Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Following the city lord’s breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm, it was clear that escaping became far simpler, as outside of a large-scale attack that directly altered the surrounding environment and caused a deep ravine stretching for tens of thousands of meters to form in the process, there wasn’t much else around to indicate the struggle continued after this breakthrough to the Land Creation Realm. Making it clear that the city lord should have managed to grab those still alive and get away safely in the end. Unless some stronger force jumped in to intercept them.

Still, though he had now lost the trail he had been following, it wasn’t too difficult to continue following the path that the city lord had once been escaping in with how he had essentially been escaping in a single direction the entire time.

Of course, there was always a chance that this was just done to confuse the enemy and lead them in a wrong direction, but given the state of things, he highly doubted that. If anything, he had a feeling that the direction the city lord had escaped in should be the location of one of the first-tier cities that he hadn’t yet had the chance of running into.

After all, from the strength displayed by this city lord of a second-tier city, it was clear that the strength of a first-tier city reached the Land Creation Realm, with formation that potentially even had the strength to fend off someone at the Star Creation Realm.

Faced with this kind of power, there shouldn’t be many within this small world that had the strength to take on this kind of power. Only the lord of the devil forest he needed to kill off being one that might have enough strength to break that kind of powerful city.

Not because the lord of the devil forest had strength exceeding the Land Creation Realm, but more so because the lord of a devil forest was bound to have countless demon beasts beneath them. Demon beasts they would be able to draw on to continuously attack the guardian formation until it ultimately broke under a drawn-out assault from all directions.

The question now left on his mind was now whether the city that the city lord had escaped to had managed to survive the terrifying wave of destruction that had swept through any of the cities he had encountered so far or perished along with the first-tier city that should have been able to provide a safe place to rest and recover.

Filled with a sense of growing anticipation as he continued forward with this question in mind, he was soon left disappointed by what he found, as what should have once been a vast city that home to millions laid in ruins before him. The towering guardian formation in ruins. Countless battle scars and several large indents in the ground where the attacking demon beasts should have fallen during their attack of the city, a few bones that hadn’t been dragged off following the end of the battle allowing him to understand that the attackers had truly been demon beasts. Having only been able to suspect it earlier because of how this was the first time he encountered the remnants of any demon beast close to the destroyed cities.

As for searching through the ruins to find something of value... He gave up after doing a cursory sweep with his divine sense. Finding nothing by bones of the dead inside the city with everything of value long since having been consumed by the local demon beast or taken away by other cultivators who might have passed through the city in the past.

The one positive thing about everything being the fact that he clearly spotted what should have once been a road of some kind connected to the city ruins leading into the distance. Giving him hope of finding either the devil forest he was searching for or another city that would hopefully be intact enough for him to find information on the devil forest.

After all, interested as he was in the local cultivators, his goal for searching through their cities had always been to find out more about the devil forest and the lord that he needed to kill to clear this floor of the tower. Not wanting to recklessly approach this lord without any information. Knowing that the local cultivators should be knowledgeable on this lord.

Not to mention, he wasn’t exactly losing anything by seeking out these local cultivator cities that had been destroyed, as he didn’t really have any information on where the devil forest was in the first place and could only blindly search around for it...

Hm? Someone is using the old road!?

And as he began following the road with little expectations of finding anything of value at the end of the old barely visible road carving through the inner wilderness teeming with deadly demon beasts that would leave even a powerful Dao Seed Realm cultivator shivering in fear, Xuan Hao found himself freezing up for a brief instant as a group of people emerged at the very edge of his divine sense.

Not just a few cultivators, but an entire group of them. Numbering a little over two hundred. Forming a sizeable caravan that cut through the inner wilderness without any fear. Fear that should have been present on the faces of these cultivators given how the strongest among them had only barely stepped in the Early Stage of the Dao Seed Realm. Far from strong enough to contend with some of the demon beasts near the caravan that had already reached the Late Stage of the Dao Seed Realm.

However, contrary to the one-sided slaughter he had expected to play out once this group got too close to one of these powerful demon beasts, they just ignored the group of cultivators entirely and continued with their day like nothing had happened.

To say this kind of situation was confusing would be an understatement, as the fact that the demon beasts couldn’t see them, and he couldn’t even understand what had happened made it very clear that these local cultivators had some trick up their sleeves.

Rumble~

Something that ultimately caused him to shift all his attention towards these local cultivators. Using his powerful divine sense to directly scan every bit of detail he might have originally missed. In the process, picking up on a few minute shifts in spiritual qi centered on the Dao Seed Realm cultivator.

Pushing a bit deeper following those faint shifts in spiritual qi to uncover that the Dao Seed Realm cultivator was wearing some kind of unique artifact in the shape of a necklace that had covered the entire group with a thin barrier that had made them invisible to the surrounding demon beasts. Allowing them to move through the inner wilderness with ease.

”W-What is happening!?”

”This- Did a powerful demon beast pass through and discover us!?”

”No! I’m too young to die!”

”Shut it! The barrier is still up; we might not have been noticed!”

Of course, with his divine sense being used so blatantly, it was discovered by the group of local cultivators who all began panicking when his divine sense swept through them.

Not that he cared that much about the panic this little group was feeling, with those amongst them with higher cultivation having essentially been frozen in fear, as compared to the few with weaker cultivation, those with higher cultivation. Especially the one at the Dao Seed Realm. Could more clearly sense the strength behind this divine sense.

A level of strength that caused the leader of this little caravan to collapse and pass out in a moment of extreme fear. Leaving Xuan Hao, who saw all this happening from above, speechless. Never having expected that a Dao Seed Realm cultivator could pass out from fear alone.

Well... One learns something new every day...

Shaking his head a bit as he thought this to himself, he decided it was for the best to take this opportunity to ask these local cultivators a few questions about this small world. Knowing that there was little chance any of them would dare give him false information in their current state.

And so, over the following few minutes, he quickly managed to learn about the overall structure of this small world and the lord of the devil forest he needed to take out to successfully complete the task that had been assigned to him this time around.

Learning that the location of the devil forest wasn’t difficult to find. Located at the western edge of the world.

At the same time also learning a bit about the local cultivators that could still be found throughout the small world and their endless battle against the lord of the devil forest that had already lasted for thousands of years according to them, with the ruined cities he had encountered so far being the casualties of the last great war between the two sides that had taken place a few hundred years ago.