The Founder of Qi Cultivation, Reincarnates?

Several people in the crowd, including the four participants on stage, turned to him when he started explaining the origin of the pill.

“To put it simply, the Nine Revolutions Sea Expansion Pill is the product of the Li Royal Family, and the original pill was created by the second Emperor, Emperor Li Fung. Or you all would know him by his grand title of the Pill Emperor. The first person to gain that title on the Maple Continent,”

​ Shocked exclamations came from the crowd, and they stared at the pill Xi Shen had just brought once again. The Li Clans 2nd Emperor was a renowned Alchemist that had created and developed several extraordinary pills during his reign. The progress of the current pill concoction methods was revised ones that could be traced back to the ones he had introduced to the Maple Continent during his era.

That Alchemy Disciple then went on to say, “The Nine Revolutions Sea Expansion Pill our 2nd emperor created was only intended to be used by Sea Expansion Realm cultivators. It was and still is, an extraordinary pill that can increase a person’s cultivation by splitting their Qi Sea into nine parts and be cultivated separately. This can lead to a nine-fold increase in cultivation!”

The disciples who hadn’t heard of this pill before, had their jaws drop to the ground from shock.

But that Alchemy disciple wasn’t finished and seeing the shocked looks on these disciples' faces, he sneered and said, “You guys actually think that was all the pill did? If it was, it wouldn't be the product of a Pill Emperor!! That pill not only increases a Sea Expansion Realm cultivator's cultivation speed and gives them nine Qi Seas, but if they put time and effort into widening those nine Qi Seas, they would be able to have the power of nine Sea Expansion Realm experts!!”

The Sea Expansion Realm cultivators in the crowd, almost choked on air when they heard that. Hearing that as well made the four participants on the stage have their hearts pounding widely in their chests. Their eyes darted to the pill in the box, greed overtaking their hearts.

“But that’s not all either!!”

The Alchemy disciple astonishingly yelled again. He himself was in the Sea Expansion Realm, so his eyes were completely bloodshot as he spoke of the benefits of the pill.

“If one is able to cultivate those nine Qi Sea at once, and widen them to their limit. Then there was a possibility to create nine Divine Platforms and break into the 9th stage of the Foundation Realm in one fell swoop!!”

“W-what?! There is actually such a broken pill in this world?!!”

“My God, why did I not sell one of my organs to get this pill when I was in the Sea Expansion Realm?!”

One of the few Foundation Realm disciples in the crowd that was in the 2nd stage cried out all of a sudden in a bemoaning voice.

As the commotion of the pill was thundering in the Colosseum Arena, Xi Shen was pleasantly happy with the results. However, that Alchemy disciple had exaggerated it a bit. If it was that simple to create nine Qi Sea then cultivation in the Sea Expansion Realm and Foundation Realm would be smooth sailing for the Li Royal Family members.

But the thing about this pill is that it takes a toll on a person’s Soul Sense to form and maintain one Qi Sea, much less nine. It was unimaginable for a person to manage nine all at once.

So when most people take this pill, they would usually only settle for the nine times increase in cultivation speed. After that, they would combine those six smaller separated Qi Seas and create the first Platform to break into the 1st stage of the Foundation Construction Realm

As for why this pill was not commonly used in the outside world, or in the Li Royal Family that much, is because the Li Clan had a monopoly on its creation and the fact that only a few batches could be made every ten years, due to the resources needed and the difficulty of the concoction method. Only two or three people actually knew the method of refining this pill in the Li Clan. The Pill Emperor, Li Shen's great-great-great-great… um, you get the point… granduncle was one of those people.

As the commotion was going on, Xi Shen said to his four opponents while placing the small wooden box in front of him, “The first person to cross that line can get this pill. However, that’s if you cross the line and win. If you don't and I win, you’ll have to join the Sword Pavilion and become a member of the Faction that I'm creating.”

