Chapter 29: On the Servant Peak: The Algorithm in the Cleaning Spell

The moment Shen Yan stepped on the copper coin hair tie in the stone crevice, a shout exploded in the distance.

He didn’t look back, just stuffed the hair tie into his pocket and casually touched his lower back—the Silver-Thread Soft Armor was hot against his skin, like a branding iron pressed against an old wound. The impact from last night’s fall hadn’t faded yet; with every step, his ribs felt as if being sawed back and forth. Still, he lifted his foot and trudged toward the Servant Peak.

The mountain path was slippery, the morning mist carrying the scent of damp grass as it slapped against his face. He pulled out his phone; the lock screen displayed a full screen of scrolling green Code, automatically running the “Low-Power Standby Protocol.” His fingertip slid across the Screen, calling up the Spiritual Energy circulation model. With a light tap on the water’s surface, a string of barely perceptible Runes sank into the stream. Instantly, the Spiritual Power rampaging inside his body seemed to find an outlet, slowly settling back into place.

He caught his breath and looked up to see a row of gray-robed Disciples standing under the Servant Peak archway, each receiving a broom and a bucket of talisman water.

“Such primitive operations again,” he muttered under his breath.

Each person in front of him was holding a cleaning spell gesture, casting it on a patch of fallen leaves. A flash of Spiritual light, a sweep of three feet of ground, then moving to another spot, another flash. The efficiency was so low it was almost laughable.

“Isn’t this just single-threaded polling?” he squinted, watching. “Not even batch processing.”

Pretending to adjust his sleeve, he quickly modeled on his phone: defining the cleaning spell as a Function, with input Parameters such as leaf density, wind disturbance, and ground slope, and the output being the optimal cleaning path. Then, he layered it with a “spiral array diffusion + centrifugal gathering” Algorithm, setting the Trigger Conditions to initiate automatically when Spiritual Power Fluctuation fell below a threshold—fully automated, unattended.

“Let’s see if I can get this to Run later,” he thought to himself. “It’s not like there’s a rule against optimizing the process.”

Just as he reached the assignment desk, the managing Disciple glanced at him. “Newcomer? Go clear the fallen leaves on the eastern forest path. Finish before noon.”

Shen Yan nodded, picked up his broom, and walked away, his movements humble and earnest, like a complete novice.

But as soon as he turned into the woods, he immediately crouched down, using the tip of his shoe to draw a miniature Spirit Gathering array on the ground. He placed his phone against the earth and lightly tapped “Initiate.”

Hum—

The air in the entire forest area trembled violently.

The withered leaves on the ground seemed to be lifted by an invisible giant hand, swirling and roaring into a green tornado, spinning higher and higher until it condensed into a Spiritual Power dragon, shaking its head and wagging its tail! The dragon’s body coiled once around the area, gathering dust and broken branches into piles as it passed, before finally crashing toward the incinerator with a boom. The entire hillside was so clean it could reflect a person’s shadow.

A young servant sweeping nearby stared wide-eyed, his broom dropping to the ground without him even noticing.

“Shen… Senior Brother Shen!” he stammered, rushing over. “What… what kind of High-Level spell is this?”

“It’s not a spell,” Shen Yan put away his phone, his expression calm. “I just adjusted the cleaning spell Parameters to a spiral array, added a centrifugal force formula, and bound it to an automatic triggering mechanism.”

The young servant’s head spun with confusion. “Huh?”

“Simply put, I let the Program do the work itself,” Shen Yan patted his shoulder. “Don’t sweep one by one anymore; it’s too tiring. Want me to share this Script with you?”

The young servant was so excited he nearly knelt. “You’re practically the savior of the Servant Peak!”

Before the words could fully settle, a chilly breeze swept through the treetops.

The sound of a fan fluttering grew closer.

Shen Yan’s eyelids twitched.

Xie Wujiu approached in a moon-white robe, his jade thumb ring gleaming coldly in the morning light, a smile playing on his lips. “Quite lively here.”

His gaze swept over the neatly stacked leaves before the incinerator, then settled on Shen Yan’s face. “Is this what you call ‘following the rules’?”

Shen Yan scratched his head, feigning ignorance. “I didn’t break any rules. The task was completed on time, and the site meets standards.”

