The Programmer Cultivator

Zhang Deming hesitated for a moment. An emerald-green vine sprouted from his body, its thorn-like tip shimmering with a jade-like luster as he poked it at the Sword Shadow.

"POP..."

With a soft pop, the ferocious Sword Shadow was shattered into motes of Spiritual Light by Zhang Deming’s gentle poke.

A faintly illusory, not-yet-fully-formed orb appeared in mid-air. It was their first time seeing one, so neither of them was prepared for it.

Thus, before Zhang Deming could reach out to grab it, the swirling currents of air crushed the illusory orb into specks of Sword Qi that blended into the surroundings.

It became one with the surrounding airflow, adding its own small part to this strange environment.

Watching this unfold, Zhang Deming and Li Shifan paused. The theory they had come up with earlier now seemed all the more certain, and a glint of excitement appeared in their eyes. They even began to walk a little faster.

Along the way, they saw a Sword Shadow every few seconds, all of them heading toward the mouth of the cliff. However, not all the Sword Shadows made it the same distance.

Some shattered in the turbulent airflow while still far away, while others only broke apart just as they were about to reach the opening. So far, the two had not seen a single one successfully exit the cliff.

Either the success rate was extremely low, or it was simply impossible for any Sword Shadow to make it out from this location.

Yet all the Sword Shadows persevered, heading for the cave’s exit at the cliff’s edge; none of them simply dove off the precipice.

After they had walked a little further, the Compass in Li Shifan’s hand suddenly vibrated. The two of them stopped, bracing themselves against the swirling currents that felt like a baleful wind, and looked toward the cliff wall to their side.

A faint speck of Spiritual Light was now flickering on the cliff wall. Amidst such violent, swirling currents, it would have been easy to overlook, especially since they had to focus all their energy on resisting the gales.

But now, guided by the Compass, their careful search revealed the faint glimmer of Spiritual Light.

Li Shifan could even sense the vibrant Sword Qi within it. A look of delight crossed his face, and he started to reach out.

Zhang Deming raised a hand to stop him. "Has the excitement addled your brain? In an environment as chaotic as this, if that’s really a Sword Spirit Ore, its Spiritual Light is already faintly visible. That obviously means its protective crust is already paper-thin."

"If you just dig it out like that, and you accidentally crack it, won’t it get contaminated?"

The Sword Dao was a major path in Cultivation, with countless Disciples who practiced it. As such, the archives on Spirit Nurturing Peak contained a great deal of information on it, which was how Zhang Deming had come to know a thing or two.

And since he had read so many of those records, Zhang Deming was quite knowledgeable about the main material for the Duality advancement in the Artifact Sword Dao.

Among the primary materials for the Duality advancement of the Artifact Sword Dao, Sword Spirit Ore was the most precious. This ore was the key to a cultivator and their sword’s fates becoming intertwined, and to achieving a perfectly clear Sword Heart.

It was exceptionally pure, but because of this, it was also extremely susceptible to contamination—especially by Sword Qi.

And yet, its formation environment required it to be tempered by Sword Qi over a long period of time; specifically, it needed to be tempered by a very chaotic mix of Sword Qi.

It had an air of being born from turbidity, yet remaining transparently clear and pure. For this reason, the natural crust it formed possessed a certain degree of insulating power.

It was these harsh formation requirements, coupled with the critical nature of its effects, that made it one of the most precious primary materials in the Duality Sword Dao formula.

It was possible to artificially create an environment to cultivate this resource, but the cost would be completely disproportionate to the yield, not to mention the process was fraught with countless variables and uncertainties.

Therefore, while the surrounding environment was indeed suitable for this Spirit Ore’s formation, it also made it extremely vulnerable to contamination.

Many a Sword Spirit Ore, after its formation, would go undiscovered for long periods due to its environment. Eventually, its insulating crust would be worn away by the very Sword Qi that created it, only for the ore to be contaminated by that same Sword Qi and disappear back into Sumeru, thus completing a cycle.

From this perspective, Sword Spirit Ore could be considered a special type of plant: born here, grown here, and perishing here in a perpetual, repeating cycle of life and death.

Hearing this, Li Shifan paused and gave an embarrassed laugh. "I was just too excited," he said. "Plus, I’m using most of my Heart Spirit to maintain this Sword Spirit barrier outside. It slipped my mind for a moment."

Zhang Deming paused. ’Right,’ he thought. ’My Shield is semi-passive, and it even automatically detects danger.’ He had almost forgotten that for other people, maintaining a Technique was not only a huge drain on their Spiritual Power but on their Heart Spirit as well.

The reason he could be so lazy and just let his semi-passive skills run was that they operated continuously as long as he provided them with Spiritual Power. Sometimes he would even forget he was actively running a Technique.

This was especially true for his Hidden Breath Skill. ’Before I reach the Law Level,’ he mused, ’I should really consider adding a periodic reminder function to my Hidden Breath Skill.’

’While it wasn’t a drawback for now, it was still an active effect on his person. It never hurt to be careful.’

’And this was just for a semi-passive skill. If he’d made the Hidden Breath Skill fully passive from the start, who knows what would have happened by now.’

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The two of them approached the spot with the suspected Sword Spirit Ore. Gazing at the flickering Spiritual Light, Zhang Deming said, "Looking at this, if it really is Sword Spirit Ore, then we were lucky. Had we come a year or two later, we probably would’ve only found a worthless, contaminated ore."

Li Shifan nodded. "Yeah. The Spiritual Light is faint. The crust has clearly been worn down to a very thin layer by the airflow."

Zhang Deming said, "Since you were the one aiming to find Sword Spirit Ore, you must have prepared a way to extract it, right? Go on, get to it!"

Li Shifan nodded, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small sphere.

Zhang Deming stared at the sphere, stunned for a second. After taking a closer look, he said, "You actually bought a single-use mining Artifact just for the Sword Spirit Ore? Are you that loaded?"

"Looks like you’ve had some good luck messing around in the back mountains this past year since you hit the Tai Chi realm. You must’ve made a good haul and earned a ton of Spirit Stones!"

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