The Programmer Cultivator

Chapter 126 - 9: Let’s Elope

But in just an instant, the script inside his body spun rapidly, and his Spiritual Power was restored in a flash.

On the battlefield, the moment the Quantum Pulse Bomb detonated, their Energy Shields finally collapsed under the strain and vanished. One by one, the devices on their waists flickered with sparks.

Watching the vines go limp and dissolve into motes of light, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

That was a close call. Without their Energy Shields, it would have been incredibly difficult for them to handle a Druid Mage with such bizarre techniques, especially in a dense forest.

Not to mention, this Druid also seemed to have a thorough understanding of technology.

Yiding was the calmest of them all. The instant the vines went limp, he activated the scanner on his tactical eyepiece and rapidly swept the battlefield.

’Hm? There!’

"Northeast corner, ten o’clock!"

The very instant his teammates were sighing in relief, he shouted out the position. Simultaneously, he drew the sniper rifle from his back, flicked his aim, and fired.

A blind shot combined with a flick shot—the entire sequence was incredibly skilled, as smooth as flowing water.

Before his teammates could even react, he had already executed the high-difficulty maneuver of a flick-and-quick-scope.

He simultaneously used the rifle’s recoil to leap aside, instinctively repositioning to evade any potential counterattack.

Only then did his teammates react and spring into action.

The instant the shot rang out, Zhang Deming felt himself being targeted, and his sense of danger flared violently.

Light Wings materialized at his feet and began to vibrate rapidly. Zhang Deming shot forward, leaping directly into a tree.

The thicket where he’d been hiding was instantly obliterated, leaving a small crater from the massive sniper round.

’Holy shit, what kind of insane tech is that? If I took a direct hit without any defenses, I’d be turned to paste!’

He leaped rapidly through the trees, his gaze fixed on the opposing group.

Seeing that all four of their Energy Shields were gone, the corners of Zhang Deming’s mouth lifted into a slight smile.

’I thought this was going to be a tough fight, but it looks like it’ll be over much sooner than expected.’

With little hesitation this time, Zhang Deming dodged and leaped, closing in on the group.

This sudden change of tactics sent a chill through the four of them.

"Damn it, he wasn’t affected!" Pang De exclaimed.

BANG...

After firing another fruitless shot, a grim-faced Yiding said in a low voice,

"It’s not that he’s unaffected. He can just clear the status effect in an incredibly short time. It looks like he really is from that conglomerate."

When Zhang Deming closed the distance, he confirmed they still hadn’t raised their shields. It seemed they truly had no spares.

After confirming they had no energy-based defenses, Zhang Deming opened his mouth and said,

"I heard one of the Rumors. It says: In this place, it is exceedingly difficult for an Ordinary person to make any move."

As Zhang Deming spoke, the four shooters instantly stiffened, as if they had been turned into wooden mannequins.

Zhang Deming stopped, a smile on his face as vines sprouted from the ground all around. "Like I said, this little hunting game of..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the hair on his arms stood on end. He shot backward without a second thought.

Among the four mannequin-like figures, Yiding, whose movements were almost completely restricted, gave a sudden, cold look. With immense effort, he tore the safety trigger from his waist.

The instant Zhang Deming leaped back, the spot where the four of them stood erupted in a violent, fiery explosion.

"???"

’Holy shit, are they serious? They just blow themselves up at the drop of a hat.’

Zhang Deming scrambled to avoid the blast wave. He stared at the dismembered remains of the four and the large crater where they had stood, completely dumbfounded. His mind was just screaming, ’What the fuck.’

He couldn’t help but admire their decisiveness. They obviously knew that falling into his hands would not lead to a pleasant outcome.

After all, considering the state he had left their two teammates in earlier, if Zhang Deming were an inside agent, you could say he was holding back. But if he were an enemy, then it was a fate so cruel that death would be a welcome escape.

The same apparent result, but the underlying intent could be completely different.

But for them to be so decisive under these circumstances was still something Zhang Deming found completely unexpected.

’Don’t tell me they have some kind of life-saving advanced tech, like consciousness transference?’

With Panx Juan’er on his back, Zhang Deming stood there for a long while. He finally shook his head helplessly and turned to run back the way he had come.

