Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Rustle~

As the group of Land Creation Realm cultivators continued eyeing each other above while almost carelessly attacking the shadowy demon beast without paying it too much attention after realizing that it was visibly starting to weaken under their continued attacks, the shadowy demon beast in question was slowly moving the shadows that made up its form to direct the four Land Creation Realm cultivators attacks away from the location of its real body hidden inside the large shadowy form.

Continuing to slowly shift around underneath the constant pressure of the four Land Creation Realm cultivators until it found itself pressing against the very edge of its shadowy form with its real body. Having essentially completely managed to negate any of the attacks being thrown towards it by the four Land Creation Realm cultivators who were now essentially attacking the air. The feedback they felt being created by a part of its body that had been cut off earlier now serving as the perfect distraction.

Of course, this kind of distraction wouldn’t last for long, as those four would soon sense something was wrong.

But...

Swish-!

It was more than enough time for the shadowy demon beast to set its relatively quickly assembled escape plan into action, as it severed its connection with the shadowy form that had protected it so far and dashed out of the small area that was being suppressed by the four Land Creation Realm cultivators. Managing to directly bypass them, as its presence after abandoning its shadowy form was completely different and wasn’t something that any of the four Land Creation Realm cultivators managed to pick up on before it was already too late for them to try and suppress it in a similar way to what they had done in the past.

”That... That demon beast is escaping!”

”Damnit! Don’t let it run! Do you know how precious the body of a Land Creation Realm demon beast is!?”

”Me?! It’s you who didn’t want to use any artifact to suppress it earlier. Saying it would be a waste of resources.”

”You!”

”Hmph!”

Because of this, the immediate reaction from the four Land Creation Realm cultivators upon realizing that the demon beast had ended up escaping wasn’t to chase after it but instead complain to each other about the situation before starting to blame each other the next.

The situation was nothing short of chaotic, as by the time the four finally managed to pull themselves together, the shadowy demon beast that had now shed its formerly shadowy form and now appeared in the form of a large feline demon beast, had already reached the boundary between the mountainous region of the ancient alchemy sect ruins and the forested region that Xuan Hao and his little disciple had first found themselves inside after stepping inside the ancient alchemy sect ruins.

Whoosh-!

Main difference being that the large feline demon beast had a clear goal in mind when it came to where it was fleeing. Not at all like the inexperienced Chu Yang who had no idea where to go inside the massive forest or Xuan Hao who similarly had no information on the forested region and essentially had to rely on the imprint he had left on his disciple to find his way over to the mountainous region of the ancient alchemy sect in time.

”This... This place is sectioned off?” disappeared into thin air, the Land Creation Realm cultivator in the lead frowned visibly as he looked at the still faintly shimmering barrier in front of him where the silhouette of an enormous forest could barely be seen.

”Hehe, scared? Let me show you the way~”

Whoosh-!

”Hmph! No way, what can a little demon beast already half a step into the grave do?” Hearing the somewhat teasing voice from another Land Creation Realm smiled tauntingly before taking a step forward to disappear alongside the Land Creation Realm demon beast, the lead Land Creation Realm cultivator who had now ended up in second place frowned visibly as he defended himself before quickly following behind.

””...””

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Seeing this, the remaining two only briefly glanced at each other before following the other two in chasing after the Land Creation Realm demon beast.

Although they understood what it meant for a former secret realm or potentially mystic realm to have been sectioned off in this kind of manner, they still decided to follow the other two. After all, the treasures contained on the body of a Land Creation Realm demon beast were incredibly precious to someone like them.

Who knew, they might even be able to find something on that demon beast that could help increase the size and foundation of the landmass inside their dantian, one of the only ways for someone who had broken through to the Land Creation Realm before reaching the Late Stage of the Sea Formation Realm to stand a chance at reaching the Star Creation Realm in the future.

As for going beyond the Star Creation Realm and stepping into the Venerable Realm... That was something they didn’t even dare think about. After all, forcing their way into the Star Creation Realm might be possible through sheer dumb luck, but going any further and progressing through the Land Creation Realm was close to impossible unless their luck underwent some kind of divine transformation and they became a treasured existence in the eyes of the heavenly dao itself.

No matter, going beyond the Star Creation Realm was far from these few Land Creation Realm cultivators who were still stuck at the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm, just advancing to the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm would be something to be overjoyed about. Not just because it would make them the strongest in the Eastern Central Region, but because they would truly gain the ability to suppress their rivals, something that all four of them had wished to do since the fall of the former dynasty that had once been in control of the entire Eastern Central Region.

All four of them had wanted to pick up the old mantle and crown themselves as the new ruler, but neither side was stronger than the other, thus resulting in a stalemate.

Back then, to break this stalemate, one of the four had decided to break through to the Land Creation Realm early and eliminate his opponents, but surprisingly, the other three had similar plans and, through sheer dumb luck, all of them had survived the land creation process and broken through to the Land Creation Realm. Meaning that the stalemate that had been about to be broken remained in place.

Over the years, all of them had attempted to break this stalemate by taking another step forward into reaching the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm. Unfortunately, this had been without success so far, as every time one was about to get their hands on something that might prove helpful in breaking through, the other three had showed up without rest to ensure this opportunity wouldn’t ever reach that person.

This continued even to do this day, as all of them understood just how great of an opportunity the already half dead shadowy demon beast presented to all of them. If any one of them managed to successfully seize this Land Creation Realm demon beast’s body and use it to enhance their own strength, there was a very real possibility that person would break through to the Middle Stage of the Land Creation Realm.

After all, with how long all four of them had remained stuck at the Peak of the Early Stage of the Land Creation Realm, all they needed to breakthrough to the next realm was a single opportunity.

Caring about the danger that might lurk inside the forest on the other side of the barrier? They were Land Creation Realm cultivators; there was little they feared even inside ancient ruins like those of the nameless ancient alchemy.

Even if there was danger lurking, they all had countless artifacts on them that would be able to detect danger ahead of time.

Roooar?!

And so, just as the shadowy demon beast, now the form of a slender looking feline demon beast that was no different than a normal large cat in terms of size, found itself incredibly bewildered when the human cultivators dared to chase it.

The reason for this had nothing to do with how they had seemingly ignored the danger of following it into the forest but instead had to do with the fact that these cultivators had at some point started pushing each other to the side in an attempt to be the first one to reach it.

To say that this kind of thing was terrifying would be an understatement, as the shadowy demon beast felt a shiver running down its spine thinking about what this group of human cultivators were planning to do to it after they caught it. For all it knew, they might not even kill it outright but might instead take it in as a pet or something, a fate worse than death for most wild demon beast. Especially intelligent ones above the Nascent Soul Realm who had developed a basic level of intelligence.