Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Chapter 2117: Breaking a Fragile Formation

Having learnt what he could from this group of local cultivators, he didn’t bother any more with them and made his way towards the place that this group had originally come from. Not only because there was an intact first-tier city in that direction, but also because it was on the way to the devil forest where the lord he needed to kill was located and he was hoping he would be able to gather some more information on the devil forest from this still intact city. After all, though the leading Dao Seed Realm cultivator was knowledgeable, he was severely lacking when it came to anything about the devil forest outside of its location.

As for what had caused this group of seemingly weak local cultivators to make the dangerous journey through the deadly inner wilderness towards what according to them should be the location of a small hidden city that was located far beyond where he himself had explored, it wasn’t that difficult to find out, as a few of the weaker cultivators had already been chatting about it before he had descended from above to question their leader.

The reason in question being that the current state of the still intact first-tier city was far from optimal, with the different clans in charge of the city not exactly being kind to those below them, causing several people to flee the city to seek a better future within the other remaining cities that still stood strong after the war.

In fact, as he had been squeezing out all the useful information he could from this group, he had already sensed another similar caravan, a few hundred people larger approaching from afar following the same path as the caravan he had stopped. The only real difference beyond it being a bit larger being the fact that there were a few more Dao Seed Realm cultivators guarding this caravan.

“Is it really true that the Cold Steam Gang was working for one of the eight clans?”

“Yes, heard it from my uncle before he disappeared. If not for fearing for my own life after that, I wouldn’t have wanted to leave.”

“Understandable, I wouldn’t want to take this kind of risk either if possible. After all, even with the protection of the demon beast repelling artifact, a demon beast above the Dao Seed Realm will ultimately be able to ignore it and easily sense us.”

“So what? This might be the only chance we have to escape before it’s too late! From what I heard, the path seems to have been blocked shortly after we left!”

“Huh? Really? Why would they block people from leaving?”

“Hmph! You don’t know, but…”

Flying over this slightly larger caravan, he found himself silently listening in on their conversation. Finding it no different from what he had heard from the group he had just finished questioning. The only difference being that these eight clans in charge of the first-tier city might have started blocking people from leaving.

The reason behind this wasn’t that important to him, as the only thing he cared about was the city remaining intact and the powerful cultivators inside it staying alive for him to have a chat with to learn more about the devil forest and the lord of the devil forest.

However, as he continued moving in the direction of the first-tier city, he found himself flying past increasingly large groups of people who had left the city- no, escaped from the city. Not all of them being in an uninjured state, as most had varying degrees of injurie covering their bodies that didn’t seem to have come from the surrounding demon beasts, as the unique artifacts they carried on them kept these demon beasts away.

The conversations taking place also began painting a rather interesting picture of the current state of the first-tier city. Making it seem like the eight great clans that stood at the very top of this city had suddenly turned into great demons who had not only started fighting amongst each other but had even dragged in those below them.

Of course, this alone was far from enough to make them great demons in the eyes of the former residents now turned refugees.

What had truly earned them this title was the fact that they had started draining the blood and qi of those below them to the point where thousands had already perished from being drained dry by these great clans, something that made it seem like these people might not be normal cultivators like he had originally been expecting, but instead demonic cultivators.

Troublesome as this might make them to deal with, it might also make it far simpler for him to get the information he wanted depending on the strength of these eight great clans and the current state of the city guardian formation.

Still, feeling a bit worried that these great clans might end up destroying the city if he was too slow, he didn’t dare waste any time and made full use of the Dao of Space to reach the city in a short time. Emerging a few thousand meters from the city half a minute later. Finding it peaceful on the surface with no clear sign of any major battle being fought nearby.

Only around the entrance to the city was there some sign of battle, but the damage was limited to something done by someone at the Dao Seed Realm.

As for what the inside of the city looked like… He planned to figure it out by simply forcibly having his divine sense sweep through the place without any regard for what the locals might feel when faced with this kind of complete disregard.

The main reason behind his decision to do this instead of going with a more silent sweep of the place being because he sensed the formation guarding the city was already on the brink of collapsing when he arrived and the people inside the city itself being limited to the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm. Not exactly strong enough to pose any threat to him with his current cultivation realm.

If anything, this kind of blunt search might even help him uncover some hidden treasure within the city…

Rumble~!

And so, with that in mind, Xuan Hao fully deployed his divine sense into a seemingly endless sea of soul power that swept towards the city in the distance-

Craaack~ BANG!

Showing not the slightest bit of restraint as it crashed directly into the guardian formation of the city and forcibly tore through the already weakened formation that would have collapsed on its own in a few years in its awful state.

“Wha-what is happening!?”

“The… The guardian formation is breaking!”

“How is this possible!? Are we under attack!?”

Unsurprisingly, causing the people inside the city to start panicking as fear swept through everyone in the face of the guardian formation being forcibly shattered by what felt to them like heavens will had descended from above.

After all, though the city guardian formation was in state where it would collapse with even a small push, that was clearly not something everyone knew about and should have been information only the eight great clans in charge of the city knew about.

In fact, during the brief clash between the guardian formation of the city when it attempted to block his divine sense, he had already realized where the blood and qi draining of the eight great clans had gone, as someone who clearly didn’t have the slightest clue about how formations worked had attempted to forcibly infuse blood and qi into the guardian formation in a vain attempt of revitalizing the already collapsing formation.

Although this didn’t rule out those eight great clans being made up of demonic cultivators, as his divine sense reached these eight great clans, he could essentially confirm that they weren’t demonic cultivators.

Even if their manner of collecting people and locking them up to drain their qi and blood was in no way different from what demonic cultivators did and in a way, they were far more brutal than demonic cultivators who would just drain your qi and blood and kill you, as they deliberately kept the people they had captured alive and had them cultivate to recover so they could continuously drain their blood and qi over a longer period of time.

Unsurprisingly, the Land Creation Realm cultivators presiding over these great clans were less than pleased with the destruction of the guardian formation that they had been working hard on trying to keep up.

“WHO DARES!?”

“HOW DARE YOU!”

“COME AND FACE DEATH!”

Emerging one after the other from their own sacred grounds in the air above the city filled with killing intent. Yelling out loud in the process. Making it seem like only by yelling out loud filled with anger would they be able to let their pain of what had just happened to their guardian formation be known.

To think there was a heavenly treasure hidden here! Hehe, lucky~

Not that Xuan Hao bothered with any of these seniors, as he was far more focused on the heavenly treasure his divine sense had just swept past inside one of these great clans.