The Programmer Cultivator

Chapter 320 - 34: The Peak Master’s Salary

The eldest was named Zhang Teng, the second Zhang Yu, and the third Zhang Qing. She was also the only girl of the three.

"Greetings, Martial Uncle. When I saw the three little juniors heading this way, I knew it must be you." The three little ones had just settled down when Yi Huaihai came rushing over.

Because Zhang Deming had performed their Spirit Awakening and had spent a great deal of effort nurturing them, the three little ones shared a faint connection with him.

Zhang Deming nodded and said, "How is the Flower Sea?"

Yi Huaihai nodded. "Everything is normal. Qing One through Qing Eleven are all in deep sleep, with no abnormalities whatsoever. I just checked them this morning."

Zhang Deming nodded again. "Alright. What about that guy, Qing Xiaolu?"

"To answer, Martial Uncle, Junior Brother Qing is hibernating in the Flower Sea Corner Tower," Yi Huaihai replied respectfully.

Zhang Deming’s brow furrowed slightly. "He hasn’t fully recovered yet?"

Yi Huaihai nodded. "That’s right. However, Ancestor Yuee said that for a fundamental deficit of lifespan and Vitality, ordinary remedies have already reached their limit. It’s already very good that he can stay awake for five hours a day without damaging his foundation."

Zhang Deming shook his head slightly and didn’t dwell on the matter.

He led the three little ones back to the Corner Tower. After getting a few things in order, Zhang Deming looked up at the sky. As his aura surged, he uttered a single word: "Spirit Rain!"

As Zhang Deming’s word fell, winds gathered and clouds churned in the sky above the Fourth Flower Sea. A moment later, a fine, thread-like Spirit Rain began to fall.

The three little ones flew out with exceptional glee. They danced and chased each other through the fine, misty rain, like true Elves.

A smile on his face, Zhang Deming watched the three little ones chase each other for a moment.

Behind him, Yi Huaihai would, as always at times like this, stare blankly at Zhang Deming’s back. He seemed deeply captivated by Zhang Deming’s ability to change the weather with a single word.

Lately, Zhang Deming had even noticed him secretly reading up on Oratory. Zhang Deming didn’t mind it at all.

As for Pei Xiaoxiao, after arriving at the Flower Sea, she seemed to have finally realized the importance of the Agility Technique. She also learned just how frustrating, yet effective, the Sect’s incentive-based policies could be.

Without the Agility Technique, she could only stay put in the Flower Sea Corner Tower unless Yi Huaihai escorted her.

But Yi Huaihai was only in his teens, just a kid. She always felt a little embarrassed being escorted by him, so she had been practicing with exceptional diligence lately.

After casting the Skill, Zhang Deming didn’t disturb Pei Xiaoxiao, who was diligently practicing the Agility Technique. He gave Yi Huaihai a few instructions and headed toward the Second Flower Sea.

In the Second Flower Sea, glowing orbs resembling bubbles were still sparsely scattered, enveloping many of the Flower Wood within the sea.

With practiced ease, Zhang Deming found Gan Zili. Seeing that he was in the middle of performing a Spirit Awakening, Zhang Deming stood quietly to the side and waited.

Countless soap-like bubbles rushed into a flower bud, but ultimately, the bud’s Spiritual Light was insufficient, and it slowly dissipated.

"Sigh! What a pity. I felt like it was almost enough!" Gan Zili lamented.

Zhang Deming smiled and replied, "Senior Brother Gan, you’ve already succeeded with five plants. Completing this task within a year won’t be difficult."

Gan Zili shook his head. "You can’t calculate it like that. The further we go, the worse the quality of the plants, and the slower the results will be.

"We can’t compare to you, Junior Brother Zhang. You’re a Tier Three Mastery Level Spirit Nurturing Master. For you, completing a small task like this is a given. We can only do our best."

Zhang Deming smiled. "Senior Brother Gan, you’re being too modest."

Gan Zili said, "I’m not being modest. Look at you. You cast a Skill every other day, nurture something for half the day, and then leave. Yet the results you produce are so much better than the three of us who are cooped up in here all day."

Zhang Deming chuckled. "Senior Brothers, you select your targets by section, but I choose randomly from the entire Flower Sea. Of course the effects are going to be different.

"You choose the best from a single area. I’m choosing from all the top-ranking Flower Wood in the entire Fourth Flower Sea, you know."

Gan Zili didn’t continue the mutual flattery and instead asked, "Did you need me for something?"

