Programmer Within a Cultivation World

It didn't take him long to arrive at his inner self. 

"Tch." Abel clicked his tongue in disappointment. As his divine sense traveled through his dantian, he was met with a broken, dilapidated core—shattered beyond repair. 

"I got my hopes up for nothing," he muttered. 

He wasn't too disappointed, though. As far as he knew, restoring a dantian was nothing short of a miracle. Throughout history, only a handful had ever managed to recover from such a fate. But this situation didn't hold his mind for long—there was something else he needed to investigate. 

A mysterious ring floated behind his back. Focusing his thoughts, he tried to trace the source of its power, sending his awareness throughout his body in search of a connection. Yet, no matter how deeply he searched, he found nothing. 

"Where the hell is the source?" Abel frowned. He had practically checked every inch of himself, but the ring remained elusive. 

"Wait... what if I..." An idea formed in his mind. 

Abel took a deep breath, calming himself. He imagined an invisible hand reaching out, grasping the ring. 

The moment he did, the ring began to spin faster. 

"It looks like it's working!" Abel rejoiced. 

The ring, now rotating rapidly, started glowing with a dazzling blue light. In its center, a symbol began to form. 

"Is that... a bird?" Abel murmured as he observed the shape emerging within the ring. 

Suddenly, the bird opened its eyes. 

A piercing, icy gaze met his. Abel shuddered. The sheer intensity of the stare sent a chill down his spine, but it lasted only for a moment. 

The ring began to tremble violently, transforming into a vortex that devoured everything in its path. 

Alarmed, Abel hurriedly severed his connection and snapped back to reality. 

"What the..." His breath caught in his throat as he witnessed the aftermath. The ring behind him was now greedily absorbing the corpse of the fallen beast, consuming it as if it were nothing more than dust in the wind. 

Abel gulped. "Is... is this a Demonic Fruit?" 

Fragments of old knowledge surfaced in his mind. The Demonic Fruit—an unnatural creation, forged not by nature but by human hands. A fruit that harbored chaos and corruption, one that Heaven itself did not permit. Those who consumed it gained immense power but lost their humanity, becoming harbingers of evil, cursed by the heavens. 

A shiver ran down Abel's spine. Was he about to become Heaven's enemy? 

He tried to stop the ring, pouring all his willpower into commanding it to cease its absorption. But his efforts were futile. The ring did not heed him. 

Like a ravenous beast, it continued devouring the corpse. Strange symbols and inscriptions on its surface flickered, shifting like fish swimming in the ocean. 

With no other choice, Abel let it run its course. 

Then, something unexpected happened. 

He felt it. 

A surge of vitality coursed through him. 

"Could it be... is my life essence being replenished?" he wondered. 

His frail, wrinkled skin gradually smoothed out, his once-weak body regaining its former strength. 

"Great... Great! HAHAHA!" Abel burst into laughter, overwhelmed with relief. Even though his dantian was broken and he could no longer use Qi, there was still another path—one that relied on life essence. A costly power, but a power nonetheless. 

"It doesn't matter if it's a Demonic Fruit or whatever else. As long as it keeps me alive for another day, I'll take it." 

A wry smile formed on his lips. "No... maybe this is fate. I can't die yet. I still have promises to keep. More than anything—I'm alive in this magical world." 

"This life... I want to experience it. Even if it costs me dearly. After all, I've already lived one lifetime." 

The ring finally ceased its absorption, slowing its rotation until it stilled. The bird-like figure in its center closed its eyes. 

A brilliant golden light erupted from the ring, illuminating the scorching summer air as if the sun itself had descended. 

Abel sighed. "What now?" Too much had happened in such a short time. 

Before he could catch his breath, the golden glow shot toward him, piercing into his mind like a thousand arrows. 

"AGGHHH—!" 

A scream tore from his throat. 

His brain felt as if countless needles stabbed into it relentlessly. His body burned from within, molten heat coursing through his veins, melting him from the inside out. He staggered, struggling to stay upright, but the pain was unbearable. 

For how long did it last? 

Seconds? Minutes? 

To Abel, it felt like an eternity—a timeless prison of agony. 

Then, finally... it subsided. 

Sweat dripped from his body like a waterfall. 

And there, deep within his consciousness, he saw it. 

A flame. 

A bluish flame, flickering within his very soul. 

Yet something about it was bizarre. 

He saw something within the fire. 

It was as if he had returned to his old world, his fingers tapping a keyboard under the glow of the midnight moon. 

Lines. 

Strings of symbols. 

No—codes. 

"What the hell... why am I thinking about my old life right now?" 

But he couldn't deny it. 

Each symbol, each inscription within the flame... they looked like lines of code. 

"Could it be...?" 

"Is this really... a code?"