Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

The question of how the guardian formation of the ancient secret realm had managed to recover even with the clear lack of resources naturally generated throughout the secret realm after it had suffered significant damage from the repeated invasion aside, it didn’t take long before Xuan Hao found himself in the general location of where the residence belonging to the Noble Li Clan was located- or at the very least whatever remained, as all he could see was a crater spanning over a hundred kilometers from one end to the other.

Whatever residence that might have once existed having long since been destroyed in the past.

In the end, the only thing left outside of the crater was the lake that had formed within said crater along with a few smaller settlements that had taken advantage of the lake to establish themselves.

Observing these smaller settlements a bit more closely in hopes of finding anything that might be related to the ancient residence that should have once existed where the crater now existed, one odd thing about these small settlements soon enough became clear and that was the fact that the cultivation of all the inhabitants were far above the normal for the ancient secret realm.

Among them, not even one of them above the age of 20 hadn’t stepped into the Qi Condensation Realm, a feat that could be considered odd even within the outer regions of the Ewaria Continent where spiritual qi was scarce, and cultivation was hard without joining a smaller power and gaining access to cultivation techniques.

This fact was even more absurd considering how devoid of spiritual qi the ancient secret realm was, where even reaching the Fourth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm could be considered a difficult to attain accomplishment.

Because of this, it wasn’t hard to understand why his attention almost immediately shifted towards these smaller settlements situated around the crater lake.

After all, outside of the unusual fact that reaching the Qi Condensation Realm seemed to be simple for the locals around the crater lake, there were also a few who had surpassed the Qi Condensation Realm and broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. One of them even being at the Ninth Pillar of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Standing at the very Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Only a single step away from reaching the Core Formation Realm.

By far, the strongest cultivator following the traditional immortal cultivation path he had encountered inside the ancient secret realm and at the same time also an existence that now had his full attention…

Unaware of the fact that she had just drawn the attention of a figure far beyond her comprehension, the local leader of the settlements felt a shiver run down her spine as a look of confusion soon appeared on her face, ”Huh? Why am I shivering? Is it perhaps cold today?” before she quietly muttered a few quiet words and returned to meditation.

Although she found the sudden shiver running down her spine a bit strange, she didn’t have much time left to breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm before her lifespan ran out and had no intention of wasting her time on something that wasn’t related to her breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm.

For the past decade, she had prepared to break down her foundational pillars and form the core required for reaching the Core Formation Realm, a challenge that she had already seen two of her seniors fail to accomplish before her. Making her delay the potential breakthrough repeatedly so she could focus on strengthening her foundation even more. Not wanting to fail the breakthrough like her seniors had.

Now that her lifespan was about to run out and she couldn’t delay the breakthrough any longer, she had no intention of looking into some strange feeling.

Well… This is interesting…

Having already arrived inside the cultivation chamber of this older woman prepared to challenge the Core Formation Realm, Xuan Hao understood that he wouldn’t be able to get any answers for now, as the older woman had already begun her breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm. Starting to slowly break down her foundational pillars into spiritual qi that began flowing into the illusory outline of a golden core that had formed at the core of her dantian.

Although he had to wait a bit, he didn’t mind, as he could see from a glance that the foundation of this older woman was stable and solid without any flaws. More than enough to ensure a safe breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm-

Hm? What is she doing…?

Or that was at least what he had wanted to think, but at some point, the spiritual qi inside her dantian began growing increasingly turbulent as the illusory core formed inside her dantian began shifting into a writhing mass of flesh that reminded him of the beings created through the Dao of Corruption.

If not for the fact that he didn’t sense the Dao of Corruption from her, he would have believed that she was being forcibly controlled to do what she was doing. After all, it was clear that her goal was to reach the Core Formation Realm, while what she was doing now was no different from ruining whatever chance she might originally have had of reaching the Core Formation Realm.

Perhaps she is using a cultivation manual affected by the Dao of Corruption? Twisting the process of breaking through to the Core Formation Realm into something it isn’t?

Thinking this to himself as he continued quietly observing the older woman as she continued her misguided breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm, Xuan Hao didn’t directly intervene in what was happening as he hoped allowing her to continue would potentially help him get a better understanding of what was happening.

Ptsh~

Unfortunately, as he continued observing her breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm and the strange mass of flesh taking shape inside her dantian, he was disappointed to discover that the older woman wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to bear whatever it was she was trying to form inside her dantian as she directly threw up a large amount of blood followed by the writhing mass of flesh collapsing into a sea of spiritual qi that she quickly attempted to reassemble into the writhing mass of flesh again.

”Calm your mind and follow my guidance if you want to live…” Knowing that she would really end up dying if he didn’t step in at this point, Xuan Hao arrived next to the older woman and inject a small fraction of his spiritual qi into her already collapsing body. Stabilizing it before things got worse before slowly guiding her on the correct path to breaking through to the Core Formation Realm.

”…”

Although she was unable to say anything in response due to her situation, he could still clearly feel the gratitude from the older lady as she quickly absorbed his words and began following his guidance in forming a golden core at the center of her dantian…

Rumble~ Boom!

And thanks to her already strong foundation that had prevented her from dying after failing to break through to the Core Formation Realm during the fist vain attempt following an incorrect path, she managed to successfully reach the Core Formation Realm with his guidance. Her older body rapidly restoring some of the lost youth in the process as her originally elderly appearance shifted into a more refined middle-aged one.

”Thank you senior!” After which, the older lady wasted no time as she got up with a still unstable foundation and bowed to him with a look of both appreciation and respect. Knowing that, without his assistance she would never have been able to break through to the Core Formation Realm.

Only now realizing that the reason why her two seniors had ended up failing their breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm had nothing to do with them having a weak foundation but instead seemed to have something to do with the cultivation manual they had been following.

”No need, I’m just here to ask you a few things and happened to lend a hand when I saw you in trouble. Of course, I hope you will be helpful in answer these questions of mine in return for the little help I provided.”

”Of course, senior! I will do my best to clarify any questions you might have!”

”Great, first of all, I want to know about the cultivation manual you used to breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm…” Hearing the response from the older lady, Xuan Hao could not help smiling to himself as he knew it would be simple for him to get what he wanted from her after not only saving her life but also helping her break through to the Core Formation Realm.

”Here, senior!” And as expected, she didn’t show the slightest bit of hesitation in response to his question and pulled out a small ancient looking booklet before handing it over to him.