“I’m Li Lang. Have you spoken with any of my students already?”
The forr deviator frowned as he eyed the newcor up and down, as if trying to see through him. His unkempt facial hair and scar that ran down from his right temple all the way down to his chin made it quite intimidating.
“Yeah, so you’re the one in charge?”
“You can say that. It seems you’ve recovered quite well since I last saw you. Do you mind if I ask a few questions to ensure everything is okay?”
The man slowly nodded, never taking his gaze off Li Lang.
“Okay. First off, what’s your na?”
“Niu Ben.”
“Nice to et you, Niu Ben. Do you know where you are?”
“No.”
“Hmm, do you rember where you’re from?”
“Luminescent Domain,” he replied as his eyes narrowed warily. “And yes, I’m a demonic cultivator.”
Li Lang shrugged and proceeded to sit down next to the table nearby.
“Were you a mber of any organizations? If so, do you know what year it currently is relative to its founding?”
Cultivators didn’t share a unified calendar, and each force had its own. Li Lang found it quite awkward at tis, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.
“No,” the man slowly replied as he crossed his arms, slowly tapping a finger in annoyance.
“No worries, let’s move on. Can you na three unrelated objects for ? Anything would do.”
This ti, Niu Ben raised an eyebrow instead of answering.
“Please, Niu Ben. It won’t be long. I promise.”
“I don’t care about how long this’ll take, but I don’t like being treated like a child!”
“I assure you, that’s not my intention. I just need to assess how you are.”
Snickering to himself, the man finally looked away but relented.
“Sword, wine, mountain.”
“Can you repeat that?”
The forr deviator breathed in heavily through his nose before complying.
“Sword, wine, and mountain! Happy?”
“Yes, very. Now, what is one hundred subtracted by seven?”
“Ninety-three.”
“Subtracted by another seven?”
“Eighty-six.”
Striking the iron while it was hot, Li Lang unleashed a barrage of questions. It ranged from various mathematical questions to writing sentences. He would even get him to recite a poem, only to have him repeat it again backwards. Then, he brought out various items from his space ring, asking him to na each of them.
Sensing Niu Ben’s irritation growing, Li Lang promptly wrapped up the questioning.
“Repeat the three unrelated words you ntioned earlier.”
It seed Niu Ben was really reaching the limit. He shot up from the bed, walked over to sit across from Li Lang, and leaned in.
“Sword! Wine! Mountain!” he yelled. “Did I speak loud enough for you to hear ?”
“Very good. I think that’s all for now. If you have any questions for , I’d be happy to answer them, but it seems I only have ti for a few.”
“So you’re finally willing to entertain a prisoner like , eh? Or are you going to say that you only permitted to ask, but didn’t promise an answer?”
Tilting his head, Li Lang glanced toward the entrance to this apartnt, wondering just what had his students said to the man.
“Um, I’m not sure what my students told you, but you’re not a prisoner.”
“Not a prisoner? That’s rich! How co they won’t let go, then?”
“It’s—for your own safety. I don’t know if they told you this already, but when we found you, you were a mindless deviator already. Do you rember anything about that?”
“What?!” This ti, Niu Ben was truly stupefied. His mouth was left agape for a few monts before denial kicked in. “You’re lying to ! There’s no way that’s true. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be speaking to you right now. I’d be ripping you to shreds!”
“Calm down,” Li Lang placated, gesturing for him to sit down. “We’re not here to lie to you. We—”
“Nonsense! You orthodox dogs know nothing but to sche and lie. Stop with the gas and execute if you wish.”
Niu Ben’s Qi began rising rapidly, as if he were about to attack. It caused the door to the room to burst open as Xiao Dong rushed in.
“We’re not in the orthodox sects’ territory!” Li Lang yelled, ignoring the questioning gaze from his student, asking him if he could take action. “We’re still in the Luminescent Domain, albeit on the outskirts. You can leave if you want, but what we did to cure you was only temporary. You may relapse if you leave!”
