The Science of Cultivation-Chapter 247: Looking to the Students

After the meeting with Ri Xin, Li Lang and his group kept a low profile while The Dark Sea Arena had yet to start. They stayed in the Crucible, only exiting for supplies.

Everyone was busy with their own task.

The students who had broken through to Foundation Establishment Realm were brushing up on their techniques and contingency plans for when they operated alone. Wei Ping and Long Yi were doing the same, with more emphasis on personal combat techniques. It wasn’t that they were out of practice, but compared to old monsters who had lived for hundreds of years, they had a long way to go.

Meanwhile, Li Lang was zoned in on the new craft he decided to tackle, woodsmithing. He also studied various cultivation techniques that he had been stockpiling and interviewed his students regarding their experiences with their chosen attributes.

Through all these discussions, a few of the more curious students, like Xiao Dong, even decided to partake in the test to see if they were compatible with multi-attribute techniques. Their spiritual sea was already contaminated with the Qi type of their chosen element, but it was still possible to do the test, albeit the interaction between different types of energies would be affected.

They decided to go through with this test anyway because cultivation techniques could still be changed. Few did so, however, because picking up a new technique would reset all their progress. Those who were at the peak of Foundation Establishment Realm would be reverted to the early stage. It meant now was the best time to explore options, especially if they were even a little hesitant about their current path.

Now that their teacher opened them up to the possibility of practicing seemingly more sophisticated techniques that controlled multiple attributes, many of them couldn’t resist. After all, they were still young. People their age always wanted to tackle challenges to prove themselves.

However, the results were less than ideal. Among the six Foundation Establishment Realm students, none of them could maintain a stable absorption of Qi of different attributes.

“You two, are you still trying to master fire and water Qi?” Xiao Dong asked as he walked by two girls in the main hall of the Crucible. “You know, it’s been a whole week. If you don’t see any improvement yet, you should just settle for what you already learned. We’re already behind most people in our realm. We don’t have much time to waste.”

The two girls turned their sharp gaze at their fellow student.

“Teacher Li approves of our training. Please mind your own cultivation,” the more fiery one with short amber hair snapped back.

“Teacher Li is currently obsessed with matters relating to Earth-grade cultivation techniques. He approves because he just wants to see if the ability to cultivate two-attribute techniques can be trained, not because he believes you can do it.”

“We agreed to join Teacher Li, knowing full well he wants us to help him test things. We don’t want to give up so easily, so it works out. It’s a win-win arrangement. Now begone! You’re distracting us.”

“Shi Yan,” the other girl with jet black hair soothed, as she pulled on her friend’s arm. “There’s no need to get so worked up. Focus.”

“But Qinghe, I can’t stand this guy’s smug tone, as if he knows it all. Just because he broke through first, he’s acting like he is everyone’s senior. I know you—”

Chu Qinghe broadened her smile, causing Shi Yan to fall silent.

“Ha, you should listen to Chu Qinghe,” Xiao Dong teased. “Otherwise, you’re going to trouble her when you two head out later. Remember Teacher Wei’s lessons on avoiding trouble. Control your emotions.”

“You!”

“Shi Yan,” Chu Qinghe frostily said before turning to Xiao Dong.

Now that she was facing the young man, he noticed her smile didn’t reach her eyes at all. It gave the Xiao Dong shivers. He instinctively knew it was time to retreat, so he did.

His next stop was the mess hall. It was where most of the students gathered from time to time, even outside of meal hours. Some of them even cultivated there, preferring how spacious it was compared to their rooms. Others simply liked to socialize there. However, it was currently devoid of anyone.

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It caused Xiao Dong to balk at the scene. He closed his eyes and strained his ears, trying to locate his friends.

Soon, he heard some commotion coming from the residential area. It was a place with multiple floors and dozens of rooms on each level. It was enough to house hundreds or even thousands, as proven during the last major opening of the pocket realm.

Normally, the residential area was a tranquil place. The doors there blocked off all senses from the outside world, so it stuck out like a sore thumb when there was a commotion. It took Xiao Dong no time at all to arrive at the source of commotion.

