The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 180: A Talk

Once Li Lang had delivered the message from Yan Ruolan to Liang Po, the white-haired youth quickly took his leave.

As someone who had been dedicated to his work religiously, Li Lang wasn’t the most quick-witted when it came to matters of romance. He cursed himself for realizing he had delivered love letters so late. It made him see Liang Po in another light, but he quickly put the matter behind him.

The auction being projected onto the skies above Polarity City continued its broadcast. Li Lang would occasionally look up when he noticed some rare type of treasures, but without audio, the things he learned were limited.

He simply enjoyed the show with his companions, sneaking into Ruby’s artifact space when he got bored. He never tried to craft any artifact after the first one, despite having the materials. There was no point in crafting another printer, and his next goal was to craft weapons.

He still had nine other beast cores harvested from Long Neck Turtles. They were neutral in element, which could also be described as all-rounders in terms of their elemental affinity. To the greater community of artificers, that meant it wasn’t the optimal material for weapons, as it excelled in no particular area.

However, he still had several sets of beast cores of other elements that he had bought for exactly this reason. He still needed more time to think up a design and test things out in his artifact space before committing to an attempt in reality. That was why he dedicated any downtime to his lab.

The city enjoyed the show with a festive mood for another three days before the grand auction finally ended.

The morning after, a mass exodus occurred, as many people no longer had any reason to stay.

“I guess this is goodbye for the foreseeable future, then,” Sima Xue muttered. “Take care and good luck with your plans! I’ll come visit when I can.”

The young girl from Nightmoon Valley was currently standing in the lobby of the inn, with a large entourage waiting behind her. They were her fellow disciples, including Senior Jian Beiyun, all ready to return to their home.

Over the past few days, through idle chatter, Sima Xue had come to learn the gist of Li Lang’s plans once they returned to Emberglow City. She didn’t know the details, but at least knew they planned to start up their own little group. She had even advised them to stay in The Orchid Covenant for as long as they could, as their protection would save them from a lot of trouble.

“Yeah, I’ll even get these two to travel to your Nightshade Valley for a visit once things settle down,” Long Yi declared with a smirk. “Don’t know how long that’ll take, though. These two tend to get carried away once they start something.”

“That’s not a bad trait to have. You three still need to work hard to shed your mortality. Even I will need to spend at least a year to stabilize my cultivation once I get back.”

“Do y-you have any advice regarding that?” Wei Ping asked, having his interest piqued once the topic arrived at cultivation.

“Unfortunately, you’ll have to rely on yourself to achieve your breakthrough. But once you do reach the Foundation Establishment realm, I recommend you search for Earth-grade cultivation techniques immediately.”

“Why is that?” Li Lang chimed in.

“Hmm, you’ll understand once you breakthrough. No point in explaining it now. It’ll only distract you.”

Before Li Lang could press for answers, Jian Beiyun intruded with an amused smile.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time.”

“Senior Jian!” Sima Xue complained. “Do you have to rush us? It’ll be at least a year before Master will let me out of the valley again. I won’t see them again for a long time.”

“Calm down, Junior. With the way you are, I have a feeling you’ll see them again much sooner than you think.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly as I had said.”

“...”

Urged by her companions, Sima Xue quickly said her goodbyes to the trio before she was forced to leave with her group.

After seeing her off, Li Lang and his two companions also packed up their bags and exited the inn. They drove their golden brown Skyrunner through the streets, but not toward the exit.

Instead, they soon arrived at yet another inn. The new establishment was much larger than their previous lodging, but wasn’t as fancy. They made their way past various groups of cultivators, each hailing from various sects and organizations, and strode into the dining hall that was in a detached building to the side.

There, the staff led them upstairs, into a private room.

The trio walked in to find a lone middle-aged woman sitting in the back. All three of them politely clasped their fist toward her in unison. The woman sat there unmovingly with her eyes closed. The only reaction she had upon the trio entering was to pour herself more tea.

