Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Indeed, Baobao remained a mystery even after he had broken through to the Late Stage of the Sea Formation Realm and his divine sense arguably reached a realm comparable to that of someone in the Land Creation Realm.

How Mui, who was only at fifth- No, sixth stage of the Domain Lord Realm had been able to create something able to elude his senses was truly something that made no sense. Not to mention, she had been even weaker when she had created Baobao. Making him start to wonder if she might one day end up creating something that was more deadly than a floating ball or cloud that had the ability to refine and purify spiritual qi.

For all he knew, she might even be capable of creating some kind of mythical weapon that had the strength to kill someone in the Land Creation Realm by accident. The only slight reassurance he had in her not accidentally creating something like that was the fact that she still seemed to require at least some higher quality materials for creating something amazing like Baobao, who had by no means been cheap to create.

But then again, he had a feeling that those high-quality material requirements didn’t have much to do with the quality or danger of what ended up being created by her and more so seemed to follow her own plans for how whatever she was making had to look.

Speaking of which, since she had created Baobao, she hadn’t made anything especially disruptive and had mostly spent her time in the sect playing around with Baobao and Song Jia, who had managed to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm with Mui’s assistance. The now young woman getting closer to surpassing her grandfather, Elder Song, who was now the vice sect master of the sect.

In a way, the two of them had grown rather close to each other during his absence from the sect and had turned into a rather well-known duo across the sect’s younger generation.

As for why Mui had come to seek him out this time around, he had a feeling that it wasn’t just because she wanted to welcome her master back to the sect. If she wanted to do that, he doubted that she would have dragged Baobao along with her… And Song Jia, who was currently watching Mui enter his cultivation room from a distance with a nervous expression on her face.

Smiling curiously as he internally wondered what Mui wanted to ask about, Xuan Hao found himself unconsciously tilting his head slightly as he glanced over his youngest disciple now standing directly in front of him with a bold smile on her still somewhat chubby face. ”So… Mui, do you have something to say?”

”Master… I… I just saw that you just returned and thought about coming over to welcome you back to the sect… Nothing else…” Hearing what he said, the somewhat bold appearance that seemed ready to face anything throw at it, faltered as a clearly guilty expression appeared on her face. Making it clear to him that she wanted to ask him for something… And from the reaction, whatever she wanted to ask about was clearly not something simple like a few materials for crafting something together with Song Jia like he had originally expected.

Instead… The way she had suddenly begun to avoid his gaze and look down towards the ground made it seem more like she had done something that had angered Elder Song, and she needed his help to get out of trouble.

But… When he had swept through the sect with his divine sense earlier, he hadn’t found anything out of place and Elder Song was busy integrating the group of Formation Masters that had been brought back to the sect by Chu Yang. If something had really ended up happening between Mui and Elder Song, Elder Song would have already informed him about the situation as he already knew that he was back in the sect.

Meaning… Whatever Mui wanted to ask from him either hadn’t affected the sect yet or was about doing something that would undoubtedly affect the sect enough that she needed his help in calming the situation.

”No need worry, Mui, I can see that you want to ask something. Does it perhaps involve Song Jia and Baobao?” Feeling his curiosity growing with each passing second as he attempted to figure out what this little troublemaker wanted from him, Xuan Hao decided to lend her a hand and use his control over the Dao of Space to sweep up the sneaky Song Jia outside and bring her inside his cultivation room next to Mui. Hoping this would make it easier for this little troublemaker or just make Song Jia say it, as it was clear she understood what this entire situation was about.

”Waaah-!? E-Elder…!”

”Ah…” Hearing the somewhat surprised sound of her companion as she was dragged out of her hiding spot right next to her in a clearly panicked state, Mui could not help letting out an equally surprised sound as she felt like hitting her stupid friend who had decided to sneak after her when she went to ask her master.

Even if she was smarter than her when it came to most things, it was clear that this friend of hers was lacking in some areas, as she somehow couldn’t put together the fact that her master would be able to easily notice her with his divine sense no matter how well she attempted to hide herself while attempting to secretly listen in.

But then again, Mui also realized that she herself wouldn’t be able to easily fool her own master, as it was clear that he had long since seen through her and was now staring at her intently while waiting for her to answer the question that had been posed.

”M…Master…!” Building up her courage as she remembered the reason why she had come over to welcome her master back to the sect again, Mui stared intently into her master’s curious eyes as she called out loudly. Drawing not only her master’s attention, but also that of her companion, who hadn’t expected such a loud response. ”It isn’t what you think! I didn’t cause any trouble this time aro- I didn’t cause any trouble; I just wanted to ask master for some help with something…”

”This time…?”

”Aaaah! No, no, that wasn’t what I meant! I wanted to ask master for help with a problem that Baobao has been facing lately and couldn’t find anyone other than master who would be able to help.”

”Baobao?” Hearing that his disciple wanted him to help with something regarding Baobao, Xuan Hao decided to ignore the earlier part where she had accidentally ended up confessing to causing some kind of trouble while he had been gone and instead curiously turned to look at Baobao floating right next to his little disciple’s head.

From a glance, nothing was wrong and Baobao seemed to look no different from when he had last seen it. Making him wonder what it was, his disciple wanted his help with. His first thoughts drifting towards his disciple wanting him to somehow help upgrade Baobao.

After all, if Baobao could be born through a strange fusion of precious spiritual metals and other precious materials gathered by his disciple, she might somehow also be able to upgrade Baobao with enough precious materials in the future, something he would be more than happy to help with, as Baobao did assist the Star Shattering Sect in purifying and refining the spiritual qi inside the Shattered Star Peaks. Increasing the overall quality of the cultivation environment without any real detriments along the way.

”No, master… It isn’t Baobao, but instead Baobao’s home I want you to help with…” Almost seeing through her master’s thoughts, Mui quickly called out to clarify what it was she wanted help with.

”Baobao’s home… The Qi Spring Lake at the Seventh Star Peak? What do you want me to do about the Qi Spring Lake…?” Realizing that this involved the Qi Spring Lake, Xuan Hao began to understand why Mui had come to him for help, though he still had no idea what she wanted him to do.

”The thing is… The place has a lot of people entering and quite a few of the younger disciples tend to try and chase down Baobao for fun when they first enter the Qi Spring Lake. Even though we have tried to stop it, it’s impossible, as when one batch of younger disciples are scolded and told not to annoy Baobao, a new group show up and does the same…”

”So… You informed the elders and had them make a rule not to annoy Baobao?”

”…”

”Mui… Is there… Something you aren’t telling me about this… Situation?”

”N-n-no…?”

”That answer took an awfully long time… So, what is it you want me to do about this situation?” Feeling that this situation was likely far from as simple as Mui had described it, Xuan Hao narrowed his eyes as he looked towards this little disciple of his. Asking just what it was she wanted him to do about this situation.