Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

”Ghost... I’m not a ghost! You little brats. Clearly at the Void Monarch Realm, yet unaware that the soul can separate from the body!” Clearly irritated over how he had suddenly turned into a ghost, the old man who did indeed somewhat look like a ghost to someone unaware of what a soul separated from a body looked like, angrily scolded the group of four. Releasing a bit of his soul presence in the process, something that instantly caused the group to quiet down, as the terrifying soul pressure reminded them of Xuan Hao whom they had encountered not long ago and made them fearful that the old man before them might just end up killing them.

This pressure... certainly above the Profound Immortal Realm, but... It also seems distinctly different from those Void Monarch Realm and Void Integration Realm cultivators I have encountered so far... Either the Void God Realm is more unique than anticipated or this is someone following the traditional immortal cultivation path...

And while the group of four were left in a terrified state faced with the terrifying soul pressure that had suddenly engulfed their bodies, Xuan Hao also got a chance to analyze the soul presence of the old remnant soul up close. Not having dared to release his divine sense to investigate the situation in person earlier. Understanding that the other party would undoubtedly have noticed him if he did something like that.

Still, the presence of this old man who only had a remnant soul left did deeply confuse him, as it was clear in his eyes that he shouldn’t be someone following the cultivation system of the fragmented continent and instead seemed to follow a cultivation path that looked to be the traditional immortal cultivation path.

The reason for this was unknown, though he guessed that it was either because the cultivation path that the old man had practiced was the immortal cultivation path or the original cultivation path that had originally been practiced on the fragmented continent before it had ended up in its current state was one far more complete than the current cultivation path that essentially relied entirely on the Dao of Space.

In a way, though he felt both were possible, he had a feeling that the latter might have a higher chance of being the case, as though unfamiliar with the Venerable Realm, he could still distinctly tell that there was something unfamiliar he couldn’t exactly explain about the soul presence of the old man that made him unconsciously view him as someone who didn’t follow the traditional immortal cultivation path after he analyzed his soul presence closer.

If possible, he wanted to interrogate the old man to try and find out more about the cultivation path he was following, as it could very well be put to use for the Star Shattering Sect in the future as another alternative cultivation path beyond the traditional immortal cultivation path and newly added martial arts or rather body cultivation path that had been added to the sect lately.

Unfortunately, though he wanted to forcibly interrogate the old remnant soul and potential even soul search it to get whatever little bit of information was left inside of it, the soul remnant in question was far from powerless and should be more than powerful enough to fight him in its current state. If anything, in its own domain, it could very well kill him without even lifting a finger.

After all, while the remnant soul had weakened over the years, it was clear that the small tower it resided inside still functioned normally and in turn, so would the formations that guarded the small tower.

The sense of danger he felt from the small tower that had ultimately made him drag the four volunteers over the chart the path forward and explore what was lurking inside the small tower, had most likely not come from the old remnant soul, but instead the still active formations guarding the small tower.

Just thinking about the potential strength of the formations that had been laid down on behalf of a senior whose strength had at the very least reached the Venerable Realm and maybe even gone beyond the ordinary Venerable Realm level, was more than enough to cause a shiver to run down his spine and silently conclude that getting inside the small tower was out of the question.

Speaking of the inside of the tower. Following the irritated response from the old ghostly looking man, the group of four had already started silently complaining.

”Senior... We only just broke through to the Void Monarch Realm...”

”Indeed, we aren’t exactly familiar with common knowledge about the Void Monarch Realm.”

”Yes! And you really do look like those ghosts described in stories in your current shape!”

”That...” Their responses completely outside what the old man had been expecting, as this group of youths didn’t act in any way like he had believed them to. After all, in his eyes, for these four to reach the Void Monarch Realm at their age meant they were not only extremely talented but also had a terrifying backing behind them to allow them to reach their current cultivation realm at such an age.

After all, without a strong enough background, it would be impossible to reach such a high cultivation realm while being so young in the eyes of the old man.

Because of this, it didn’t take long before he began questioning the group of four and slowly got to learn about their background and how they had essentially no powerful figure behind them. At least someone in the Void Monarch Realm wasn’t considered powerful in the eyes of this old man as he had directly brushed it aside when the four mentioned that their ancestors had reached the Void Monarch Realm.

Instead, the fact that their ancestors had only reached the Void Monarch Realm was in the eyes of the old man a sign that these four were not just talented youths, but an extremely talented kind that one would rarely ever encounter even back in his days.

Of course, during the interrogation by the old man who had become increasingly eager to learn about the four youths, Xuan Hao picked up on several small cues that those four completely missed.

For one, he could tell just how shocked the old man was upon learning about the background and age. At the same time, he also realized that the crystal that the four had used to breakthrough to the Void Monarch Realm didn’t seem to exist in the time that this old man had still been alive. Making his shock for their breakthrough to the Void Monarch Realm far more understandable, as reaching the Void Monarch Realm symbolized a certain degree of comprehension of the Dao of Space, something that was far from simple to accomplish at the age of the four, who were generally all still below the age of one hundred.

Not everyone could reach the level of comprehension he had in the Dao of Space... And even getting close to it would make one a genius capable of attracting attention from any senior cultivators they encountered. Even a figure like the old man who had clearly once been someone with strength at the Venerable Realm.

In fact, as the group of four continued chatting with the old man, Xuan Hao quickly realized that this old man who only had a weakened remnant soul left to sustain him had already started considering taking on these four as his final disciple before his remnant soul ran out of strength and perished.

What made this even clearer was how he had already started bringing them deeper into the tower where he began testing them to see if any of the four had any affinity with the Dao of Alchemy that was clearly the old man’s specialty.

Surprisingly, Xuan Hao discovered that one of the four did end up having an untapped potential for the Dao of Alchemy, something the old man instantly seized on, as this lucky fellow who had talked about eating ghosts not long ago ended up becoming the primary focus of the old man who was clearly looking for someone to pass down his inheritance to before he perished.

Unluckily for him, the youth in question wasn’t the brightest and didn’t realize he had already been chosen by the old man to inherit his legacy. Instead, he remained far more focused on the different pills and other spiritual herbs they had been allowed to fiddle around with along the way. Having even taken a few delicious looking spiritual herbs to cook up something to eat, something that had ended up becoming a rather high-quality pill that ultimately made the old remnant soul judge him to be someone talented in the Dao of Alchemy.

That aside, during these little tests by the old remnant soul, Xuan Hao also got the opportunity to learn more about the fragmented continent and what it had looked like before it had ended up in its current state.