The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 171: Test after Test

Having witnessed one strange behavior after the other from the supposed visitors from Yellow Qilin, Zhen Xing and his group could no longer take it. He abandoned his plan to practice his Qi art and strode straight to where Li Lang was.

“You there. Li whatever. What do you think you’re doing?”

Li Lang turned his head and found all four Rigid Squall Disciples standing over his shoulder.

“It’s just another test of ours. Don’t worry, they’re not in any danger.”

As soon as his words ended, the child before him began crying out in pain.

“I…I can’t! I give up! Make it stop!”

Right away, the Qi Li Lang had sent inside his body made its rounds around, cleansing away the toxins. While the child was instantly relieved, Zhen Xing’s concerns weren’t.

“Not in any danger, you say? What exactly are you injecting them with?”

Realizing the young master before him wouldn’t give up easily, Li Lang threw him a bottle of the poison they were using. It was the weakest of his collection and only caused discomfort, with no potential of being lethal.

“This… is weak, but it’s still poison! Are you seriously injecting this into these kids? You’ll stain your sect’s name by doing something like this…Which sect are you from again?”

“Umm, sorry, we can’t disclose that right now.”

“You! I’ve had enough of you. I’ve been putting up with all these strange antics of yours, but you won’t dare disclose where you’re from? You could be an agent from the Demonic Cultivator Territory for all I know!”

As Zhen Xing moved to grab Li Lang by the arm, Long Yi suddenly appeared and intervened. He intercepted the outreached arm and glared down at its owner.

Before either party could take further action, Li Lang quickly got in between the two.

“Let’s all calm down here. There’s no need for this right now.”

“Then you guys better stop with this strange test of yours! If it’s aptitude measuring tools you’re lacking, then I can lend you one. Otherwise, stop with your tests!”

“Thank you for your kind offer, but we don’t need it.”

“What in the world are you guys thinking? What could possibility be more important than measuring their aptitude?”

“Hmm, how about this? If this test upsets you so much, we can skip it and proceed to the next round.”

Zhen Xing took a few moments to gauge his surroundings, sizing Long Yi up before he finally nodded.

“That, and you pay up what you owe first.”

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

Seeing how it would cause issues if they continued with the poison test, Li Lang quickly changed things up and skipped to the next round.

Of course, they lacked that many written tests to hand out, so they had to come up with another test on the fly.

They considered dividing the groups into one where they would take the written test, while the others got interviewed instead. In fact, interviews were preferred, as they gave Li Lang and Wei Ping a chance to personally gauge the candidate. However, it did take a lot more time and effort. With a hundred people remaining, it wasn’t exactly doable in a timely manner.

“All of you,” Li Lang shouted out to the remaining participants. “Lay down with your stomach touching the ground! Good! Now get back to your feet. Keep repeating this until I tell you to stop.”

Without any preparation, Li Lang decided to have them do something simple. He wouldn’t make the children stop until half of them were eliminated. In a way, it was similar to the running test, but he didn’t mind. The point was to test both their willpower and their ability to endure.

Uneventfully, many of the children who were already fatigued from the previous test quickly dropped out. There were soon only fifty of them remaining. With the numbers finally down, Wei Ping wasted no time and started handing out the written tests.

All the questions were short answers, and many stumped the young cultivators in the making. For the few who couldn’t read, Li Lang or Wei Ping would read and write out the questions and answers for them.

“If you needed to figure out how hot the flames a fire Qi art could produce, how would you go about it?”

“What do you think is the most important quality of a cultivator?”

“If you practiced a technique for many months, to no avail, what would you do?”

After some time, when they were finally done, the trio reconvened to debate the results. This test was the most subjective of all the tests. It required them to make a judgment on who would be a good fit for them.

While they busied themselves with their discussion, Zhen Xing and his group also conversed about the strange trio as well. They made sure to have gotten far enough away that there was no chance of being overheard, even by other cultivators.

“So, what do you guys think I should set the prices to?” Zhen Xing asked his peers.

“Umm, it’s just some peasants, right?” one of his companions said. “As long as they aren’t someone our sect will take an interest in, just charge him ten Qi stones each.”

