The Programmer Cultivator

Song Huidong stopped there, seeing Zhang Deming look as if he wanted to say something.

"Er... what for? Does each generation come back to argue with him?" Zhang Deming cut in.

Song Huidong shook his head. "Not exactly. It’s just that the disciples from every Spirit Mountain enjoy seeking out Master Guk for a ’chat,’ and every time, they manage to leave him with a grim look on his face..."

Zhang Deming: "..."

’Have I completely misunderstood monks? Why are they so petty? And he calls that "not exactly"?’

"Are you sure they can get away with this without the Sect intervening?" Zhang Deming asked.

Song Huidong said awkwardly, "Well, it’s not that he’s petty. It’s because the very first Wish Cultivator who debated Master Guk... not only did Master Guk lose the argument, but he ended up debating that Wish Cultivator into achieving the Enlightenment Dao..."

Zhang Deming: "..."

’Senior Brother Guk Liancai, you’re really something else! I never knew being a contrarian could reach such a Realm, or have such an effect!’

"Then, Master Guk used etiquette and whatnot as his justification, and things just ended up this way. If not for that, if he’d merely lost the debate, knowing his temper, he probably would have taken up Oratory as a Minor and gone back every year to argue his case.

Oh, right!

Back then, Master Guk actually did intend to study Oratory for a time. Afterwards, it took the United Force of our master and Master Yuee to stop him. Master Yuee broke it down for him, piece by piece, explaining that if he learned Oratory and won the arguments, he’d just end up helping even more people achieve enlightenment.

So why waste the energy to help outsiders achieve greatness? They’re not even Disciples from our own Sect. That’s the only way they managed to block Master Guk’s path to becoming a Word Cultivator."

’Guk Liancai? Minoring in the Speech Dao?’

’Good heavens, that must have nearly given Yuee Mengsheng and Gan Zili a heart attack!’

’That contrarian streak of his is already in his Bone Marrow. If he had minored in the Speech Dao on top of that, he would have become truly venom-tongued—the kind of person who wounds others the moment he speaks and spills blood within five steps whenever he loses his temper.’

’In that case, it wouldn’t be a matter of everyone on Spirit Nurturing Peak giving Guk Liancai a wide berth. The entire Peak would have been argued into submission by him! Not even their status as Spirit Nurturing Masters would have been enough to withstand it!’

While Zhang Deming’s thoughts raced, Song Huidong continued, "Because of that, none of the Wish Cultivators are actually trying to make things difficult for Master Guk. They’re stirring up trouble in the hopes of achieving the Enlightenment Dao. Given that fundamental difference, how could the Sect possibly get involved?

Besides, after they’ve had their fill of debating Master Guk, they tend to go easy on him when it’s time to go through the motions at the Dao conference. It’s a sort of unspoken agreement.

It’s also why the Sect—hoping to keep these Wish Cultivators from causing trouble later...

Er... and maybe with a bit of a suggestion from Ancestor Dang... it became an unbreakable tradition for Master Guk from our Spirit Nurturing Peak to lead the group.

So, when it was switched to you and me this year, everyone was curious if Master Guk had finally snapped from all the debating. Some of the Disciples below even started a betting pool over it."

Zhang Deming: "..."

’Poor Guk Liancai. He was sold out by their United Force!’

’Wait a minute, now that I’m going... does this mean... have I been set up by Yuee Mengsheng and Gan Zili working together?’

’Listening to all this, it doesn’t sound at all like I can just be a nobody, take a quick tour, and be done with it. I’m taking Guk Liancai’s place. When those baldies don’t see their enlightenment wingman, are they really just going to let me leave after a casual visit?’

...

As the two were talking, a gigantic leaf drifted down from the sky. It came to a stop above the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower, hovering about ten meters over their heads.

The leaf was a vibrant green, shaped like an elongated oval. At its head was a curved stalk, upon which rested a massive, eagle-like head. The tail was less remarkable, just the slightly curled tip of the leaf.

The leaf was immense. Since it was hovering at a low altitude, it seemed to block out half the sky. Everyone could clearly see the veins on its underside.

It looked just like a leaf from some colossal tree, a true boat made from a single leaf.

The entire leaf-boat was enveloped in an Energy Shield, but this shield was quite peculiar. It was not oval, nor was it circular; in fact, it had nothing to do with a circle at all.

The entire shield was streamlined. To be more precise, with the bird’s head of an unknown species on the stalk as its starting point, the shield formed the peculiar shape of a bird’s body.

The leaf-boat itself only constituted the gently curved abdomen of this avian form. This single Flying Artifact was enough to showcase the current prosperity of the Hongmeng Array Artifact discipline.

"This is the Cyan Feather Green Ship, the one with the largest carrying capacity among the Sect’s few large-scale Three-Star Flying Magical Artifacts," Song Huidong said, noticing Zhang Deming staring in a daze.

Zhang Deming kept his head raised, staring at the Green Ship. "Mhm, I know," he said without looking back. "I’ve read the data on it, I just never expected the real thing to be this impressive."

’When it isn’t moving, the shield is hidden, and it looks just like a giant, sky-blotting leaf. A very, very big leaf. Its total surface area is easily comparable to the flight deck of an aircraft carrier from my past life.’

"Heh, it’s because the prevailing trends in Hongmeng cultivation have shifted somewhat. There are plenty of Artifact Cultivators, but other types of Cultivators have gradually stopped relying on Artifacts.

As a result, it’s rarely deployed. It’s perfectly normal that you haven’t seen it much, Junior Brother. Nowadays, it’s mostly used to display the prestige of the Upper Sect.

Normally, it’s either not needed, or the people with the authority to use it have Techniques powerful enough that they don’t require it.

This is also why the Array Artifact Department has been so aggressively promoting Outer Realm concepts in recent years, pushing to develop Artifacts that can be used Cross-Tier.

In the words of Department Head Cui Buzhi from the Artifact Refining Department, if traditional Artifact Refining doesn’t adapt, it will be left behind by the current era.

This pillar of the Hundred Arts of Refining discipline might just come crashing down," Song Huidong replied with a smile.

...