Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Along with the death of the death of the second Land Creation Realm cultivator who also happened to have reached the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm like the first one he had killed at the southern border of the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao was left with only one Land Creation Realm cultivator causing trouble within the borders of the Blue Sea Empire’s territory.

The problem when it came to dealing with this last remaining Land Creation Realm cultivator was the simple fact that the other party had reached the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm and was significantly stronger than the two Land Creation Realm cultivators he had killed so far.

Even if he hadn’t been in a somewhat exhausted state after taking care of the two Land Creation Realm cultivators at the Early Stage of the Realm, he doubted he would be able to finish off the Land Creation Realm cultivator from the Wei Empire. Not just because the other party had reached the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm, but also because of the countless survival methods an old senior figure like that would possess.

In the worst-case scenario, he might even pull out something like what the Ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire had done at the last moment to fight back against the Blood Sea Demon King. In which case he might end up grievously wounded or in the worst-case scenario, dead.

All of this was to say he really wanted to avoid a potential clash with the Land Creation Realm cultivator from the Wei Empire… And to do this, he had specifically targeted the other two Land Creation Realm cultivators that he had some confidence in taking down first while keeping the illusion of his strength being at the Star Creation Realm in place.

Even though the death of the two Land Creation Realm cultivators had ended up happening within ten minutes, the Ancestor of the Wei Empire should have received news of what had taken place by now and should have already retreated. After all, there was no way for him to get dragged into a battle with someone who had reached the Star Creation Realm, that would be nothing short of a death wish for someone in the Land Creation Realm like himself.

Whoosh~!

Huh? He’s still here…?

Because of this fact, Xuan Hao could not help feeling somewhat surprised when he noticed that that the Ancestor of the Wei Empire was still around when he appeared at the border that existed between the Blue Sea Empire and Wei Empire–In other words, the neutral territories that had turned rather chaotic with the battle between the Wei Empire’s Ancestor and the demonic cultivator at the Demon King Realm.

However, though the battle had been chaotic and affected a large portion of the neutral territories, it was clear that both involved parties had avoided causing any damage to the neutral factions that were seen as being under the Star Shattering Sect. Cleary none of them wanted to accidentally offend the Star Shattering Sect due to their battle and had limited the effects of their battle to other parts of the neutral territory.

But given how the Ancestor of the Wei Empire had gone through the effort of limiting the damage caused by the battle, Xuan Hao could not help feeling even more confused as to why he hadn’t taken the opportunity to leave before his arrival.

”Greetings, Elder of the Star Shattering Sect.”

A confusion that only deepened as the Ancestor of the Wei Empire, who had seemingly been waiting for his arrival with the demonic cultivator already having escaped back to the capital city of the Blue Sea Empire where the Blood Sea Demon King was in seclusion recovering his strength, stepped forward and greeted him with a clear look of respect on his face.

”Ancestor of the Wei Empire… Considering you already stopped fighting and even went as far as avoiding damage to those smaller neutral factions, I will spare you. Tell me, what question do you have?”

Thinking through several ways to respond, Xuan Hao ultimately ended up going with a more ambitious answer that made it seem like he was sparing the other party because of the simple fact that he had already stopped causing trouble like the original request from the Star Shattering Sect had implied, while also keeping those weaker neutral factions that were under the Star Shattering Sect’s protection in the eyes of the different major powers throughout the Northern Central Region, safe.

”Thank you, Senior. I hope to use this opportunity to meet you because I have some questions regarding my cultivation that I would like your assistance with. After all, though there exist Star Creation Realm cultivators within the Southern Central Region, it’s close to impossible to gain any information about progress beyond the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm from them. Unless I give up everything here and join under them…

Of course, I don’t intend to get the information I seek for nothing and have prepared something worthwhile to exchange for it.” Bowing his head in a humble manner as he said this, the Ancestor of the Wei Empire silently waited for Xuan Hao’s answer.

This… Is not how I expected things to turn out… But information on the Late Stage of the Land Creation Realm. Isn’t that just the fact that one needs to use a comprehended Dao at the Origin Realm to enhance the foundation of the landmass created within the Dantian upon reaching the Land Creation Realm? Bringing the internal space of the dantian closer to forming an internal world.

Feeling an odd sense of confusion at the question from the Ancestor of the Wei Empire, Xuan Hao could not help going over the process of going from the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm to the Late Stage of the Land Creation Realm in his head.

Although difficult to accomplish, it wasn’t something impossible nor should it be too difficult to figure out–unless something was wrong with the landmass that had been created upon breaking through to the Land Creation Realm.

In fact, he had already sensed something wrong during his killing of the two Land Creation Realm cultivators earlier, but hadn’t thought too much about it, but now with the somewhat desperate question from the Ancestor of the Wei Empire who had decided to stay behind and wait for him even at the risk of being killed, he couldn’t help feeling like there might be something wrong with the Land Creation Realm of others.

”I wouldn’t mind helping, but I would need to inspect your dantian. Is that fine with you?”

Because of this, after a bit of hesitation, he decided to agree with the request from the Ancestor of the Wei Empire while also asking a question that should be refused if the other party was just planning to use this entire situation to probe him or launch a sneak attack.

After all, though the difference between someone in the Land Creation Realm and Star Creation Realm was massive, it wasn’t something that couldn’t be crossed and if the Wei Empire pulled on its reserves, it would undoubtedly be able to mount up something strong enough to take down someone in the Star Creation Realm. Much like the ancient formation that had been partially used by the Ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire, though it hadn’t been active for long, it had more than enough strength to kill someone at the Star Creation Realm within that short time.

”That… I… I agree…”

However contrary to what he had expected, the Ancestor of the Wei Empire agreed to his request after a brief internal struggle, something that he hadn’t ever expected to happen considering what it meant for him to willingly allow him to inspect his dantian.

Not to mention the obvious fact that he would have the ability to instantly kill the other party, he would also be able to forcibly draw out his soul and imprison it and forcibly extract the other party’s memories through soul extraction. Demonic as this was, it was a method used by most normal cultivators due to how useful it was.

For the Ancestor of the Wei Empire to put that level of trust in someone else was undoubtedly strange, but on second thought, if he truly had no way to further improve his strength and had been stuck without any hope, it might be understandable for him to agree.

The trust he felt towards him not doing anything strange while inspecting his dantian while being essentially a stranger undoubtedly came from the fact that he believed him to not just be a Star Creation Realm cultivator, but also someone from an ancient hidden sect.

These two factors put together meant he already had the strength to kill him in the first place, while also coming from a power that would have little interest in forcibly recruiting someone like himself like the Star Creation Realm cultivators from the Southern Central Region might have done in such a situation.