Having been so engrossed in testing out the new Primordial Star Fire he acquired, Li Lang found that it was already nighttime when he snapped out of it. When he stepped out of the underground tunnels, he found the sky had already turned dark.

The pocket realm mimicked the outside world’s diurnal cycle somehow.

Traveling in the dark through a forest with bad footing is never a good idea…Especially now that I know the warding talisman isn’t entirely foolproof.

The encounter with the Qi beast chasing Sheng Haoran had taught him a lesson. Qi beasts could tunnel vision, ignoring the Foundation Establishment aura his talisman gave off.

Seeing it wasn’t safe to proceed, Li Lang retreated back into the underground facility. Inside, he would be safe from the elements. At the same time, he took this opportunity to resume testing out his new heavenly fire.

This time, he didn’t forget to set an alarm inside Ruby’s artifact space. When morning came, he swiftly cut across both the desert and forest.

He could hear loud noises, likely fighting in the distance, but he detoured around every single one of them.

Li Lang successfully returned to the colossal mountain where the trials took place. He felt reassured, having returned from the wilds to civilization.

To his surprise, he spotted his two friends still waiting inside the mess hall. They sat around with a tired look on their faces. Their expression brightened when they spotted him.

“B-boss!”

“You’re back!”

He awkwardly approached them while scratching the back of his head.

“Hey, sorry about that. Things didn’t go exactly as planned.”

“Hmm, what happened? I told you we should’ve come with you.” Long Yi said as he inspected Li Lang’s front and back for any injuries.

“Well…”

While Li Lang showed hesitation in his answer, Wei Ping had a knowing glint in his eyes.

“D-did you s-succeed?”

“Yeah…I received the heavenly fire, the Primordial Star Fire.”

“T-then you m-must be late because you w-were too busy s-studying it!”

Having been caught red-handed, Li Lang couldn’t say anything. Instead, he passionately shared his findings. While his companions didn’t exactly understand what it meant that he could control his new flames with an accuracy of plus-minus five to ten degrees, he didn’t care. He wanted to share.

His audience also didn’t mind his spiel, because they were admiring the silver-blue flames in his hand.

At some point, Long Yi stood up, interrupting Li Lang’s lecture.

“Well, it’s good that everything went well. I’m going to get some rest before preparing for my combat trials.”

“Oh, you guys didn’t have to stay up all night to wait for me, but thanks.”

Long Yi simply raised a hand as he walked away.

Seeing his exit, Wei Ping soon did the same.

This left Li Lang by himself. The adrenaline from his trip made him still full of energy, but he still returned to his own room. He planned to investigate his new flame in the context of pill refining for the next few days. After that, he would challenge the alchemy trial again.

He believed if he could attain some level of mastery over the Primordial Star Fire, he would be able to clear the round he had previously failed in. It would allow him to bring out the best in his materials more, allowing a higher chance of producing a perfect-grade pill.

It just so happens he also had the pills he had refined during the trials. He could analyze them for their faults and investigate what he could now do about them with his new fire.

Normally, one would ‘smelt’ out impurities. They would do so by heating the material they want to refine to a temperature where the impurities or desired material would evaporate, as a means to filter them. The easiest example was with distilled water.

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With the Primordial Star Fire’s ability to heat targeted parts of a material, it could significantly reduce impurities compared to before.

He just had to understand exactly what he was working with, which brought another challenge in itself. Every material was unique. They were contaminated with varying traces of different substances. Ruby couldn’t help, as it would also destroy the material he would be working on, resetting the task entirely.

Still, he believed materials that were grown in similar conditions must share similar compositions. Li Lang planned to experiment around to find clues.

Like this, Li Lang forgot himself in his research. He only exited his room for meals and to meet up with his companions.

It was only when a week went by that he took a break from his research. There were two main reasons for this.

One was that he noticed his trial points had started going down. It meant the pocket realm did not recognize his current routine to be making adequate progress. It was likely because it couldn’t monitor what happens within Ruby, but Li Lang himself felt his research was suffering from diminishing returns as well.