He spotted the missing students, all crowded around a door with a small gap to it. Seeing their neutral expressions, Xiao Dong felt relieved, knowing nothing bad had happened.

They were standing by quietly, but it was obvious they were straining their ears to hear what was going on inside. Having lived alongside with these people for some time, he naturally had an inkling about the situation. He discreetly joined them at the door, his peers wordlessly shuffled aside to make room for him.

“Interesting. Still no issues?”

“No, Teacher Li. I can keep going.”

“Very well, then. Try to absorb from this as well.”

“Um, I can’t.”

“Elaborate.”

“I just can’t focus on a third material. My concentration on either the Lighthorn or Azure Tearstone breaks whenever I try. It’s like I only have two hands that can only pick up one thing at a time.”

“Keep trying for a little longer.”

The room went silent for a few moments, but the words previously said were enough for Xiao Dong to fill in the blanks.

“Who broke through?” he asked his fellow eavesdroppers next to him.

“Wu San.”

“How come I didn’t notice anything, but you guys did?”

“We didn’t sense anything either. It’s just that we saw Teacher Li storming over, so we followed him.”

“Well—I guess the owner of this artifact space does have some privileges.”

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The young students at the door took this recess to retell what they had witnessed, and soon, they had completely forgotten about being sneaky. Their noise level audibly rose. It was impossible for the objects of their eavesdropping not to have noticed. The crowd only quieted down when they heard someone clear their throat from within the room. They all flinched as they recognized it to be Li Lang.

“It seems we have a noisy gallery. Whatever, you’ve already done more than enough for now. Take a break and stabilize your cultivation. When you’re ready, come talk to me before you claim your reward from the cultivation trial.”

Leaving those words behind, Li Lang exited the room and briskly walked away. The students didn’t dare to say anything and simply got out of his path. Once he had turned the corner, loud cheering could be heard from behind.

“Congratulations, Wu San! You’ve finally done it!”

Having heard how positively his students were treating each other, Li Lang chuckled as he made his way back to his room. He then entered Ruby’s artifact space and began recording his latest results.

One of his students who only had grade one aptitude finally broke through!

Wu San was a diligent student with a scholarly mindset. As a result, his account of his breakthrough was filled with details. Even without this accurate retelling, just his aptitude alone made him an invaluable test subject.

He was also the second one, after Wei Ping, to be suitable for practicing multi-attribute techniques. This meant another candidate to claim one of these rare Earth-grade cultivation techniques from the pocket realm had appeared.

So far, neither he nor Wei Ping had used this rare opportunity yet. That was because Wei Ping was still exploring the synergy between different attributes that suited him, while Li Lang doubted the pocket realm possessed a technique consisting of the five elements. Both of them were waiting until they knew exactly what they wanted, lest they waste their opportunity.

At the same time, this case also got Li Lang thinking. All three people who had a talent for multi-attribute techniques possessed grade one aptitude.

Once was happenstance. Twice was a coincidence. Three times was a pattern.

Li Lang couldn’t help but wonder how aptitude correlated with this talent. As he sorted out his thoughts, he dutifully went over his observations, reading them out loud.

“Subject: Wu San. Twelve spiritual roots. Mostly practiced the same techniques as the other students. The only difference is the Swallowtail Fist he picked up. Nothing else stands out.”

He then scrolled up, looking over the information of other people outside his group, such as Sima Xue or Jian Beiyun. There was even information about their escorts, Ma Kong and Zhu Yi.

The former pair were apparently masters of two elements, while the latter weren’t. Their aptitude wasn’t that far apart, being either grade two or three. However, they were all demonic cultivators, so he wasn’t sure how to take that into consideration. He had yet to do a thorough study into the physique of demonic cultivators. There was too much he didn’t know.

From what he gathered, there weren’t any patterns among other cultivators. The talent to practice multi-attribute techniques could manifest in both generational geniuses and the average cultivator.

The only pattern he had so far was observed in his group. His group was also the only group comprising cultivators with grade one aptitude, as far as he knew. Everything was pointing to his gut instinct being correct.

Do people with lower aptitude really have an easier time controlling multi-attribute techniques? If so, why can I control five attributes while Wei Ping and Wu San can only do two?