The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Xiao Dong couldn't help but sigh after staring at the stele for some time. No matter the angle, it read the same thing: 'Dig.'

At first, he thought there would be more to it. Knowing his teachers and how they hyped up the illusion formations, it couldn't have been this simple. He thought about all the possible interpretations of it.

It could mean digging somewhere precise to find an objective, or digging their way through to a destination. It could also mean digging a hole to hide in or digging out as much soil as possible to measure their power. There were too many possibilities, and soon, Xiao Dong gave up.

"I'm not like Wu San. Ouyang Jie and their ilk," he muttered. "They can do the thinking. I'll just do as instructed."

Removing all the hesitation from his mind, Xiao Dong began digging. As a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator, he wouldn't resort to digging with his hands. He simply needed to wave his sword around, sending out sword lights at the ground. When that no longer worked, he channeled his Metal Heart Mantra, a move that normally empowered his sword by extending its reach. This time, however, he used it to expand the width of its blade, allowing him to employ it like a flat-headed shovel.

He dug and dug and dug. Despite being in an illusion, his exertion was very real. When his reserve was finally exhausted, he consumed Qi Replenishment Pills and kept going.

Elsewhere, his fellow students were mostly doing the same thing, except a few quickly grew despondent. They were unsure if they were doing the right thing. No matter how much they dug, they didn't receive any feedback. It made it easy to doubt themselves, unsure if they were missing something.

Some began to wander the desert, searching for clues about where to dig. Others started to widen the area they were digging instead of going deeper.

Each and every one of their action didn't escape the notice of their teachers, who were all carefully watching their progress.

"Are you sure this can train their willpower?" Long Yi asked with a frown on his face. "At this rate, it won't be long before most of them get bored and just stop."

"It's fine," Li Lang replied without bothering to look away from the screen. "We can add in surprise in their future sessions. For now, this is enough."

"Enough for what? Torture?"

"Enough to get them to start questioning themselves and their goal. Getting people to do something without a clear goal in sight is mentally taxing, but exactly what they need. Without being able to mentally frame their progress to a measurable objective, it takes willpower to persist."

This was Li Lang's plan to train willpower. He had considered numerous ideas and came to this conclusion. While the method most cultivators currently used was live combat, he decided against it due to its dangerous nature.

It was no longer called training if the chance of bodily harm was considered, and when that risk was too low, it didn't spur the cultivator in question enough for any meaningful results. As for the other methods, like inflicting pain, they weren't repeatable enough. Once they've gotten used to managing pain, its effectiveness would only weaken over time.

Li Lang also had doubts about what was essentially torture being employed on his own people. It could lead to resentment, which could turn into a whole other ugly mess if not careful.

With so many detriments to the use of pain, the only other willpower training he drew inspiration from was the classic meditating under a waterfall. From what he observed, it wasn't nearly as effective as the other approaches, but it was consistent. It took him some time to get to the crux of why it worked, and it boiled down to several factors.

First, the person undergoing the meditation was normally guided by a master, who decided when to start and stop the training. It meant they didn't know how long they would have to endure the pressure of the waterfall for. Then, occasional logs and other debris would fall toward them, and they would have to adapt to these abrupt threats, keeping them on their toes. It was almost impossible for them to get used to this type of training, like you could do with pain.

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Once he identified what worked by observing his students' results over time, he moved on to refine it. While he knew it was all based on his conjecture and anecdotes, he believed it was worthwhile to formulate this method before observing its effects long term. It was the result of compromising after realizing the mountain of tasks awaiting him.

Eventually, it resulted it what he had his students do today. Endlessly digging holes, unaware of how long they must go on for.

"Boss, th-they're near their limit," Wei Ping commented, as he watched dozens of their students struggling to continue.

Their motivation was diminished, with many plopping themselves down on the ground, meditating in exhaustion.

"Very well." Li Lang nodded before placing his hand against the screen, making some adjustments to the formations within the building.

Very soon, these changes began to take place within the illusory world that their students were in. The stele no longer just said 'dig', but now also displayed their current rank. The catch was that none of the rankings displayed were accurate. All of them were shown the same thing, overall, first place.

After that, the Star Gem Academy proctors let the test run on for a few more hours before finally ending it, freeing their students from the formation. They quickly filed out of the room after that, each with a relieved expression. The three teachers and former deviator walked out to meet them, with Li Lang stepping forward once everyone was assembled.

"The test is complete. You will know your results soon, but first, let me go over the mindset you should have going into your studies."

Without giving anyone a chance to ask questions, Li Lang jumped straight into it.

"What I now want to go over is something you should be conscious of in your immediate future. Whether you practice demonic or orthodox cultivation, there will be no denying that you will be learning a lot very soon. In order to teach you, we teachers and the older students will have you do many tedious and repetitive things, so I want you to understand why."

Some of the sharper kids gave him a look that clearly said, 'We already know that. Why are you telling us the obvious?' Even Wei Ping and Long Yi were caught off guard as he went off on a tangent, but no one stopped him. He ignored all of their gazes and continued.

"I'm sure all of you intuitively realize that doing something multiple times will help you master it, but I want you to understand the mechanics of learning itself so you can be more conscious of it. Inside our minds, there are two systems that we rely on in order to function. A system one that uses all your long-term memory and experiences to quickly formulate action plans, and a system two, which is slow and methodological, going through each problem slowly to arrive at the answer."

"B-Boss, simplify please," Wei Ping pleaded, realizing how quickly the new students would get lost in whatever Li Lang was spewing.

Li Lang sighed at the interruption but ultimately complied.

"What I want you all to know is that to get good at something, you must slowly go through all the steps, exerting your mind on the task repeatedly, so that your mind learns how to do it without conscious thought. I want you to understand we won't be getting you to repeat tasks on our whims, and it truly will help you learn things. All you have to do is be willing to think through each step until it is ingrained into you. It's simple, but not easy. You'll have to endure and be patient, but it isn't something you can skip. Is that understood?"

The crowd blinked blankly for a second before Wei Ping cleared his throat, causing all of them to shout out an affirmative response.

With that sudden lesson out of the way, Li Lang began calling out the names of the students who would be practicing orthodox cultivation. The rest were to become demonic cultivators under the guidance of Niu Ben.

Before the students could cheer or be dejected about the results for too long, they were quickly split up and led away. To their surprise, Li Lang tagged along with Niu Ben and the soon-to-be demonic cultivators.

The young children were soon led to a classroom, where their lesson would then begin.

Li Lang exchanged a nod with the guest lecturer, and the lesson promptly began. Niu Ben would go over the basic precautions one had to adhere to prior to beginning their cultivation. It was something every major organization within the Luminescent Domain would teach before letting someone go through their techniques.

As Li Lang listened in, his mind wandered over the techniques he had prepared for them. It irked him that he lacked the ability to create something completely safe for his students. The only safety net he currently had was Neuraflux, to clear their minds, targeting the symptoms rather than the root cause.

Forgive us, this is the best we can do for now. Your progress will definitely help us take a step in the right direction, though.