“Li Lang, we’ve tried our best to negotiate, but after a discussion among our leaders, it’s been decided that they’ll be sending a select group of disciples next month into the pocket realm. It’s only a small number of elites as they agreed to delay a large opening to next year,” the head disciple of Nightmoon Valley calmly explained.
Li Lang didn’t show any reaction despite being saddled with the responsibility of hosting these disciples. He expected this would be the natural turn of events the moment he had decided to work with another party.
In fact, he welcomed it because he managed to strike a deal with Nightmoon Valley. He would receive a cut of the fees others paid to gain access to the pocket realm. It would fuel his expenses and more. The funds more than paid for his expenses while in the pocket realm. It was a welcome windfall, as there were no guilds nearby to sell his crafts. He could instead fully dedicate himself to breaking through during this time.
“I understand. It shouldn’t be an issue.”
“About the number of people—”
“I can’t speak on that yet,” Li Lang interrupted. “I haven’t taken stock of the situation inside yet. I’ll give you an answer once I’ve had some time to look into it.”
“Very well. We’ll have people stationed here, so you can have them relay the information to us. Just make sure to do it as soon as you can. The other organizations will continue pressuring us until we can give them an exact quota.”
Having said his piece, Jian Beiyun exited from the tent, dragging Sima Xue along.
“Senior Brother, wait! I still don’t want to go—”
“Say what you want, but we have many tasks to do. There’s no time for you to be playing around.”
The two swiftly flew away on their Skyrunner. As Jian Beiyun was someone who was in charge of various day-to-day activities for such a large organization, he had little time to spare. With their departure, various other Nightmoon Valley disciples also scattered.
These disciples, who were only brought along for the demonstrations, slowly left in their own vessels, leaving the once lively tent desolate. Only Li Lang’s group remained, along with a few cultivators stationed there. One of them was smiling gently as they stared at their guests.
As much as Li Lang wanted to leave and head straight into the pocket realm, he wasn’t rude enough to ignore the elder. He signaled for Wei Ping and Long Yi with his eyes to join him in greeting the elder.
“Thank you, Elder Yun, for taking up the task of dealing with the various envoys and spectators.”
“No need to thank me,” the elder replied. “I’m just doing as instructed.”
“Regardless, you handled all these members from various organizations and lied for our sake. We juniors may not have anything valuable in your eyes, so the least we can do is show our gratitude.”
The elder’s smile widened.
“If you want to thank me, then satisfying my curiosity will do.”
“Please ask away. I can’t promise I can answer everything with my limited knowledge, but I’ll do my best.”
“In that case, how did you manage to subdue a Spirit-grade artifact like the pocket realm? As far as I know, this is the only artificial pocket realm I know of, so there are no prior instances of something like this before. Especially not by an Energy Gatherer.”
“That—I do not know. Perhaps the artifact spirit took a liking to me, but I don’t believe I gained control of the realm with my own merit. Has there really been no past cases where a cultivator has taken ownership of an artifact that is much stronger?”
“Hmm, maybe on the main continent, but not here. Those mainlanders like boasting about their long and storied history. You’ll have to ask the few mainlanders that do visit us if you want to know.”
“Maybe if I chance upon them. I doubt I will come across any mainlanders in the short term, though. Even if I did, I wouldn’t recognize them.”
“You’re correct. When they do visit, they only stay within the grounds of the organization that hosts them.”
“Doesn’t sound like something I’ll be involved with, then. Do you have any other questions, Senior? Otherwise, I’d like to enter the pocket realm before it gets dark.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“No, I have no more questions. Farewell, Junior. I don’t know when we’ll meet again, but I’ll share what I learn from a mainlander if the opportunity arises.”
The two both nodded to each other to affirm this agreement while also signaling that the discussion was over.
Without needing to be told, Wei Ping caught their students’ attention and got them ready to set out.
When the group exited the tent, they noticed the place had become a lot more barren than before. Nightmoon Valley had successfully gotten all the other organizations to recall the people they had stationed here. They even erected a barrier around the entire area. It dimmed all the light entering by a small degree.
“Do you think this barrier blocks people from looking in?” Long Yi asked.
