Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Knowing that it would be best for him to get his disciples- or more specifically Chu Yang, back to the sect as fast as possible, Xuan Hao didn’t take long before arriving above the mountain range separating one section of the old Sky Empire from the Northern Central Region. Directly using his connection to the last defensive measure still left with Chu Yang to home in on his location with his divine sense.

Almost instantly discovering the current predicament that his disciples found themselves in, as they were pinned between a group of wandering cultivators and Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts on one side, while the other had a battle between a human cultivator and a demon beast both in the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm closing in on their location.

Even if they might have wanted to try and hide away underground to avoid the effects of the battle, the sheer destruction caused by two beings at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm fighting with their life on the line was not something that was easy to avoid. Especially considering the strongest among his disciples had only just broken through to the Initial Stage of the Dao Domain Lord… And that did not even mention his current half dead state where he could at most keep himself floating to move around a bit.

If the demon beasts or the battle did end up threatening Chu Yang enough for the power he had left to protect him to activate, it might kill off the two Peak Soul Ascension Realm beings clashing fighting each other, but it wouldn’t be able to kill the countless demon beasts that had swarmed to the area due to the disturbance that the fight had caused.

Meaning that even with the two main culprits for his disciples’ current deadly situation ended up dying, they would still be left with no way out of their current situation due to the countless demon beasts that had swarmed to the area.

If Chu Yang had his full strength, maybe, but for now, he could barely float, let alone fight fend off the Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts they would have to deal with when trying to escape from their current predicament.

”How truly unlucky, but I guess this danger should be related to the opportunity that Chu Yang managed to find that helped him reach the Initial Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.” Muttering this to himself as he shook his head with a somewhat wry smile, Xuan Hao took a step forward as he used the Drifting Cloud Steps to teleport to the current location of his three disciples.

Whoosh~

 ”Huh?” ” Wha-!?” ”Who!?”

Catching all three of them by complete surprise, as he essentially just appeared in front of them from seemingly nowhere.

”””Master!”””

Of course, this didn’t last for long as they quickly recognized the person that had appeared in front of them, causing all three of them to shout out excitedly at the appearance of their master. Finally feeling a sense of security after having been stuck in a deadly situation for the past few hours or in Chu Yang’s case, the past few weeks.

”Huh? Someone appeared beside those three!”

”Someone appeared? Did their senior perhaps show up to save them?”

”Their senior!? Isn’t this the opportunity we have been waiting for!? Everyone! Get ready to move whenever that senior of theirs tries to leave with those, we will look for an opening to try and escape through as well when the time is right!”

Also seeing Xuan Hao now standing beside the three troublemakers who they rightfully blamed for their current life and death situation, the wandering cultivators took only a few seconds before they all stood at the ready, their full attention focused on Xuan Hao as they waited for him to make a move that would give them an opportunity to escape from the mountain range. All of them understood that this might be their only chance to get out of their current situation alive.

So eager…

Noticing this as well, Xuan Hao could not help silently chuckling to himself.

Although he had no idea about who these wandering cultivators were nor what kind of relationship his disciples had with them, he was clear that they just wanted to get out of their current situation alive… And if something serious had really taken place between them and his disciples, they would have undoubtedly mentioned it.

So, with that in mind, Xuan Hao decided to just ignore them as he instead focused his attention towards the two Peak Soul Ascension Realm beings fighting each other to the death no more than a few kilometers from where he was standing.

One was a demon beast in the shape of a massive turtle the size of a small hill, while the other was a female cultivator moving with elegance and graze as she fought the far larger opponent.

From a glance, it was clear that the turtle demon beast was on the loosing side, as it was covered in blood and had countless cracks all over its shell. Looking like it was going to break at any moment and spell the end for the turtle that relied entirely on its powerful defense to got up against the female cultivator.

Impressive… It looks like she isn’t just at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm, but about to reach the Dao seed Realm! Hm? Perhaps she wants to use this turtle to refine herself before attempting a breakthrough…?

Thinking this to himself as he looked at the female cultivator who seemed almost effortless in her fight against the turtle demon beast, Xuan Hao easily saw through her actual state.

Not to mention easily dealing with the situation, she wasn’t much better than the turtle demon beast on the inside. Having clearly used everything she had in this fight to breakthrough to the Dao Seed Realm.

In a sense, her calm and composed outward image was also something that was carefully crafted and took up a lot of strength to maintain, something that had been the sole reason why she had been able to continue the fight with the turtle demon beast for as long as she had.

After all, if she showed a similar state of weakness like the turtle demon beast was currently doing, the Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts surrounding the two of them would have long since jumped at the opportunity to kill the two while they were severely weakened.

The fact that she showed no sign of exhaustion caused the Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts to hesitate on going in to face someone at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm.

No matter how many of them were around, they were smart enough to understand that the first one of them to step forward would be the one to bear the brunt of the retaliatory response of the female cultivator, something that none of them wanted to do.

Getting a general idea about the stalemate in place, Xuan Hao could not help smiling a bit to himself with a hint of admiration towards the female cultivator still fully focused on her battle not far away from him.

Even though her method of trying to and forcibly stimulate herself before taking on the final seventh tribulation to reach the Dao Seed Realm was incredibly risky, it did carry the clear benefits of helping refine her state of mind in a rather unique manner that seemed to be rather fitting when it came to his second disciple’s style of cultivation.

Of course, there was still the matter of how she planned on escaping after finishing her battle with turtle demon beast, but he guessed that she already had something planned before having come.

With all of this in mind, Xuan Hao decided against his first idea that involved killing the turtle demon beast, as doing this would interfere with the female cultivator’s breakthrough to the Dao Seed Realm, something that he didn’t want to happen as his brain was still in recruitment mode and saw her as yet another powerful elder for the sect if she managed to successfully break through to the Dao Seed Realm.

As for where or not she was already part of a major power? Xuan Hao didn’t concern himself with these kinds of thoughts as someone from a major power wouldn’t be engaging in this kind of desperate and dangerous attempt to increase their chances of breaking through to the Dao Seed Realm.

Even if they did so, they would at the very least have a senior guarding them and preventing anyone from showing up to disturb the battle, something that had clearly not happened. Not to mention anyone above the Soul Ascension Realm even being present within the scope of his divine sense.

Unless, of course, there was someone capable of hiding from his divine sense… But… With the strength of his divine sense, even someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm would find it difficult to hide from him. Making it even less likely that she had a senior secretly watching over her from the shadows…