Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

At the same time Xuan Hao had returned to the Star Shattering Sect and handed over a large number of resources to Elder Song, the overconfident ancestor from the Blue Sea Empire who had given him all of those resources to begin with had successfully crossed through the Frozen Wasteland without encountering any problems along the way and was now hovering in the air a short distance away from the small kingdom that the space node stone mine was located inside of.

”The space node stone mine mentioned by that explorer union member should be somewhere around here…” Muttering this to himself as he realized this, the overconfident elder adapted a slightly more cautious expression, as he began to slowly approach the small kingdom with the space node stone mine.

Even though he had been confident in the face of Xuan Hao and talked about the demonic cultivators like they didn’t even matter, he was clearly still cautious when potentially facing off against a Demon King Realm demonic cultivator. Especially so because he understood that it would be bad for him to get caught up in a battle with a Demon King Realm demonic cultivator so far away from the Blue Sea Empire.

Not to mention being far away from the Blue Sea Empire, there was also the fact that his path of escape would take him straight through the Frozen Wasteland where more Demon King Realm demonic cultivators might be ready to jump on him the moment he appeared.

Of course, given that he had decided to make the journey anyway, it was obvious that he was still confident in his ability to escape in such a situation. The main reason for his confidence being his comprehension of the Dao of Space that made it difficult for anyone of similar strength to catch him if he really wanted to escape.

”Hm? A formation? And one capable of defending against Earth Immortal Realm cultivators… Looks like that person from the explorer union was correct in there being demonic cultivators around here… And for them to set up such a powerful formation, they are undoubtedly in possession of a space node stone mine!”

Spotting the now stronger formation that had been erected following Xuan Hao destroyed the last formation, the overconfident ancestor from the Blue Sea Empire showed an overjoyed expression on his face.

Not because he was happy to see the demonic cultivators or their formation, but instead because he understood that this signified that the information on the space node stone mine being there was most likely accurate.

After all, if not for a space node stone mine, why would the demonic cultivators bother to set up such a powerful formation to guard a small kingdom on the outer edges of the continent where no resources could be found under normal circumstances?

Swish~

With that in mind, the overconfident ancestor didn’t bother wasting any time, as he directly appeared above the formation before casual pressing down towards the formation-

RUUUUMBLE-!

As a result, a giant palm made from spiritual qi manifest below him before descending towards the formation at a terrifying speed-

BOOOM-!

And before any of the demonic cultivators hidden away inside of the formation had any time to react, the formation effortlessly crumbled under the terrifying might of the palm. Revealing the space node stone mine that was still operating normally without showing any signs of having been stopped by Xuan Hao’s earlier visit.

”W-w-what is that!?”

”Demon… A demon god is descending!”

”Not again!”

However, because of the formation suddenly being shattered, the people toiling away around the surface of the space node stone mine all turned to look up filled with both shock and fear. All of them clearly remembered a similar scene that had taken place a few weeks earlier.

”WHO DARES!?”

Rumble-!

Not a second later, these weak mortals who were at most in the Qi Condensation Realm looked on with horror as the familiar figures of the two demon gods who had appeared back then reappeared above the space node stone mine filled with killing intent.

Even though the killing intent was not directly directed towards them, it still caused a large number of the miners to faint on the spot, while a few unlucky ones were directly reduced to a bloody mist after being faced with a bit more of the killing intent than their weak mortal bodies could handle.

As a result, the remaining survivors all began rushing back towards the mine with all the strength they could muster. Understanding from what had taken place a few weeks ago, that anyone who remained above ground would end up dead when the demon gods above began to rampage.

Boom!

Boom!

However, before any of the mortals had a chance to escape underground for safety, they watched in both shock and terror, as the bodies of the two terrifying demon gods suddenly exploded midair before their blood suddenly froze and reformed into two terrified looking human figures.

”S-senior, please spare us! We are subordinates of the great river demon k- AH!”

BOOOM-!

Without even giving these two reformed demon gods a chance to talk, they once again exploded into a bloody mist. However, this time, they didn’t reform again and instead seemed to have died for real.

Not just that, but as these mortals looked around themselves, they also discovered that the demons who had been watching over them and had been forcing them to work over the past few years, were dead.

The only thing left behind in their place being an eerie pool of blood where they had been standing.

”We… We are free…?”

Not knowing how to react to suddenly regaining their freedom after having spent a large portion of their lives inside the mines under the orders of those demons, the mortals all looked up towards the sky filled with disbelief before quickly falling to their knees and praising the gods above for sending retribution down and killing those demons who had been tormenting them for the past few years.

”Let’s get out of here before those demons return!”

”Yes! Now is our chance! I don’t want to get caught by them again and forced to spend my life mining those strange stones for them!”

In such a situation, it didn’t take long before the first among them spoke up. Following which the rest all similar spoke of their desire to leave… And within the span of a few seconds, a few entered the mines to inform the rest about the situation, while most of them began rushing back home to pack what little belongings they had and fleeing the kingdom.

All of them understood that they couldn’t waste too much time, or they might end up getting caught and forced to the mines again.

…

”Looks like those mortals aren’t too dumb… Oh well, I managed to confirm the presence of the space node stone mine. Now… How to take control of it…” Muttering this to himself as he gazed down at the mortal trying their best to flee the moment, they realized all the demons had been killed, the ancestor from the Blue Sea Empire soon focused his attention back on the important matter at hand. How to take control of the space node stone mine.

Even though he had managed to kill off the demonic cultivators guarding the mine with relative ease, he understood that it wouldn’t be a simple matter to take control of the mine.

After all, even though it wasn’t inside the Frozen Wasteland, it was not too far away from the Frozen Wasteland and would be difficult to take control of given that the Blue Sea Empire was separated from the mine by the Frozen Wasteland itself… And considering the current aggressive state of the Frozen Wasteland and other demonic cultivators around the continent, it would be even harder to take control of the space node stone mine, as this was a rare moment where demonic cultivators worked together.

Even then, he didn’t intend to give up on the space node stone mine. Instead, he began planning on how to prevent the demonic cultivators from mining. Intending to drag out the matter until the war with the demonic cultivators came to an end.

Although it would take a few hundreds and possibly even a thousand years, it wasn’t that long considering the age of a Celestial Immortal Realm Ancestor like himself… And if they could secure a space node stone mine later when the demonic cultivators were less unified, that would be a major benefit to the Blue Sea Empire.

So, with that in mind, the ancestor turned around about to leave-

”Hehe, do you think it will be that simple to run away after destroying my formation?”

However, before he had the opportunity to leave, a massive figure appeared in front of him. Blocking his escape path, while at the same time using some kind of special artifact to restrict the space around him. Preventing him from using his Dao of Space.

”Demon King… And a spatial restriction artifact…!”