The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 172: Sowing Seeds for the Future

“This…What is the meaning of this?” Zhen Xing yelled. “They all have grade-one aptitudes!”

Faced with Zhen Xing’s aggressive questioning about the children the trio planned to recruit, Li Lang simply shrugged.

“I told you at the beginning. Our criteria are a little different from the norm. I can’t elaborate much more than that.”

“You!”

“Senior Zhen!” the younger Rigid Squall disciple, Lei Ying, said. “Please.”

Taking a deep breath, Zhen Xing relaxed a bit despite his frown not budging. It made Li Lang appreciate the younger diciples for calming down his senior.

“So, as per our agreement, twelve candidates with grade one aptitude at two red crystals each sums up to twenty-four. Here, take it.”

Throwing the money at them, Li Lang and his companions quickly ignored the Rigid Squall disciples and went on to address the selected twelve. They began inviting them onboard Li Lang’s Skyrunner so they could chat in a more private setting. Despite his brand new vehicle only being able to comfortably hold ten people, for a short period of time, there was no problem being overcapacity at the sacrifice of some comfort.

Seeing their actions, one of Zhen Xing’s companions leaned in and whispered.

“Should we take them in? They were obviously negotiating with us in bad faith.”

“No…I don’t think the elders will be happy if we do something so reckless without knowing their background. It would make us look bad in front of such a large crowd as well. Report back for now.”

With one final grunt of frustration, Zhen Xing summoned forth his own Skyrunner and brought his group away.

Now in the air, Wei Ping began explaining the nondisclosure binding contract to the children. The main point was that they would have to follow them once they signed it until they left Vermillion Dragon. Thankfully, as their willingness to relocate was a question they had posed on the written exam, the children had had mental preparation for their requests. None of them declined to sign the contract, and the trio gave them a summary of their origins.

“You want us to pretend to be demonic cultivators…?”

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“Yes. You will have to lie, and sometimes it will be uncomfortable doing it, but it’s for your own safety,” Li Lang explained. “In exchange, we promise we’re your best option if you really want to step foot onto the path of cultivation. All of you should’ve seen the result of your aptitude test earlier.

“Yes…” one of the girls muttered with a crestfallen expression. “I’ve been told it’s not possible to join a sect before because I only have grade one aptitude.”

“And we’re telling you we’ll be able to help you cultivate despite that. However, it isn’t without risks. I’ll need you all to listen to our words and persist through a lot of trial and error. If that is acceptable to you, we’d welcome you with open arms. Otherwise, we can arrange for you to be brought home once we leave. In the meantime, you’ll have to stay with us for the next few days.”

“Umm, if it’ll give me a chance to cultivate, I’m willing to give it a try.”

One after the other, the children all agreed. They were all quite mature for their age, having faced setbacks and hardships before. They recognized how little chance they had at becoming the powerful cultivators they dreamed of, so they were willing to take a chance.

“Very well. We’ll drop by your places in order so you can pack. Though you’ll have to excuse us. We’ll have to tag along so you don’t accidentally break the contract you just signed.”

Like this, a very exciting day in Qinglong City came to a close. For some families, their fortune had been drastically impacted, while others simply enjoyed the show.

Early in the morning the next day, Li Lang’s group departed. It meant all the cultivators who had suddenly shown up were gone. Peace had returned to their city.

However, the chaos was only just beginning for the trio. With the twelve new passengers, they now had a total of seventeen people in their group. They had to bring out their old Skyrunner in order to have room to hold everyone. It meant their speed had drastically reduced as the old vehicle couldn’t keep up with the new.

The only upside to this was that they now had more time to go over the basics with the new students.

“I will start teaching you various basic things you’ll need to know as a person before we begin exploring anything to do with cultivation.”

“Umm, aren’t we already starting late as cultivators?” Xiao Dong asked. “Can we afford to learn about other things on top of that?”

Li Lang nodded.

“A lot of the things I want to teach you won’t be easy if you don’t have some basic knowledge first. As I said, what I’ll be teaching you is something that will benefit you as a person, not just a cultivator. Things like math, words, etiquette, and science.”

