The Science of Cultivation-Chapter 251: Surprising Growth

Li Lang didn’t know what he expected when they went to greet their elders from The Orchid Covenant. They hadn’t even remembered the last time they showed up at their organization’s headquarters.

They may have garnered some attention from their results from the pocket realm, but to The Orchid Covenant, they were still young and without backing. In their view, they believed the trio would soon turn to an elder within their ranks when they needed more resources.

Raising a cultivator was resource-intensive, raising a demonic cultivator was even more so. However, no matter their method of cultivation, they all needed Foundation Pills in order to tackle their bottleneck.

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Imagine Councilman Sheng’s surprise when the three all turned up to his doorsteps to greet him and report their participation in The Dark Sea Arena.

“What? You three, please don’t tell me you’ve been telling people you’re going to participate during your stay on the island. Do you realize only those who have reached the Foundation Establishment Realm can participate in the event? Do you realize you three bear our mark? How embarrassing it would be if others caught wind of a couple of our mortal members bragging about participating?”

“Councilman Sheng, you don’t have to worry about that,” Li Lang replied.

Hearing this, Councilman Sheng let out a brief of relief.

“Good. I take it that you told no one of your foolish intentions. You did well to consult me before things progressed further.”

“No Councilman, I think you misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand? Misunderstand what?”

“As they say, action speaks louder than words,” Li Lang nodded to his two companions.

The trio then unleashed their auras at the same time, no longer holding back. Councilman Sheng blinked blankly before his expression quickly turned serious. He could only utter one word.

“How?”

“Hmm? By breathing through and forming our spiritual sea?”

“No,” the old man shook his head as he stared sternly at Li Lang. “How did you get the Foundation Pills?”

“Oh, we were lucky enough to be useful to Nightmoon Valley,” Li Lang quickly composed a cover story. “We managed to earn the appreciation of the Valley Master and were awarded for our efforts.”

Councilman Sheng took in a deep breath and said nothing. He closed his eyes while tapping a finger on his desk.

Li Lang had been in these types of situations before and wisely chose to stay silent. Allowing others to come to their own conclusions was often the best choice. Even so, he brainstormed ways to reply, starting with the hardest questions. He thought about several scenarios about how he could possibly be useful to Nightmoon Valley without revealing too much. Before he could decide on which one to be the most convincing, the elder surprisingly didn’t pursue the matter.

“I see,” was all they said.

There wasn’t much else to converse with the elder about, and the trio quickly excused themselves when the conversation died down.

Tracing their path out of the colossal Skyvessel, they made it back on its deck and escaped on their Skyrunner.

It wasn’t long before they landed again, just outside the venue. Following the clearly labeled signs, they went to the fast lane and entered the arena without any trouble. They hadn’t re-concealed their aura, so all it took was for them to show their affiliation to enter.

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The arenas inside hadn’t changed from their previous visit, but the number of people present was drastically higher. The four tall columns surrounding the nine arena platforms remained the same, but they could barely make out anything else. The ground floor was filled with people and so were the stands.

There were constantly more people streaming into the venue, so they were pushed forward. They allowed the flow to sweep them away until they were closer to the platforms.

“Should we look for the area assigned to the covenant?” Long Yi asked. “Or do we line up next to platforms for our cultivation level? There are people already dueling on it, but it shouldn’t have started, right?”

“Shouldn’t have. This event is like an exchange. I’m sure it’s just people fighting on their own accord. The main event shouldn’t start when people are still streaming in. Let’s go to our section and ask around.”

Wei Ping nodded at the suggestion and took the lead. The nine stadiums were clearly separated into three sections, one for each stage of the Foundation Establishment.

The trio had just arrived beneath one such platform assigned to the early stage cultivators when they all abruptly turned their attention to the duel taking place on it.

A familiar boy was facing off against a young woman, and judging by their attire, she hailed from the Eternal Wave Sect.

The young woman summoned forth a tornado of water to attack her foe. It crashed squarely onto its target, blasting the target apart—or so it appeared. It took a second for her to realize it had just been a decoy when her supposed foe popped like a water balloon. It had been a water clone that only reflected an image of her opponent. The Eternal Wave disciple panicked as it sunk in that she had lost sight of her enemy, and rightfully so.

Water splashed and flowed in all directions, at a volume much higher than one would expect from just a human-sized clone. This should’ve hinted at something going very wrong to the girl, but her inexperience showed. She was glancing around frantically when a figure suddenly rose behind her from the water, sending a punch straight to the back of her head.

The move wasn’t anything special. Everyone could tell it was a Mortal-grade technique without any special qualities. Li Lang even recognized it specifically to be the Swallowtail Fish technique. He did so effortlessly because he knew the boy. It was his student, Wu San.

The trio shared a knowing look with each other and shook their heads. They had agreed to allow their students to participate, but didn’t think they’d draw this type of attention so soon. Wu San had only broken through recently and he was already showing off. His combat fluency surprised all three of them, but they couldn’t feel too happy right now. It was because Wu San was too young!

People could tell he was no older than geniuses like Sima Xue or Liang Po had been when they reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. Perhaps even younger! Combined with the promise he was showing, many people took note of his potential. They couldn’t tell his real age without closer inspection through physical contact, but there were some telltale signs of someone recently breaking through in his movements.

He was about to beat an opponent who had broken through for several years already. That may not be a lot for many cultivators, but it was for those who had recently broken past their mortality. The girl obviously had more time to stabilize her cultivation and practice more techniques. The advantage was enormous.

However, the next second, they all sighed.

Wu San’s punch landed on target, but that was all. The girl staggered forward for half a step before a geyser blasted Wu San back. While he had caught her off guard, his offensive power was too weak.

“What a waste,” one of the cultivators beside Li Lang said with a sigh. “If he had a better technique or proper weapon, he could’ve won just now. Just what is his mentor doing, leaving him so ill-equipped to capitalize on such an opportune position?”

Li Lang cleared his throat as he pushed past his companions to approach one of the cultivators wearing the red and black robes.

“Greetings, friends from Bloodwave Conclave. It’s my first time attending this arena, so do you think you can tell me what to expect?”

Wei Ping and Long Yi shared a look and shrugged before catching up to their friend. They knew it wasn’t the time to discuss anything about their students with so many prying ears, but they knew Li Lang was feeling the most conflicted among them. He was the one who had advocated for their students to rush their cultivation the most.

Thankfully, they also knew that they were here to remedy this shortcoming. They couldn’t wait to learn from all the experts around them and truly realize their potential.

What they didn’t realize was that Li Lang didn’t bother about such matters anymore. He had escaped the scene so quickly, not because he was feeling guilty or embarrassed. Instead, he was using every fiber of his being to contain his urge to interview his students right then and there.

After all, he had just witnessed his student successfully employ a hybrid technique, making use of both his Water Qi and Light Qi. It hadn’t been long since he spoke with Wu San, but he was eager to interview him again.