The Science of Cultivation

Chapter 13: A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

Twenty days after Li Lang had visited the various guilds in Xiang Yang and spent most of his fortune on a talisman, his plan was finally coming to fruition.

During this entire time, he had closed himself off at his inn, cultivating, eating, and sleeping. He kept a low profile and avoided trouble. It would have been exceptionally boring if he didn’t have Ruby to talk to and the re

Li Lang was mindful to keep a distance away, but there was a limit to how far he could be without losing track of them through all the bushes around. He was just close enough to listen in on their conversation.

“Leader, allow me to keep watch this time! I recently succeeded in practicing Clear Jade Farsight!” A young teenager proudly declared to a man with grizzly hair.

Before the leader could reply, one of the men who was crouched down harvesting herbs loudly asked the person beside him.

“When did our group get hold of something as valuable as a cultivation technique?”

Having heard their companion’s question, they all erupted into laughter.

“Hahaha, don’t let the name fool you, Wang Quan. It’s just the basic technique to enhance your eyes with Qi. Yi Wen over there came up with some grand name when the kid asked him about it while he was drunk!”

The kid who was so proud just a second before blushed in embarrassment at the revelation, and the group only erupted into another round of laughter, but the leader quickly put a stop to it.

“Focus on your work! If your hands stop, then your mouths stop. We’re no longer in the city, so lookouts, be on your guard. Kid, you’ve already been assigned your role for this trip. We can talk about it next time.”

The men soon resumed their harvesting, and Li Lang didn’t miss a second of it. The material gatherer’s guild had a detailed description of how to properly harvest the herbs, but it still paled in comparison to a live demonstration, albeit from a distance.

However, he wasn’t able to watch in peace as the lookouts did their jobs and managed to spot the child with an abnormally large head.

“You there! What are you doing sneaking around us?”

The group of men all turned over in his direction at the same time, and one of them kicked off the ground and dashed toward him in a blur. He was so quick that Li Lang only had time to fall flat on his butt before the man arrived right before him.

“Brat? What are you doing? You lost?” the leader of the group said with a frown as he towered over the strange child.

His men quickly caught up to him and one of them exclaimed in surprise when he saw Li Lang.

“Boss, that’s the weird kid with the big head I was talking about before. The one who boldly signed up at the guild.”

“...So you’re trying to gather up herbs like us? You think you’re clever trying to hang around us for protection? There are rules in this business, brat, and you’d do well to learn them.”

“...Boss, he’s just a kid.”

“You think I don’t know? I started in this business when I was just—”

The leaves suddenly rustled violently and the entire group tensed up and looked all around them. The expression of the entire group quickly became tense as their leader shouted out his commands.

“Gather up around and prepare the—”

He didn’t have a chance to finish when a dark brown leopard abruptly jumped down from a tree and bit down on the captain’s shoulder. The leopard pinned the man down with lightning speed.

Everything happened within an instant. Blood splashed onto Li Lang’s face and the only thing he could hear were the cries of the man before him.