The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Once Li Lang settled in the courtyard next to his lab, he dove his consciousness into his spiritual sea and began employing the strange mini black hole technique he had somehow used. To be precise, it was more like miniature gravity wells that affected only Qi.

It was a Qi art Li Lang had never learned before, which puzzled him. As the grade of cultivation techniques rose, the more complicated it became. Only in the Energy Gathering Realm could you rely entirely on your imagination to produce any tangible effects. Something as sophisticated as a gravity well shouldn't be something he could've created on a whim. In the first place, he had no idea why it was even possible when he didn't practice a cultivation technique with a gravity affinity or something similar. That was why he was carefully examining his meridians and spiritual sea as he recreated the technique.

As with all Qi arts, the energies in his dantian became more active as he channeled their powers. The distinctive white ring formed by the generative cycle between the five elements started spinning faster, releasing even more Qi into the five separated reserves below.

Normally, what came next was that the Qi in the reserves would flow out into his meridian channels at a ratio dependent on the technique he was trying to cast. This time, however, the energies from all five reserves were equally active. They shot out of his spiritual sea and seamlessly formed together once again into a brightly glowing stream of energy. No signs of the usual rejection or instability could be seen.

Even without Li Lang's conscious effort, the stream of energies shot through his meridians as if it knew exactly where to go, and it did. A split second later, an invisible vortex manifested in the space before his body in reality. While there was nothing to see, as the user, he could discern its location.

"Ruby, can you see that?"

"Yes, Master. It feels strange like the mouth of a hungry beast has suddenly appeared by itself."

"What affinity do you think this technique belongs to?"

The little girl sat down on her master's shoulder, musing over the matter with an adorably serious face.

"It's—not like anything we've encountered before, Master. As expected, only someone like Master would be able to use such an amazing technique."

Li Lang stayed silent as he proceeded to play around with the white energy he dubbed 'creation Qi' within his dantian. Previously, he had thought its use was simply the same as what its name implied—creation. It was able to generate more Qi out of nothing, but he hadn't realized its potential from direct usage.

I should've tried it earlier. In fact, I would've if it weren't so hard to handle.

Creation Qi required a delicate balance of the five elements in order to manifest. The smallest disturbance would cause it to collapse as the five elements constantly strived for dominance. It would consume its competitors the moment it spotted any weakness.

With how hard it was to maintain, Li Lang never attempted to explore its other usage, at least until he had a stable source of it. That meant he was waiting until he obtained the heavenly elements of all five attributes or something similar.

However, plans have now changed. He had somehow successfully used a Qi art of the creation attribute. This warranted a thorough investigation.

"I need to consult with Undine. I'll be right back."

"Hm? Master isn't going to be investigating this strange attribute right away?" Ruby asked with her head tilted as she floated away.

"I would love to, but if I got started now, I'll likely get absorbed into it for quite some time. I don't have the leeway to do that right now until we return. There are too many guests around."

His explanation, for some reason, didn't reassure Ruby. She simply continued to blink blankly while staring at him with a confused expression. He chuckled at the scene before exiting the artifact space momentarily to connect with Undine.

Stolen novel; please report.

"About what we discussed earlier. Can we actually do it now?" Li Lang asked as soon as the mental connection was established.

"Yes, if you wish. Our connection will be severed, though, and we won't be able to converse without contact."

"That's fine. You're done with entertaining that Gao Kai guy, right?"

"Yes. The human cultivator has tried and failed."

"Okay, then do it. Sever our connection."

A moment later, a searing pain burned through Li Lang's core. It was difficult to put down exactly where it came from, but it didn't change the fact that it was excruciating. Thankfully, it only lasted for a split second.

No one on the ship noticed it all. The heavenly water still took on the form of a woman, standing amongst the humans on the deck. That changed when a small orb of water suddenly shot out from Undine and headed straight for Li Lang. None of the cultivators were able to react in time as it collided with the Headmaster of Star Gem Academy.

"Li Lang?! Are you alright?" Long Yi screamed as he came to his friend's side. "What in the world happened?"

He glanced over to the Thousand Change Sea Breath in disbelief. The other humans had already surrounded it with their weapons drawn.

"Calm down," the apparent victim said. "I simply released my connection with its main body and claimed a fragment of it instead."

"What?" several voices in the background cried.

"It's nothing to worry about. I'll be meditating to settle this new fragment while we travel. There's no need to worry about me."

Without waiting for any responses, Li Lang sank his mind back into his spiritual sea.

The reason he bothered to go through the display just now was that the main body of Undine was planned to reside in the Crucible for the foreseeable future. It would allow his students to attempt to claim a fragment of it whenever they wanted. If he bonded with the main body, that wouldn't be possible, as it would have to stick with him, its master. As a result, he severed the connection and formed a new one from a fragment.

It was a plan he had planned to carry out once they returned, but now he wanted to bring the timetable up. The faster he adopted the Thousand Change Sea Breath into his spiritual sea, the faster he could investigate creation Qi once he returned.

With the matter settled, he began the process of stopping the ring of light, so he could replace the source of water Qi with his new heavenly water.

If only I could obtain a heavenly wood and heavenly metal as well. Then my progress will increase by leaps and bounds.

Oh well, it's impossible to rush these things. I already decided to confront the Abductress with borrowed power, anyway.

***

Back on Starpoint Island, several messages were transmitted through the communication jade all at once. The student on shift, Shi Yan, immediately noted down everything and called for one of the younger students to relay it to their teacher.

They found Wei Ping in the fields, instructing a student who was slowly going through the movements of some technique.

Upon reading these messages, Wei Ping scowled.

"Is something wrong, teacher?" Ouyang Jie asked as he stopped what he was doing and turned to the man in the wooden mask.

"Hm, noth-nothing you have to worry about," he said as he turned back to the young messenger. "Go tel-tell the others that the delegation fr-from the Rolling Tide Sect will be arriving to-tomorrow."

"Got it!"

The young student sprinted away quickly, leaving the two alone once again.

"Continue with y-your training," Wei Ping continued. "I need to go ma-make some preparations."

Ouyang Jie could only nod as he watched his teacher's back disappear. For a moment, he wanted to follow, but he decided following his instructions was more important.

There had been a sense of urgency in his teacher's movements. He would know, having observed him more than anyone else. Ouyang Jie had been with Star Gem Academy long enough to sense that their time was ticking down.

It wasn't a secret that their academy had agreed to become the representative of Violet Isle in their quest to track the Abductress down. To those high and mighty experts, waiting a few years might be nothing to their sense of time, but if any clues sprouted up, then they would have a responsibility to head out to investigate immediately.

With their Star Gem Academy being so new, and him being one among the dozen or so Foundation Establishment Realm experts, Ouyang Jie knew he would soon have to step up. He had a feeling they would soon be sent out to various corners of Violet Isle, where he would have nothing but himself to rely on. That was why he was determined to make every second of the remaining time count.

I need to perfect the second chapter of the Lingering Impact Technique quickly! He thought.