Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Ignoring the enraged Land Creation Realm cultivator who was now chasing him from behind, Xuan Hao could almost guess what was going through the mind of this Land Creation Realm cultivator who had suddenly found himself being dragged into what was, essentially a life and death situation.

Although he was close enough to him that he would be able to attack, it was also clear that he understood that doing so would give the demon beasts chasing from behind enough time to catch up... And no matter how much he wanted to take revenge on at least one of the two he blamed for his current situation, it wasn’t to the point where he would willingly risk his own life for it.

So... With all of that in mind, he could only curse out loudly as he continued escaping while keeping a close eye on the demon beasts closing in from behind.

As for the reaction from the demon beasts-

Rooar!

Roooaaaar~!

Raaawr-!

It was more so filled with excitement than anything else, as outside the one that had called for help in hunting down Xuan Hao, the rest had no idea about the valuable spiritual herb Xuan Hao was carrying on him and was more so interested in consuming the powerful bodies of the cultivator they were chasing.

In other words, a stronger cultivator means a stronger body. Meaning it would be more beneficial for them to consume. Fear was essentially nonexistent to these demon beasts, as they understood they had numbers on their side...

And as the situation in the Verdant Abyss slowly became increasingly complex and dragged in more people, who just happened to be unlucky enough to be on the path Xuan Hao and the rest were travelling, the number of demon beasts grew as well. Growing far more compared to the humans, as the Verdant Abyss remained the territory of these demon beasts.

Although it had not yet grown to the point where it attracted the attention of a Star Creation Realm demon beast, it was only a matter of time, something everyone who had been dragged into the chase understood but had no way to prevent.

After all, the only way to avoid attracting the attention of a more powerful demon beast would be to disperse the horde of demon beasts that had slowly formed, something that was impossible with just how many Land Creation Realm demon beasts were present.

Even Xuan Hao, the one who had essentially started this demon beast stampede, had no influence on how the situation developed any longer. Only a cultivator at the Star Creation Realm would be capable of influencing the overall situation now.

But... There was one positive to all of this and that was the fact that Xuan Hao now found himself in the middle of the group of people escaping from the demon beast horde. Increasing his safety significantly, while also ensuring that he wasn’t the one who would be forced to occasionally deal with the attacks of some of the demon beasts who caught up to the group of escaping cultivators from time to time.

Still, the sheer size of the Verdant Abyss and the fact that spatial teleportation was impossible inside its boundaries. Meant that even after travelling for an entire day, he was still far from reaching the edge of the Verdant Abyss according to what he managed to learn from one of the Land Creation Realm cultivators who had no idea he was the one behind the entire mess.

In fact, outside the Land Creation Realm cultivator whom he had first run into, none of the other cultivators who were caught up in the entire mess thought he was the one behind everything. Instead believing the one behind everything was that Land Creation realm cultivator.

The reason for this? He was the one in front of everyone and the first everyone saw before they ended up being dragged into this mess!

For this simple reason, there were quite a few people with hostile intentions towards this Land Creation Realm cultivator. If not for the fact that attacking would slow them down and potentially force them to the back of the group, everyone would likely already have ganged up on him.

Another reason why he escaped scrutiny also had to do with his strength only being at the Sea Formation Realm. Impressive as this might be, he wasn’t the only one escaping capable of reaching this level of speed while only being at the Sea Formation Realm.

Looking across everyone else escaping, most of the people weren’t Land Creation Realm cultivators, but instead weaker Profound Immortal Realm cultivators or Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators who had managed to obtain some kind of life saving treasure that allowed them to increase their strength far beyond what it normally was, though... A majority were those who desperately used all kinds of forbidden techniques to burn through their own lifespan to forcibly elevate their strength and in turn speed.

Unfortunately, most of those people wouldn’t be able to keep up their current consumption rate for more than a few days before their lifespan ran dry, still far from the edge of the Verdant Abyss.

How many people powerful cultivators will I end killing by accident because of this....?

Feeling a slight shiver run down his spine as he thought about this to himself, outside of just feeling bad about the entire situation, he also felt fearful about the entire situation. Fearful that he might end up having to face the major powers behind these powerful cultivators, as he understood full well that there was no way for him or the Star Shattering Sect to face them head on. Especially a few of the stronger major powers behind some of the cultivators present, as those major powers did have Star Creation Realm Ancestors.

No... I can’t allow anyone to figure out I’m the one behind this entire mess...!

Narrowing both of his eyes as this thought ran through his head, Xuan Hao found himself staring directly towards a certain flying artifact ship at the very front of the escaping group of cultivators.

If everyone already had a culprit in mind, it might be for the best if he made sure they wouldn’t change their mind later.

...

As Xuan Hao began quietly scheming on how to pass the blame off to someone other than himself, back in the Star Shattering Sect, a group of elders had gathered together in a desolate corner of the sect. Focusing intently on a figure seated a few thousand meters away.

Among them were not just the older elders who had been with the sect during the official establishment of the Star Shattering Sect when their two original sects had merged, but also newer elders who mostly compromised of recently recruited wandering cultivators.

”Do you think she can do it...?”

”No idea... But this is a great opportunity for us, isn’t it?”

”True, seeing someone breaking through to the Dao Seed Realm firsthand is bound to be a valuable experience.”

”Indeed, it give me hope at breaking through to the Dao Seed Realm myself. After all, compared to just wandering around searching through ancient ruins filled with who knows how many deadly traps and sealed demon beasts, it is far more relaxing and beneficial to just cultivate inside the Star Shattering Sect.”

”Yeah... The missions given out to us elders aren’t too difficult either after you get a hang on them and the benefits are well worth, as we can not only see a clear path to the realm above the Soul Ascension Realm, but even beyond that.”

”Joining a major power like the Star Shattering Sect really was a good idea...”

As the elders, both new and old, chatted amongst each other, it quickly became clear what was happening, as the woman seated a few thousand meters away was in the process of her final preparations to break through to the Dao Seed Realm... And among the current elders of the Star Shattering Sect. The only who had reached this point was Zhao Ling, the self-proclaimed genius who even surpassed the crown prince of the Blue Sea Empire in talent in her own words... And with how she was now in the process of breaking through to the Dao Seed Realm at only a little over a thousand years old, it was a true statement, as her talent was indeed far above the norm.

The access to large quantities of information on the Dao Seed Realm that had remained far out of reach to her in the past and the assistance of the Dao Enlightenment Monument and recently established Enlightenment chamber, pushing her past the bottleneck that had barred her from reaching the Dao Seed Realm in the past.

In a sense, her breakthrough to the Dao Seed Realm in such a public manner and allowing the rest of the sect’s elders to observe the process from the side was a form of repayment from her to the sect for its assistance in her breakthrough.

After all, under normal circumstances, one wouldn’t invite so many people along, as they could prove to be distracting and potentially harm the one breaking through.

As for the reason why she still decided to invite a group of people along? That was simply because she was fully confident in herself breaking through to the Dao Seed Realm!