As those words left Xi Shen’s mouth, the noise in the Colosseum Arena died down into stunned silence.

The disciples finally understood what was going on, and why Xi Shen was doing this. He was trying to recruit people to join a Faction he is creating!

They were completely caught off guard by this revelation. No one had ever used the ranking matches like this to recruit disciples, and Xi Shen was even putting on a competition, making a show out of it as well.

This caused several strange looks to appear on the disciples' faces.

They never thought the second prince of the Maple Continent would try creating a Faction in the Celestial Academy. Though his brother had once done something similar, his own reputation and his brother’s were worlds apart for him to be thinking about doing that.

The disciples on the stage had contemplating looks on their faces as they mull over Xi Shen’s offer. But no matter how much they think about it, joining a Faction created by the second prince of the Maple Continent was great, but given his reputation, they were slightly hesitant as that would mean coming at odds with the Seven Major Clans in the Academy somewhat. This was basically stranding themselves on a sturdy rock in the middle of the Sea. The rock was sturdy, but they were still unwilling to do that.

But then again, all they have to do is be the first one to pass that line and that amazing pill could be there’s.

They found it impossible that as elites among the Inner Disciples, they would be unable to approach someone using Soul Arts. This was too easy for them. Now the only problem was who can pass the line first.

The four disciples all glared at each other, and the tension between them amplified all of a sudden.

One of the male disciples on stage suddenly said, “Second prince, I’m willing to participate!”

Before the words could even leave his mouth properly, his figure had already dashed towards the line.

Seeing this shameless act by this disciple, all the others curse in their hearts and dash towards the line as well, screaming out their willingness to participate.

All the disciples down below saw this scene, and immediately started to wonder who would cross the line first.

And most of all, they can’t believe how stupid Xi Shen was for coming up with this easy challenge, that could cost him such a precious pill. Even though he was the second prince, giving out a pill like that could cause its medicinal ingredients to be leaked into the outside world. That would mean the Li Royal family was one step away from losing their monopoly on the Nine Revelations Sea Expansion Pill.

Xi Shen watched as these four disciples charged towards him, their focus was completely on the pill in front of him.

Shaking his head a little, Xi Shen plucked a single string on his zither, and as the runes on it activated, a piercing sound traveled from the zither to the four disciples' ears and into their heads.

All of a sudden, the disciples down below saw the four of them coming to a complete stop with blank expressions on their faces.

Seeing this, baffled looks appeared on their face as to what was happening.

“Huh? What’s going on, why did they stop all of a sudden?”

As questions floated from the crowd, the four disciples just stood there several meters from the line.

Seeing how easy it was to get them into an illusion, Xi Shen shook his head and thought, “As I suspected, these disciples will power is extremely low. They wouldn’t be suitable to cultivate Soul Arts. All though it could be argued that they were unprepared, the fact that I barely used the full extent of my power in that note tells me they wouldn’t be any better off even if they were prepared.”

With a casual expression, Xi Shen was about to release the four from his illusory prison, but he suddenly saw one of them with a struggling expression. One of the male disciples was trying to fight back against the illusion, but after waiting to see what become of this, Xi Shen became disappointed again as that disciple stopped and sunken even deeper inside the illusion.

Xi Shen willed it and released them after seeing that none of them could escape this simple cast illusion. As they came to, all four of them stood there looking around confused.

“No! I was just about to **** and **** that ****. That girl was so beautiful, I… w-wait.”

One of the male disciples suddenly cried out bemoaningly, but after realizing where he was, he looked around at all the people staring at him with strange expressions, and his face then turned completely red with embarrassment, before he turned to Xi Shen with his eyes open wide.

He was the same male disciple that had initially been resistant to the illusion.

After that, he looked down at the line, and seeing that he hadn’t crossed it, he cupped his fist at Xi Shen and said in a downcast tone, “Second prince I have lost. I’m willing to join your Faction.”

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Word Count: 1672