This caused Niu Ben to calm down imdiately. He himself knew best about his condition. Every recent attempt he had to absorb the essence from Qi beasts to further his cultivation was t with difficulties. There was no doubt he had been dancing around the line toward deviation, but it wasn’t sothing he was willing to admit.
It was a common way of thinking among many demonic cultivators who had seen rapid progress and no elder there to properly guide them. They thought themselves to be special, an outlier to the rules that could push it further than anyone else.
“Did I truly deviate, and you sohow cured ? That’s—ridiculous! Deviators don’t just co back!”
“They may one day, if my research makes good progress. I can’t speak for those who had turned many years ago, but there’s a good chance for those who only deviated in recent years to be cured. It’d take years for to co up with a permanent solution, though, and ti isn’t exactly a resource I have much of. Still, I need you to cooperate to make it happen.”
Niu Ben’s bloodshot eyes peered over at Li Lang. A flurry of emotions flickered across his face.
“You better not be lying to , or you’d wish you killed .”
Li Lang nodded with a small chuckle escaping from him. “Of course.”
“Then—what do you need to do?”
“That can co later. For now, just rest. Soon, there will be more like you. I’ll need you to explain to them about their situation then, as it’d be much more convincing coming from you. Feel free to wander around our island here and learn about the current situation of Violet Isle. I’ll co get you when I need you.”
***
With the matter regarding the demonic deviators settled for now, Li Lang raced into the Crucible to make use of the three days of free ti he had earned himself. There were nurous heavenly resources and pills from Kan Wuji’s crypt, waiting for him to analyze. Then, there were also all the various plans he had with the crafts that would supplent their economic situation.
Now that there were so many Foundation Establishnt cultivators in their midst, the sales of Mortal-grade resources weren’t enough to support them and their research. It was about ti he got started in establishing Earth-grade ventures and trade routes from their new ho.
As the auto-analyzer worked furiously in analyzing the contents of his recent spoils, Li Lang began working on more ways to make a profit.
He created more Weave presses to create a larger variety of Earth-grade talismans. Following that trail of thought, artificer skills were utilized to create production equipnt. Through his countless attempts at creating artifacts, he still found more success creating sothing that had little size constraint and had a clear purpose. That ant various machinery from the modern world were his current best bet. The weave press was just one example of it.
Having been enlightened, various new artifacts started popping up. The only constraint was his lack of beast cores, so he focused on the most financially lucrative machines first.
As pills were what earned him his first pot of gold, it was natural that they would be one of his main focuses. Li Lang pulled out the design software in his lab and was entirely absorbed in designing a new, specialized pill furnace, much like the Weave press.
That ant it would no longer be a single furnace, and more of an assembly line, with various sections dedicated to a process of the production. While pills used a variety of materials and techniques to create different results, there were a few ingredients that were almost always used. For example, the Jade Leaves were the most used dium to bind other ingredients together.
As Li Lang lost himself in Ruby’s artifact for days, he soon ca up with the blueprints for sothing that could simplify the process for creating Earth-grade Recovery Pills. It was chosen over the Nourishnt Pill because of its perpetual high demand.
Nourishnt Pill beca less and less of a necessity as cultivators broke through each major realm. Their physiological needs lessened, and the difference in value between a Mortal-grade and Earth-grade Nourishnt Pill wasn’t as much as that of Recovery Pills. Unlike the need for sustenance, healing beca more difficult as a cultivator’s cultivation deepened. A Mortal-grade Recovery Pill was less effective for Foundation Establishnt cultivators, which ant the demand for high-tier healing pills was always high.
Three days easily beca six days under the influence of Ruby. Li Lang erged from his closed-door session with the satisfaction of completing a lot, but his glee was quickly robbed away by the panicked report he got from his students.
“Teacher Li, there’s a high-priority ssage coming from the Rolling Tide Sect! They say it’s about Long Yi!”
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