Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Feeling a sense of growing awe in the face of the terrifying degree of spatial control Xuan Hao had just displayed, Elder Green Willow didn’t have the time to care much about the rich spiritual qi at the base of the Ninth Star Peak as Xuan Hao guided her forward into the Shattered Star Peaks following the general path that both disciples and elders travelled on foot when entering and leaving the sect whenever they ventured out into Falling Star City, Bright Stone or the periphery of the sect. Generally utilizing the sect’s internal teleportation network whenever they had to go anywhere further away from the sect.

Because of this, there was no lack of elders and disciples moving past them as the two made their way up the Ninth Star Peak, something that gave Elder Green Willow the time to properly calm herself down from the sense of amazement and dread she had felt following Xuan Hao essentially dragging her along against her will while she had no way to resist.

Although the two of them didn’t communicate much during this time, Elder Green Willow didn’t mind it in the slightest and instead found the journey on foot rather enjoyable. Not just because she was feeling a bit nervous facing someone who was so obviously stronger than herself, but also because it was a perfect opportunity for her to observe the internal state of the Star Shattering Sect- or at the very least what they had revealed to the outside world to recruit new disciples.

”Elder Xuan, are all the disciples here recently recruited disciples from nearby?” Of course, though she did enjoy the quiet and didn’t mind observing on her own, she still asked Xuan Hao whenever a specific question she was curious about, something that in this case were the disciples that had been passing by them so far.

After all, to her, though there were indeed quiet a few disciples, given her previous experience negotiating with ancient hidden sects, she had already realized that the general strength of the disciples passing by her were far too weak for an ancient hidden sect, thus causing her to conclude that all these disciples were recent recruits, as only that would explain their low cultivation realm compared to what she expected from disciples of an ancient hidden sect.

”Yes, most of the disciples and elders here are below or around two hundred years old. Most of them have only recently joined the sect and haven’t had the time to properly develop yet, though, with time, they should grow stronger.”

Hearing the question he had already been expecting given how the strength of both elders and disciples were nowhere close to comparable to what he suspected an ancient hidden sect should have, he answered the question with a reasonable explanation that in turn caused Elder Green Willow to slowly nod her head in understanding. ”Hm... That is understandable, but... For these elders and disciples to be that young, their progress is indeed impressive. Reaching the Profound Immortal Realm or the Celestial Immortal Realm shouldn’t be that difficult for them to accomplish.”

Following another few brief questions that mainly pertained to the cultivation environment of the sect and the future plans of the Star Shattering Sect when it came to recruiting disciples that Xuan Hao answered smoothly, the two of them reached the two of them reached the top of the Ninth Star Peak where the sect was growing a vast majority of their higher quality spiritual herbs.

And while these spiritual herbs might not have been enough to impress a senior member of the Myriad Treasure Hall given just how vast the wealth of this major power from the Southern Central Region was, it just so happened that the current type of spiritual herbs being cultivated were different kinds of spiritual flowers, causing the spiritual herb field to more so resemble a flower field.

”I must say that the spiritual flowers of your sect are rather beautiful and unique, I didn’t expect your sect to dedicate such a large area to cultivating spiritual flowers, but... It does indeed make the entrance of your sect exceptional.” In turn, this made Elder Green Willow misunderstand that the spiritual flowers were deliberately cultivated by the sect as a way to make the entrance into the sect stand out more, something Xuan Hao decided not to say anything about as he continued leading the elder forward through the spiritual flower fields before moving down the side of the Ninth Star Peak leading into the Shattered Star Peaks. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

But... Even though they were still some distance away from the Seventh Star Peak, the heavenly river that had been created by Mui in the past was still visible. ”What is that...?” Earning a somewhat shocked question from Elder Green Willow, who was unable to comprehend what she was looking at.

Not because a floating river was difficult to create for someone with her cultivation realm. Instead, it was because the dao fluctuations from the seemingly harmless floating river was downright terrifying to someone who was proficient in the Dao of Water to some extent.

While the spiritually rich environment of the Shattered Star Peaks was somewhat beyond her expectations, it wasn’t exactly shocking to her given how she had already been expecting the cultivation environment of an ancient hidden sect to be great, but the heavenly river floating in the distance was the first thing she had seen that truly shocked her.

”The heavenly river? Ah, that is something my disciple came up with a few years ago, she didn’t have anywhere to place it, so she just ended up throwing over here, giving the elders and disciples who cultivate here a chance to comprehend the Dao of Water from it while it grows.”

”Disciple? Grows? That... I see...” Hearing what Xuan Hao said, Elder Green Willow silently swallowed with a somewhat nervous look on her face while looking towards the floating river in the distance. Looking closely, she did indeed notice that this floating river was indeed slowly growing,

At the same time, she also silently concluded that this disciple was undoubtedly a true disciple of the Star Shattering Sect and not just one that had recently been recruited.

Not just that but given the fact that this disciple had been able to create something as complex as a dao ground, it also made her realize that this disciple should at the very least be someone comparable to her in strength, as the effort involved in creating a dao ground was by no means small. Not only requiring great strength, but also vast resources and a profound comprehension of the Dao that the dao ground in question was associated with, which in this case was the Dao of Water.

Amazement aside, the fact that the Star Shattering Sect had been able to create something like a dao ground and had also done so recently made her even more enthusiastic about the upcoming meeting regarding the establishment of a trade relationship between the Myriad Treasure Hall and the Star Shattering Sect. After all, it was clear from a glance that this wasn’t just some ancient sect that was barely hanging on by a thread relying on the foundation laid by their ancestors. Instead, it was one that was more than capable of producing what it needed when it came to cultivation resources.

For the Myriad Treasure Hall, this was undoubtedly the best kind of ancient hidden sect, as it would not only still retain its inheritance, but also had access to cultivation resources that might have already vanished from the continent over the long years.

A perfect trade partner.

Still, before she could go home laughing happily to herself, she first had to properly establish a connection to the Star Shattering Sect. After all, though it had already become clear to her that the Star Shattering Sect was one of the more friendly, ancient hidden sects, she also understood that it wasn’t exactly easy to establish a trade relationship with an ancient hidden sect.

In fact, faced with an ancient hidden sect like the Star Shattering Sect that didn’t seem to need anything, was by far the most difficult kind to establish a proper connection with. Especially if the Myriad Treasure Hall didn’t have anything the Star Shattering Sect wanted. In which case, she would only be able to leave disappointed without obtaining anything, a situation she didn’t want to see happen.

Unfortunately for her, she also understood that she didn’t have much to offer this kind of ancient hidden sect and could only hope to fill any potential gap that might exist within the cultivation resources it needed.

As for dao rune blueprints... She didn’t dare think about this for now and needed to carefully assess the situation before bringing up something like dao runes, as no matter what she did, they would undoubtedly be the hardest to obtain from the Star Shattering Sect no matter what her Myriad Treasure Hall could offer in return.