The Science of Cultivation-Chapter 285: Recruitment Preparation

Star Gem Academy. It was built within weeks, where changes happened rapidly day after day. It was an organization that Ouyang Jie was proud to be part of.

He knew it was something that had changed the course of his life forever, and the past week had only affirmed that. Few could deny that when they witnessed was their new home. Disregarding the strange material his teachers used to construct their facilities, what amazed Ouyang Jie the most was their residences.

Ouyang Jie had always been one of the more timid cultivators among the group. He was a natural introvert and preferred to keep to himself. However, there was a limit to how much he could do that. Even if he wasn’t a cultivator, he needed to head out every day to do simple errands in order to live.

Water had to be fetched, and food had to be secured. Doing these mundane things inevitably meant he would come across other humans who were also living their lives. Most people couldn’t live without mingling with their community to some degree. That was even more so for Ouyang Jie as a cultivator. There were lessons to attend and fellow students to confide in lest he fell behind.

However, his new home made Ouyang Jie feel much more comfortable. He could finally cut back on socializing. It was all thanks to the plumbing his teachers had added to their rooms. Not only could they fetch water with just a turn of the knob, they could even take a hot bath or shower whenever they wanted. It was something he thought was only possible when he got further along in his cultivation, where he could afford the resources to purchase these quality of life formations for himself.

It mesmerized him so much that he couldn’t help but stay in his room for the first three days since it had been introduced. He did so despite knowing full well how often Teacher Wei had told him to come out of his shell.

That was why, when he finally exited his room on the fourth day, he did so gingerly. He thought someone was watching him wherever he went, and that the moment he came across any of his teachers, he would get lectured—except for maybe Teacher Li, who was probably too busy to care.

“Ouyang Jie?” a voice called out the moment he reached the first floor of the residence. “How did your closed-door cultivation go?”

Ouyang Jie jumped upon being called out. He turned to find Wu San, and it took everything not to wince when he recognized the student who was known for being a stickler for the rules.

“Yeah—it went well.”

“Oh, are you up for a spar, then? You must want to test out the results, right?”

“Um, maybe tomorrow.”

Before Wu San could respond, Ouyang Jie quickly departed from the lobby. He didn’t dare to look down, swiftly scurrying away. He used a few trees that weren’t there before as cover and hid for a whole minute before daring to peek out to check if he had a tail. When he saw no one, he let out a sigh of relief.

With the nerves gone, he quietly stood there, trying to remind himself why he had even come out in the first place.

That’s right. Stock up on food and check in with Teacher Wei about my progress.

Not wanting to intrude on anyone, Ouyang Jie decided it was best to rise into the sky, where he had a good vantage point to scout out where everyone else was first. As he flew into the air, he was momentarily stunned upon realizing the trees he had been taking shelter under weren’t as simple as he thought.

It would be false if he said he never wondered why someone would suddenly plant a set of trees there, but he never imagined they were purposefully placed there to form words.

It was something that could only be read if one was hovering in the sky. When that condition was met, it was painfully easy to see. It read 'Starpoint Island,' which Ouyang Jie instantly realized was the name for the island his peers had settled on while he had been holed up in his room.

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Teacher Wei is right, as always. I really do need to socialize more if I want to stay up to date with the happenings.

***

Time was running out for Li Lang. No one had set a particular deadline for him, but he felt it in the air. He would have to go recruit the next batch of students soon in order to meet his obligations and expand the reach of his nascent organization.

To accomplish that, he would need to ensure his members were properly equipped to carry out their tasks. That meant both proper equipment and training, of which he had neither.

Even for him, he only had a Mortal-grade artifact weapon, not to mention his students. While they were consistently making progress in their selected cultivation techniques, that alone wasn’t enough.

As a result of all these considerations, Li Lang had been multitasking to the best of his abilities, tackling them all at once. In terms of equipment, he had been working on a new version of the Weave Press, so he could supply their group with Earth-grade talismans. It happened to be one of the projects that seemed easiest to complete, having confirmed how easy it was for him to create artifacts when there were no size constraints and the desired functions were clear. It would also provide valuable resources to them overall, so it was selected from the long waiting list of projects to be completed.

Other than that, he was also working on a standardized curriculum, covering both mundane knowledge and cultivation techniques. That meant collecting all his students’ and companions’ experiences and trimming the fat from them. While mundane knowledge and cultivation techniques seemed to be two separate categories at first glance, Li Lang fully knew the power of what knowledge could do. His initial black hole cultivation method was only possible because of his prior studies.

Besides orthodox techniques, he also continued to work on the demonic ones, as well. Li Lang used his experience in devising his own cultivation technique to create a new demonic one. The first choice he had to make was between Qi pilfering and possession techniques. It didn’t take him long to settle on Qi pilfering, as it had fewer restraints on what a demonic cultivator could absorb from. It would also be a hassle to monitor the side effects of plundering from different types of Qi beasts.

The Qi pilfering types of techniques weren’t without drawbacks, though. The efficiency of absorption was much lower when used on Qi beasts compared to humans. The mental instabilities were an issue as well, but it was what Li Lang had been studying with the deviators.

Speaking of the deviators, Li Lang was working on recreating the Neuraflux drug that could temporarily address the issues their brains were suffering from. While it wasn’t a permanent fix, it was a good starting point to at least have something to show. Otherwise, he didn’t have the heart to introduce young cultivators down the path of demonic cultivation.

The last and final project Li Lang was working concurrently on was about willpower. This one was the lowest priority of all his projects. It was because it was something he would have to test with his new students, and even then, it would take some time for the results to show. So far, he had compiled several methods he believed could effectively increase willpower.

Once the new students were recruited, he would be conducting a multi-arm parallel trial, splitting them up into groups to try out the methods. While he felt sorry for the few who wouldn’t be given any particular instructions to act as a control group, as he was confident in his methodologies, it needed to be done.

It took another two weeks since Li Lang named their organization to complete all these tasks.

“Don’t let him go even if he starts speaking coherently,” Li Lang warned his two companions, who were holding down one of the deviators in their custody.

“Shouldn’t our friends from Sword Saint Isle do this instead? This guy will surely not be able to slip away under their grasp,” Long Yi complained.

“We’re mostly just observers,” Jun Ziyan answered. “At least when you’re not in danger, anyway.”

“You heard her,” Li Lang supported. “Now, be sure to hold him still.”

Li Lang didn’t waste any time positioning himself behind the unconscious deviator sitting with his head down against the table. Without hesitation, he plunged a needle into the man’s lower spine and injected its contents into him.

Once he was done, he leaned the man against the backrest of his chair. Nodding toward the bald man, Da Feng, he soon released his Qi art that had been keeping the deviators asleep throughout most of the day.

Then Wei Ping began tapping on their subject’s shoulder and calling out to him. Forcing the subject awake wasn’t the most graceful thing to do, but Li Lang wanted to monitor any changes in real-time.

With the effects of whatever Qi art that was used against him gone, it didn’t take long before the man’s eyes suddenly opened wide. To the audience’s surprise, the man looked straight up at the ceiling and bellowed at the top of his lungs.