Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Observing for a bit longer as Li Feng stabilized his body cultivation realm at the Martial Arts Warrior Realm before continuing to press forward towards the Martial Arts Master Realm according to the cultivation technique, he had managed to get his hands on, Xuan Hao’s attention shifted back towards the Death Marsh. Knowing that there wasn’t too much for him to worry about regarding Li Feng breaking through to the Martial Arts Emperor Realm while he wasn’t looking. Not just because of the difficulty involved, but also the simple fact that the cultivation technique he had managed to get his hands on only led to the Martial Arts Master Realm.

For him to go any further in the future, he would have to seek out the ancient inheritance of those major powers that existed within this ancient secret realm. Inheritances that were guarded by beings comparable to Core Formation Realm cultivators. Making it extremely unlikely for him to get anywhere near them in the first place with his strength at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

As for the Death Marsh that the group of youths with Li Feng in the lead were planning on exploring after learning about it from the local city lord… He didn’t worry too much about them finding anything that would allow Li Feng’s body cultivation to suddenly reach the Martial Emperor Realm.

After all, outside of how difficult it would be to find something like that in a place like the Death Marsh that had already been explored by countless people for tens of thousands of years, there was also the fact that the danger of the place should be more than enough to prevent Li Feng and his little group from dwelling too far into the Death Marsh.

The danger in question not only coming from the deadly demonic beasts that inhabited the Death Marsh, but also the poisonous miasma that became denser the deeper one went into the Death Marsh.

Originally, he hadn’t thought too much about the poisonous miasma and just believed it would serve as a good way to stop Li Feng from dragging his little group of friends too deep into the Death Marsh, but after travelling through it for some time, he realized that the poisonous miasma had already become deadly enough to kill someone at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Continuing deeper into the Death Marsh where even demonic beasts and poisonous insects began to become scarce with only a few special deadly ones that even someone in the Core Formation Realm had to avoid began to appear, Xuan Hao was forced to reevaluate the danger posed by the poisonous miasma the shrouded the death marsh. Having never expected this place to be as deadly as it was.

But… At the same time, the Death Marsh being deadlier than originally anticipated was a good thing, as it meant that there was a good chance of the ancient Noble Li Clan being located somewhere inside.

After all, for the place to have remained hidden for as long as it had, it had to be hidden in a deadly location that wasn’t easy to access. A place just like the Death Marsh.

”This should be the core of the Death Marsh…” And as another half hour flew by with him travelling through the Death Marsh, he finally reached the very core of the place where the poisonous miasma was the densest, causing even someone like himself unable to keep the poisonous miasma at bay.

At this level, the poisonous miasma could already kill someone at the Nascent Soul Realm and even some weaker Domain Lord Realm cultivators might end up dying in the face of the thick poisonous miasma. The only reason Xuan Hao himself could remain unaffected without putting too much effort into holding the poisonous miasma back was due to the simple fact that he ultimately wasn’t someone at the Nascent Soul Realm.

Though his strength had been suppressed, it would be laughable if a poison like this could pose any serious harm to his body. In fact, the second it seeped inside his body and entered his dantian, it was quickly swallowed up by the spiritual sea. Assisting its growth however miniscule that assistance was.

Poisonous miasma aside, his main goal of finding the ancient residence of the Noble Li Clan hadn’t been forgotten, as he used his divine sense to scan his surroundings for any traces of infrastructure or ruins that might have been left behind.

”Hm? This miasma…” But as he began searching with his divine sense, he quickly discovered that his divine sense was being severely restricted by the poisonous miasma.

He could increase the strength of his divine sense but doing that would inevitably come with risks.

So, unwilling as he felt, he began a far slower search through the core of the Death Marsh. The only positive discovery being that the overall area considered the core of the Death Marsh wasn’t that large and could be searched through within less than an hour.

One bad thing outside of his limited divine sense within the poisonous miasma was the fact that he hadn’t immediately found any buildings or potential ruins after reaching the core of the Death Marsh.

Considering the Noble Li Clan had once ruled this ancient secret realm and should have been a powerful force in ancient times, it was unlikely for whatever had been left behind from them to have disappeared completely over the years.

Not finding anything immediately indicated that the Death Marsh likely wasn’t the location of the Noble Li Clan’s residence. Still, he had to search through the place just to make sure before he made his way towards one of the other four locations that the ancient residence could be located.

Not to mention, he had also managed to get his hands on a few useful poisonous spiritual herbs that he hadn’t seen before during his journey through the Death Marsh. Picking up a few more in the deepest part of the poisonous mist where only the best poisonous spiritual herbs survived and taking them back to the sect for study wasn’t entirely a loss on his side.

Unfortunately, an hour later, he didn’t find anything outside of poisonous spiritual herbs. Although it had been expected to some extent, it was still disappointing, as he was left with no choice but to leave the Death Marsh and head towards the next location where the ancient residence of the Noble Li Clan might be located.

On his way out, he also intended to check up on Li Feng and his small group of friends to see how well they were faring inside the Death Marsh. After all, the place had proven to be far deadlier than he had originally expected, and he did feel a bit worried about how well the youths following behind Li Feng were doing with their strength still below the Foundation Establishment Realm.

”Huh…? How… How did he breakthrough to the Martial Arts Master Realm in such a short period of time?”

But as he reached the edge of the Death Marsh and found Li Feng alongside his group of friends, he was shocked to discover that Li Feng had somehow managed to breakthrough to the Martial Arts Master Realm during the few hours he hadn’t seen him.

Not just that, but as his gaze shifted towards his companions, the other youths eager to join the Star Shattering Sect, he discovered that every single one of them had at least broken through the Martial Arts Warrior Realm, with a few of them even close to reaching the Martial Arts Master Realm as well.

To say he was taken aback would be an understatement, as he now began seriously reconsidering the possibility of Li Feng somehow breaking through to the Martial Arts Emperor Realm while he wasn’t looking.

This worry momentarily making him decide against leaving the Death Marsh and instead linger around for a bit to find out just what had happened to Li Feng and his friends during the short time he had been gone.

Learning from the conversations between the group that the sudden rapid increase in strength had nothing to do with all of them suddenly gaining heavenly blessed talent for the body cultivation path.

Instead, it had to do with all of them encountering a field of spiritual herbs called blood growth spirit devouring flowers, a kind of unique spiritual herb that existed within the ancient secret realm that sped up blood refinement and allowed one to give birth to inner qi faster and breakthrough to the Martial Arts Master Realm.

Although this news was shocking, it was at least reassuring to know that the sudden improvement hadn’t come from some godly talent that had suddenly awakened within all of them. Not to mention, now that Li Feng had reached the Martial Arts Master Realm, it would be far harder for him to rapidly increase his strength. Especially considering that the cultivation technique he had obtained from the city lord only went up to the Martial Arts Master Realm and didn’t contain any information on the Martial Arts Grandmaster Realm…