The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Everyone cleared the immediate area around Tang Yulian the moment she began her breakthrough. The Qi in the air stirred violently. Li Lang and the other spectators all kept an adequate distance away as they watched on.

While the members of the Eternal Wave sect scrutinized the visitors’ every movement, Li Lang was too absorbed in watching the proceedings to care.

The ambient Qi soon formed a vortex, centering around the young girl. Her navel began to visibly glow so brightly that not even her robes could hide it.

Li Lang focused Qi into his eyes to carefully observe every detail, but it was at times like this that he regretted not being able to use his Qi sense from range. As luck would have it, he did have late-stage Energy Gatherers nearby that could.

“Can you describe what you can sense? Is it going well?” Li Lang asked the young Sima Xue who had her eyes closed.

“Hmm, it’s still early, so everything is going fine. Yulian’s Qi is being compressed into her dantian and is holding up well. The Foundation Pill is doing its job too, forming a protective layer over it.”

Despite the hype behind the breakthrough, nothing special happened after it began. The Qi continued to gush toward Tang Yulian, under the eyes of everyone within the cave. The novelty soon wore off and became mundane to the spectators. This entire process lasted a whole eight hours.

If one paid careful attention throughout this time, one would be able to feel the density of Qi within Tang Yulian’s body increasing. To be precise, the Qi around her navel area specifically. Everywhere else had become barren, devoid of the powerful energy.

“Here comes the critical part. Yulian’s dantian has reached its capacity. She has to be able to condense it further,” Sima Xue muttered.

Not long after her words, the flow of Qi slowed and Tang Yulian grunted in pain. Her suffering was not light, but none of her companions batted an eye. Cultivation was never easy. Pain was just one of the challenges a cultivator had to face.

Her suffering wasn’t short-lived either. She remained in that painful state for another hour. Her entire robes were drenched in sweat and her face paled.

The atmosphere was so intense that Li Lang couldn’t even voice out his concern. He instinctively felt this was the critical part of the breakthrough. He didn’t want to distract Tang Yulian in any way. Otherwise, if she failed, he would have given her companions ammunition to fire his way. It was better to eliminate any potential sources of blame early.

The young woman continued to groan as the spectators empathized with her pain. They all silently cheered her on. That was why their expressions lightened when the girl in question suddenly shouted out.

“Ha!”

Her yelling was accompanied by the sound of furious waves. The aura she emitted rapidly changed. It became denser every moment. The drastic increase in heaviness it gave off, slightly disoriented the spectators. It took them a moment to recollect themselves. When they did, they still didn’t dare to speak in fear of interrupting the star of the show. They wordlessly stared at the back of the girl in light blue robes.

The only sound that rang out was Tang Yulian taking deep breaths. It was slow and steady. A few moments went by when everyone abruptly heard a cracking noise. Then, Qi began to gush out from Tang Yulian.

Her serene expression quickly turned grim.

“Oh, no…” Sima Xue mumbled.

“...What’s going on?”

Sima Xue glanced over at Li Lang with her mouth agape, and no sound came out. She was at a loss for words. That was because she knew exactly what was happening, but she hadn’t had the chance to explain it to Li Lang and his companions. Previously, she thought it would be bad karma to discuss instances of failure just before her friend’s attempt.

That meant Li Lang had no idea what was happening.

Only Sima Xue and the twins from the Eternal Wave sect knew that the breakthrough was failing. Her dantian was cracked, causing it to rapidly lose Qi. She was only safe now because of the Foundation Pill. Normally, when one failed, the dantian in the navel area would violently explode with all the concentrated Qi. It would be fatal, without a doubt.

The Foundation Pill created a barrier around the dantian, and let the Qi slowly escape over time instead of all at once, saving the practitioner’s life.

Just as everyone came to terms with the failed attempt, the person in question did not. Tang Yulian had come from a long line of cultivators within the Eternal Wave Sect. She had many siblings, which meant they were always compared to each other. This made Tang Yulian a competitive person. A person who refused to lose.

That was how she had gotten her position as the most talented disciple of recent generations.

Given time, everyone believed she was a leading contender for the position of head disciple. It wasn’t easy to meet these expectations, especially with an existing head disciple in his forties.

The implication of this failure swiftly rang through Tang Yulian’s mind. The setbacks would have numerous repercussions. This fueled her willpower.

“I refuse to fail!” she blurted out.

Suddenly, the Qi gushing out of her slowed. Then it entirely ceased before flowing in reverse, going back into her body.

“Senior sister…She’s doing it!”

“Quiet you! This is still a crucial moment.”

The same process replayed itself from the start. The Qi became denser.

Right as Li Lang thought was the end of the breakthrough, a bright flash of light suddenly filled his vision. Lightning had somehow struck the cultivator despite being indoors.

Even so, no one was concerned for Tang Yulian’s safety. That was because they knew she was struck by tribulation lightning! It was a sign she had succeeded. At this stage, it was rarely a serious challenge and only served to benefit the receiver. It was another perk the Foundation Pill offered.

The twins tightly held onto each other. Whether it was for comfort or to hold each other back was unknown to Li Lang. However, he did know when the flow of Qi slowed down, and the breakthrough was likely over for good this time. Seeing the two twins burst out in tears reinforced this notion.

Sniffing could be heard from Sima Xue as well, before the twins could be spotted running straight at Tang Yulian. They came to a full stop right before her and kneeled by her side, wiping the sweat from her. What they didn’t expect was Sima Xue bulldozing her way through them, tackling her friend into a hug.

“Yulian, you did it!” she cried.

The person in question tried to get up, but quickly gave up and plopped herself back down. She then weakly muttered in a quiet voice.

“Yes…”

It was evident she was exhausted, so Li Lang’s trio swiftly departed. It was improper for them to stare any longer. Tang Yulian’s clothes were disorderly from all the sweating, and she needed a break. They could already tell the formidable aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator emanated from her. They could ask her about the details at another time.

Somehow, the news of her successful breakthrough quickly spread to all the disciples guarding the entrance outside. Deafening cheers could be heard as the trio made their way out. It was exactly under the festive mood that the trio departed.

They quickly went back around into the main building, opting to return to their usual matters. All three of them decided to do some training in their own rooms.

“That was something,” Long Yi commented as they walked.

“Y-yeah. It really s-showed the importance o-of a Foundation Pill,” Wei Ping answered.

“No kidding. I’m kind of glad Li Lang accepted that job from Tai Xilun now.”

“It’s g-good we got to observe. There’s s-still a long time before it is o-our turn, but we can p-prepare early.”

The trio continued for several more steps when both Wei Ping and Long Yi turned to Li Lang in unison. The boy with a large head kept walking, not noticing their antics at all. It prompted the two to chase him. Even then, they had to tap him on the shoulders to get his attention.

“Are you okay, Li Lang?”

“Oh…sorry. I was lost in thought. What were you saying?”

“...You know what. I’m not surprised. We can talk about it another time when Tang Yulian recovers. For now, let’s continue our training and ensure we don’t lose a trial point today.”

Li Lang nodded, and the trio swiftly disbanded and went into their own rooms. They each had skills to hone if they wanted to pass the round that had previously stumped them in the trials. However, Li Lang alone did nothing when he got into his room. He sat there on the bed with his eyes closed.

That was because he delved into Ruby’s artifact space and was typing out all his observations onto the computer. He didn’t want to forget any details, and it allowed him to organize his thoughts. Once he was done recording, he sat there with arms crossed as he reviewed his findings.

Interesting. So Qi should be like that after all…