Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

”715.000... Going once... Twice... And sold, to the respected senior from the Heavenly Dragon Temple...”

As the bidding war for the spiritual herb and seeds came to an end with the Heavenly Dragon Temple’s victory, Xuan Hao clearly noticed the look of disbelief in the eyes of the auctioneer on stage as he called out the terrifying price. Clearly never having expected it to go so high. Breaking past seven hundred thousand top grade spirit stones before the one from the Southern Central Region finally gave up on continuing to compete with the one from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

However, outside of the bidding for the seemingly last second addition to the auction, Xuan Hao and the rest of the people present were all filled with a renewed understanding of these two Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators, as they had been extremely colorful while berating each other while in the process of bidding.

Outside of learning that the one from the Southern Central Region was part of a church whose saintess had recently run away with millions of top-grade spirit stones, they had also ended up learning that the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple had accidentally turned himself into a eunuch by cultivating an extreme yang path technique while younger. The damage being so bad that even after reaching the Celestial Immortal Realm, he hadn’t been able to fully recover.

That aside, there was also some more practical information that had been shared by the two during their verbal sparring, that being that there were some limitations to the small temple being able to utilize its full strength.

Although he had no idea what the full strength of the small temple was, he understood from the words of the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Southern Central Region, that it was far beyond what someone in the Early or Middle Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm could handle.

As for the limitation on that small temple that gave this Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator the confidence in offending the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple? It was that the small temple would take close to thirty seconds to fully activate, before that, it would at most be able to act defensively to guard the city itself from outside attacks and prevent potential enemies from escaping.

The reason why the one from the Southern Central Region was confident in getting out alive even though he would end up trapped inside the small temple’s formation, was because the close to half a minute would be more than enough time for the more powerful seniors from his church to rush over and save him.

The other Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators present... They should also have some kind of escape method prepared in case the Heavenly Dragon Temple tried to act against them, likely in the form of a senior helping them out or breaking the restrictions of the small temple to escape before the small temple could power up and attack them with its full might.

If these few Early Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators are confident in escaping the restrictions of the small temple, it shouldn’t be difficult for me to do so either considering my comprehension of the Dao of Space and the Dao of Formations...

Feeling himself calming down significantly as he thought this to himself while glancing towards the private box up above where the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple was staying, Xuan Hao no longer felt as restricted as he had before when the overall strength of the small temple had mostly been unknown to him.

Now that he had managed to get a better understanding of how the small temple functioned thanks to the bidding competition between the two, he once again began to think about snatching up the things he had begun to set his eyes on with the help of the Dao of Space before escaping.

If the owner of these items remained in the hands of the Explorer Union, it would be difficult to accomplish, but if ownership was transferred to the one from the Heavenly Dragon Temple, he wouldn’t incur nearly as much of a risk considering he was already enemies with the Heavenly Dragon Temple, even if the other party had no clue about it for now.

The main problem was that if he decided to target the Heavenly Dragon Temple and steal from them, he would first have to wait for the auction to come to an end, something that would undoubtedly be far more difficult compared to just snatching something from the auction stage through the Dao of Space. After all, to get something from the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple, he would likely have to kill the other party and seize his interspatial ring.

I will wait and see for now and decide after finding out what it is that attracted the attention of all these Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators first.

Focusing his attention back on the auction stage as he thought this to himself, Xuan Hao followed the new item being brought in filled with anticipation. Noticing instantly that the auctioneer that had overseen the auction so far, had stepped aside and given way to the Middle Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Explorer Union. Indicating that the value of the object that was about to show up reached a far higher level of importance compared to the one that had come before it. Warranting the direct protection of such a powerful cultivator in case someone ended up trying to steal it the second it was revealed.

”Ahem~!”

”Hm? Is something wrong?” Just as his full attention was focused on the stage down below, Huo Fen who had remained quiet so far during the auction let out a small sound with the clear intention of catching his attention, causing him to turn towards the older man with a somewhat confused expression on his face as he asked this.

”Ah, it’s nothing much, it’s just that I’m about to do something really dumb and don’t want to get you caught up in it, so I wanted to inform you that it might be best to leave before you end up getting involved...”

”Something really dumb...” Hearing what the old man said as he also sensed the other party subtly reveal his true cultivation base in a clear attempt to get him to leave and not get involved any further, Xuan Hao honestly couldn’t care less about the so-called ”intimidating presence” of a Middle Stage Dao Seed Realm cultivator, as he instead glanced down toward the situation taking place down below as a look of understanding slowly appeared in his eyes.

This guy... He is actually planning to compete with those Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators for the last auction item? Even if he ends up winning it and his safety is guaranteed inside the auction hall of the Explorer Union, the second he steps outside, he is dead.

Looking toward the old man curiously as he wondered how this little fellow was planning to get away after offending so many Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators, he also didn’t show any sign of leaving.

Now that he was aware of the weakness of the small temple and the fact that even these few Early Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators were confident in breaking the restrictions it could place and escape, he himself was now fully confident in being able to remain safe no matter what happened. The initial danger he had felt from the small temple had completely disappeared.

Of course, that was not to say he didn’t still feel fearful of the small temple, as he was still aware that the small temple should have the power to potentially kill him if it was allowed to unleash its full might. The main difference compared to before was that he felt confident in escaping before it had the chance to do so.

”Huh...?” At the same time Xuan Hao was curiously examining the current situation, the old man could not help freezing up after meeting the curious gaze of Xuan Hao that showed no fear nor any intention of leaving. ”You... Are you not leaving...?”

”No? Why would I leave? Things are just about to get interesting; it would be a pity to miss all the fun...”

”Hah? That... I... Fine... I warned you!” Not having any clue how to respond, Huo Fen stumbled over his words for a bit before reluctantly giving up on trying to get Xuan Hao to leave. Understanding only now that this fellow he had only met for a short time was far more troublesome to deal with than he had first expected.

”Ohhh~ Master lost~!”

Even his disciple had woken up from her snack obsessed state to tease him, something he decided to ignore for now, as he instead focused his full attention on the situation taking place below.

If this new friend of his really wanted to stay, so be it, he had already warned the other party!