Resting his body in his familiar office chair within Ruby’s artifact space, Li Lang got comfortable as he examined the new technique he was rewarded with.

Progress was vital to being able to stay longer in the pocket realm. Trial points were consumed every day that was deemed unproductive, and earning points became harder and harder. Only those who could keep improving would remain. Whoever had set up the trials obviously highly valued the ability to learn quickly. It could be said that they weighed learning ability as the most valuable talent one could have.

They had set it up so that challengers would gain access to techniques they currently needed, and the longer they took to master it, the more trial points it would cost. It added an extra layer of pressure for all the participants.

Despite knowing this truth, there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. That was why all the young cultivators inside the pocket realm were desperately doing their best.

Reading through the Qi Injection Art, Li Lang found it particularly fascinating. It wasn’t because it had novel effects. Instead, it inspired multiple ideas on how he could mass-produce talismans. It would take further research, but a path was revealed.

This was because the technique involved crafting another tool that could control the output level of Qi while one was inscribing a talisman. While one normally had to do that by oneself, the ability to offload this tedious task to a tool would free up a lot of concentration for the practitioner. It was like having cruise control on a car.

I’m getting ahead of myself. I can save it for after we’re done with the pocket realm. I have to focus on learning the technique itself first.

Li Lang read it over again and familiarized himself with the Qi Injection Art.

Just when he was about to go over another time, an alarm in his lab rang out. He had set it to remind himself about the dinner plans he had made with his companions.

While he was reluctant, he exited the artifact space and returned to the tiny room he was teleported to after his trial. He carried along the cultivation manual despite having already recorded all its contents.

Exiting the room, he found himself inside a long corridor with numerous doors like the one he came out of. Picking the direction of where the noise was coming from, he soon found himself coming out of the passageway and into the grand hall.

From the signs there, he was able to navigate to the mess hall. As expected, there weren’t many people here. The other cultivators had better things to do than eat. They were either taking the trials or in closed cultivation to learn new techniques.

Li Lang found that he was the first one there. He couldn’t blame the others, as only he had an accurate way to tell the time with the clocks in his lab. He picked an empty table and began flipping over the pages of the Qi Injection Art once more.

Time passed by quickly while he lost himself in the book. By the time he came to, he found his table was already filled, and in the midst of a rowdy conversation. Everyone he had invited had come.

Wei Ping and Long Yi were a given, but both Huang Si and Sima Xue were here. Sima Xue had even brought along a companion, a girl around her age, but with hair tied into two buns.

Wei Ping was the first to notice his former boss coming back to reality.

“B-boss, you’re done? Everyone is w-waiting for you.”

Hearing his words, everyone stopped chatting and directed their attention to the boy in question. Feeling all their gazes, Li Lang bowed and apologized.

“Sorry about that…I got sidetracked. Since everyone’s here already, why don’t we start sharing our experiences?”

“We’ve been doing that already. It’s just you that can isolate yourself in your own world,” Long Yi quipped.

“...”

His companions didn’t make it hard for him and quickly got him up to speed. Li Lang himself shared his own experience. It didn’t take long as Sima Xue had taken the same trial as him, so they had heard all about the details already.

It seems all the tasks changed each time, but the challengers in the same cohort received the same task. For better or worse, it seems this time, straightforward crafting was selected. Records from the past talked about several other types of tests like tracing a particular talisman, customizing the runes, or even artifact enchantment.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“What? You got through the second round? Aren’t you almost ready to take the Brushweaver exam, then?” Sima Xue halfway stood up in surprise.

“Hmm, not really. I’m nowhere close to mastering overlaid runes.”

“Still! You’re almost at the level of an official Brushweaver!”

To become an officially recognized craftsman was no small feat. While a no-star Brushweaver was a dime a dozen, reaching such a stage at such a young age marked a bright future.

“...Anyway. I’m more curious to hear about the combat trials. Huang Si, how did it go?”

“That…It wasn’t easy. They made me hunt down several Qi beasts, each with unique peculiarities. I made it to the seventh round.”

Seeing that Huang Si was in the sixth stage of Energy Gathering, Li Lang nodded, impressed with the results.

“Did that mean you defeated a Qi beast in the seventh stage?”

