Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Arriving at the closest branch of the Explorer Union to the Shattered Star Peaks that was in a relatively small town between the Flying Sword Sect and the Shattered Star Peaks, Xuan Hao was a bit surprised that the city itself had not grown any larger considering the presence of the Explorer Union branch there being by far one of the largest he had seen so far with at least three people in the Domain Lord Realm present inside the branch.

However, after careful consideration, he quickly realized why, as although the town was close to the Shattered Star Peaks and the Fallin Star City, there wasn’t really much of an opportunity for explorers or wandering cultivators to find something to do in the surrounding area. Trading would be far better to do in the Falling Star City, while taking on missions or hunting for demon beast or spiritual herbs would be far better to do in one of the branches closer to the Burning Mountain Range.

In a sense, the sole reason for such a large branch existing in such a small town without any real value was due to the fact that the branch served as the main connection between the Star Shattering Sect and the Explorer Union.

Although the place was not often visited by wandering cultivators or explorers from the Explorer Union, it was the main location for the Star Shattering Sect to engage in large scale trade with the Explorer Union, something that was happening more and more with the growth of the Star Shattering Sect and as resources inside the sect became more abundant.

For this reason alone, the Explorer Union had delegated three Domain Lord Realm cultivators to guard this seemingly insignificant branch that only served the single purpose of trading with the Star Shattering Sect.

At the same time, though the branch wasn’t frequented often, it had far better resources available compared to any other branches of the Explorer Union outside of the core region of the continent due to the fact that it was engaging in direct trade with the Star Shattering Sect, a power that was by now viewed by all as being no weaker than the major powers in the core region of the continent.

Because of that, the few wandering cultivators and explorers who did end up visiting this branch were mostly of higher cultivation looking for something not available in other branches.

Using his divine sense to scan the branch, Xuan Hao discovered that outside of the three Domain Lord Realm cultivators there to manage the branch and engage in trade with his sect, there were another four Domain Lord Realm cultivators and over a dozen Nascent Soul Realm cultivators who were all close to the Peak of the Realm.

It was easy to guess why they were there, as the Domain Lord Realm cultivators had come seeking things for cultivation normally not available in branches outside the core region, while the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators had come looking for an opportunity to reach the Domain Lord Realm.

In a sense, their purpose was not that different from him, as the thing he was looking for would almost certainly be useful to all of these people as well.

The only problem would likely be the price being too high for them.

After all, they were wandering cultivators and didn’t have any kind of major power backing them, making them far poorer than someone from a sect or a large kingdom. Unless they had been lucky enough to stumble upon a treasure during their time as wandering cultivators, though… That was unlikely, as most wandering cultivators wouldn’t have that kind of luck. Most often spend their time wandering the continent aimlessly in search of opportunities and selling off the demon beasts they hunted along the way to the Explorer Union.

Silently descending into a secluded part of the small town without being discovered, Xuan Hao adopted his old identity of bright sword, a Nascent Soul Realm explorer. An identity that he had not used for years. Soon enough, finding himself in front of the Explorer Union branch before he quietly made his way inside and went up to change the cultivation realm he was registered as from the Nascent Soul Realm to the Domain Lord Realm.

Considering that it had been around a dozen years since he had last been to a branch and he had not specified his realm inside the Nascent Soul Realm back when he had first registered at the Explorer Union, there wasn’t much surprise from the clerk outside of meeting a Domain Lord Realm cultivator.

Even then, the surprise of the clerk wasn’t that much considering that Domain Lord Realm cultivators were rather easy to find inside this specific branch. Even cultivators in the Soul Ascension Realm sometime came to trade for specific things that could normally only be found inside the core region of the continent.

Because of this, after helping Xuan Hao change his realm in his registration at the Explorer Union from the Nascent Soul Realm to the Domain Lord Realm, she calmly handed his token back to him before asking if there was anything else she could help out with… And it was at this point that she truly ended up being surprised, as Xuan Hao didn’t hold back in the slightest and directly listed out several extremely expensive pills and spiritual herbs that would aid in the cultivation of the nascent soul.

