Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Having thrown out the jade slip containing information on the endless ocean to Xuan Hao, the old woman and her guard didn’t linger around for long, as it was clear that they still had things to do and couldn’t waste too much time talking with him. One of the main reasons why the older woman had decided to directly hand over the jade slip with information on the endless ocean instead of just explaining the situation herself.

From what little information he managed to gather before the two of them left, it seemed like their main goal of coming to the Ewaria Continent wasn’t just about repairing the four ancient dao seals but instead had something to do with helping a certain power in the southern central region that had directly requested the assistance of powerful formation masters. The older woman being one of these powerful formation master, who decided to take the opportunity to repair the four ancient dao seal before she made her way towards the southern central region.

Although neither of the two said anything about the power that had requested their assistance, it wasn’t too difficult for Xuan Hao to guess.

On the current Ewaria Continent, the only major powers he could think about that might have this kind of power would be the nine core faiths located at the true core of the continent.

As for why they suddenly required the assistance of so many powerful formation masters, even inviting outsiders to help them? He had no clue and had a feeling that it was best not to get involved with his current strength. For now, he just felt grateful that the actions of those nine core faiths had ended up inexplicitly solving one of the Star Shattering Sect’s immediate problems. Buying the sect another fifty to a hundred years of time to peacefully develop.

Even if the sudden movements of the nine core faiths that had remained quiet at the core of the continent would be something concerning for the future, it wasn’t exactly something for him to be concerned about for now. After all, the Star Shattering Sect wasn’t anywhere near the Southern Central Region, being located all the way at the edge of the Northern Central Region.

On the other hand, the ones who would truly have to worry about this kind of development would be the different major powers from the Southern Central Region, as they would now have to worry about these nine major powers that stood at the top of the continent potentially expanding their influence beyond the little territory at the core of the continent that they had been occupying so far.

In a way, this kind of situation could even be considered beneficial to the Star Shattering Sect’s future development, as the different powerful forces in the Southern Central Region fighting with each other would make it easier for the Star Shattering Sect to continue expanding without drawing too much unwanted attention.

Of course, he had no clue what those nine core faiths were planning, but he could always dream, as he understood full well that the Star Shattering Sect would end up being targeted by them if it continued to grow its territory and influence.

The main reason why the Star Shattering Sect had managed to avoid being targeted so far was mainly due to its status as an ancient hidden sect and avoided expanding into the Northern Core Region.

After all, there was a reason why no sects the size of the Star Shattering Sect existed outside the few other ancient hidden sects that were mainly concentrated in the Southern Core Region of the continent and that was the fact that an emerging sect would either end up being targeted by the different empires or religious organizations around it.

The reason for this was still a mystery to Xuan Hao, but he could at the very least tell that it didn’t have much to do with the different empires having something against sects but instead seemed to stem from some kind of order that had been issued from the different major religious organizations located at the Southern Central Region.

Although he couldn’t tell whether this also involved the nine core faiths, he had a feeling that they had to be involved, as only they would have the influence to ensure this kind of continent-wide order was being followed by the different major powers.

In a way, because of knowledge about the existence of such an order, the Star Shattering Sect had to remain an ancient hidden sect not just because it served as a way to solidify the sect’s power and status in the region, but also because it involved the very survival of the sect.

No matter how strong he was, Xuan Hao was under no delusion that he had the strength to face off against the different major powers on the continent if they combined their strength to attack him and the Star Shattering Sect.

To some extent, this was also the reason why the Star Shattering Sect hadn’t yet expanded into the Northern Core Region, as doing so would undoubtedly draw unwanted attention and scrutiny.

But… If the Southern Central Region ended up being drawn into the chaos that had been spreading throughout the rest of the continent with the attack of the demonic cultivators wanting to enter and establish themselves in the core region, it would give the Star Shattering Sect a chance to expand into the Northern Core Region without attracting much attention…

Throwing this to the back of his mind for now, Xuan Hao soon enough found himself focusing his attention back on the jade slip that had been thrown to him with information on the endless ocean.

Whoosh~

And without any hesitation, he extended his divine sense towards the jade slip before slipping inside. Finding himself faced with far more information than he had originally expected to have been hidden inside the seemingly small jade slip.

Not only was there a large amount of information on the endless ocean and different dangerous areas around the Ewaria Continent, but there was also a far more detailed map of the endless ocean surrounding the continent that highlighted the different islands located close to the Ewaria Continent. Containing information on many of these islands, detailing whether they were home to some reclusive power that had left the continent, had been overtaken by some powerful demon beast or aquatic monster, or were simply uninhabited.

The map together with information on the dangers surrounding the Ewaria Continent gave him more than enough confidence to explore the ocean surrounding the continent without any worries in the future, but maybe more importantly, it would prove extremely useful to the sect- or more specifically Elder Song who had been floating the idea of expanding the sect into the border regions of the continent.

Not just because this map would help the sect avoid dangerous regions where powerful sea monsters resided, but more importantly it would help the sect locate areas where rare cultivation resources not found on the continent could be found. Making expanding into the border region of the continent devoid of useful resources, something done not just to avoid attention from more powerful major powers, but also something that would benefit the sect.

Outside of information on the area around the Ewaria Continent, the jade slip also contained a path leading all the way from the Ewaria Continent to the Fallen Immortal Archipelago. Listing all the dangers along the way, while also containing a clear recommendation that it was best to avoid attempting to travel this route unless one reached the Profound Immortal Realm or Celestial Immortal Realm.

Not just because of the dangers involved in the sea regions one had to pass through, but also from the cultivators one might encounter along the way.

The different sea regions containing several smaller powers that had managed to establish themselves across several smaller islands with their strength varying wildly depending. From the Profound Immortal Realm or Celestial Immortal Realm to the Nascent Soul Realm.

Although there wasn’t much information beyond that, Xuan Hao could clearly sense that cultivation was far from simple outside a major continent like the Ewaria Continent and likely relied on exploring the endless ocean searching for opportunities.

As for what these opportunities were… It could be anything, from an ancient sect that had ended up on the bottom of the sea to some rare resource that would be helpful in rapidly improving one’s cultivation or even directly improving the chances of surviving a tribulation like the cloud tribulation for the Nascent Soul Realm or the Immortal Soul Tribulation for those in the Soul Ascension Realm.

From the information inside the jade slip, it was clear that there were far more cultivation resources hidden in the depths of the endless ocean compared to a major continent like the Ewaria Continent, but at the same time that also came with an equal increase in danger, as the endless ocean was the domain of aquatic demon beast or sea monsters.