The Programmer Cultivator

Therefore, he had to unlock his body’s foundational rune and the Spirit Root branch before reaching the Three Talents stage.

Previously, he had shelved this foundational rune due to a severe lack of Merit, but now he could finally begin working on it.

As his thoughts flickered, he opened the Cultivation Technique Script, and the information appeared.

Cultivation Technique: Water Wood Divine Control Skill: Law (Tier Six)

Cultivation: Duality Lv1 (10.5/6,000,000)

Rune Core: Spirit Nurturing Vine Demon Summoning Skill Lv4 (0/200)

Branch Runes: Enhancement Skill Lv4 (0/600), Oratory Word Spirit Lv4 (0/100), Sleeve Qiankun Lv3 (20/100),

Skills: Flying Technique Lv4 (0/100), Hidden Breath Technique Lv3 (0/50), Spiritual Shield Lv3 (0/50), Yin Yang Chess Dao: Position Lv3 (0/50), Heart Dream Control Lv3 (0/50), Reconnaissance·Spiritual Eye Lv3 (0/50), Sword Control Skill Lv3 (0/50)

Spiritual Power Recovery: 200 Spiritual Power/3 minutes

Experience Growth: 20 Experience/3 minutes

The Vine Technique skill had completely disappeared. Meanwhile, the proficiency requirement for the Rune Core had doubled, showing just how powerful the upgrade from this fusion was.

After observing for a long time, Zhang Deming closed the panel and exited the Spirit Nurturing Space.

* * *

As his Qi Fortune was consumed, the Flying Technique was upgraded to Tier Four. A pair of enormous Light Wings made of Spiritual Power extended from Zhang Deming’s back, slowly growing larger.

They finally formed into a pair of magnificent feathered wings. Shimmering with iridescent light, they spread slightly, and with a gentle flap, Zhang Deming’s entire body floated into the air.

Furthermore, this advancement of the technique caused Zhang Deming’s aura to strengthen considerably.

Zhang Deming then opened his eyes and looked at the stunned Li Shifan. "Ah, Junior Brother Li, what were you just saying? Something about how awesome it is to fly with the Sword Control Skill?"

"Well, sorry to say, the Escape Skill I cultivate is the Flying Technique, so I guess I won’t get to experience that. By the way, why have you stopped? Weren’t we going to enjoy a nice long flight?"

Li Shifan: "..."

With a look of utter confusion on his face, Li Shifan stood dumbstruck for a long moment before finally asking, "Senior Brother... you broke through again?"

With his feathered wings slightly spread, Zhang Deming floated in front of Li Shifan and said, "Mm. Watching you fly just now gave me a sudden insight, and my Escape Skill made some minor progress."

Li Shifan: "????????"

’A technique advancing to the Law Level, and he calls that "a sudden insight" and "minor progress"?’

’I’m so jealous! Can I trade in my Senior Brother?!’

Zhang Deming hovered in the air, a pair of huge wings spread slightly behind him. The wings shimmered with a fluorescent light, looking utterly magnificent. In terms of sheer appearance, it was in no way inferior to the Sword Control Skill.

If the Sword Control Skill embodied a dashing style, then the Flying Technique embodied a magnificent one.

In terms of visual appeal at first glance, the Flying Technique absolutely surpassed the Sword Control Skill—though this, of course, referred only to the act of flying.

This was also why, among the many ordinary Escape Skills, the Flying Technique was considered a mainstream technique. For a similar level of difficulty and speed, it also boasted great visual appeal, making it extremely popular.

For all these reasons, it became the top choice among common Escape Skills.

Li Shifan remained dumbfounded for a long time, staring at the magnificent wings on Zhang Deming’s back. These were a world apart from those pathetic, half-formed fledgling wings he’d had before.

It was a true ugly-duckling-to-swan transformation. Suddenly, the Sword under his feet didn’t seem so grand anymore. ’To hell with being dashing and unrestrained!’

’It’s only dashing and unrestrained when people on the ground are looking up at you. When you’re flying alongside someone this eye-catching, what’s so dashing about it?!’

With a faint smile, Zhang Deming saw Li Shifan’s dumbfounded expression, shook his head, and said, "Let’s go. We need to sweep the area; we’ve been here for almost a day. I just used the Book of All Living Beings to check on the others. They didn’t wait for us; they’ve already moved on.

"In fact, they’ve already covered a good deal of ground. If we delay any longer, it’ll take us a while to catch up. We might even end up making them wait for us at the destination."

Li Shifan paused for a moment, then nodded listlessly. "Oh."

With that, Spiritual Power surged from the Long Sword beneath Li Shifan’s feet. He and Zhang Deming skimmed just above the forest canopy, beginning their rapid search.

In Hongmeng today, Escape Skills flourished like a hundred blooming flowers, as countless as the stars in the sky. However, for mainstream techniques, while their outward forms might differ, their general path of progression was the same.

Secret-Level Escape Skills all strove toward the goal of ’flight.’ Upon advancing to Tier Four, the Law Level, most would make this leap and achieve true flight.

Moreover, reaching the Law Level wasn’t just about being able to fly; it also involved the qualitative transformation from ’Secret’ to ’Law’.

Beyond that, the path of advancement for Law-Level techniques was Rainbow Transformation. As a technique progressed toward Tier Six, the Escape Skill would become progressively faster. At Tier Six, a few exceptionally unique techniques could even achieve Rainbow Transformation.

However, the vast majority had to reach Tier Seven, the Scripture level, to truly achieve ’Rainbow Transformation’.

This ’Rainbow Transformation’ didn’t just refer to moving as fast as a streak of light. A Scripture-level technique was obviously more profound than that; it also involved all sorts of deeper, conceptual changes.

Thus, after both of their techniques reached the Law Level, their flight speed increased dramatically, and its form became more versatile—all part of the ’Law’ transformation. The two then began to rapidly search the area for Sword Shadows.

With their considerable prior experience, they knew that although the Sword Shadows’ attacks were bizarre, they weren’t too difficult to deal with. In fact, it was quite simple: they shattered the moment they were hit by a powerful attack.

Li Shifan’s Cultivation had increased, improving all aspects of his abilities. His Sword Control Skill reaching the Law Level was a major milestone, and the advantages of being a Sword Cultivator were beginning to show.

Plus, his Sword Spirit could now attack the Sword Shadows. As a result, when the two of them entered their clean-up mode, they were incredibly fast.

After the better part of a day, the two had scoured the area around the Broken Sword Mountain Range nearly clean of all the Sword Shadows that had initially erupted from it.