The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 52: Emberglow City

After speaking with the demonic cultivator, Jian Beiyun, the trio decided to accept his offer.

From their investigations, they found out that Jian Beiyun was a famous member of the Nightmoon Valley, a demonic cultivator sect that was widely known to be just in their conduct. As much as the righteous sects tried to paint all demonic cultivators in the same brush, it wasn’t possible to control the information as tightly within a neutral territory that bordered the Demonic Cultivator Territory.

It was only when the three kids corroborated this information from multiple sources that they became open to Jian Beiyun’s offer.

They also dug a lot of information pertaining to demonic cultivators and their rogue peers that earned them their infamous reputation. However, many details about what the Demonic Cultivator Territory was like were missing, as most people hadn’t been there.

After accepting the offer of heading to Emberglow City with Jian Beiyun, they had to wait until the end of the week for their new escort to finish up his business. Li Lang didn’t mind, as he could use the time to earn more money from refining pills and exploring the new stage of cultivation he recently arrived at.

“Is there really no way to measure exactly how much remaining Qi I have?” Li Lang sighed as he sat down in his lab.

“No, master. There isn’t such a tool or technique to my knowledge nor yours that can measure it precisely like you wish,” the artifact spirit responded regretfully.

Shaking his head, Li Lang stared down at his hand, which was giving off a soft glow. He had begun testing out his capabilities as someone who had stepped onto the fourth stage of Energy Gathering.

While the Qi enveloped his limbs, he was testing how much the expenditure was. So far, it was so minuscule it was hard for him to measure by feeling alone. He knew it did expend some Qi, but it quickly refilled naturally, so it was hard to get an accurate grasp.

At least my cultivation is progressing smoothly thanks to Elder Cao’s lessons…

Now that Li Lang was in the middle stages of Energy Gathering, his cultivation method had slightly differed from before. While he continued to gather more ambient Qi and stuffed it into his body, he now needed to do so while maintaining control of the Qi enveloping him as well.

It allowed him to absorb more by using up his reserves by wrapping Qi around his entire body while absorbing more to replace the expenditure. When he was done, his external Qi would return, and ‘jam’ into his body, exerting a stronger force than he could with just Qi manipulation to push his Qi capacity one step further.

It wasn’t long before Li Lang ran out of time and had to exit Ruby’s artifact space. He continued to allocate a few hours every day toward formulating the recipe for a drug that could eliminate the toxins built up from cultivating.

Unfortunately, today wasn’t the day he would make his long-awaited breakthrough in his research.

Coming back into reality, Li Lang glanced around the refining room and began cleaning up after himself. He sold the fruit of his labor at the front desk of the Alchemist Guild and then went to where his companions were waiting.

Today was the day they would be setting off with Jian Beiyun, and it appeared he was the last one to arrive.

“Good, you’re here.” Long Yi said. “I was about to come get you if you didn’t show up in a few more minutes.”

“D-do you have e-everything?”

“Yes, I’m ready. Thanks for bringing my Skyrunner along, Wei Ping.”

“N-no problem.”

The lone adult in the group clapped his hand to gather their attention.

“Let’s get on our way, then. It’s not safe to travel during the night, so the faster we head out, the better.”

“It was you who wanted to leave in the afternoon…” Li Lang muttered.

“That’s…I needed to finish my matters here. Stop complaining and let’s go.”

The group of four quickly hopped onto Li Lang’s Skyrunner and passed through the giant walls protecting Polarity City. They then got out of the vehicle once they arrived at a large clearing just outside the city.

At the wave of Jian Beiyun’s hand, another Skyrunner appeared, but one that had much more intricate decorations. It had red and golden cloth accenting the dark brown wood, and even at a glance, anyone could tell it wasn’t something cheap.

“As we discussed, I’ll be stowing your Skyrunner in my spacial ring while we’re traveling. I’ll return it once we arrive.”

“Understood.” Li Lang replied as he watched his Skyrunner disappear at another wave of the hand.

It couldn’t be helped, as his basic Skyrunner really was much slower than what Jian Beiyun had. By using the faster vehicle, they could cut their travel time and, more importantly, arrive on the same day.

The party soon took to the skies and flew their way south, into the Luminescent Domain.

