The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 166: Assembling the Villagers

Tong Jia, the guard of a humble village, guided Li Lang’s group toward a decently sized house. From the outside, it looked like there was room for at least a large family to live in it. However, it paled in comparison to the Zi estate where Li Lang had once lived.

The Zi residence was within a large walled-off piece of land with several buildings on it. To Li Lang, it could be described as a mansion, while the one currently before them was a single large house.

“This is the mayor’s place. Please wait here while I go see if he is in condition to talk,” the guard cautiously chose his words.

Li Lang didn’t hesitate and nodded, watching the town guard off while he surveyed all the other houses in the area. He was told the mayor was injured, so he didn’t mind the delay. Still, the guard was careful with his words lest he offended the powerful cultivators.

There wasn’t much to look at while they waited, as the village didn’t have much to offer. They couldn’t even spot any inns or stores, with there only being small houses strewn around here and there with no order to them.

There may have been few things to see, but Li Lang’s group didn’t have to wait long before the door to the mayor’s house opened. The guard returned while supporting an old man out with him. There were also several faces peeking out from within the residence.

“Thank you for coming all this way just to find an old man like me,” the old man greeted with a bow. “I am Hui Pengfong, the representative of Mu Xia Village.”

“No need to be so polite,” Li Lang replied. “We’re the ones who have intruded into your village without any notice.”

His words caused the old man to be taken aback for a second as he lifted his head to get a better look at the people before him. He then brought his hand up and coughed into it a few times before it settled.

“May I ask what purpose you have to visit our humble village? Is there anything we can assist you with?”

This time, it was Li Lang’s turn to pause as he gathered his words.

“We’re mainly traveling through here, so you don’t have to mind us. Just maybe point us to an inn if you have one here. If not, someplace where we can camp out would work as well. Oh, and your permission to interview any promising child who seeks to cultivate.”

“Our village is too remote to support an inn, but you can stay here if you would like. As for this interview…I presume you seek to recruit them?” the mayor asked with a pointed look.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then, if I may, can I ask which sect you hail from? Forgive me, but you three don’t seem to be from the Rigid Squall Sect.”

The trio had discussed how they would conduct themselves once in righteous sect territory. It would be foolish to claim to be from the demonic cultivator territory or impersonate members of other sects. Admitting to be independent cultivators gave them a flimsy background at best, which also wasn’t ideal. They quickly settled on trying to give away as little information as possible to let the other party draw their own conclusion. They would allude to others that they were traveling incognito from a certain sect.

“You’re right. We’re not. In fact, I can’t say I’m from any particular sect. We’ve just been traveling, but our mentors instructed us to take on disciples if we happen to come across someone worth training. The act of teaching helps one learn, our mentor would say.”

Li Lang’s words caused the mayor to frown as he put on a thoughtful look while Wei Ping and Long Yi glanced around nervously at the scene.

“Is something the matter?” Li Lang asked.

“Hmm, I’m not sure how to politely convey this, so I’ll just preface this by telling you there are some rules set by the sect that oversees this area. One of those rules includes needing their permission to recruit anyone from this village.”

“Then…we can go speak to them, but can we see if there is anyone we actually plan to take on first? There’s no point going through everything only for us not to recruit anyone.”

“I’m not exactly well-informed regarding the details and interpretation of these rules. Though if I had to guess, it should be fine.”

“Thank you, and we’ll take you up on your offer to stay here. We’ll be leaving tomorrow, so no need to prepare anything for us.”

With the difficult conversation out of the way, the mayor visibly relaxed as they continued to chat.

Seeing their host scrambling to get rooms ready for them, Li Lang tactfully excused his group with the excuse of taking a look around. It wasn’t exactly an excuse, as he did intend to start searching for any prospective talents to recruit.

They only had one day to finish up before they resumed their travels to the nearby city, where it was much more populous. They had to make each second count.

