Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Deep in meditation, Xuan Hao didn’t pay any attention to the situation playing out in the Blue Sea Empire as the size of his spiritual sea continued to increase with each passing day. The Stardusk Essence he had managed to obtain inside the ancient alchemy sect ruins still able to support the continued growth of his spiritual sea. The only real problem he ran into was the fact that his spiritual sea was becoming increasingly unstable with the rapid expansion, but… With the overall size of spiritual sea that his dantian could handle, he should be able to reach the limit before his spiritual sea became unstable enough that it would prevent a breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm.

Because of this, even as the situation in the Blue Sea Empire became increasingly deadly, Xuan Hao and the rest of the Star Shattering Sect maintained a neutral stance and continued developing like they had done in the past. The trade with the different neutral factions in the neutral territory between the Blue Sea Empire and the Wei Empire being their only real connection to the current chaotic situation, as the sect had otherwise managed to stay completely out of the conflict otherwise.

Even then, the connection with the different neutral factions wasn’t anything special beyond trade and only involved a bit of information on the current state of the conflict between the Blue Sea Empire and the demonic cultivators.

This source of information was the only real way for the Star Shattering Sect to learn about the current state of the conflict, as the sect hadn’t yet managed to establish an information network inside the Blue Sea Empire. Not just because of the difficulty involved, but also because of the potential danger in case the Blue Sea Empire learnt about it.

In a way, the neutral factions had ended up becoming one of the sect’s main sources of information on the happenings of the Northern Central Regions, though the neutral factions had no clue about this as the information in question wasn’t something they considered hard to come by. Unaware of the simple fact that it was difficult for a power like the Star Shattering Sect that was located outside the Northern Central Region to get information about the happenings in the Northern Central Region.

It was because of this link to the Northern Central Region that happened to be located right next to the Blue Sea Empire, that the Star Shattering Sect ended up becoming one of the first major powers to learn about the emergence of a new Land Creation Realm cultivator from the Blue Sea Empire, who had wasted no time joining the battle against the powerful demonic cultivator together with the Land Creation Realm cultivator that had been invited by the old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire.

At the same time, outside of this sudden shift in the balance with the emergence of a new Land Creation Realm cultivator from the Blue Sea Empire, there was also a few ancestors that had remained in hiding in the depths of the imperial palace who had failed in breaking through to the Land Creation Realm and ended up perishing in the process. Significantly weakening the overall foundation of the Blue Sea Empire in the process.

Even if the Blue Sea Empire had attempted to hide the failed breakthroughs to the Land Creation Realm, it wasn’t likely they would have succeeded. After all, a failed breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm meant that the newly formed landmass inside the dantian would shatter and in turn cause the dantian to blow up, a process that created an explosion powerful enough to kill someone in the Land Creation Realm.

Suppressing this kind of explosion was possible, but the cost involved was far too much. Especially when it had to be done more than once… And with the current state of the Blue Sea Empire, they simply didn’t have the resources to bother suppressing these failed attempts at reaching the Land Creation Realm, as everyone observing the capital of the Blue Sea Empire were able to watch from afar as the foundation that the Blue Sea Empire had built up over they years was being burnt away with their old ancestors stepping forward to attempt a breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm.

In the end, a total of four ended up dying before the fifth finally managed to successfully break through to the Land Creation Realm. Meaning the Blue Sea Empire had ended up losing a grand total of four Sea Formation Realm cultivators before a single Land Creation Realm cultivator had emerged.

To say this was devastating would be an understatement, as the number of Sea Formation realm cultivators left in the Blue Sea Empire had likely already been reduced to one or two following this, a change that wasn’t something the Blue Sea Empire had ever wanted to see, as they had most likely expected at least two or maybe even three of those five to break through to the Land Creation Realm.

But… Fate was fickle and one could never guarantee a successful breakthrough even if the Land Creation Realm was significantly easier to reach compared to the Sea Formation Realm itself, as one could already attempt a breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm with a relatively high success rate.

Although the emergence of a new Land Creation Realm cultivator did help the Blue Sea Empire stabilize their situation and push back against the demonic cultivators, it did also end up essentially destroying their own foundation in the process and one of the main ways they had been able to keep their territory safe from the invasion of other major powers while busy fighting the demonic cultivators.

The Sea Formation Realm cultivators might not have been able to do much in the struggle against the demonic cultivators who had already reached the Land Creation Realm, but they had been more than enough to hold back the different major powers who generally only had someone at the Sea Formation Realm at the helm.

Now that these Sea Formation Realm ancestors were gone and the newly emerged Land Creation realm ancestor had already rushed off to fend off the demonic cultivators, the territory of the Blue Sea Empire was starting to look increasingly free for conquest to many of these smaller major powers.

Still, none of them dared to make the first move. Understanding that doing so would end up with them bearing the burnt of the Blue Sea empire’s retaliation.

So… Countless eyes inevitably ended up turning towards the Blue Sea Empire’s old enemy, the Wei Empire. Knowing that there was no way, this old enemy of the Blue Sea Empire was just going to sit around now that the Blue Sea Empire had started to struggle.

And indeed, just a few hours after the emergence of a new Land Creation Realm cultivator from the Blue Sea Empire, the ancestor from the Wei Empire finally made his move, as he left the capital of the Wei Empire and arrived at the borders of the Blue Sea Empire with an army. Wasting no time as he began rapidly grabbing large chunks of territory from the Blue Sea Empire.

Not without any reason of course, as he directly claimed to be helping the Blue Sea Empire deal with the demonic cultivators that they had been unable to deal with.

Of course, there was no way the Blue Sea Empire would accept that kind of reasoning, as the old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire who had remained inactive so far rushed out to face the old ancestor from the Wei Empire.

In the end, the two old ancestors soon enough began clashing with each other in a far more devastating battle compared to the one playing out between the two Land Creation Realm cultivators and one demonic cultivator.

The main reason for this was not just the fact that the two of them were throwing everything at each other, but more so the fact that the two of them were far stronger than those three, with both of them having already surpassed the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm and stepped into what could be considered to be the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm.

Not to mention, the two of them were far from normal Land Creation Realm cultivators, as they could both be considered among some of the oldest Land Creation Realm cultivators in the Northern Central Region… And for this simple reason, the number of tricks up their sleeves were countless, as their battle became far more terrifying than even a battle between two Late Stage Land Creation Realm cultivators. Showcasing just how terrifying one could become with enough time to slowly gather different trump cards and experience.

As a result of this devasting battle, the neutral territory at the border between the two major powers of course ended up finding itself in the eye of the storm, a place nobody wanted to be…

mass release will be for tomorrow, can’t do today with new years, though I guess I did do one mass release earlier in the month :d