The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 165: Departing Once More

The next morning, Li Lang’s group, along with Sima Xue and the bunch from Eroding March Pavilion, all assembled outside the gates of Polarity City once more.

They had discussed many things last night, and one of them was how Elder An would be escorting them today.

Despite the ambush they suffered from the previous day, both the trio and Sima Xue decided to leave again the next morning. There were many reasons they had taken into consideration before making such a decision. Sima Xue had successfully defeated her enemy, while Li Lang’s ambusher had retreated. This could result in the escaped assailant calling for backup, so it was wise to keep moving.

At the same time, the crew from Eroding March Pavilion planned to leave quickly as well. The ambushes were targeted at them, so the less time the enemy had to prepare, the better. They had even already contacted their organizations by means of transmission jade, so they had additional escorts coming, too. By closing the distance from their end, it would just make their rendezvous that much faster.

“Again, are you sure just escorting you guys across the mountain range is enough?” the elder asked. “I could even bring you just to the edge of the Luminescent Domain if you want.”

Elder An, just like his junior members, had also offered to compensate Li Lang’s party for getting them involved. With Sima Xue already declining in their stead, Li Lang didn’t push for a reward either at her advice. In the worst case, accepting could just somehow drag them deeper into their mire.

Instead, they settled on escorting them part of the way to Vermillion Dragon.

“No thank you, Elder. I don’t want to delay you guys too much, only to allow your enemies to set up an ambush. Just while we’re heading in the same direction is fine.”

“Elder An,” Sima Xue called out. “Just let it be. If you still feel unsatisfied, consider it a favor to be repaid in the future. I’m sure these three will not be seeing the end of trouble anytime soon.”

“...Why would you jinx us like that?” Li Lang muttered.

“Your penchant for investigating everything and getting involved based on emotions will inevitably land you in hot water again and again.”

Both Wei Ping and Long Yi let a chuckle escape from them, causing Li Lang to shake his head before ignoring them and bringing out his golden brown Skyrunner.

During the debriefing the night before, he had found out that Long Yi and Wei Ping had been watching him ever since he had signaled for help with the smoke. They hadn’t realized he had lost his space ring at first and kept their distance, allowing them to watch everything that had unfolded.

Once Li Lang had hopped onto Yun Ming’s mount and sped off, they even retrieved his Skyrunner before giving chase. As expected, they were slower than the two Foundation Establishment cultivators. By the time they caught up, Li Lang had already flown off into the distance again, as the matter was resolved.

They then drove the Skyrunner back and arrived a few hours later, owing to their slower mode of transport.

Having reunited with his Skyrunner due to a stroke of luck, three vehicles took to the skies under the early morning light. All of them flew east.

They reached the area where they had split off from Sima Xue previously and parted ways with her there again.

With Elder An tailing behind them, they ventured further into the mountain ranges for a full day before camping out in the wilderness.

They quickly set up camp once the sun was down at the behest of the elder.

“You kids better remember not to travel during nighttime around these ranges. There are some powerful nocturnal Qi beasts that have better detection abilities than anything that moves around in the day. They’ll easily spot you.”

“You don’t have to tell us twice. When is traveling during the night a good idea?” Long Yi said with a smile.

It made the Elder shake his head.

“Anyway, traveling has become so much easier with a space ring,” Li Lang commented. “We can take out warmed food that was already prepared and carry several times more.”

“That is something to worry about too, youngling. You should hide your space rings, especially when you enter those righteous bunches’ territory. They steal as easily as they lie, so with your cultivation, you’re only alluring targets to them.”

“T-they can’t be all b-bad, right?”

This time, Wei Ping’s comments made the elder scoff. He didn’t even bother to reply, but gave Wei Ping a meaningful look.

“Elder An, please,” Gui Hong reminded.

After that, they moved on to more mundane topics before turning in early. The elder himself told them they didn’t need to take shifts to keep watch with him around, so they slept soundly despite being out in the woods.

Like that, they traveled for another two days.

During one early afternoon, the two parties finally parted ways. They had gone as far east as they could together. Now Elder An’s party only needed to head directly south, while Li Lang’s group had to continue northeast.

They had veered off the commonly trodden path a little, but with the advice of the elder, and generous use of talismans, the trio made it back to the safe routes and then out of the mountain ranges after another two days.