Thankfully, there was a large gathering already around the mayor’s house. They had been here in curiosity, observing the visitors to their village. Only those who were busy with work were absent.

Seeing the perfect opportunity, Li Lang channeled some Qi into his vocal cords to project his voice to everyone present.

“People of Mu Xia Village! I thank your village’s hospitality for allowing us to stay for the night.” Li Lang paused and saw the people in the crowd nod at him with a smile. “While we’re only passing by, we wanted to see if any of the children in this village would like to train under us.”

Immediately, the silence was broken as a rush of whispers sounded throughout the plaza. The kids were even shouting in excitement.

“Awesome! Does this mean I have another chance to be recruited?”

“Hey! What sect are you guys from?”

As a high-level Energy Gatherer, it wasn’t hard for Li Lang to pick up the words through all the background noises.

“Before we proceed, I wanted to clarify that we’re not from Vermillion Dragon. If you would like to go with us, you’ll be taken to somewhere far away. Anyone between the ages of eight to twelve is welcomed.”

This caused the adults’ gazes to become more skeptical while the kids became more excited instead.

The adults questioned why there was such a wide age range compared to usual, while the children were mesmerized by the possibility of exploring the world and finding treasures. That was especially so for the children who had previously failed at being recruited already.

Li Lang didn’t care to elaborate.

“So, if you’re still interested, please come with us to the clearing outside the village. We’ll be doing our tests there!”

Without missing a beat, Li Lang summoned his Skyrunner from within his space ring and the trio instantly hopped on, flying away. They glanced down at the crowd that watched on in elation, all the way until they were out of sight.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Long Yi asked as he surveyed the grassy plain.

“I thought you didn’t want to be part of the recruiting process?”

“Well, doesn’t mean I don’t want to learn about it.”

Li Lang shared a look with Wei Ping before they both rolled their eyes.

“Fine, keep it your little secret.”

While the trio waited for people to arrive, they each spent their time catching up on their own things. Traveling in a Skyrunner was great and all, but it didn’t give them much room to work with. There were many techniques they couldn’t train while on the road, even discounting the very physical ones, like those needing total focus. The five crafts were in this category.

Seeing how there wasn’t much time, Li Lang summoned his pill furnace and the relevant materials before getting to work. He had been working on a small project on the side within Ruby’s lab to relax and refresh his mind.

As a side project, the research goal wasn’t to produce the most efficient or viable way to do something. Instead, it focused on something a little more fun, taste.

Throughout the years spent in the pocket realm, the trio had sampled more than enough Nourishment Pills. While they kept your stomach full, it didn’t change the fact they tasted disgusting, and Li Lang wanted to change that.

He half thought of this project as a way to improve their conditions the next time they were in a similar situation and half as a viable commercial opportunity.

All those cultivators retreating into closed-door cultivation can’t possibly be satisfied with the taste, right?

Aiming to address this issue, Li Lang had spent his free time experimenting with the herb combinations while keeping the Nourishment Pill’s effects the same. He also wanted to deepen his understanding of alchemy while playing around, but he soon found it more complicated than he had suspected.

That led him to focus on the easier method. To allow the Nourishment Pill itself to remain the same while encapsulating it within something tastier. While Li Lang would’ve preferred to use an enteric coating, it wasn’t something easy to produce without synthetics like polymers. This had turned his tests into somewhat of a cooking experiment.

While he had eventually found something that was able to cover up the harsh and pungent taste, he was still experimenting with different flavors.

Still, he produced this first prototype version regularly to build up a stock of it. Even if he made improvements later, he could just market it as the basic flavor.

His pill refining inadvertently created a fume of smoke, spreading a sweet scent across the entire village. It attracted the villagers to follow them to the outskirts of the settlement. It wasn’t long before they caught up, though there were visibly fewer of them.

They watched on in awe at the blue flames from Li Lang’s furnace, the flashy moves Long Yi and Wei Ping were practicing. They knew not to disturb them as they waited for these mysterious cultivators to turn their attention to them.

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