“Congratulations, Teacher Li!” all the students cheered.
They all sat around a large circular table in the mess hall of the pocket realm. While they brought along tons of materials with them prior to isolating themselves inside the artifact space, the Crucible happened to be capable of providing all manner of sustenance!
Normally, trial points were required in exchange for these supplies, but as the owner of the entire artifact realm, Li Lang could naturally bypass that.
His group merrily celebrated his accomplishments and took half the day off to party. When the festive atmosphere started to die down, Li Lang slipped away from his companions. He went toward a secluded area and double-checked no one was near.
He wasn’t being so sneaky for any nefarious reasons, but he preferred to speak with his artifact spirits privately.
“Blue, Orange, Green, show yourselves.”
As if having expected his summons, the three artifact spirits immediately appeared in their human forms.
Blue took on the appearance of a girl in a blue dress, with her hair dressed all the way down to her waist.
Orange was slightly hunched over with his usual timid expression.
Green looked gruff, like the type of person who took no-nonsense and stared straight into his master’s eyes.
Each of them had a completely different personality, but they answered their master’s calls just the same.
“Master,” they called out in unison. “Congratulations on your breakthrough!”
“Thank you. I assume you three already know what I’m going to ask?”
The three shared a quick glance before Blue stepped forward and bent her knee slightly in reverence.
“You would like to ask about the abilities that you have unlocked, correct?”
“Yes. You previously told me I’ll be able to move the entire pocket realm if I break through. Does that mean I can do that now?”
“That’s correct, Master. Our main body will be able to shrink down in size. Do you want us to do that now?”
“No need. I’d rather not alarm the people outside. Is there anything else I can do now?”
“Unfortunately, not, Master. You’ll only be able to alter the rules of the realm when you have reached Spirit Divide Realm. You may be able to change some minor things once you reach Violet Core Realm, but for now, nothing else can be done.”
“Hmm, that’s fine, I guess. You guys can still do things like select the type of rewards I want for my trials and provide us with food, so that’s enough. Where do you source your food and materials, anyway?
“We have a limited stock of materials. The prices will have to go up when the supply does down, but for things like food, we grow them.”
To support her words, Blue waved her hand and summoned forth a projection that showed some part of the pocket realm. It was an area Li Lang had never been to before, but he knew the place was enormous. There were tons of Qi beasts and places he hadn’t been to yet.
“Oh, I assume the beasts guarding that area are quite strong.”
“Yes, Master. Even if they fail, we can transport that entire area to somewhere else.”
“Hmm, I’ve been meaning to ask, what is the highest level of technique and Qi beast in here? You’re a Spirit-grade artifact, so does that mean there are Spirit Divide techniques and beasts in here?”
This time, Green stepped forward to answer.
“Master, as we’ve previously explained, we’re three separate artifacts merged together, which resulted in an increase in the total area of the artifact space. However, we were made with the intention to train the future generation. That’s why there is nothing beyond Earth-grade in here.”
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Li Lang sighed at the news. He had suspected that was the case, but he couldn’t help but find it disappointing that materials for the next major realm were missing.
No, I shouldn’t be disappointed. It’s already amazing that I’ve become the owner of a Spirit-grade artifact. Earth-grade materials are already more than enough.
“Wait, does that mean we can grow any Earth-grade materials of my choosing in here?”
“Mostly, yes. The ambient Qi in the realm has been adjusted to support plants and crops of that grade.”
That means I can get started on my research regarding the effects of Earth-grade foodstuff!
When Li Lang first came across food using these higher-grade ingredients, he almost wanted to research its effects right away. He’s been told that these higher-quality foodstuffs could promote cultivation. However, the effects weren’t immediate, which meant testing would take a lot of time and cost a lot of money.
Li Lang was no stranger to how expensive these Earth-grade ingredients were. Just the tofu pudding he got for Sima Xue was priced in red crystals. That equated to hundreds of Qi stones. Even if he could now afford it, supplying a large amount to dozens of test subjects was another matter.
With the Crucible’s ability to grow these foodstuffs, it would save Li Lang a lot of money!
After conversing with the three artifact spirits some more, the night soon came to an end.
All the students turned in early in preparation for the next day of training. Many of them were at the peak of Energy Gathering. They were so close to reaching the next major realm. This was true for Wei Ping as well.
Now that Li Lang had succeeded, Wei Ping would redouble his efforts. As all the Energy Gatherers busied themselves with their breakthrough, Li Lang gathered the two to first break into the Foundation Establishment Realm the next day.
“I need the two of you to help me devise a technique we can use to disguise our cultivation,” Li Lang stated.
“I thought you owned this pocket realm?” Xiao Dong asked. “Can’t you just get them to give you the relevant technique?”
“One must fail for the first time in a trial to get rewarded, and it only happens once. Not even I can change that. I’d rather not waste an opportunity for this if I can help it. Even if I’m willing to, the techniques here are thousands of years old. It may not work against the techniques modern cultivator uses.”
“Well, what we come up with ourselves may be no better, though.”
“At least no one would’ve seen anything like it before—probably.”
“I’m sure it’ll work out with Li Lang here,” Long Yi interjected. “I can’t help with devising any Qi art, but just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
“That’s fine. I mainly need you two to try detecting me when I try out various things. Have you guys learned any detection Qi art yet?”
“I have not.”
“I have.”
Two replies instantly came. Surprisingly, Xiao Dong was the one who had said yes despite having reached the realm later. This caused the other two to give Long Yi a questioning look.
“What? I’ve been busy with learning other things. I prioritized immediate combat power over anything else.”
Li Lang shook his head and moved on. He wasn’t there for Long Yi when he went to pick out his techniques, so he couldn’t place any blame on him. In the first place, a cultivator’s techniques were very personal. He had no say in what others practiced. Even when it came to his students, he could only give them advice, but not dictate what they choose.
“Well, can you teach us your technique then, Xiao Dong?”
“Sure. I still have the texts in my room.”
Seeing his student walk away, Li Lang was reminded that they had not yet gotten any space rings for them. The pocket realm didn’t have any, so he added that to his shopping list for the next time they ventured out.
At the rate things were going, Li Lang only planned to leave when the time came for the Dark Sea Arena.
Now that he had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, there were numerous things waiting for him to do. It was as if he just opened a new chapter in his life. No longer would he be treated as a mortal or junior. He was a legitimate cultivator that broke through the shackles of mortality.
There were so many techniques he needed to learn to live up to the reputation, but he also had a lot of time to do that now. With five hundred years of lifespan, he had time to expand his arsenal of techniques and master them. There was enough time to even learn a hundred techniques.
While a hundred martial and Qi arts may be too much, a few dozen were still acceptable. Not every technique had to be some ultimate move used in combat. There were numerous possibilities that allowed cultivators to react to various situations. Divination skills were just one small sub-group among the myriad of possibilities, and right now, Li Lang was precisely studying techniques in one of these sub-groups.
Concealment and detection techniques were likely one of the more common techniques that every cultivator knew. Everyone wanted to get a good grasp of their surroundings.
It was time for Li Lang to tackle the challenge of creating his own technique. It would normally be a complicated endeavor, especially for someone as inexperienced in technique creation as him. But thankfully, all his research on spiritual roots and their role in absorbing ambient Qi, plus his knowledge of concealment talismans, had set up a solid foundation for him to start with.
He presumed that this constant input of Qi was one of the easiest indicators that a cultivator could use to identify someone’s cultivation level. If he only planned to create a technique to obscure this fact instead of concealing their presence entirely, Li Lang was confident he would be able to accomplish this task in the remaining months he had.