The Programmer Cultivator

Using his Heart Spirit Inner Observation to see the Surveillance Elf’s warning, Zhang Deming froze for a moment before reacting. His expression changed drastically as he decisively exited the Spirit Nurturing Space.

Outside, Li Shifan had already reached the edge of the Hidden Breath Array and was extending his hand toward it.

"Wait!" Zhang Deming cried out anxiously when he saw this.

Li Shifan’s hand froze. All four of them turned in unison to look at Zhang Deming, confused.

As the four stared at him in confusion, Zhang Deming paused, then said with a hint of hesitation, "I don’t know why, but I suddenly have a really bad feeling. Let’s investigate carefully first!"

Three of his companions frowned slightly, while Li Shifan’s expression flickered; he knew better than anyone that Zhang Deming was backed by a powerhouse of Blessed Fortune like Elder Huang.

’With a powerhouse like that watching over him, this kind of seemingly random, groundless premonition might actually be legitimate.’

’After all, he’d had his own share of inexplicable premonitions, and they had helped him survive in these back mountains more than once.’

’And for the last few days, ever since entering the mission area, he’d been feeling an inexplicable unease himself but couldn’t pinpoint the source.’

"Senior Brother Summoning Spirit, how do you propose we investigate?" Li Shifan asked.

Zhang Deming smiled. "Simple enough!"

As he spoke, Zhang Deming opened his palm. A Spiritual Light appeared, and as it flickered, it transformed into an oversized Spirit Species the size of a grain of rice.

As Zhang Deming’s Spiritual Power surged, the Spirit Species began to transform in his palm. A moment later, under the curious gazes of the others, it turned into a small, pearl-like person.

After a fantastical flash of light, the tiny figure came to life.

The group stared, stunned by this series of transformations. This was especially true for Li Shifan. He had always known Zhang Deming’s path was Summoning, but he’d assumed it was Demon Spirit Summoning.

After all, he had seen Zhang Deming merge what looked like a Demon Spirit’s Magic Group into his body on several occasions. Of course, what he saw more often was Zhang Deming’s exceptionally skillful use of the Vine Technique.

Now, seeing the tiny figure that had transformed from a Spirit Species, Li Shifan realized Zhang Deming’s specialty was likely plant-based summoning. ’In that case, is his Vine Technique actually one of his Summoning Objects?’

’That... that incredibly refined Vine Technique... is it because his Vine Demon is special, or is it due to his own masterful control?’

Perhaps the Vine Technique had left too deep an impression on him, because as the others wore varied expressions, Li Shifan’s mind raced with possibilities.

Nangong Cheng observed the pearl-like figure and said, "So you practice Demon Plant Summoning, fellow Daoist. No wonder your title is Summoning Spirit. I was puzzled as to why a Summoning Cultivator would be so proficient in the Vine Technique, but now it all makes sense."

As Nangong Cheng spoke, the pearl-sized figure, having come to life, rapidly shrank until it was nearly invisible to the naked eye.

The four men were stunned once more. Tong Hou, a look of shocked amazement on his face, exclaimed, "Wishing Size? A summoning variant of the Ruyi Skill?"

When they first saw the pearl-like figure, they had assumed that was its natural size; no one had considered Wishing Size. After all, Earth Evil Techniques were notoriously difficult to master, and some were both exceedingly rare and hard to learn.

Zhang Deming smiled at them. "It’s just a minor trick, hardly useful for anything important."

As he spoke, another rice-grain-sized Spirit Species appeared, transformed into a tiny figure, then shrank and vanished. He continued this process, sending out a dozen or so of these figures and consuming about half of his Spiritual Power in the process.

Using a Law-Level Technique at the Duality Cultivation realm was already incredibly draining, and a Summoning technique—especially Spirit Nurturing Summoning—was even more so.

However, the benefits were immense. The Bean Soldiers he casually summoned, enhanced by his Heart Dream Technique, were incredibly nimble and possessed intelligence on par with an ordinary human.

An ordinary cultivator using the Scattering Beans into Soldiers technique couldn’t create such intelligent Bean Soldiers on the fly; it would require a significant gestation period within a Bean Soldier Space.

The dozen or so tiny figures, now incredibly small, sprouted Light Wings from their backs and flew into the Array.

Through experimentation, Zhang Deming had discovered that the Bean Soldiers he created on the fly had a maximum cultivation level equal to his own. For now, they could only carry four techniques, and techniques related to his Rune Core were more likely to be successfully imbued.

If he tried to imbue them with more than two other types of techniques, the summoning might fail. Of course, all this had to be done within a two-kilometer radius of himself or an anchor point. ’Well, now that I’ve reached the Duality realm, it’s about ten kilometers,’ he corrected himself.

If they exceeded this range, the Light Point Mirror Image would dissipate.

The Bean Soldiers themselves wouldn’t dissipate, but the techniques carried by these casually summoned ones would inexplicably vanish, reverting them to ordinary Bean Soldiers. They would remain in that state until their Spiritual Power ran out and they disappeared completely.

Sensing the dozen or so now-invisible Bean Soldiers under his control, Zhang Deming closed his eyes. He selected one of the Puppets and switched his consciousness to its perspective.

After a long moment, Zhang Deming opened his eyes. The four men, who had been watching him intently, straightened up as he came to. Li Shifan looked at him and asked, "Senior Brother Summoning Spirit, what’s the situation inside?"

Zhang Deming frowned. "I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary," he said. "At least, at first glance, it looks no different from the surrounding area."

"So, should we still go in and explore?" Feng Mingyou asked.

Nangong Cheng frowned at this. "We’ve come all this way; it would be ridiculous to give up halfway. Since we’ve already accepted the mission and there’s no apparent danger, turning back now is out of the question. Let’s go. Worst-case scenario, we just search more quickly."