“Greetings Elder—”

Before Li Lang could finish his greetings, Elder Cao interrupted him.

“Sit.”

The three boys complied. Both Li Lang and Long Yi were especially meek, as if they were little children who had been caught doing something bad. They didn’t dare open their mouth carelessly while Wei Ping was happy to remain a spectator.

“Now speak,” the elder continued. “You said you would explain yourself after the auction, so explain.”

Li Lang slowly breathed out as he gathered his thoughts. He had ample time to prepare what to say. It was time to defuse any animosity they may have with Elder Cao. Otherwise, trouble would always be looming whenever he ventured into the orthodox sects’ territories. The Spirit Grove disciples would accuse them of being demonic cultivators upon recognizing them. The memory of cultivators couldn’t be underestimated.

“It’s not that complicated of a story. After being banished, we headed for Polarity City, as I had discussed with you in the past.”

“Correct, but I also remember reminding you not to get involved with demonic cultivators.”

“Well, it couldn’t be avoided. People recognized us and believed we were demonic cultivators, no matter what we said. No one wanted to do business with us, so we were left with no choice. However, we simply live in Demonic Cultivator Territory now, but we aren’t practicing any demonic techniques.”

Li Lang lied, mixing some truths into his words. It wasn’t that far-fetched that people would recognize a group of kids with such distinct features. The news of their exile would definitely spread, whether through official channels or the gossip between disciples. There were even spies from various sects placed around each other.

Realizing this, the elder began to ask a few questions to confirm Li Lang’s story.

“You three manage to not only venture deep into Demonic Territory but also live there long-term?”

“We had some help to get to a city and joined an organization with few restrictions by the name of The Orchid Covenant for protection.”

“Hmm, from my memories, that organization does not impose any techniques on their members. Nevertheless, you expect me to believe you have progressed to almost the peak of Energy Gathering within these short few years with your grade one aptitude?”

Li Lang reined in his urge to sigh, realizing the most critical part of the conversation had arrived. The details of his stories didn’t matter nearly as much as his explanation of his cultivation. He needed to get through the discussion without revealing the existence of his Cleansing Drug.

It was the secret he didn’t want to reveal, as doing so could stir the greed of the orthodox sects. While Li Lang believed it only worked in the Energy Gathering Realm, it was still valuable to any sect. By mass-producing disciples at the Peak of Energy Gathering, there would that many more Foundation Establishment Realm candidates.

“I can see how that may make us appear as if we have switched over to the demonic path. Rest assured, that isn’t the case.”

“In that case, how did you achieve your rapid progress?” the elder asked in a strained tone, not mincing her words.

Li Lang had almost a month to come up with an answer to this question. At first, he debated to accredit his progress to the plentiful resources he managed to earn as an alchemist, but even that wasn’t enough to explain his progress. Grade one aptitude was just that big of a disadvantage in cultivation.

This still left a few ways to explain.

He could say a mysterious expert had used their means to forcibly advance his cultivation, but there was no one around to play that role. It drew another whole onslaught of issues, as such methods would likely be seen as cruel or demonic. Forcing someone to advance in cultivation was a dangerous matter that could easily turn fatal, thus frowned upon.

Eventually, Li Lang settled on crediting his rapid progress to a chance encounter. In a sense, it wasn’t wrong. He was very lucky to come into possession of Ruby.

“We chanced upon an inheritance of a deceased senior,” Li Lang explained. “Inside, I almost met my death, but it led me to an epiphany instead. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but it allowed my progress to shoot up.”

After elaborating a little more about his story, Elder Cao remained silent for some time. It made Li Lang nervously glance up at her, but she remained expressionless.

Umm, did she buy it?

While I don’t exactly need to head into the orthodox territory in the near future, I’ll want to eventually. They have numerous resources as they hold the most territory on the entire Violet Isle. Otherwise, I’ll have to go by an alias and maybe disguise myself a little.

No matter what, I really don’t want to make an enemy of the kind elder who had helped me so much in the past if I can help it.