The Programmer Cultivator

Before them was a small plaza, the kind used for local gatherings.

The plaza must have been abandoned for countless years. Even though it had been paved entirely with Fire-Warming Stones, making its structure exceptionally hard, it was still weathered beyond recognition and overgrown with weeds.

But now, the entire plaza had been cleared. And from the looks of it, this had happened recently.

However, whoever cleared it obviously didn’t know any professional Techniques, as they had failed to do it without a trace. It looked as though some unusually strong mortal had simply given the entire plaza a rough cleaning.

They had used something like a machete to chop away all the vegetation, but plenty of obvious marks remained. And on the cleared plaza now lay numerous Demon Beast skeletons.

The skeletons had been picked clean of all flesh and fur, leaving nothing but white bones scattered on the ground. A fine, greyish-white ash surrounded the bones, as if they had been weathered by the passage of ages.

And yet, the bones also gave off a fresh feeling, creating a bizarre contradiction.

Moreover, judging by the residual auras from the bones, these Demon Beasts had possessed varying levels of Cultivation in life. Some were at the Apprentice Stage, others the Tai Chi Stage, and there were even quite a few at the Duality level.

Besides the bones, a strange Array had been constructed and carved into the plaza with some unknown material at the same time it was cleared.

Because of this Array, the entire plaza looked more like a massive sacrificial altar. Skeletons littered the Fiery Red plaza, which was crisscrossed with black and red lines, giving the altar a sinister air.

The plaza was not peaceful. A Human Ape Elder, now covered in black and red fur, stood there. He was incredibly muscular—or rather, his muscles were unnaturally ferocious.

His muscles were knotted and corded with bulging veins, and strange Runes writhed beneath his skin. A faint red, flame-like aura rose from his entire body.

He looked like an ape-man version of a Super Saiyan, the kind that had just unleashed its Big Move.

The rising, billowing aura, like surging flames, gave off an exceptionally bizarre feeling.

It felt as though it was condensed from an incredibly rich vital energy, yet it was also extraordinarily sinister, completely lacking the gentle affinity of true Life Force.

As the aura billowed and the Runes on the elder’s body flickered and flowed, his eyes glinted with endless madness. He was using all his strength to chase a young boy before him.

The boy was extremely young, looking to be in his teens. His face still held a trace of childishness, and though he was somewhat unkempt from who knows how long spent in the deep mountains, he was still quite handsome.

The boy’s face was filled with grief. He was constantly dodging the Human Ape Elder’s attacks while simultaneously trying to control something.

A strange entanglement existed between their auras. However, the boy’s was pure Power of Life, while the elder’s was mostly rage, chaos, and endless bestial desire.

As he dodged, the boy attempted to guide a portion of the frenzied aura into his own body.

But the Human Ape Elder seemed to have been too thorough before. The boy had been completely unaware that the elder had skewed the process: the madness and bestial desire went to him, while the Vitality went to the boy.

Because of this, his attempt at guidance had no effect whatsoever.

Instead, with every attempt the boy made, a portion of the pure Vitality left the Human Ape Elder’s body, while the madness and grotesqueness intensified, worsening his mutation.

Amidst his frantic dodging and repeated attempts, the boy still hadn’t found an effective solution by the time the Runes on the elder’s body surfaced completely, becoming black and red tattoos, and his hair grew as long as the fur on his body.

If not for his anxious and flustered expression, thick with regret and anguish, one might have thought he was doing it on purpose.

···

The three of them quietly arrived at the edge of the plaza, concealed themselves off to one side, and took in the bizarre scene before them.

"Are they performing some kind of evil sacrifice?" Nangong Cheng asked, glancing at Tong Hou with a frown.

When the two had signed their contract, he had learned that Tong Hou possessed a hidden trump card related to high-level Sacrificial Dao. For this reason, he had never once underestimated his infuriating Chess Dao teammate.

Tong Hou paused. He studied the plaza seriously for a moment before shaking his head. "No, this isn’t a product of the Sacrificial Dao. Although it looks like a sacrifice, its inner workings are definitely not of the Sacrificial Dao.

"This feeling... Right. It feels like a path developed from the Devouring Dao, but geared toward sacrifice. A lot of Sacrificial Dao Evil Cultivators are fond of this approach.

"After all, the Daos of Sacrifice and Devouring are inherently compatible. Once they’re combined, the effects are often exceptionally good.

"It’s just that those who do this not only cause great harm to others, but they also tend to leave behind many hidden dangers. While it raises their Cultivation, it also creates fatal consequences for themselves. In the end, they harm others and themselves.

"That’s why the Sacrificial Dao is mostly classified as an evil path. There are simply too few Cultivators who develop it through normal means."

Hearing this, Nangong Cheng glanced at Tong Hou again but didn’t press the conversation further.

Feng Mingyou, however, surveyed the plaza for a moment, then looked toward the Combat and said, "I think what we should be worrying about right now is how to get out of here!"

The other two, who had been talking, froze for a second.

Turning to look, they saw that the Combat on the plaza had, at some point during their conversation and for some unknown reason, come to a bizarre halt.

The Human Ape Elder’s eyes glinted with madness. He stood rigidly, like a robot, and turned his head to look directly at the area where the three were hiding.

The boy, not far from the Human Ape Elder, was also staring at the trio’s hiding spot with a look of surprise and confusion.

"If I’m not mistaken, given the way they’re looking, I’d say we’ve been discovered, right?" Feng Mingyou said, still looking at the plaza.

’Does that even need guessing?’ Faced with such a stupid comment, Tong Hou felt the urge to roll his eyes.