Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Having used up most of the celestial coins he had left on him to buy all kinds of information that would be helpful for the future development of the Star Shattering Sect after it was handed over to someone competent like Elder Song, Xuan Hao didn't waste any more time lingering around the mystic realm and began to make his way back to the sect.

Although he had wanted to pay a visit to the demon beasts lurking around the tenth celestial gate to get an idea of how they had been able to hide from his divine sense, he also understood that doing so would undoubtedly end up taking a long time, time that he felt would be better used training his disciples and helping the Star Shattering Sect grow. Especially so now that he had managed to gather a lot of useful information on how to grow the sect from the Tower of Secrets.

Not to mention, the information on how those demon beasts had been able to hide from his divine sense wasn't that important for now as he had never encountered such a situation before, outside of those few demon beasts lingering around the tenth celestial gate.

With that in mind, it was at least clear to him that the ability itself should somehow be tied to the tenth celestial gate. Meaning that it wasn't something he would have to worry about for now.

At the very least, it was tied to something far beyond the Profound Immortal Realm. Impossible for the different major powers or the demon beasts on the Ewaria Continent to replicate.

Whoosh~

As he thought about this to himself, Xuan Hao finally reached the passage leading out of the mystic realm and soon enough slipped out with the assistance of the elder robe that allowed him to bypass the guardian formation without encountering any problems. Sparing him from trying to pass through the guardian formation in the same way as when he had first entered the mystic realm.

Even then, going through the guardian formation and finding himself back at the old Flying Sword Sect again, he couldn't help feeling a bit reluctant when looking back down into the mystic realm that was now situated directly below him.

When it came to developing the Star Shattering Sect, the mystic realm undoubtedly held the greatest potential. Especially if he could find a way to make use of the celestial gates inside like they had been originally used in the past to train the younger generation of the ancient Mirage Sect.

Unfortunately, his current strength was far too weak to control the mystic realm, let alone the crumbling celestial gates inside of it. Even reaching the Peak of the Profound Immortal Realm, the Star Formation Realm, wouldn't be enough to handle that kind of mystic realm. Only by reaching the Venerable Realm did he feel like he might have a chance to control the mystic realm and officially integrate it into the Star Shattering Sect. Making full use of the unique environment inside of it to train the Star Shattering Sect's disciples and elders.

For now, he could at most take a few of his disciples inside and watch over them as they went through the mystic realm looking for opportunities inside.

Having them try and enter a celestial gate wasn't even an option given the state of the celestial gates inside the mystic realm.

But… The overall environment inside of the mystic realm was still phenomenal for training his disciples, be it in terms of cultivation resources hidden throughout the mystic realm or the demon beasts that they might encounter along the way. Everything was perfect for them with their current strength.

However, these disciples of his seemed to have already found another way to improve their own strength by journeying outside the Star Shattering Sect. Exploring the surrounding territories, one of them even going as far as journeying all the way to the Eastern Central Region to go through training on his own.

Thinking about it, the mystic realm itself wasn't really that needed by these disciples of his as they seemed to find other ways to improve their strength without his help. Only, he did feel a bit worried with Chu Yang going to the Eastern Central Region. After all, that region was incredibly chaotic and this disciple of his could run into a Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator at any moment and find himself in a life a death situation.

Even if the safety measure he had left him with should be able to keep him safe in the face of Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator, it couldn't do so forever.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao soon disappeared from his old mountain at the Flying Sword Sect and returned to the Shattered Star Peaks in a single step, showcasing just how terrifying his current comprehension of the Dao of Space was.

"Huh? So many people actually broke through during the short time I was gone?!"

However, upon returning back to the Star Shattering Sect and using his divine sense to get a grasp of the general situation of the sect, he was shocked to discover that the overall strength of the sect seemed to have gone up by another level since he had last been there. Forcing him to stop for a second before turning his attention towards the main sect quest he hadn't paid too much attention to during his time inside the mystic realm as he had been far too focused on breaking through to the Profound Immortal Realm.

[Main Sect Quest: First Steps towards Becoming a Major Power (I)]

[Description: The sect has entered a state of rapid growth and is about to finally step onto the main stage of the Ewaria Continent. Help the sect reach the requirements to become a major power on the Ewaria Continent.]

[Core Formation Realm Disciples: 7292/10.000]

[Nascent Soul Realm Disciples: 39/100]

[Domain Lord Realm Disciples: 5/10]

[Soul Ascension Realm Elders: 68/100]

[Dao Seed Realm Elders: 4/10]

[Profound Immortal Realm Ancestor: 0/1]

[Reward: World Stone (Immortal), Chaotic Qi Formation Upgrade, ???]

[Note: Does not count host as part of the requirements]

Overall, the number of higher-level elders had not really increased, but the lower end disciples of the sect seemed to have undergone a massive change during the few short weeks that he had been gone from the sect. Shooting up from a little under five thousand at the Core Formation Realm all the way to over seven thousand.

Not just the Core Formation Realm disciples, but even the number of Nascent Soul Realm disciples had more than doubled since he had last checked the main sect quest.

As for the single new Soul Ascension Realm Elder… That wasn't one of the old elders of the sect breaking through to the Soul Ascension Realm, but was instead an old friend of one of the wandering cultivators who had joined the Star Shattering Sect who had ended up being persuaded by said friend to join the Star Shattering Sect.

In that regard, the sect's higher end combat power hadn't really experienced any real growth, but a quick sweep of his divine sense made it clear that it wouldn't be long before the older elders of the sect began breaking through to the Soul Ascension Realm.

As for the reason behind this sudden explosive growth? It was none other than Elder Song, who had mutinously made full use of the different wandering cultivators who had joined the sect. Allowing both the disciples and elders to rapidly improve, something that only started becoming truly visible now that he had returned from the mystic realm.

In the end, the overall cultivation realms of the elders in the Domain Lord Realm had also improved a lot, it was only that improving in the Domain Lord Realm took far longer than the Core Formation Realm or the Nascent Soul Realm, thus the improvements of the disciples became visible faster than that of the elders of the sect.

Of course, this wouldn't solve the primary problem of completing the main sect quest, the fact that he would need to find more Dao Seed Realm Elders, something that was difficult to accomplish in a short period of time.

As for the Profound Immortal Realm ancestor he needed as well… That was something he didn't even dare think about for now, though a part of him was already partly leaning towards searching for someone in a similar situation as Pei Yang to recruit.

After all, someone like that would be loyal to the sect if he could properly protect them… And now that his strength had reached the Sea Formation Realm, he felt more than confident in dealing with the different major sects without any fear. No longer having to hide as much as he and the sect had been doing so far.

Of course, he would still have to be careful around major powers like the Blue Sea Empire, but at least he had the strength to properly confront them in case something did happen…