The Programmer Cultivator

Li Shifan paused, startled. "You’re not even going to spare the corpse?"

Zhang Deming’s expression stiffened, and his face twitched. ’I get what he means—that I’m being thorough with the looting—but couldn’t he have phrased it differently? That wording feels... weird.’

He gave Li Shifan a speechless look. With a flicker of his Heart Spirit, an emerald vine shot out and stripped the corpse clean in an instant.

Since the man had been in seclusion at home, there weren’t actually many Artifacts on his body. Even his storage bag had been set aside.

As the other two watched, Zhang Deming finished searching the body, then waved his hand and put the corpse away.

With that done, they turned their eager gazes to the small tea table beside the Cultivation Platform. A Jade Scroll and a small, dusty cloth pouch sat there.

Clearly, the man had been in the middle of his Cultivation, studying a Technique, and the Jade Scroll was likely related to his research. Li Shifan, however, stared at the small cloth pouch, his eyes burning with desire.

Zhang Deming paused for a moment before a vine shot out and retrieved the storage bag.

The storage bag had sat there for several hundred years. As a Low-Tier Magical Artifact, it had no advanced features like blood-binding for ownership, nor any special self-sustaining Spiritual Power functions.

Therefore, the Sealing on the storage bag wasn’t very strong. For someone like Zhang Deming, with his mastery of the Tier Three Array Dao, it posed no challenge. He opened the bag with virtually no resistance and emptied its contents.

A cloud of black, toxic-smelling miasma poured out first, even showing signs of mutation.

Zhang Deming’s expression changed. As his Spiritual Light flared, a Light Screen formed from an Array in his hand, instantly trapping the miasma.

Only then did Zhang Deming resume emptying the bag. After more of the black miasma billowed out, a number of Spiritual Materials tumbled out, but they were completely unrecognizable.

Since the owner had been at home, most of the Spiritual Materials were likely intended for gradual use. They weren’t particularly precious to a Three Talents Cultivator and hadn’t been carefully processed for long-term storage. Consequently, after several hundred years, they were all ruined.

Zhang Deming felt a pang of regret as he looked at the pile of ruined Spiritual Materials. He then shook out some clothing and other miscellaneous items.

In the end, Zhang Deming found only five meticulously sealed Jade Boxes. However, due to contamination from the miasma, all five showed varying degrees of corrosion.

Two were already damaged. When Zhang Deming opened them, he found nothing but worthless dust inside.

Of the remaining three, one appeared to be free of holes, but... its seal had been compromised. The Spiritual Material inside was still somewhat recognizable, but it too was ruined. That left only two perfectly preserved Jade Boxes.

Zhang Deming carefully opened the first one. Inside the Jade Box was a very plain-looking bean, about the size of a fingertip and pale yellow in color.

It looked incredibly plain, just like an oversized soybean.

The other Jade Box also contained beans, but unlike the first, this one held five of them. A faint Spiritual Light pulsed around the beans, a clear sign they were anything but ordinary.

Moreover, these beans weren’t Spiritual Materials. They could tell with a single glance that these were specially crafted items, something akin to Artifacts.

The three of them stared at the beans for a long while before Li Cheng said hesitantly, "These couldn’t be Soldier Beans, could they?"

Zhang Deming nodded. "I believe so. A complete set of Three-Star Soldier Beans, at that."

"Soldier Beans?" Li Shifan asked, his lack of knowledge obvious.

Li Cheng shot Li Shifan a look. "When I try to teach you things in our spare time, cramming all this information into your head, you think I’m just nagging. Now do you see how important all that ’useless’ knowledge is?"

Li Shifan stiffened. He glanced at the old man, who never missed an opportunity to lecture him, but held his tongue and waited for the explanation.

Sure enough, Li Cheng continued his explanation. "It’s a Summoning Class item, something like an Artifact refined via the Summoning Path. Mmm, you can think of it as a special type of puppet."

Li Shifan nodded in immediate understanding. Li Cheng paused, then continued, "However, to create Soldier Beans... you must first know the Scattering Beans into Soldiers Skill.

"These are Three-Star Soldier Beans, which means they could only have been created with a version of the Scattering Beans into Soldiers Skill that’s at the Tier Four or Five Level.

"On the puppet market, the price for these things varies depending on their usage requirements.

"But since they’re special puppets refined with an Earth Evil Technique, the price is usually quite high. That’s because these Bean Soldiers are typically very powerful.

"And what we have here is a complete set. If you use these, I can’t say what would happen against a Three Talents Cultivator of the Celestial Realm, but you could certainly hold off one from the Earth Realm for a while. As for someone from the Human Realm... judging by the aura of these Soldier Beans, you probably wouldn’t even need to run."

Li Shifan’s face was a mask of astonishment. "Ancestor, are you saying this is a set of Three-Star Advanced special puppets?"

Li Cheng nodded. "And they’re a product of the Summoning Path. They likely have some Spiritual Wisdom and might even be capable of being nurtured. After all, that’s a popular path for those who specialize in plant-based summoning."

The three of them paused, their eyes on the two Jade Boxes and the six beans inside. A silence fell over them.

’Splitting them was impossible. An incomplete set of Soldier Beans would be crippled.’

’How could one contend with a Three Talents Great Cultivator with only "strength" beans and no "magic" beans?’

’And vice versa.’

As for that single, oversized soybean, the fact that it had been so carefully preserved meant it couldn’t be an ordinary item. It was probably a Three-Star material at the very least.

But since none of them could identify the bean’s origin, their enthusiasm for it waned. After all, it was like choosing between a guaranteed epic drop and a random loot box. The difference was obvious.