Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Although it could be considered normal for there to be Soul Ascension Realm cultivators around considering the importance of the upcoming auction and just how much attention it had attracted, he was still a bit surprised as he also soon sensed the presence of a Dao Seed Realm cultivator inside the large building... And considering that he hadn’t sensed this person when he had first done an initial scan of the city with his divine sense before stepping inside, it was likely that the other party had just arrived.

All this just made him more curious about this auction, as he hadn’t managed to find any real information on what was being sold at the auction that would attract the attention of a major power like the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

Transcendent Spiritual Herbs, artifacts and a few other things he had learnt was being auctioned off during the upcoming auction might be enough to be enough to draw the attention of the different wandering cultivators who had made the journey to the city all the way from the Western Central Region, but it was far from enough to draw the attention of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, let alone personally draw over a Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

There had to be something different, something that he had not managed to get any information on, and the Explorer Union itself was unwilling to even mention anything about in the first place.

Then again, the reason why they hadn’t even decided to inform him might also just be because his cultivation realm was far too low for them to even disclose such a thing to him ahead of time. After all, his outward strength was still that of someone in the Soul Ascension Realm. Strong as this might be, it was nothing in the face of a major power like the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

In a sense, the Explorer Union could even be said to be protecting him by not giving him any hopeless hope and potentially offend the Heavenly Dragon Temple...

Shaking his head as he thought about, part of him really wanted to go back into the Explorer Union Branch and show off his true strength to try and get the information he wanted, but doing so now wouldn’t be the best idea, as even if managed to keep his identity and past conflict with the Heavenly Dragon Temple hidden, he would still be someone unfamiliar to the local major powers and would draw their attention.

And... With the chaos he had caused in the Eastern Central Region not that long ago having already spread to the Western Central Region, it wouldn’t be hard for these major powers to associate him with the Profound Immortal Realm cultivator who had been chased around the Eastern Central Region by the spiritual tree for the past few days...

Deciding against trying to find out more about what it was that attracted the Heavenly Dragon Temple’s attention from the auction and instead going with the far safer option of just waiting for the auction to start and find out at that point, Xuan Hao left the core of the city and made his way to a relatively secluded place to lay low for the next two days while waiting for the auction to start.

Given that he had now managed to secure an escape path in case something went wrong and he no longer had to worry about the spiritual tree chasing after him, he felt an unprecedented sense of relief, as he took the opportunity to spend the next two days peacefully cultivating while keeping an eye on the people going in and out of the city with his divine sense. Ensuring that he didn’t provoke the small temple at the core of the city by restricting his divine sense to the limit. Only picking up on the strength of the now rather large number of cultivators inside the city.

From the number of Dao Seed Realm cultivators, he could sense inside the city being counted on one hand to several dozen Dao Seed Realm cultivators, the sheer number of powerful cultivators currently present inside the city had far exceeded his original expectations when he had first learnt about the items being put up for auction by the Explorer Union.

At first, he thought that wandering cultivators without any backing really had it bad in the Southern Central Region for so many of them to swarm over for such a limited number of items, but after a quick walk through the streets on the morning of the day the auction was being held, changed his mind.

Majority of the wandering cultivators who had shown up had not come to join in on the auction but had instead come to either rob the people who were lucky enough to win something or watch the chaos that was bound to unfold from the side.

Thinking back at the grandfather granddaughter pair he had encountered when entering the city, it seemed like those two had also come for this reason. The grandfather clearly wanted to use this auction as an opportunity for his granddaughter to learn more about the world and personally witness the battle that was bound to break out when the auction ended.

Staying inside the walls of the city, they would be able to remain safe, as there was no way any of the wandering cultivators were brave enough to cause any trouble inside a city under the control of the Heavenly Dragon Temple. Especially considering that it had already become well known that a Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple was personally going to participate in the upcoming auction.

Speaking of the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple that had been rumored to show up for the auction... He hadn’t seen any sign of this person over the past two days. Making him suspect that this was either false news or the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple had arrived before him and was now waiting for the auction to start inside the small temple that remained outside his divine sense probing.

Rustle~

”Hm?”

As his gaze wandered towards the small temple that was now only a few hundred meters away from where he was standing, a slight rustling sound caught his attention, as he turned around to see none other than the grandfather granddaughter pair, he had been thinking about just a short time ago.

The main difference was that while the granddaughter looked no different from when he had first seen her waiting in line along with her grandfather, excitedly taking in her surroundings in a manner that would be considered unbefitting for most Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, the grandfather seemed to be wary of something... And following his gaze, he soon realized that the thing he was looking at was none other than the small temple that had managed to elude his divine sense so far.

Hmmm... The small temple is indeed terrifying for someone in the Dao Seed Realm, as it does serve as the core to some kind of formation capable of wielding Celestial Immortal Realm level power, but this level of cautiousness and wariness does not merely stem from an inherent fear of a powerful formation...

Narrowing both his eyes as his gaze locked on to the old man, Xuan Hao could not help feeling himself becoming more curious about the old man. Wondering if his reason for coming here was just to help his granddaughter gain experience or something different.

It might not involve him and wasn’t really something he wanted to get involved with in the first place.

But...

It was clear from the way that the old man kept looking towards the small temple from time to time, that he knew something about it, something that clearly made him feel uneasy.

...

”Oh? I didn’t expect to run into you two here.”

”Hm?! Oh! It’s you, gave this old man a heart attack with that sudden greeting! Are you perhaps also waiting for the auction to open?” Huo Fen could not help jumping back in surprise upon hearing someone suddenly calling out to him without him even sensing the other party approaching. Only calming down a bit when he recognized the other party as someone he had met back when he had entered the city with his disciple two days earlier.

This person was unfamiliar with the Western Central Region and had seemed clueless about the auction that was going to take place today and he had decided to give a quick introduction to the other party while waiting in line with his disciple.

But outside of that, he had no real interactions with this person and was almost no different from strangers.

If not for the fact that he could clearly sense that the other party was far weaker than himself. Having only reached the Soul Ascension Realm. He wouldn’t have dared interact with the other party considering the risk he was taking coming to the Western Central Region with his disciple in the first place.

But... There was nothing to do about it, as he had learnt about something special appearing at this auction that he really needed to get his hands on...

As for the stranger who he viewed as a non-dangerous person by now, he didn’t mind helping him out a bit. Considering it a way to sow some good karma before doing something that would undoubtedly end up putting his life on the line...