The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 186: First Day of Class

The next day, the trio led their students to the new place selected as their new home. Their belongings were still stowed in the space rings, so there was a minimal need for packing. They simply rode over to the Southern Dark Spot, directly to their new residence.

Before they could rush in to assess the estate, Li Lang gave them some instructions first.

“You’re all to be on cleaning duty for the entire morning. We must clean this place nicely before lunch, and we will then allocate the rooms based on your performance. Then, lessons will begin in the late afternoon. Are there any questions?”

The kids looked around at each other, but no one said anything.

“Then get to it!”

Immediately, a competitive glint could be seen from many of them. It was their chance to secure better living quarters, and many were eager to show off. After all, many of them had grade-one aptitude, so they were excited at this chance to cultivate.

However, the excitement quickly died down as soon as they entered the main house. It wasn’t because they already felt daunted at the task of cleaning, but simply due to the lack of light inside.

As the place hadn’t had anyone living in it for some time, there were no lit candles or crystals to illuminate the interiors. Being located in a dark spot, the young children who had yet to master channelling Qi into their eyes could only wait for their eyes to adjust. Even then, they relied on the small bit of light leaking from the outside.

One of the more sharp-minded children quickly realized their predicament and ran up to Li Lang.

“Teacher Li, can you lend us a light source?”

Li Lang glanced down at the kid with an amused expression.

“Xiao Dong, was it? Sorry, but you kids will have to rely on yourselves. Search around for materials and use that brain of yours or let your eyes adjust. Just don’t accidentally burn down the place. We’ll be watching.”

Hearing his words, a few of the kids persisted and swiftly got to work without any more complaints. Those few failed to realize that while their eyes adjusting could work near the windows, it wouldn’t help further in where it was completely dark.

The trio watched this without muttering a word, as they had discussed this the night prior. It was to be a part of their training.

Moving at a leisurely pace, they stowed away their Skyrunners and slowly followed behind the children into the house.

“Have you gotten everything you needed for your travels, Wei Ping?” Li Lang asked. “Because you can go shopping if you want. Long Yi should be able to manage alone.”

“Thank you. I w-will take you up on your offer, then.”

As Wei Ping was walking away, Long Yi quickly turned to his companion.

“What do you mean, alone?”

“It means exactly as it sounds. You had previously said that while you can’t help with recruiting, you can at least watch over the kids, right? I have some business to finish.”

With that, they each split up to do their own tasks. Long Yi would supervise the children, Li Lang heading for the Brushweaving Guild, while Wei Ping prepared for his journey.

The transaction at the Brushweaving Guild didn’t take long at all. When Li Lang got there, he was quickly quoted a price, and he accepted it on the spot. He knew the quality of his products, so he had no complaints about the price. It was still profitable, and he managed to replenish his materials in bulk.

By the time he returned, the cleaning was already finished. With a dozen kids, it took no time at all.

They completed everything before lunch. It gave them enough time to spare to head out to purchase additional bedding and furniture for the home.

The estate wasn’t large. It only had one main house, along with a small, empty courtyard. People normally planted trees, dug ponds, and filled the space with gravel for decoration, but the group had other uses in mind. They would turn it into an open field, where they had ample room to cultivate various martial and Qi arts.

Inside the house, there was an empty main hall. It connected to several paths that led further into the building. It was where the living quarters lay. There were a total of four large rooms and eight smaller rooms. To be precise, they weren’t rooms, but small houses with roofed walkways that were connected to the main hall. Between each room was even a small garden, though each was currently barren.

After stocking their pantry with supplies and furnishing the rooms with bedding, everyone had an idea of how the rooms would be split. Two of the small rooms were equipped with four sets of sheets, while another two only had two. It was obvious the high performers only needed to share a room with one other person.

It was a rare privilege in most places except for the wealthiest of sects. Even in those powerful organizations, a private room was only made possible by making the living area the bare minimum.

