Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Not planning to move the Star Shattering Sect to somewhere like the border regions of the continent where the Blue Shore Kingdom was located, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly in response to what Gong Cheng said. For now, it looked like the best option for him to ensure the continued safety of the Star Shattering Sect would be to reach a realm where he could contend against those Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators and Demon King Realm cultivators as fast as possible.

Of course, even with this strength, he understood that he wouldn’t truly be safe.

The main thing that came from having strength comparable to the Celestial Immortal Realm would be to make others understand that it wouldn’t be easy to take down the Star Shattering Sect without incurring any losses… And given that the demonic cultivators and those cultivators from the core region of the continent wouldn’t want to accidentally push someone with Celestial Immortal Realm strength to the other side of the conflict, it should be able to allow the Star Shattering Sect to remain as a neutral force without being attacked by either party.

At least before the battle became more chaotic and the demonic cultivators managed to push their way into the core region where the different major powers were located, the Star Shattering Sect should be able to continue staying as a neutral party without being attacked.

However, given the current state of the battle between the two sides, Xuan Hao guessed that it would probably take a long time before this happened, as the different major powers in the core region had no intention of allowing the demonic cultivators to reach their territory. Doing their absolute best to limit the scope of the conflict to the small empires and kingdoms between themselves and the different demonic cultivator strongholds like the Frozen Wasteland.

In a sense, this was the original goal of these smaller empires and kingdoms, serving as a barrier for the demonic cultivators to reach the core region of the continent, it was just that they only now realized this, as they found themselves being forced forward as shields for these major powers with no way to resist.

Luckily, in this regard, the Star Shattering Sect and the surrounding kingdom and empires, outside of the Onyx Empire, was rather lucky, as the demonic cultivators hadn’t decided on an all-out attack towards the Blue Sea Empire after the failed assassination attempt on one of the Blue Sea Empire’s Celestial Immortal Realm Ancestors.

Not that this would last forever, as Xuan Hao had already been informed by Xuan Gui that the decrease in powerful demonic cultivators attacking the Blue Sea Empire was only because most of the higher-level demonic cultivators were tied up elsewhere at the moment.

In at most ten or so years, they would likely begin launching a more powerful attack towards the Blue Sea Empire.

At least with his friend on the side of the demonic cultivators, he didn’t have to worry about an unexpected attack from the demonic cultivators without any warning, as she herself had also told him that she would ask him to help her get inside the Blue Sea Empire before that attack took place. Knowing it would be far more difficult for her to enter the Blue Sea Empire when the official attack was launched by the more powerful cultivators.

Of course, given that her little infiltration plan of the Blue Sea Empire was beneficial to the powerful demonic cultivators behind these attacks, they didn’t really care much about this and instead encouraged her to cause as much damage as possible inside the Blue Sea Empire. Even hoping to use it as an opportunity to launch a surprise attack and gain a lot of territory while the Blue Sea Empire’s experts were busy trying to chase her down.

Given that his sect was inside the territory of the Blue Sea Empire that bordered the Frozen Wasteland, Xuan Hao had originally been worried about this, but was soon reassured by Xuan Gui that the place that these demonic cultivators planned on attacking was another empire located on the other side of the Onyx Empire. Meaning that the Star Shattering Sect wouldn’t get affected by this attack if what she said ended up being accurate.

I really need to improve my strength to the level of a Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator. At least, with that level of strength and the chaotic qi formation, I should be able to stand out and keep my sect out of the conflict like Gong Cheng said…

Feeling the increased pressure on his shoulders as he realized just how dangerous of a situation that the Star Shattering Sect was in; Xuan Hao could not help glancing over at Gong Cheng who was patiently waiting beside him as he thought over what he had said.

Different from him, who had to worry about the demonic cultivators beginning a war with the cultivators from the core region of the continent, Gong Cheng had nothing to worry about at the edge of the continent. Knowing that the demonic cultivators wouldn’t bother with this wasteland where people could barely reach the Foundation Establishment Realm and even fewer the Core Formation Realm.

In a sense, because of the scarce resources, the edge of the continent where the Blue Shore Kingdom was located could be considered the safest place on the entire continent at the moment, as there was no need to worry about demonic cultivators or the powerful core region cultivators who were now much more abundant in the territories bordering the Frozen Wasteland.

If not for the fact that he couldn’t move the Shattered Star Peak, he would have undoubtedly moved it over next to the Blue Shore Kingdom so both of them could enjoy the safety of being in a resource scarce region.

Of course, this would force the Star Shattering Sect to give up a lot of their resources and would inevitably slow down the development of the sect, but with the chaotic qi formation around, there would be an abundance of spiritual qi no matter where it placed.

”Haaa… Looks like the relatively peaceful state of the sect is only temporary without someone comparable to the Celestial Immortal Realm present…”

”Haha, indeed, only with someone at the Celestial Immortal Realm present can you truly establish yourself on this continent. Just look at me, I’m still stuck in this place even after reaching the Saint Realm and becoming a Saint Realm Blacksmith. All because my strength is still not at the Celestial Immortal Realm!”

Hearing Gong Cheng’s response to what he unconsciously said after thinking about the current state of the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao could not help glancing over at the old man as he realized what he said.

Indeed… even though Gong Cheng had reached the Second Heaven of the Saint Realm and was essentially comparable to someone at the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm, he was still forced to keep hiding at the edge of the continent out of fear that those powerful Celestial Immortal Realm ancestors would show up and try to either kill him or get him to join them.

Thinking about this and how Gong Cheng was unwilling to join any of these major powers, Xuan Hao decided that it would probably be best for him to not mention his original intentions of wanting to recruit the old man to join his sect for now. Especially considering the rather dangerous situation that his sect was currently in due to the demonic cultivators.

Maybe in the future when the situation was safer and he had managed to reach the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm and gain strength comparable to the Celestial Immortal or Profound Immortal Realm, but for now, he should instead try and improve his friendship with this old man so recruitment would be easier in the future…

”By the way, I never got a chance to probably thank you for the help you gave me and Yi Min when teaching us about the Dao of Blacksmithing. So, I brought a few different spiritual metals along with me this time, as I doubt you have much all the way out here-”

”Spiritual metal!?”

Almost the second he finished speaking, Xuan Hao felt his hands being griped as the old man who had remained relatively aloof so far had rushed over and was staring directly into his eyes.

”Y-yeah, here…” Not knowing what to say when met with this level of enthusiasm, Xuan Hao could only awkwardly take a few steps back before handing over a small interspatial ring filled with all kinds of spiritual metal that he had prepared the moment he decided to head to the Blue Shore Kingdom while testing out his long-distance teleportation.

”This-! So much spiritual metal! Hehe, with this, I should be able to progress even further and might even reach the level comparable to the Celestial Immortal Realm!”

Filled with joy as he looked through the spiritual metal stored inside the interspatial ring, Gong Cheng didn’t waste any time after seeing the spiritual metal inside of it, as he turned around and rushed back into the forge the next second-

”…”

Leaving Xuan Hao behind to stare helplessly in the direction he had disappeared in.