Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Unaware that their master wasn’t coming to pick them up, Qing Yi and Chun Hua ended up spending the next few hours exploring their surroundings while also picking up a few spiritual herbs they hadn’t encountered before in the process before they grew bored of waiting around and decided to leave the part of the forest they had ended up landing in. Feeling confident that their master would be able to easily track them down if he was really coming to pick them up. Not to mention, over the past few hours, they had also managed to get a good idea about the strength of the demon beast that inhabited the forest. Concluding that there weren’t any real threats around with the strongest demon beast they had run into so far only barely having reached the Core Formation Realm.

The one thing that did still somewhat worry the two of them was other cultivators that they might end up running into, but then again, standing around in the same spot waiting for a master who might have already concluded they weren’t in danger and thus left them to fend for themselves, wasn’t exactly the best of ideas. Especially if they wanted to get back to the sect.

So, exploring beyond the small area where they had landed became a priority and it didn’t take the two more than a few minutes before they found signs of life a short distance from where they had landed in the form of a large road cutting straight through the forest leading into the unknown.

But to Chun Hua and Qing Yi, the existence of a road like this made them overjoyed, as it meant that the cultivators they were going to encounter following this road wouldn’t be that strong. After all, once one reached the Domain Lord Realm, one would generally travel through flight and unless they had landed in the middle of some kind of trial ground, it was a clear indication of the general strength of the cultivators living nearby or traveling through the forest.

In case it was some kind of trail ground for a large power to test their young, there was nothing much they could do but pray for their master to show up and save them.

As for whatever formation might guard this kind of trail ground? Both were certain that whatever formation was around wouldn’t be able to do much in the face of their master’s spatial manipulation- even if said spatial manipulation was executed by a small fraction of his power left dormant inside them.

No matter what, the only thing for them to do unless they wanted to continue waiting around was to follow the path through the forest. Hoping it would take them out of the forest instead of directly into some senior cultivator in charge of guarding a trail ground.

...

”When is the caravan from the Yellow Peak Region coming? I have been waiting for ages for them to resupply the yellow thunder rocks. Damn those monks from the west, always takes ages for them to ship more of those rocks over when they run out...”

”Don’t worry, they should be getting here in another few days. The journey itself isn’t exactly dangerous, with only a few demon beasts at the Core Formation Realm and Foundation Establishment Realm along the way. Guarded by four Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, there is no chance of anything happening to the caravan. Not to mention, the flying rock gang is behind them. Nobody would dare recklessly robbing something from them.”

”I hope so... I really need those yellow thunder rocks to finish up the artifact I have been working on before I can earn enough to secure a seat on the flying boat going to the Southern Central Region...”

”Haha, good luck with that, those seats are expensive even for Domain Lord Realm cultivators like us. Not to mention, though the Southern Central Region offers far better possibilities for future advancement, it is also far deadlier!”

”True, but I don’t really see any other hope in ever reaching the Soul Ascension Realm or beyond it by staying here...”

As Qing Yi and Chun Hua made their way out of the forest following the path, the first thing they encountered was a pair of wandering cultivators at the Domain Lord Realm lingering around the entrance to the forest chatting with each other as one of them was clearly waiting anxiously for a caravan filled with a new supply of yellow thunder rocks to show up.

In the distance, what looked like a small town was barely visible, though from a simple glance, it also became clear that this town was not one under any major power and instead some kind of free town that had been established by wandering cultivators who wanted somewhere to settle down for a quieter life when they became older and didn’t have the chance to attach themselves to a great power.

The telltale sign of this being the case was the fact that the town in the distance didn’t have one formation guarding the entire town but was instead a hotchpot mix of countless smaller formations guarding different parts of the town with some parts left completely unguarded.

This kind of messy setup could only really be found in this kind of free town that was entirely governed by wandering cultivators without any outside influence.

Of course, if one power within the town became large enough in future and took control of the town or several factions banded together to establish a more coherent control over the town, the town would be able to establish itself as a proper minor power and maybe even grown into a sizable free city.

Although... It was clear from a glance that this free town was still some distance away from archiving this and could still be seen as being in the chaotic formation stage of a free town where countless different smaller factions coexisted without anyone clearly on the top.

”Huh? Someone is here!? Haha, finally I’m- Hm? You two aren’t part of the caravan from the Yellow Peak Region?” Seeing the two emerging from the forest, the one who had been clamoring on about getting his hands on yellow thunder rocks and earning enough to set off for the Southern Central Region was the first to notice Chun Hua and Qing Yi, but at the same time also soon showed a look of clear disappointment upon realizing that the two weren’t part of the caravan he had been standing around waiting for.

”Got this old man excited for no reason...” And with this realization, the excited man settled back down on the ground with a dispirited look on his face while his friend gave the two of them a somewhat apologetic look that the two accepted before continuing forward toward the town in the distance.

Although they hadn’t been able to learn much from the earlier chatter between the two, they had at least learnt that the town standing before them was somewhere between the Southern Central Region and the Western Central Region. Probably closer to the Western Central Region’s side.

Problem was, they had no idea where on the continent they were and would still need to learn more through the wandering cultivators from the small town up ahead.

Luckily, this kind of town that saw a constant stream of wandering cultivators entering and leaving was easy to enter and didn’t even require any form of entry fee that could be found in more well-established free cities and towns.

Something that in turn also meant that there was no guarantee of safety inside the town itself, something Chun Hua and Qing Yi weren’t especially worried about given how the strongest person inside the town was only at the Soul Ascension Realm from what they could sense.

The one unexpected thing was the fact that the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators present within the town far exceeded the number they had initial expected to run into, as a cursory glance revealed a dozen people at the Soul Ascension Realm, with the total number of such cultivators within the town itself likely numbering in the hundreds.

But they didn’t have to walk around for long before they found out why, as it turned out a disciple of a major power from the Southern Central Region had set up a spirit boat service within the town and several other nearby towns. Allowing wandering cultivators, who normally wouldn’t be able to brave the dangers that existed between the Southern Central Region and the other three central regions, to cross over into the Southern Central Region for a price.

Of course, the spiritual boat didn’t stop by every day but came once every ten years. The reason so many Soul Ascension Realm cultivators had gathered was because the spirit boat was set to arrive in another three days. Making it understandable why that Domain Lord Realm cultivator was waiting so anxiously close to the entrance of the forest. Hoping he would be able to get the last bit of material he needed to finish the artifact he had been working on and use said artifact to get enough spirit stones to afford the ticket price for the spirit boat in time.

At the same time, they also learnt that the general location of the town was somewhere where the Southern, Western and Northern Central Region intersected.

This unique location connecting three different central regions was also one of the main reasons why a town had been established and it drew the attention of a senior disciple from a major power from the Southern Central Region who saw an easy opportunity to earn a lot of spirit stones from the wandering cultivators gathered there with little to no effort on his side. Only needing to make a quick trip outside once every ten years to harvest a small mountain of spirit stones from these wandering cultivators that had worked hard for years on end to gather enough to afford the expensive ticket price required to board his spirit boat and enter the Southern Central Region.

Enough that this senior disciple had already become known for being a wealthy person amongst his fellow disciples.