“But what methods did you use?” Xie Wujiu slowly closed his folding fan. “The Servants’ Courtyard explicitly forbids the use of unorthodox techniques to disrupt the balance of the spiritual field. Your actions have thrown the entire peak’s Spiritual Energy flow into chaos.”

The young servant shrank back in fear, but Shen Yan chuckled. “Disrupt? I calculated it—the utilization rate of Spiritual Power increased from less than thirty percent to eighty-nine point seven, with an error margin under one percent. Rather than disruption, I’d call it optimization.”

“Optimization?” Xie Wujiu sneered. “You treat techniques like an abacus? And you even conjured a dragon to scare people—what kind of behavior is that!”

“Then what exactly do you find wrong?” Shen Yan retorted. “Is the cleaning result unsatisfactory? Or is the process too efficient for your comfort?”

Xie Wujiu’s eyes darkened. Suddenly, he raised his right hand, and his jade thumb ring glowed faintly. An almost invisible ripple spread out, heading straight for Shen Yan’s phone.

Shen Yan was prepared.

The moment the ripple touched the Device, he secretly initiated the “Pseudo-Random Noise Overlay Program.” All Data Streams in the Background were instantly encrypted and reorganized, with residual Signals corrupted into garbled code.

A Popup Window appeared on the Terminal: 【Detected covert probing; frequency characteristics have been reverse-recorded】

Without changing his expression, Shen Yan spread his hands and smiled. “How about this? I’ll write the Algorithm into a manual and submit it. If you still find issues, we can hold a meeting to discuss it. I’ve even thought of a title—’On the Feasibility of Applying Mathematics to Basic Labor.'”

Xie Wujiu’s expression shifted slightly. With a snap, he opened his fan. “Enough of this foolishness. I won’t pursue today’s matter, but if I catch you dabbling in these unorthodox methods again…”

“I’ll report to the Logistics Department and follow the proper Approval Process,” Shen Yan replied, bowing respectfully. “Next time, I’ll even reserve a review seat for you.”

Xie Wujiu stared at him for a few seconds before suddenly smiling. “Interesting.”

He turned and left, his sleeves fluttering as his jade thumb ring flashed once more.

Shen Yan looked down at his phone. The Log updated: 【Successfully captured Encrypted Signal source; feature match rate sixty-two percent; suspected to share residual fluctuations with the Medicine Valley poison powder incident】

“So it was you behind it,” he narrowed his eyes.

The young servant was still grinning foolishly beside him. “Senior Brother Shen, that dragon just now was so cool! Can you summon it again?”

“No,” Shen Yan tucked his phone back into his pocket. “If I do it again, we’ll both end up writing self-criticizations in the detention room.”

“But I think this method is really good!” the young servant protested anxiously. “We spend three hours sweeping every day, but you finished it in ten minutes! We could even help out at the dining hall and earn extra work points!”

Shen Yan paused mid-step.

“The dining hall?” he asked.

“Yeah, all the meals for the Servants’ Peak are prepared there. Breakfast is about to start now—if you hurry, you might still get a bowl of hot porridge.”

Shen Yan stroked his chin.

“Let’s go,” he said. “Take me to see their stoves.”

The young servant was bewildered. “Huh? But… aren’t you supposed to submit your task report?”

“There’s no rush to hand in the task,” Shen Yan said as he walked. “A sudden thought occurred to me—do they use ordinary firewood for cooking? Is it connected to the Spiritual Veins for energy? How stable is the heat? And what’s the fuel conversion rate?”

“Uh… who cares about that?”

“Not many do,” Shen Yan pushed up his glasses, the lenses flashing with a reflective gleam. “But I think the canteen is the most critical place in the entire Sect that needs optimization.”

The young attendant was utterly confused but could only follow along.

The two of them passed through the forest path and saw, in the distance, white smoke rising from the chimney of the dining hall, with a long line of people waiting outside.

Just as Shen Yan took a step forward, his phone suddenly vibrated.

A new Notice popped up: 【Detected unknown Encrypted Signal residue, recommend deep scan】

He paused, staring at the Screen for two seconds.

Then he lifted his foot and continued walking forward.

The cooking smoke curled upward, and the clatter of pots and ladles echoed softly.

Standing at the entrance of the dining hall, he gazed at the large iron pot, a flicker of light flashing in his eyes.

“It seems today, I won’t just be sweeping the floor.”

(End of Chapter)