Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Knowing now that there was something hidden beneath the frozen lake that increased his comprehension of the Dao of Ice, Xuan Hao didn’t waste any time as he shattered the thick layer of ice before submerging into the ice-cold water hidden underneath. Almost instantly noticing that the temperature of the water was far below freezing. Making it clear that it wasn’t just normal water, but instead some kind of special spiritual water that could go far below freezing temperatures… And because of the object below the frozen lake strongly related to the Dao of Ice, the temperature of the spiritual water was cold to the point where even someone in the Domain Lord Realm would freeze to death upon contact.

If not for his strong physical body and the fact that his comprehension of the Dao of Ice gave him a certain degree of immunity when faced with the cold spiritual water, he would have been forced to use his qi to resist the cold water.

Given his current strength, this made it clear that the water wasn’t just deadly to someone in the Domain Lord Realm but would likely also be deadly to someone in the Soul Ascension Realm if they stayed in the water for too long.

All of this was of course only if the temperature remained at what it was when he just submerged into the cold spiritual water, but as he continued diving deeper, it quickly became clear that the temperature of the water decreased the further down he went.

After only going down a dozen or so meters, the temperature had already reached a level that would prove deadly to someone in the Dao Seed Realm without any protection, while at the thirty-meter mark, it became impossible for anyone below the Celestial Immortal Realm to survive the terrifyingly low temperatures.

Even though he had a high comprehension of the Dao of Ice and had a certain resistance when faced with the cold temperatures of the water, he was still forced to use his dao domain to protect himself.

Finally, upon reaching the fifty-meter mark, he found himself unable to proceed further down. Not because he had reached the bottom of the lake, but instead because his strength was too weak to proceed further down.

”From this point on, even someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm would freeze to death… What in the world is hidden at the bottom of this lake…?” Quietly muttering this to himself as he looked down into the darkness below, Xuan Hao could not help feeling shocked at the terrifying presence below.

Even a slight leak in its presence had created a terrifying frozen lake that could even freeze someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm to death. However, this wasn’t just the physical body, being frozen, but also the soul. Essentially killing anyone unlucky enough to get frozen in the water and… Looking around the lake waters, he did spot a few frozen corpses floating around, some above and some below.

The ones above were not that significant, but the ones below were enough to send a shiver down his spine as he understood that each of those frozen corpses represented someone in the Demon King or Celestial Immortal Realm… And just from a glance, he could already see seven such corpses below him.

He was clearly not the first person to have stumbled upon the frozen lake and tried to dive into it in search of the treasure below…

But… Even if I can’t go down any further than this, the environment itself is perfect for comprehending the Dao of Ice.

Narrowing both of his eyes as he thought about this, Xuan Hao decided not to push his luck and attempt to rush down for the object hidden below. Instead, deciding to slowly take on a meditative pose in the water before starting to comprehend the Dao of Ice.

The rich ice qi and yin qi providing the perfect environment for comprehending not just the Dao of Ice, but also the Dao of Yin.

At the same time, the rich yin qi posed a deadly attraction to demonic cultivators, as their cultivation would be able to increase almost effortlessly in this kind of environment.

Although… Looking down at the floating corpses below, the increasingly rich yin qi the further down one went was likely the main reason why the floating corpses below had ended up as floating corpses in the first place.

Not just the ones below, the ones above were likely the same, just that they had been too impatient. Not even waiting until reaching the Demon King Realm before rushing to their deaths.

As for the chance that any living demonic cultivators knew about the frozen lake and might come to cultivate in the future… Xuan Hao did think that this was likely, but even then, he didn’t plan to leave, as the boost to his comprehension of the Dao of Ice inside the ice cold waters far surpassed any other location he had found so far.

If he wanted to reach the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Ice, the icy cold waters were likely his best option, as he could already feel his bottleneck to the Perfection Realm starting to loosen shortly after he began placing his full attention on comprehending the Dao of Ice.

Well… Almost his entire attention, as he still left part of his divine sense to monitor his surroundings in case someone showed up.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t expand his divine sense more than a few meters around himself, as the cold waters also froze his divine sense when it left the protection, he had created around himself with his dao domain.

On the positive side of things, this also meant that it would be impossible for others to notice his presence easily. Meaning that he would remain relatively safe from any demonic cultivators passing by while he was comprehending the Dao of Ice. Not to mention, he didn’t have to worry too much even if he was found by a demonic cultivator while he was comprehending the Dao of Ice.

The main reason for this was that the icy water was extremely dangerous and even a slight movement inside of it might disturb the delicate balance of the place and cause the far more dangerous water below to surge upwards. Potentially carrying with it enough power to instantly freeze someone in the Celestial Immortal or Demon King Realm to death.

For that reason alone, a demonic cultivator finding him was far more likely to just ignore him and instead focus on absorbing as much of the yin qi present to increase his or her own strength.

After all, he wasn’t a demonic cultivator and couldn’t really compete with the other party when it came to absorbing yin qi.

On the other hand, if he was a demonic cultivator, it might be far more likely for a demonic cultivator to attack him upon noticing his presence. After all, the yin qi, though rich, was still limited, as it would take time to recover.

The only way to continue absorbing yin qi without break would be to go deeper or wait for the yin qi to recover back to its normal levels further up.

Although this recovery rate was still incredibly fast and far beyond what most demonic cultivators could keep up with, two demonic cultivators in the Demon King Realm absorbing the yin qi at the same time should outpace the recovery pace of the yin qi at the fifty-meter mark that he found himself at.

Because of this, one demonic cultivator in the Demon King Realm showing up was still considered fine in his eyes even if his presence was discovered, as there was little chance of the demonic cultivator contacting others about his presence given the importance of the location for the other party’s cultivation.

Two on the other hand would completely change the situation, as he was likely to get caught up in a struggle for control over the rich yin qi.

Just looking at the figures below him, it was clear that some of them showed clear signs of having been in a battle before freezing to death. Almost certainly demonic cultivators, who found the frozen lake along with someone else, who was likely also dead because of a battle erupting between them.

No, not almost, but certainly, as there was no lack of frozen corpses above him that were entangled with each other while they froze to death, one even having a victorious grin on his face as his hand had passed through his opponent’s chest before he froze to death without even realizing it.

Closing both of his eyes as he thought about this, Xuan Hao decided to throw all these worries to the back of his mind for now and deal with them in the future when they presented themselves in the future.

For now, he focused on the main reason why he decided to remain in the deadly ice cold waters, comprehending the Dao of Ice.