Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

With Pei Yang officially reaching the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Alchemy, Xuan Hao didn’t hold back in the slightest as he made sure the old man repaid him for the ancient alchemy artifacts that had served as one of the main factors in him being able to reach the Perfection Realm so fast. Essentially making him stay to teach him for an entire month, during which both almost disappeared entirely from the surface of the sect.

The main reason why Xuan Hao decided to act so drastically when it came to having Pei Yang teach him was because he kept feeling that the position of the sect was becoming increasingly unstable with the worsening situation of the Blue Sea Empire. Although nothing major had happened over the past month, the demonic cultivators weren’t stopping their attack on the Blue Sea Empire and continued pushing deeper with each passing day even with the Blue Sea Empire getting assistance from another Land Creation Realm cultivator.

When the time came that the old ancestor still holding down the fort in the capital city of the Blue Sea Empire found himself unable to sit back any longer, the different major powers surrounding the Blue Sea Empire would make their move and try to capture as much territory as possible before the demonic cultivators were pushed back.

All things considered, though the demonic cultivators had been impressive so far in their invasion of the Blue Sea Empire and they had managed to pull out an unknown demonic cultivator to handle the Land Creation Realm cultivator that the ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire had managed to bring over for help, none of the major powers in the Northern Central Region expected the demonic cultivators to be capable of taking down the Blue Sea Empire.

The reason in question being that the foundation of a major power like the Blue Sea Empire was simply far too terrifying and while the demonic cultivators might be able to take away most of the empire’s territory, there was no way they would be able to break through to the central territory of the empire.

Not just because the strength accumulated by the Blue Sea Empire was terrifying, but because it was well known among the different major powers in the Northern Central Region that the main reason why the Blue Sea Empire had been established in the first place had to do with the capital city itself being located on top of an island that had once housed a powerful ancient sect with cultivators rumored to have exceeded the Profound Immortal Realm.

Of course, the Blue Sea Empire hadn’t been established in this kind of place to continue the legacy of their ancient seniors, but instead because the ruins were still far from fully explored to this day and still contained countless terrifying formations and deadly traps that even someone in the Star Creation Realm would fear. The main inheritance and strength of the Blue Sea Empire came from these ancient ruins, as the old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire was even said to have the ability to borrow the strength of those ancient defensive formations that had once guarded that ancient sect.

Decayed and damaged as those ancient formations might be, they had still been capable of resisting someone in the Venerable Realm in the past and was not something that could be underestimated under any circumstances.

It was this reason that made none of the major powers in the Northern Central Region ever think that the Blue Sea Empire was under any existential threat and would at most end up losing a good portion of their territory to the demonic cultivators, demonic cultivators whom these major powers watching the situation playing out from the side, was more than happy to join hands with to weaken the dominant Blue Sea Empire.

For Xuan Hao though, he didn’t think the Blue Sea Empire was going to fall either, but he was very much aware of the chaos it would bring when the Blue Sea Empire was forced to retreat into their core territory.

Not only would the demonic cultivators do their very best to expand into the Northern Central Region, but the different major powers eyeing the Blue Sea Empire from the side would undoubtedly also join in on this and claim part of the Blue Sea Empire for themselves.

Even if the Blue Sea Empire came to complain to them about it in the future, they could always say it was done to protect that particular part of the Blue Sea Empire that they just so happened to be bordering and already had an interest in claiming for themselves, from demonic cultivators.

The chaos of such a situation would undoubtedly drag in the different neutral territories that had now ended up becoming the sect’s largest trading partner after the Explorer Union decided not to cooperate with the sect.

The sect itself should be safe, but one could never be too sure and to ensure that the sect remained safe even in the case that it got dragged up in this demonic conquest of the Blue Sea Empire.

To ensure absolute safety for the sect, he had to breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm and over the month he had sealed off himself and dragged Pei Yang along with him, he had managed to successfully take the final step forward and had his Dao of Alchemy breakthrough to the Perfection Realm. Wasting no time after this breakthrough to use the core generated upon becoming a Saint Realm Alchemist to directly strengthen his spiritual sea’s foundation just enough for him to breakthrough to the Peak of the Sea Formation Realm in a single step, as he essentially only really needed to return his spiritual sea to a calm state to breakthrough to the Peak of the Sea Formation Realm.

Having succeeded in what he had set out to do and also reaching the point where he could start thinking about breaking through to the Land Creation Realm, Xuan Hao let go of Pei Yang and returned back to his own cultivation room to go over his current state and if he should continue trying to increase the size of his spiritual sea or begin final preparations for breaking through to the Land Creation realm.

The first thing he did was look through his status…

Name: Xuan Hao

Daos: Perfection (Space, Sword, Ice, Formations, Blacksmithing, Light, Alchemy), Large Success (Illusions, Corruption, Yin, Fire), Small Success (Life, Water, Rain), Elementary Realm (Time, Metal, Wood, Wind, Cloud Formation) Spiritual Sea: 1000 kilometers circumference Depth: 631 meters Sword Intent: Sword Soul Realm (Sword Refinement Realm, Second Refinement) Talent: ????

Bloodline: Three Immortals Bloodline (Half-Awakened), requirements for full awakening met. Physique: Stellar Dao Body (99% Awakened)

Realm: Peak Stage Sea Formation Realm Profound Immortal (Calm Sea) Professions: Alchemist (Third Heaven Saint), Formation Master (Third Heaven Saint), Blacksmithing (Third Heaven Saint) Sect: Star Shattering Sect Status: Ancestor of the Star Shattering Sect Disciples: Qing Yi, Chu Yang, Bai Ning, Mui, Chun Hua Pet: Lazy Winged Lion (Late Stage of the Dao Seed Realm), Rabbit Demon Beast (Peak Stage of the Dao Seed Realm) From his status, outside of the improvement that both of his pets had gone through, with the rabbit demon beast somehow having already reached the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm. Only a single step away from reaching the Profound Immortal Realm. Xuan Hao also noticed the very obvious change to the size of his spiritual sea compared to the last time he had checked his status.

Although, one thing was clear and that was the fact that the overall depth of his spiritual sea hadn’t changed much compared to before. The reason for that was rather simple, as it became close to impossible for him to extend his spiritual sea any further downwards after he broke through the 600-meter mark. Shallow to say the least for a sea, but there was nothing he could do about it. After his spiritual sea’s total circumference reached 900 kilometers, it had already had a depth of 601 meters. Only increasing by another 30 after his breakthrough to the Peak of the Sea Formation realm just now.

Increasing the depth of his spiritual sea any further was nothing but a waste of time, as it might take him centuries to increase its depth by a few meters.

As for continuing outward expansion of his spiritual sea… It was possible and he intended to continue that until his dantian reached the limit of what it could bear, but that wouldn’t take more than a few weeks or maybe months to accomplish. After which, he would truly have reached the absolute limit of what he could in the Sea Formation Realm.

The next step from that point onwards would be the Land Creation Realm.

With that in mind, Xuan Hao slowly sank into meditation. Fully intent on reaching this absolute limit before beginning his breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm. Hoping that the situation in the Blue Sea Empire would remain somewhat stable until he could finish his breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm.