The Programmer Cultivator

"After more than half a month of rescue efforts, most of the areas surrounding the Sect have been initially pacified. We began to spread out, heading for the more remote Prefectures."

"And our team, led by my Second Great-Uncle, was the one that came to Panzhou to provide disaster relief."

"Second Great-Uncle?" Zhang Deming interjected doubtfully.

Dang Rushuang paused for a moment before saying, "You should know him. He’s Elder Dang Ketao of the Dharma Transmission Hall."

Zhang Deming paused. Turns out, he really did know the man, but not from attending lectures at the Dharma Transmission Hall. He was the first Three Talents Elder Zhang Deming had seen outside the Cyan Wood Secret Realm.

Zhang Deming nodded and said, "I have some impression of him. The one with a Three Talents Earth Realm Cultivation?"

Dang Rushuang nodded. "Yes."

"Where is he then? Why are you alone? Were you ambushed? Did you escape on your own?" Zhang Deming asked.

"We came to Panzhou, passing through several small family-run cities along the way. We discovered that the surrounding prefectures were in even worse condition than the area around the Sect. Nearly all of them had been completely wiped out."

"It seems that while we were conducting rescue missions and driving some of them away, it also freed them up to focus their attacks on the surrounding prefectures. Because of that, everyone’s mood was quite heavy along the way."

"When we arrived at Panshui Town in Pann City, our Sect’s reaction and response time must have been too fast for them. Even though these remnants had been preparing for a long time, it still forced them to act in a hurry."

"By the time we got there, the slaughter had just finished. The traces left all over the ground hadn’t even been cleaned up yet."

"We had finally caught up to them. After that, our group, led by my Second Great-Uncle, tracked them here and discovered the reason for their disappearance."

At this point, Dang Rushuang and Zhang Deming had arrived at their destination.

This was a family settlement, and they were now standing in its central plaza. The entire square was covered in a dense network of blood-red Runes.

Everywhere they looked, there were scabs of blood that hadn’t fully congealed and various scattered limbs.

The entire plaza resembled a gigantic slaughterhouse. Yes, the kind of slaughterhouse that had just finished a mass killing, had only just shipped out the main ’product,’ and hadn’t yet had time to clean the site.

And in the center of this slaughterhouse plaza, at the very heart of the blood-red Runes, was an exquisite Array Platform. The platform was several meters in diameter and, compared to the surrounding filth and chaos, was exceptionally clean, creating a stark contrast.

At the core of the Array Platform, a peculiar Light Gate hovered in the air. It was flickering and slowly, ever so slowly, shrinking.

"Is that... the entrance to a Secret Realm Grotto Heaven?"

Looking at the silvery-white Light Gate, Zhang Deming recognized it instantly. There were several such Light Gates in the Secret Realm Plaza on Celestial Spirit Peak.

As Zhang Deming’s thoughts raced, Dang Rushuang began to explain, "That’s right. It’s the entrance to a Grotto Heaven Secret Realm. To be precise, it’s a spatial teleportation anchor."

"Previously, the Sect acquired the Five Great Secret Realms of the Five Elements Blessed Land. Cyan Wood, Wu Earth, and Fire Separation were all fine, but Turtle Water was reduced to just its core and requires a great deal of effort to repair."

"But while the Sect has a clear understanding of these four Secret Realm Grotto Heavens, the Geng Metal Heaven, which was obtained along with Cyan Wood Heaven, has been a source of great confusion."

"The entire Geng Metal Heaven, due to the past disaster, was captured by the Sect along with Cyan Wood Heaven, but all we got was a desolate Secret Realm Grotto Heaven."

"The Grotto Heaven was completely empty. There was nothing inside. Even the land itself was severely contaminated because of that slime that escaped back then."

"Under such circumstances, the Sect’s progress in rebuilding Geng Metal Heaven has been exceptionally difficult, and we’ve never been able to establish even the most basic resonance with the other four Secret Realms."

"This has greatly puzzled the Sect’s Array Department. After all, they are the five parts of a single Blessed Land. Even Turtle Water, which was just a core, could still resonate."

"At first, everyone thought it had been corroded, that the foundation of Geng Metal Heaven was damaged, and that it would just take time to fix."

"But after seeing this, we realized that before Geng Metal Heaven was corroded, the Five Elements Remnants had already carved out its core module."

"Using Geng Metal Heaven’s unique stability, they established Teleportation Gates within the territories of several surrounding Upper Sects. And when we arrived here, they were already in the final stages of their retreat."

"In the heat of the moment, Second Great-Uncle charged in. We disciples had no choice but to follow him."

"Once inside, we discovered there were three Three Talents Great Cultivators. It was too late to retreat, and on top of that, Dao Mark transmissions were sealed in this entire area, so we’ve been trapped for nearly a day."

"If you hadn’t suddenly arrived, Junior Brother, and your Dao Mark hadn’t pulled me out of there, we probably would have been slowly ground to death inside."

Zhang Deming looked at the Light Gate, which was closing with extreme slowness, and said, "Senior Sister, you want to go back in?"

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Dang Rushuang nodded. "When Second Great-Uncle went in and realized something was wrong, he also sealed their Secret Realm. So we couldn’t retreat, but they couldn’t call for reinforcements either."

"There were originally three Three Talents remnants in the Secret Realm. One of them chased me when I escaped, and the other two are pinning down Second Great-Uncle."

"Now that one is dead, there are two left: one at the Human Realm and one at the Earth Realm."

"Your current state is the Peak of the Celestial Realm. If we rush in and kill one of them quickly, not only will we break the stalemate, but we can also kill them all, destroy their teleportation core, and earn a great deal of merit."

Zhang Deming gave Dang Rushuang a look and said, "Senior Sister, do you think I’m an idiot?"