Li Lang found himself inside the Alchemy Hall within The Orchid Covenant in no time.

Facing him was his Alchemy mentor, Zhao Longwei. He was currently scrutinizing the pill in between his fingers. Then he brought it closer to his face and sniffed it. He even then proceeded to lick it.

“This—is a candied layer?” he asked, turning to Li Lang with a frown.

“That’s correct, Senior. I’ve only made minimal changes to the pill recipe to ensure it stabilized with this layer so that the whole pill won’t go bad.”

“That can hardly be called a variant pill, Li Lang. I’m not sure if we can buy this. Why don’t you just refine normal Nourishment Pills? They’re tried and true.”

“Senior Zhao, normal Nourishment Pills work perfectly fine, but their taste—is hard to be satisfied with. I believe these flavored Nourishment Pills are much more palatable.”

“While I don’t doubt your claim, cultivators like us have no need to care about such details. If we wanted good food, we would eat real food, not pills. Everyone knows what they’re getting into when they take Nourishment Pills.”

“Senior, cultivators are still human. They can’t possibly complain that the taste of their pills got better.”

“Nonsense! The pain of cultivation is a thousand times harder to bear, and yet we do so anyway. These little tricks you employed are for children, not serious cultivators.”

“The sense of taste is something people of all ages have. There are also plenty of children among the younger disciples. I’m sure there’ll be a demand for these Nourishment Pills once people have tried it.”

Zhao Longwei sighed upon realizing how persistent his student was. He was a traditional man who dedicated a great portion of his life to the pursuit of alchemy. He expected serious alchemists like him to be advancing their great craft together. He thought it was blasphemous to waste time, creating a variant of an existing pill that only improved something that didn’t matter.

Many cultivators were like him, proud of their dedication and their ability to endure hardship.

“Senior, surely you can see that we can sell these Nourishment Pills with no problem. If you still doubt them, I can take them to the Alchemist Guild as well, so they can officially examine them for you.”

Li Lang’s words effectively made Zhao Longwei stop in his train of thoughts. While he didn’t personally care for the flavored Nourishment Pills, he couldn’t stand a member of their organization choosing to do business with the guild instead of them.

“Fine. I’ll accept them. They’ll be at the standard price of Nourishment Pills of one Qi stone per three pills.”

The elder didn’t say much after that. He grabbed the bottle of pills, gave Li Lang some money, and walked away in a rush.

It was out of Li Lang’s hands now, so he too took his leave shortly after.

As he walked by, he couldn’t help but vent to Ruby.

“Are the older cultivators really that stubborn? They only care about practicality and nothing else?”

“Master, I’m sure it’s not everyone, but there should be quite a few who only care about results.”

“Well—Yeah, if they’re competing for scarce resources, I can see that they wouldn’t want to be wasteful, but this is different. I’m not wasting any Qi herbs or any other valuable resources.”

“At least he accepted Master’s pills in the end. Give it some time. I’m sure it’ll become popular soon enough!”

“Hopefully. I made these pills with the intention of using them for ourselves in the first place, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Anyway, sorry for always complaining to you.”

“It’s no problem—No problem at all, Master!”

Sometimes, Li Lang wanted to ask if Ruby could simulate things, couldn’t they materialize themselves in an avatar of some sort? He wanted to speak to them face to face. He almost thought of them as his mascot character. All that was missing was the visual element.

With his errand complete, Li Lang soon made it back home in the Southern Dark Spot of Emberglow.

When he returned, he found the main hall and the outdoor field completely empty. That was a sight he’d never seen before since he moved in. There was always someone around, training or doing chores.

He quickly listened carefully, searching for any clues while also being careful of any threats. Soon, his ears picked up the sound of conversation from the distance. He approached carefully until he realized it was coming out of one of the small houses his students lived in. He saw an entire crowd of them standing just outside.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The confusion cleared up the closer he got. Once he was able to hear what they were saying, the mystery was solved.

“Teacher Long, are you sure Xiao Dong is okay? He wasn’t moving at all and was deathly pale!”

“Everyone, I said he’d wake up shortly, but that doesn’t mean you should all crowd around him. Please go back to your training. I’ll spread the news once he wakes up.”

His words caused a few of the children to take a few steps back, but it didn’t seem they would vacate the area. Worried expressions could be seen on their face as an awkward moment of silence ensued as no one listened to Long Yi’s instructions.

“Teacher Long, are you sure this isn’t due to the side effect of that mysterious pill that helps with our cultivation?” one of the students asked, referring to the Cleansing Drug that had now been turned into pill form by Li Lang.

