Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Feeling his own curiosity towards what had happened to the ancient jade pendant growing following Li Feng’s breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm, Xuan Hao once again found himself silently observing Li Feng as he began cultivating for the first time since his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Sensing almost immediately that the ancient jade pendant continued absorbing the spiritual qi that Li Feng gathered. The main difference compared to before where every single bit of spiritual qi absorbed by Li Feng was taken away by the ancient jade pendant, this time it was only around 70%.

Of course, though it was only 70%, it was still more than enough to heavily impact Li Feng’s cultivation speed. Bringing his original cultivation speed that was superior to that of a normal genius down to what could at most be considered a bit better than average. Still, it was far better than what he had to go through before, where every bit of spiritual qi he absorbed went to the ancient jade pendant. A fact that Li Feng was still unaware of even though he seemed to have gained some control over the ancient jade pendant after his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

How he knew this was rather simple, as he just listened to what Li Feng said to himself.

Although the little young master had been cautious and hidden his cultivation base after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, he had still exclaimed rather loudly upon discovering the abilities of the ancient jade pendant. Giving him a chance to learn that outside of the ability to conceal his cultivation base, the jade pendant also had the ability to project a shield at a critical moment and allow him to escape through teleportation, though those two active abilities could only be used once.

As for the strength of the defensive barrier and the range of the emergency teleportation function… Li Feng had no idea, though from the fact that the jade pendant was at least a Saint Grade Artifact, Xuan Hao guessed that the range of the teleportation function might be on par with his own, while the defensive barrier ranged anywhere between the Breaking Dawn Realm to the Star Creation Realm in strength. The exact strength depended on the quality of the Saint Grade Artifact itself.

No matter what level it was, Xuan Hao didn’t have any intention of trying to forcibly seize the ancient jade pendant.

Not just because he feared a potential retaliation from the artifact itself, but because he already saw Li Feng as a future disciple of his. Even if he didn’t end up becoming his disciple, he at least planned to have him join the sect, as there was no way he would leave behind such a talented figure to wander on his own. Especially considering that this one seemed to have an ungodly level of luck to pick up an ownerless Saint Grade Artifact. Much less the fact that the Saint Grade Artifact in question had already bound to him without any resistance.

After all, without binding with the artifact, there would have been no way for him to utilize it with his current strength, barely having stepped into the Foundation Establishment Realm.

But outside of learning about the abilities of this artifact, he also managed to learn about the origin of the ancient jade pendant that had been shrouded in mystery before. Learning that the jade pendant had been handed down to Li Feng by his mother before she had mysteriously disappeared. Making him wonder if there might be more to this mother of Li Feng than what was known about her throughout the Li Clan.

Unfortunately, even if he wanted to investigate her, it had been years since she had disappeared and there were no clues for him to follow in a similar way to how he had ended up finding the ancient secret realm not too long ago.

All he knew was that she had left the Li Clan one day, never to be seen again. Not that he cared that much about finding the mysterious mother of Li Feng, as his focus wasn’t her but Li Feng.

”Hm? What is he up to this time around?”

But as he was about to officially start testing the little young master, he suddenly found the person in question making his way out of the Li Can almost the second he had stabilized his cultivation realm at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Normally, he would have thought that this was just a normal outing to test out his strength, as he hadn’t had the opportunity to truly use his new strength inside the Li Clan after having concealed it, but after Li Feng crossed the borders of what could be considered the territory of the Li Clan, he realized that Li Feng didn’t go out to test his strength. Instead, it quickly became clear that he was heading somewhere far from the Li Clan itself.

As for where he was heading and for what reason? Xuan Hao had no idea and could only silently follow behind Li Feng, as the other party hadn’t uttered a single word about where he was going nor what he was up to.

However, as he continued following Li Feng who had set out on his own, his expression soon turned a bit weird, as his goal soon enough became obvious.

And that place was none other than a branch that had recently been established by the Star Shattering Sect. Not the one that his former fiancé had ended up going to together with the disciple that had saved her, but instead another newer branch that had only just been established a few weeks before his arrival.

From the small conversations Li Feng had with a few other youths heading out towards the branch sect like he was, it became clear that his intention was to participate in the disciple recruitment and attempt to join the Star Shattering Sect, something that he had apparently ended up deciding on after he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

All things considered, Xuan Hao could understand the reasoning of Li Feng, as he was still considered decently talented even within the Star Shattering Sect for having reached the Foundation Establishment Realm at such a young age.

If he wanted to go far in the future, the best option was indeed to join the Star Shattering Sect.

Not informing his family about leaving might have to do with him not wanting to reveal that he had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, as there was no way that they would allow him to set off on his own while only being at the Peak of the Qi Condensation Realm.

After all, though the Star Shattering Sect wasn’t too far away, it wasn’t exactly close to the Li Clan’s territory either and would take at least a few weeks to reach with Li Feng’s current strength… And the journey wouldn’t be safe, as there were both bandits and demon beasts to watch out for along the way.

One positive Xuan Hao could see when it came to the current situation was the fact that he didn’t need to test Li Feng himself, as the journey itself would be more than enough to serve as a proper test for the little young master who very obviously didn’t have any experience travelling on his own.

Still… He didn’t really want to spend the next few weeks silently following behind Li Feng while observing him from the shadows.

Spending a few days to keep an eye on him due to the ancient jade pendant was already more than long enough for him, as he ultimately decided to leave a wisp of his divine sense on him instead, while he instead turned his focus towards trying to find a path to the ancient secret realm that was now surrounded by a chaotic spatial storm.

One idea he had was about the ancient jade pendant being a key of some sort that could be used to reach the ancient secret realm, something that only became more likely after he learnt about the spatial abilities of the ancient jade pendant.

Unfortunately, though he wanted to test this hypothesis he didn’t have any way to get his hands on the ancient jade pendant safely. Meaning that his only course of action would be for him to continue searching through the Li Clan to see if he could find anything that might help him reach the ancient secret realm.

Of course, he didn’t intend to search through their library or archives again but instead turned his attention towards their treasury where he might find another ancient artifact similar to the ancient jade pendant.

Although unlikely, with the fact that the Li Clan had once been a branch of an ancient cultivation clan confirmed by now, there was still a good chance that he might find a forgotten artifact in some corner of the Li Clan’s treasury. After all, not all artifacts could be wielded without sufficient strength like the jade pendant could.