“Science?” the children parroted.

“It’s basically the study of how things work and the steps of how to discover, observe, and verify them. Hmm, don’t worry, we won’t start with anything too complicated. Be sure to ask questions if you don’t understand.”

Li Lang had been thinking up a curriculum for his prospective students. He knew his most basic technique, the black hole cultivation method, wasn’t replicable to the locals due to their lack of understanding about it. Then, there were all the other future experiments he wanted to do, where a lack of knowledge would greatly hinder his progress. That’s why he was determined to teach the basics to a batch of students, so they could spread the knowledge even further for him.

While the black hole cultivation technique he practiced didn’t help that much early on in cultivation thanks to the low amount of cultivation he could endure before Qi poisoning, he still believed it would be greatly beneficial in the future.

Energy was at the core of what enabled cultivators to do a plethora of things. Even if they were Violet Core cultivators, that logic stayed true. Learning how to gather power quickly would no doubt have its uses.

The lessons were also an opportunity to get Wei Ping up to speed. So far, he only vaguely explained the purposes of his experiments whenever he helped. It was limiting when his assistants had no idea how his experiments worked. While it wasn’t likely any one of them would be able to learn everything within the next few years, Li Lang knew he still needed to start somewhere.

With something to do while they were traveling, the journey suddenly felt like it went by a lot faster. Even Long Yi paid attention occasionally, as there wasn’t anything else to do while they sailed through the well-traveled routes.

Without incident, they arrived at their destination, Changjiao City, the next day. This city truly lived up to its reputation as one of the major settlements in the province. One particular thing immediately stood out to everyone in the group compared to Qinglong City.

The backdrop of the new scenery was filled with Skyrunners as numerous people entered and exited the city.

“This place is a lot like Emberglow, but above ground,” Long Yi commented.

“It’s n-not that surprising,” Wei Ping answered. “I’m s-sure even the righteous sects n-need a place to gather and t-trade.

“Right, which makes this place a gathering of cultivators from all the sects throughout the province and beyond. Make sure you don’t cause any trouble,” Li Lang said.

The latter part of his words were more meant for the children and himself. There was already enough waiting for him to do that he couldn’t afford to get into any conflict while on this trip. His goal was to quickly deliver the letter and head back to Emberglow.

With that in mind, he double-checked the address on the letter from Liang Po and brought his Skyrunner down into the city.

“You two, bring the kids to find us some lodging for the night. I’ll go from here on foot.”

“B-boss, are you sure?”

“Yes, it’s just a quick delivery. We still have to go check out the resources unique to this region before leaving tomorrow morning. It’ll take twice as long if we have all these kids tagging along.”

“Let’s go,” Long Yi said, placing a hand on Wei Ping’s shoulder.

The two soon drove away on the two Skyrunners and disappeared into the city. Unlike in the other places Li Lang had been to, the streets were properly organized. Whenever a carriage went by, people instinctively knew to scurry to the side of the road, allowing them to move around quickly, even with the large crowds.

Just like Emberglow, the majority of people here were mortals, supporting a smaller number of elites. It became more and more apparent as Li Lang drew closer to his destination near the center of the city.

Before he knew it, he stood before the gates of one of the most luxurious villas around. Behind its walls was one of the tallest structures around, a fifteen-story pagoda.

There were two burly men standing guard outside, each at the peak of Energy Gathering. They were almost considered middle-aged, so it would be reasonable to believe they were one of the many people who remained stuck in the final bottleneck of the first major realm.

Hmm, they use people stronger than me as guards, but I guess that is what happens to those who fail to break through to the next major realm. Even people like them are considered mortals, so I’m not even at the start line as a cultivator. I’ll need to redouble my efforts once we get back.

Before Li Lang could get caught up in his thoughts, one of the guards noticed him loitering around.

“You there! Do you have business with the Yan Estate?”

Clearing his throat, Li Lang approached.

“Ahem, yes. I’m here to deliver a letter to a person by the name of Yan Ruolan.”

“What?! To the Young Lady?”

The two guards exchanged a quick nod of understanding between each other before they moved decisively to surround Li Lang.

“You’re coming with us!”