Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

After a meeting with Elder Song to discuss the current direction that the sect would take in expanding after the recently captured territory that was still overrun with demonic cultivators was stabilized, it became clear that the sect would either have to start looking towards expansion into the fallen Sky Empire's old territory, something that would undoubtedly draw the attention of the Blue Sea Empire or have to continue taking new territory in the outer regions of the Northern Region.

Although the latter was far safer and wouldn't draw much attention from the different major powers in the Northern Central Region, it would but a strain on the sect's resources and manpower over time, as the sect would also be increasing the size of the border it shared with the Frozen Wastelands by doing this.

In the end, he and Elder Song had concluded that the matter of the sect's expansion would be put on hold after things had stabilized and the focus would instead be placed on recruiting more disciples and expanding the overall size of the sect so that it would be easier to control the territory of the sect without being forced to rely on wandering cultivators to take up most of the work when it came to guarding the borders of the sect not facing the Frozen Wastelands.

Even though there was no danger in this for the wandering cultivators and it was essentially a free vacation for most of them as there wasn't really anyone who would be willing to invade a hidden ancient sect under normal circumstances, it would still be for the best if the sect's borders were entirely guarded by the sect's own disciples and elders.

Well… The wandering cultivators weren't the only ones guarding the sect's borders, as there was still the Zhang Clan and their ancestor to oversee the situation and ensure that everything was handled smoothly. The problem was that the Zhang Clan itself was still not considered a true part of the Star Shattering Sect and could at most be considered a subordinate power that existed under the Star Shattering Sect.

This could be changed now that he had broken through to the Sea Formation Realm and he had asked Elder Song about it while he was discussing the sect's future expansion, but… Elder Song had shot down his suggestion, as he said that bringing them into the sect so suddenly could cause potential problems. Instead, he suggested that they continue with the original plan of having them earn contribution points from their work guarding the sect's borders and with those contribution points they will be able to officially enter the Star Shattering Sect.

The few short years they would spend guarding the borders of the sect was nothing for them with their cultivation. Especially given that the younger generation had already been given a chance to enter the Star Shattering Sect.

Hearing this, Xuan Hao had also realized just how short-sighted he was. Indeed, a few years was nothing but a single closed cultivation session for those in the Domain Lord Realm or Soul Ascension Realm. Even for someone in the Nascent Soul Realm who had a lifespan of around 2000 years that could be extended for up to 3000 years through things like pills, life extending techniques or other special circumstances, it was a short time that would go by before they knew it.

The problem was, he himself was still under a hundred years old, so the outlook he had on the passage of time was still not different from a mortal.

Of course, with the passage of time and as breaking through to higher realms inevitably ended up taking longer and longer, he would adapt to the normal mindset of a senior cultivator, though, there was still some time before that would happen, as even now. Entering closed door cultivation for more than a few years would feel strenuous.

As he finished up with Elder Song and made his way back to his cultivation room to go through the different things he had managed to get his hands on during his recent expedition to the mystic realm and whether it would be time to place it inside the sect's library for the different elders of the sect to read through or he would have to wait a bit.

Overall, the information on the Breaking Dawn, Sea Formation and Land Creation Realm of the Profound Immortal Realm could be shared with the sect, as it would be helpful for the few Dao Seed Realm cultivators currently present inside the sect, but information on the Star Creation Realm would have to wait for now. Not just because he himself didn't fully grasp that information, but more so because the information on the Star Creation Realm was sealed and couldn't be shared even if he wanted to do so.

To ensure that the information wasn't just accessible to everyone, he made sure to personally enhance the formations of the sect's library with his current understanding of the Dao of Formations, while at the same time restricting the detailed information on the Profound Immortal Realm to require not just contribution points to read through, but more importantly also a genuine elder status or core disciple status.

This could always be changed in the future, but it was mainly put in place to encourage both the guest elders to try and become official elders of the sect, but also the disciples who would have to strive towards becoming core disciples if they wanted to learn more about the Profound Immortal Realm.

Then again, it wasn't really much of a problem for the current disciples to learn more about the Profound Immortal Realm, as the current requirement for becoming a core disciple was only to reach the Nascent Soul Realm before the age of 50, something that had become increasingly simple for the disciples of the sect to achieve with the constant elevation of the resources they had available to them. Among which, the most important by far was the large number of elders capable of helping teach them. Even finding a Soul Ascension Realm or Dao Seed Realm guest elder or elder to teach wasn't that difficult, as one of the main ways that the guest elders at the Dao Seed Realm could become official elders was by gaining enough contribution points and the fastest way for them to get contribution points was through teaching the younger disciples.

Of course, it wasn't entirely because they wanted to become elders themselves, but instead because they wanted access to the Dao Enlightenment Monument that could help them on their path towards reaching the Dao Seed Realm or furthering their own strength in the Dao Seed Realm.

Only when some information or other resources became restricted to those who were official elders of the sect would these people be encouraged to save up enough contribution points to officially become elders of the Star Shattering Sect, then again… That was unlikely to happen in the next few years, as different from the senior members of the Zhao Clan, they had full access to most of the resources in the Shattered Star Peaks…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao could not help wondering what kind of reaction these people would have when they began realizing that the resources of the sect would slowly become restricted to those who were official members of the sect.

Complain as they might when the time came, there would be nothing for them to do about.

Speaking of which, Elder Song had mentioned something about this to him and how he was planning to increase the contribution points required for guest members of the sect to use certain things like the Combat Hall and the Dao Enlightenment Monument.

All to 'encourage' them to work harder towards becoming official members of the sect. In his eyes, shutting off access wasn't a good idea, as it would be a far better solution to add premium for those not part of the sect using the sect's resources.

In fact, he had already gone ahead and started the process of doing this. Starting with doubling the contribution points required for the Dao Enlightenment Monument. Feeling fully confident that none of these former wandering cultivators would complain after they had personally experienced the benefits of the Dao Enlightenment Monument. On the other hand, Elder Song said he would make sure that they wouldn't just keep quiet and not complain but would instead praise the Star Shattering Sect's generosity after he was done with this price adjustment.

Although he had no idea how Elder Song planned to do any of this, Xuan Hao decided to fully trust the old man when it came to this kind of things and have him do whatever he saw fit with the internal situation of the sect. After all, so far, there hadn't been any problems internally throughout the Star Shattering Sect while Elder Song had overseen the situation. Especially after he broke through to the Domain Lord Realm and seemed to have improved on many aspects of the sects internal management and resource distribution.