Chapter 9: Crawlers - C Language Cultivation

Wu Ji - Lin Suan: Just entering the path of immortality, I humbly seek guidance from all the esteemed seniors. *smiles* Qing Cheng - Xiao Yao Zi: Little friend, what is your current cultivation level? Wu Ji - Lin Suan: Currently at the Qi Refining stage. *rose* Qing Cheng - Xiao Yao Zi: Haha, my young disciple is also at the Qi Refining stage now; perhaps you two should meet. @Qing Cheng - Yuan Xiao Wu Ji - Qing Shan Zhen Jun: Brother Xiao Yao, my disciple is a rare talent, within three years he will surely reach the Foundation Building stage! Qing Cheng - Xiao Yao Zi: Is that so? Haha, in ten days is the Grand Debate, where young disciples can spar and exchange knowledge, and I am looking forward to it. Wu Ji - Qing Shan Zhen Jun: I will bring my young pupil along. Lin Xun: "?" Huh? What? Why are they suddenly talking about sparring? I'm just a programmer. He was about to privately message Old Man Huo to ask, when another person popped up in the group. Qing Cheng - Yuan Xiao: Greetings, fellow Daoist. @Wu Ji - Lin Suan Seeing this person, Lin Xun felt a sense of joy. For no other reason than that this fellow Daoist's profile picture was a panda meme! Accompanied by the text "I want to cultivate immortality, happily journey to the West." A fellow modern person! He immediately opened a private chat. A Happy Lemon Sprite: Fellow Daoist, how long have you been cultivating immortality? Yuan Xiao Doesn't Snack at Night: Fellow Daoist, I've been cultivating for two months. A Happy Lemon Sprite: How did you become a disciple? Yuan Xiao Doesn't Snack at Night: Were you also dragged into cultivation? A Happy Lemon Sprite: Yes. Yuan Xiao Doesn't Snack at Night sent him a meme, and then replied: I'm still in high school, and during summer vacation, I went to Qingcheng Mountain for a trip. Halfway through the climb, I got tired and rested on the steps. A Daoist there saw me and said I had spiritual roots, wanting to take me as a lay disciple, so I got pulled into this group. A Happy Lemon Sprite: Can you really cultivate? Yuan Xiao Doesn't Snack at Night: Yes, breathing in and out as the master taught me, I felt light all over. A Happy Lemon Sprite: Is it really true? Yuan Xiao Doesn't Snack at Night sent him another meme, this time with a "lean on each other as gay" phrase, and then replied: It’s true, fellow Daoist, you have to accept it. A Happy Lemon Sprite: Alright... so what is the Daoist Debate? Are we all going to meet? Yuan Xiao Doesn't Snack at Night: Yes, we young disciples will spar with each other, and if we make it to the top three, our master will give rewards. A Happy Lemon Sprite: ...I can't quite accept it yet. Yuan Xiao Doesn't Snack at Night: Fellow Daoist, look at the group. The seniors mentioned you again. Lin Xun switched back and saw that Senior Xiao Yao Zi was asking: What is Lin Xun's secular identity, and what does he do for work? Before he could answer, his master replied. Wu Ji - Qing Shan Zhen Jun: Alas, he doesn’t strive for success and doesn't have a proper job; he just fixes computers at home. Lin Xun was momentarily at a loss on how to defend himself, and at that moment, a mechanical voice sounded! "Warning, the favorability of the senior immortals is decreasing, please pay attention to completing the task." Lin Xun quickly typed to clarify: I am a programmer who writes computer programs. Qing Cheng - Yuan Xiao: Wow! Fellow Daoist! A programmer! Can you make games? Qing Cheng - Xiao Yao Zi: Making games? Gui Shan - Ku Mu San Ren: Games are harmful! Because of them, my apprentice neglected his cultivation! Just the other day, after I confiscated his phone, he ran away from home. Pu Zhao - Yi Chan Fa Shi: Such sin, such sin, Amitabha. Lin Xun: "..." The seniors seem prejudiced against this profession, and the more he explained, the worse it got. The mechanical voice continued: "Warning, the favorability of the senior immortals continues to decline to negative numbers, please complete the task." Lin Xun frantically thought about how to explain to the seniors in plain terms, and suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head! He opened the photo album and found a photo from before. Back in university, during a project in the lab, once he, Zhao Jia Gou, and Wang An Quan went with their mentor to a conference at a supercomputing center in the north. Naturally, they had to visit the supercomputer itself since it was usually accessed remotely and they rarely saw it up close. In the server room, the blend of blue, black, and silver, the massive array of machines reaching the ceiling exuded a solemn sense of technological prowess. The mentor