Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As the loud banging sound continued to echo throughout the relatively intact section of the ancient alchemy sect, Xuan Hao didn’t show the slightest bit of panic on his face as he instead used the opportunity to observe the guardian formation flickering sporadically in the air above him. Using the rare opportunity where the ancient formation symbols that had remained hidden in the past sprung to life to observe the ancient guardian formation in great depth. Deepening his understanding of the Dao of Formations at a speed incomparable to anything he had experienced in the past, as the core of the ancient guardian formation was fully exposed to him from his current location. Allowing him to observe the entire framework of the ancient guardian formation.

If the current situation could persist for a few days, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to break through the bottleneck between the Large Success Realm and the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Formations and officially step into the Saint Realm as a formation master. Unfortunately, the ancient guardian formation wouldn’t be able to last anywhere near that long and would at most be able to push his comprehension of the Dao of Formations close to the Peak of the Large Success Realm. Making a breakthrough to the Perfection Realm in the future far simpler.

Because of this, even if Huo Fen managed to finish the pill he was in the process of refining before the ancient guardian formation broke, he would still remain in place until the very last second. After all, an opportunity to so easily increase his comprehension of the Dao of Formations and potentially saving years of effort was not something he would be willing to give up on just because there were two hostile Land Creation Realm cultivators on the other side.

Worst case scenario, the two of them would recognize him as the one behind the chaos that had swept through the Eastern Central Region not too long ago.

As for them catching him? There was simply no chance with his current comprehension of the Dao of Space having broken through to the Perfection Realm. At most they would be able to sense his presence for a split second after breaking through the ancient guardian formation before he had dragged Huo Fen, Meng Jie and the demon beast along with him back out through the passage that they had originally used to enter the ancient alchemy sect ruins.

After which, he would of course destroy said passage to prevent those two from chasing after him. Making it essentially impossible for them to catch him, as they would not only have to rush out of the ancient alchemy sect ruins but also had to figure out where he had ended up after leaving, something that would inevitably take a few minutes to accomplish with their lack of understanding when it came to the Dao of Space. Giving him more than enough time to be back in the Northern Central Region by the time they found the small village with the passage connected to the ancient alchemy sect ruins.

Tracking him at that point would be impossible, as any traces left behind would have long since disappeared by that point. Leaving them with no clue about where he had disappeared to.

Not to mention, if those two left the ancient alchemy sect ruins to search for him, they would inevitably also give the other two still inside the ancient alchemy sect ruins the opportunity to freely seize the majority of the easily accessible treasures still inside the ancient alchemy ruins for themselves.

For this reason alone, there was a very real chance that they wouldn’t even bother trying to chase after him after realizing what had happened and would instead focus their attention on the treasures that might have been left behind inside the still intact section of the ancient alchemy ruins. After all, given their past encounter with him, they should also be aware of his mastery of the Dao of Space. Knowing that there would be little chance for them to catch him.

In a way, this could be considered the correct choice, as there were still countless treasures hidden inside the still somewhat intact section of the ancient alchemy sect ruins that he found himself in, it was only that they had been blocked or sealed off. Preventing him from accessing any of them.

If possible, he didn’t want to leave behind these treasures for those two to get their hands on, but he didn’t really have much of a choice in this regard, as the different formations guarding those still inaccessible ancient buildings had been linked together with the larger ancient guardian formation currently under attack.

He could wait for the last minute second the ancient guardian formation broke, as it would inevitably also cause the ancient formations connected to it to collapse, to forcibly break a few of the more prominent ancient formations.

Although this would also likely trigger the ancient guardian formation and cause it to collapse, it might give him enough time to seize some of the most precious things that had been left behind inside those still tightly guarded ancient buildings. The problem was, he wouldn’t be able to do so without risking a potential clash with those two Land Creation Realm cultivators outside.

With his current strength, he wasn’t afraid of clashing with those two, but doing so would inevitably end up with Huo Fen, Meng Jie and the demon beast being unable to escape in time, as there would simply be no way for him to defend those three while also having to ensure his own safety in the face of two Land Creation Realm cultivators.

Keeping that in mind, the best option would be for him to throw those three out of the ancient alchemy sect ruins ahead of time and have them wait for him on the other side. In which case, he would be more than happy to close off the passage leading out of the ancient alchemy sect ruins and into that hidden space below the church of the small village, as he himself was more than confident enough to leave the ancient alchemy sect ruins on his own without having to drag anyone along.

The problem was... Huo Fen was busy refining the pill that used the Stardusk Essence.

To be honest, this was a rather annoying situation, as he felt like Huo Fen could have just waited until they got to a safe location before doing this, but maybe the excitement had completely overwhelmed him upon finally getting his hands on the Stardusk Essence or he had simply not expected the refinement process to take as long as it had. Understandable considering how little time it had taken to refine a batch of over a hundred Saint Grade Pills in the past. Even more so when one considered that he was only refining a handful of pills this time around. Far from the same quantity as he had made earlier on.

This did show off the quality of the pill, but at the same time posed a significant problem to Xuan Hao’s developing plans in how to deal with the current situation he found himself in and how to best maximize his own gains.

The first option, he could ignore Huo Fen and throw him out of the ancient alchemy sect ruins despite not having finished refining the pill and just give him another vial of Stardusk Essence and Saint Grade Spiritual Herbs to refine another batch after getting to safety. Ensuring that he would still be able to refine the pill.

This did carry some loss in terms of the spiritual herbs and Stardusk Essence but wasn’t exactly a lot to him after seizing the large pile of spiritual herbs that the master disciple pair had uncovered along with the large amount of Stardusk Essence still in his possession.

Second, he could wait and see, hoping that Huo Fen finished everything before the ancient guardian formation broke. Allowing him to deal with the entire situation without any losses in the process.

As for giving up on the treasures that might still be hidden inside the relatively intact section of the ancient alchemy sect? Xuan Hao had already disregarded this thought over time, as it became increasingly clear that there should still be a large number of Saint Grade Spiritual Herbs, Alchemy Recipes and potentially even Saint Grade Alchemist Inheritances hidden in those still closely guarded ancient buildings.

Even losing out on a vial of Stardusk Essence and a few Saint Grade Spiritual Herbs, it would still be worth it if he could get his hands on a Saint Grade Alchemist Inheritance. After all, that was something that would be capable of directly strengthening the foundation of the Star Shattering Sect and also help Pei Yang and himself reach the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Alchemy faster, something that was far more precious than a single vial of Stardusk Essence. Especially now that he wasn’t exactly short on Stardusk Essence...