“So demonic cultivators use Skyrunners too, huh? I thought they would be all about taming powerful Qi beasts as mounts.” Long Yi broke the silence with a question directed at their driver.

“Of course. We practice the five main crafts as well and have many Woodsmiths among us. It is hard for Qi beasts to beat out Skyrunners for long-distance journeys. Flesh and blood still tire over time, after all.” The demonic cultivator cheerfully replied from the little window at the front.

Long Yi took his reply as a signal to let loose all the questions he had pent up. He began to press the demonic cultivator with endless questions about the Luminescent Domain.

Li Lang and Wei Ping could only ruefully smile as they listened on the side.

Long Yi’s interrogation continued until the sun began to turn orange.

“Boys, we’ve arrived. Look down below, and there is Emberglow City. Our Nightmoon Valley has a branch office here, but the main sect that controls this territory is the Bloodwave Conclave. They are a nice bunch as long as you don’t get on their bad side, so head to them if you encounter any issues.”

The three boys stuck their heads out the window and peered down below, only to find a vast expanse of rugged canyon terrain stretching into the distance. Quite a few Skyrunners were flying around, but the most important part, the city, was missing.

“Umm, where exactly is this city?” Long Yi asked.

“You can’t really get a good look at it yet. Just wait a few moments!”

Right after Jian Beiyun said that, their Skyrunner abruptly veered down toward the ground before leveling again once they were within the canyon’s gorges.

The three kids didn’t have to wonder why they were there for long before they soon saw a giant cave alongside the cliff walls. The hole could easily fit four carriages side by side.

Jian Beiyun drove the Skyrunner into the cave, and they were instantly consumed by the dark tunnel. The cultivators all had to direct their Qi into their eyes to be even able to see.

They didn’t stay in the darkness for long as bright orange light soon lit up the corridors, growing brighter the further they ventured into the tunnel. That was because, on the cave walls, there were occasionally glowing crystals that lit up the corridor.

All of a sudden, their scene changed. They had exited out of the ‘narrow’ tunnels and came out into a spacious area with a ceiling height of hundreds of feet, and was flooded with light. That was because, sitting down below, a literal city was present. Bright torches and artifacts illuminated the underground city, and the sound of the boisterous city soon reached the travelers’ ears.

“This… was unexpected.” Li Lang couldn’t help but mutter.

“Ha, I’m not surprised, considering you’re from the territory of the righteous sects. Underground cities like this are only common within the Luminescent Domain because demonic cultivators used to have to hide and scurry around back when we were widely persecuted. Those idiots thought they banished us to a barren area only for our ancestors to discover rich underground resources.”

“And they now trade with you guys instead of claiming it for themselves again?”

“They don’t dare to try! By the time news of our resources was made public, we had already grown too strong for them to take on. That’s why they obediently trade with us now and leave the status quo as it is.”

The party soon found themselves above the city, and Jian Beiyun began searching for a place to land.

“A-are there n-no toll to p-pay or inspections t-to enter the city?” Wei Ping carefully asked as he glanced around.

“Unlike those uptight sects you’re used to, we usually prefer a more hands-off approach to managing the cities within our domain. As long as you don’t cause any trouble, there aren’t a whole lot of rules you have to follow.”

Before Wei Ping could ask any follow-up questions, a strange noise suddenly came from Jian Beiyun. He immediately fetched a glowing wooden token out of his waistband, with a frown on his face. After a brief moment, he landed the Skyrunner on an open plaza, right next to a water fountain.

“You should be safe as long you as you stay within the city. Unfortunately, I have something urgent to attend to, so I’ll have to take my leave here. I wish you kids good luck. Hopefully, we shall meet again in the future. Farewell.”

The man swiftly materialized Li Lang’s Skyrunner out from his spatial ring before taking his leave. The three boys quickly found themselves alone in the middle of the plaza.

“Umm…Are you guys sure we’ll be fine alone in Demonic Cultivator Territory?”

“...Nothing is certain, but maybe you should start referring to this place as Luminescent Domain.” Li Lang glanced around at the pedestrians who curiously gazed their way. “Based on our conversation with Senior Jian, I don’t think the locals would take kindly to that name.”