Li Lang’s room in Spirit Grove was a testament to that. It could barely fit the bed and desk.

“I won’t keep you all waiting,” Li Lang proclaimed before his gathered students. “There are four top performances today, and they are Wu San, Xiao Dong, Shi Yan, and Chu Qinghe. They will be split according to their gender. The rest of you can split up into two groups of four at your own discretion.”

The two boys and girls stepped forward excitedly at being commended for their performance, while the others moaned at their misfortune. Only Ouyang Jie remained expressionless and silently stood there while the groups were formed. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Li Lang could see his fingers twitch a few times, trying to interject himself into conversations, but never happened in the end. He simply pretended not to see and sent the kids off to their new rooms to get settled.

“Sucks for you kids!” Long Yi teasingly cried out. “An adult like me gets his own large house!”

His words caused the kids to jeer at him as they walked by, with some even whispering about a plot to get their revenge, but the mood was light-hearted.

Once they were all gone, Li Lang returned to his own abode, also one of the large houses, so he could return to his lab to continue his work. While he treasured his time, it still felt like it passed excruciatingly fast. It reminded him of his old busy schedules. With more to do, time flew by.

Soon, everyone in the new estate, even Wei Ping, gathered in the barren courtyard for their first lesson.

While the majority of them had already stepped foot onto cultivation, reaching the first stage of Energy Gathering, there were still a few who were completely new. To Li Lang, that didn’t matter. He would still be explaining cultivation from scratch. After all, he would be teaching his methods from now on, not anyone else’s.

“The first step to cultivation is to be able to sense Qi, the energy that allows you to wield the power of cultivators. For those who haven’t learned to sense Qi yet, either I or one of the other teachers will assist you. For those who already know, I’ll be going over the cultivation technique to absorb this Qi into your body so you may expand its capacity to store more of this energy. Be warned. It will be a painful process.”

The lesson began, with Li Lang giving a detailed background on how cultivation works. Wei Ping even had to nudge him to get to the point, which was sharing the cultivation technique he devised. He knew the black hole method he used wasn’t something he could teach after just a few weeks of education.

Even if he could, it wasn’t that instrumental to their advancement, as it only shortened the cultivation time one needed to hit their limit. The key lay in the Cleansing Drug. Still, he didn’t slack off in his teachings.

Instead of the black hole method, he explained a new cultivation method with the aid of a prop. This prop was made using the help of his Primordial Star Fire, some silica, and his artificing techniques. It wasn’t an artifact, but it was a genuine microscope.

“Each of you will now take a look through this microscope. You must learn that the human body is full of holes called pores. They are there for various functions of the body. For example, the Eccrine sweat glands is where your sweat leaks out from. The Sebaceous pores are where your hair grows from.”

At the sound of someone exaggeratedly clearing their throat, Li Lang quickly got back on track.

“What you simply need to do is retain an image of all these little holes around your body. You will use the image of numerous pores to absorb all the ambient Qi in the surroundings.”

With only a dozen students, they each had a turn with the microscope within a few minutes. Some of them were confused at what they saw, needing further clarification, while others were surprised. However, none of them were particularly shocked, as it was something they mentioned during one of the previous lessons on human biology.

“Now, allow me to demonstrate this technique. All of you, place a hand on me. I will direct some Qi through all of you before invoking the technique.”

The students quickly gathered as told, placing a hand around his shoulders and arms. Then, Li Lang manipulated the Qi to course through each of their hands, allowing those who hadn’t sensed Qi before an opportunity to do so.

As someone in the eighth stage of Energy Gathering, this was only too easy of a task. After all, he could even move the Qi freely when it was outside of his body.

Just when the lesson was going smoothly, every student who could feel the gentle stream of Qi suddenly cried out in alarm. The gentle stream abruptly turned into a violent whirlwind. Seeing this, Long Yi quickly took action.

He dove into the crowd of students, pushing them all away.

“All of you, step back!”