Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Everything was fine when using the long-distance teleportation and there weren’t really any problems with the technique itself. The main problem was that it was far more draining than he had first expected it to be, as even just crossing the Frozen Wasteland had already drained close to one third of the qi inside his dantian.

Although he should still be able to reach the Blue Shore Kingdom like he had originally planned to do with the qi still left inside his dantian, he had no intention of doing so, as it would put him in a rather dangerous situation in case something happened, or he was attacked after reaching the Blue Shore Kingdom. After all, he had no idea what kind of state the kingdom was in and whether or not he might run into some kind of powerful demonic cultivator the moment he arrived.

With that in mind, he decided to forcibly stop the teleportation technique before he could reach his target location. Sparing himself from using the last two thirds of qi inside his dantian on traversing the last remaining part of the way to the Blue Shore Kingdom. Instead opting to travel the rest of the way normally now that he had managed to successfully cross the most dangerous part of the journey to the Blue Shore Kingdom with the help of the long-distance teleportation technique.

Even if it was nowhere as fast as the long-distance teleportation technique that had essentially taken him no more than a few seconds to cross the Frozen Wasteland that had taken him weeks to cross in the past when he had gone together with Yi Min, it would not take more than a day or two to reach the Blue Shore Kingdom with his current mastery of the drifting cloud steps.

Rumble~

Having concluded that the main reason for the failure this time around had nothing to do with the long-distance teleportation technique but was instead because of the massive energy it requires to activate, Xuan Hao moved aside the rubble of the mountain that had collapsed on top of him before ascending into the sky and moving in the direction of the Blue Shore Kingdom.

Unaware that the mountain he had smashed into and collapsed happened to be the divine mountain of a small kingdom controlled by a group of monks.

”T-The divine mountain has collapsed!”

”Look! Someone ascended into the sky from the collapsed mountain!”

”I-Immortal! One of the monks who went in seclusion on the divine mountain ascended and became an immortal!”

And it just so happened that this group of monks were unfortunate enough to be in seclusion on the divine mountain when Xuan Hao crashed into it…

Not that Xuan Hao would have any idea about any of this, as he had long since left the area by the time that the mortals of the small kingdom began calling out in shock and awe, while the different nobles and other powerful people in the kingdom wore worried expressions on their faces. Wondering what to do now that their powerful backers had suddenly ascended.

…

Standing at the border of the Blue Shore Kingdom only a little over a day after he had successfully crossed over the Frozen Wasteland, Xuan Hao effortlessly passed through the formation surrounding the Blue Shore Kingdom. Feeling the clear change in the spiritual qi present the moment he passed through the formation before he began making his way towards the forge where he knew he could find Gong Cheng.

Ching~ Ching~ Ching~

Not that unexpectedly, Gong Cheng was working away at something inside of the forge at the moment, something he should have gotten himself rather busy with after he managed to break through to the Saint Realm and officially become a Saint Realm Blacksmith.

”Hm? This…!”

However, as he prepared himself to settle down and wait for Gong Cheng to finish what he was in the process of crafting, Xuan Hao suddenly found himself frozen on the spot as he narrowed both of his eyes slightly while looking in the direction of the forge.

”This strength is definitely not in the Middle Stage of the Dao Seed Realm… Could it be… Gong Cheng is above the Third Heaven of the Saint Realm…?” Muttering this to himself with slightly narrowed eyes as he felt the terrifying presence inside the forge, Xuan Hao realized that he might have underestimated the strength of Gong Cheng.

Not to mention the Middle Stage of the Dao Seed Realm. Even his own strength that was now comparable to the Late Stage of the Dao Seed Realm felt inferior to the power of the person inside the forge at the moment.

Even then… After carefully feeling the power for a few minutes, he realized that although strong, it wasn’t yet comparable to the Celestial Immortal Realm Ancestors from the Blue Sea Empire or the Demon King Realm demonic cultivators that he had witnessed fighting in the past.

With that in mind, he guessed that Gong Cheng should have reached the Second Heaven of the Saint Realm and was currently comparable to someone at the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm.

Peak of the Dao Seed Realm… Different from the Peak of the Earth Immortal Realm that was only the Middle Stage of the Dao Seed Realm, the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm was infinitely close to the Celestial Immortal and Profound Immortal Realm.

Even standing at a realm comparable to the Late Stage of the Dao Seed Realm, Xuan Hao clearly felt the fundamental difference between him and Gong Cheng, as Gong Cheng seemed to have already touched upon a higher realm, while he was essentially still limited to the Dao Seed Realm.

Of course, in a battle, he would still win against Gong Cheng even if he had strength comparable to the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm, as his Dao of Space and the other Daos he had comprehended were far more suitable for battle than the Dao of Blacksmithing that Gong Cheng had comprehended.

The only place where he might be at a disadvantage would be in terms of artifacts, as he had still not yet managed to get his hands on a suitable sword or another kind of artifact that he could use for fighting. After all, the sect didn’t have any blacksmiths strong enough to create a suitable weapon, while he himself was also nowhere near the required realm in blacksmithing to do so.

And that is not even mentioning the precious spiritual metals and other resources that would be required to craft a suitable weapon…

To be honest, Xuan Hao had given up on finding a suitable weapon to use for now, as he did the same as most other cultivators did when they couldn’t find someone to craft a suitable weapon and fought without one.

Of course, though it did make his strength a bit weaker than if he had a proper weapon, it didn’t really affect it by that much as he could still use his sword intent and Dao of ice or his sword soul to create a suitable sword when fighting, while the rest of his Daos didn’t really require a weapon…

”Huh? Xuan Hao? What brings you here?”

Hearing someone calling out to him just at that moment, Xuan Hao turned around and found himself gazing into the surprised eyes of Gong Cheng who had just emerged from the forge. Clearly having sensed his presence when he arrived earlier.

”I’m just here to say hello.” Chuckling to himself as he saw the increasingly confused expression on Gong Cheng’s face as he said this, Xuan Hao soon put on a bit more serious expression. ”But outside of that, I wanted to check up on you because…” Explaining to him what had happened and the attack from the demonic cultivators.

”Demonic cultivators attacking the core region so brazenly… Looks like the situation is about to get far worse in the next few years if things continue developing like this. If I’m not wrong, the demonic cultivators should either be planning to fight another war for supremacy over the core region of the continent or trying to at least carve out a space of their own inside the core region.

No matter which of the two it is, you and your sect can be considered quite lucky to have avoided any real danger so far, as for worrying about me… There is no need to do so. Even if the demonic cultivators learn about my presence, they won’t bother to send someone at the Demon King Realm all the way out to kill me for no specific reason.

For now, I definitely recommend for you to ensure the safety of your sect either by trying to stand as a neutral force and avoid the demonic cultivators or find somewhere to hide. Although, both options will be rather difficult to accomplish without someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm presiding over your sect”

Shaking his head as he finished speaking his thoughts on the situation, Gong Cheng gave his own judgement on the situation of the Star Shattering Sect. Clearly trying to lend a hand in how to best go about the current situation.

Even though… The recommendation essentially boiled down to hide away and hope for the best…