Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

As three of his disciples left the sect to explore the world and further their own strength, Xuan Hao was left with only two disciples in the sect. One of them being fully absorbed in crafting some kind of artifact, while the other rarely ever took a step outside of his forge. Even if he felt a bit lonely with all his disciples leaving the sect to explore the world, he had a feeling that the two remaining ones wouldn’t be going anywhere soon.

At the very least, he couldn’t see Bai Ning leaving his forge to explore the world.

As for Mui… He felt far too worried about what she might do if she ended up leaving the sect. Not just because of the potential damage she could cause, but also because her unique abilities might end up drawing the attention of the Blue Sea Empire or other major powers.

After all, even if her strange abilities were destructive most of the time, they were also incredibly useful when it came to helping the growth of the sect. Producing things that were unattainable even to a major power the size of the Blue Sea Empire.

In a sense, because of this, Mui was the one he wanted to leave the sect the least… And if she really did end up leaving the sect at some point in the future to explore the world on her own like her senior brothers and sisters, he would have to follow along and ensure she didn’t end up in any serious problems.

”At the very least there isn’t anything for me to worry about for now…” Muttering this to himself as looked towards Mui not too far away working away at something alongside Song Jia, Xuan Hao felt a bit relived that she was so busy working at something that she hadn’t even noticed her two senior sisters and senior brother leaving the sect a few days ago.

Although, as his attention focused on the artifact that she was in the process of crafting, part of him could not help feeling a bit uneasy.

Over the past few days, he had clearly felt a strange power starting to awaken inside of the artifact that Mui and Song Jia were creating, and this strange power had grown from a strength level around the Nascent Soul Realm all the way up to the Soul Ascension Realm.

If it continued strengthening, it wouldn’t be long before it crossed over to the Dao Seed Realm and started to become a real threat that he would have to always keep an eye on to ensure that nothing went wrong.

The one positive was that the strange energy didn’t seem to be inherently destructive, while it also indicated that the artifact Mui and Song Jia had spent the last three years working on together was nearing completion.

And… Even though he was worried about what kind of destruction the artifact might cause when it was completed, another part of him was also looking forward to seeing what it could do. After all, if it was really something useful for the Star Shattering Sect, it was almost guaranteed that it would be far more useful than anything Mui had done in the past.

”Although… No matter how I look at it, I really can’t figure out what that thing can be used for…” Sighing quietly to himself as he said this, Xuan Hao’s gaze swept over the artifact that Mui and Song Jia was working on.

The artifact itself was a massive, irregular, polyhedron about the size of a person, its surface layered with countless overlapping ”scales” of unknown material that Mui had created from the countless metals and other things she had gathered from the sect over the past three years.

These scales were currently in the process of constantly shedding and regrowing, sloughing off in brittle, curling fragments that dissolved into mist before they could be collected. The mist itself made of pure qi that seemed to just come into existence, as it made the area around the artifact itself incredibly rich in qi.

Even then, it was difficult to describe the artifact’s shape, as it appeared to twist subtly, when unobserved, its edges shifting between sharp angles and impossibly smooth curves.

No matter how much he looked at it, it simply made no sense and any attempt to try and understand it failed, as he couldn’t figure out where the qi that it seemed to be creating came from.

Even more worrying was that as it continued molting in its own strange way, the strange power inside of the artifact became stronger.

If this was only a one-time thing, it would be fine, but… If it continued endlessly, wouldn’t the strength of the strange artifact manage to exceed the Dao Seed Realm and ultimately exceed his own strength in a few short years?

After all, it had managed to reach its current strength comparable to the Soul Ascension Realm in only a few short months, as the molting process had only lasted that long at this point in time according to Mui.

One thing that did somewhat reassure him was the fact that Mui had told him that the molting process that the artifact was going through would finish at some point and when that time came, the artifact would be completed.

Though the reliability of this claim was dubious, it at least gave him some confidence that the artifact wouldn’t end up becoming dangerous to the point where even he would have to worry about it.

At the very least, from observations so far, it just seemed to be an artifact that enhanced the qi of the area and made it easier to cultivate, something that would ultimately be beneficial to the star Shattering Sect and also a reason that Elder Song was happy to support Mui in the creation of the artifact after he found out about this qi enhancing effect that it had on its surroundings.

Even then, the worry that came from her past creations and the damage that they had caused to the sect remained, as the area around the artifact had already been completely isolated from the rest of the sect to ensure that it couldn’t cause any damage. Even the chaotic qi formation was used in isolating the area.

Now that it was nearing completion, Xuan Hao himself was also spending a lot of his time keeping an eye on the artifact. Constantly having his divine sense linger to ensure that he could act the moment something happened.

A negative outcome of this was that he couldn’t fully dwell into the Dao of the Sword like he had originally wanted to. Delaying his comprehension of the dao to some extent.

Of course, as it concerned not only the safety of his disciple, but also the sect, he didn’t really mind this at all.

Just like that time slowly flew by and a month passed since Qing Yi, Chun Hua and Chu Yang had left the sect. The strength of the artifact growing from the Earlier Stages of the Soul Ascension Realm all the way to the Pinnacle of the Soul Ascension Realm.

Rumble~!

And it was at this time, the artifact finally began to change, as the strength of the strange energy inside of it broke through a bottleneck and soared all the way to the Dao Seed Realm, Xuan Hao watched in awe as the outer shell of the artifact peeled away. Revealing a sleek and perfect layer underneath.

The endless molting process that it had been stuck in for the past few months coming to an abrupt end.

”Is it finished…?” Looking at the artifact that had seized all activities, Xuan Hao glanced towards his disciple, who had similarly come to a stop. Waiting for what she was going to do.

Rustle~

However, different from the reaction that he had expected to see from her, she fell to the ground with a distraught expression on her face. Tears streaming down her face as she looked at the artifact that had stopped molting.

”It… It failed… It was supposed to absorb qi, refine it and then make it easier to absorb. But… But now it just spews out qi without refining it!!!”

”…”

Listening to the distraught voice of his youngest disciple, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say.

The artifact creating extremely pure qi from nothing… Was a failure…?

If Elder Song heard this, he might break down crying, though not for the same reason that Mui was crying…

Although, looking at the strange artifact, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a strange sense of unease.

Knowing Mui and what she had created in the past, he seriously doubted that creating pure qi was all there was to the artifact that she had spent the last three years crafting. Especially so when he sensed the strange energy inside the artifact.

Crack~

And as if to affirm his doubts, a quiet cracking sound suddenly came from the artifact…