The Science of Cultivation-Chapter 243: Interview and Test

Returning to their rooms, Li Lang spared no time and entered the Crucible. Their two-day tour of Sword Saint Isle was over, so he had to quickly get his students situated before they came out of the pocket realm.

While Nightmoon Valley knew about the existence of the Crucible, the same could not be said for the others on the island. Once they came out, they would have to rely on themselves and feign being strangers to their teachers should they cross paths. Posing as independent cultivators was the best way to avoid drawing attention to their group overall.

However, despite how important this was, Li Lang rushed through this briefing. It was because he was enamored with the study of Earth-grade cultivation techniques. At the arena today, he had witnessed numerous impressive techniques and was eager to study them further. The best interview candidates around were his students. They were already used to his antics, so he could barrage them with as many questions as he liked.

After going over the things they needed to pay attention to while staying at Sword Saint Isle, Li Lang asked his Foundation Establishment Realm students to come speak to him in private. They were forced to line up outside his room, as he spoke to them one by one.

The first person invited into his room was Xiao Dong, the first among their students to have broken through.

“Tell me about the technique you chose to cultivate. I believe it’s called Metal—something?”

“Metal Heart Mantra, Teacher. It’s not anything special, quite a typical technique of the metal affinity that can strengthen my sword techniques. It also touts making the practitioner more resistant to illusions and other harmful techniques that target the mind.”

“I see, well why did you choose it?”

“I simply wanted to focus on using the sword. I know we haven’t learned many Qi arts before and that I can work to catch up now that I have broken through, but I don’t see myself being talented enough to close the gap with even the more average cultivators. I’d rather focus only on one thing—-martial arts-focused on swordplay.”

“Well, I won’t say much if that is the correct decision or not. It’s your own choice. You’ll find out eventually. If it doesn’t work out, you can always find a new technique from the Crucible here. We have control of it now, so you don’t have to stick with what you found in the bazaar. Now is the time to explore techniques before you finalize your foundation. Otherwise, if you wait until you’ve already broken through to the next stage, you’ll have to return to the early stage of Foundation Establishment if you change techniques. Anyway, I’m more curious about any changes you’ve felt since you practiced this technique.”

“Changes? Well, it’s become easier to infuse Qi into my sword. Is there anything specific I should have noticed?”

“Hmm, how about when you cultivate? Feel anything changing regarding how you absorb Qi into your body?”

“Not really? Nothing out of the ordinary has happened. Following the instructions of the cultivation manual, most of the Qi I absorb is of the metal element now. It’s been a slow and steady process, just like the others are experiencing.”

“That’s a given.” Li Lang nodded. “Foundation Establishment cultivators have a lifespan of approximately five hundred years. While that sounds like a lot, it takes a long time to make any progress in this realm. We can’t afford to be complacent.”

Li Lang had done some preliminary information gathering relating to how one progressed in his new realm of cultivation. The bottleneck for Energy Gatherers was cultivation overdosing, where they had to take breaks to prevent toxins from accumulating too much. In the Foundation Establishment Realm, this was no longer the case. The main bottleneck in this realm was the quantity of Qi one needed to fill the ocean within their core.

Other than that, they also had to construct structures within the core. There was no outline of what to construct, and the decision was mostly based on what the cultivator found suitable for themself. This part wasn’t something Li Lang had figured out yet. It wasn’t something he had to do in the early stages yet. For now, he was focused on gathering more techniques to research and find a suitable one for himself.

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“Um, then there isn’t really anything else,” Xiao Dong said with a shrug.

“How about your ability to control Qi of other affinities? Is it the same as before you practiced the Metal Heart Mantra, or worse?”

Xiao Dong put on a thoughtful look as he deliberated about it for several moments. He then sighed and shook his head.

“I don’t think there’s a difference. If anything, it got weaker, but only by a little bit. However, my control of metal-attributed Qi is rising, so I can’t really say for sure. I haven’t really learned any techniques of other attributes, so it’s hard for me to say.”

“I understand. How about crafts? Have you been studying any of them?”

“I’ve been wanting to. Since I chose the Metal Heart Mantra, I plan to try artificing once I get a chance.”

Li Lang nodded at his reply. His students were kept in the pocket realm, so they didn’t have the chance to go to the various guilds or even connect with a mentor through The Orchid Covenant they were a part of. It was the downside of living in the Crucible and something he had to address sooner or later.

“When this trip is over, things should change. With everyone having learned the Wave Dampening Art, once you guys have brushed up more on martial arts or Qi arts, you should have the ability to defend yourself. Then you can roam outside to gain experience.”

After a few more questions, Xiao Dong was finally released. Another student would take his place and they would be asked similar questions. Li Lang spent the majority of the night going through all his students in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Once he was done, he made sure to record everything in his lab within Ruby and then began performing some tests. Sima Xue had gone over the steps to test the talent someone had for practicing multi-attribute techniques. While Li Lang didn’t possess anything that contained rare types of Qi like the moon, his collections of materials had plenty of the more common types of Qi.

He took out some Yellow Wind flowers along with some Ashen Clovers. They were materials that could provide him with wind-attributed and fire-attributed Qi. He grasped them tightly in his hands and focused on absorbing their energies.

Normally, one simply focused on their cultivation technique to absorb the ambient Qi around them. For Li Lang, he employed his black hole method, but that indiscriminately absorbed all types of Qi. He had yet to practice any Earth-grade techniques that allowed him to be selective.

Thankfully, he could still complete the task of absorbing specific types of Qi. There was already a pure source present, so he didn’t have to do any filtering. He directed one of his five spiritual roots to each of the heavenly materials in his hands. Very soon, two types of Qi flowed toward his dantian from their respective pathways within his body.

“This—isn’t that hard?” Li Lang muttered.

From his previous discussions, he expected this task to be a lot more difficult than it currently was. Still, he didn’t jump to conclusions and persisted with the test. The two types of Qi soon came within the sphere of influence of each other within his dantian. They floated above his sea of Qi. Under his direction, they moved closer and began reacting to each other when they drew close enough.

As the distance closed, the reaction only intensified, and a small portion of the wind Qi was assimilated into the fire Qi, allowing the latter to be empowered at the cost of the former.

“So this is how you observe the interaction between two types of energies. Wind feeding into the fire isn’t that surprising. There should be numerous combinations that I can test out, but the problem is sourcing the energy for the rarer attributes.”

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Li Lang took some more time to observe and experience how to control two different types of Qi. The longer it went on, the more doubtful he became.

Am I actually talented when it comes to controlling multiple types of Qi? Sima Xue talked about it as if it’s a herculean task, but—it’s not.

The possibility that he was talented in something lurked within his mind, but he didn’t dare to fully believe it. His luck was never that good. He was afraid of believing that had changed, only to be proven wrong.

The uncertainty within him began to nag at him. He was desperate for a way to confirm if he was overthinking it or not. He wished there was a simpler method with a clear-cut answer, like the orbs used to measure aptitude.

As he was hesitant about what to do next, his eyes wandered to the pile of resources he had summoned for the test. An ambitious idea began to sprout within his mind. He immediately wanted to dismiss it, but it was far too late. It had already taken root.

Taking a deep breath, Li Lang couldn’t suppress his curiosity any further and reached out toward the pile of resources.

If controlling two is this easy, maybe I can do three?