Chapter 193: Eight Demon Pillars
"Umm, I've always taken an interest in Ascension Pills from the moment I learned about them. Back when I lived in Yellow Qilin, you should know that I was assessed with grade one aptitude. Maybe that's why I've always longed for them," Li Lang said. "That's why I want to learn how to refine Ascension Pills. I want to help those who were like me, talentless, but still desired to become a cultivator."
"I see. You should know that those who take Ascension Pills don't become like normal cultivators, right?" Sima Yueling asked.
Li Lang nodded.
"Yes, I've heard. Even then, it's better than languishing as mortals their entire lives."
"But they can simply practice demonic techniques. As long as they have enough determination, it is the better alternative."
"That—as the leader of Nightmoon Valley, you should know what people living under the righteous sects think of demonic cultivation. I want to help those people too. Plus, even in the Luminescent Domain, numerous people give up due to the lack of resources."
The clean-shaven man furrowed his brows as he stared down at his desk.
"You want to help those in the righteous sects' territories?"
His tone made Li Lang realize he may have blundered. He was spewing words to the leader of one faction about helping those under the opposing faction. His mind raced to find a way to justify his words.
"Umm—yes. Maybe then, people of different character will start joining the ranks of the orthodox sects. It is my hope that will change their ways for the better. After all, I believe they are currently so—rotten because most orthodox cultivators believe themselves to be the chosen ones. Those who weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouths should have better dispositions."
Sima Yueling didn't say anything. He fell completely silent with a thoughtful look. It was apparent he was dwelling on Li Lang's words. After a few minutes, he finally shifted his gaze back to the young man before him.
"While there are some truths to your words, just handing out Ascension Pills around their territory will do nothing. Even if the sects don't take action to line their own pockets, the cultivators who broke through using the pills won't be able to stand on equal footing with the others. Their combat ability would be non-existent."
"But it's better than being treated as disposable mortals," Li Lang argued. "Besides, do they truly have zero combat potential? Maybe with some targeted training, they would be able to exert their cultivation."
His words caused the head of Nightmoon Valley to shake his head.
"Enough. You won't understand until you come across someone who had used Ascension Pills yourself. There's no way for them to practice combat techniques like we do."
"Umm, but can I still get some Ascension Pills? I'd love both some samples and its pill recipe."
"I see that you're a talented alchemist. If that's what you want to study, then it's not my place to stop you. I've said my piece. I'll let little Beiyun know, and he can bring you to our Pill Hall. If you want to sign a binding contract regarding the matter with the pocket realm, let him know as well."
"Thank you, Senior Sima!"
"I've taken enough of your time. I believe you said your chauffeur was waiting for you?"
"That's right, Senior. Thank you so much for being so accommodating."
The powerful senior simply nodded and gestured for Li Lang to exit by himself. Li Lang clasped his fist toward him before walking away. He only made it a few steps before he abruptly turned back.
"Oh, one more thing. If you don't mind me asking. Why did you choose to invite me at this time? If you wanted to talk about the pocket realm, shouldn't you invite me when we had just exited from it?"
The Valley Master continued looking over the paperwork on his desk and answered without looking up.
"Our investigation wasn't complete then, and there's no rush. We judged you were more likely to take action and approach the pocket realm once your group started breaking through. Your friend's breakthrough was also a good excuse to invite you without arousing too much suspicion from the other organizations."
"Even Nightmoon Valley has to tread so carefully around all the other organizations?"
"Human relationships are never simple and are ever-changing. However, it isn't the job of you young people like you to worry about the politics among organizations. Go on now. You'll find Beiyun outside."
Being blatantly asked to leave, Li Lang could only do as asked.
He walked back through the door that was covered in clouds and found himself in an unfamiliar cave. It caught him off-guard as he thought he would return to the same chamber where he previously parted ways with Tai Xilun.
So—That door with clouds is some sort of teleportation artifact?
Before his thoughts could wander further, the sound of movement caught his attention. It came from the only corridor present. With the giant door closed shut to his back, he simply stood there and waited for whoever it was to approach. It didn't take long before the shadow of two figures could be seen.
"Li Lang, come on out with us. There's not much to see in here, right?"
The young man immediately clasped his fist toward the newcomers.
"Senior Jian, you're here. With Senior Tai as well."
"My master sent for me to pick you up. Let's go. I'll show you around."
Without waiting for a reply, Jian Beiyun turned around to lead the way out of the cave. Upon exiting, Li Lang found that he had been transported to the halfway point of one of the mountains that looked down on the rest of Nightshade Valley.
Residences were built all over the mountain incline, and Jian Beiyun went straight into one of them nearby.
"This here is my humble abode."
Li Lang didn't need a tour and could see all there was to the small house from the entrance. It only had a fireplace in the center with a pot over it, while the rest of the room was devoid of any furniture. Instead of chairs, the floors were covered by rattan mats.
"Senior Jian, is this where the pills are?"
"Oh right, Master did mention that. We'll go after. I thought you could get something to eat after your long day of traveling and meeting. Am I right? Or should we go to the Pill Hall right away?"
Li Lang took a peek at Tai Xilun. He didn't react at all.
"Umm—no, it's fine. Thank you for your consideration. I'll happily take you up on your offer."
"No problem. I'll have something ready real soon."
The head disciple of Nightmoon Valley proceeded to open the pot and began stirring its contents. He then materialized some extra ingredients from his space ring and threw it in. He tasted the results and continued to add to the pot.
He was completely absorbed in cooking and appeared no different from a typical gourmet.
Seeing him in his own little world, Li Lang chose to talk to Tai Xilun instead.
"Were you just here the entire time, talking to Senior Jian?"
The man in red and black robes simply nodded.
"Should we spend the night here before returning?"
"No need to be considerate of me. A measly day or two of traveling won't take a toll on Foundation Establishment cultivators."
"Hmm, I guess you're right. You must have better things to do than to babysit me. Regardless, thank you for taking the time to accompany me."
"As if that workaholic has anything better to do," Jian Beiyun chimed in as he continued to stir the pot. "If you leave him be, he'll end up just training or patrolling the streets. He's too serious for his own good."
"I simply carry out my duty."
"Right. See what I mean, Li Lang? It's both his best and worst quality."
"Jian Beiyun, I think it'd be good if you took things more seriously once in a while," Tai Xilun retorted. "The Dark Sea Arena will be taking place again in three years. There's not much time left. As head disciple of Nightmoon Valley, you can't afford to tarnish your name as one of the Eight Demon Pillars."
"I could say the same to you. If you settled into an unchanging routine, I fear your cultivation could stagnate. Please don't let that happen and let one of those annoying brats take your title."
The tension in the room was rising to the helplessness of Li Lang. He slowly steered clear of the argument, as even he realized the banter was heating up. After all, with Tai Xilun becoming more talkative, even the most socially inept person could notice his agitation.
The exchange between the two Foundation Establishment cultivators lasted for some time before Li Lang tried to defuse the situation.
"Umm, is the food ready yet?"
"Oh yes, it should be ready. It's my special porridge recipe. Feel free to take some yourself. As for you," he said, turning back to Tai Xilun, "Why don't we go for that spar we were talking about?"
Without a word, the Bloodwave Conclave disciple stormed out of the house, with Jian Beiyun following close behind. Li Lang watched the scene and shook his head. He then went over to the pot and poured himself a bowl.
The steaming porridge let out an appetizing aroma that made his stomach grumble. It made him realize how famished he was.
"Ahh, this is good," he loudly exclaimed.
