The Science of Cultivation-Chapter 267: A Clean Break

With a recess in session, the cultivators in the Dark Sea Arena could be seen wandering all over the place.

Just from taking a stroll during such a time, Li Lang was able to overhear many things. While the elders and senior members of various forces chatted privately amongst themselves or with their peers, their more junior disciples still spoke freely. From what he heard, he got a glimpse of what these forces thought.

It didn’t surprise Li Lang that it was ultimately split between two options.

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The endure option was to simply ignore the attack by the Abductress and continue on with their lives. This was most favored among the forces that hadn’t suffered any casualties. To them, they were barely involved. They got a good show during the attack, and now they wanted to be done with this ordeal. It wasn’t worth spending their resources to formulate a response on behalf of others.

Opposing the endure option was the retaliation plan. With the reputation of the Abductress, Li Lang thought the cultivators would be more lukewarm to this plan before, but then Polarity City’s proposal turned everything around. A viable avenue of retaliation had opened up. People were on the fence due to the implications of further empowering Polarity City.

If Polarity City got too strong, as the only party facilitating trade between the demonic cultivators and orthodox cultivators, they would be able to get away with increasing their fees. As neither party wanted to deal with the other, they were at the mercy of the neutral merchants from Polarity City if they wanted to continue trading. There was already a certain upcharge the middleman imposed. No one enjoyed having their cost of trade increased if they could help it.

For that exact reason, the representative from Polarity City could be seen being overwhelmed by all the people who wanted to obtain reassurances from him. Li Lang quickly walked by this crowd and proceeded to where his closest allies were.

He found a large gathering of Nightmoon Valley disciples in their seats, surrounded by people from dozens of other organizations.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to squeeze our way through that,” Long Yi commented.

“Maybe w-we should come back later?” Wei Ping suggested.

Li Lang nodded. The break had just started, so the various organizations from the Luminescent Domain were understandably eager to converge on a single stance together. Demonic cultivators had fewer people and territories compared to the righteous sects. The main strength that allowed them to stay on equal footing with their nemesis was their unity.

Moving on, the next party they encountered was the cultivators wearing their distinctive black and red robes. Li Lang had spotted a few of their members in the crowd around Nightmoon Valley, so thankfully, there weren’t that many people vying for their attention around their main group.

In fact, their acquaintance spotted them first and came to greet them.

“Li Lang—you sure have a lot of friends with you this time around,” Tai Xilin muttered as he approached.

“Senior Tai, you don’t seem to be the type to come to greet us, either. Guess that means we’re both doing something uncharacteristic.”

“Heh, more like he used us to get away from those people over there,” Long Yi chuckled as he gestured to the group that the Bloodwave Conclave disciple had escaped from. “It must be nice being so popular. What was it that they called you again? The Blood Prince?”

“You—”

“Apologies for his crass behavior, Senior Tai. He’s been bored, so I ask that you overlook it. Besides, I wanted to discuss more important matters.”

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“Oh, have you decided to do your big reveal today? It’s not a bad idea, but remember that we can’t promise any substantial support without any details.”

“Hmm, I’d still like to keep it to myself until the last moment. Just remind your elders that I am willing to reserve a certain quota for your organization, as promised. You’ll know what I mean by that when the time is right.”

“Then my answer to you remains the same. We will retain a wait-and-see approach.”

“That’s fine.”

Li Lang’s group chatted with Tai Xilun for a little longer about the current outlook before they continued to move on to their other allies. This consisted of the Eroding March Pavilion, Myriad Bones Pavilion, Eternal Wave Sect, Spirit Grove, Clear Heart Sect, and lastly, their home organization, The Orchid Covenant.

Of course, it didn’t mean they had the ears of the leaders from all these forces. They simply had an acquaintance from each group who agreed to speak to their seniors on their behalf, but that was enough. Those in higher positions would naturally inquire about them soon enough.

For the last leg of their stroll, Li Lang returned to the area where demonic cultivators congregated to visit the organization they were still a part of on paper.

“Li Lang, Wei Ping, and Long Yi,” Sheng Zhaoming, a councilman of the covenant, stated coldly before his eyes suddenly grew wide in astonishment. “Those behind you are—the students you took in? Have they all broken through already?! How could this be?”

“Councilman Sheng, we’ve come to see the Head Councilman—if he’s available, of course.”

“You came to us about some vague cooperation this morning and that you plan to quit from our covenant, and now you still want to see our Head Councilman whenever you please? Know your place, child.”

“Apologies, we mean no disrespect. I’m simply here to reaffirm my words from earlier. They weren’t spoken without thought. Please accept our resignation and identification badge. I will propose something shortly, so remember that I have reserved a quota for the covenant in exchange for their support. I am sorry I cannot reveal the specifics right now, but this junior asks for your understanding.”

The councilman stared at Li Lang for a long moment before sighing. He had previously thought Li Lang had just spoken carelessly from the shock of the attack from the previous day. However, the unwavering look in his eyes told another story. He would be lying if he wasn’t curious, but he had enough life experiences to know everyone had their secrets. Members of their covenant quitting wasn’t such a rare event, considering how loose their organization was. After some thought, Sheng Zhaoming slowly nodded three times.

Li Lang quickly took out the fifteen badges collected from his companions and students and returned them to the old man. After thanking his former senior, they parted ways, returning to their seats.

On the way back, none of them muttered a word.

They had officially made a clean break from The Orchid Covenant. The trio still had some complicated feelings about that fact. They never got too involved or close with the organization or any of its members, but it was undeniable they had greatly aided them during their time in Emberglow City. In fact, Li Lang’s mentors for alchemy, brushweaving, and artificing were all members of The Orchid Covenant.

He didn’t know how his relationship with his mentors would turn out, but he knew he would have to leave the covenant eventually. He simply had too many secrets to operate freely within the confines of any group. Revealing them was not an option unless he was willing to give up on his possessions. On the off chance they were tolerant of him, some noisy elder would inevitably come to manage his every move.

Even today, when he had resolved himself to reveal some of those secrets, he ran that same risk. However, being independent allowed the various interest groups to vie against each other. It was his only opportunity to retain his agency. A gamble of sorts. One he would be willing to take every time if it meant being able to save his childhood friends.

“Well, this is it,” Li Lang murmured.

“Hey now, you have to at least fake being confident, Li Lang. After all, this is your idea,” Long Yi retorted.

“Yes. Putting the youn-young ones aside, the cultivators here won’t be a-able to trust in your words if you seem t-to be unsure, yourself,” Wei Ping added.

“Yeah, yeah. I have to put on a facade for my allies and enemies alike. I get it. It’s okay. I‘m ready.”

As if having heard his words, the Sword Saint’s pleasant voice echoed throughout the venue at that moment.

“It is about time. Please return to your seats, everyone. We will resume with a quick discussion between the representatives at the table, but please feel free to interject if you have something to say. Once that is done, we will move on to vote on the best path we should take. I won’t be happy to see any sore losers, though, so prepare yourselves.”