Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Leaving behind the city filled with panicking civilians and cultivators below where he had shattered part of the spatial channel, it didn’t take long for him to reach the original end point of the teleportation formation where another ancient teleportation formation should have originally been present.

But... Instead of another ancient teleportation formation or even a broken one, he instead found himself hovering above a massive crater easily a few hundred meters wide, with an area close to the center of this massive crater being the place where the ancient teleportation formation should have been located.

Though it was clear from a glance he wouldn’t find much of anything.

Whatever created the massive crater had erased everything had been there previously occupied the space. The ancient teleportation formation being one of those things.

However, this wasn’t the thing that drew his attention when it came to this crater. After all, someone in the Domain Lord Realm should have been capable of creating something like it without too much effort.

Instead, the thing that drew his attention was the remnant power still swirling around within the crater, as he could clearly sense that this power far surpassed the Domain Lord Realm- No, it didn’t just surpass the Domain Lord Realm but existed on a completely different level altogether.

From what he could tell, whoever created the crater not too long ago had at least reached the Earlier Stages of the Celestial Immortal Realm or the Profound Immortal Realm, a level of strength that was unusual given how this was not anywhere close to the Central Regions of the continent and was the very edge of the outer regions of the continent. Close to the spiritually devoid regions that existed close to the edge of the continent where land met sea.

This alone would still have had some explanation, as his first though upon realizing the strength of the one behind the crater was that it might have been some powerful wandering cultivator hiding away in the outer regions of the continent who happened to chance upon the unfortunate winged lion demon beast and decided to capture it.

Unlikely as this was, it wasn’t an impossible situation.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of this being the case became zero the second he analyzed the lingering presence of the winged lion demon beast, as it became clear that this destruction hadn’t been caused by someone trying to capture the winged lion demon beast, but had instead taken place after the winged lion demon beast had already left the place. Leaving him with absolutely no clue over what might have been the reason for the destruction of the place where the ancient teleportation formation was located.

Perhaps a bored wandering cultivator at the Celestial Immortal Realm who found the place ugly and decided to level it?

Even more unlikely than my first guess, but possible...

Shaking his head as he thought this to himself while examining the remaining presence left behind by the creator of the crater, he also picked up that the other party was moving in the exact some direction as the winged lion demon beast.

Maybe cutting off the path of retreat for the little one?

Narrowing his eyes a bit as he thought about it, he felt that this made the most sense, though it would also mean some unscrupulous fellow had decided to target his pet.

Although the other party shouldn’t have managed to capture the winged lion demon beast yet, as he could still sense it was in a healthy state through his contract with it, he understood it would only be a matter of time until the other party managed to catch up with the winged lion demon beast- and there was little chance that fellow would spare the winged lion demon beast when the time came.

Not only because the winged lion demon beast was already his contracted demon beast and that contract embedded in its soul couldn’t be overwritten unless the one chasing it was stronger than him in terms of soul strength, but also because there was a good chance the other party wasn’t chasing after the winged lion demon beast because they wanted a pet. Instead, there was a good chance they wanted to kill it so they could dismantle it for resources.

After all, the winged lion demon beast had quite a few precious body parts that were useful when it came to artifact crafting, alchemy or other things. Precious to the point where its value exceeded that of a normal Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast. Making it understandable why a wandering cultivator at the Celestial Immortal Realm might decide to target the winged lion demon beast and that was without mentioning how much safer it was to hunt a demon beast at the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm compared to one that had reached the Celestial Immortal Realm.

”Whatever... At least I’m close enough that I can sense the general direction through the contract.” Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while glancing down at the destruction below him, Xuan Hao closed his eyes for a few seconds to sense the general direction of the winged lion demon beast. Adding in the presence it had left behind after leaving the teleportation formation, his accuracy in determining the exact direction improved by quite a bit.

Whoosh~

And the second he finished calculating the general direction using these two clues, he set off using the Drifting Cloud Steps. Not using another means of travel like long-distance teleportation for the simple reason that doing so carried the risk of him losing track of the winged lion demon beast. Not that relying on a movement technique like the Drifting Cloud Steps was slow by any means, as it had become even stronger after his Dao of Space reached the Origin Realm. Reaching the point where a single step could cover a thousand kilometers.

Not slow by any means even within the Star Creation Realm, just... Slower than using something like long-distance teleportation that relied on traversing through the void.

...

At the same time Xuan Hao set off to catch up to the winged lion demon beast, along same path also following behind the winged lion demon beast, two cultivators were chatting with each other. ”Are you really sure that demon beast has a pair of heavenly wings suitable for the artifact I have been working on?” The older and more senior of the two posed a question as he looked at the younger looking one who also had a clear look of exhaustion on his face.

”Y-Yes, I’m sure. Spotted the winged lion demon beast when I was in seclusion. Unfortunately, I was at a critical moment in my cultivation and couldn’t jump out to catch it in time. Only emerging a few days after it left.”

”I know, I know, you couldn’t jump out in time and destroyed the teleportation formation it arrived through, I already heard about this from you before, what I’m more curious about is why you would call me for help. After all, this demon beast hasn’t even reached the Celestial Immortal Realm according to what you told me about it.” Rolling his eyes at the response from the younger one, the more senior one of the two continued asking without any regard for the other’s feelings.

”That isn’t my fault, though it hasn’t reached the Celestial Immortal Realm, those wings on its back are the real deal. Even with my strength, I haven’t been able to close the distance since I started chasing it. Even worse, it already sensed someone chasing it and began attempting to widen the distance...”

”And it worked?”

”...”

With the silence itself answering the question for him, the older of the two couldn’t help seriously considering whether it would be a good idea to work with someone like this.

After all, though the younger one looked unreliable, he was still someone who had managed to not just reach the Celestial Immortal Realm as a wandering cultivator but had even managed to reach the Middle Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm. An achievement that few wandering cultivators could accomplish.

Yet, someone that clearly skilled had been rendered helpless against a demon beast that hadn’t even reached the Celestial Immortal Realm.

To say it was unexpected would be an understatement, as he simply couldn’t comprehend how someone at the Middle Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm had ended up being played around by a demon beast that hadn’t even reached the Celestial Immortal Realm to the point where he had to call for help.

As for this being some kind of elaborate trap... He doubted this fellow had the balls to do it. After all, he wasn’t a wandering cultivator without any backing and was at the same time also stronger than the other party.

Sure, an ambush was possible, but it was unlikely to succeed.

Meaning there was a good chance this old friend of his truly had run into a situation where a demon beast below the Celestial Immortal Realm was playing around with him...