The Programmer Cultivator

Zhang Deming shook his head and said, "If Pure Cultivators are becoming rarer and rarer, it must mean they’re not suited for the current era. In this age where Spirit Nurturing Masters are all the rage, being a Pure Cultivator... you can probably only get by inside a Sect. There wouldn’t be much room for them to survive out in the world..."

Song Huidong nodded in agreement. "I think so too. With Spirit Nurturing Masters so prevalent these days, the ascetic Loose Cultivators will slowly be squeezed out until their lineages die off."

He paused for a moment, then returned to Zhang Deming’s original question. "So, because of this family tradition, the Guan Family Patriarch of each generation tends to have a very low profile within the Sect.

And their personalities are, more or less, a bit lazy. You know... like Master Yuee. The kind of person who absolutely detests troublesome things."

"So you’re saying he’s not giving the lecture today? That he’s just bailed on us, and we’re supposed to just sit here all day?" Zhang Deming asked, astonished.

Song Huidong nodded. "Most likely. To be honest, I was shocked when I first heard that Master Guan had accepted the team leader assignment.

My master said he was probably tricked into it by the other masters from the Inner Sect. They took advantage of his honest nature and pushed the responsibility onto him. So, under the circumstances, we’re lucky he even showed up. We shouldn’t expect a lecture or anything."

Zhang Deming was utterly speechless. He didn’t know about the other sects, but he could clearly see and feel that this Dao discussion and exchange conference, organized by a power under the Spirit Mountain Holy Land, was truly and thoroughly despised by his Celestial Spirit Sect.

"Then why even bring us to this hall? To sit here like idiots all day?" Zhang Deming asked.

Song Huidong shook his head with a wry smile. "The Disciple in charge of making the arrangements has probably attended the Traveler of the World exchange conference before.

So he was probably just following custom, and likely didn’t expect a situation like this. After all, very few Disciples in the Sect know Master Guan well. Most don’t even know the basics about him.

If my master and Master Yuee hadn’t specifically called me over a few days ago to go over a bunch of miscellaneous tasks, I wouldn’t know much about Master Guan either.

I’m not even that familiar with the Guan Family, and I’m a supervisor on Spirit Nurturing Peak...

And you have to understand, a fair number of Guan Family members work on our peak, though most are in low-level positions. That should tell you everything about the Guan Family’s presence in the Sect.

With a team leader like this, it’s normal for this sort of thing to happen, even if the disciple responsible for routine matters did their homework in advance.

After all, even someone like Master Guk didn’t bail on this customary lecture. Who knew Master Guan would just ditch it without saying a word?

So let’s just wait and see. If nothing happens, we might as well close our eyes and meditate. It’s not like there are that many formalities, anyway."

’Meditate? With my system’s idling function, I wouldn’t be meditating, I’d just be sleeping.’

’At my level of Cultivation, I barely sleep as it is. Sleep for a whole day? Forget it! I’d rather find a quiet room and make some Spirit Nurturing Beads to pass the time.’

"Why don’t we sneak out?" Zhang Deming suggested.

Song Huidong hesitated. "Is that a good idea? The custom is a full day of lectures. If we leave, wouldn’t that be seen as disrespectful to our master...?"

"What’s not a good idea about it? He’s bailed on us. What custom is there left to follow!" Zhang Deming retorted.

"Well... let’s wait a little longer. If it’s still like this in a bit, we’ll sneak out and have a look around. I’ve never been on this Cyan Feather Green Ship, anyway."

At Zhang Deming’s urging, Song Huidong hesitantly agreed to his blatant proposal to "skip the lecture."

The two of them waited for another quarter of an hour, but Guan Shouxin still showed no intention of beginning. He sat on the main seat, eyes closed and completely motionless, as if he had embarked on a Divine Travel.

Many of the Disciples below had probably also guessed they were being bailed on.

As a result, some Disciples began setting up privacy Arrays to chat; some were meditating; some were studying various things; and others took out Magic Books or novels and began to read quietly.

Zhang Deming glanced around the room. "Come on, let’s go have a look around. What they’re doing is no different from us ’skipping the lecture’ anyway. Everyone’s just doing their own thing."

Upon hearing this, Song Huidong glanced at their surroundings, then at the statue-like Guan Shouxin, and finally nodded hesitantly. "Alright, then!"

With that, the two of them deactivated the sound-proofing barrier around them and began to carefully make their way out of the hall.

Yang Guangfu and Qin Shizhong were just about to follow, but Zhang Deming turned and gestured for them to sit back down.

The two of them froze, looking at each other speechlessly. They could only obediently return to their original spots. They wouldn’t dare sit in Zhang Deming’s and Song Huidong’s seats to cover for them. The hall was full of masters, and there was an old ancestor at the very front!

The two of them didn’t have that kind of nerve!

After placating Qin Shizhong and Yang Guangfu, Zhang Deming and Song Huidong snuck out from behind their desks, hugging the edge of the hall.

Since there weren’t many people in the hall to begin with, and many had nothing better to do, their movements attracted quite a bit of attention.

You could tell at a glance that Song Huidong had never done anything like this before. Stared at by his many fellow disciples, he instantly grew anxious. Zhang Deming, however, paid them no mind, quickly slipping out the door and vanishing from the entrance.

The onlookers who saw this all subconsciously glanced toward Guan Shouxin, only to find him still as motionless as a statue, apparently oblivious.

Because of this, among the twenty or so Disciples present, a few looked tempted, but after a moment of hesitation, none of them dared to skip the lecture.