Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Remaining still at the edge of the Blue Sea Empire’s territory for a few minutes trying to see if he could grasp the large formation at play through the remaining fragments of it that had been shattered by the demonic cultivators when they reverted the territory of the Blue Sea Empire back to the original state that the northern region should have been in, Xuan Hao realized that although his cultivation had broken through to the Land Creation Realm and his comprehension of the Dao of Formations had already stepped into the Perfection Realm, he had no way to grasp onto more than the few fragments of the shattered section of the formation still lingering within the borders of the Blue Sea Empire.

Not only did this show just how beyond his current understanding this formation that seemingly covered the entire northern region of the continent for all he knew, but it also showed him that the demonic cultivators of the Frozen Wastelands possessed methods that far exceeded that of the Land Creation Realm level of strength that they had displayed so far in their battle with the Blue Sea Empire. After all, only power that transcended the Profound Immortal Realm would be capable of interfering and even directly shattering part of such an enormous formation that someone like himself, who exceeded most other Land Creation Realm cultivators in terms of divine sense, couldn’t even sense, let alone attack.

Because of this, Xuan Hao felt reluctant to fall out with the demonic cultivators from the Frozen Wastelands even though his strength had broken through to the Land Creation Realm. Understanding full well that the strength that had been shown by the demonic cultivators so far was nowhere near what they were truly capable of utilizing.

Even with this, he didn’t intend to back down and still intended to show off the strength of the Star Shattering Sect.

After all, though the demonic cultivators clearly possessed strength that exceeded the Profound Immortal Realm, it was also clear to him that the demonic cultivators were unwilling to utilize this power directly. Even going as far as sacrificing several demonic cultivators with strength comparable to the Land Creation Realm during their battle with the Blue Sea Empire.

The reason for this was unknown, but he guessed that it might have something to do with the demonic cultivators not wanting to draw unwanted attention to the Northern Central Region. After all, while the fall of the Blue Sea Empire was newsworthy and would undoubtedly reach the Southern Central Region, it wouldn’t cause any reaction from anyone besides those directly engaged in trade with the Blue Sea Empire.

All because the power of those involved was limited to the Land Creation Realm and was nowhere near strong enough to pose any threat to the major powers from the Southern Central Region who had ancestors at the Star Creation Realm behind them.

In fact, the only thing that might be of interest to those major powers would be the sword formation that had been utilized by the Blue Sea Empire’s Ancestor to kill the Blood Sea Demon King, but considering how the Blood Sea Demon King had managed to survive the attack, it was bound to not cause to much of a stir outside of some who would voice their admiration for the Blood Sea King’s survival methods.

Overall, the demonic cultivators weren’t seen as a real threat in any way and those from the Southern Central Region were bound to leave it alone, as they likely expected the different major powers within the Northern Central Region to inevitably team up and work together to drive out the demonic cultivators from the Northern Central Region before carving up the territory of the Blue Sea Empire for themselves.

Xuan Hao understood this as well after learning more about the situation of the Southern Central Region over the past few years. Knowing that the different major powers from the Southern Central Region rarely ever bothered to interfere with any of the other three central regions unless someone above the Land Creation Realm emerged.

In such cases, there would almost always be some kind of reaction from the major powers within the Southern Central Region that inevitably ended up with said new Star Creation Realm power being essentially forced to relocate to the Southern Central Region or mysteriously disappearing.

The only exception to this being ancient hidden sects, who were directly ignored major powers from the Southern Central Region even if the existence of someone at the Star Creation Realm emerged from them.

Although the reason for this was not known, Xuan Hao guessed that it might have to do with Star Creation Realm cultivators from these ancient hidden sects being capable of utilizing certain defensive mechanisms that had long since been put in place within their sects in the ancient past that exceeded the Profound Immortal Realm… And while those major powers from the Southern Central Region might want to force those ancient hidden sects into the Southern Central Region or outright destroy them, they simply didn’t have the ability to do so without incurring terrifying losses in the process.

Speaking of ancient hidden sects, outside the Star Shattering Sect that had taken on the identity of an ancient hidden sect, there was also another ancient hidden sect within the Northern Central Region.

The main difference between this ancient hidden sect and the Star Shattering Sect being the simple fact that this ancient hidden sect was a true ancient hidden sect that had existed since forever within the Northern Central Region and had already carved up a small territory for themselves without expanding beyond a territory that was around twice the size of the Star Shattering Sect’s current territory if the territory of the fallen Sky Empire was included.

Although still a large territory compared to a small empire like the Sky Empire, it was essentially nonexistent in the eyes of a major power the size of the Blue Sea Empire.

In fact, it was also because of the size of this ancient hidden sect that already existed within the Northern Central Region that the expansion of the Star Shattering Sect hadn’t been questioned in the slightest by any of the major powers native to the Northern Central Region, as they all expected the Star Shattering Sect to expand to a size similar to the ancient hidden sect that already existed within the boundaries of the Northern Central Region.

As for why Xuan Hao thought about this specific ancient hidden sect now of all times… That was because just as he had been about to step into the now snow-covered Blue Sea Empire, he found a member of said hidden ancient sect appearing in front of him–or more precisely, appearing below him. Recognizing the other party with ease, as the sect robes of this hidden ancient sect had long since become common knowledge and was among the first things he had learnt about after taking his first step into the Northern Central Region in the past.

Originally, seeing someone from the only other hidden ancient sect that existed within the Northern Central Region, Xuan Hao’s first thought had been that the other party might have been waiting for him to inform him about something or maybe even stop him from interfering in the chaotic situation of the Blue Sea Empire.

But after a simple glance, he became certain that the other party hadn’t come for that reason, as the person below was far too weak to even notice his presence in the first place. Having only reached the first of the four stages of the Profound Immortal Realm, the Breaking Dawn Realm.

Not just that, but only the Middle stage of the Breaking Dawn Realm. Far from the strength he expected someone from another hidden ancient sect send out to potentially confront him to possess.

Instead, after discreetly observing the other party from above, it became clear that the goal of this person wasn’t him, but instead the formation that had been shattered by the demonic cultivators and in turn made the northern region go back to its original state.

The reason why the other party had ended up at the border between the territory of the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire being that the formation fragments lingering behind around there were far denser and easier to sense compared to elsewhere.

Still… For someone in the Breaking Dawn Realm to sense those formation fragments was impressive. Showing that the other party had likely surpassed him when it came to comprehension of the Dao of Formations and likely also possessed some kind of artifact capable of making it easier to sense the lingering formation fragment.

After all, though a profound understanding of the Dao of Formations did make it easier to sense those lingering formation fragments, it would still be impossible to sense them without a powerful enough divine sense to rely on. Ones understanding of the Dao of Formations only lowered this requirement.