Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Finished scavenging countless valuables that had been left behind on the ground, the group of cultivators that had just arrived became certain that the death of the guardian had been done at the cost of the lives of those around them. Not believing anyone would leave behind so many valuables at the same time... And filled with confidence about the fact that no one had gone up this ancient structure before them, the group eagerly began moving upstairs following the staircase leading up the central spire of the ancient cathedral. Filled with anticipation over the rewards that awaited them once they got to the top. After all, from what they had learnt about this kind of ancient structure, rewards tended to appear at the end of a spire instead of a floor like the tower style ancient structures.

”Haha! So many good things! Looks like we are indeed the first up here!”

”Woohoo! Have to thank those below who gave their lives away for us! All of this should be more than enough to support all of us reaching the Void Monarch Realm in the future!”

”Hahaha! Can’t stop smiling~”

And soon enough, the group were proven correct, as countless precious treasures and valuable scrolls and techniques on the Void Monarch Realm appeared before their eyes. Making the group surge forth filled with happiness as they claimed all these valuable treasures for themselves. Treasures that they understood would have normally never fallen into their hands, as they were merely a group of weak figures that had barely reached the fragmented continents equivalent of the Domain Lord Realm.

Luckily, though they ran into this kind of precious opportunity, none of them ended up backstabbing the rest to claim all these treasures for themselves. The main reason behind this had to do with the fact that the group was made up of a rather inexperienced bunch that were childhood friends and had grown up together. None of them had experienced much of the world nor had they lost their childhood innocence.

In a sense, this group would never have had the opportunity to ever step inside the ancient city ruins under normal circumstances and wouldn’t even have had a chance to step outside Desolate River City because of the families that stood behind them. In other words, this was their first real adventure together beyond the control of their families and the only reason why they had even been able to sneak out in the first place was because the guardians assigned to watch over them had become overcome by greed in the face of the ancient city center being opened up to the public and had been amongst the first few to rush inside before the city lord had arrived.

Because of this, there hadn’t been anyone around to stop them when they had later ended up wandering into this deadly ancient city center that could easily kill of someone at the Void Integration Realm if they ended up wandering into a deadly ancient structure.

Maybe because of this, they didn’t have the slightest bit of restraint that one should have with their strength...

”Let’s go! Maybe there are even more rewards if we continue forward!”

”Good idea!”

”Yay~ More treasures! Maybe we will even be able to reach the Void Integration Realm in the future!”

And without the slightest bit of hesitation, the little group of friends continued ascending the central spire of the ancient cathedral. Unaware of just how close to death they were, as they soon enough found themselves standing before another broken down guardian made up of a far higher quality material that still exuded a presence that would leave someone in the Void Monarch Realm shiver.

”Huh? Another broken puppet...?”

”This... Don’t tell me-”

”It broke down!?”

”Just what I was thinking! This thing has been around for so long that it wasn’t able to hold on any longer.”

”What a great opportunity. Doesn’t this mean we won’t have to face any challenges while ascending this ancient cathedral’s central spire?”

”Haha, great! This is our opportunity to rise!”

Unfortunately, though anyone with the slightest bit of actual experience would have been able to understand that someone should have destroyed this holy guardian, the group of inexperienced juniors were under the belief that the terrifying guardian before them had just ended up breaking down over the long years, something that wasn’t too difficult to understand given how this ancient city center should have been around for millions of years.

Problem was, it was clear from a glance that someone had punched the chest of the guardian, causing its chest to cave in before it had slammed into the nearby wall it had then slid down before landing in a seated position on the ground.

To explain the cracks in the wall, it was the building aging and slowly collapsing.

To explain the caved in chest, it was the core that sustained the ancient guardian collapsing over time and causing the cave in as the guardian perished.

Everything could be explained reasonably in the eyes of this little group as something that had been caused by the slow decay of time taking hold of this ancient cathedral.

And as if to confirm their guesses, the rewards that awaited them behind the door leading further up the towering central spire was what made them sure about their suspicions. After all, there was no way someone would be leaving behind so many precious treasures if they had gone through the trouble of dealing with such a powerful guardian.

Unknown to them, Xuan Hao, the person who had indeed dealt with such a terrifying guardian and ended up leaving behind what they viewed as precious treasures, had indeed left these things behind.

Not for any special reasons, but instead because what these young ones viewed as treasures were useless to him and wasn’t even worth carrying around inside his interspatial rings. The techniques and cultivation methods they uncovered were also useless to him, as he either already managed to get his hands on more advanced ones or had already managed to find a similar copy.

In some cases, he had already taken the most precious stuff away, it was just that the group following behind him hadn’t realized that the most precious treasures had already been taken when they arrived.

To Xuan Hao, the fact that this group was following behind him had long since been discovered by him through his divine sense, he simply couldn’t be bothered to deal with a few juniors at the Domain Lord Realm. If they really did manage to catch up with him in the future and attempted to ambush him, they wouldn’t even be able to scratch the surface of his skin given the difference in strength between them.

Instead, he remained far more focused on reaching the top of the central spire. Having realized from the past two battles he had gone through to ascend this ancient structure that it was a bit different from the others he had researched so far, as the only challenge that existed within this ancient cathedral was the fighting kind where one had to overcome a guardian. The illusion formations and other complex formations and traps he had expected to encounter were nowhere to be found, as it was the simplest and most brutal kind of challenge that could only be overcome with strength alone.

For others, it was a worst-case scenario given how those weaker cultivators stood no chance in the face of this kind of challenge, but to Xuan Hao, this kind of challenge was the best, as it was simple to get through and required little effort on his part to brute force his way through it.

The only worrying thing was that while each challenge so far had allowed him to ascend far further compared to other ancient structures, it was also clear that the strength of these guardians was growing in strength fast.

From the first that was still within the Dao Seed Realm to the Second that was comparable to the Peak of the Breaking Dawn Realm, the third holy guardian of the ancient cathedral he found himself facing off against had already reached a level comparable to someone at the Late Stage of the Sea Formation Realm.

Although still within the range of what he could deal with without much of a problem, it made him aware that starting from the fourth guardian, it would become a bit more difficult to end the battle in the short term and by the fifth guardian, he might not be able to handle it.

After all, going by the current increase in strength of these guardians, the fifth one should have strength comparable to someone at the Late Stage or maybe even the Peak of the Star Creation Realm. Not exactly something he would be able to handle with his current strength at the Late Stage of the Land Creation Realm and a fast ticket back to the ground floor of the tower...