Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Having come to the decision that they would head towards the Shattered Star Peaks like the senior at the Core Formation Realm, the two wandering cultivators at the Foundation Establishment decided to first gather some more information about the Star Shattering Sect and the territory that they now found themselves inside of. After all, even though they had already spent a month in the territory of the Star Shattering Sect, they had spent most of this time hunting demon beasts and searching for spiritual herbs to exchange at a local branch of the Explorer Union. Never really having taken the time to inspect their surroundings and get an understanding of the local powers.

The only real interaction they had with other wandering cultivators or those from the local powers had been while waiting in line at the Explorer Union, but outside of that they had kept a certain distance out of habit. Kowing from past experience that it would be best to avoid others unless necessary, as one never knew the attitude of the local powers nor how dangerous an interaction with others might be while wandering outside.

Not just the two of them, this was the general attitude of most wandering cultivators.

The only real interactions between wandering cultivators under normal circumstances take place in larger towns and cities where they could interact without much fear or at special treasure sites such as ancient ruins and resource rich locations.

Of course, they could also encounter in the wild and build relations through taking on powerful demon beasts together, but situations like that were rare. In fact, the relationship between Chen Qiu and his brother had developed through a life and death encounter with a demon beast back when they had both still been at the Early Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm and had just stepped onto the path of cultivation.

If not for something like that, it might have been difficult for the two of them to develop such a close relationship as wandering cultivators, as most wandering cultivators tended to keep to themselves for obvious reasons.

But given that they the two of them now wanted to learn more about the region outside of what little they already knew, they had to interact more with other wandering cultivators, as just getting information from the Explorer Union was far from cheap for someone like themselves. Getting information from other wandering cultivators, while less accurate than information from the Explorer Union, would be far cheaper and in most cases even free when it came to general knowledge about a place.

As for information about the Star Shattering Sect and the stronger subordinate forces under it… The two found it relatively easy to get information about them because they were active throughout the territory while being easy to approach. Allowing some of the bolder wandering cultivators to chat with them and easily get access to information that would under normal circumstances have been difficult to gather.

One such piece of information being the presence of a teleportation network that had been established throughout the territory by the Star Shattering Sect that some of these subordinate forces disciples and elders could use from time to time in a limited way by taking missions from the Star Shattering Sect.

To the two brothers, the existence of something like a teleportation network that covered the entire territory was already far beyond anything they had heard about before. Having only really encountered something as complicated as a teleportation formation in the context of ancient ruins.

Although they had heard some rumors about large empires having the ability to construct teleportation formations, it was the first time they had encountered a situation where someone confirmed the existence of teleportation formations and more than just a single person, almost everyone they encountered with some knowledge of the Star Shattering Sect knew about the existence of this territory wide teleportation network. Making it clear to the two of them that it should exist, and it wasn’t considered something worth hiding in the eyes of the different large empires they knew about.

From this fact alone, it was clear to the two of them that the Star Shattering Sect existed on a level above those empires they had only heard about in the past.

But outside of learning about the existence of a teleportation network that was interesting and helped them understand the strength of the Star Shattering Sect that controlled the region, they also managed to learn something a bit more useful, like the distribution of power and what places to avoid with their current strength.

Most importantly, they managed to get their hands on more information about the city that had been mentioned by the senior in the Core Formation Relam. Not only learning the location of the city and how to reach it, but also about the fact that the city had several shops run by the Star Shattering Sect that sold precious spiritual pills and cultivation mantras for far less than normal.

That alone would be more than enough for them to make a trip and at the same time also what ended up making the two brothers even more confident about making the journey to the Shattered Star Peaks.

The only downside being that the Shattered Star Peaks was located rather far away from where they found themselves inside the Star Shattering Sect’s territory, as they were essentially wandering around the edges of the sect’s territory.

For them to reach the Shattered Star Peaks with their current strength would take months if not years. Luckily, they had managed to learn that there were large groups of wandering cultivators planning to head towards the Shattered Star Peaks gathering in a nearby town with a branch of the Star Shattering Sect next to it.

Normally, this would not have meant much to them, as grouping together with other wandering cultivators would be a risk.

However, there was one distinct difference in these groups of wandering cultivators and that was the fact that they had disciples from the Star Shattering Sect guiding them. Apparently as some sort of learning opportunity for the sect’s younger disciples. Not that Chen Qiu or his brother cared the slightest bit about any of that, as the most important part of the information they had managed to gather about this was the fact that the Star Shattering Sect would be providing Core Formation Realm demon beasts for travel, something that would essentially turn the potentially year long journey into one that could be completed in a few short months.

Because of this, Chen Qiu didn’t want to miss out and wasted no time dragging his brother along to hopefully join one of the groups heading out for the Shattered Star Peaks before all the disciples from the Star Shattering Sect were gone. After all, it was clear that this kind of arrangement couldn’t stay around forever and would only be temporary.

Before the chance disappeared, they had to get to the small town. Not just for an easy path to the Shattered Star Peaks, but also because this might be a chance for the two of them to get a chance to meet someone from the Star Shattering Sect that they had only really heard about from other wandering cultivators so far.

A chance that ended up causing the two brothers to exhaust all their strength rushing forward for two days straight before finally spotting the small town they had been searching for in the distance.

The branch sect of the Star Shattering Sect located next to it nowhere in sight, but a nearby mountain range with a clear path running between it and the small town hinted at the location of this branch sect.

No matter what, the two brothers wasted no time as the two of them exhausted the last bit of their strength reaching the small town, where they barely had enough time to check in at a local inn before collapsing exhausted in their room.

Although the two of them had already surpassed mortal limits and reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, two days of continuous running like their life depended on it had still ended up draining every bit of strength in their bodies.

Even if the two of them wanted nothing more than to go out and find a way to join a group led by a disciple from the Star Shattering Sect, they also understood that they were in no condition to do so for now.

Because of this, the two of them ended up spending over half a day deep asleep as their bodies recovered before Chen Qiu woke up followed by his brother who might have been kicked out of the bed before the two of them rushed out of their rooms just as the sun began to rise in the distance.

Not wasting any time on eating even with their stomachs grumbling in protest, as they instead began searching through the city for the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect that they had heard about.

Changed chapter title of last chapter from ”Chen Qiu” to ”Two Brothers” ___ter