The Science of Cultivation - Chapter 28: Recruiting Subjects (Patreon)

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A young malnourished boy navigated around the backstreets of Xiang Yang with ease. He had grown up here and knew all the shortcuts in the city. He soon arrived at one of the poorer neighborhoods to chase after a rumor.

The young boy easily avoided the less savory people hanging out in the back alleys and arrived at the address he had gotten. He knocked at the flimsy wooden door and within a few seconds, a middle-aged woman answered.

“Yes, boy? What do you want?”

“Hi there, I h-heard someone in y-your family is very sick and I wanted t-to help.”

The woman put a hand on her hip and glared at the little boy.

“Who told you this? We don’t appreciate being disturbed if that’s all you have to say.”

“I—”

Before Wei Ping could continue, a man’s voice called out from behind the woman.

“Dear,” the man coughed violently as he appeared from behind his wife. “What has got you so worked up?”

The two adults exchanged looks before glancing down at the young boy.

“Hi, I’m Wei Ping. I-I wanted to talk about the c-condition of the person who is s-sick in your family.”

“Dear, why don’t you go take care of little Yun while I talk to this young man?” The man said with a gentle smile.

His wife sighed and gave him a knowing look before disappearing into the house.

“Now then, Wei Ping.” He broke out into a coughing fit once more before recollecting himself. “As you can see, I’m the one you’re looking for. What did you want?”

“I heard your c-condition is terminal. I’d like to o-offer something that may be a-able to help your family.”

The man furrowed his brow at the strange offer from a boy who appeared no older than twelve..

Wei Ping went on to explain how he would be offering a handsome sum of money in exchange for the man’s participation in some cultivation experiments. The man patiently listened, but once the boy had finished, he sighed as he continuously shook his head.

“No, please leave me alone. I want to spend my remaining time with my family in peace.”

“...U-understood.”

Left dejected at his first failure, Wei Ping made his way back to where his boss was. This was the only case he currently knew of that fit his boss’s criteria for recruiting subjects. His boss had gone into detail about who he was willing to hire, and the stringent criteria made Wei Ping tap into all the connections he had built up throughout his life. It was because of all these connections that he had found out about the terminally ill man so quickly.

“Boss, I’m b-back.”

“Judging from your expression, it didn’t go so well, right?”

Wei Ping nodded.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll get used to it. I just found clues about several potential candidates. Maybe we can go visit them together while we get used to it?”

Wei Ping was instantly taken aback by his boss’s words. He knew Li Lang was new to the city, yet he had made progress in finding not just one but several candidates when he had only found one. Wei Ping decided there was no point in asking, as it would only annoy others. This was especially true with his stutter, so he silently followed his boss toward their new destination.

Just like before, they found a small house in one of the poorer neighborhoods and knocked on the door. An old man answered this time, who smelled heavily of liquor.

“What do you want, brats?” 

“Are you Zhou Lun? We’re here because we wanted you an opportunity to earn a large amount of money for your family.”

“...Go scam some other foolish elder. My son may be at work right now, but even I’m still strong enough to deal with brats like you two, who are still wet behind the ears.”

“No, sir. We’re serious.” Li Lang held out some coins for the man to see, then dangled a bag of coins.

“...I’ll hear you out, but make it quick.”

Li Lang began to give his spiel on what he needed the old man for. He had gotten his information from a doctor in the area who was all too happy to discuss the clients he believed weren’t doing too well in exchange for some money. 

This meant Li Lang knew all the details of their conditions, and the old man before him in particular was also suffering from his drinking problem. The doctor indicated he had a year or two at most because he stubbornly refused to change his habits, which prompted Li Lang to visit.

“You’re seriously giving me this much for an old life like mine?”

“Yes, we can sign a contract at the merchant guild if you would like. I can also give you a ten percent advance as well.”

