Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Following her determined departure from her home after informing her father, brother and mother about her decision, Lu Dongli officially began her journey through the world as a wandering cultivator, though at a far higher level compared to most other wandering cultivators. Starting at the Nascent Soul Realm that was considered high around the small kingdoms she had called home in the past, but as she continued venturing further away from home, her strength at the Nascent Soul Realm became decreasingly impressive to the wandering cultivators she ran into. Until she reached a point where she regularly encountered wandering cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm or even above that.

To anyone else, this kind of situation might have been discouraging, but to her, it was exactly what she wanted, as stronger wandering cultivators meant that there would be more opportunities for her to advance further along the path of cultivation and had a greater hope of ridding herself of the coldness that had by now turned into a biting cold that stabbed into every part of her body. Making even a single movement painful to the point where she would have long broken-down screaming in pain had she not grown used to it over the years.

The only negative about her current situation was that although her strength had reached the Ninth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm during her journey to this far stronger part of the world, her time had almost run out with no sign of her reaching the Half-Step Domain Lord Realm, let alone the Domain Lord Realm.

Her journey, having not only been far too late to make a difference, but also ensured that she didn’t have any chance to reach the Domain Lord Realm before the freezing coldness that had manifested into a thin blue mist spreading through her meridians all the way into her dantian, consumed her.

If there was anything positive about her current state, it would be that her strength had undergone another qualitive strength after the thin blue mist saturated her body and dantian alike. Allowing her to wield a terrifying freezing power that had even scared off someone at the Soul Ascension Realm that she had found out about being the realm after the Domain Lord Realm.

Problem being she was slowly losing her ability to move properly thanks to said freezing blue mist saturating her body. Making the power increase in question rather meaningless in the end as there wasn’t any precious opportunity for her to fight for with this powerful strength.

Still… Even with this, she fought through the pain coursing through her body and continued searching for a way forward. Even as her left foot froze to ice and broke off, she continued to search for any little opportunity that might lead her to reach the Domain Lord Realm and once again pushing back the freezing blue mist that now saturated her entire body.

Losing a few limbs along the way was nothing, as they could always be recovered again.

The pain was nothing, she had grown used to it and was more than capable of handling it after so many years.

The one thing she regretted was the fact that she hadn’t spent more time with her family before her condition reached the point that even her father at the Core Formation Realm became unable to approach her without risking his own life.

As her body froze completely rooted on the spot in some god forsaken place she had come to in search of another opportunity that might be helpful to her cultivation, she wondered if it might have been better if she spent the last few years with her family.

But… She soon discovered that turning into an ice sculpture was far from the end, as though her body had already frozen and was dead, her soul wasn’t.

Having reached the Nascent Soul Realm, she had gained the basic ability to survive without her physical body and although she had thought leaving behind her body might give her another chance in life in the past, she had long since discovered that it was impossible for her to escape that freezing blue mist.

Now, as her body was lost to the icy blue mist, her soul was left to face it on its own, a painful experience she had only felt once before when she had attempted leaving behind her body to escape the icy blue mist, a soul piercing pain beyond anything imaginable.

Yet… Even with that terrifying pain, she didn’t react much outside of the initial painful tremor when her soul came into direct contact with the icy blue mist. Instead, her mind remained clear and pure as she just found herself observing how her soul slowly began to freeze. The process was neither slow nor fast, as minutes turned into hours and hours to days and days to months.

Before long, what should have been a fast end became a month-long struggle, as what little consciousness remained within her already frozen soul continued fighting back even when death was inevitable. Not because she knew she could win this battle with enough time, but instead because she deep down hoped for a miracle.

Be it going through sudden enlightenment that suddenly elevated her cultivation realm like the stories she had heard from other wandering cultivators or a passing immortal who felt pity for her and decided to help solve the problem within her body. Anything she would gladly accept without complaints.

Unfortunately, fortune didn’t seem to favor her in the slightest, as after holding on for a grand total of 10 months 23 days 34 minutes and 53 seconds, her soul froze completely alongside the rest of her body, that had by no been enshrined as some mystical goddess of ice inside the small temple of a local fishing village that had found her frozen body a few months earlier.

She might have been more than capable of unleashing the last bit of her divine sense to kill or punish these mortals for doing something like that to her body, but she found herself unwilling to do so. Thinking deep down that it might be a good way for her to live on after death in the memories of these mortals, as at least in their eyes, she did managed to ascend to immortality and didn’t have to worry about this icy blue mist that no longer permeated around her like it had before her body had frozen solid.

”Time to wake up.”

But as everything seemed to have ended, Lu Dongli suddenly seemed to hear a strange unfamiliar voice echoing out in her head and the next second, she found herself back inside the old carriage she had used to ride in the past before becoming a cultivator. Looking out the window at the shiny armor of one of her old escort guards that should have long since passed away from old age.

”Young lady? Are you alright?”

But as she jumped back at the strange change in situation, a voice she hadn’t heard for many years suddenly called out to her, the voice of her maid servant who had unfortunately ended up passing away while attempting to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

”Yaoyao!”

”Huh!? Young lady!? What’s wrong!?”

And without the slightest bit of hesitation, she threw herself into the embrace of her old maid servant while crying wildly before falling asleep. Confusing the maid servant in question deeply, as she had no idea what had just happened to her young lady. Looking out the window one second before throwing herself into her arms while crying before falling asleep.

The entire situation was confusing to say the least, but Yaoyao decided not to disturb her master’s sleep for now and instead decided to wait until she woke up to ask about what had happened, though part of her had a feeling that it might be because the journey had taken longer than originally anticipated.

…

”She is passable, though it will be challenging for her to reach the Profound Immortal Realm before that physique of hers ends up killing her… Maybe I should have her focus on reaching the Celestial Immortal Realm instead? After all, it is a bit easier to reach compared to the Profound Immortal Realm.”

Watching everything play up from above, Xuan Hao could not help silently muttering his evaluation of the young lady to himself and a potential future cultivation path for her. Everything she had just experienced was an illusion he had created to test not only her pain tolerance, but also character.

After all, outside of the pain she had to endure, he also presented her with several opportunities to take an easier path by adopting more demonic cultivation methods like refining others to increase cultivation, along with different encounters she experienced and personal loss.

The illusion itself had lasted no more than a few seconds, but to Lu Dongli who had experienced it, she had lived through a total of 107 years though the little one didn’t seem to entirely comprehend the time she had spent inside the illusion and ended up mistaking how long had passed towards the end. An example being that she had left her family and traveled the world for over forty years since reaching the Eighth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and struggled to reach the Ninth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm before finally succumbing to a fate that had been set in stone from the beginning.

In the end, through everything she had experienced, Xuan Hao had become certain that she was more than stable enough for him to push onto the path of cultivation and towards the Celestial Immortal Realm or Profound Immortal Realm if she had the time.

If she didn’t, he would have simply made sure she forgot those experiences she had gone through in the illusion. Allowing her to live a normal life without ever stepping onto the path of cultivation.

Now that he had already decided she would become a seventh disciple of his, he had no plans of erasing what she had gone through inside the illusion, as it would be helpful for her future cultivation.

Not to mention, the entire situation did give him some plans about arranging some kind of illusion formation with a similar effect for the disciples of the sect to hone their minds, though he had a feeling doing something like that would be far from simple.