Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Watching as the group of escaping Domain Lord Realm cultivators managed to seek refuge behind some of the more eager Soul Ascension Realm cultivators who had rushed ahead of everyone else to get their hands on as many of the demon beasts as possible, Xuan Hao turned his attention away from them and instead focused his attention on the battle that started breaking out between the demon beasts and cultivators from the city.

The group of Domain Lord Realm cultivators had managed to successfully pull off their little scheme. Only getting a bit injured in the process, while managing to kill off over a dozen Domain Lord Realm demon beasts, one of them even having reached the Later Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.

All things considered; the group should be able to recover in a relatively short period of time given that none of them ended up dead. Only the one who had ended up losing both of his legs might take a bit longer to recover.

At the same time, as the demon beasts clashed with the increasing number of human cultivators of both the Soul Ascension Realm and Domain Lord Realm pouring out of the city, they began to realize how bad the situation was turning out as more and more of them began to fall.

ROooar-!?

Rooar…!

Rooar…

Filled with both fear and surprise over this sudden turn of events, the large flying worm demon beasts started panicking, as more than a hundred of them died in a relatively short period of time, causing the remaining ones to quickly dive towards the ground below-

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Where they soon enough smashed into the ground before quickly disappearing out of sight. Leaving the cultivators who arrived too late filled with disappointment, as it was clear that there was no way to chase after this kind of demon beast proficient in digging underground. Even most of the people in the Soul Ascension Realm didn’t stand a chance of chasing after them.

The only ones who continued chasing the flying worms as they dug into the ground to escape were some of the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators proficient in the Dao of Earth. Allowing them to dig after and follow the worms as they escaped underground.

Even then, the total number of demon beasts they would be able to catch after they made it underground would not be more than a few dozen, as they dispersed and made it impossible to continue chasing after them for more than a few minutes.

In the end, by the time everything had finished, the people who had gathered all began to happily make their way back towards the city in the distance.

The only people not showing any happiness being the ones who had been unable to rush out in time and kill off one of the demon beasts. Missing the opportunity to get their hands on some rather easy spirit stones, as they wouldn’t really have to worry about too much danger with so many Soul Ascension Realm cultivators around.

As Xuan Hao watched all of this unfolding, he didn’t continue hiding on the side, as he instead mixed in together with the Domain Lord Realm cultivators heading back towards the city. Intending to take the opportunity to learn more about the Eastern Region inside of the city- Or more accurately learn where he could potentially find wandering cultivators at the Soul Ascension Realm that he might have a chance to recruit for the sect.

The ones he had seen earlier fighting the demon beasts were an option, but he had a feeling that they might not be wandering cultivators but were likely already affiliated with one of the Dao Seed Realm cultivators inside of the city or at least the power that this city existed under.

Thinking about it, there should be a major power from the Eastern Region bordering the Northern Region, though he had not yet managed to find out about this major power, as it seemed to not really view the Northern Region border with much importance due to the fact that the two regions had been neutral with each other for thousands of years with neither party interfering with each other.

Another reason for this could also be the fact that this major power should currently be caught up in a fight with another major power of the Eastern Region and simply not have the resources to establish a presence there outside of a single city.

However, as Xuan Hao made his way inside of the city and began asking around, he realized that the city was not under any of the major powers of the Eastern Region. Instead, it was a neutral city state that did not align with any of the major powers, being controlled by three large clans that each had someone in the Dao Seed Realm watching over them.

Although this was not what he had been expecting, it wasn’t that surprising, as someone in the Dao Seed Realm would have more than enough to establish their own independent force inside the core region of the continent.

Of course, this would only be the case if they were located in some of the more remote areas that were ignored by the larger major powers… And from the looks of it, the border area between the Central Northern Region and the Central Eastern Region could be considered one such location. Allowing the three clans to band together an establish a force of their own by relying on the abundant trade ships moving between the two central regions.

Outside of just relying on the trade between the two central regions to establish themselves, there was also something different they relied on to grow their strength and that was the abundant demon beasts that could be found around the city.

The flying worm demon beasts from earlier were one of these kinds of demon beasts that were abundant and often hunted down by the people from the three clans due to their bodies being perfect material for alchemists refining a kind of soul enhancing pill that was useful for cultivators below the Dao Seed Realm.

Learning about this, Xuan Hao could not help feeling curious about why the Dao Seed Realm cultivators of the three clans hadn’t just acted themselves to kill off all the worm demon beasts, as they should have more than enough strength to do so.

But… After thinking things through, he quickly realized why, as those three Dao Seed Realm cultivators should be thinking about the long term sustainability of their clans and killing all of the worm demon beasts would cut off a future lifeline for their clans. Even if it might give them a lot of spirit stones and resources in the short term…

”Not bad… It might be a good idea to investigate the three clans and see if there is a chance to recruit them into the sect…” Muttering this to himself as both his eyes shone for a brief moment, Xuan Hao slowly began making his way towards one of the three clans in control of the city, the Xue Clan.

Although he had been feeling a bit down knowing that all the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators in the city were already under one of the three clans with Dao Seed Realm cultivators supporting them, his thoughts soon changed as he realized that he would be able to easily recruit all of the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators to join the sect if he managed to successfully recruit the Dao Seed Realm cultivators in control of these clans to join the Star Shattering Sect.

The reason why he first decided on going to the Xue Clan out of the three clans instead of the other two, being because he had managed to learn that among the three clans, the Xue Clan was the weakest among them, with their old ancestor already one step in the grave and his lifespan close to running out.

Of course, given his cultivation at the Dao Seed Realm, close to running out still meant that he had a little over five hundred years left in him.

However, five hundred years was far from enough for the Xue Clan to nurture another Dao Seed Realm cultivator. Meaning that they would likely soon lose their position, as there was little chance the other two clans would allow them to remain one of the leaders of the city without a Dao Seed Realm cultivator backing them up.

Knowing this, the Xue Clan should also be preparing to leave the city before their ancestor passed away, as they should know that there was little chance that the other two clans would just allow them to leave safely if their ancestor had already passed away.

Although… This was just Xuan Hao’s thought about the current situation of the Xue Clan.

For all he knew, the three clans might be great friends with each other with there being no power struggles present among them, though… Considering how the cultivation world worked, he highly doubted this to be the case no matter how peaceful the situation seemed on the outside…