He wasn't sure if Jian Beiyun had heard him, but he thought it was necessary to give compliments to the chef.
Eight Demon Pillars, huh? We really need to socialize with the other cultivators more. If only there is an easier way to gather information. Maybe like a newspaper or even a place of gathering like that teahouse back by the pocket realm. Too bad that place was only temporary.
As Li Lang mused to himself, the sound of metal clashing could be heard outside.
Chapter 194: Touring Nightmoon Valley
After savoring his food for several minutes, Li Lang politely washed the dishes with the bucket of water next to the pot and cleaned himself up. Hearing how the two seniors who were supposed to accompany him around Nightmoon Valley's grounds were still sparring outside, he exited the modest house to rejoin them.
He knew exactly where they were due to the sound of their clashes. They hadn't stopped fighting the entire time he was eating. He could see them right away upon leaving the house, as they were level with him, but they weren't standing on any solid ground. Instead, they were hovering in the air, circling around each other on their own skyswords.
"Senior Jian, Senior Tai!" Li Lang shouted. "How much longer will you two be?"
His words made the two cultivators come to a stop mid-swing. They didn't break eye contact with each other for some time, while frozen stiff in the air.
"Sorry about that, Li Lang," Jian Beiyun said as he adjusted his robes. "We got carried away. I can bring you to the Pill Hall now if you're ready."
"Yes, please. I'd like to complete everything while there's still light out."
"Follow me, then."
The head disciple of Nightmoon Valley quickly descended, followed by Tai Xilun.
Jian Beiyun was at the lead, bringing the two visitors through the mountainside residence of his organization while waving at the occasional cultivator they came across. During the other moments, he chatted leisurely with his guests.
"So, how was my porridge? Was it to your liking?"
"Honestly, yeah. It's way better than what the inns serve, or our new cooks for that matter."
"It'd be embarrassing if my food was worse than mortal food when I used Earth-grade ingredients. Still, I don't doubt my skill in the culinary department. Sima Xue could attest to that. I basically fed her growing up."
"That was made using Earth-grade ingredients?!" Li Lang raised his voice a level higher than before. "I didn't know. You didn't have to use something so valuable on me."
"Nonsense. You're our guests. A bit of Earth-grade food is nothing. It'll do you some good if you got used to eating it too."
Li Lang frowned upon hearing those words. For him, good food was to be appreciated, but it wasn't worth spending a chunk of his wealth on. He'd rather save it to buy something needed for cultivation or research.
"I know what you're thinking. It's expensive, but that's only relative to your income right now. Your friend, Long Yi, will be able to easily afford it just by doing a few odd jobs or collecting ingredients from areas that he can now access as a Foundation Establishment cultivator."
"Senior, I don't think it's a matter of whether we can afford it or not. I heard rumors it is useful in cultivation, but nothing specifics about its effects. Is it really useful?"
"Haha, yes, the age-old question. Every senior around here seems to agree that it can only be beneficial, but I can't say exactly why that is true. All I've been told is that it primes your body for cultivation."
"Does that mean all the disciples from big organizations eat these high-quality foods from an early age?"
"Only those that the elders like, I guess. How is it in the Bloodwave Conclave?" Jian Beiyun asked.
"About the same."
"Hmm, sounds about right. All those banquets I'm invited to wherever I go are always filled with even Saint-grade foodstuff. Those esteemed gentlemen in the Violet Core Realm don't even need to eat to sustain themselves, but they still gorge themselves all the time."
Hmm, should I move up my plans and start researching Qi food? No, I need to do things in an orderly manner. I've already decided to do it once I've broken through to the next major realm first. I need to focus on this first.
As they casually chatted, they soon found themselves before a wooden fence that surrounded a small plot of land and a house. Jian Beiyun opened the gate without a thought and strode toward the house. The two visitors followed him while gazing at the various herbs and grains planted in the field.
"Elder Kun, are you here?" Jian Beiyun shouted from ahead.
No reply came, so the two guests tactfully busied themselves with enjoying the view of the field.
"Hmm, they're probably busy. Let's head inside to wait, you two."
Walking into the wooden house, the heavy smell of herbs attacked the newcomers. There were large wooden cabinets against the walls of the entire room, each with dozens of compartments. There were even a few teenagers using a grinding stone to crush some plants. They were all entirely focused on their job, paying the trio no mind.
Jian Beiyun looked at the scene as if it was normal, sat down in the corner, and began brewing some tea using the pot at the table.
"Shouldn't be too long. Elder Kun would never let those freshly ground herbs sit out in the open for long."
Jian Beiyun was right. Not too long after they sat down, Elder Kun really did make his presence be known. However, he didn't do it through any ordinary method. Instead, he announced himself by setting off an ear-piercing explosion that shook the two guests.
Tai Xilun even shot up from his seat and drew his blade from his space ring while Li Lang turned toward the origin of the ruckus. Only Jian Beiyun and the other disciples of Nightmoon Valley remained unperturbed.
Not long after the explosion, an Elder wearing robes stained with soot walked out from one of the corridors.
He didn't care how messy his attire was and went straight to the teenagers. To be more precise, to the herbs.
"Elder Kun, you're here," Jian Beiyun stood up and greeted. "I've got orders from the Valley Master to give our guests here a few pills. I'll need to trouble you to fetch them for us."
The old man with a gray mustache carefully sniffed the herbs in his hand before answering.
"Which pills?"
"Foundation Pills and Ascension Pills."
No reaction could be seen on the elder's face upon hearing those names. He simply strode toward one of the cabinets, floated up toward one of the compartments near the top, and opened it.
Just as Li Lang wondered why Jian Beiyun couldn't have asked one of the disciples working here instead of waiting for the old man to fetch the pills
, the cabinet the old man touched began to shine with bright yellow light. The compartment only opened after the light dimmed.
Two bottles could be seen in Elder Kun's hand. He popped each one open to take a sniff of it before throwing them over to Jian Beiyun. Then, he returned to the herbs his subordinates were working on without a care in the world.
"Umm, Senior Jian," Li Lang whispered. "I also wanted the pill recipes for these pills."
"Understood," he said as he turned back to the elder. "Elder Kun, could you provide the pill recipe for these two pills as well?"
"Hah? You can find that out at the guild or something. It's not like it's a secret of anything."
"Elder, please. It's part of the Valley Master's orders."
The man sighed and swiftly tore a piece of paper from one of the tables and scribbled a few things down. When he was done, he tossed it toward Jian Beiyun before bringing his attention back to the herbs without a second of delay.
I guess it'll only be a waste of time trying to ask him some questions about alchemy, huh? Oh well. Even I know asking about Earth-grade pills won't help me too much. Only with the power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator can one refine them.
"Let's go before Elder Kun gets annoyed at our presence," Jian Beiyun advised.
Under his guidance, the group quickly exited out of the Pill Hall.
"Here are the pills, Li Lang. Got anywhere else you want to visit? I can give you some recommendations if you like."
"Hmm, just a brief tour on our way out is fine. I want to make it back to Emberglow tonight. Oh, and maybe we can visit Sima Xue while I'm here. She'll probably make me buy her tofu pudding if I don't at least greet her while I'm here."
"Ha, about time someone else has to take on that responsibility. Unfortunately, she's under master's orders to stay within a meditation chamber until she's successfully comprehended the technique she's learning. I don't think she's coming out any time soon."
"Then—remember to give her my regards once she's out."
"No problem."
"So I guess we can take a quick look around on Senior Tai's Skyrunner before we leave. What do you say, Senior Tai? Do you have anything else you need to do here or down in Nightshade Valley?"
