Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Following along as Li Chi showed him around the secret realm that had essentially been dubbed the storage realm by Wei Chin, Li Chi and the other elders and disciples in charge of maintaining it and ensuring it continued operating, Xuan Hao didn’t take long to realize that it wouldn’t be as simple as he had originally anticipated to find the cultivation resources required for awakening the divine physiques that some of the those seven potential future disciples possessed.

Not because he couldn’t find anything, but instead because the most important treasure always seemed to be missing. Allowing him to essentially find anything but the most important part required.

Understandable as this might be as the most crucial part was by far also the rarest, it was a frustrating situation, nonetheless.

”Senior… Perhaps we could try and go through the Explorer Union to find what you need. After all, though the Explorer Union stopped direct trade with the sect, it’s still rather simple to go around the block by visiting a branch close to the Eastern Central Region or going through Lord Rabbit.” Having sensed the growing frustration that Xuan Hao had been feeling over the current situation, Li Chi took the chance while they were moving between locations to add a potential solution to the problem that Xuan Hao found himself facing.

”L-Lord Rabbit…?” But Xuan Hao had long since thought about the solution of using the Explorer Union and instead found himself more focused on the second suggestion that had been brought up, as a somewhat strange look appeared on his face as the words left his mouth.

From the title alone, he already had an idea about who this lord rabbit might be, but to be sure he decided to wait for Li Chi to answer his somewhat confused question.

”Yes! Lord Rabbit, the tamed demon beast of Elder Xuan.” Not at all sensing the somewhat odd look from Xuan Hao, Li Chi nodded his head excitedly as he directly confirmed Xuan Hao’s suspicions.

It really was that little rabbit… From what I know, it should have been staying at Yi Min’s kingdom, the Iron Sky Kingdom along with that fellow who ended up being forcibly recruited by it in the past. What in the world has it been up to since I left it on its own…?

Feeling like a headache starting to set in at the thought of the little rabbit also starting to cause trouble on its own, Xuan Hao steeled himself as his gaze signaled for Li Chi to continue his explanation.

”As you might already know, Lord Rabbit is the tamed demon beast of Elder Xuan, but outside of that, Lord Rabbit is also recently become the biggest spiritual carrot trader across the Northern Central Region.”

Huh? Spiritual carrot trade? Biggest across the Northern Central Region? How come I didn’t know any of this?

”As the biggest spiritual carrot trader, Lord Rabbit has a special relationship with the Explorer Union. If you manage to go through Lord Rabbit, it should be simple enough to overcome the ban of the Explorer Union. After all, there is no way that the Explorer Union would just willingly give up on their supply of spiritual carrots. Especially considering that Lord Rabbit isn’t associated with the Star Shattering Sect on the surface.

From what I heard, all of this was deliberately done by Lord Rabbit to ensure that the sect at least had some continued trade with the Explorer Union after the ban was put in place. It was also for this reason that Lord Rabbit decided to establish the spiritual carrot production within the Iron Sky Kingdom that is still considered somewhat independent in the eyes of those outside the sect.

Hm? Senior? Is something wrong?” Noticing the dazed look in Xuan Hao’s eyes as he finished his explanation, Li Chi could not help calling out to him. Worrying that he might have said something wrong just now.

As for the person in question…

Where am I? What is this? Spiritual carrot empire? Why did spiritual carrot suddenly become some kind of untapped lucrative market that the little rabbit ended up with a monopoly over?

He found himself momentarily lost in state of disbelief as he absorbed the words said by Li Chi but found himself unable to accept what he said. After all, to him, it was rather surprising to suddenly learn about how his little rabbit had apparently built up some kind of spiritual carrot empire while he hadn’t been looking. Growing to the point where even the Explorer Union had been unwilling to stop trade.

Of course, the fact that trade continued likely also had to do with that annoying senior member of the Explorer Union who had decided to stubbornly remain in Bright Stone City.

Although that fellow had grown tamer with time, he still came pestering to enter the Shattered Star Peaks every now and then. Even after what had just played out within the Blue Sea Empire, he hadn’t seemed the slightest bit intimidated and kept up his stance. Making Xuan Hao start to seriously think that he might want something that existed within the Shattered Star Peaks–or at the very least served to scout out the situation for the true masters behind the Explorer Union.

What exactly the Explorer Union wanted from the Shattered Star Peaks, he wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling that it was either related to the Main Star Peak or the ruins on the Fifth Star Peak that the Heavenly Dragon Temple from the Western Central Region had also shown a keen interest in.

”I’m fine, I was just surprised about what you said.” All these internal thoughts swirling around inside his head aside, Xuan Hao returned to normal and expressed his surprise at what he had just learnt about what his little rabbit had been up to, seeing no reason to hide his surprise, as anyone would have been surprised to learn about a rabbit demon beast establishing some kind of trade empire capable of moving the Explorer Union to some extent. Based entirely on spiritual carrots.

”I understand, I was similarly surprised when I first learnt about it. It makes me admire Elder Xuan even more. After all, not everyone could nurture that kind of powerful, intelligent and capable demon beast!”

”That… Indeed…” Not willing to say that the spiritual carrot empire almost certainly had more to do with the forcibly recruited human servant being put to work while the smart little rabbit spent all its time munching on spirit stones, Xuan Hao just nodded his head. Playing along with the clear admiration that Lei Chi had shown not just for the little rabbit but also himself.

In a way, it made him feel like it might be time for him to properly educate this little rabbit and ensure that it didn’t end up causing his reputation to tank in the future.

The winged lion demon beast… Could be left alone for now. After all, all it ever did was laze around with a sudden drive to improve its strength and catch up to the rabbit demon beast emerging every few days causing it to work hard for a bit before slipping back into its usual style. Not exactly troublesome, but more so undisciplined.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao turned to leave the storage realm for the Iron Sky Kingdom where the little rabbit had built its spiritual carrot empire without his knowledge.

”Senior! If you don’t mind, I can help introduce you to Lord Rabbit, as I’m normally the one in charge of handling the spiritual carrots provided to the sect once every month.”

However, once again, before he could leave the storage realm, Li Chi jumped up from behind him and offered his service in introducing him to the little rabbit.

”Sure, but are you fine leaving this place alone without Wei Chin around?”

”That? Don’t worry about it, I’m not the only one helping handle this place in the absence of the Grand Elder. Me leaving for a bit won’t affect this place in the slightest.”

”Okay then, let’s get going.”

Originally having wanted to refuse the request, Xuan Hao thought a bit about it and realized that it wouldn’t really make much difference and if it could make this disciple of the sect who had been helping him look through the sect’s storage realm for the past few hours happy to see that little rabbit, he would be more than happy to bring him along.

Not to mention, he didn’t exactly mind taking the chance to use the teleportation network for a change, as it wouldn’t be much different from travelling to the Iron Sky Kingdom on his own, while also giving him a chance to chat with this small member of the half spirit race and learn a bit more about what had been happening in the sect that he had been unaware of over the past few years along the way.