Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Knowing very well just how dangerous it was for him, Huo fen and Meng Jie to venture deeper into the Verdant Abyss, he was out of options at this point and could only hope that he wouldn’t end up next to a demon beast above the Land Creation Realm the next time he was forced to use the Dao of Space. After all, lucky as they had been this time around, he doubted they would be lucky two times in a row... And he doubted that the small flame imprint would pop up to save him this time around, as it was clear from how he had almost died just a few seconds earlier, that it was in some kind of dormant state that rendered it unable to help him like it had done in the past.

For the first time, Xuan Hao felt like he was truly in a life and death situation that couldn’t be easily overcome.

But... As dangerous as his current situation was, it was also an opportunity for him to get a better idea of his own strength and learn just how strong someone in the Land Creation Realm was. In the end, concluding that he should have the strength to resist someone who had just broken through to the Land Creation Realm if he was able to make use of the Dao of Space, while being rendered hopeless without the Dao of Space to assist him in avoiding direct combat.

The conclusion stemming from his analysis of the demon beast that should be somewhere around the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm, the cultivator who should still be in the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm but had progressed further. Potentially having reached the Peak of the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm and finally, the spiritual tree that had chased him through Eastern Central Region.

Although he had no idea about the true strength of that spiritual tree, from his interaction with the demon beast and cultivator inside the Verdant Abyss, he could at least tell with more certainty than before that it should have reached the very limit of the Land Creation Realm and might even be on the path to surpassing the Land Creation Realm, as he sensed a faint presence similar to what he had felt from the heavenly blade inside the spiritual tree.

Terrifying as the realization that he might have made an enemy of a spiritual tree about to break through to the Star Creation Realm was, he managed to calm himself with the simple belief that the spiritual tree had no idea about who he was or what his identity was.

For now, the most pressing issue was to recover his strength as fast as possible and though he did consider taking the Stardusk Essence from Huo Fen to increase his recovery speed, he also understood that it would take far too long for him to consume the powerful energy inside the Stardusk Essence.

After all, he wasn’t a massive demon beast that would be able to rely on its massive body and powerful body to rapidly consume it to strengthen himself, that was something that was exclusive to demon beasts and a clear advantage that allowed them to not only consume and absorb things like the Stardusk Essence faster, but also countless other heavenly and earthly spiritual herbs, tonics, poisons and other things.

Of course, this kind of benefit didn’t come without any flaws, as it was far more difficult for demon beasts to use something like the Stardusk Essence for its original purpose, as their inherently powerful bodies would forcibly absorb most of it before it had a chance to reach their dantian. One of the main reasons why, even as their cultivation grew, demon beasts continued to have far more powerful physical bodies compared to humans and other humanoid races.

Whoosh~

Drawing in a vast quantity of spiritual qi from the surrounding environment as he felt a hint of envy at the thought of the demon beasts ability to rapidly consume something like Stardusk Essence to rapidly recover their strength and heal their injuries, Xuan Hao felt the weakness that had washed over him starting to vanish, as the internal injuries he had suffered when being knocked deeper into the Verdant Abyss by the guarding spatial formation, began to heal.

Slow as his recovery speed might be compared to a demon beast that was able to make use of something like Stardusk Essence, it was still far faster than normal Sea Formation Realm cultivators, as he was able to rely on his stronger soul to rapidly draw in more spiritual qi from the environment around himself, while also being able to rely on his recent Elementary comprehension of the Dao of Life to speed up the process by a bit.

The Dao of Life... Only ending up in this kind of situation do I realize just how important this kind of Dao is...

Sighing as he thought this to himself, Xuan Hao began to regret that he had not focused on comprehending a Dao like the Dao of Life.

The Daos of Space, Sword and Ice might be useful when it came to fighting or escaping, but when it came to survival and staying alive under constant attack and helping him recover rapidly in combat, they were rather useless.

In a sense, the only reason he had even managed to endure to the point he had was because of his special physique and the Three Immortals Bloodline that had all helped elevate the strength of his body and his overall endurance far beyond that of a normal Sea Formation Realm Profound Immortal...

Rumble~

But, as determined as he might have become to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Life in the future or comprehend a similar Dao that would increase his survival chances should he encounter as similar situation in the future, it couldn’t stop the inevitable, as the space only a dozen or so meters away from where he was recovering his strength began to tremble before an all too familiar spilled out from a small crack that was rapidly enlarging at a speed visible to the naked eye.

”Huh?”

”That is...!”

Drawing over the attention of both Huo Fen and Meng Jie, who had remained quiet so far. Understanding that there was nothing they could do, as the battles that had played out so far had exceeded anything they had ever encountered before. Even facing the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators back at the auction seemed preferable to the demon beast that had been chasing them a few minutes earlier.

”He actually decided to chase me...” Seeing the same thing as the two of them, Xuan Hao could not help muttering to himself in a somewhat reluctant tone.

Although he knew that it was likely that the Land Creation Realm cultivator would have some way to chase after him, he had hoped that the demon beast would be able to last longer enough for the spatial traces he had left behind to disappear on their own or get wiped out during its battle.

However, this had proved to be nothing more than an empty dream, as the Land Creation Realm cultivator had ended up taking no more than three minutes to deal with the demon beast before catching up with them, a time that was short enough that Xuan Hao guessed other Land Creation Realm cultivators had ended up being attracted to the commotion and had ended up lending the Land Creation Realm cultivator a hand in dealing with the demon beast.

Rumble~

Knowing that he had no time to waste as the other party could emerge at any moment, Xuan Hao didn’t hesitate for even a second before he pulled over Huo Fen and Meng Jie and used a simple spatial teleportation to cause a retaliation from the spatial formation. Hoping that I wouldn’t up throwing them directly into the maw of a Star Creation Realm demon beast.

”Already leaving!?”

”Waaaaah-!?”

Along with a somewhat confused question from Huo Fen and the surprised exclamation of Meng Jie, Xuan Hao dragged the two of them along with him as he soon enough felt the familiar forceful impact of the spatial formation retaliating to knock him deeper into the Verdant Abyss.

Only this time around, the impact was far more powerful and though he had managed to recover a bit of his strength. Guarding both Huo Fen and Meng Jie ended up draining what little strength he had recovered and even ended up resulting in the internal injuries he had just patched up splitting open and causing blood to spill from the corners of his mouth.

At the very least, this time around, he was somewhat prepared and had managed to prevent himself from throwing up blood.

Although... His appearance wasn’t much better, as he was now truly starting to feel his consciousness starting to blur, a clear sign that his soul had ended up suffering some damage this time around and wanted him to enter either a deep sleep or deep meditation, as that would be the best kind of environment for his soul to recover.

The problem was... He wasn’t exactly going somewhere safe and thus he forced himself to stay awake and alert even at the risk of potentially worsening the damage that had been caused to his soul.

After all, a bit more damage to his soul didn’t matter that much when compared to potentially ending up dead without knowing how the second he closed his eyes to try and recover.