"No. That's fine."
With nothing binding either of the two visitors, the party of three took a spin around the two peaks that made up Nightmoon Valley before they took their leave. They exited out the same way they came, passing through the tunnel on the ground level.
As soon as they made their way out back into the open world, Li Lang couldn't help but shield his eyes from the bright lights of the sun.
This trip wasn't so bad. Time to return and get back to work!
Chapter 195: Time Flies
Amidst a vibrant forest of trees adorned with crimson leaves, a lone man wearing a strange wooden mask was currently sitting on a boulder. He sat with his legs crossed and was deep in meditation.
The atmosphere in the air was tranquil as only the sound of the wind rustling the leaves could be heard. Like that, the sun shifted across the horizon until the orangey glow made the entire forest of rest a mesmerizing sight.
However, as the light dimmed, the tranquil scene quickly changed.
The sound of insects buzzing around filled the entire area, and the scent of death followed.
The young man wearing the mask remained unperturbed, deep in meditation until a swarm of insects approached. As the buzzing grew louder, Wei Ping finally decided to take action.
He revealed the claws fitted to his hands and quickly swung them around. Each time he did so, a sharp gust of wind was emitted from them, slicing through the air toward the insects. The attack turned a portion of them into a mist of blood, but the insects continued their way, undaunted.
Before Wei Ping could strike again, the insects suddenly spread out. As a cultivator now at the peak of Energy Gathering, his acute senses could see that it wasn't so simple. The insects weren't just spreading out, but were multiplying, as if they could clone themselves in an instant.
They swarmed toward the lone man without fear, causing Wei Ping to quickly escape. Making advantage of his nimbleness and speed, he used the numerous trees in the forest as footholds. He jumped from tree to tree without pause, occasionally sending out a few attacks to hold the swarm at bay.
He did this for half the night until he was finally out of the forest.
He sighed to himself while looking back into the treeline. Eventually, he stopped and made his way back toward the nearby town on the edge of the forest.
The town wasn't large, but it still had proper walls erected around the city. However, it was apparent it wasn't a wealthy place, as many beggars could be seen throughout the entire settlement.
Wei Ping walked briskly through the narrow streets, navigating through them like a local. His destination turned out to be a dirty alleyway on the side of the main road. Many people walked by without caring about the messy beggar lying sprawled on the ground there. Everyone except for Wei Ping.
The man seemed to ignore him until he blocked his view of the main streets.
"You again? Get out of my way already. I already did what you want, right?"
"I-I'm still struggling with it. Can y-you please show me again?"
"Look kid, if it was so easy then it wouldn't be worth much, right?"
"But Senior, I've spent h-half a year on it but to no avail."
"I told you it's not something a mortal should be able to grasp. Now get out of the way. If you want to bother someone about it, try turning to Yongjun."
Seeing how the stubborn old man didn't seem to budge in the slightest, Wei Ping could only give up and walk away. As the beggar had suggested, he went to search for the next best person who could help him.
He went through the busy streets until he came upon a large manor near the center of the town. They had a set of splendid wooden gates with a large sign that indicated it was the property of the Wang family.
Wei Ping knocked on the gates without hesitation and waited for some time. Eventually, an old man peeked out of the door, wearing a dark green robe that shone with a silky texture.
"Caretaker He, I've c-come to find your master. Is h-he home?"
"You again. I thought I told you to try not to come if you can help it. Is it important?"
"Umm—it is i-important to me. Please. I k-know your master is busy with his training, but I'll o-only take a few moments of his time."
The old man sighed, but suddenly, a voice could be heard, carried by the wind.
"Invite him in," it whispered.
Hearing this, the old man's demeanor changed, and respectfully welcomed Wei Ping into the estate. They walked by the carefully maintained garden and a small pond filled with colorful fishes. They only stopped on the other side of the house, where a young man could be seen in a small grassy clearing. He was moving with slow and deliberate movements, going from one martial stance to another.
"Sorry f-for bothering you, honorable Whispering Half Saint. But I n-need guidance in mastering the Lingering Impact technique."
"No need to be so formal. Although that old man never officially takes on disciples, since he decided to teach you, we can be considered half-disciples."
The young man, who was apparently the master of the Wang family, proceeded to warmly welcome Wei Ping. It wasn't their first meeting, as the old beggar had once sent Wei Ping to beg for money from this family. This was all done to satisfy the eccentric expert who passed the time acting as a beggar, so Wei Ping never regretted it.
He believed the technique he had inadvertently learned about was vital for his future, and also something pursuit that could push him through the final bottleneck of the Energy Gathering Realm.
He believed that once he had mastered it, it would be time for him to return to his friends.
Back in Emberglow City, two full years had passed since Li Lang's trip to Nightshade Valley.
The training with the students Li Lang accepted had proceeded well, with each showing amazing progress. This is especially so for the few who had grade two aptitude.
The children were made to forgo many techniques of both martial and Qi nature. They were tasked with solely focusing on their cultivation, which resulted in them almost catching up with their mentors!
While the gap in their cultivation narrowed, the difference in strength was still vast.
On the clearing inside their modest estate within the Southern Dark Spot of Emberglow, Li Lang was currently deflecting every blow from three attackers. All three of them were in the late stages of Energy Gathering, but they were being toyed around with like they were powerless children.
"Teacher Li, I can't go on any longer. Please go easy on us," Xiao Dong, an earnest and straightforward boy, declared without any shame.
"You'll have to learn to persist even when you're exhausted. A real enemy wouldn't care about your condition."
"I'm sure if I'm locked in a life-and-death situation with an opponent, I may be able to tough out this burning feeling in my lungs. But right now, I feel like if I did that, my lungs would definitely burn!"
"If you can't do it in training, what makes you think you can do it in a real situation? I can tell you that in a real fight, you'll only be able to perform up to a portion of your abilities in training. The nerves unusually make you perform worse."
"That—I understand we'll have to go face these challenges ourselves sooner or later, but still. Give me a break for today."
Li Lang could only shake his head upon seeing his student keel over. The other two, Shi Yan and Chu Qinghe, seemed to be in a similar condition, but they didn't complain. They silently tried to catch their breath off to the side.
"Fine. Take a minute or two if you want. Just know that the next time you venture outside, neither Long Yi nor I will accompany you. You'll be responsible for your own safety."
After a moment of thinking it through, Xiao Dong pathetically tried to get to his feet. After a few stumbles, he succeeded and began to charge at Li Lang again.
This was a common scene throughout the year. Peaceful training was never an option. It bred too much complacently. Cultivators needed to exercise their abilities in order to stimulate growth. Li Lang had to occasionally send out his students to fight real battles against Qi beasts for that reason.
What he was doing now was just preparing them as best he could.
His motive, however, wasn't so simple. He not only wanted what was best for his students, he was also impatiently waiting for them to catch up to him in cultivation. It was because he needed more samples to study how one broke through to the Foundational Establishment Realm.
Throughout the past year, Li Lang had tried to break through himself a total of three times. Every single time, it ended in failure, wasting three Foundation Pills in the process.
Two years ago, he had gotten some inspiration in a research direction that could help people with low aptitude like him break through. It was the result of observing the mechanics of the Ascension Pill, but he needed subjects to test his methods first.
He would've done it himself if he had it his way, but he knew it wouldn't be possible to make an objective assessment that way. A sample size of one was too small to be useless, anyway.
That was why he planned to wait for his students to catch up to serve as his subjects!
With that in mind, he couldn't help but revisit his memories about the time he experimented with the Ascension Pills.
