Chapter 759: A Visitor, Fleecing, a Discovery, a Night Talk

But when he saw *Special Forging: Puppet’s Heart*, Zhang Deming was completely stunned. This Skill seemed perfect to serve as the hardware framework for the Talisman Brain!

The original creator of this Puppet’s Heart had intended to use the Lifebound Magical Artifact method to develop a Magic Heart. The goal was to unlock a special form of control for his Artifact Dao’s Puppet Summoning Path, making his puppets easier to manipulate.

However, while the developmental goal for the Skill was sound, the actual result deviated from the plan. A Magic Heart was indeed forged, but it wasn’t control-oriented.

Instead, it was geared toward Spirit Awakening. By enchanting a puppet with this Skill during the forging process, there was a chance of creating a puppet that possessed a sliver of initial Spirituality.

Gazing at the description of the Technique, Zhang Deming’s mind raced. Instead of putting it back, he took it.

Zhang Deming immediately resumed his browsing, but made no other special discoveries.

He spent the better part of the day cleaning out two peaks. The haul was pretty good: nearly five points of Merit and fifty points of Qi Fortune. All in all, a considerable gain.

He checked his reserves. Merit: 33.4, Qi Fortune: 92.7, Karma: 7.4.

‘My Qi Fortune is about to hit one hundred again in less than ten days,’ he thought. ‘The growth is tangible. The Qi Fortune I’ve gained is definitely one of the biggest rewards from this conference.’

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By the time he finished fleecing the two peaks and returned to the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower, another day was nearly over.

He hadn’t had a proper rest in over half a month. For once, Zhang Deming didn’t set his cultivation tasks to run automatically. Instead, he went to bed early and fell sound asleep.

Before midnight, the soundly sleeping Zhang Deming was startled awake. He snapped his eyes open and, without a moment’s hesitation, entered the Spirit Nurturing Space.

At that moment, the Surveillance Elf in the sky was flashing nonstop, its red light signaling a dire emergency.

Slightly taken aback, Zhang Deming beckoned to the sky. A point of starlight descended at his call. With a light tap, a Light Curtain appeared.

The Light Curtain displayed a Cultivation Room where Xu Weihai sat, his eyes shut tight. Spiritual Power surged through his body, and a Rune flickered in and out of existence between his brows.

“Holy crap, again! This is the goddamn second time!”

Watching Xu Weihai once again on the verge of an enlightenment-driven breakthrough, Zhang Deming was dumbfounded for a moment. He raised his hand, and a peculiar Spirit Species materialized.

Rune Summoning: Spirit Nurturing Vine Demon Summoning Technique—Dragon Turtle!

The Spirit Species rapidly expanded, instantly taking the form of Elder Xing. The moment it solidified, Zhang Deming no longer hesitated. He tapped the Light Screen, a portal appeared, and after pouring his Heart Spirit into Elder Xing’s body, he dove right through.

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After a moment of spatial transition, Elder Xing came to his senses. He was now on Little Hui Peak, inside Xu Weihai’s Cultivation Secret Room.

Spiritual Power surged around Xu Weihai, the Rune between his eyebrows flickered faintly. All over the floor around him were various Runes and some peculiar calculations.

Elder Xing stared at the scene, momentarily stunned. ‘This isn’t the method for constructing a Rune Core for Foundation Establishment using coding rules, is it? Did he switch to a different path?’

Seeing Xu Weihai looking like he was about to achieve an enlightenment-driven breakthrough without any resources, Elder Xing was completely dumbfounded.

‘Did I spoon-feed him too much? Was I too detailed in my explanations, allowing him to grasp it all completely? Or is this guy just a hidden genius?’

‘A Spirit Root score of only twenty or thirty… What kind of buried genius could he possibly be? Looks like I should have taught him less!’

“Wake up!” Elder Xing’s voice carried a faint fluctuation of Heart Spirit. Stimulated by this Law Level power, Xu Weihai was once again jolted out of his state of Enlightenment.

Because Elder Xing had arrived in time, Xu Weihai hadn’t yet begun to actually condense the Rune Core. Therefore, the interruption caused no harm; it merely cost him a fortuitous opportunity.

Xu Weihai woke up in a daze. He stared blankly at Elder Xing for a moment before scrambling to his feet. “Disciple greets Elder Xing!”

“Didn’t I tell you not to try constructing the coding rules for the Rune system in your mind for the time being?” Elder Xing asked, looking at Xu Weihai.

Xu Weihai already knew what had happened. Having lost an opportunity for Enlightenment once before, he was almost used to it by now and felt no particular sense of loss.

He paused for a moment before replying, “Elder Xing, this Disciple… This time, I wasn’t attempting Enlightenment by constructing code. I was inspired after attending the inter-realm exchange conference and listening to a discourse on the Dao from one of our Celestial Spirit Sect’s Grandmaster-Uncles.

“When I returned, I carefully studied the so-called foundational computations of the Celestial Universe Array Dao. By combining that with the principles you explained to me, Elder Xing, I inadvertently created a set of basic Rune algorithms.”

Elder Xing: “…”

‘I never should have explained things in such detail,’ Elder Xing thought. ‘I saw your low Spirit Root and thought you were hopelessly dense, but it turns out you’re the type to learn three new things from the one thing you’re taught.’

‘Now he completely understands the core of the code, he’s learned about the fusion of Runes and code, and he’s mastered the basics of the Array Dao. He’s reached the explosive stage where all his accumulated knowledge is finally paying off.’

‘I let my guard down and stuffed his head with a mountain of knowledge, and now it’s gotten to the point where he’s on the verge of an enlightenment breakthrough no matter what he touches. I must have been out of my mind back then to cram so much information into him, and in such detail.’

‘This isn’t taking ninety-nine steps of a hundred-step journey for him, this is dragging him right up to the finish line where all he has to do is twitch to cross it!’

Elder Xing paused. He glanced around at the Runes covering the floor and the so-called basic algorithms, then nodded.

“Not bad,” he said. “Your idea is sound, and you’re on the right path. The things I taught you were indeed only missing an algorithm to link them all together.

“Artifacts as the bones, Arrays as the frame, Spiritual Power as the medium, and a Heart Spirit algorithm to connect and manifest it all—that is how a new Dao is developed. Over this past year, through my steady lessons, I have indeed dismantled the Dao of Rune Life and imparted it to you, piece by piece.

“But do you know why I never told you any of this? Why I deliberately withheld this core algorithm and only taught you the basic concepts of the Heart Spirit Dao?”