Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

”Do you perhaps know something about that temple in the middle of the city?” Feeling the somewhat tense look from the old man before his gaze relaxed after seeing it was someone he had met before, Xuan Hao could not help feeling even more curious, but even then, he decided against prying into it and instead decided to take the opportunity to try and learn more about the small temple.

”Hm? You want to learn more about that temple...?”

”Yes, I’m still new to the Western Central Region and don’t know much about the place, but... Even knowing as little as I do, I can still see that temple serves some kind of important purpose and given the lack of defensive formations, my guess is that it serves some kind of similar purpose.”

” Lack of defensive formations- Ah! You’re a formation master!?”

”Yes.” Seeing the old man himself help come up with a cover for him, Xuan Hao readily accepted the identity of a wandering cultivator skilled in the art of formations.

After all, it wasn’t entirely wrong, as he was indeed someone skilled in the Dao of Formations.

Although not at the level of the Dao of Space, Ice or the Sword, he had still reached the Large Success Realm in the Dao of Formations and could be considered a Peak Grandmaster Formation Master.

Even if this level was a bit high for someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, he could always pretend to be a normal Grandmaster Realm Formation Master if needed.

”I see. No wonder you are interested in that small temple, it does after all serve a similar purpose as a defensive formation would.” Nodding his head seemingly fully convinced after learning that he was a formation master, the old man looked around for a bit before signalling towards a tea house not too far away from where they were standing.

Understanding what the old man meant, he didn’t hesitate and soon followed him into the small team house before finding a relatively secluded spot on the second floor with a direct virew of the small temple to sit down together with the old man.

As for the little girl who had been happily exploring her surroundings? She found herself being dragged along by the old man. Showing a clearly unwilling, but also helpless expression in the process. Making it clear that she didn’t dare go against the old man.

In turn, because of this, her attention soon ended up shifting towards him, as he was met with a clear look of blame from the little girl who was holding him responsible for ruining her earlier exploration of the city.

”Meng Jie, don’t look at other people like that, it’s rude!”

”But master... Eeep! Sorry...”

Seeing the girl who turned out to be a disciple of the old man instead of a granddaughter try to complain after being scolded only to apologize before lowering her head in defeat, Xuan Hao could not help smiling slightly as he was reminder of a certain troublemaker among his disciples.

Even if the person in question was far more... Troublesome...

”Sorry about that, my disicipleis just eager to learn more about the world given that see has spent most of her time in secluded cultivation without much interaction with the outside world.”

”No worries, I understand, I have disciples of my own, some... Who are far more Troublesome to deal with...”

As the two of them breifly shared a look of understanding, the old man soon straightened up before a far more serious look appeared in his eyes.

”About the small temple, how much do you know about it...?”

”This... Essentially nothing...” Felling the sudden shift in tone from the old man, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit uneasy as he answered honestly, he really didn’t have any information on the small temple or what purpose it served.

”I see... Guess we will have to start from the beginning then...

Like you have already suspected, the small temple does indeed serve a similar purpose as a normal defensive formation, but outside of that, it also serves a different one. Gathering the prayers of buddhist worshippers.”

”Gathering prayers of buddhist worshippers? Like how churches gather faith from their believers?”

”Yes and no, the incense they collect is different and doesn’t go to a god, but instead goes to a local temple, the small temple you see at the center of this city and many other similar cities.

The temples themselves are under the control of a local monk, who in this city belong to either the Nascent Fire Temple or the Heavenly Dragon Temple, who can use the gathered incense to guard the city.

Although the strength is limited by the size of the city. Any city this size has the ability to fend off someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm for a short time. This alone makes it difficult for anyone to attack a city with a buddhist temple in it.

Not to mention, there are even larger temples in the larger cities, while the main temples of the different major powers like the Heavenly Dragon Temple are rumored to have the power to threaten someone beyond the Celestial Immortal Realm, something that is widely acknowledged as the main reason why the different churches in the Southern Central Region doesn’t try to fight them.”

”This... I never expected something like that...” Feeling no small degree of shock after hearing what the old man said, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a new level of cautiousness towards the small temple at the center of the city.

After all, he had a feeling that these small temples were far from as simple as the old man had described to have the ability to make the churches of the Southern Central Region.

At the very least, for them to have the ability to make the churches of the Southern Central Region back off, they would need to have a way to deal with someone in the Star Creation Realm.