Chapter 10: Xiang Yang


    <span style="font-weight:400">“This is Xiang Yang. This is as far as I can take you, since they don’t allow people to fly into the city. We’ll have to part ways here, but I hope you find your way in life. If I make any significant progress in my cultivation, I swear I will help you search for your friends.” The elder from the Clear Heart sect with the appearance of a young boy proudly dered.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Thank you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Elder Nong proceeded to descend right beside the gate, ignoring all the spectators in the line. At the wave of the hand, several guards rushed out toward him, bowing politely toward him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sir cultivator, please let us escort you through.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No need, I’m just dropping this boy off.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Understood. Allow us to escort him, then.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The elder nodded, and he floated back up to the skies on his wooden carriage. The soldiers quickly saluted him before they moved to surround Li Lang.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Follow us.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang nodded nkly and did as instructed. They moved right past the line, who were all gossiping amongst themselves while pointing at the strange big-headed child.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Look, that’s him. The one that senior from the Clear Heart sect brought along.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What senior? He looked as old as my son to me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What do you know, you old geezer? Experts can control their physical appearance somehow. He could be a hundred years old for all we know, as Foundation Establishment experts have a lifespan of five hundred years, after all!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Anyway, who do you think that child is? A child of that senior?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Probably not if he’s leaving him here alone. Look at the size of that head…Maybe he has a special physique.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Then the great senior would’ve taken him away to their sect already!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang ignored the gossip from the crowd and continued his way through the thick walls into the city. He watched as the guards ushered several people in the middle of paying the toll, to move to the side as they passed by.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Luckily for him, the guards hadn’t asked him to pay the toll and weed him into their city.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Child, was there somewhere you needed to go? I can take you there.” The leading guard asked as he waved his subordinates away.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Umm, just anyce where I can find lodging.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He nodded and wordlessly resumed walking.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang had to pick up his pace to match the strides of the adult, but that wasn’t able to distract him from taking a look at the city around him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It was a vibrant and lively ce, with street stalls on both sides of the road, whererge streams of people went about their lives. The vendors aggressively hawked their wares as they walked by, but none dared to stop them once they recognized the guard’s uniform.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It only took ten minutes before they arrived at their destination. It was a store with a wooden sign that depicted the sun and the moon. Once the guard gestured for Li Lang to go in, he swiftly took his leave.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As if taking over for the guard, a middle-aged woman stepped forward and loudly weed hertest guest.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wee to the Azure Sky Inn. How may I help you, little fe?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I would like a room.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“For how long, and would you like your meals included?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Do you have deals for long-term stays with meals included?” Li Lang asked as he counted the coins in the purse he had received from thete Elder Chen.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He found several gold coins and a plethora of silver and bronze coins. As he had lived in this world for ten years, albeit with some mental deficiencies throughout most of it, it wasn’t hard for Li Lang to know the great amount of money he had received. He had heard all cultivators were rich, and he currently couldn’t agree more.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“We charge thirty silver coins for an entire month with two meals each day included for a standard room.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, I’ll take that, then.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang quickly received the key once he paid and headed up to his amodations. While he thought it was weird that no one found it strange for a child like him to be alone, he was grateful he didn’t have to go through the awkward conversation as well.


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">Maybe it isn’t a rare sight in this world…How cruel.</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">Once he got into his room, he swiftly locked it behind him and jumped onto the wooden bed. With him finally alone, he didn’t waste any time and took out the thing he had kept hidden until now.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He gripped the red stone tightly in his hand and brought it up to his head.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Master, your analysis on the auto-analyzer isplete! Would you like to enter into my artifact space now?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, I’ve waited long enough!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang blinked and instantly found himself inside his oldb once again. The auto-analyzer was right in front of him, and he quickly used the touch screen to bring up the analysis report. Various details were disyed, allowing Li Lang to view the makeup of the tree branch he had put into the analyzer.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“This tree…I’ve never seen anything like it before, but it is also remarkably normal at the same time…Why does it say the anomaly here can’t be analyzed?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Master, that is information pertaining to the Qi of the specimen. You can only analyze Qi of things that are at your level or weaker, which means you currently cannot analyze any Qi-rted materials at all.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see…Well, what I got already sufficed for initial testing. Let’s try out the various nts I gathered now.” Li Lang threw a random nt from the pile beside the analyzer, and a timer appeared on the screen.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Over twelve hours. Is there any way to speed this up?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sorry, master. This is the best I can do until you cultivate and be stronger.”