suggested, "Students, let's take a group photo; I'll post it on our circle of friends." So Wang An Quan took the photo, the mentor stood in the middle, Zhao Jia Gou on the right, Lin Xun on the left, with the intricate machinery as the awe-inspiring backdrop. At fifty, their mentor had thinning hair, only a bit left on the sides, clearly a dedicated scholar toiling for the advancement of science—highly convincing. In the photo, standing beside such a mentor, it was clear that he was not an idle person. Lin Xun selected this photo and shared it in the group. Wu Ji - Lin Suan: Dedicated to computer science. *smiles* Qing Cheng - Yuan Xiao: Fellow Daoist, you have little hair. Lin Xun: "..." He quickly typed: I’m the one on the right. Suddenly, another voice chimed in his mind. "Ding." "Recognition gained from Butterfly Madam, task progress at 13." The next moment, Butterfly Madam messaged in the group: Aiya! How handsome! Qing Cheng - Xiao Yao Zi: So, little friend works with high technology, my apologies. *claps* They began to mimic again. ——Senior Xiao Yao Zi was often the leader in initiating these. "Ding." "Recognition gained from Xiao Yao Zi, task progress at 23." "Recognition gained from Bai Lu Xian Zi, task completed." "Recognition gained from Qiu Lian Xian Zi, task over-completed." "Recognition gained from Cai Xia Yuan Jun, task over-completed." A series of notifications resounded in Lin Xun’s mind, pleasantly surprising him with how easily he gained the seniors' acknowledgment, observing that most recognizing him had names suggesting they were female seniors. Why? Finally, after a succession of chimes, the system spoke: "Reward has been issued, please collect it promptly." Lin Xun glanced at the chat interface, noticing the conversation had shifted to how difficult it was to recruit apprentices nowadays. With matters unrelated to him, he set the group notifications to silent and closed his eyes to enter the system space. There was now an additional silver scroll in the task interface. Evidently, the gold scrolls represent main tasks, and the silver ones represent side tasks. Lin Xun tentatively reached out to touch the task interface, suddenly feeling weight in his hand as he instinctively caught something. ——It was a silver treasure chest, with a very ancient design like a TV show prop. As though a projection played before him, silver words appeared mid-air. Chaos Treasure Chest: Reward item, randomly grants a level-one skill. With some skepticism, Lin Xun opened the chest. Inside lay a scroll made of bamboo slips. He picked it up and saw the words "Light Body Technique" inscribed on it. Upon recognizing these words, the bamboo slips and the entire chest quickly virtualized, transforming into a stream of data composed of 0s and 1s, akin to a stream of light that flowed into the compiler interface. A series of complex codes displayed rapidly on the interface, scrolling past quickly before vanishing. Mechanical voice: "Learning complete." Though not entirely clear about what just happened, Lin Xun returned to reality. At the moment of returning awareness, he suddenly felt his body was somewhat unreal. A bit light. Standing on the floor, it felt like stepping on a cloud. Light Body Technique, as the name implies, is a spell that makes the body lighter. Lin Xun squinted, experiencing the soft resilience underfoot, and lightly bounced upward. The moment his feet left the ground, his body felt like a feather caught by the wind, reaching heights unattainable by ordinary leaps before gently descending back. Lin Xun then leapt from the floor to the chair, and from the chair to the window sill, nearly hitting the ceiling. Hopping around, he gradually adjusted to the strength and distances, finding it rather refreshing—he was nearly capable of flying, akin to mastering light-footed martial arts. This exceeded the capabilities of the human physiological structure. He received a skill book formed from bamboo slips, which, upon assimilation into the compiler… provided him with a wondrous capability. So, could it be understood that this compiler, was compiling his body? Lin Xun believed he grasped the logic. Thus, his cultivation was akin to crafting programs in line with cultivation requirements, these programs affected his body, causing transformations. ——Seems not too difficult. “My vision and hearing have already improved significantly, and now there’s light-footwork, if I continue cultivating…” Initially disinterested in cultivation, Lin Xun now felt a surge of excitement at the thought: “If I continue, might I enhance my intelligence? Then, I could write better algorithms, better programs?” He began to look forward to it.