“Hmm, what do you think, Junior Lei?”

Having been called out, Lei Ying breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I wanted to say this earlier, but those three seem to be more wealthy than they appear. They’ve been paying you in red crystals, so I think you should ask for as much as you can get away with.”

“Red crystals,” Zhen Xing thoughtfully muttered. “I see. You’re right about that. They must’ve been given a handsome sum from their master or an elder. In that case, how about one red crystal each?”

“Hmm, they likely won’t be able to take away from than a dozen judging from what the townspeople say. They only came in one Skyrunner.”

“Junior, they just won’t pick anyone if we get too greedy, though.”

“How about you price them according to their aptitude? We have to check for it anyway since there’s no way our sect will allow for any talents with grade three aptitude or above to be taken from us. We can price grade three aptitude really high, so the price for grade two talents is more palatable in comparison.”

“Okay, there’s no need to overcomplicate it, then. We’ll go with that.”

What the Rigid Squall Sect disciples discussed was true. Li Lang’s party really did have limited space in their Skyrunner. It made their decision on who to pick especially difficult. That was why they began speaking to candidates who were neck and neck in contention, telling them about their conditions.

They told them there was some critical information that they would only learn upon signing a binding contract. However, once they did sign it, whether they accepted or not, they had to stay with their group until they left the province.

This naturally encouraged a few more candidates to retire until they finally just had to make a decision.

“Thank you, everyone, for your time today,” Li Lang announced to the crowd. “We have made a decision on who to accept. When I call out your name, please step forth.”

As evening approached, the spectators began to thin out. Those who stayed were browsing through the makeshift food stalls that had been set up at some point during the day. Once they heard Li Lang’s voice booming throughout the plaza, they quickly quieted down to listen to the conclusion of this event.

“Ouyang Jie, Ho…”

As those being called out assembled, Zhen Xing quickly approached with an aptitude orb in hand.

“Li whatever, as we discussed, if you plan on recruiting any of them, you’ll need our approval. Have those you’re interested in come take an aptitude test…though judging from their age, they may have taken one before,” Zhen Xing muttered as he watched the children who had been selected.

Most of them were on the older side, likely either eleven or twelve. A vast majority of those who were younger than ten had quit when they saw the eccentric tests. They still held hope for the other sects native to their hometown. This meant the ones Li Lang picked had a high chance of having once been rejected in their annual selection before.

“Understood. How about ten Qi stones per person?” Li Lang said with an innocent smile.

Zhen Xing immediately shook his head.

“We’re thinking more along the lines of five red crystals!”

“You must be kidding. There’s no way Energy Gatherers like us can afford that.”

“There’s no need to put on a show anymore. You may not have the money, but your master or whoever sent you sure does. There’s no need to worry about what’s not yours.”

“That—”

Before Li Lang could continue, Zhen Xing threw his hand up.

“No need for that. Here, I’m not unreasonable. Seeing you had paid for renting this venue already, I can come down to two crystals for those with grade one aptitude, four crystals for those with grade two, and an orange crystal for those with grade three aptitude. And of course, there’s no way we’ll let you take anyone with grade four aptitude or above.”

“Sure,” Li Lang quickly replied.

“If you still think that is too expensive, we can—wait what?”

Zhen Xing almost jumped back in surprise at the casual affirmation by the strange cultivator before him. It made him regret not setting the prices higher to begin with.

Seeing how silent his senior had gotten, Lei Ying placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Senior Zhen…”

“I know,” Zhen Xing said as he knocked his hand away. “Very well, we have a deal, then. Let’s start assessing their aptitude.”

With an aptitude orb in hand, the tests went by very fast. Li Lang had only selected twelve among the final fifty owing to their limited transportation capabilities. They were also reaching the limit of what they could safely handle as well.

They not only needed to guide these young disciples but also take care of them. They didn’t even have a permanent location to host them yet, so they couldn’t get too ahead of themselves.

Zhen Xing quickly had the selected children place their hands on the orb. A dull red light quickly shone out across the plaza.

“Grade one aptitude. Next! Grade one as well, next!”

As he assessed one after the other, Zhen Xing’s brows quickly knitted into a deep frown.