Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Finding Pei Yang at the Alchemy Hall in the process of using the alchemy artifacts from the ancient alchemy sect ruins, Xuan Hao decided against interrupting him and instead went to find Qing Yi and Chun Hua who were also at the Alchemy Hall working on furthering their own understanding of the Dao of Alchemy through the different recipes and other books on alchemy that could be found within the Alchemy Hall. Although… Different from what the rest of the disciples studying the Dao of Alchemy were doing, Qing Yi and Chun Hua were also using the Dao of Alchemy to further their own understanding of different Daos like the Dao of Life, Nature and Fire. Daos already closely related to the Dao of Alchemy that could be used in combination with alchemy to further improve the quality of potions and pills.

He had thought about doing something similar to the two of them and also use his own Dao of Fire, Life and Wood during the process of deepening his understanding of the Dao of Alchemy, but different from what he had expected, it was harder to do than he had originally anticipated.

It was possible, but it did inevitably also slow down his comprehension of the Dao of Alchemy, so he ultimately decided against it after a few tests while waiting Pei Yang to finish using the alchemy artifacts. Instead, he decided to use the time to lend a hand to his two disciples and use his understanding of the Dao of Alchemy to guide the two of them. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to make that much progress in the few hours it would take for Pei Yang to finish the pills he was making with the alchemy artifacts from the ancient alchemy sect ruins.

By the time Pei Yang finished using the five alchemy artifacts, he had successfully managed to make a batch of Saint Grade Pills with minimal assistance from the artifacts. Showcasing that he was extremely close to reaching the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Alchemy and reaching the Saint Realm. Far closer than Xuan Hao himself, who believed that he still had at least another few months of dedicated practice time with the alchemy artifacts from the ancient alchemy sect ruins before he stood a chance at breaking through to the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Alchemy.

Because of this. Instead of trying to breakthrough to the Perfection Realm himself, he instead decided to help Pei Yang as much as possible in his breakthrough to the Saint Realm. Knowing that with his assistance after he reached the Saint Realm and the alchemy artifacts, he should be able to reach the Perfection Realm in the Dao of Alchemy far faster than trying to break through to the realm on his own.

After all, one normally progressed far faster with the assistance of someone senior to help. Not to mention, he didn’t have anything pressing that he needed to reach the Land Creation Realm for. So, staying at the Late Stage of the Sea Formation Realm for another few months wouldn’t hurt anything beyond his growing desire to breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm.

If anything, the only real reason he could think of that might require him to break through to the Land Creation Realm was the increasingly dire situation of the Blue Sea Empire, as over the past year of his secluded cultivation, the Blue Sea Empire had entirely lost control of the different kingdoms that stood between them and the Frozen Wastelands to the demonic cultivators. Meaning that they were now directly facing off against the demonic cultivators from the Frozen Wastelands at their borders.

During his secluded cultivation, he had also clearly sensed the increasingly uneasy movement of the cultivator at the Late Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm from the Blue Sea Empire.

Although he hadn’t made a move against the demonic cultivators personally, it was clear that the patience of the Blue Sea Empire was starting to waver in the face of the demonic cultivators continued assault.

After all, different from the demonic cultivators attacking the Star Shattering Sect’s territory that were limited in strength, with the strongest one faced by the Star Shattering Sect’s elders and disciples having reached the Soul Ascension Realm in terms of strength. The demonic cultivators faced by the Blue Sea Empire weren’t limited in strength like those faced by the Star Shattering Sect and they had to face the full might of an endless tide of demonic cultivators, something that was impossible for the Blue Sea Empire to withstand.

Unfortunately for the Blue Sea Empire, they had ended up becoming the main target of the demonic cultivators to break into the Northern Central Region and carve out a territory of their own in the central region of the continent.

The reason for this was still unknown and a bit bewildering to Xuan Hao, as the Blue Sea Empire was far from the weakest among the different major powers the existed in the Northern Central Region. Instead, it could be considered one of the strongest major powers in the region.

For the demonic cultivators to target the Blue Sea Empire even knowing this instead of the weaker major powers that didn’t have the support of an ancestor at the Land Creation Realm was bewildering to say the least and made not just Xuan Hao, but also Elder Song, Feng Chen and the rest of the sect’s upper echelons suspicious that there was some kind of special reason behind the demonic cultivators targeting the Blue Sea Empire.

However, so far, they haven’t been able to find out the reason why even after drawing on the increasingly wide information network of the sect. For now, the only thing they could do was observe from the side and keep an eye on the situation while waiting for something to happen.

After all, though the Blue Sea Empire was managing to hold their own against the demonic cultivators so far, with Xuan Gui still causing chaos in the back. Disrupting their supply lines and damaging weak points, the time that the Blue Sea Empire could hold off against the demonic cultivators was rapidly shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At some point it would reach a breaking point, something that should be close to happening with the movement of the cultivator at the Late Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm from the Blue Sea Empire.

The main reason why the Blue Sea Empire had been able to hold on for as long as they had was mainly because of the fact that they not only had dozens of smaller kingdoms and empires to block the advance of the demonic cultivators, but also because their borders had been strengthened even further with the time that they had managed to buy for themselves with those smaller kingdoms and empires taking the brunt of the first attacks from the demonic cultivators.

Now that they had run out of space to retreat, they had to face the demonic cultivators head-on, something that was incredibly deadly and at the same time also something that the Blue Sea Empire wouldn’t be able to do for an extended period of time.

Well… Not entirely, as they would be able to face them head-on for a long time, but that would require them to shrink their territory and retreat to more heavily defended locations deeper in their territory, something that the Blue Sea Empire was unwilling to do, as it wouldn’t just shrink their territory, but would also be a clear sign of weakness to the rest of the major powers on the Northern part of the continent. Especially the Onyx Empire that was eyeing the Blue Sea Empire with increasing interest as they continued being pushed by the demonic cultivators

Outside of just the threat of the demonic cultivators that was out in the open, the Blue Sea Empire also had to guard against more hidden enemies like the Onyx Empire or even the Star Shattering Sect that they had subtly started viewing as a potential threat after the sect began its expansion into the old Sky Empire, something that would soon enough cause the Star Shattering Sect to border the Blue Sea Empire far more directly than the Onyx Empire who at least had the neutral territory separating it from the borders of the Blue Sea Empire.

Of course, the obvious threats to the Blue Sea Empire aside, there was also the damage to the empire’s reputation should they shrink their territory to better protect themselves in the face of the demonic cultivators.

Though this damage to the reputation might not matter much when it came to the different local major powers also from the Northern Region of the continent, it did have an impact on its relationships with major powers from regions outside the Northern Region. Especially those from the Southern Central Region, who were difficult to establish a relationship with in the first place as a major power not from the Southern Central Region.