Zhang Deming nodded. "I do have something I wanted to ask you, Senior Brother."

Gan Zili looked at Zhang Deming. "What is it?"

Zhang Deming said, "I need to get some materials, but I don’t have enough Contribution Points. I was wondering how my monthly stipend and whatnot are calculated?"

Gan Zili was stunned for a moment before replying, "For that, you can just find my eldest disciple, Song Huidong..."

He stopped mid-sentence, looking stunned again. "Junior Brother, you’re asking about the Peak Master’s share, aren’t you?"

Gan Zili looked at Zhang Deming and continued, "This is my oversight. The share for the Peak Master of Spirit Nurturing Peak is calculated once a year.

"The annual base Contribution is one thousand points, which you can claim at any time. It’s not a lot, of course, since it’s just the base share.

"The rest of your share is determined by the orders you take, the Glove Beads you submit, or any Scattered Beads you create.

"The Sect is quite generous in this regard.

"Anyway, for old-timers like us, we don’t lack for expenses, and it’s more than enough to take care of our own disciples.

"If you want to do any work related to your share, Junior Brother, you can just use your Peak Master Order.

"As for the orders, you don’t need to worry too much. While the order information itself isn’t a high-level secret...

"...the fact that you’re the one taking and fulfilling the order is top-secret information within the Celestial Spirit Sect. You don’t have to worry about leaks, Junior Brother.

"As for your payment after completing an order, I’ll create a cover story for you later.

"Whenever you want to claim your payment, it will be allocated directly from Spirit Nurturing Peak to your current Core Disciple identity.

"However, it’s best if you take on fewer orders, Junior Brother. After all, taking on too many makes it difficult to maintain secrecy about your identity... Besides, we don’t have an order quota this year."

Hearing this, Zhang Deming nodded. "Then I’ll have to trouble you, Senior Brother. Please allocate my one thousand base Contribution for this year to me first."

Gan Zili said, "Alright, I’ll get that sorted out for you in a bit."

"Then I must thank you in advance, Senior Brother Gan!" Zhang Deming said.

Gan Zili replied, "Nothing to thank me for. It was my oversight.

"By the way, you should probably stay in the Secret Realm more often for a while. Huixin of Xuande Temple should be arriving sometime this year.

"Because he’s a Traveler of the World, advancing through ascetic cultivation, we don’t know the specific time of his arrival.

"If you don’t want to run into trouble, you should avoid wandering around outside."

Zhang Deming nodded. "Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother. I’ll be heading back now."

"Alright, I’ll go take care of the Contribution matter for you," Gan Zili replied.

After the two exchanged bows, Zhang Deming returned to his own Flower Sea. Once the Spirit Rain had fallen for a while, he began his Spirit Nurturing work again.

His luck was quite good. After six or seven failures, Zhang Deming succeeded once more.

With that, Zhang Deming stopped for the day.

In the afternoon, Zhang Deming discovered that the pitifully small amount of Contribution Points on his Identity Card had suddenly surpassed one thousand.

Contribution Points: 1153

He originally had only 93 points in reserve. Now, he suddenly had 1,060 more—60 from two months of the Core Disciple’s monthly stipend, and 1,000 from the Peak Master’s annual salary.

Seeing his Contribution Point balance, Zhang Deming smiled. ’It seems that uncertain path from before is now a viable option.

’Lying low and developing on Spirit Nurturing Peak seems like a good choice.

’Plus, because of my reincarnation with Innate Wisdom, the danger I was worried about before seems to be gone. I’ll check on the orders later. If there are no issues, I can definitely just lie low here.

’Of course, I definitely won’t give up on the shop. The focus there is on volume to gain basic Merit and Qi Fortune. Spirit Stones are no longer the shop’s main purpose.’

After receiving the Contribution Points, Zhang Deming got up, left the Secret Realm, and returned to the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower.

He sat down in the small courtyard, took out his Identity Card, and tapped it a few times.

...

A moment later, Yang Guangfu from the cliff entrance walked in and said respectfully to Zhang Deming, "I wonder why Senior Brother Zhang has summoned me?"

Zhang Deming looked at Yang Guangfu and asked, "You’re from the Resources Department’s Secret Group, aren’t you?"

Yang Guangfu’s expression tightened slightly. He nodded and said, "Yes, Senior Brother Zhang. I am indeed part of the Secret Group. I was originally affiliated with the Spirit Nurturing Peak’s branch of the Resources Department.

"However, most members of the Secret Group don’t serve the various departments. We are directly subordinate to the Secret Group itself."