Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

”Just a little bit more and I should be able to reach the Middle Stage of the Martial King Realm!” Unaware of the potential danger he was about to face, one of the Martial Arts King Realm cultivator ground his teeth in pain as the spiritual entity or ghost in front of him slowly lost its strength after weeks of struggle. Following which his soul began strengthening alongside his body as the bottleneck that had kept his martial will stuck was forcefully broken through with the final attack from the spiritual entity.

The elevation in strength instantly filled the somewhat older man with satisfaction, as his struggle over the past few weeks had proven to bear fruits. Allowing him to break through to the Middle Stage of the Martial Arts King Realm.

Still, it wasn’t without risk, as he full well understood that the spiritual entities within the Dread Woods were terrifying and couldn’t be underestimated. One wrong move and he would end up dead, his soul corroded away to never enter the cycle of reincarnation.

Calming down from his initial excitement as he thought about this, he couldn’t help shifting his attention towards the figure sitting not too far away from him facing a spiritual entity far stronger than the one he had faced.

This person was an old friend of his that he had entered the dread woods alongside so they could watch over each other before facing their own challenges in hopefully stimulating their souls and in turn the growth of their martial will.

The main difference between the two of them being that while he was only at the Early Stage of the Martial Arts King Realm trying to break through to the Middle Stage of the Martial Arts King Realm, this friend of his had already reached the Late Stage of the Martial Arts King Realm and was attempting to breakthrough to the Peak of the Martial Arts King Realm… And as a result, he also had to face a far stronger spiritual entity to properly stimulate his martial will and strengthen his soul.

Normally, this would be fine, but as he looked over towards this friend of his, it didn’t take long to discover that the spiritual entity attacking his friend was the one winning, as his friend was already struggling to hold on.

From being excited following his breakthrough to the Middle Stage of the Martial Arts King Realm, he almost instantaneously became worried for his friend.

Problem was, as he tried reaching out to lend a hand, he discovered to his dismay that he was far too weak to have any effect on the battle taking place. His strength still severely depleted after his breakthrough to the Middle Stage of the Martial Arts King Realm.

Even worse, it looked like his friend wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer, let alone long enough for him to recover and properly stabilize his cultivation base.

Whoosh~

”Huh? Who are you!?” And it was at this exact moment that Xuan Hao found himself landing on the ground a short distance away from the two Martial Arts King Realm body cultivators, causing a surprised sound to escape the lips of the one struggling to figure out how to save his old friend before he cautiously called out.

Although he didn’t recognize Xuan Hao nor had he seen when or how he had appeared, the fact that he could appear within the depths of the dread woods was a clear sign that he was at least someone at the Martial Arts King Realm.

He could in a sense be someone at the Martial Arts Lord Realm who had managed to somehow stumble their way into the depths of the dread woods through sheer luck, but given how casual he appeared, it didn’t look like that would be the case.

”Xuan Hao, a member or rather elder of the Star Shattering Sect. What about you? And do you need a hand with that friend of yours?” Not bothering to hide his identity as there wouldn’t be any way that the local knew about him nor his sect, Xuan Hao casually introduced himself before motioning towards the struggling older man about to be swallowed up by one of the spiritual entities.

”Xuan Hao? Star Shattering Sect…?” Pausing for a bit as he tried to remember if he had heard about him or the Star Shattering Sect before, the painful groan of his friend suddenly brought him back to the situation at hand. ”Ah! Yes, if you can help, I would be grateful. The name is Shen Yue. From the Shen Clan.” Not showing any hesitation as returned the introduction while accepting the help.

Not because he trusted Xuan Hao, a stranger who had appeared out of nowhere that he had never heard about before belonging to a sect he had also never heard about before. Instead, it was because his current state didn’t allow him to fight back in case the other party had any hostile intentions, something that was difficult to hide as his presence was still chaotic after his breakthrough.

If Xuan Hao had any hostile intentions, he would have already attacked them in an ambush and wouldn’t have bothered to step forward to introduce himself in the first place.

”Shen Yue was it; do you want me to weaken it for your friend to deal with or just kill it?” Seeing the almost desperate expression on the face of Shen Yue as he looked more towards his struggling friend than the stranger who had suddenly emerged, Xuan Hao could not help feeling that this fellow was a bit too trusting.

”Weaken… Kill? You… You can weaken it without killing it…?” Seemingly struggling to comprehend what he had just heard, Shen Yue tilted his head in confusion as he asked. An understandable reaction considering that weakening a spiritual entity without killing it would be impossible for someone in the Martial Arts King Realm to accomplish, as it required a degree of control over the soul and related soul powers that was impossible for most Nascent Soul Realm cultivators to archive.

Whoosh~

Knowing that seeing was believing and always having the ability to kill off the spiritual entity later, Xuan Hao decided to demonstrate instead of explaining it. Sending out a small pulse of spiritual qi that locked on to the spiritual entity before cutting off close to half of it without killing it. Significantly weakening the spiritual entity in the process to the point that the Martial Arts King Realm body cultivator who had been struggling and was about to break managed to regain the upper hand in the battle with the spiritual entity and looked like he was about to overwhelm it at any moment.

”This!” Seeing the terrifying display of soul power, Shen Yue could only exclaim in surprise as he understood what this kind of terrifying control over the soul signified. The Martial Arts Emperor Realm.

Only someone who had reached the Martial Arts Emperor Realm would be capable of that kind of terrifying soul control and attack!

”S-Senior-” From initial shock and surprise at this realization, Shen Yue’s expression became one of awe and respect. Barely able to get a few words out as he looked nothing like the powerful senior figure he was.

”…”

Although he had expected this to some extent, he was still a bit taken aback by the sudden shift in attitude from Shen Yue, but he wouldn’t complain about it, as this would make it far easier for him to learn more about the ancient secret realm from him later.

After all, though he could always visit his Shen Clan and search through their ancient records, a senior figure standing at the peak of the ancient secret realm would undoubtedly have a wealth of information at his disposal that couldn’t be found be simply looking through books and ancient records of the past.

Boom~!

But before any of that, he first had to ensure the safety of his friend, as it was clear that the other party had decided to take the opportunity that had been given to him to push through the bottleneck with the last bit of pressure offered by the weakened spiritual entity before it was destroyed, something that would have been impossible before, as said spiritual entity would have been able to make use of this breakthrough to kill and devourer him.

Luckily, though he said he wanted to watch over the other party while he broke through, it was clear that no assistance was needed, as the breakthrough finished up smoothly before the person in question quickly stabilized his cultivation base enough to move from his originally stationary state. ”Thank you for the help senior.” Not wasting a single second as he stood up and deeply bowed in the direction of Xuan Hao. Understanding that it would have been impossible for him to successfully break through and survive the spiritual entity without his assistance.

Even if he hadn’t said a word during the breakthrough, he had still heard and felt everything that had happened.