Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Realizing that he might end up having to deal with being related to the Dao of Corruption, Xuan Hao’s originally relaxed state became a bit more tense. Understanding that it would be difficult for him to deal with anything related to the Dao of Corruption that might have been left behind by the battle that had taken place in the past, as the fact that it remained meant the guardian formation of the ancient secret realm had been unable to do anything about it.

Still, the fact that he hadn’t seen anything related to the Dao of Corruption so far at the very least indicated that it should still be in a sealed state that the historical texts implied. Problem was, he had a feeling that the place where such a seal might be located had to be somewhere that the Noble Li Clan that had been in control of the ancient secret realm in the past, had occupied.

In other words, it was very likely he would end up encountering the seal in question during his search for the residence of the Noble Li Clan and find himself having to potentially pass through an area inhabited by beings related to the Dao of Corruption.

The only thing he could rely on in that kind of situation would be his own comprehension of the Dao of Corruption, as it should have some ability to conceal him in case it was needed…

Feeling his thoughts becoming increasingly troubled thinking about the Dao of Corruption that might have already infected the ancient secret realm, Xuan Hao didn’t feel like staying within the library of the small empire or rather dynasty any longer and directly left in the direction of one of the four locations that he had determined could be hiding the ancient residence of the Noble Li Clan.

Among them, his first choice was the place called the Death Marsh, as it was the closest location to his current location while at the same time also having several rumors about ancient ruins surrounding it.

As for the danger that had resulted in the ominous name of the place… He didn’t worry too much, as it didn’t seem like anything that could pose a threat to him with his current strength. Only being a problem for those around the Qi Condensation Realm and maybe the Foundation Establishment Realm towards the deeper parts of the Death Marsh.

Speaking of the Death Marsh, the city that Li Feng and his friends had been heading towards happened to be right next to it. Meaning that there was a good chance that they would end up entering the Death Marsh in the future.

After all, though the Death Marsh was a dangerous place, it was also filled with opportunities that caused martial artist to risk their life exploring the place in search of these opportunities… And Li Feng and his friend happened to have come to the ancient secret realm in search of opportunities to further increase their strength in hope of having an easier time entering the branch under the Star Shattering Sect after returning from the ancient secret realm.

As for how they got back from the ancient secret realm… He guessed that they would be able to reestablish the same spatial passage that had originally been used to enter the ancient secret realm in the first place.

In fact, he himself also intended to use this spatial passage to leave the ancient secret realm in the future, as there wasn’t really any other way for him to get back with the spatial storm raging outside the ancient secret realm making it impossible for him to leave the place on his own.

Of course, he could always find another spatial passage to leave, but doing so was uncertain and didn’t guarantee that he would end up somewhere safe. Especially having learnt the history of the ancient secret realm, he felt cautious about recklessly stepping through any unknown spatial passage as he had no idea what he might end up encountering on the other side.

A best-case scenario might be running into another concealment formation like the one he had encountered below the border city or activating an ancient formation disc that had been forgotten in some unknown place or picked up by a weaker cultivator who didn’t know how to use it, while a worse-case scenario would be ending up in another secret realm or mystic realm that had completely fallen to the Dao of Corruption.

For this reason, he had also made sure to leave behind a small warning formation around the location that he had entered the ancient secret realm through, so he would know the when Li Feng and the others planned to leave the ancient secret realm, as he couldn’t exactly tell the other party’s exact location with his divine sense weakened to the Nascent Soul Realm…

Whoosh~

Arriving at the edge of the Death Marsh as he thought about this, Xuan Hao also found his gaze shifting towards the small city not too far away from his current location where he soon enough spotted Li Feng and his group of friends already in conversation with the local city lord. Learning about the situation of the world and the unique cultivation path known as martial arts or just body refining.

Although it was clear that there was little a small city lord barely comparable to the Second Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm knew about the wider world, it was clear from the frown on the faces of everyone that he did know a bit about the realms that existed beyond his own.

Although, the information in question only seemed to have reached a level to make the rest of the youths cautious. Not Li Feng, who had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. Meaning it was likely they had learnt about the Martial Arts Master Realm but not the Martial Arts Grandmaster Realm, let alone the Martial Arts Lord Realm.

Although this was expected given the overall location of the city itself was at the very edge of the dynasty whose capital he had just visited, it wouldn’t be long before Li Feng learnt that the ancient secret realm was far deadlier than he might have originally predicted, a thought that left Xuan Hao himself rather interested in seeing how he would end up handling the situation.

”Huh? He… Is interested in the body refining path…?”

But just as he was about to shift his attention away from the group of youths still eager to explore the ancient secret realm looking for opportunities, he discovered that Li Feng, who had originally just silently listened as another youth had taken the lead in the conversation with the local city lord, began to follow the simple cultivation technique that the city lord had handed him.

Not showing the slightest bit of hesitation as he began exploring the martial arts path with great interest. Passing through the Martial Arts Disciple Realm in a single step before starting the process of blood refining that took place in the Martial Arts Warrior Realm.

Although this didn’t conflict with his traditional immortal cultivation and only served to strengthen his physical body and foundation, there would come a point where one would have to choose between the two upon reaching the Nascent Soul Realm or the Martial Arts Emperor Realm.

And given that he wanted to have Li Feng join the sect even if he didn’t end up taking him on as a personal disciple, Xuan Hao honestly didn’t want Li Feng to walk down the uncertain path that was body refining. After all, he had no idea if he would truly be able to find information on the realms that came after the Martial Arts Emperor Realm within the ancient secret realm.

Even if he did, it likely wouldn’t be comparable to the traditional cultivation inheritance that currently existed within the Star Shattering Sect.

Of course, worry aside, he didn’t intend to step forward and stop Li Feng from learning about the body refining path and training along said path, as it would still take him a long time to reach the Martial Arts Emperor Realm given that it was ultimately still a realm comparable to the Nascent Soul Realm and couldn’t just be reached in a single step without any prior foundation.

In fact, from what he had learnt about the Martial Arts Emperor Realm so far, it might be harder for someone to breakthrough to the Martial Arts Emperor Realm compared to the Nascent Soul Realm as the cultivation speed of a martial artist or body cultivator couldn’t be accelerated in the same way with traditional immortal cultivation.

The only real path to accelerating the cultivation speed of a body cultivator being through special pills that strengthened the body or spiritual treasures that did something similar and even then, the birth of both the martial will and martial soul didn’t seem like they would be easy to accomplish without a strong enough foundation, comprehension and a powerful enough willpower.