“Most likely. I’ve been told they took measures to secure our privacy, so we should be safe from any prying eyes. We can enter the pocket realm without worry.”
“Except for the Nightmoon Valley personnel on the lookout.”
“That c-can’t be helped,” Wei Ping chimed in. “It’s better than n-not being able to use the realm again a-at all.”
With nothing tying them down anymore, the group arrived before the four pillars that represented the Crucible in no time. They walked into gaps just as they had done in the morning and quickly found themselves transported inside.
They were brought to the main hall, which was the central hub of the place. It had tall ceilings with massive red support beams every few paces. The place was so large that their eyes could barely see from one end of the lobby to the other. However, having lived in the pocket realm for years before, the trio expertly guided their students toward the living area and began explaining some rules.
Li Lang left that mostly to his friends while he silently slipped off elsewhere by himself. Once he was away from everyone, he called out a name.
“Blue. Take me to the core.”
In the blink of an eye, Li Lang suddenly found himself at the peak of the mountain. He momentarily looked up at the purple sky and yellow clouds before directing his gaze to a nearby shabby hut. He didn’t hesitate to walk straight into it and his scenery changed again. He was brought to a place where the yellow clouds stretched beneath him, replacing the ground, while an open violet sky loomed across the horizon.
In the distance, three orbs of light drifted toward him. Once they got close enough, they transformed into three young humans. The three politely greeted Li Lang with a bow.
“Welcome back, Master!” the three shouted in unison.
“It’s been some time, so let’s have a nice chat to catch up, shall we?”
-----
Having settled into the pocket realm, it only took a week for Li Lang’s students to get used to their new living environment. Their life there wasn’t that different from before. They would dedicate it to cultivating.
However, the students weren’t permitted to make use of the trials yet. They were still focused on achieving the breakthrough to the next realm instead of any fancy techniques that could help them express their power. The only exceptions were the two in the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Now that they had an opportunity to obtain a cultivation technique that the artifact spirits thought suited them, they wouldn’t forgo it.
Earth-grade cultivation techniques were an entirely different beast compared to the ones they used to practice in the lower realm. The entire mechanics behind it had changed, so the techniques had to be different. As cultivators went up in major realms, the techniques they practiced would become more sophisticated. It would slow down their progress, but that was the price one had to pay for attaining greater power.
“Li Lang, I received the Obsidian Edge technique. Hurry and memorize it,” Long Yi called out as he barged into Li Lang’s room.
Without a word, he snatched the book from the giant and gestured for him to wait outside. He then began recording everything on the computer inside his lab. He had done the same when Xiao Dong had come the previous day and when Long Yi came with his artificer textbook.
Cultivation techniques in the Foundation Establishment Realm were not cheap. So far, he had less than five of them in his database. Two from the bazaar that his companions bought and the two he received in the past few days from the Crucible.
As he transcribed the manual, he thought of what type of technique he would get when the time came for him.
He didn’t need to think hard to know why Long Yi was given the Obsidian Edge technique. His giant friend specialized in techniques with an affinity toward the earth element. This Obsidian Edge technique was exactly that.
It allowed its practitioner to absorb Qi of the earth element by transforming their spiritual roots. With an abundance of earth energies, their martial and Qi arts of the same affinity could become more devastating. That was because spiritual roots didn’t only absorb energy, they also acted as the muscles that manipulated these energies as well.
If Long Yi practiced this technique, all his earth-based techniques would become stronger. The Obsidian Edge would allow the earth he conjured to be reinforced, allowing it to hit harder and to defend better. His signature Terra Moon Slash would definitely become a lot more powerful and he would be able to use it with less strain.
It trumped the general earth-based technique he got at the bazaar by a mile. The previous technique he practiced only gave him general gains related to earth Qi instead of tempering the things he conjured.
Li Lang was so tempted to dive deeper into unraveling how these techniques worked, but he couldn’t afford to yet. He needed to break through himself first, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get a head start by noting down his observations.
Long Yi has forty-one spiritual roots, so combined with this new technique, his power should go up by more than one order of magnitude. However, I expect the effects of practicing high-quality techniques to be less effective for Xiao Dong, as he only has thirty-two spiritual roots. Does this mean when it is my turn, the technique wouldn’t matter that much with my meager five spiritual roots?