Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Chapter 2023  Heading Out

Having decided to head towards Giantʼs Valley and ignore the Mountain Hall that he had originally been planning to visit, Xuan Hao didnʼt leave immediately and continued conversing with the two local body cultivators to see if there was anything more, he could learn from the two of them before leaving. Discovering after a few more minutes that Shen Yue, who had let his friend do most of the talking, knew about a certain forbidden zone within the ancient secret realm that reminded him of the corruption left behind in a place where the Dao of Corruption was allowed to spread.

Although this location was far away compared to Giantʼs Valley, it was still a place he felt like he had to explore later if he had the opportunity. Especially if it could help him increase his own comprehension and understanding of the Dao of Corruption in the process, as he was genuinely curious about the Dao of Corruption and how it worked.

Dangerous as the Dao of Corruption was, it was still a Dao he himself had comprehended to the Large Success Realm, being one of the strongest Daos under his control even if he hadnʼt used it much for combat.

”Senior, if you want to explore that corrupted land, I recommend first visiting my Shen Clan, as we have a special technique that helps fend off the corrupted energy of the land.” Seemingly seeing through his intentions as he was thinking about exploring the place Shen Yue had mentioned being infected by the Dao of Corruption, the person in question called out before he had the chance to leave. Earning him a rather curious glance, as Xuan Hao hadnʼt expected Shen Yue to have something capable of resisting the Dao of Corruption.

But then again, the ancient secret realm should have once been engaged in some kind of large-scale battle with an outside force utilizing the Dao of Corruption. For them to have developed techniques against the Dao of Corruption and for some of these techniques to have survived was understandable, though it did end up making him more curious about the Shen Clan itself, as not just any small cultivation clan within the ancient secret realm would be capable of preserving this kind of special technique for tens of thousands of years.

After all, there was no way in his mind that the Shen Clan had been able to develop that kind of technique on their own, as creating a technique to counter a specific Dao would require a cultivation far beyond the Martial Arts Emperor Realm and even the Martial Arts Sain Realm that existed in the past might not be enough. Roughly estimating, it might only be possible for someone at the Dao Seed Realm and maybe later stages of the Martial Arts Saint Realm if those at that level were truly comparable to the Dao Seed Realm.

”Thanks, I will go visit your Shen Clan before I go to that place, but before that, I intend to make a trip to the Giantʼs Valley.”

”I see… This is the location of my Shen Clan; you can come when you are done with the Giantʼs Vally and I should be there to help you out with anything.” Nodding his head in response to his answer, Shen Yue turned his attention back towards his friend who had already shifted his attention back towards stabilizing his cultivation base after realizing that Xuan Hao wouldnʼt be asking them any more questions.

Not because he specifically wanted to ignore Xuan Hao now that he had asked his questions, but more so because he wanted to stabilize his cultivation base and join Shen Yue at the Shen Clan to wait for him again. After all, he was silently hoping that Xuan Hao would be able to provide him with guidance for breaking through to the Martial Arts Emperor Realm now that he had reached the Peak of the Martial Arts King Realm.

Understanding that it would be difficult for him to breakthrough the bottleneck separating the two major realms on his own without any guidance. Even more so considering that he hadnʼt had the opportunity to encounter someone at the Martial Arts Emperor Realm before today. Having originally believed that existences at that realm had long since disappeared from the world.

Of course, Xuan Hao also understood this, but didnʼt honestly know how to help the other party given that he wasnʼt exactly a body refining cultivator himself. The only assistance he believed he might be able to provide being his understanding of the Nascent Soul Realm, as the two realms were ultimately extremely similar.

In the end, after learning about the general location of the Shen Clan from Shen Yue, he turned and left the Dread Woods.

Part of him wanted to first take a look and see how Li Feng and his friends were doing, but another part of him understood that there was no reason to backtrack given that it had at most been a few hours since he had last seen them and he doubted they would have been able to make much progress on the body refining path in such a short time.

Even more so after he had personally seen just how difficult progress in the later stages of the body refining path became.

…

At the same time Xuan Hao began making his way towards the Giantʼs Valley after having left Shen Yue and his friend behind in the Dread Woods to stabilize their cultivation base on their own, back in the Death Marsh, one of the youths who had been travelling alongside Li Feng called out to him just before he began heading deeper into the Death Marsh. ”Li Feng… I think we should leave this place.”

”That is true, even if we end up finding another spiritual herb that helps elevate the strength of the body cultivation method, it wonʼt be of much help without any body refining technique. If we want to make any progress beyond the Martial Arts Master Realm, we will have to find a more profound technique than the one given to us by the city lord…” Understanding the reasoning behind what the youth said, Li Feng nodded his head a bit before coming to a stop.

Although all of them had ended up making rapid progress with the body refining technique thanks to them finding a large number of spiritual herbs suitable for refining and strengthening their physical bodies, it was true that it would be difficult for them to make any further progress without a suitable body refining technique.

By now, it wasnʼt just Li Feng himself, but the rest had also been able to reach the Martial Arts Master Realm with relative ease.

The problem was, they didnʼt know where to find a more profound body refining technique.

One possibility would be to head towards the capital of the dynasty whose borders they found themselves within, but doing that undoubtedly came with risks, risks that Li Feng and the rest didnʼt want to take if it was possible.

”Now that I think about it, I think the city lord mentioned a place where it might be possible for us to find more profound body refining techniques, though he did mention that dwelling too far into that place was even deadlier than this Death Marsh.”

”Hm? You mean the mountain range that had ancient ruins all over it? Indeed, going there might be good if we could find a body refining technique, but the risks are too great. Even someone above the Martial Arts Master Realm might not survive exploring the outer edges of that place according to the city lord… And from the strength of the Martial Arts Master Realm, that should be someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm!”

”That is true… But taking a few risks for huge rewards should be worth. Not to mention, with our current strength, we should be able to survive against someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm by working together. Exploring the outer sections of that place should be possible.”

”That… I will leave the choice to Li Feng…”

As the group of youths began discussing their next plan of action after deciding that continued exploration of the Death Marsh wasnʼt suitable, Li Feng suddenly found himself becoming the center of attention, as he began seriously considering what to do next.

”We will go to the mountain range. Dangerous as it might be, it should still be safer than trying to enter the capital and search for more profound body refining techniques.”

The suggestion of going out to search for a more profound body refining technique was understandable and after thinking things through, he felt like it would be a good idea for them to go to this mountain range that had been mentioned by the city lord instead of trying to reach the capital city filled with unknown dangers.

After all, he had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm and should be able to ensure a certain level of safety for him and his friend in the outer edges of the mountain range.