The Programmer Cultivator

"You jest, fellow Daoist. The two of us merely wished to borrow your disciples’ bodies to escape the Sealing and leave this damned place.

There’s something you don’t know, fellow Daoist. This room may look ordinary, but it has a powerful Sealing effect on Soul Bodies. Once a soul without a body enters this room, it’s nearly impossible to leave.

Our actions were born of desperation," Xin Rongjiang replied.

Elder Huang’s face was cold as he said, "Hmph. The audacity. You say you’ll borrow them, so you just borrow them? Have you asked for the consent of my disciples?"

Before Elder Huang could even ask, Li Shifan immediately spoke up. "Reporting to Elder Huang, not only did they not ask, they planned to use Soul Control on us disciples and refine us into Human Puppets."

Xin Rongjiang’s expression shifted. "A misunderstanding. This is truly a misunderstanding."

Elder Huang glanced at Li Cheng’s faint Painting Shadow and the Lifebound Scroll riddled with cracks. "Hmph. This doesn’t look like any misunderstanding."

"It truly is a misunderstanding! Had I known they were your disciples, fellow Daoist, I absolutely would not have acted this way," Xin Rongjiang hurriedly replied.

Elder Huang’s face remained cold. "So, you’re saying that if I hadn’t come, you would have just naturally used Soul Control on my disciples, refined them into puppets, and turned them into your tools for escape?"

Xin Rongjiang faltered for a moment. "How could that be? If we had known they were your disciples, whether you came or not..."

"Attack! He’s charging the seal!" Before Xin Rongjiang could finish, Yinn Yindi’s illusory form flickered as she cried out in alarm and fury.

Hearing this, Xin Rongjiang’s head snapped toward the pendant on the hilt of the Broken Sword. The Blessing Pendant was already flickering with Spiritual Light.

As Yinn Yindi’s words fell, a bright red Light Curtain emerged from the Blessing Pendant. It formed a hemisphere, slowly extending downward, threatening to envelop the sword and the few items beneath it.

At that moment, the Scroll trembled. On it, Yinn Yindi’s illusory form shuddered as she resisted the downward spread of the transparent red light with all her might.

Watching this, Xin Rongjiang’s face filled with shock and rage. "By acting this way, are you trying to force us into a fight to the death, fellow Daoist?"

"A fight to the death? You really think too highly of yourselves. Your Soul Artifacts are suppressed, your physical bodies are long gone, and you don’t even dare to use the full power of your Soul Bodies.

In your current state, you barely even qualify as Residual Souls, yet you stand before me and try to bluff? I’ve been alive longer than you’ve been dead. Do you really think you can fool me?

The only reason I haven’t dealt with you directly is that I wished to borrow the means left by those who came before me and save myself some effort," Elder Huang said to Xin Rongjiang, his expression indifferent.

Xin Rongjiang saw that Elder Huang had no intention of holding back. On the other side, Yinn Yindi’s form was trembling violently, on the verge of collapsing.

Xin Rongjiang’s expression turned fierce. "Attack!"

With Xin Rongjiang’s command, both his and Yinn Yindi’s illusory forms dissipated. Above the Spirit Summoning Essence Soul Jade, the Broken Sword shot into the air.

The Scroll pinned beneath the Broken Sword seized the opportunity, flying out in a flicker of light. Meanwhile, the Broken Sword itself erupted with Sword Qi that shot toward the heavens, unleashing a massive torrent.

The Blessing Talisman, which had been hanging from the hilt, was instantly blasted upward by the Sword Qi. Seizing this opening, the Broken Sword escaped in a flash.

The damaged puppet below, however, was ignored and lay there quietly.

The Talisman hovered for a moment before instantly falling back down, landing on the puppet’s chest. With no one to resist it, a transparent red Light Curtain rapidly formed, enveloping the puppet and the Spirit Summoning Essence Soul Jade.

For centuries, the Broken Sword and the Scroll had considered escaping this way more than once. But no one trusted the other, and none of the three wanted to be the one left behind to take the fall.

Because of this stalemate, they had remained suppressed. But now that Elder Huang had sealed the puppet’s soul, it had ironically given them their chance.

The Broken Sword and the Damaged Painting hovered in the air. Xin Rongjiang’s voice emanated from the Broken Sword.

"Do you really think practitioners of the Blessed Fortune Path can look down on everyone? If you were alone, it might be one thing. But with two disciples in tow, do you truly believe the two of us fear you?"

Elder Huang shook his head slightly. "Anywhere else, I might not be so confident. But here... Practitioners of the Blessed Fortune Dao rarely ever strike. Did you truly believe their life-and-death curses would be so easy to escape?"

Upon hearing this, the Broken Sword froze. "Could it be...?" Xin Rongjiang’s astonished voice trailed off.

Before he could finish, the entire Broken Sword transformed into a streak of light and shot toward Li Shifan again. The Scroll beside it paused for a moment, then also turned into a streak of light, darting toward Zhang Deming’s Substitute.

Elder Huang did not move to intercept them. Instead, he extended his right hand and pointed a finger at the Blessing Talisman, which was still flickering with Spiritual Light on the puppet in front of him.

A massive amount of Spiritual Power poured into it. The Talisman flashed a few times, then exploded into a cloud of Spiritual Light. The light gathered and split into three strange, eerie streams of power, which then vanished.

In a flash, two of the streams reappeared on the Broken Sword and the Damaged Painting. The last stream hovered over the puppet for a moment but did not enter it. Instead, it swept up the scattered fragments of the sword, painting, and puppet from the floor and vanished from the room.

At that very moment, the Broken Sword, still a streak of light, reached Li Shifan. He subconsciously raised his hand, using the Long Sword he held to activate a protective Skill and block the attack.

Just then, an eerie fluctuation emerged from the Broken Sword. Under its influence, the sword crashed into Li Shifan’s blocking Shield but, surprisingly, failed to break through.

Not only that, but the Broken Sword was already broken and covered in cracks to begin with.

This impact seemed to be the last straw. As the blade vibrated, the cracks grew wider and more numerous.