Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Faced with someone from the Explorer Union causing trouble, Xuan Hao found himself somewhat lost regarding what to do about the situation. After all, dealing with the Explorer Union was far from simple and not really something he could do even with his current strength, as the Explorer Union itself was far more difficult to deal with compared to a major power like the Blue Sea Empire due to the single fact that the Explorer Union had a foothold throughout the entirety of the continent… And while the overall strength of the Explorer Union remained a mystery to this day, it wasn’t hard to guess that it should be far above that of a normal major power.

After all, without overwhelming strength, there was no way that the Explorer Union would have been able to spread throughout the entire continent and remain without anyone attempting to disrupt the monopoly they held when it came to trade of cultivation resources.

Of course, it was not the entire Explorer Union that the Star Shattering Sect was facing now, but instead a senior member from the Explorer Union who seemingly wanted to make full use of his position inside the Explorer Union to pressure the Star Shattering Sect to allow him into the Shattered Star Peaks to search for some rumors he claimed existed somewhere on the Shattered Star Peaks.

Even if part of Xuan Hao wanted to just allow him inside the Shattered Star Peaks and isolate him entirely with the assistance of the chaotic qi formation once inside so he wouldn’t be able to find whatever it was he was looking for, he also understood that allowing someone from the Explorer Union to just waltz into what was essentially the most important location for the Star Shattering Sect would negatively impact the reputation of the sect. Especially so for a major power like the Blue Sea Empire who had already clashed with the Explorer Union in the past and as a result booted them entirely from their territory.

To a major power like the Blue Sea Empire, the Star Shattering Sect allowing the Explorer Union to walk over them would be a clear sign that the sect was either, far weaker than they might have originally thought. Not daring to go against the Explorer Union or in a situation where they couldn’t afford to have the Explorer Union cut off trade.

In either case, it would be a clear weakness that a major power like the Blue Sea Empire would be able to take advantage of and would also result in a new round of tests from the different major powers in the Northern Central Region who would want to get a better idea of the Star Shattering Sect’s strength.

Even if the situation with the demonic cultivators from the Frozen Wastelands had grown worse over the past few years, it still hadn’t reached a point where these major powers had to dedicate all their strength towards dealing with the demonic cultivators.

In fact, the only major power currently teetering on the brink was the Blue Sea Empire, but so far, it was still in a state of deliberation regarding whether to send out someone above the Early Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm and escalate the level of those involved in the battle.

Because of all this, the only real option for the Star Shattering Sect was to refuse the request of the senior member from the Explorer Union to ensure that the sect didn’t get negatively impacted in the short term.

As for the future lack of cultivation resources… That was something that would have had to be solved over the next five or so years before it turned into a real problem for the sect.

Of course, it was not to say Xuan Hao didn’t meet up with the senior member from the Explorer Union to try and convince the other party to resume trade like normal, but… The other party was completely unreasonable and didn’t budge. Insisting on entering the Shattered Star Peaks to explore some ruins that might or might not exist.

Although it could be the ruins that did indeed exist on the Fifth Star Peak that the Heavenly Dragon Temple from the Western Region had shown a special interest in. Even trying to secretly sneak inside the sect in the past. After subtly prodding the senior member from the Explorer Union, it became clear that the ruins on the Fifth Star Peak were not what he had come looking for.

Instead, as the conversation continued, it became abundantly clear to Xuan Hao and Elder Song that the ruins mentioned by the senior member of the Explorer Union was just an excuse for him to enter the Shattered Star Peaks.

Why this senior member of the Explorer Union wanted to enter the Shattered Star Peaks, neither of them understood. The only guess they had was that the Explorer Union might be testing the Star Shattering Sect in a similar manner as those major powers from the Northen Central Region had done in the past.

Only… The testing from the side of the Explorer Union was far more forceful compared to those major powers from the Northern Central Region, as they essentially just made a request to force their way inside the Star Shattering Sect and if the sect refused, trade was cut off.

In a sense, this kind of test was far more direct, but would at the same time also be far more accurate, as if the Star Shattering Sect agreed, the Explorer Union would be able to confirm that the sect was weaker than it had let on and had a severe lack of cultivation resources. Maybe even guessing that its emergence from hiding as an ancient hidden sect had to do with the sect’s resources running low. Forcing it out of hiding to ensure it could continue operating normally.

A situation like this happened several times in the past and several of the ancient hidden sects that had emerged into the world did so just for that reason alone, while those capable of continuing to remain hidden often did so.

If the Star Shattering Sect could continue to operate normally even without the Explorer Union and the massive flow of cultivation resources that now flowed between the Star Shattering Sect and the Explorer Union, the Star Shattering Sect would most likely be judged to be an ancient hidden sect that wasn’t emerging because it was running out of cultivation resources. Instead, it would likely be judged as being one that had emerged due to a lack of talent and a need to recruit from outside.

Given how the Star Shattering Sect had expanded, it wasn’t too difficult for the Explorer Union to see it being a situation like that.

All this considered, there wasn’t much Xuan Hao could do to help Elder Song with the current situation outside of just telling him to not agree with the oddball from the Explorer Union.

As for the reason why, he was still regarded as an oddball even after understanding what goals he had in the requests he made… That was mainly because of his insistence on entering the Shattered Star Peaks being far beyond what could be considered normal. Even reaching the point where Xuan Hao partly thought that his earlier guess about the situation might have been wrong.

But… With all that said and done, the situation that had become somewhat unstable inside the Star Shattering Sect because of the emergence of this senior member from the Explorer Union stabilized for now. The only difference in how the sect operated being that it was now digging into the resources that had been saved up over the years by Elder Song, something that wasn’t noticeable to anyone other than Elder Song and the few who oversaw the sect’s resources alongside him.

For Xuan Hao, it was a slight break from his dedicated cultivation and at the same time also a chance for hm to stretch his legs and see how well the sect had developed over the past seven years.

After all, even if he had kept up with his disciples during these seven years and helped them in their cultivation, he hadn’t really kept up with the overall development of the Star Shattering Sect. Only really having seen the thriving Bright Stone City once when Bai Ning had dragged him there because some wandering cultivator had auctioned off a large number of rare and difficult to find spiritual metals.

Anything beyond the Shattered Star Peaks was outside of what he had learnt about, though he did hear a bit about the expansion of the sect’s territory into the old territory of the Sky Empire, but outside of that, he knew close to nothing about the overall development of the sect’s territory. Having remained almost entirely focused on increasing his own strength, something that had gone well, as his strength was now already nearing the Peak of the Sea Formation Realm.