“Of course not. It’s not that uncommon for cultivators to become so fatigued to the point of being unable to move when breaking through to the later stages of Energy Gathering. Just sit tight and relax.”

Li Lang chose this exact moment to interject.

“What happened? You said someone broke through?”

The entire crowd went deathly silent upon realizing the arrival of Li Lang. Only Long Yi was unfazed.

“Yeah. Probably broke through in the morning. His roommates found him unmoving in bed.”

“I’ll go check on him, then.”

No one dared stop him as Li Lang zealously strode into the abode. He was eager to collect samples from his students, and also at the prospect of someone finally catching up to him.

He didn’t even care at all that one of his students now had the same cultivation as him. He wouldn’t either, even if they were stronger than him. In fact, it would be a plus in his eyes, as he would have more people to study. That was why he didn’t only recruit students with grade one aptitude, but grade two as well. He knew they had the best chance of surpassing him, guiding the way for him.

Stepping into the room, he found two students inside. One was lying still on a bed while the other was cultivating right next to them. He recognized the one who was unconscious to be Xiao Dong, while the one overlooking his companion was Wu San.

Wu San was one of the more polite kids with grade-one aptitude. He had the making of a scholar.

Xiao Dong, on the other hand, was more forthright. He was the kid who had been an orphan in the remote Mu Xia village. Li Lang had even accepted his little brother along, but since he was too young to be cultivating, they simply lived together. He spent the time helping out with the kitchen staff they hired or frolicking, befitting his age.

“How is his condition?” Li Lang asked.

The young man cultivating, slowly opened his eyes and shook his head.

“Still no response. Teacher Long had already taken his pulse and said he was fine. He just needs some rest.”

Hearing this, Li Lang couldn’t help but immediately examine the boy himself. He trusted the evaluation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but he just wanted to see for himself.

He found his body undamaged, and his energy vigorous. It likely had improved since Long Yi last inspected him, so he proceeded to lightly shake his shoulders.

After a few tries, it succeeded. The boy woke up, rubbing both his eyes while breathing in deeply.

“Xiao Dong. How do you feel? Do you remember what happened?”

“Hmm? Yeah—I broke through, but got tired right after, so I slept.”

“Congratulations, you’re at the peak of Energy Gathering now!”

“Well, when you put it that way, it feels surreal. I fully know that I’m an incomplete cultivator, though. I barely practiced anything cultivator-like.”

“We’ll remedy that in good time. For now, just stabilize your cultivation. In the next few days, we’ll start trying out a few things.”

“Wait, is that the breakthrough method to Foundation Establishment Realm you were talking about before?”

“Yes. Don’t worry. I’m pretty confident it doesn’t require any more accumulation in the final stage of Energy Gathering. You just need the right method along with Foundation Pills.”

“Umm, that’s not what I’m worried about, teach. Isn’t the process particularly painful? Plus, I’ll be the first to use your new method—I know I agreed to this before, but when I hear it’s going to happen so soon, I don’t feel mentally prepared.”

Li Lang put on a thoughtful look as he glanced down. A few seconds later, he shook his head vigorously.

“This is all voluntary. I won’t try to convince you to do something you don’t want. Just tell me if you want to stop at any point, and I will.”

“Oh, no, Teacher Li. I didn’t mean it like that. Just give me half a day to wake up and prepare. I am fully aware that cultivation could cost me my life. I fully believe the risks are worth it. I just need my heart to be on the same wavelength as my mind.”

“Then I won’t bother you any longer. Wu San, take care of him.”

Giving the two boys one last look, Li Lang left the building and headed straight for his own house. He was going to make the preparations to begin his experiments. Now that one student had broken through, it was inevitable several others would soon follow. He wasn’t afraid Xiao Dong would not participate. His thoughts were entirely focused on trying to make the experiment as safe as possible.

Cultivation wasn’t something he could test on animals. He couldn’t get them to invoke the techniques he was testing. It meant this test was going to be particularly risky, as it was in unknown territory.

A part of him was reprimanding himself for making younger children take the risks for him, but he kept pushing on. He needed to keep progressing. While he wanted to brave this danger himself, he knew the head researcher himself couldn’t be a test subject. It was impossible for him to remain objective and unbiased toward his own hypothesis. He also wouldn’t be able to accurately observe the situation without remaining a spectator, as he could fall unconscious or have his mind clouded or preoccupied.

He justified his actions by telling himself these people he’s taken in would’ve given up on cultivating seriously and languished in the early stages of Energy Gathering if it wasn’t for him.

He wasn’t a saint. This was a give-and-take relationship. He provided them with resources to cultivate, while they provided themselves as test subjects.

He could only do his best to prepare and hope the worst never comes.