Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Not much different from the group of elders at the Soul Ascension Realm who had found themselves reaching a limit in how far they could progress, most of those who had challenged the ascension realm tower early on found themselves reaching the limit of how far they could go with their current cultivation realm. Unless an opportunity presented itself or their strength improved, their progress would likely halt at the floor that they were in the process of challenging.

This was expected but not discouraging for the sect elders and disciples of the sect, outside of those who found themselves unfortunate enough to be stuck on a floor like the twelfth floor. Mainly because they could continue to complete tasks on the previous floors they had cleared and continue earning ascension coins or exploring the floor they had failed to complete previously. Looking for other ways to clear the floor or just to see if they could find any rare cultivation resources that might be hidden on the floor.

Along with a large portion of those progressing through the tower finding themselves hitting a wall, it was only a given that those who had managed to reach the tenth floor gathered there to potentially team up with others or try to learn more about the floor they had been stuck on for those who had already cleared it. Hoping that those ahead of them might have figured out some way to more easily clear the floor that they were stuck on.

But with the current strength of the sect’s elders, there were few who could clear the twelfth floor of the tower… And those who had managed to make their way through it were likely already in the process of challenging higher floors of the tower. Leaving a gap in information on how to clear the twelfth floor of the tower.

Although the elders could team up to take on the twelfth floor of the tower together, the difficulty increase meant that they would not just have to kill far more of the slimes, but the strength of the slimes themselves also increased together with them starting to move in group instead of on their own.

Help as it might, it did also bring along its own challenges and sometimes it wasn’t always for the best to team up. The reason why most ended up doing it was because they were unable to progress on their own or found it more effective for earning ascension coins.

…

Back on the lower section of the resting area accessible after clearing the ninth floor of the ascension realm tower, Mui and Song Jia recovered after almost being toppled over by the group of elders who had rushed past them in the direction of the spiral staircase, both looking awfully confused over what had just happened. Not understanding what had caused those elders to rush out like they had done.

Unfortunately, even though they wanted to complain, the culprits had already run away by the time they stabilized themselves.

”What was up with those elders?”

”Don’t know… Maybe something important came up?”

”True… I heard grandpa pulled quite a few elders away from the ascension realm tower over the past few days to help with the current situation at the Grand Mission Pavilion. Maybe they ended up being chosen…”

”Ah…” Hearing Son Jia’s suggestion on what might have caused those elders to rush out so suddenly, Mui silently nodded her head in understanding. Feeling happy that she herself was still a disciple and didn’t have to worry about things like that, able to freely explore the ascension realm tower without fear of interruptions.

Although, that might also have to do with the fact that she was the person disciple of someone like Xuan Hao, as normal disciples would still have to complete a certain number of missions every month after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm. The only ones who were truly free to move around without any burdens were the most talented disciples with potential to be the future pillars of the sect.

Under normal circumstances, it didn’t really have that much of an impact, but in a situation like this where at least the strength of Mui would have normally promoted her to an elder that would likely have to assist with the situation at the Grand Mission Pavilion, the special identity did show its worth.

But… Given Mui’s reputation, it was likely that even if she was an elder, Elder Song wouldn’t turn to her for help. Not because he didn’t trust her so to speak, but more so because her helping might make the situation take a turn for the worse. After all, he had already experienced the chaos that Mui could cause when she decided to lend a hand in solving a problem…

”So, do we have enough ascension coins for that thing…?” Deciding not to think about the rude group of elders who had almost ended up making them fall over, Mui quickly returned their conversation to what they had been talking about before the little interruption, causing Song Jia to slowly nod her head in response. ”Yes, we should be able to buy it if we pool our ascension coins together.”

”Good! With this, we should be able to help little Baobao get a few friends for company in the future.” Smiling as she said this, Mui didn’t restrain her excitement as she almost dragged Song Jia off towards a nearby stall where a few different artifacts and cultivation resources were for sale for ascension coins. One specific spiritual metal for sale being what had caused this excitement in the first place, as Mui had identified it as a potential core material for the creation of another artifact or rather living artifact like Baobao.

The main problem the two had encountered was that this spiritual metal was far too expensive for them to get their hands on in the short term. Making Mui attempt to steal the spiritual metal in question from the stall before they challenged the twelfth floor of the tower, something that didn’t end well for Mui, as she quickly found out why no one else attempted to forcibly take the things displayed on the different stalls. Getting stuck down by lightning before being sent to the ground floor. Soon enough discovering that she had ended up losing a fair chunk of her ascension coins.

After this, she and Song Jia worked together to come up with a way to earn enough ascension coins to get their hands on the spiritual metal, as Song Jia also wanted to make a friend for Baobao if possible.

In the end, they had realized that only by clearing the twelfth floor of the tower would they have a chance to earn enough ascension coins to afford the spiritual metal without having to spend potential months clearing tasks on the eleventh floor of the tower.

The problem… The twelfth floor was designed for the Soul Ascension Realm, while the two of them were in the Domain Lord Realm and the Nascent Soul Realm.

Strong as they might be for their cultivation realm, neither of them had the strength to realistically challenge someone in the Soul Ascension Realm. Forcing the two to get creative and find another path to clearing the twelfth floor… And after dying over a dozen times, they identified the weakness of the slimes and worked together on creating an artifact that allowed them to directly hit this weak point that was the core of the slimes. Killing it with only the power of someone in the Domain Lord Realm.

After that, the rest of the twelfth floor was a breeze until they encountered a problem they didn’t expect. Distance.

To reach even one of the mountains where the tribulations awaited them took weeks. Forcing Mui to innovate on the spot to figure out a solution. Ultimately putting together, a rather unique artifact for travelling with the material available on the twelfth floor. Allowing them to clear the tribulations in no more than a few days with the help of another artifact crafted on the spot. Ultimately clearing the twelfth floor of the tower in a time that would leave any of the Soul Ascension Realm Elders currently challenging the tower speechless.

The only unfortunate part of clearing the twelfth floor was the fact that none of the artifacts she had created outside of the one for targeting the cores of the slimes had managed to survive, with the one used for helping them pass through the tribulations of the twelfth floor being the worst, as it failed during the last two of the tribulations. Forcing them to undertake them without any assistance.

Luckily for the two of them, the remaining two tribulations were focused on willpower and comprehension, both of which they managed to pass flawlessly.

After all, though Mui wasn’t exactly a traditional cultivator, her willpower was far beyond her cultivation realm and Song Jia was a natural genius with a strong willpower.