The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 96: On to the Next

“Third round passed. The challenger is awarded forty trial points. The next round is starting shortly.”

Li Lang let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the words formed by the lights. It was only then that his senses returned to him. He felt his robe damp with sweat, and his hands sore.

“I succeeded…” he muttered.

The entire process was suspenseful, as a tiny mistake could cause the talisman to activate prematurely or explode. He felt like he was defusing explosives. The beginning trek was easy, but it got harder the longer the session went. Fortunately, his stamina lasted.

Stretching out his body after the strenuous inscribing sessions, Li Lang relaxed on the ground as the lights formed new words.

“Create any kind of talisman that makes use of three runes within an hour. Fail and you lose five trial points.”

This time, Li Lang didn’t even bother considering attempting the next trial. While three runes may sound easy, only a single step further than two runes, it was something normally only done by those in the Foundation Establishment realm.

That was because it required densely packing a large amount of Qi into the talisman, which at the same time meant using Earth-grade talisman paper. As much as Li Lang had wanted to dive into working with these high-grade materials, he knew he wasn’t capable of the task yet, even with the help of Ruby.

It was much more efficient to work on Mortal-grade materials for now until he broke through.

That was why he simply sat there during the next hour, ending the trial on the fourth round.

“Fourth round failed. Deducting five points. Issuing reward for one day.”

Once again, a flash of light momentarily dazzled Li Lang before revealing a new cultivation manual. However, Li Lang never expected the contents of his reward. It wasn’t any fancy Brushweaving techniques, but instead something much simpler. It was titled The History of Brushweaving.

Is this the place telling me to brush up on my basics…? Hmm, I guess it wouldn’t be sending me a more advanced manual that I’m not ready for yet. Maybe this is why none of the experts outside care that much about the inheritances here.

With the place only allowing those below a bone age of fifteen, there would rarely be anything beyond the early Foundation Establishment realm.

Despite how the reward only consists of the fundamentals, it didn’t stop Li Lang from perusing through it. He swiftly made his way back to his own room and got straight to it.

Li Lang found the reward perfect for him. He always wanted to know the essence of the crafts he studied so he could further build on it. It was a shortcut for him to unravel the mechanics of his research topics.

I see… the evolution of the materials used for ink and brushes is quite interesting. I should source these materials myself and analyze their properties to compare. Maybe I can find something there.

Li Lang quickly added the purchase of blood from Qi beasts and sap from various trees to his shopping list. He planned to compare the difference between them and the current ink sticks he used. Then perhaps he may find the key material that allows them to be effective in Brushweaving.

However, that would have to wait until after the trials. It simply wasn’t worth it to exchange trial points for materials. He only went through with his previous purchase because he needed to create a rod for the Qi Injection Art. Once he finished, he set aside the text of Brushweaving’s history and went out to take a stroll.

He needed a break while he organized his thoughts.

Seeing he would no longer get further in the art of Brushweaving any time soon, Li Lang had to prepare for the alchemy trials.

He had been aware of his previous weakness in the craft of alchemy, being only able to produce subpar pills, which was why he had learned it again from the traditional methods. Even with all the practice he could do with unlimited use of materials, thanks to Ruby, he was still uncertain about his performance.

It was just too difficult to attain consistent results with traditional alchemy. The minute differences in each set of materials were a variable that kept alchemists on their toes. For the same reason, practice within Ruby’s artifact space also had its limits. It helped refine his technique, but he couldn’t master how to refine perfect-quality pills. The materials he would work with in real life inevitably differed slightly from the simulations.

As Li Lang pondered, he strolled through the various halls within the pocket realm. From his conversations with his companions, he heard the combat trials took place outdoors. They were currently inside a colossal pavilion, which meant the entire pocket realm was much bigger than it appeared.

There were even real Qi beasts outside, which meant the martial trials weren’t entirely safe.

It corroborated with the injuries he saw on the various people he came across. A good portion of them didn’t find it comfortable to be holed up in a tiny private room, so they roamed the halls of the building. Many of them were with their fellow disciples, but were all studying independently.

It couldn’t be helped, as each participant was awarded techniques tailored to them. It would be unwise to practice anything else, lest they stagnate and lose trial points.

This made the entire atmosphere of the place shockingly similar to the universities Li Lang had once attended during exam season. The difference was that everyone had a different version of the test, and they already knew the questions. They just had to solve the problem now.

The atmosphere was contagious and Li Lang was soon motivated to push his uncertainties aside and go for it. Even if he failed, he would simply be rewarded with techniques that could remedy his weaknesses.

It was only the combat trial that he should worry about, as getting hurt was a very real possibility.

Having resolved himself, Li Lang went back to his room to fetch his furnace. Then he went down the hallway leading to the alchemy trials. This time, at the end of the corridor, there wasn’t any fancy calligraphy at the end of it. Instead, there was simply a large bonfire, burning with nothing around it.

I’m supposed to walk into that…?

Li Lang sighed and cautiously approached. He gingerly stuck a hand in first and only entered when he found that he wasn’t burnt.

He soon found himself inside a fancy refining room. The lacquered walls seemed to be of a higher quality than all the other refining rooms he had been to. There were several furnaces off to the side, but the strange thing about the room was that there were no doors. The entire room was enclosed, without even a window.

Before he could examine further, the lights that formed the instructions appeared as expected.

“Refine a Recovery Pill. You have three attempts and one hour for each attempt.”

Right as those words vanished, one of the cupboards popped open. Within it were exactly three sets of materials. However, those materials were based on the most orthodox recipe. That meant Li Lang wouldn’t be able to employ his self-taught mass production technique even if he wanted to. He was missing the Moonshadow Lotus he had used for the adsorption process.

This didn’t deter Li Lang at all and only made him more focused. He didn’t have to waver between the methods, especially since he wasn’t given the criteria the trial would be judging on.

He didn’t dawdle and got straight to work.

Having his trusty furnace with him, he quickly inspected all the materials with his Qi sense.

The first refinement didn’t go exactly as he imagined, failing when he let the Jade Leaves go too close to the fire. It caused the fire to jump up, burning the leaves to a crisp.

On his next attempt, he paid more attention to the heat rune inside his furnace. He steadily fed it with his Qi while still manipulating the materials within.

As a result, he produced a pill of decent quality on his second attempt. On his last attempt, he even managed to refine a Recovery Pill of good quality!

Every time Li Lang refined something above subpar, he would grin. He was tired of his work all being subpar.

The trial quickly notified him that he had passed, and the second round soon came.

“Refine as many pills as you can within one hour. Call out the name of any common Mortal-grade materials and it will appear in the cupboard.”

This new task may sound easy to Li Lang, but it was a huge hurdle for any normal alchemist. They had to work under the pressure of not knowing the benchmark they had to hit. Being able to refine five pills could be a pass or fail. This added mental pressure easily affected their refining session.

However, in Li Lang’s case, it was a trial perfect for him!

It was almost too good to be true, which made Li Lang think things through.

Hmm…If I continue using the traditional method and fail, I will probably get some kind of Qi art to help manipulate the materials. But what will I get if I use my mass production method? As vast as their knowledge repository is, they can’t possibly have one that would fit my methods, would it?

The curiosity of the unknown infected Li Lang as easily as the flu during winter. He got straight to work, resolving himself to stick with his unorthodox method whenever possible.

He was looking forward to what the trial had in store for him that could complement the mass production method.