“...Yes, we can do that,” the old looked downcast for a moment before a tear welted up in an eye. “Give my son the advance, not me. I’d just spend it all on wine. I’ve been a burden on them long enough. I may not be able to win out against my urges, but I still want to do something during my last years.”

With their first successful recruitment, both Li Lang and Wei Ping were reinvigorated. After dealing with their first recruit, they moved on to the other houses the doctor had given them information on. They were met with some failures and some success.

“You got the hang of it real quick, Wei Ping. Very good! I can leave it to you once I return to Spirit Grove. I’ll try to come back as often as I can.”

“T-thank you for your trust. And are you s-sure you can afford to hire ten people in t-total?”

“It’s fine. I should be able to earn it back in the sect very soon. Ten people are just the start. I’ll need more soon enough, so I’ll have to rely on you.”

“Understood. I’ll—” The young boy’s eyes widened as he reached out his hand to Li Lang. “Watch out!”

He quickly dragged them back the way they came. It took a second for Li Lang to realize it was because of the group of people waiting for them at the end of the narrow alleyway they were in. However, when they turned around, they found another group of ruffians blocking them in.

“We’re s—surrounded…”

In hindsight, I should’ve known the dangers flaunting wealth around could bring, but they sure came quickly…I wish I could offload tasks like these to others, like in the past and just do my thing in the lab.

“Wei Ping, you’re only at the first stage of Energy Gathering, right?”

“Yes…”

“Stay close behind me. We’ll brush through the front toward the main street.”

“But t—there’s two of them in the way.”

“I can tell they are only in the second stage of Energy Gathering. If they underestimate us, I should be able to get them out of our way.”

“They’re adults, your b—builds are too d—different.”

“It’s better than doing nothing. Besides, I’m a disciple of a proper sect. I should be able to hold my own against regular folks.”

Li Lang tried his best to reassure his friend. However, what Wei Ping didn’t know was that Li Lang was somewhat looking forward to this fight. 

He had recently been working nonstop at learning several martial arts moves and he had been getting curious about how it would work out in a real scenario. This was the perfect opportunity for him to test it out.

The two groups of men on both ends of the alley began slowly closing in on the two young boys. After taking a deep breath, Li Lang signaled for Wei Ping to sprint toward the group behind them. 

The men laughed upon seeing this as they could not fathom these two children being able to escape from their grasp. The men they were running away from didn’t take them seriously and continued closing the gap at a snail’s pace. This gave Li Lang even more time than he thought to deal with the two men he was charging toward.

“Ha, what’s the hurry, big-headed brat? We heard you’ve been carrying quite a sum on you, so why don’t we go shopping together?”

Li Lang ignored the man’s words and continued to charge at him. The man scoffed and prepared to restrain the boy, moving his hands to hold him in place. Just before his hands made contact with Li Lang’s robes, the young disciple ducked down so fast it was as if he had fallen over. 

Common sense dictated that the boy would lose his balance and fall on the ground when he changed his momentum in such an abrupt manner, but Li Lang proceeded forward while maintaining his balance as if it was a small matter. 

To the man’s surprise, Li Lang stepped right into the man’s space and took on a proper stance before driving his hips behind a punch to the gut. The punch landed squarely in the center of his torso.

Everyone froze for a split second upon the scene, only to be thawed when the man realized it hadn’t hurt as much as he thought and resumed trying to capture the boy. Li Lang reacted just in time by jumping to the side. The man continued to swipe at him, but he kept dodging in awkward poses, but could still somehow retain his balance.

While dodging, Li Lang’s brain was working overtime, analyzing the fight. He realized that despite having the form, his attack had no substance as a nerd like him was not used to getting physical.

I should’ve studied a fist martial art as well!

Realizing his mistake, Li Lang wasted no time and stepped in toward the same man again. Wei Ping was still watching from a few steps behind, while the other two men were getting closer every second.

I guess it’s time to try out the offensive technique I’ve been working on for real. Let’s hope it lives up to its name and sends this guy flying…

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