer Cultivator

Elder Huang said with an indifferent expression, "I suppose so. Let’s not even discuss me being a Heart Spirit Cultivator. In this place, even if I weren’t one, your fate would already be sealed.

Unless you have some earth-shattering backer, you won’t be able to make any waves here. And since you were trapped outside for what looks like a long time, I imagine you don’t have any backer.

So, if you don’t want to meet the same end as her, you’d best answer every one of my questions in full detail.

Behave yourself, and there might be a path to survival. After all, in your current state, even suicide is impossible. That being the case, you might as well cooperate and take a gamble on my character. Who knows, you might just find a glimmer of Vitality.

If you try to play any tricks, I wouldn’t mind treating you the same way I did her. At worst, I’ll just have a little less information."

Elder Huang pointed at Yinn Yindi, his expression indifferent as he looked at Ding Xuesi, who could only move his eyes and mouth inside the sphere, and spoke coolly.

Ding Xuesi glanced at Yinn Yindi. ’Elder Huang is likely a Heart Spirit Dao Cultivator,’ he thought, ’and I’m just a Soul Body, sealed and unable to even contact my Life Artifact.

In this state, I’m completely exposed before Elder Huang, utterly defenseless.’

Thus, after a moment’s hesitation, he took a deep breath and said, "My name is Ding Xuesi. I am a Loose Cultivator from the Cyan Simurgh Palace’s territory."

Elder Huang’s brows furrowed slightly. "Be more specific. Which Upper Sect’s domain within the Cyan Simurgh Palace Blessed Land?"

Ding Xuesi gave a bitter smile. "I’m a Loose Cultivator and haven’t established a clan. I only managed to reach this level of Cultivation through a series of fortuitous encounters.

So I’ve drifted around the territories of many Upper Sects within the Cyan Simurgh Palace. I have no fixed abode. If I had settled down in one place, I never would have reached my current level of Cultivation."

Hearing this, Elder Huang nodded. "In that case, let’s talk about the outside world first. Judging by the look of that Spirit Medicine Garden outside, is this place your residence?"

Ding Xuesi nodded. "You could say that!"

Elder Huang’s brows knitted. "It either is or it isn’t. What do you mean, ’you could say that’?"

Ding Xuesi didn’t dare to keep Elder Huang in suspense and spoke softly, "In my early years, through a stroke of fortune, I received the legacy... ah... the favor of a Blessed Fortune Cultivator.

Because of this, I encountered all sorts of opportunities and planted the seeds of a deep karmic bond. It was only after I reached the Three Talents realm that I discovered that Blessed Fortune Cultivator wasn’t dead, though he wasn’t far from it either.

He had long since passed the end of his natural lifespan. But due to the bizarre nature of the Blessed Fortune Dao, he was using his formidable Cultivation to hang on by a thread, just barely surviving. By a twist of fate, I formed a connection with him, and relying on him, I slowly cultivated to the Three Talents realm.

Later, under his guidance, I found this place. He claimed it was his old lair from before his decline.

After I found this place, having never owned such a fine residence, I settled down here peacefully. I went into seclusion for three hundred years straight.

Three hundred years of quiet cultivation allowed my Cultivation to grow acceptably well. But good times don’t last forever. A debt, once owed, must always be repaid.

For that reason, and because I was wary of him—after all, my entire Dao was cultivated under his guidance—

I diligently did as he asked, even though I sensed he too was a Three Talents Cultivator with only a single breath left in him.

But... that man was simply too greedy. Over the course of a century, I helped him a great deal. I believed I had repaid all that I owed, yet he kept demanding more.

Several hundred years ago, he suddenly demanded that I, with my Three Talents Cultivation, go to the Outer Realm Ancient Battlefield to act as backup for someone.

I finally couldn’t bear it any longer and had a falling out with him. That was when the seeds of disaster were sown."

Ding Xuesi’s face was lost in reminiscence, immersed in those endless years. He paused for a moment before continuing:

"Because of our falling out, a pair of Blessed Fortune Protection Talismans I had acquired at the very beginning of my cultivation path—which were also where his Residual Soul was confined—had their fortunes reversed. My Blessed Fortune turned into misfortune, and I couldn’t get them off no matter what.

Centuries of bitter cultivation, the entire journey to the Three Talents realm—the root of it all lay in this pair of Protective Talismans.

I came to fully understand the bizarre nature of the Blessed Fortune Path. If Blessed Fortune could make me, then misfortune could surely destroy me.

Therefore, knowing the danger, I lost all desire to go out. I returned to this home, intending to use seclusion to slowly wear away the misfortune, or perhaps remove the Protective Talismans.

Unexpectedly, I had still underestimated the bizarre nature of the Blessed Fortune Dao.

I had been home for no more than a month. One day, while I was cultivating as usual and studying a new treasure I’d acquired, two Cultivators suddenly started engaging in Magical Combat right outside.

One was the Artifact Sword Cultivator Xin Rongjiang. The other was the rarely seen Painting Dao Cultivator Yinn Yindi—the very same one beside you, fellow Daoist.

The moment my Perception picked them up, I knew it was bad news. But before I could react, the two Cultivators’ Magical Combat reached my location, and it seemed to have already entered a white-hot stage.

Both sides had brought out their Life Artifacts and were fighting with all their might. In the midst of their struggle, they blasted a hole through my home and fell right into it.

It was the perfect embodiment of the saying, ’sitting at home when disaster falls from the sky.’ That man had shown me in practice that the misfortune of a Blessed Fortune Cultivator is no less potent than their Blessed Fortune.

Because they were in the final, lethal stage of their battle, with their Life Artifacts deployed, they fell into my home and assumed they’d fallen into my trap. They thought I was planning to ambush the two of them as they fought.

So they didn’t give me any chance to explain. They just came right at me, looking like they were ready to fight to the death.

Neither of them were simple Cultivators, and their Life Artifacts were still active. Left with no choice, I could only fight back with all my strength.

But just as I sent out my Lifebound Puppet, that pair of pendants I hadn’t been able to remove for centuries suddenly separated.

One remained on my body, while the other—as that man expended his last breath—was used by him to cast a life-and-death curse with everything he had left.