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">Well, it isn’t that bad to wait a day. Research is supposed to take a long time after all. The important thing is its uracy…</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t suppose there are research papers in this world I can learn from, is there?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t know, master…but I don’t believe so. I don’t think your so-called ‘science’ even exists in this world.”


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">Forget it. I’ll do it myself. The materials and everything may be different in this world, but I can still learn about everything using the scientific method just the same. Observe, hypothesize, experiment, analyze, then conclude.</em>


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">By studying it systemically, I’m sure it’ll help me in figuring out cultivation one way or another.</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">With nothing left to do inside the artifact space, Li Lang returned to reality. He now had shelter and money. There was nothing left hindering him from beginning his search for either someone to save his childhood friends or cultivate himself.


    <span style="font-weight:400">However, seeing how the guards reacted to Elder Nong, he doubted he would find anyone strong enough to help in this city.


    <span style="font-weight:400">That meant Li Lang’s next step was cultivation. He began reviewing what he learned from Elder Nong’s lessons during their journey.


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">The stronger I get, the easier it is for me toe into contact with stronger cultivators.</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">He quickly got into the lotus position and? closed his eyes. He sat there and breathed in deeply for several minutes, but to no avail.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Realizing it wasn’t working, he delved into his memories as he tried to remember the sensation Elder Nong had kindly shown him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Can you feel it, Li Lang? I am channeling a sliver of Qi into you through your spiritual roots.” The elder had said back when they were still on the way to Xiang Yang while cing a hand on his shoulder. “Do not forget this feeling. The first step of cultivation starts with absorbing Qi into your body and bing a vessel for it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes…The feeling is very strange.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You will get used to it with time. Now that you know what Qi feels like, try to absorb the ambient Qi around us.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The strange sensation quickly subsided, as he felt it drain out to the source it came from, the hand on his shoulder. With the feeling still lingering in his mind, he began taking deep breaths in search of that sensation.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“There is no need to breathe so deeply. Have a clear image of taking in the Qi, and it will naturally flow. The image you have of how you absorb the Qi is the basis of cultivation methods. While I cannot teach you our sect’s methods, you can try using the simplest method of sucking in the Qi through your mouth.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang slowed his breathing at the advice, sucking in the surrounding Qi. To his surprise, the method worked, and he began to feel a trickle of that strange sensation entering his body from five different points. However, it was so very slow.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Good, now will the Qi to gouge out a space to hold it within your body. It will empower you as long as you let it be a part of you. Some prefer to think of it as melding with the Qi. Either way, the end goal is for your body to be a container. Do not be mistaken, it will hurt, and a lot, too. But you will need to be able to bear the unique pain you will feel if you want to cultivate. Just be sure to stop immediately if you feel any sharp pain or you will hurt yourself.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He swiftly directed the Qi to his finger and tried to dig out an area for the Qi to stay. He felt like he was trying to hollow out his finger to be a container for the gaseous substance that was Qi, and a dull pain permeated throughout his being and intensified quickly. The Qi dug into his flesh and only became more painful the more force he tried to apply.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He could feel sweat dripping from his brow as his body heated up, but he held on. Li Lang continued his first cultivation session for over three hours before he was forced to stop.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As foretold, he eventually felt a sharp pain run its course throughout his entire body.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You have reached your limit, I see. You can’t get too greedy with your low aptitude. The reason why aptitude is so important is that it dictates how much Qi you can tolerate each cultivation session. You said you only had five spiritual roots, so you will have to take your time. Once you reach your limit, if you continue and ignore the sharp pain, it will start damaging your spiritual roots and could even lead to death.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Is there no way around it?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Hearing the question, the elder sighed as he looked up into the sky.