Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Having finished up the interspatial ring and stored away the heavenly treasure successfully, it didn’t take long before his attention shifted towards the seven cultivators awkwardly floating above the now empty city outside. Finding the entire situation quite odd, as he had expected them to either escape or try to question him on what he wanted from them. Even begging for their lives was something he thought was a very real possibility.

But them just hovering in the air without saying a word and without moving a single muscle was rather odd, though he guessed it might have to be with his earlier action of killing someone at the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm in a single move had unknowingly ended up traumatizing everyone else. Making them too afraid to even say a single word as he worked away at integrating the storage formation into the empty interspatial ring.

”You seven, come down here.” Feeling a bit weird, faced with the seven of them just staring down towards him from where they hovered, he ultimately decided to call them down before asking them the questions he wanted to ask about the devil forest and the lord of the devil forest. Not bothering to beat around the bush as he just directly questioned the seven about what he wanted to know after they landed, something the group of seven were more than happy with. Holding nothing back as they told him everything they knew about the devil forest and the lord of the devil forest.

Learning from these local Land Creation Realm cultivators that the lord of the devil forest he needed to kill was the main culprit behind the war that had taken place a few hundred years earlier and ultimately ended with the destruction of the different cities he had run into before reaching this city.

The reason for the war was unknown to these seven, as according to them, they had avoided joining the war back then and had remained neutral as a city state. Serving as a place for refugees to gather during the war itself. Not only being home to humans, but also demon beasts who had once rested within the boundaries of the city to recover from injuries they had suffered during the war.

Of course, faced with this kind of response, Xuan Hao couldn’t help feeling a bit confused. After all, he couldn’t see any demon beasts within the city outside of a few being kept as pets or livestock.

Only after voicing his confusion did he learn that while the city had remained neutral, one day, they encountered an injured demon beast close to the Land Creation Realm recovering within the boundaries of the city and unable to hold back, they seized on the opportunity to kill this demon beast to get their hands on its core and precious body, something that enraged the local forces belonging to the devil forest. Ultimately resulting in a terrifying attack that almost broke the ancient city guardian formation and reduced it to the point where it only appeared to be working normally but was in fact broken far beyond what they could repair with their limited comprehension of the Dao of Formations, something Xuan Hao could only agree with, as he had in fact broken this barely standing formation with his divine sense alone.

More than just this little episode of how their own greed ended up ruining the guardian formation they had relied on to establish themselves as a proper city state, Xuan Hao also learnt about the division of power within the small world.

Generally, there were two major powers, one in the east in the shape of a cultivator alliance made up of thousands of small and large cities scattered throughout the world that had all banded together and a similar alliance of demon beast on the other side that could be found centralized around the devil forest to the west with smaller neutral cities and groups of demon beasts existing between these two major forces.

Only after the group of seven finished speaking did he realize that their knowledge of the devil forest itself was essentially nonexistent, as they weren’t exactly able to give him much more information than what he had already learnt from the caravan earlier, outside of the division of power within the small world.

If he really wanted more detailed information than this, one of the seven directly suggested him to go visit the main city of cultivator alliance to the east, as their information on the devil forest was far more extensive than anything they would ever be able to come up with.

Feeling a bit annoyed at the thought of having to search for some cultivator alliance to get more information on the devil forest, he ultimately just shook his head after getting a proper map of the small world from one of the seven. Knowing that with a clear direction to move in, it wouldn’t take more than a few minutes for him to reach the main city of this cultivator alliance with his current comprehension of the Dao of Space.

In the end, feeling he had obtained everything he could from the group of seven, he didn’t bother killing them and instead simply swept up their interspatial rings before leaving the city. Knowing very well from what the seven had told him that there was a good chance that the demon beasts that had originally wanted revenge on them during the war, were about to show up again now that the ancient barrier that had once guarded this old city had vanished.

Something that these seven Land Creation Realm cultivators also clearly understood, as the second he left without killing them, they all swept up what little valuables they had managed to hide away at home before rushing out of the ancient city at a terrifying speed-

”Hehe~ Finally out? I wonder what happened to your little formation? Haha, I came over the second I heard about it collapsing. Really have to thank that senior for lending a hand in helping me avenge my brother!”

But before the seven even managed to make it a hundred meters from the entrance to the city, they found their path blocked by over a dozen demon beasts at the Land Creation Realm. The leader even being someone at the Middle Stage of the Land Creation.

Of course, with them being able to arrive so fast and directly surround everyone, it was clear that they had shown up long ago and were just waiting for Xuan Hao to leave before making a move on this group of Land Creation Realm cultivators, something Xuan Hao himself had long since sensed ahead of time. Changing his original plans of personally dealing with this group of Land Creation Realm cultivators to instead leaving it up to these demon beasts that had already worked hard to encircle the city to prevent any of the seven from running away.

After all, at the end of the day, the conflicts within the small world created by the ascension realm tower had little to do with him. Especially so considering how he had already robbed this group of cultivators ahead of time and made sure he wouldn’t end up losing out on whatever treasures or cultivation resources they had stored away within their interspatial rings.

Even if these seven might have originally wanted to fight back against him, the terrifying display of strength earlier had allowed everything to proceed smoothly without any problems from beginning to end. Landing himself the wealth of seven cultivators at the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm in a single step. Avoiding the potential destruction on these resources during a battle in case he ended up fighting with them. After all, interspatial rings weren’t indestructible.

Even if these Land Creation Realm cultivators were poor compared to those found outside the ascension realm tower, they still had countless resources that would be useful in the development of the sect...

”Damn it all! Everyone split up! Everyone for themselves or none of us will get out of this alive!”

And as Xuan Hao went over his gains this time around, the chaotic and panicked screams of one of the now officially penniless Land Creation Realm cultivators called out loudly as the battle behind went into full swing-

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Soon enough, only the chaotic sound of battle echoed out behind him as he slipped out of range and couldn’t sense what was happening through his divine sense behind him any longer.

Still, he caught a glimpse of the demon beast at the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm charging forth before directly skewering one of the seven Land Creation Realm cultivators and crushing another. Displaying strength beyond that of a normal Middle Stage Land Creation Realm demon beast, as it easily took down two cultivators at the Early Stage Land Creation Realm with little to no effort and without relying on an ambush.