The second reason was because of an important event. Tang Yulian, the young genius from the Eternal Wave Sect, would be beginning her breakthrough attempt. Her close friend, Sima Xue, managed to convince her to allow the trio to spectate.

It showed both girls had put a lot of trust in their new friends. They hadn’t been acquainted until they entered the pocket realm, and many things could go wrong if you allowed malicious individuals near someone during such a crucial moment.

The event took place inside one of the secluded caves within the mountain they lived in. The only entrance to it was from the exterior, so everyone had to exit the building and go around it before they arrived at the entrance.

When the trio arrived, they soon realized why the two girls had been so trusting. They weren’t the only ones there. Both girls were geniuses of their respective organizations. They weren’t just any organizations, but two of the top ones within the Luminescent Domain. This meant it was a given they had a healthy amount of quotas to send their disciples into the pocket realm.

The cave entrance that was their destination was filled with cultivators wearing similar light blue robes as Tang Yulian had. There were even several grey robes sprinkled in there, denoting their affiliation with Sima Xue’s Nightmoon Valley.

With all the grey and blue robes around, it made the trio stand out a lot. Their organization never had such a strict dress code, using only a medallion as identification. It wasn’t a surprise that they stuck out like a sore thumb. The others didn’t bother to hide their unwelcoming gazes.

“Li Lang, Wei Ping, Long Yi! You guys are here!” a voice shouted out.

The trio soon found themselves face to face with Sima Xue, who completely disregarded the tension in the air. She guided them into the cave, and no one dared to stop her.

The cave was shallow, only several dozen steps deep until it opened up into a spacious area. In the junction between the narrow passageway and the spacious area stood a translucent wall. It was similar to the barrier protecting Spirit Grove.

However, it allowed Sima Xue and the three boys straight through.

There were a lot fewer people inside. Only three others. One was Tang Yulian, the star of today. The other two were her fellow disciples from the Eternal Wave Sect, wearing the same light blue robes.

The most interesting characteristic of the two was that they were a pair of twins. The two boys both had a stern expression as they examined the newcomers.

“These are your ‘friends’, Sima Xue? You better keep a close watch on them. If they make any suspicious movements, don’t blame us for taking action.”

“Oh, be quiet, you two. Yulian and I have already consented. Just relax.”

They breathed out heavily through their nose and turned away.

This allowed Sima Xue to guide them to the side, away from the grumpy twins. They sat down on the ground, glancing over at Tang Yulian, who was already in the lotus position. She had her back turned to everyone and was deep in meditation.

“Should be starting soon,” Sima Xue whispered. “This is the first time you guys have witnessed anyone attempting to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm, right?”

The trio nodded in unison.

“Hmm, then I’ll explain some details and what to watch out for.”

“A-are you sure t-that is okay? Isn’t it k-knowledge you w-want to keep to yourself?” Wei Ping asked.

“It’s fine. It’s not anything sensitive and is common knowledge amongst most organizations. It’s just what people have observed over their long heritage.”

“Please do tell,” Li Lang eagerly urged forth.

His eagerness earned him a glare from the duo as he had raised his voice a tad too loud. Everyone was trying to keep quiet lest they distract Tang Yulian. Li Lang quickly recognized his mistake and bowed toward the person in question and then to the twins. Immediately after, his eyes were glued to Sima Xue, awaiting her intel.

She grinned as she leaned in closer to the three boys.

“Foundation Establishment at its core is simple but difficult to accomplish. It could even be life-threatening if one isn’t prepared. That’s why Yulian will be taking a Foundation Pill.” Sima Xue pointed, drawing the group’s gaze over to the pill bottle right beside the star of the day. “It forms a safety barrier around her dantian in her navel area, where she will be gathering all of her Qi. If anything goes wrong, it’ll contain the energies, preventing any violent reactions.”

As Sima Xue continued to explain, none of her listeners dared to interrupt. They had heard vaguely how the process worked, but none of the underlying reasons. Her information allowed them to put into perspective what one needed to do in order to breakthrough.

As they talked, Tang Yulian soon began her breakthrough attempt. Everyone could immediately sense it and fell silent as a mysterious tension began to take over the room.