What more, he even showed off a few top-grade spirit stones to show he had enough to buy what he was asking for. Forcing the small clerk to run off in panic as she went to get the higher ups to help out. Knowing that she didn’t have the ability to conduct a trade at this level, as she herself was only a small clerk that had just recently managed to break through to the Core Formation Realm with the help of resources provided by the Explorer Union.

Of course, there was also a sense of excitement inside her amidst the panic she felt upon facing such a large deal. Understanding that if this kind of deal really went through, she would undoubtedly be rewarded. Giving her access to far more resources inside the Explorer Union and perhaps also giving her a clear chance to strive for the Nascent Soul Realm herself in the future.

As for the Domain Lord Realm… There was no way she dared think about something like that at the moment. Reaching the Nascent Soul Realm would be more than enough for her considering that she would be able to live up to two thousand years if she really managed to reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

More importantly, she would be able to keep her youthful appearance in the process. Allowing her to stay young for over a thousand years!

Truthfully, as a small clerk of the Explorer Union who had never really left her hometown and had only been a clerk since she started cultivating, her dream wasn’t that big, and she only really wished to reach the Nascent Soul Realm to keep her youthful appearance and live longer…

Thump~ Thump~

As the little clerk disappeared upstairs where the three in charge of the branch were located, it didn’t take long before a staunch looking middle-aged man rushed downstairs with the little clerk in question following closely behind him.

”Are you the one who wants to buy all those Soul Rank spiritual herbs and pills for enhancing the nascent Soul?”

And upon reaching the desk where he was standing, the man didn’t waste any time as he directly asked this with a serious expression on his face. Making it clear that he wasn’t there to play around.

”Yes, I’m the one, I wonder if this branch has those-”

”Yes, we do, but you should know how expensive those kinds of soul enhancing pills and spiritual herbs are. Even if it’s only of the Soul Rank, the price is normally the same Mustic Grade and sometime even Transcendent Grade pills and spiritual herbs!”

Nodding his head with the still serious expression before he directly interrupted him to explain the high price of the things he wanted, the manager from the Explorer Union was clearly doubtful as to whether or not he had the spirit stones to pay for something like that.

If not for the fact that he was someone in the Domain Lord Realm, it was highly likely that he would have been even ruder than he had already been.

Although, it was understandable considering even someone in the Soul Ascension Realm would normally not be able to buy the things he had mentioned just now.

”Good, this should be more than enough to prove that I’m serious about this-”

Thump-!

Not wasting any time, as he understood only showing his wealth would convince this guy, Xuan Hao directly took out a small bag of top-grade spirit stones and placed them on the counter in front of the middle-aged man without the slightest bit of hesitation.

”TOP GRADE SPIRIT STONES!? This… I understand, I will bring the spiritual herbs and pills immediately!” Seeing the top-grade spirit stones that should be impossible to find outside the core region of the continent, the serious expression on the face of the staunch middle-aged man became even more serious as he couldn’t stop himself from exclaiming loudly at the sight of the spirit stones.

Although this did end up drawing greedy stares from the surrounding explorers present inside the branch, Xuan Hao didn’t really care about it. Even if the others thought he might have stumbled upon some kind of ancient treasure or found a precious opportunity that allowed him to get his hands on so many top-grade spirit stones. Believing that they could ambush him after he left the branch and seize it for themselves, it didn’t matter to him with his current strength.

If someone was really foolish enough to try and attack him to seize his wealth, he would be more than happy to teach them a lesson.

Of course, with his strength still being in the Domain Lord Realm, the only ones who were seriously considering trying to ambush him were the four other Domain Lord Realm cultivators present.