Chapter 196: Study of Ascension Pill
Back when Li Lang had just returned from his visit to Nightshade Valley, he immediately got back into his routine of training his students and more.
Having gotten his hands on Foundation Pills and Ascension Pills, there was no way to keep him from studying both pills.
He first started with the Ascension Pills to familiarize himself with the process of breakthrough and what it entailed. He was also curious to see how it differed from a traditional breakthrough.
To start his study, he let Ruby consume a pill without hesitation. The auto-analyzer told him about its composition while Nightmoon Valley had given the recipe, which included the steps of refining both pills.
These things weren't a secret, especially in the Luminescent Domain. They were pills that the orthodox sects had created and were either necessary or made with orthodox cultivators in mind.
The tricky part of Li Lang's research was finding willing participants. Most people living in Emberglow City worshipped demonic cultivation. While demonic cultivation didn't rely on aptitude, it required its own type of talent. The various organizations within the domain deemed numerous people not to have the correct talent or character to be recruited. After all, resources were limited, so they couldn't waste their time on those who likely wouldn't make it far.
Even then, those who weren't recruited still refused to partake in orthodox cultivation. It made the Ascension Pill unpopular as it would turn them into a useless orthodox cultivator.
However, that was just on the surface. Many people still made use of it. That was because everyone valued their lives. By consuming Ascension Pills and breaking through, they would effectively increase their lifespan. Foundation Establishment cultivators were said to be able to live up to five hundred years! It was six or seven times more than the average mortal.
To secure test subjects, Li Lang just had to tactfully appeal to the interested parties. He found several well-off people who were up there in age but weren't exactly wealthy enough to outright buy what they wanted. Then he began his experiments.
Ascension Pills were continuously taken over time, allowing its users to grow in cultivation until they reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Li Lang carefully monitored his selected test subjects before and after they took the pill. He then got Long Yi plus several students with good observation skills to join him. They carefully inspected how the pill brought changes to its user, but there was only so much of what was happening within the subject's body. It caused them to each have their own theories.
"I think it's similar to the Foundation Pill in that it creates a barrier to contain Qi within the body," Wu San muttered. "It's just that it also has a function to help its consumer gather the ambient Qi as well."
He looked at his two mentors for approval. Long Yi stepped forward to give his own opinion.
"Hmm, I don't think it's anything that complicated. Instead, it's probably more accurate to say it's a special type of barrier. A barrier that allows Qi to pass through one way."
"But that doesn't explain why one could consume multiple pills to increase their speed. If what you said was true, the person taking the pill will all have to wait the same amount of time to allow the Qi to gather," Shi Yan interjected. "I think each pill is imbued with a large amount of Qi that settles in whoever consumes it."
"As the teachers say, each person is unique. It's not surprising everyone needs a varying amount of pills. I don't think it's the pill that is supplying the Qi for cultivation, though. Eating additional pills only increases the speed slightly. The diminishing return is too severe for that to be true."
"The truth shouldn't be far from all of your predictions," Li Lang declared. "Looking at only the objective facts, we know that the Ascension Pills cause its consumer's body to accumulate Qi. Once it hits a saturation point, the Qi is then concentrated in the navel area, triggering the breakthrough process. It is not only forcefully started and completed, it is done without needing the user to do anything at all."
"They may be able to break through, but they're barely able to even use their Qi to do simple things like seeing in the dark, not to talk about doing anything useful," Long Yi added.
"Yes, but remember? They can still practice various crafts, so they must be able to train their Qi manipulation to a degree."
This type of discussion occasionally happened, as Li Lang slowly accumulated more data. He refined his theory with the information slowly but surely, until one day, he appeared confident with what he had.
As I thought, the key is in the saturation of Qi within a cultivator's body. One must hone their control of their energy to increase the density of Qi in the body to the point of being able to cause a qualitative change, and an Ascension Pill provides a barrier or a forcefield to do just that.
Once that barrier is gone, it results in the user who had broken through, but lacking the strength to control their Qi on their own. It's like in video games where people get others to play on their account for them to achieve higher ranks. Once they're done, the original owner's skill level is still unchanged.
The reason why people of low aptitude have more issues with breakthroughs is likely due to their lack of spiritual roots. With more spiritual roots comes more access points Qi can come through. Having more of them means you had more power over your Qi, so you had more power to converge the energy into your navel area.
Those with only a few spiritual roots have trouble focusing so much Qi in the dantian to reach the required concentration of energy to evoke qualitative change.
Despite being confident about getting a handle on the root cause of why it was more difficult for people like him to break through, Li Lang still had to find plausible solutions and test them.
The solution wasn't as simple as just strengthening your few spiritual roots, so they could absorb more Qi. That was part of what cultivation did. Just increasing the number of spiritual roots was something easier to be said than done, too. Li Lang had a gut feeling spiritual roots weren't something people should casually mess with. He hadn't even an inkling of how to interact with the enigmatic existence. Even if he could, he believed one wrong move could cripple someone for life.
Instead, the data he collected from his student's everyday training gave him a clue as to how to proceed.
While he had made them hyperfocus on cultivation only, forgoing martial and Qi arts, they still practiced one or two techniques. The time he had brought them to the Bloodwave Conclave bazaar was just one instance where they got to browse through various techniques.
When his students practiced these techniques, he made them learn his Tracing Origin Art first. Then, they could show him how their energy flowed when using their techniques.
This allowed him to build a budding library of how techniques affected the flow of Qi within the meridians. It let him learn that numerous techniques couldn't be used concurrently because they may cause this flow of energy to conflict, jamming their channels.
If I can create a set of techniques that can provoke the Qi in one's body to flow in a certain way, in theory, it should help provide that extra bit of force to jam enough Qi into the navel area to reach the breaking point. However, it'll have to be unique for each person, customized to how their meridian channels are shaped.
This train of thought caused Li Lang to be completely focused on the meridians and how techniques caused Qi to move as his main research topic.
Cultivation techniques allowed cultivators to draw in ambient Qi. Martial and Qi arts then taught how to control this energy to produce various effects. What he was aiming to do was similar to martial arts, in that it only manipulated the internal energy without ever releasing it outward. The only difference was that he was trying to get all that energy to forcefully converge on one point.
The result was painful and required a lot of determination and willpower. It was what every cultivator pursuing Foundation Establishment Realm had to go through. Developing a technique to accomplish the task offered the same advantages that inspired the creation of various martial and Qi arts—providing structured methods to achieve efficiency, mastery, and adaptability.
It simplified the movements, so it didn't require constant conscious control. Instead of just freestyling, the cultivator could practice the same movement a thousand times, drilling into them how to masterfully execute them.
After two years of researching various techniques and studying his student's meridians, all that was left was for them to reach the peak of Energy Gathering. Then, he could put the fruits of his labor to the test.
ivation - Chapter 197: Rough WatersChapter 197: Rough Waters
While Li Lang waited for his students to reach the peak of Energy Gathering, he used his time wisely on creating artifacts.
For the past two years, he had been practicing on and off within Ruby's artifact space after consuming each type of beast core.
Now that he had completed his printer artifact, he naturally set his sights on weapons and armor that a typical cultivator would have. However, it was a far more challenging endeavor than he thought. He hadn't succeeded a single time throughout the years.
For the printer artifact, Li Lang used a mimeograph machine as a base and customized it to fit in with a beast core, along with using materials that conducted Qi in the right way. That way, the exotic energy could power the machine to move as the creator intended. Then, he used programming knowledge as a base to repurpose the beast core's remnant spirit into a working operating system.
