A month passed by in no time.
After Li Lang’s group had disappeared into the pocket realm, the area outside had been quiet throughout this time. That was until today when a small group of elite cultivators were allowed to enter into the pocket realm.
Due to the machinations of Li Lang, these newcomers all shared a similar trait. Any discerning eye would be able to notice it right away. That was because all these young geniuses from various organizations of the Luminescent Domain were all at the peak of Energy Gathering!
While their age varied slightly, they were all teenagers. They had an arrogant demeanor to them, as many of them believed themselves to be the most talented person there. They all thought they would become the next Gui Tianzi by the time they exited the pocket realm, revealing their talents to the world.
Only a small group among these young cultivators was different. They all wore the same beige robes that betrayed their identity as members of Nightmoon Valley. One of them, who seemed to be one of the older disciples, suddenly floated up into the air and spoke with a projected voice, catching everyone else’s attention.
“Greetings everyone. I am a lowly disciple of Nightmoon Valley who will be your guide during your time in the pocket realm.”
His audience said nothing and listened attentively. This normally wouldn’t happen despite him having the same cultivation as them. That was because he was a few years older! In their eyes, someone of his age still stuck in the first realm was a nobody. Still, no one dared to disrespect him or challenge his authority. It was due to his identity as a member of the prestigious Nightmoon Valley!
The elders who had sent these people didn’t need to remind them for them to know that they should show respect to members of the most powerful group in their domain. That’s why no one interrupted the young man as he spoke.
“Many of you should have learned about your predecessors’ experiences with The Great Trial of Water Crest, but since it has come under my valley’s control, things will be a little different this time.”
The young Nightmoon Valley guide paused to see if anyone would pose a question, but all he got in return was silence, so he continued.
“Because the pocket realm had just been opened not too long ago, we can’t have you all take the trials whenever you want. You must schedule the trials with one of our staff beforehand or you simply won’t be allowed to undergo them. Members of my valley will be able to give you a more thorough explanation while you make the appointments, so please go find one of us who is wearing a red armband once you enter.”
The quiet crowd of elite cultivators was soon led into the pocket realm, as no one voiced any questions. They had all been hand-picked by their respective organizations, so only the best had been chosen. They were all intelligent people. No troublemakers were among them, so everything proceeded smoothly.
As instructed, they went to find one of these Nightmoon Valley disciples stationed inside to make their bookings while their guide watched on in the corner. Very quickly, the first group was led to the trials they had signed up for.
“Master, everything is ready. Do you want to spectate?” a feminine voice called out to the guide.
“No need, just make sure to withhold their rewards if my students mess up with keeping them in line. I need them to complete their trial according to our schedule.”
The reason for that was that Li Lang, as the owner of the artifact, could direct their rewards to himself momentarily. It wasn’t exactly taking their reward, but more along the lines of retrieving it so he could reward the challengers personally. Of course, he would then change his mind and have Blue transport their reward after copying it to his database.
At the same time, he could also spy on these young cultivators as they tried to make their breakthrough. The three artifact spirits could observe everything happening on their turf. They could transmit live footage of what happened in any place within the pocket realm.
Due to this ability, he had informed his allies in the Nightmoon Valley to limit the people entering to those at the peak of Energy Gathering. That way, he could observe their breakthrough attempts and use them as materials for his research.
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All the organizations were only too happy to play along with the request. The pocket realm was the perfect place to break through, as it restricted people from harming each other. It prevented malicious parties from interrupting the breakthrough. While that may be no longer true, as Nightmoon Valley had wrestled control of the place, everyone trusted in their integrity. After all, Nightmoon Valley was the organization that kept the peace.
Like that, Li Lang was able to observe dozens of geniuses cultivate and learn new techniques. Naturally, with a gathering of top geniuses, the breakthrough rate would be high. He was able to observe more and more successful breakthroughs and the subsequent Earth-grade techniques they would receive.
It helped Li Lang tremendously in expanding his repository of techniques.
Everbloom Mantra, Heartsteel Technique. All these techniques are specialized in one element. Very rarely does a technique delve into more than one element. It’s understandable I guess, seeing how one who pursues two hares will not catch even one. Trying to learn two elements or more is too ambitious and risky, as it could lead to becoming a jack-of-all-trades. It’s just like how artificers prefer mono-element orbs for creating artifact weapons.
Day by day, Li Lang continued to observe these young talents. Even if he wasn’t paying attention, his artifact spirit would come to alert him whenever something interesting happened. Still, that didn’t make him lazy. He still dedicated some time each day just to observe various geniuses.
During the downtime between cultivation, they naturally would make conversation with their peers or eat together. It was one of the few chances they had to make connections with people from other sects. Li Lang knew it was exactly in these mundane conversations that a lot of information could be gleaned.
“Hey, do you have any chrysanthemum-flavored Nourishment Pills left? I’ll trade you twice the amount in original flavored ones or Qi stones, if you prefer.”
“No, they don’t sell anything but the original in the cities near our Conclave. You’re lucky that you have flavors to choose from.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s that lucky, considering it’s cutting into my savings. Due to that, I had to beg my master for weeks before they agreed to get me a bottle of Foundation Pills. It came with a long lecture, too.”
“Anyway, I plan to journey around the Luminescent Domain as soon as this is over with. Do you think you can show me around Frostcloud Summit when I—”
Before Li Lang could eavesdrop further, Blue suddenly materialized next to him.
“Master, look at this! Something is going on with the boy from the Wail Thorn Sect.”
As if having mastered holographic projection technology, she waved her hand to conjure a screen for Li Lang to see. It showed a boy sitting in the lotus position on his bed, bent over in pain. He was violently pulling on his own hair and screaming.
The most disturbing part was that his hair quickly grew longer and longer. Not only that, his black hair was slowly turning brown, and the texture became rougher.
Not able to take it anymore, the boy charged out of his room while yelling at the top of his lungs. This caught the attention of many people who peered out of their rooms to see what was going on, only to quickly retreat into their rooms. However, those who were on their way back to their residence weren’t so lucky.
The screaming young man spotted them right away and charged toward them. His hair, which had been dragging along the ground, suddenly came alive and started lunging ahead of its owner by itself. It was as if he had become Medusa, and his hair had become vicious snakes.
His eyes turned red as his hair attacked the innocent bystanders.
“Cultivation deviation! Someone call one of the other disciples from Wail Thorn,” a girl shouted as she dodged the vine-like hair from impaling her. “They should know the method to handle one of their fellow disciples.”
Thankfully, as everyone in the pocket realm was a capable genius, no one got hurt except the boy who suffered from cultivation deviation. He was contained by his fellow disciples but failed to rein himself in. His body continued to use up his Qi to produce the vine-like hair until he was exhausted and succumbed.
This incident reminded Li Lang how volatile demonic cultivation could be. He feared what would happen if one of his students was nearby. They would surely get seriously injured, or worse. There was a reason the majority of the cultivator community shunned demonic cultivators. They were literally ticking time bombs! As reasonable as some of them appeared, you never knew when that would change.
Nevertheless, these incidents provided even more data for Li Lang. As helpful as all these new data were, all good things came to an end. He couldn’t afford to have these strangers around in their new base for too long or they wouldn't be able to continue with their own matters.
With absolute control over who came and went in his artifact, it was too easy to come up with an excuse, such as insufficient power in the artifact to sustain a prolonged stay. After a month inside, all the guests were promptly kicked out.
Now then, I’ve seen enough. I think it’s time for me to attempt my own breakthrough.