The three from the Explorer Union likely wouldn’t do anything given that doing so would damage the reputation of the Explorer Union and almost certainly result in punishment from above. Not to mention, it might also damage the trade relationship they had established here with the Star Shattering Sect, something far more valuable than a few top-grade spirit stones.

For this reason, Xuan Hao was able to smoothly get the things he wanted after the staunch middle-aged man returned and happily took his spirit stones.

In the end, after beating up two of the four Domain Lord Realm cultivators who had decided to team up to try and steal from him after he left the Explorer Union, Xuan Hao maintained a relaxed pace as he made his way back the Star Shattering Sect.

Along the way using his divine sense to pinpoint Elder Song’s location, which, to no one’s surprise, was inside his study working on some kind of plan regarding future expansion of the formation hall.

Seeing how hard at work he was and how it was to help him complete one of his three remaining sect quests, Xuan Hao could not help feeling touched and became even more certain that it was right to spend a bit of his wealth on buying so many resources to help Elder Song’s cultivation.

The main problem that stood before him when it came to giving these resources to Elder Song was the fact that he would almost certainly try and give them to the younger disciples of the sect who had reached the Nascent Soul Realm and had more potential than himself.

The truly difficult task would be to find a way to prevent something like that from happening, something that even now seemed like an almost impossible task.

…

”Hm? Xuan Hao? What do I owe the pleasure at this time of day?” Lifting his head from the stack of papers in front of him, Elder Song could not help feeling a bit puzzled at the sudden appearance of Xuan Hao inside his study. Not having expected this number one expert of the sect who remained elusive and hard to find on a normal day to appear in front of him in the middle of a busy workday. Especially considering that he had heard from his disciples that he was supposed to be in secluded cultivation at the time.

”Elder Song, it’s been a while, I’m here to give you a little something that will be helpful in your cultivation.”

”Helpful in my cultivation? Are you talking about things that can enhance my nascent soul!? Don’t use something precious like that on someone old like me, it would be much better to use on the younger generation. Especially that child Fang Yu from the formation hall who recently reached the Nascent Soul Realm!”

Hearing what Xuan Hao said and his purpose for showing up, Elder Song couldn’t keep himself calm as he directly rose from his seat to deny the interspatial ring that Xuan Hao had taken out and handed over to him.

No matter how much these kinds of things could help him increase his cultivation realm and progress faster through the Nascent Soul Realm, Elder Song also understood that it would be far more useful in the hands of a young talent like Fang Yu, who would serve as the core of the sect when she grew up in the future.

”Elder Song, you can’t refuse this! This time around it’s not just to help your strength increase, but more importantly, it’s to help heal up some of the injuries that have been left in your soul after using that demonic technique.

Although hard to sense at the moment, if not dealt with soon, those hidden injuries in your soul might worsen over time and prevent you from progressing any further in the future!”

”This… I understand…”

Listening to what Xuan Hao said as he stuffed the interspatial ring back into his hands again, Elder Song could not help freezing for a second before reluctantly accepting the interspatial ring after hearing him mention the injuries his soul had suffered back when he had used the demonic technique to save his granddaughter.

Even though he himself could not sense any injuries inside his soul any longer, he also understood that the demonic technique had indeed damaged his soul on a fundamental level.

With that in mind, he trusted what Xuan Hao said, as he was far stronger than himself and should have a better idea about the current state of his soul.

Willing as he might be to give up these kinds of treasures for the younger generation of the sect, he also understood how important he himself was to the Star Shattering Sect as a whole.

Not to mention, he didn’t want his own path to be cut off if it was possible to avoid…

Seeing Elder Song take the interspatial ring and keep it without mentioning giving the things inside to others any longer, Xuan Hao understood that he had succeed in convincing the old man to use the spiritual herbs and pills inside for himself.

Though he had lied a little bit to achieve this, the result was good and thus he chatted a bit longer with Elder Song about the development of the formation hall before he took his leave and returned to his room to continue comprehending the Dao of Space after his little break.