The same process didn't translate well when it came to weapons and armor. At first, one may conclude it should be significantly easier, as cold weapons were simply chunks of sharpened metals. Unfortunately, that simplicity was what made it so challenging.
There was no direction to program the artifact's spirit, which meant there was no will or goal for the artifact's spirit to focus on. Li Lang suspected that normally this wasn't a problem, as artificers used the remnant spirit of the beast core. It could grow freely, as all life did. His programming method just happened to not be suitable for it.
To verify if his programming method did indeed do anything, he even used a few of the remaining neutral affinity beast cores to recreate more printer artifacts. They never succeeded if left to the traditional method of taming the remnant spirit, but did once he programmed their spirit into existence. When he tried with a blade, the elementary AI he programmed never worked. He surmised the lack of direction disqualified it from being deemed an artifact spirit.
With that figured out, the obvious solution was to create a more sophisticated weapon with a theme in mind, but that proved to be an even bigger hurdle. With the printer artifact, it wasn't meant to be wielded in combat, which meant it didn't need to take into account weight and wieldiness.
If he tried to make his custom spear into an artifact, the lack of cohesiveness and structural integrity due to the hidden compartments made it fail every time. After all, artifact weapons were supposed to be durable. Those that didn't meet this requirement would never be able to become an artifact.
Li Lang's success with his first artifact was largely owed to the few restrictions imposed. It could be as big as he desired, whatever form he desired. For weapons, the forms were less flexible. On the limited platform of a sword or spear, he had to finely engineer it so that both its spiritual aspects and physical aspects were extraordinary and synergized. It was like inscribing a talisman, but on a tiny piece of paper.
All this caused Li Lang to take the time to slowly improve his artificing skills so that he could practice how to create a true artifact despite these stringent requirements.
Today, he would be making his first attempt in reality.
He had practiced numerous times with the water-affinity beast core and achieved success before within his lab. Ruby couldn't simulate the interaction with the remnant spirit of the core, but the other processes appeared to be sound.
He accomplished this by moving the hidden compartments where the poisons were stored, toward the exterior of the spear and under the tip.
The artificing session began without any special fanfare. He dove straight into it one afternoon, inside his room.
He fetched some materials from his space ring and used his artificer techniques to manipulate the metal to conform to his desired shape. It was a lot of convenient than using a forge. It was also the easy part.
The challenge came when it was time to install the beast core. That was when the remnant spirit would act out aggressively at him. He would either have to tame it, as the traditional artificer did, or program a new spirit to control the artifact. Of course, Li Lang chose the latter method.
The basic AI he had in mind was focused on injecting the poison into its intended targets. It wasn't hard to program but tedious. Basic AIs weren't sentient but were a comprehensive database that had numerous pre-saved responses to various stimuli. Li Lang believed this would be enough to qualify as a Mortal-grade artifact like his printer artifact did.
After waiting for the remnant spirit to die out, Li Lang began implementing his artificial spirit. It took half the day and made him wear a frown all day.
When it was done, the nascent spear instantly began to glow. However, it only lasted a few seconds before it disintegrated into tiny pieces.
"It failed—"
Li Lang knew it wasn't likely to succeed on the first try every time, but deep down somewhere, he believed he would.
He didn't let it bring him down and quickly recorded the process before letting Ruby consume the debris, so the auto-analyzer could examine the remains.
"Hmm, it didn't have a good success rate in my lab here either, so maybe there is some flaw in my design," Li Lang muttered.
"Master, it's too soon to say that already. Artifact creation is not easy for a reason. Give it a few more tries first."
"You're right. Just let me record everything from the previous tests first."
Like that, Li Lang attempted again, despite knowing he had a limited supply of beast cores. Of the ones with water affinity specifically, there were only eight left. He had to make it count before they were all used up.
He the entire night studying the matter before trying again the next morning.
Again, it ended in failure.
The same happened the day after that, too.
After experiencing three consecutive days of failure, Li Lang finally decided to take a break to digest the results. He wanted to see if he could identify exactly was the reason for failure was. Each beast core was unique in that the remnant spirit of the beast was different, but other than that, all the variables remained the same. His programming method shouldn't have been affected too much by it.
Spiritual issues are the hardest for me to solve. Ruby can't simulate it, and I can't do anything about it, either.
With much filled in his mind, Li Lang went to breakfast again like any other day. Except today, he wouldn't be in such a rush due to deciding to take a break.
"What's with the long face?" Long Yi asked upon seeing his friend sit down.
"Nothing serious. Just some roadblocks in my artificing. Doesn't seem like I'll be able to make you an artifact anytime soon as I promised."
"Ha, that's fine. If I really wanted one, I could try to buy one or just wait until you break through, too. I'd rather you make me an Earth-grade artifact, anyway."
"Hmm, I'm not sure how long that'll take either. I need one of the kids to reach the peak of Energy Gathering, so I can start testing how to improve the success rate of breakthroughs. It's better than to fail again, wasting yet another Foundation Pill."
Li Lang had tried a few times over the years to break through already. He didn't use any of the techniques back then, as they were untested, and he wanted to try out the traditional method first. Every time he tried to accumulate enough Qi in his navel area, he would soon lose control of it.
He knew each spiritual root acted as muscles that manipulated Qi as well, thus he was too weak to hold it together.
He needed the children to reach the same stage, so he could verify if his theories were correct. He could monitor each one, and observe their results based on the number of spiritual roots they had, and then test if his techniques that purposefully inducted the Qi to flow in certain ways would work.
The wait had been excruciating and hadn't gotten any better as time passed. Failure upon failure piled up, and it seemed like nothing was going well for Li Lang. Everything except for the flavored Nourishment Pills he was developing.
After more than a year of testing the pill, he verified it was safe to consume over the long term, and the shelf life was deemed stable. Li Lang finally went to sell it during his routine trip to The Orchid Covenant's headquarters.
"The usual?" the clerk asked.
"No, I have new variants of Nourishment Pills I would like to sell."
"New variants? Please give me a moment. I'll get someone from the Alchemy Hall, then."
With Li Lang selling to his organization on a regular basis, his usual transaction could be done with only the clerk. Now that he planned to sell a new pill, they needed to get someone more knowledgeable to assess the product.
It didn't take the clerk long to summon someone. The person who came startled Li Lang for a moment because he knew the man with the full beard that stretched down to his chest. It was Zhao Longwei, Li Lang's own alchemy mentor. As a member of The Orchid Covenant, it was naturally possible he would be working on behalf of the organization.
However, of all the possibilities, Li Lang didn't expect his own mentor to show up. He hadn't visited Zhao Longwei often in recent times, but even he knew the man usually left most mundane matters to his students or subordinates.
He was one of the more transactional mentors he had. He previously only agreed to teach him in exchange for the knowledge he learned in the pocket realm.
"Li Lang, I heard you brought a variant of some pill. Come up and show me. It's been some time, after all."
Chapter 198: Preparation
Li Lang found himself inside the Alchemy Hall within The Orchid Covenant in no time.
Facing him was his Alchemy mentor, Zhao Longwei. He was currently scrutinizing the pill in between his fingers. Then he brought it closer to his face and sniffed it. He even then proceeded to lick it.
"This—is a candied layer?" he asked, turning to Li Lang with a frown.
"That's correct, Senior. I've only made minimal changes to the pill recipe to ensure it stabilized with this layer so that the whole pill won't go bad."
"That can hardly be called a variant pill, Li Lang. I'm not sure if we can buy this. Why don't you just refine normal Nourishment Pills? They're tried and true."