“No. I’m not that talented. The trials aren’t that linear, where you are sent to hunt a Qi beast at each stage of cultivation. It monitors your performance and adjusts accordingly. In my case, it made me fight Qi beasts that traveled in groups once it realized I struggled to go up against only one in the sixth stage.”

So it’s actively trying to push you to the limit. How is it monitoring us? Is there an artifact spirit somewhere that’s just not showing itself?

“Hehe, I got to the twelfth round!” Sima Xue interjected. “I only lost when they set me up against eighth-stage monkeys.”

“That is impressive…You’ve grown pretty rapidly since the last time I saw you.”

“That’s right. I can finally cultivate properly now that I’m back in the Luminescent Domain. I think I will be able to break through to the ninth stage within a week. My goal is to break through into the Foundation Establishment realm before I leave here!”

Li Lang could only smile at the enthusiasm coming from the young girl. He knew it was useless to be jealous of other’s progress. After all, comparing oneself to others was the thief of joy. He was satisfied as long as he was making steady progress.

Still, he placed a hand on the bottle at his waist. It contained the Foundation Pill he received as a reward for helping Tai Xilun. He couldn’t help but fantasize about breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm himself.

Their progress had been accelerating every day, with the use of the Clearing Drug. Long Yi had even broken through to the sixth stage, and Wei Ping to the fifth stage just recently as well. However, Li Lang had to consider whether he wanted to attempt the breakthrough even if he had the chance.

Attempting to step into a new major realm was dangerous business. There was a reason sects only allowed their disciples to make their attempt with the use of a Foundation Pill. Li Lang ideally wanted some time to investigate the phenomenon of the breakthrough before he tried. If so, then came the problem of finding test subjects to observe.

It wasn’t like he could just gather around peak Energy Gathering experts like he did with the Clearing Drug.

“Can I watch if you end up making the attempt?” Li Lang couldn’t resist and asked.

Sima Xue answered without hesitation.

“Sure!”

However, this sparked a strong response from her friend sitting beside her. She immediately smacked Sima Xue in the head and reprimanded her.

“What do you mean, sure? You’re going to let an unknown male watch over you when you’re at your most vulnerable? Who knows what his intentions are?” the girl directed Li Lang a guarded look.

“Yulian, it’s fine. I can tell from his look that he means no harm.”

“You…” the girl sighed. “You can’t rely on your intuition all the time. It can be wrong or people change.”

“It’s because of my intuition that I became friends with you! I don’t see a problem.”

The girl wanted to retort, but a blush bloomed on her face, rendering her speechless.

Seeing the scene, Li Lang cleared his throat.

“I don’t believe we’ve met before. How about you introduce us to your friend?”

“Oh, this is Tang Yulian. She’s the genius of the Eternal Wave Sect and my close friend! In fact, if you’re so curious about breakthroughs, you should ask Yulian. She is the closest to reaching Foundation Establishment, after all.”

At her words, the girl in question sighed again and her aura was unleashed. Suddenly, everyone at the table could feel that she was in the ninth stage of Energy Gathering! She was a peak expert within their realm!

“I don’t see why I should humor any of you. My breakthrough is too important to me to be adding variables to the occasion.”

“Oh come on Yulian. We’re here to help each other. Don’t you think it’d be great if Li Lang here guided you in Brushweaving to return the favor?”

“That…”

The girls then began whispering to each other while the guys exchanged glances. They knew better than to interrupt.

“I’m hungry. Why don’t we eat first?” Long Yi suggested.

They soon each took out a Nourishment Pill and stared at it. Long Yi brought it to eye level and suspiciously examined it.

“Does this even taste good?”

“In h-hindsight, we s-should’ve tried this stuff o-out before coming, huh?”

“Hmm?” Huang Si grinned. “You guys never been in closed-door cultivation before? This stuff tastes horrible, but fills your stomach for at least a day! I still can’t tell if it’s because it traumatizes you with its bad taste that you lose your appetite or what.”

“...”

Huang Si’s words made the boys blink blankly at the pill. They exchanged glances to see who would try it out first, but quickly found themselves in a stalemate.

Long Yi then suddenly turned to Li Lang.

“It’s your fault! It was your idea, and you made them too! You should eat it first!”

Hmm…I only tested a few with the auto-analyzer since we needed a large amount of them. Maybe I should look into making better-flavored ones if they do turn out disgusting…