Before it was time for Spirit Grove’s annual sect competition, Li Lang received another visit from Elder Cao.

“Li Lang, I heard you’ve successfully learned to refine the Qi Replenishment Pill.” The elder said as soon as Li Lang exited from the refining room.

“That is… correct, Elder.”

“Good, good, good. May I see your latest work?”

“Of course, elder.” Li Lang handed a bottle of freshly refined pills over. “Here it is.”

Elder Cao carefully examined the new pills she received before wearing her signature frown.

“Li Lang, these are also subpar in quality, just like your Recovery Pills. Can you really not put a little more care when refining them? Or are you struggling with the Qi flame control techniques?”

“...Elder, my method for refining is special, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

“Oh dear me, I forgot that you are a new disciple…and one that is only in the third stage of Energy Gathering. You won’t be able to make use of any Qi flame control techniques at that level, so maybe that’s why…”

Li Lang decided to stay quiet as the elder contemplated. He didn’t really want to go into detail about how he refined pills as it may touch on the secret of Ruby, so he decided to let the elder come to her own conclusions.

The elder then proceeded to mouth off on a long rant, highlighting the basics of alchemy to Li Lang. She went into detail from the very first step to the last. Halfway through, Li Lang began paying serious attention to her words when he found many steps he was completely ignorant of.

It turned out that alchemists usually monitored the contents of their furnaces throughout the entire process with their Qi sense. They would use their power to adjust how the materials fused together and other reactions.

The more Li Lang listened, the more he began to understand why his pills were always considered subpar. His method was perfect for mass production, but quality was entirely sacrificed when formulating his production method. It was inevitable when he tried to make a method that succeeded every time.

Once Elder Cao was finished with her lengthy retelling of the basic pill refining process, she swiftly took her leave when she saw the time.

However, Li Lang barely noticed, as he was busy mumbling to himself while he contemplated ways he could address the weakness in his refining method. When he came to it, he was already alone, with only a few other disciples in the distance staring at him with strange looks.

Ignoring their gazes, Li Lang put himself on autopilot, making his way back to his dorm while he got lost in his own thoughts.

This caused even more disciples to witness the strange scene of the young child walking around while staring at the ground with a hand on his chin. Many steered clear of his way, as he was completely oblivious of his surroundings.

This continued until the young boy encountered several disciples who were equally oblivious, as they were busy arguing. They blocked the path to Li Lang’s dorm, which resulted in him colliding directly into the back of one such disciple.

“Who dares push me?” The young disciple shouted as he turned toward his assailant.

It was only then that Li Lang woke up from his deliberations. He looked up to find a dozen disciples glaring at him. There were also a few faces he recognized as his dorm mates further in the back.

Did I interrupt something?

“Oh sorry, didn’t see you there.”

“...How dare you? Are you belittling me?” The young boy stood tall and loomed over Li Lang.

“What? No. I just wasn’t looking where I was going and accidentally ran into you since you’re blocking the entrance.“

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“So it’s my fault now? Ha, someone has dared put the blame on me. If I don’t teach you a lesson here, then how will my Sun family still have the face to be in the sect?”

“Umm…”

“Sun Pang, are you trying to break sect rules and inflict violence on your fellow disciple in front of all these witnesses?”

Coming to Li Lang’s rescue, Yang Quan strode forward from within the dorm. He gave Li Lang a quick nod before bringing his attention back to their common adversary.

“Don’t worry, Yang Quan, I wasn’t done with you yet! It seems like the Feng Shui here is no good. The people who reside here are all tactless barbarians. It is up to me to teach you people a lesson.”

Sparks between the two boys could almost be seen, but just as they were prepared to take action, each of their companions held them back.

After some whispering among each group, both parties decided to back down, but not without parting words.

“I’ll let you go with a warning for today, but you won’t be so lucky during the sect competitions.” Sun Pang sneered.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Yang Quan retorted.

Sun Pang’s group quickly took their leave and Li Lang decided to do the same, returning to his room.

After that day, it became much more peaceful for Li Lang. Everyone was busy preparing for the competition while Li Lang focused on breaking through to the fourth stage of Energy Gathering.

The gap between the third stage and fourth stage of Energy Gathering was special. It represented the first minor bottleneck in a cultivator’s journey. No longer could the practitioner advance by simply gathering and absorbing Qi. They now had to learn to control their Qi even when it was outside of the cultivator.

The signature ability of a mid-stage Energy Gatherer was how they could envelop their skin in a protective Qi, the most basic Qi technique that manifested outside of the body.

The time it took for a cultivator to overcome this bottleneck varied greatly, with those with higher aptitude much better off. For those with grade one aptitude like Li Lang, Elder Cao mentioned the fastest recorded case to her knowledge was two years, but it was normal to expect around five years. In comparison, those with grade two aptitude had a much easier time, with one year being the average.

While the elder had explained what he needed to do to break through, Li Lang had no idea why he needed to externally manifest his Qi to break through. He was dying to investigate the underlying reason, but he was cut off from his willing test subjects back in Xiang Yang.

Without being able to make any progress in his research, Li Lang obediently cultivated and slowly explored ways to control his Qi.

Time flew by as Li Lang fumbled his way around his cultivation, to no avail.

Almost two months had passed since his return from Xiang Yang and the time for the sect competition had arrived.

All the outer disciples gathered on the spacious training grounds that had been transformed into a coliseum. They each organized themselves by the dorm they were from and swiftly got seated around the colossal arena.

The bustling crowd was so loud that the people present could only converse with their immediate neighbors.

It was only when a lanky old man took the stage that they began to quiet down. The old man wore a kind smile like any grandfather would when facing their grandchildren, but he had an unmistakable aura of authority that was hard to ignore.

He only needed to clear his throat once to completely silence the entire venue.

“Disciples of Spirit Grove, I, Gong Tai, the Vice Sect Leader of Spirit Grove, will once again be managing the sect competition this year. Some of you may have heard this before, but for the new disciples, listen carefully. The sect competition is meant to foster a positive environment to motivate you to grow. While competition is good, be mindful of how far you take it. Poison is in quantity. Always keep that in mind.” The Vice Sect Leader paused as he took a moment to glance at the position of the sun. “The time is now. I officially declare the start of this year’s sect competition! Disciples, follow your senior’s lead, while visitors should wait in place until someone gets you.”

As soon as he was done with his speech, the old man suddenly vanished from the eyes of thousands of outer disciples. The ground then violently shook as a platform was raised from the ground until it reached ten stories high. Atop the platform, the lanky Vice Sect Leader reappeared along with two other elders, sitting comfortably in their seats.

“New disciples taking part in the combat section go to the yellow area by the arenas. Your fights will take place in arenas one through nine.” Several teenagers shouted out.

Li Lang glanced down at the arena below and found dozens of platforms made of light grey stones, each labeled with a number. They were only elevated a meter, but having visited here before, Li Lang was surprised at how much the once-empty training ground had transformed.

The arenas were further separated by the colored lines beneath the platforms.

Right in front of Li Lang, he spotted stairs that led from the spectators’ stands down to the arena floor. On the ground level where the platforms were, there were even tunnel entrances that numerous other disciples made use of. One of these tunnels in particular had a fireplace before it, producing red smoke.

“Li Lang, it is time. Let’s go teach Sun Pang a lesson.”

Li Lang glanced up to find Yang Quan staring at him with eyes of determination and nodded in a friendly manner his way. In response, Li Lang scratched his cheeks as he replied.

“Umm…I won’t be joining you.”