"Senior Zhao, normal Nourishment Pills work perfectly fine, but their taste—is hard to be satisfied with. I believe these flavored Nourishment Pills are much more palatable."
"While I don't doubt your claim, cultivators like us have no need to care about such details. If we wanted good food, we would eat real food, not pills. Everyone knows what they're getting into when they take Nourishment Pills."
"Senior, cultivators are still human. They can't possibly complain that the test of their pills got better."
"Nonsense! The pain of cultivation is a thousand times harder to bear, and yet we do so anyway. These little tricks you employed are for children, not serious cultivators."
"The sense of taste is something people of all ages have. There are also plenty of children among the younger disciples. I'm sure there'll be a demand for these Nourishment Pills once people have tried it."
Zhao Longwei sighed upon realizing how persistent his student was. He was a traditional man who dedicated a great portion of his life to the pursuit of alchemy. He expected serious alchemists like him to be advancing their great craft together. He thought it was blasphemous to waste time, creating a variant of an existing pill that only improved something that didn't matter.
Many cultivators were like him, proud of their dedication and their ability to endure hardship.
"Senior, surely you can see that we can sell these Nourishment Pills with no problem. If you still doubt them, I can take them to the Alchemist Guild as well, so they can officially examine them for you."
Li Lang's words effectively made Zhao Longwei stop in his train of thoughts. While he didn't personally care for the flavored Nourishment Pills, he couldn't stand a member of their organization choosing to do business with the guild instead of them.
"Fine. I'll accept them. They'll be at the standard price of Nourishment Pills of one Qi stone per three pills."
The elder didn't say much after that. He grabbed the bottle of pills, gave Li Lang some money, and walked away in a rush.
It was out of Li Lang's hands now, so he too took his leave shortly after.
As he walked by, he couldn't help but vent to Ruby.
"Are the older cultivators really that stubborn? They only care about practicality and nothing else?"
"Master, I'm sure it's not everyone, but there should be quite a few who only care about results."
"Well—Yeah, if they're competing for scarce resources, I can see that they wouldn't want to be wasteful, but this is different. I'm not wasting any Qi herbs or any other valuable resources."
"At least he accepted Master's pills in the end. Give it some time. I'm sure it'll become popular soon enough!"
"Hopefully. I made these pills with the intention of using them for ourselves in the first place, so I guess I shouldn't complain."
"Anyway, sorry for always complaining to you."
"It's no problem—No problem at all, Master!"
Sometimes, Li Lang wanted to ask if Ruby could simulate things, couldn't they materialize themselves in an avatar of some sort? He wanted to speak to them face to face. He almost thought of them as his mascot character. All that was missing was the visual element.
With his errand complete, Li Lang soon made it back home in the Southern Dark Spot of Emberglow.
When he returned, he found the main hall and the outdoor field completely empty. That was a sight he'd never seen before since he moved in. There was always someone around, training or doing chores.
He quickly listened carefully, searching for any clues while also being careful of any threats. Soon, his ears picked up the sound of conversation from the distance. He approached carefully until he realized it was coming out of one of the small houses his students lived in. He saw an entire crowd of them standing just outside.
The confusion cleared up the closer he got. Once he was able to hear what they were saying, the mystery was solved.
"Teacher Long, are you sure Xiao Dong is okay? He wasn't moving at all and was deathly pale!"
"Everyone, I said he'd wake up shortly, but that doesn't mean you should all crowd around him. Please go back to your training. I'll spread the news once he wakes up."
His words caused a few of the children to take a few steps back, but it didn't seem they would vacate the area. Worried expressions could be seen on their face as an awkward moment of silence ensued as no one listened to Long Yi's instructions.
"Teacher Long, are you sure this isn't due to the side effect of that mysterious pill that helps with our cultivation?" one of the students asked, referring to the Cleansing Drug that had now been turned into pill form by Li Lang.
"Of course not. It's not that uncommon for cultivators to become so fatigued to the point of being unable to move when breaking through to the later stages of Energy Gathering. Just sit tight and relax."
Li Lang chose this exact moment to interject.
"What happened? You said someone broke through?"
The entire crowd went deathly silent upon realizing the arrival of Li Lang. Only Long Yi was unfazed.
"Yeah. Probably broke through in the morning. His roommates found him unmoving in bed."
"I'll go check on him, then."
No one dared stop him as Li Lang zealously strode into the abode. He was eager to collect samples from his students, and also at the prospect of someone finally catching up to him.
He didn't even care at all that one of his students now had the same cultivation as him. He wouldn't either, even if they were stronger than him. In fact, it would be a plus in his eyes, as he would have more people to study. That was why he didn't only recruit students with grade one aptitude, but grade two as well. He knew they had the best chance of surpassing him, guiding the way for him.
Stepping into the room, he found two students inside. One was lying still on a bed while the other was cultivating right next to them. He recognized the one who was unconscious to be Xiao Dong, while the one overlooking his companion was Wu San.
Wu San was one of the more polite kids with grade-one aptitude. He had the making of a scholar.
While Xiao Dong was more forthright. He was the kid who had been an orphan in the remote Mu Xia village. Li Lang had even accepted his little brother along, but since he was too young to be cultivating, they simply lived together. He spent the time helping out with the kitchen staff they hired or frolicking, befitting his age.
"How is his condition?" Li Lang asked.
The young man cultivating, slowly opened his eyes and shook his head.
"Still no response. Teacher Long had already taken his pulse and said he was fine. He just needs some rest."
Hearing this, Li Lang couldn't but help immediately examine the boy himself. He trusted the evaluation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but he just wanted to see for himself.
He found his body undamaged, and his energy vigorous. It likely had improved since Long Yi last inspected him, so he proceeded to lightly shake his shoulders.
After a few tries, it succeeded. The boy woke up, rubbing both his eyes while breathing in deeply.
"Xiao Dong. How do you feel? Do you remember what happened?"
"Hmm? Yeah—I broke through, but got tired right after, so I slept."
"Congratulations, you're at the peak of Energy Gathering now!"
"Well, when you put it that way, it feels surreal. I fully know that I'm an incomplete cultivator, though. I barely practiced anything cultivator-like."
"We'll remedy that in good time. For now, just stabilize your cultivation. In the next few days, we'll start trying out a few things."
"Wait, is that the breakthrough method to Foundation Establishment Realm you were talking about before?"
"Yes. Don't worry. I'm pretty confident it doesn't require any more accumulation in the final stage of Energy Gathering. You just need the right method along with Foundation Pills."
"Umm, that's not what I'm worried about, teach. Isn't the process particularly painful? Plus, I'll be the first to use your new method—I know I agreed to this before, but when I hear it's going to happen so soon, I don't feel mentally prepared."
Li Lang put on a thoughtful look as he glanced down. A few seconds later, he shook his head vigorously.
"This is all voluntarily. I won't try to convince you to do something you don't want. Just tell me if you want to stop at any point, and I will."
"Oh, no, Teacher Li. I didn't mean it like that. Just give me half a day to wake up and prepare. I am fully aware that cultivation could cost me my life. I fully believe the risks are worth it. I just need my heart to be on the same wavelength as my mind."
"Then I won't bother you any longer. Wu San, take care of him."
Giving the two boys one last look, Li Lang left the building and headed straight for his own house. He was going to make the preparations to begin his experiments. Now that one student had broken through, it was inevitable several others would soon follow. He wasn't afraid Xiao Dong would not participate. His thoughts were entirely focused on trying to make the experiment as safe as possible.
