Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Learning about their master entering secluded cultivation, his disciples weren’t too surprised, as they had all expected something like that to happen when their master returned to the sect.

After all, secluded cultivation was how most cultivators spent their free time and if they needed help from their master, they could always seek him out, though there wasn’t much need for help at their current cultivation realm unless they encountered a problem in their cultivation or a doubt that they couldn’t resolve on their own.

The constant teaching that took place among masters and disciples was mostly limited to the earlier stages of cultivation where one hadn’t begun walking one’s own path.

For this reason, Xuan Hao didn’t experience any interruptions during his first month of secluded cultivation, something that unfortunately came to an end when he was informed by Elder Song that the Blue Sea Empire had started to take hostile actions towards the Star Shattering Sect.

Although the hostile actions in question weren’t a full-blown war declaration, the Blue Sea Empire had utilized its power as the local hegemon to cut off the Star Shattering Sect from the economies of the surrounding kingdoms and smaller empires.

In the end, this did end up harming the resources that were available to the Star Shattering Sect, causing Elder Song to experience a panic attack after seeing the sect’s income plummet by close to half overnight.

Luckily, they managed to resolve the issue through the assistance of the Explorer Union together after Elder Song managed to leverage his presence to convince the people from the Explorer Union. Drawing on the past enmities between the Explorer Union and the Blue Sea Empire in a manner that left him speechless. Only able to admire Elder Song’s diplomatic skills from afar with a look of amazement on his face.

All things considered, his presence merely served as intimidation and a show of strength, while Elder Song was the one who did the actual work.

Because of this, the entire situation had only taken a little over two days to complete… And with no time to waste after the situation regarding the sect’s finances was solved, he returned to the Second Star Peak to continue his comprehension of the Dao of Ice.

Unfortunately, even though he had only been gone from the Second Star Peak for two days, the traces of blue divine energy still left in his body had reduced by more than two times the speed when he was on the Second Star Peak, causing a total loss of a little over five days of precious cultivation time.

If possible, he really wanted to avoid any interruption unless absolutely necessary, but there wasn’t really much he could do, as the internal situation of the sect had indeed been sect destroying according to Elder Song, something he could only reluctantly agree with.

After all, the current Star Shattering Sect couldn’t afford a sudden stop in resources or lowering the quality in terms of cultivation resources because of the presence of the newly recruited wandering cultivators.

To maintain the stability of the sect, to maintain the current growth of the sect, a large quantity of resources was required.

And even though the situation had been stabilized before it could become a real problem because of Elder Song’s quick actions, it highlighted a significant weakness of the Star Shattering Sect, as the sect couldn’t fully produce all the resources that it needed to sustain the current growth on its own.

In fact, a large portion of the resources needed by the sect came through the Explorer Union, something Elder Song and other elders of the sect were already working overtime to resolve to no avail, as the sect ultimately didn’t possess the capability to produce some of the resources they needed.

A simple solution to this problem would be to expand the sect’s territory, but with the status of an ancient hidden sect and the fact that the Blue Sea Empire had already sealed off the Star Shattering Sect from the surrounding kingdoms and smaller empires, there wasn’t anywhere the Star Shattering Sect could expand into without encountering any problems along the way.

The chaotic region that had formed following the fall of the Sky Empire was floated as a location for potential sect expansion, but was ultimately thrown out since it would make them share a border with the Blue Sea Empire directly.

Luckily, all of that shouldn’t have anything to do with me now that I helped Elder Song out with establishing a deeper trade relationship with the Explorer Union…

Knowing about all these problems that would be surging through the heads of Elder Song and his colleagues, Xuan Hao silently closed his eyes as he focused his full attention on comprehending the Dao of Ice. Feeling relieved that he didn’t have to help Elder Song any more than he already had.

Inatead of him trying to interfere in the internal affairs of the sect, it was far better for him to focus his energy on increasing his own strength.

The matters of the sect could be left up to Elder Song, Feng Chen, Zu Fei and the rest of the sect elders.

Well… Maybe not so much Zu Fei, as even though she had calmed down a lot since her time in the Flying Sword Sect, she wasn’t that much more experienced with managing the sect than he was. Making him wonder how she had even ended up becoming a Vice Sect Leader in the past… Though… Part of him felt like it had something to do with Feng Chen…

As these thoughts drifted through his mind for a brief moment, interrupting his flow of comprehension for a brief moment, a wry smile appeared on his face before he purged any unrelated thoughts from his mind and focused back on comprehending the Dao of ice.

Although he hadn’t made any breakthroughs in the Dao of Ice during the past month, he could clearly feel himself getting closer and closer to the barrier separating the Large Success Realm of the Dao of Ice from the Perfection Realm of the Dao of Ice.