“Finally, it’s not all trees and mountains anymore. I almost went crazy, thinking we were trapped in some illusion or something,” Long Yi blurted out as he stretched his back.

“Hmm, it shouldn’t be long until we make it to some semblance of civilization. Right, Wei Ping?”

The shorter man with the mask replied without looking up from the rough map they had in hand.

“There s-should be some villages a-around, but the map didn’t m-mark them properly. The nearby city is a f-full day away. Then o-our destination should be another t-two days away from there.”

“Is this really worth it to just deliver some letter for that creepy brat?” Long Yi asked without any filter whatsoever.

“I hadn’t said anything yet in case some expert overheard us back in Polarity, but this trip isn’t about delivering the letter. It’s just an excuse for us to come back into righteous sect territory without drawing suspicions.”

“Suspicions? Aren’t we plenty suspicious enough just by being here?”

“N-no, boss is referring t-to being suspicious to the demonic cultivators.”

“That’s right. We still have to keep up our facade of being demonic cultivators. Luckily, we’re not part of any close group, so no one is really around us most of the time to see us cultivating.”

“L-Lady Xue probably knows o-or suspects something.”

“I doubt she would care. She’s from Nightmoon Valley, and they have no reason to turn against us, even if they knew. It’s only the rogue demonic cultivators that we’re trying to fool, so they don’t attack us. The rest is just so they don’t start gossiping and leaking the news to the orthodox sects.”

“R-right. The demonic organizations m-may not be interested, but t-the orthodox people will d-definitely be interested in something that allows p-people with our aptitude to cultivate s-so fast.”

“So we’re going to be whisking away some kids in this first village we find?” Long Yi asked with a frown.

“No you idiot, we’re just going to recruit them normally!” Li Lang instantly countered.

“Oh, I doubt they’d want to come with us to demonic territory, though.”

“That’s why we had to pick our targets carefully. We’ll be telling them most of our secrets. While we have some binding contracts, that’ll tell us if they breach our terms, we can’t really do much if they go and tattled on us to an expert. That’s why everyone we ask must stay with us until we leave the province.”

“No problem, leave it to me. I’m pretty good at reading people’s hearts.”

Neither Li Lang nor Wei Ping reacted to the claims produced by the tallest among them. His input was welcomed, but they didn’t plan on skipping their thorough investigation into the background of candidates as they had planned.

As they discussed the various things they’ll need to support their recruiting, they soon spotted some smoke in the distance. It marked where several dozens of homes lay, and they headed straight for it without hesitation.

The skies were clear, and the trio made no efforts to hide their approach. Soon, they landed just outside a village, where a man wielding a spear quickly stepped forth and got on one knee.

“Esteemed Experts, welcome to Mu Xia Village. I am Tong Jia, a humble guard here. Our mayor happened to hurt his back a few days ago, so if you would, I can lead you to him.”

The trio could tell the man was in the fifth stage of Energy Gathering. It was quite good for the average commoners, as they usually gave up when they reached their first bottleneck in the third stage. Only those with more wealth and ambitions continued to strive toward immortality.

“Understood, please lead the way,” Li Lang declared in a firm tone.

They had to play the part of the expert now. In fact, they were experts in this village’s eyes. Owning a Skyrunner wasn’t something even Li Lang’s adoptive father could do, and he was a wealthy merchant. Not only that, he was also at the peak of Energy Gathering. It demonstrated how important connections were.

Practicing crafts wasn’t something easy to do without being in an organization and a few years of practice. It naturally led to the guard mistaking the trio as people hailing from a sect, where they could easily purchase Skyrunners.

As he led the way through the village, it was inevitable that people poked their heads out wherever they went. They were curious about the visitors to their village. The children, in particular, were especially brave. They ran out of their houses and even tailed them from a short distance.

It was a scene that was completely normal for the trio. Li Lang himself had some vague memories of growing up in such villages. All the kids yearned to join a powerful sect, becoming a hero, and bringing glory to their hometown. They would pretend to be cultivators while they played, and dreamed of being whisked away to one of the great sects.

While the children watched the trio’s every movement with sparkly eyes, Li Lang also closely examined them.

Hmm, will we find anyone suitable in this village already? Preferably, I want them to have a good character and strong willpower. They should be brave and obedient enough to do what I ask of them and pave the way forward for us.

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