「About twenty minutes later.」

When Zhang Deming returned to where he started, the two people he had interrogated earlier were gone.

The earlier Quantum Pulse Bomb must have broken his Technique, allowing those two to escape in that instant of disruption.

Everything looked as if nothing had happened. If not for the four dismembered bodies still on the ground and the wounds covering Zhang Deming, the whole thing would have felt like a dream.

Less than an hour had passed from start to finish, yet he had been through quite a lot.

Looking at where the two had disappeared, Zhang Deming felt a tinge of regret. At the time, not knowing a thing about the situation, he had been trying to delay his pursuers.

That was why, although he had left the two in agony, Zhang Deming had deliberately avoided inflicting any fatal injuries.

He had hoped to give their pursuers a reason to rescue them.

He never imagined that not one of the four would bother trying to save them.

Now, because the Spiritual Power disruption from the quantum pulse had broken his Growth Technique and made the vines disappear, those two had managed to get away for free.

’All in all, that was a real loss.’

Zhang Deming set Panx Juan’er down from his back and said, "We need to recover quickly. We have to get back to the Sect as soon as possible, even if it means traveling through the night."

"Two of them got away, and we can’t be certain if those last four are truly dead. If they send more people, we might not be able to handle another attack."

"So, to be safe, we need to go straight back."

"Mm." Panx Juan’er seemed dazed, her gaze fixed blankly on the bloodstains on her sleeve.

Without her own formidable power, being protected like this sent her already conflicted heart into even greater turmoil.

Zhang Deming glanced at her. Thinking she was simply frightened, he tried to comfort her, "Don’t worry. As long as you don’t cast me aside, I’ll be here. I won’t let anything happen to you."

After offering this reassurance, Zhang Deming started to get up to wake the other four members of their group.

"Let’s elope!"

Panx Juan’er said abruptly, her eyes fixed on the wounds covering Zhang Deming’s body.

"Huh? Wha—??? What did you just say?"

"Let’s elope. Let’s leave the Celestial Spirit Sect. We can go anywhere—it doesn’t matter, as long as I’m with you. I would wander to the ends of the earth."

After her sudden outburst, Panx Juan’er’s tone became lighter as she repeated the word "elope," as if a great burden had been lifted. Her voice was now exceptionally firm.

’Did the shock scramble her brain?’

"Have things like this been happening a lot over the years? Are you tired of the Sect’s internal strife?" Zhang Deming asked.

Panx Juan’er shook her head, took out a purple Jade Pendant, and placed it in front of Zhang Deming.

The Jade Pendant had a unique aura. On one side were constantly shifting Runes that Zhang Deming couldn’t comprehend. On the other side, however, were two words he did recognize: "Spirit Nurturing."

Zhang Deming asked, baffled, "What is this?"

"The Spirit Nurturing Sacred Order," Panx Juan’er said. "My master came back this time specifically to bring it with him."

"What does it do?" Zhang Deming asked, confused.

Panx Juan’er replied, "It’s an Entry Order for the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land. With it, you can bypass the Blessed Lands and enter the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land—one of the Three Great Holy Lands—directly."

"If you perform well there, you can become one of the Holy Land Disciples."

For a moment, Zhang Deming couldn’t connect the dots. What did this have to do with them eloping?

"So, this whole incident happened because of this?" Zhang Deming asked.

Panx Juan’er nodded. "My Spirit Root isn’t fifty-nine, it’s ninety-five. That’s just enough to be considered an Immortal Spirit Root."

"Master discovered it during the test back then and kept it hidden."

"That’s also why, even though I caused such a huge scene back then, you were only sent to the Miscellaneous Affairs Courtyard. Master absolutely forbade any contact between us."

"Because from the very beginning, he believed a relationship between us was completely impossible."

"For the last ten years, Master never allowed—or more accurately, strictly forbade—me to touch or use any Spirit Nurturing Beads."

"At first, I thought it was a punishment for the scene I’d made, so I didn’t care. My Talent is decent, after all, and I learned plenty of Techniques without the help of any Spirit Nurturing Beads."

"But three years ago, when I met the conditions for advancement, Master again forbade me from using my already-proficient Tier Two Ice Technique to undergo Rune Core Creation and be Promoted to Tai Chi."