Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

A few minutes before the shadowy demon beast ended up finding itself face to face with Xuan Hao, the person in question was eagerly wandering around the still intact ancient streets of what had once been an important part of the ancient alchemy sect. Feeling a sense of profound awe as he examined the ancient buildings and felt the defensive formations still guarding them even after countless years.

Though some of them had weakened to the point where it would be simple for him to shatter them and enter the buildings they guarded, he found out to his dismay that most of the ancient buildings whose formations had weakened to the point where he could break them, were indirectly linked together with the larger formation that was guarding the section of the ancient alchemy sect he found himself in... And though confident in his own strength, he didn’t exactly want to turn this formation against himself. Especially considering he was still relying on it to avoid being noticed by the group of Land Creation Realm cultivators who had made their way inside the ancient alchemy sect ruins.

Even if it was difficult to avoid detection forever, the ancient guardian formation would also provide him with a strong cover that should buy him- or more specifically, Huo Fen and Meng Jie a bit more time to finish their alchemy concoction before those four Land Creation Realm cultivators had a chance to disturb the delicate crafting process.

But... Even though most of the ancient buildings were inaccessible to him, there were still a few he could access because they either lacked the protection from the large ancient guardian formation due to the link between the two formations having decayed or the formations guarding them had entirely disappeared over the long passage of time. Unable to keep itself running without proper maintenance for potentially hundreds of thousands of years.

In the process, he managed to get his hands on countless alchemy recipes that would undoubtedly be help to his own future progress in the Dao of Alchemy but also provide a significant boost to the sect’s foundation when it came to alchemy. Ensuring that there were more than enough recipes around for the sect’s alchemist to study all the way up to the Saint Realm.

Unfortunately, the large amount of spiritual herbs that he had originally been expecting to encounter along with these alchemy recipes were nowhere to be found, as it didn’t take him long to realize that only specialized storage facilities like the one Huo Fen and Meng Jie had managed to encounter through sheer luck, could store spiritual herb for such long periods of time.

The normal locations where spiritual herbs had been stored privately by the alchemist that should once have lived in this section of the ancient alchemy sect had long since decayed to the point where not even dust was left. The only exception he encountered was a few Saint Grade Spiritual Herbs that had managed to somehow endure the long passage of time by being planted in lucky locations with an ample supply of spiritual qi.

Happy as he was about getting his hands on a few Saint Grade Spiritual Herbs, it was nothing in comparison to what Huo Fen and Meng Jie had managed to get their hands on and made him sincerely wish that he too could run into a spiritual herb storage facility like the two of them had.

Unfortunately, his luck was nowhere near that good, as all he could find were alchemy recipes and a rare few Saint Grade Spiritual Herbs. Even worse, the Saint Grade Alchemist Inheritance that he had originally been hoping to find for Pei Yang was nowhere to be found as well.

Alchemy recipes for Saint Grade Pills, Elixirs and Potions were good and would be helpful in assisting someone in reaching the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Alchemy and step into the Saint Realm, but it was still far less useful compared to an actual Saint Grade Alchemist Inheritance that would provide a clear framework and guidance for reaching the Saint Realm.

This was something he himself had already experienced, as his comprehension of the Dao of Blacksmithing was by far the closet of his profession related Daos to the Perfection Realm due to the Saint Realm Inheritance he had received from Gong Cheng in the past when the old man had originally broken through to the Third Heaven of the Saint Realm... And that was also considering that he had never really spent much time comprehending the Dao of Blacksmithing and had spent far more time on the Dao of Formations and the Dao of Alchemy.

Rumble~

”Hm? Spatial... Fluctuations?” In the process of complaining to himself over his bad luck of being unable to get his hands on a Saint Grade Alchemist Inheritance, Xuan Hao suddenly froze on the spot as he sensed a familiar wave of faint, almost indiscernible spatial fluctuations emerging from a corner of the sealed of section of the ancient alchemy sect. ”A teleportation formation!?” And after a quick scan with his divine sense, he immediately realized that these spatial fluctuations had come from a teleportation formation instead of an individual proficient in the Dao of Space, something that was relatively simple to discern with his current comprehension of the Dao of Space.

Not to mention, there was a clear distinction between the spatial fluctuations from an individual using the Dao of Space and that of teleportation formation. In a way, teleportation formation was far calmer and easier to grasp. Providing no real resistance to further analysis, while an individual would create far more chaotic spatial fluctuations that would be harder to grasp.

This did not mean that one spatial passage was more stable than the other, but more so had to do with the fact that anyone proficient in the Dao of Space would ensure that they masked their own traces to make it more difficult for others to trace them, he himself also did this whenever he used the Dao of Space to move around. Not wanting to get tracked by someone randomly or get easily noticed by others wherever he went.

A teleportation formation could do this as well, but... There was generally no need to do so unless it was a hidden teleportation formation, as it would exponentially increase the complexity of the teleportation formation and increase the cost of using said teleportation formation. All for something that was rather useless for established spatial channels throughout a sect or major power’s own territory.

But... All that aside, Xuan Hao found himself drawn towards the origin of this spatial fluctuation.

Not just because he was curious about the teleportation formation that had been activated, but more so because he was interested in finding out who or what had activated the teleportation formation. After all, he could clearly sense through his divine sense that it wasn’t Huo Fen and Meng Jie as they were still busy with the alchemy artifacts at the square.

”Hm?”

However, as he found himself standing in front the already open door leading into a relatively small ancient tower that should have once been public access point for the teleportation formation stored inside at the very center of the small room, he found himself face to face with a rather strange looking demon beast that was bleeding all over with two of its legs missing.

Land Creation Realm!?

But that was far from the most surprising thing. Instead, it was the fact that this half dead-looking demon beast had reached the Land Creation Realm! Almost immediately causing him to narrow his eyes as he prepared himself for a potential deadly battle-

Thump~

However, before he had a chance to do anything, the Land Creation Realm demon beast that should have ended up being the most difficult opponent he had to face so far, flopped forward and collapsed on the ground face first. Going unconscious the next second. Clearly having been overcome with exhaustion to the point where it was impossible for it to even put up the slightest bit of resistance.

”This...”

Not at all having expected his first potentially serious battle with a Land Creation Realm demon beast to end in this kind of anticlimactic fashion, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say, as he found himself looking down on the flopped over demon beast on the ground for a few seconds. Not knowing what to do in this situation.

He could kill it with ease, heck, even someone in the Dao Seed Realm- no Soul Ascension Realm would be able to kill it in its current helpless state, while those below would be unable to cut through the terrifying physical body of a Land Creation Realm demon beast no matter how long they had.

Then again, this didn’t seem to be the best option available to him, as there was a second far more tempting option that didn’t involve him killing the defenseless Land Creation Realm demon beast...