Cultivation wasn't something he could test on animals. He couldn't get them to invoke the techniques he was testing. It meant this test was going to be particularly risky, as it was in unknown territory.
A part of him was reprimanding himself for making younger children take the risks for him, but he kept pushing on. He needed to keep progressing. While he wanted to brave this danger himself, he knew the head researcher himself couldn't be a test subject. It was impossible for him to remain objective and unbiased toward his own hypothesis. He also wouldn't be able to accurately observe the situation without remaining a spectator, as he could fall unconscious or have his mind clouded or preoccupied.
He justified his actions by telling himself these people he's taken in would've given up on cultivating seriously and languished in the early stages of Energy Gathering if it wasn't for him.
He wasn't a saint. This was a give-and-take relationship. He provided them with resources to cultivate, while they provided themselves as test subjects.
He could only do his best to prepare and hope the worst never comes.
Chapter 199: Converging Streams
Early one morning, knocking could be heard at Li Lang's door. He opened the doors to find Xiao Dong there.
"Have you stabilized your cultivation?"
"Yes, Teacher, but I don't feel that I have the accumulation to break through, yet. Didn't Teacher Long accumulate over a year?"
"From what I observed, his Qi capacity didn't increase from the time he reached the peak of Energy Gathering to when he began his breakthrough. Neither did mine throughout all this time. I believe everyone in the ninth stage is capable of breaking through."
"Believe?"
"Unfortunately, it's not so easy to say with certainty regarding any matter. Your participation now will help with that, but enough about that. Come in."
Xiao Dong took in a deep breath to renew his determination as he stepped inside. He found the interior more spacious than he expected. It was due to the little furnishing Li Lang had done, despite having one of the four large houses to himself. Compared to the student's dorm where they had to share a smaller house, the contrast was stark.
Another factor may be due to the lack of servants in the house. A traditional rich merchant household would employ many such servants to cater to their needs. However, Li Lang's manor only hired cooks to address their nutritional needs, while the other tasks were left to the inhabitants themselves.
This was because the group decided they had too many secrets to involve too many outsiders. Cooks could be confined to the kitchen area, but regular servants would frequent the entire estate. They couldn't afford one of them accidentally overhearing something they wanted to keep hidden.
After all, there were numerous unknown cultivator techniques to make mortals talk. It was the height of foolishness to believe a mortal could keep secrets from a determined cultivator.
Li Lang led his student toward a wooden platform he used for cultivation. It was like a low coffee table, but large enough for both of them to sit on it with some room to spare.
"I'll cut to the chase," Li Lang said. "What I'll have you do today is to create a certain technique that is customized to you alone. The goal of this technique is to aid you in breaking through, which means directing the flow of Qi to your dantian. To give you a refresher, here is a sketch of what your meridian channels look like based on our previous tests."
Li Lang picked out the sheet of paper with Xiao Dong's name on it and handed it to him. Through the usual training, he had gotten each of his student to practice the Tracing Origin Art and mapped out their meridians. It was a complex three-dimensional mess, but having it drawn made it much easier to understand.
"Anything I should be worried about?"
"Hmm, to be honest, I have no idea. It's one of the reasons why I haven't tried going through with it myself. I've only tried sections of the technique separately."
This caused Xiao Dong to visibly gulp.
"If anything happens to me, I want to be buried—"
"Woah, woah. Calm down there. Let's not become too pessimistic right away. I've made ample preparation to deal with any situation. Still, here's a contract I drafted with everything laid out. It has everything laid out neatly. Read it over. Let me know if there are any parts you can't understand. Remember, you don't have to proceed if you don't want to."
Xiao Dong had previously not known how to read or write at all. Since he had been recruited, he had quickly learned. It only took him a few moments to read over the risks and terms listed. He signed it and handed it over back to Li Lang.
It was just a formality, as the piece of paper wasn't any sort of binding contract. Li Lang only created it to remind the participants of the risks and test their determination. Once everything was settled, Li Lang began going over the technique.
"So you have grade two aptitude with thirty-two spiritual roots. That means there are a lot more entryways to your meridians, and the network is also more complex. There's a total of eight pathways that converge to your dantian."
"Does everyone's meridian network converge in the dantian?" Xiao Dong curiously asked.
"I can't say for sure, but I assume that is true except for the rarest of cases. It's why every cultivator talks about this crucial area of the body where Qi resides. From what I can tell, a breakthrough happens when enough of this energy is packed into this dantian, causing a qualitative change. This is our goal."
Li Lang proceeded to explain a set of martial arts techniques to invoke specific movements in the flow of Qi. With each person's meridian channels being unique, they had to test out each move one by one to see how it reacted to Xiao Dong.
That took the two a full week to finish.
Once they knew the type of reaction each move created, they could then put together a choreographed sequence of movements to guide all the Qi in the body to converge. It sounded easy and straightforward, but what they were essentially doing was not far off from imploding their meridians. Li Lang didn't know how this could affect something as intangible as the meridians. The risks were very real.
"Okay, Xiao Dong. Let's give it a try. We'll start off easy and try to converge just two pathways with each other in your hand, here." Li Lang pointed toward the web in the hand, between the thumb and index finger.
He then jotted down the correct sequence of movements for Xiao Dong to follow and began observing attentively. In the background, even Long Yi was there.
Receiving the new sequence of instructions like a musician getting a new score, Xiao Dong carefully played out the moves in his mind. After seeing nothing wrong, he proceeded to execute the stances.
He jumped and twirled, stretched his leg high into the sky, and consecutively made several eccentric poses. If one wasn't aware of what they were doing, they may have concluded Xiao Dong to have lost a bet and was made to perform a strange dance.
Despite the eccentric outer appearance, what truly mattered was what was going on within him. Only he knew the situation, as others couldn't use the Tracing Origin Art on someone else's Qi within their bodies.
Jumping left and right around the room before coming to a squat, Xiao Dong soon approached the last few moves.
Unsurprisingly, he could feel his energy stir and begin to flow more rapidly. He could clearly sense two different streams of energy on a head-on collision course around his arm. He shut his eyes tightly and prayed everything would work out for him.
Without waiting for him, the two flows clashed and a brief moment of sharp pain made Xiao Dong flinch
"Ouch, that hurt!"
"Hold it in. I need to examine it first!"
Li Lang rushed to examine his student's arm. He found nothing wrong except the sudden sense of pain, so the test continued.
The next target, he picked somewhere along the meridian channels where three passages converged.
This time, the pain was even more intense and lasted longer.
Seeing how there hadn't been any physical damage so far, they trekked on.
Their little tests quickly escalated, until all that was left to test were all eight passageways, which had the potential to kickstart Xiao Dong's breakthrough.
"Xiao Dong, are you okay? Do you need a break?"
No answer came as the student in question continued to breathe normally. He was evidently lost in thought, but he managed to squeeze out a few words.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Let's continue."
The final moment of truth finally arrived after some setup time. Xiao Dong was to test converging all eight of his Qi passageways toward his dantian. It made Li Lang slightly jealous of how good Xiao Dong had it.
In comparison, Li Lang's five spiritual roots resulted in a much simpler layout, with only three passageways converging at the dantian.
Having gotten used to the technique, Xiao Dong swiftly reached the critical point of his breakthrough. The ambient energy around him swirled and his skin began to pulse with light. Just as the eight streams of Qi started converging, they each tried their best to exert their dominance. The flow of Qi violently picked up, causing Xiao Dong to fear for the worse.
The different streams of Qi became more dangerous as they closed the distance.
This time, it didn't end with just some phantom pain, but Xiao Dong was sent back flying. He remained on the ground and a pool of blood began to form underneath him.
