Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

The precarious state of the Blue Sea Empire aside, the Star Shattering Sect itself had managed to develop well over the past year, as the demonic cultivators from the Frozen Wastelands had proven trustworthy in not breaking the unspoken agreement between them. Allowing the Star Shattering Sect to not just remain neutral during the recent troubled times but was also allowed to expand its boundaries if it didn’t affect any of the territories that the demonic cultivators were using to attack the Blue Sea Empire. The weaker demonic cultivators that kept attacking the territory of the sect was hardly worth mentioning, as they didn’t really pose much of a problem to the current Star Shattering Sect. More so serving as another way for the sect to train its disciples.

By now, the territory of the Star Shattering Sect had already expanded to the point where it had escaped the Blue Sea Empire’s sphere of influence and started infiltrating that of their neighbors and arch enemies, the Onyx Empire.

Of course, it wasn’t more than a tiny bit of territory outside the Northern Central Region that was hard to notice for a massive empire like the Onyx Empire. Still, given that they weren’t dealing with a situation anywhere near as dire as that of the Blue Sea Empire, it was inevitable that they would start to notice the expanding influence of the Star Shattering Sect and start to potentially see them as a threat like the Blue Sea Empire did.

But… Different from the Blue Sea Empire who had little to no attention to spare for the Star Shattering Sect, the Onyx Empire that only shared a small border with the Frozen Wastelands and wasn’t the main target chosen by the demonic cultivators, would have far more space to maneuver against the Star Shattering Sect.

Even with all that in mind, Elder Song and the rest of the sect’s elders weren’t too worried about something like that happening, as the Onyx Empire seemed to have placed almost all of their available resources towards keeping an eye on the state of the Blue Sea Empire and assist the demonic cultivators with sabotaging them from the inside to further weaken the Blue Sea Empire.

In fact, one of the main reasons why Xuan Gui had managed to be as successful as she was had to do with the Onyx Empire sweeping in to help her carry out her attacks against the Blue Sea Empire. Even lending her a hand in some situations when she was almost caught by the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators from the Blue Sea Empire.

The reason why the Star Shattering Sect knew about this had nothing to do with the expansion of the sect intelligence gathering network reaching all the way into the Onyx Empire, but more so the simple fact that the Onyx Empire didn’t even bother to hide the fact that it was them secretly sabotaging the Blue Sea Empire from behind–No, it might be more accurate to say that they were making full use of the opportunity to directly taunt the Blue Sea Empire from afar.

To them, the encroachment of the demonic cultivators into the Northern Central Region didn’t seem to bother them in the slightest. Instead, they took full advantage of the situation to hit their old enemy while they were already struggling.

The little territory that the Star Shattering Sect had expanded into within some of their vassals was hardly comparable to the territory that they had already lost to demonic cultivators. Not to mention, the Star Shattering Sect didn’t directly invade the different vassals under the Onyx Empire but instead focused on the kingdoms or smaller empires that had already fallen to the demonic cultivators.

Despite that, it was understood that this situation could change along with the state of the Blue Sea Empire. For the Star Shattering Sect, the best-case scenario was for the current situation to drag on. Giving the Star Shattering Sect more time to develop and in turn making it more difficult for powers like the Onyx Empire or the Blue Sea Empire to interfere with the growth of the Star Shattering Sect.

Problem was… It was becoming increasingly clear that the Blue Sea Empire wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer without dedicating serious power and resources into pushing back the demonic cultivators.

Something that would inevitably present a perfect opportunity for major powers like the Onyx Empire to make a move on the Blue Sea Empire that had its resources stretched thin. After all, though the Onyx Empire was the only major power that the Star Shattering Sect knew to be directly interfering with the Blue Sea Empire because they didn’t bother hiding themselves, it was also clear that they weren’t the only ones interested in weakening the Blue Sea Empire.

Strange as it might be for the different major powers within the Northern Central Region to target one of their own when they not only faced threats from an outside force like the demonic cultivators of the Frozen Wastelands, but also the far more united monks of the Western Central Region, the countless cultivation resources gathered by the Blue Sea Empire over the long years since the empires establishment made it worth the risk for many of the major powers within the Northen Central Region.

Not to mention, the Blue Sea Empire, as one of the dominant powers in the Northern Central Region, had made no small number of enemies over the years. One such example being none other than Xuan Gui currently causing chaos within their borders.

Another reason was also the fact that the demonic cultivators weren’t seen as a serious threat by the different major powers within the Northern Central Region, as it had quickly become clear that the demonic cultivators didn’t seem to be capable of breaking through their borders. Only the Blue Sea Empire was seriously struggling in the face of the demonic cultivators.

The reason behind this could be countless, but the main consensus among the different major powers was that the strength of the demonic cultivators hidden within the Frozen Wastelands was weaker than expected and their main goal seemed to be on carving out a space for themselves within the Northern Central Region through the Blue Sea Empire, who happened to share the largest border with the Frozen Wastelands.

Although they knew about the existence of greater powers beyond the demonic cultivators who had appeared so far within the depths of the Frozen Wastelands, they also understood that the empires comparable to the Blue Sea Empire had no lack of powerful cultivators that had yet to join the battle.

In a sense, everyone also hoped that the Blue Sea Empire would be able to act as bait and draw out the powerful demonic cultivators within the Frozen Wastelands. Potentially even having the old ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire at the Land Creation Realm perish together with the Frozen Wastelands Demon King, the Blood Sea Demon King.

Of course, given that everyone else could think about this, the Blue Sea Empire and the ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire could also think about it and knew that everyone was waiting for him to make a move to try and stabilize the Blue Sea Empire.

Because of this, even as the demonic cultivators continued to threaten the Blue Sea Empire’s borders, he couldn’t make a move and was essentially forced to stay in the capital. Knowing that the second he left, those old enemies of the Blue Sea Empire would begin their attempts at breaking through the formation guarding the capital city.

If it was just one Land Creation Realm cultivator targeting the capital city, it might have been fine, but the ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire understood very well that it wouldn’t just be his old enemy from the Onyx Empire targeting his capital the second he stepped outside.

In the end, to buy more time for the Blue Sea Empire and to try and figure out a solution to this problem he found himself facing as the Blue Sea Empire faced threats from both invading demonic cultivators and enemies lurking in the shadows, the ancestor of the Blue Sea Empire was forced to have the Late Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator at the border step in to stabilize the situation.

Although the demonic cultivators would undoubtedly respond with an equally powerful demonic cultivator and in turn increase the scale of the conflict, the little time that the Late Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator had to act freely would be able to ensure the stability of the Blue Sea Empire for a bit longer. Giving the old ancestor more time to figure out a proper solution for the problem his empire faced.

But… Different from this old ancestor’s original predictions when giving the command to escalate the conflict to the next level to buy himself more time, the demonic cultivators had long since been prepared. Stopping the cultivator at the Late Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm before he could kill a single demonic cultivator…