Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Thinking about how great it would be if he could recruit those two from the Blue Sea Empire to join him, reality soon kicked in. Even though there might be a very real chance for that old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire to breakthrough and reach the Star Creation Realm with the assistance of his ancestors and the resources under their control, a price had to be paid to ensure the loyalty of the old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire, as there was no way they would simply help the other party reach the Star Creation Realm without any insurance that he wouldn’t just leave after breaking through to the Star Creation Realm.

And it was this insurance that was difficult to get, as it would essentially mean the ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire had to fully give up his freedom and bind himself to the ship of the major power behind the city lord. Not to mention, he would ultimately find himself with far less control over his own life compared to before, something that would be difficult to accept for someone already set on rebuilding his empire.

Of course, this was how the city lord thought about the old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire. In reality, the ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire didn’t care as much about rebuilding his empire as the city lord and those behind him believed after learning about his situation. Instead, the thing that the old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire cared about more than anything was regaining control of the ancient ruins that the capital city of the Blue Sea Empire had been located on top of.

After all, the inheritance of a Venerable Realm cultivator could be found within those ancient ruins, something that was far more tempting than the proposition of losing his freedom only to reach the Star Creation Realm. Even more so since he would most likely be unable to ever get his hands on the inheritance if he decided to join that major power from the Southern Central Region to reach the Star Creation Realm.

Not because he would suddenly become obedient to them and share the information of the ancient ruins and the inheritance hidden inside of the ruins with them, but instead because he understood that one of the things he would have to do before joining this major power and have them willingly help him, an outsider, reach the Star Creation Realm, was lay his soul bare to them.

In other words, they would be able to look through his memories and inevitably find information about the inheritance, as he had spent most of his time attempting to obtain the inheritance ever since establishing the Blue Sea Empire.

Even if he wanted to cooperate with them in obtaining the inheritance, it was unlikely those senior figures already at the Star Creation Realm would cooperate with him, as this kind of opportunity wasn’t something they would share between themselves, let alone a Land Creation Realm cultivator who was ultimately an outsider.

In fact, when information of such a precious inheritance reached those senior figures at the Star Creation Realm, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to either kill him to silence him or implant a soul seal that would make him no better than a mindless puppet at the Land Creation Realm.

After all, valuable as another Star Creation Realm cultivator might be, someone in the Venerable Realm was far more valuable and any potential information leak had to be taken care of ahead of time.

Unaware of any of this, the city lord began once again dwelling into all sorts of different methods for recruiting the old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire to join his side. Methods that were bound to end in failure, as the old ancestor in question already had his sights on the Venerable Realm and wouldn’t be swayed just because someone presented him with an opportunity to reach the Star Creation Realm.

…

With the death of the Late Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator and the Early Stage Sea Formation Realm cultivator making next to no waves in the Southern Central Region over the next few days as Xuan Hao found himself staying at the Lu Family Estate to not just get himself acquainted with his newest disciple’s family, but also keep an eye at the borders of the sect. The time for departure soon arrived, as he picked up Lu Dongli and began flying back towards the sect after having left a few defensive measures for her family in case something happened to them.

Flying instead of teleporting to give Lu Dongli the chance to take in the vast world, as this was her first time flying. Having never had the opportunity to do so inside the illusion, as her strength had only reached the Nascent Soul Realm and was ultimately still quite some distance away from the Domain Lord Realm.

Speaking of the illusion she had experienced, Xuan Hao decided to not inform her about the fact that she had been trapped in an illusion he had created to test her after hearing her muttering to herself about getting another chance at life and how this time around she would make sure to surpass her previous life and solve the problem with her physique.

This kind of situation wasn’t something that negatively affected her, but instead seemed to fuel her desire for growing stronger, something he was more than happy with considering the fact that he needed another disciple to reach the Dao Domain Lord Realm or have one reach the Profound Immortal Realm or the Celestial Immortal Realm to obtain another precious reward from the system for his disciples growth. A kind of reward he hadn’t seen in a while considering how much longer it was taking for his disciples to breakthrough now that their cultivation realms began approaching the Profound Immortal Realm.

Still… He did at least have some hope that a reward for having four disciples reach the Dao Domain Lord Realm would show up soon, as Mui was currently at the Ninth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm and had been stuck on the realm for quite some time now.

Though… Part of him had a feeling that her breakthrough to the Dao Domain Lord Realm or the Soul Ascension Realm for that matter would be far from ordinary and her delayed breakthrough might be because she was planning something behind his back…

But… No matter what that little one was planning, he had a feeling that it would be fine- or at least he hoped it wouldn’t end up causing too much damage and scare old song to death whenever she finally broke through.

Speaking of that old man, Xuan Hao had noticed that he had taken the advice that countless elders had given him, himself included, and delegated some of his responsibility to the different management elders who had been trained by him over the years. Giving the old man more time to focus on cultivation than he had ever had in the past, though… This did come with the problem that the many years of overwork along with his comprehension of the Dao of Order simply made it impossible for him to focus on cultivating for extended periods of time.

Instead, he ended up finding new problems to tackle within the sect whilst furthering his comprehension of the Dao of Order in the process.

From originally being amongst the weakest elders within the sect, his ability to grow whilst working thanks to his comprehension of the Dao of Order had ended up making him one of the fastest growing elders already at the very Peak of the Domain Lord Realm.

The question being whether he would follow the Dao Domain Lord Realm Path or the Soul Ascension Realm Path in the future…

”Master! Look! What is that?” Unaware of what her master was thinking about while slowly flying through the air to give her a good viewing experience on the way back to the sect, Lu Dongli found herself eagerly calling out to him as she pointed downwards. ”Hm?” Causing him to shift his attention away from his thoughts regarding the recent progress of Elder Song and instead follow the direction she was pointing.

”That is… Oh? A spirit stone mine, it is a place where spirit stones useful for cultivation and in all sorts of different things from formations to blacksmithing are mined and from the looks of it, this spirit stone mine is under our sect. Do you want to take a closer look?”

”A spirit stone mine!? Yes!” Hearing what he said, Lu Dongli didn’t even hesitate as she began eagerly nodding her head in response. During her time in the illusion or her past life, she had encountered spirit stones and knew just how valuable these stones were for cultivators. Having only heard about spirit stone mines back then and never actually seen one in person before. This being the main reason for her excitement.