Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Not knowing how to react to the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator running away far faster than he or the shadowy demon beast could react, Xuan Hao didn’t immediately turn towards the demon beast that was in a similar speechless state as he was faced with the instant retreat. Instead, he focused on the fact that he could clearly sense that the seal that had been placed on him by the system earlier was lifted.

Even then, he wasn’t sure whether the quest was considered completed. After all, he hadn’t exactly had the opportunity to face off against all the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators that had been present...

[Side Quest: Practical Combat Lesson (Complete)]

[Description: Your second disciple is filled to brim with excitement upon realizing that he finally has an opportunity to see his master in action, as the master, you can’t give up this opportunity to give your disciple a practical combat lesson.]

[Requirement: Starting the quest will result in cultivation being momentarily lowered to ensure a more equal battle. Giving your disciple a proper chance to learn. (Complete)]

[Reward: Saint Grade Formation Master Inheritance]

But his worries were for nothing, as he looked through the system quest and saw that it had indeed been considered to have been successfully completed.

The reward itself came in the form of a small interspatial ring that contained the entire inheritance of a Saint Grade Formation Master, as for how powerful this inheritance was, he would have to figure that out later.

For now, he had to first figure out how to get his hands on the large quantity of Stardusk Essence inside the treasury below. Preferably before the entire place was swarmed with powerful cultivators, who would in no way give up on such a large quantity of Stardusk Essence.

One positive was that the shadowy demon beast at the Land Creation Realm was limited to the treasury itself and couldn’t leave.

If not, he wouldn’t have had the time to receive the reward from the system nor idle around trying to figure out a way to get his hands on the Stardusk Essence.

But... No matter how hard he thought about it, there was simply no way for him to get his hands on the Stardusk Essence without having to first handle the shadowy demon beast below.

Confident as he was in his own strength, this was still a demon beast with strength at the Land Creation Realm. Not to mention, he didn’t have more than a minute or two left before the stronger cultivators from the different major powers began to show up. At best, he would have three minutes if none of them were proficient in the Dao of Space or wanted to waste energy on arriving a minute or two earlier than others.

Maybe in a drawn-out battle relying on his comprehension of the Dao of Space and the Dao of the Sword along with his recent breakthrough to the Late Stage of the Sea Formation Realm, he might stand a chance of defeating someone who had only reached the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm. A realm that the shadowy demon beast inside the treasury should have reached from what he could tell.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time for a long, drawn-out battle with the shadowy demon beast. Not to mention, from what the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator had said before escaping, it seemed like there were some kind of spatial restrictions in place inside the treasury. Making it even more dubious for him to take on the shadowy demon beast at the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm.

Outside of all that, he would also have to ensure his disciple’s safety, along with the little group behind him.

The situation was.... Troublesome. Mainly because of the Saint Grade Formation guarding the space around the treasury preventing him from just slipping inside. Taking the Stardusk Essence and then leaving without even having to fight the shadowy demon beast in the first place.

If just the inheritance from the system didn’t come in the form of an actual inheritance, but instead a transfer of knowledge...

Narrowing his eyes as his gaze travelled down towards the brand-new interspatial ring that had appeared in his hands following the completion of the practical combat lesson quest from the system, Xuan Hao used his divine sense to scan through the objects stored inside the interspatial ring.

Although most of what was stored inside of the interspatial ring was knowledge on countless formations ranging all the way from the Apprentice Realm all the way up to the Saint Realm, there were also several unique artifacts stored inside for the purposes of practice. Ranging from a normal formation training stone used to practice writing down basic formation symbols up to the Expert Realm, all the way to a massive artifact the size of a small house that formed a unique space for practicing laying down formations all the way up to the Saint Realm.

Of course, though these artifacts and unique tools for practicing the art of formations would be extremely helpful for the Star Shattering Sect in the future, it wasn’t exactly what he was looking for, as he hoped to find something in the inheritance that would prove helpful for breaking a formation.

And... He did find something that would be helpful for breaking a formation, though, it wasn’t some kind of precious formation breaking artifact or anything along that line. Instead, it was a small hill of books that went into excruciating detail on how to best break down a formation.

Useful as this information was, he didn’t really have the time to sit down and learn about the process of breaking formations, as it was clear from the towering pile of books that the aspect of breaking an already established formation was a complicated endeavor. Especially so when it came to Saint Grade Formations that already were already in a semi-conscious state and could respond to any changes in a way that was completely unpredictable.

In a way, one line from the summery on the back of one of the books on breaking Saint Grade Formations said it best... An overwhelming power is always the fastest way to break any kind of formation, be it a Saint Grade Formation or one laid down by an apprentice.

Hm... An overwhelming power...

Pausing slightly in his search through the interspatial ring in the hope that he might uncover some hidden artifact capable of solving his current problem, Xuan Hao found himself focusing on those few words when it came to breaking through a formation.

Indeed, an overwhelming power would be able to break through any defense, but he wasn’t exactly strong enough to create the kind of attack required to overwhelm a Saint Grade Formation.

But... Maybe he didn’t need to create an overwhelming power himself...

”Maybe... I could utilize the power of a spatial collapse to break the formation by relying on the overwhelming power generated when space collapses. After all, a stationary formation doesn’t really have any way to move out of the way.” Muttering this to himself as he focused his attention on feeling the power that originated from the Divine Void Eyes that had formed as his Stellar Dao Body began awakening, he felt that this was possible.

Not just that, but he also felt curious about how much stronger the Divine Void Eyes ability, Empty Void, had become after he broke through to the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Space.

Although the ability itself wasn’t that useful for combat as it took time to use, required an enormous amount of qi and was also easy to dodge, it was perfect for this kind of situation where the target wasn’t moving.

Ruuuumble~

And so, with time running short, he gathered his qi together before unleashing a true spatial collapse at the very edge of the treasury to avoid accidentally destroying the Stardusk Essence inside the treasury. First starting as a small black dot that rapidly began enlarging as more qi was poured into it through the divine void eyes-

BAAANG-!

Growing for a total of ten meters before being met with a direct response from the Saint Grade Formation guarding the treasury attempting to directly suppress the spatial anomaly and restore the space to its former stable and calm state.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a partial spatial collapse, but a true spatial collapse that couldn’t be fixed without the world itself doing something to fix this flaw or someone with a comprehension in the Dao of Space that reached a level capable of recreating the collapsed space...

RUUUUUUMBLE-!

No matter how strong the Saint Grade Formation was, when it came to spatial restrictions, they were far from strong enough to handle this kind of spatial collapse, as it was left completely helpless in the face of the expanding spatial collapse.

However, this kind of spatial collapse didn’t come without a cost, as Xuan Hao barely contended with the Saint Grade Formation for a three seconds before over half the qi inside his dantian was swallowed up...