Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Not much different from Peng Yun, who chose to establish himself in the alchemy hall, the rest of the elders from the sect also began feeling a bit nervous with so many Soul Ascension Realm cultivators joining the sect. Even though it was something that increased the overall strength of the sect and was beneficial to them in the form of being able to easily find someone stronger than themselves to help out with problems in their cultivation, it still made many of the elders feel uneasy about their future position in the sect. Especially so for the elders who had still not managed to break through to the Domain Lord Realm and were still stuck in the Nascent Soul Realm.

The main thing that managed to keep stability among these elders and ensured that no problems occurred was the fact that the wandering cultivators who had joined the sect were not official elders, but instead guest elders of the sect. Meaning that they still didn’t have any real influence within the sect.

Of course, this was only a matter of time, as everyone understood that these wandering cultivators would only have to prove themselves before they became official elders of the sect, like how Pei Yang had shed his former guest elder status and become an official elder of the sect.

Because of this, the elders of the sect had become far more motivated to increase their strength since the wandering cultivators began joining the sect, causing no small no number of break throughs to occur among the elders of the sect, as those still stuck at the Nascent Soul Realm began breaking through one by one, while those already at the Domain Lord Realm began progressing further under the guidance of the new Soul Ascension Realm guest elders.

Among the elders progressing rapidly and breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm were none other than the original elders of both the Flying Sword Sect and the Spring Flower Sect, who by this point had all managed to reach the Domain Lord Realm.

The main problem for progress of the sect elders came after reaching the Domain Lord Realm, as even if the Domain Lord Realm could be reached relatively quickly by relying on their past accumulations and help from stronger cultivators. Progressing through the Domain Lord Realm was not that simple and required time.

Even if the elders of the sect wanted to rapidly pass through the Domain Lord Realm and reach the Soul Ascension Realm or Dao Domain Lord Realm, there was simply no way for them to do so in a short time. Resulting in most of the sect elders rapid progress coming to a sudden halt after they broke through to the Domain Lord Realm, with some of the more talented elders being able to keep up rapid progress all the way to the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.

However, no matter who it was, the rapid progress came to an end at the Middle Stage of the Domain Lord Realm. Forcing the elders of the sect who reached this realm to settle down and properly consolidate their cultivation before trying to advance any more.

This period of rapid growth didn’t happen over a few weeks or even months but played out over three years. During which Xuan Hao had been in secluded cultivation on the Second Star Peak comprehending the Dao of Ice, while his disciples were progressing on their own. Only seeking out their master when they encountered a problem that they couldn’t solve on their own and the other elders of the sect couldn’t help them with.

During this time, the Star Shattering Sect had not encountered any new problems outside of the initial blockade of cultivation resources caused by the Blue Sea Empire, something that couldn’t be said for the kingdoms and empires surrounding the Star Shattering Sect, as one of the kingdoms bordering the Star Shattering Sect had directly fallen to the demonic cultivators. Increasing the border that the sect shared with the demonic cultivators, while at the same time causing a surge in the number of refugees seeking to settle down in the Star Shattering Sect’s territory to escape from the demonic cultivators.

Normally, this would have been a problem, but with the increased number of Soul Ascension Realm cultivators present in the sect, the borders suffering attacks from demonic cultivators were solved relatively easily, as it just turned into a larger training ground for the sect’s disciples and weaker elders.

On the other hand, taking advantage of the kingdom next to them falling to the demonic cultivators, Elder Song made a subtle move to expand the territory of the Star Shattering Sect. Taking control of a little over half of the fallen kingdom under the guise of using it as training grounds for the sect’s younger disciples and elders, while actually starting to slowly expand the territory of the sect without seeming out of place for a hidden ancient sect.

Luckily, even if the Blue Sea Empire wanted to do something about it or investigate more deeply, they simply didn’t have the energy to do so, as the threat of demonic cultivators had grown far more prominent over the past three years. Reaching the point where they directly threatened the borders of the Blue Sea Empire in some areas. Seeing the several Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators from the empire clashing with Demon King Realm demonic cultivators on an almost weekly basis.

Not just the Blue Sea Empire, but the demonic cultivators had started to act more seriously over the past three years across the continent. Making most of the major powers give up on the different internal struggles they were engaged in to focus on the much bigger threat of the demonic cultivators.

In this kind of situation, a hidden ancient sect like the Star Shattering Sect that stayed neutral and didn’t pose any threat unless attacked was quickly forgotten by the different major powers with only the Blue Sea Empire keeping an eye on them. Sending only a few people every now and then to ensure that the sect wasn’t planning on launching an attack against them.