The scene made Li Lang freeze for a moment at the sudden carnage. Loads of blood were constantly leaking from his orifices. There were tiny holes everywhere leaking out blood. Xiao Dong himself was unconscious.
Quickly snapping out of it, Li Lang rushed to his student's side and took out a pill bottle. He didn't hesitate to put a Recovery Pill into Xiao Dong's mouth and made him swallow it. It made the wound he sustained heal in real-time. Li Lang watched as the holes mended themselves before carrying Xiao Dong off to a bed.
There was only one word that rang out in his mind.
Shit!
Chapter 200: Various Cultivation Techniques
"The test for the new technique is put on hold for now until I figure out why it caused you to bleed all over. For now, I want you to focus on breaking through the traditional way."
"But it was only my first attempt! I'm sure if I get to make another attempt, I'll—"
"Enough. This isn't up for discussion. Go back and stabilize your cultivation. You trying to break through the traditional way is still able to provide us with a lot of insight by identifying the differences in your experiences."
The boy could only accept his mentor's words without being about to rebuke him. He shook his head and walked out of the room, leaving only Li Lang and Long Yi remaining. Seeing how Li Lang stubbornly decided to put the test on hold, Long Yi decided to say a few words.
"You know, no one could've expected practicing a technique could cause such harm. You shouldn't worry too much about it."
"No, I knew a lot could go wrong. Cultivation mishaps aren't uncommon, and I failed to see my technique was actively trying to incorporate all the worst practices."
"Then will you just give up on this direction already?"
"Of course not, but I'll need to reevaluate it before getting anyone to test it for me."
"I could do it. As a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Realm, it shouldn't be too dangerous for me to test it out."
"You wouldn't serve a good tester. How someone in your realm is able to practice a technique to focus your Qi into your dantian has no meaning in figuring out a way to break through. It's not the time to research the differences in physique after one has broken through, either."
"But I can judge how violent the reaction would be. From what I can tell, my meridians haven't changed since breaking through."
His words made Li Lang fall into deep thought for a few moments.
"Hmm, you may be right, but the higher level of power you have access to may also mean the repercussions may even be greater than what Xiao Dong experienced. I have too little knowledge of how to craft cultivation techniques to be able to predict what would happen."
After saying that, Li Lang blinked blankly before he got up and briskly walked out of the room. Long Yi quickly tailed him despite his confusion.
"Where are you going?"
"If it's knowledge I'm lacking, then I just have to find it. I'm sure there are plenty of experts skilled in creating techniques. If I had a choice, I would consult with the artifact spirits of the Crucible and examine the techniques there, but that will have to wait. Too many organizations have their eyes set on it right now, so I'll have to settle on other experts."
Li Lang proceeded to leave their estate behind and headed for The Orchid Covenant's headquarters. He approached the usual counter and began to inquire about finding someone knowledgeable about cultivation techniques.
"Umm, all our experts are masters of various techniques. Is there any particular subject you're looking for?"
"Are there any renown for having created their own techniques?"
"That's—"
Before the clerk could reply, someone appeared behind them and placed their hand on their shoulder.
"I can take it from here," the old man assured and turned to Li Lang. "Young friend, it's been some time."
"Yes, Councilor Sheng. I hope you've been well."
The old man nodded with an amiable smile. He was Sheng Zhaoming, one of the senior members of The Orchid Covenant.
"Yes, yes, no need to mind an old man like me. Instead, let's talk about what you're here for. I heard you mentioning something about looking for someone skilled in cultivation techniques? Have you come across an issue in your training? Maybe I can be of some assistance."
Li Lang was just about to go into detail when he suddenly remembered his meeting with Nightmoon Valley's leader. He mentioned all the organizations had been investigating the matter with the pocket realm, which was how he concluded it had something to do with him. It made him believe that this Councilman Sheng had appeared in such a timely fashion to get closer to him to fish for more information.
Hmm, even if that's true, there's no point in avoiding him, though.
"Yes, Councilor. I've been studying about how cultivation techniques are created. Specially, martial arts. Do you happen to have experience in this subject?"
"Oh, every cultivator that has reached my age has dabbled in trying to create a technique or two. It's not an easy task, so many give up midway through or create something so inefficient that it has no practical applications. I happen to have gotten lucky and have created half a dozen techniques in my lifetime that I can be proud of."
"In that case, do you mind sharing your experiences?"
The old man chuckled.
"Follow me. Let's go to a more comfortable place where we can sit."
For the rest of the day, Li Lang relentlessly tried to learn as much as he could with Sheng Zhaoming. He slowly but surely guided the conversation toward conflicting flows of Qi and gained some insight as to what had happened when his student had tried to practice his technique.
It turned out that what he tried to accomplish was usually what cultivators actively tried to avoid when creating a technique. As he learned more, it started to make more and more sense. It made him regret his arrogance in believing he could create a technique without consulting outside help first. His desire for secrecy had blinded him.
Typical creators were trying to make a usable move in combat, and having a disruption in the practitioners' meridians was only a detriment in the midst of battle.
With his technique attempting to converge all the Qi into one spot in the body, it put immense pressure that the user couldn't appropriately control. Normally, during a breakthrough, the cultivator would have honed their Qi manipulation enough to control the flow, but by using a technique to bypass the force one needs to be able to exert to kickstart the breakthrough, it forced the practitioner's body to face something it wasn't prepared to handle. The pressure buildup of various streams of Qi clashing was too strong.
"So, Councilman, does that mean every technique avoids making the streams of Qi converge or go against each other?"
"Hmm, not particularly. Playing it safe is great and all, but sometimes, risks have worthwhile rewards as well. Many hidden techniques that are trump cards of cultivators take these risks. In exchange for some internal injuries, they are able to exert a lot more power."
"So it inevitability injuries the user, then," Li Lang muttered, his eyes downcast.
"Hmm, most of them, yes. Some techniques made by geniuses may reduce that drawback to the minimum. These techniques are particularly valuable, though. Often part of a family inheritance."
"How can they accomplish that? They get to have the best of both worlds of power without any costs?"
"Well, these techniques still exhaust the energies of the user and are especially hard to learn. When Qi within one's channels clash or merges, the cultivator will undoubtedly suffer some damage unless they are in perfect equilibrium. That means they will have to manage their Qi perfectly, which is a colossal ask amid combat."
Councilman Sheng Zhaoming then explained the intricacies of these powerful secret techniques. It basically summed down to ensuring the clashing flows of energy to be equal in strength so they would cancel each other out.
Once Li Lang had gotten all his questions answered, he raced back home and locked himself in his room. He quickly reviewed the incident with Xiao Dong the previous day and spotted what had gone wrong.
By using particular movements chained together like a dance, the different streams of Qi converging in Xiao Dong's dantian arrived at different times. The imbalance from this delay was where the problem lay.
I see, so I just have to make a model to calculate the strength of the Qi flowing in each section of the meridians. I can start with Bernoulli's principle as the base and refine it to be more specific to Qi. Then, I just have to make sure the timing is right.
Having a challenging problem wasn't anything to be afraid of for Li Lang. It was not having direction for his research that scared him. Now that he believed he grasped the last piece he had been missing, Li Lang worked relentlessly through the night.
The next morning, he barged straight into Long Yi's room without knocking.
"Wake up! I need you to help me with some tests."
The sleeping Long Yi slowly opened his eyes in confusion.
"W-what?"
"You said yesterday that you'll help me test out the technique first to verify its safety, right? Let's get to it!"