Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Knowing that he would have to find some way to deal with the problem of securing a consistent flow of cultivation resources for the sect without having to rely on an external power like the Explorer Union, Xuan Hao inevitably turned his attention towards the now close to completed main sect quest from the system. Silently hoping that the world stone from the reward or the still hidden rewards would be able to assist the sect in overcoming this problem without being forced to rapidly expand into the Northern Core Region that would inevitably end up with them having to face off against the Blue Sea Empire in a struggle for resource rich locations.

[Main Sect Quest: First Steps towards Becoming a Major Power (I)] [Description: The sect has entered a state of rapid growth and is about to finally step onto the main stage of the Ewaria Continent. Help the sect reach the requirements to become a major power on the Ewaria Continent.] [Core Formation Realm Disciples: 13.532/10.000 (Complete)] [Nascent Soul Realm Disciples: 117/100 (Complete)] [Domain Lord Realm Disciples: 12/10 (Complete)] [Soul Ascension Realm Elders: 97/100] [Dao Seed Realm Elders: 10/10 (Complete)] [Profound Immortal Realm Ancestor: 1/1 (Complete)] [Reward: World Stone (Immortal), Chaotic Qi Formation Upgrade, ???] [Note: Does not count host as part of the requirements] Overall, the state of the quest had progressed well over the past seven years, with several of the core members of the sect that had been in the Earlier Stages or Middle Stages of the Domain Lord Realm in the past breaking through to the Soul Ascension Realm. Only needing another three Soul Ascension Realm Elders for the quest to be completed, something that Xuan Hao was looking forward to, while it also made him wonder if a second main sect quest would be released immediately after the first was completed.

So far, the one who looked like the most likely to reach the Soul Ascension Realm was none other than Elder Song, as even though he had seemingly been left behind by the rest of the elders before reaching the Domain Lord Realm. After he broke through to the Domain Lord Realm, his cultivation speed increased along with his understanding of the Dao of Order. Allowing his comprehension of the Dao of Order to almost reach the Elementary Realm. Needing only a single push to breakthrough. Placing him above even the few above him already standing at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm.

This terrifying comprehension of the Dao of Order didn’t come from nowhere, as it seemed to have been fueled by the recent changes, he had implemented throughout the sect to ensure it ran smoothly along with extra tempering from having to deal with whatever chaotic mess Mui ended up causing.

In the end, this had allowed him to go all the way from the Third Stage of the Domain Lord Realm seven years ago, all the way up to the Eighth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm… And this was while he was spending most of his time focused on managing the sect, with little time spent on actual cultivation.

Although… Because of his comprehension of the Dao of Order, he could still increase his comprehension during this time. Allowing his comprehension of the Dao to soar far above his peers who mostly remained locked away in secluded meditation cultivating.

That aside, because of how close he was to completing the main sect quest and knowing that the sect would be able to operate normally for another five or six years with the current cultivation resources that had been saved up over the years, Xuan Hao decided to first wait for the main sect quest to get completed before deciding on what to do next.

Of course, he didn’t just return to secluded meditation and continued striving towards reaching the Peak of the Sea Formation Realm. Instead, he decided to personally step in and help those remaining three elders needed to complete the main sect quest break through to the Soul Ascension Realm.

The reason why he didn’t consider having them or even Elder Song attempt breaking through to the Dao Domain Lord Realm was not just because the people involved didn’t want to take the risk of going through the Dao Domain Lord Realm, but also because there had already been a few elders who had attempted to reach the Dao Domain Lord Realm… And while some did succeed, there was no lack of those who failed and unfortunately didn’t make it.

After all, surpassing the Domain Lord Realm while still being in the Domain Lord Realm was inherently difficult to accomplish, while at the same time also being dangerous and if one did fail to reach the Dao Domain Lord Realm, one would end up attracting the entirety of the Immortal Soul Tribulation at the same time.

This had not been known to Xuan Hao nor anyone else from the Star Shattering Sect before, but now it was widely known throughout the sect that failure to step into the Dao Domain Lord Realm from the Domain Lord Realm would result in such deadly consequences.

In the end, this knowledge on the Dao Domain Lord Realm had come with the death of one of the sect’s stronger elders already close to reaching the Soul Ascension Realm and feeling bold enough to attempt reaching the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

The loss of this elder was a hard pill to swallow but helped highlight the danger of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, becoming the main reason why most of the sect’s elders ultimately ended up deciding to follow the normal route of the Soul Ascension Realm instead of risking their lives trying to reach the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

Of course, even with one person perishing, there would always be others who felt confident in their own strength and wanted to take the more difficult yet rewarding path, as another 12 elders had attempted to break through to the Dao Domain Lord Realm even after knowing the danger involved.

In the end, two thirds of these overconfident elders had ended up perishing under the Immortal Soul Tribulation, while the remaining third or four elders in total had managed to successfully break through to the Dao Domain Lord. All of them following the same path as his oldest disciple, Chu Yang, the singular path, as the myriad path was found to be far more difficult to follow because it required deep understanding of multiple Daos instead of a single Dao.

But… Successful as these four elders were in breaking through to the Dao Domain Lord Realm, Xuan Hao discovered to his dismay that neither of them counted towards the sect quest. Only Soul Ascension Realm Elders counted. Meaning that he could already have completed the main sect quest if those four had chosen to break through to the Soul Ascension Realm instead or even if the eight that had ended up dying decided to break through to the Soul Ascension Realm instead of attempting to reach the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

Devastating as all of this was, Xuan Hao could only silently sigh to himself as he soon enough left Elder Song to manage the situation regarding the one from the Explorer Union while he went back to the Seventh Star Peak to help the remaining three elders break through to the Soul Ascension Realm.

As for why he didn’t drag Elder Song along to teach him as well… The reason was simple; he didn’t have the slightest bit of understanding when it came to the Dao of Order and couldn’t be of much assistance for Elder Song.

The only way he could be of any assistance to someone in the Domain Lord Realm was if he had a deeper understanding of the Dao that they had comprehended and use that deeper understanding to help guide them.

Normally, this was simple given just how many different Daos he had comprehended. Especially over the past seven years, where he had comprehended several new Daos to strengthen his foundation and make continuous expansion of his spiritual sea possible.

Teaching most elders was fine, as he had reached the Elementary Realm in close to a dozen common Daos at this point, but for special cases like Elder Song who had comprehended unique Daos like the Dao of Order that was no less difficult to comprehend than the Dao of Space, it was close to impossible for him to provide any useful guidance. At most he would be able to help him get a better understanding of the Domain Lord Realm itself and the Soul Ascension Realm that came after, but… Already at the Eighth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, Elder Song had already learnt what he could about the Domain Lord Realm from him.

The only real way to help him out at this point was finding some unique opportunity related to the Dao of Order, improve his own understanding of the Dao of Order or the Domain Lord Realm or finding some unique treasures. Outside of that, it would be best to just leave someone like Elder Song to himself and allow him to progress on his own…