Cultivating Disciples To Breakthrough

by Stayrr

Within a quiet pavilion on top of a lonely mountain peak, Xuan Hao slowly opened his eyes with a bewildered look on his face, he had transmigrated into a cultivation world as an elder of the Flying Sword Sect. He was even an expert at the Nascent Soul Realm, who had the power to easily destory an entire city with a wave of his hand. Most importantly, he had a system that allowed h

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Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough #Chapter 1007 Bear Demon Beast and the Floating Eyeball - Read Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough Chapter 1007 Bear Demon Beast and the Floating Eyeball Online - All Page - Novel Bin

Chapter 1007 Bear Demon Beast and the Floating Eyeball

Gathered together with the rest of the disciples and the people from the Explorer Union, Bai Ning followed the guidance of one of his seniors and turned to look down the side of the mountain path towards a small clearing at the base of a nearby mountain.

Inside the clearing, a massive bear demon beast was peacefully sleeping with half of its body inside a cave next to the clearing. Even from a distance, it was obvious how powerful this demon beast was.

"So, this is the Peak Core Formation Realm demon beast?" Having noticed the large bear demon beast in the clearing at the base of the mountain, Bai Ning could not help growing uneasy as he felt the terrifying aura around the demon beast. Even the Core Formation Realm elders back in the sect who had reached the Peak of the Core Formation Realm were nowhere near as terrifying as the bear demon beast.

Although, this could just be because these elders had decided to restrain their Peak Core Formation Realm strength in an attempt to not scare the younger disciples, but… Looking at the expressions of the other Core Formation Realm disciples of his sect who were far stronger than him, this did not seem to be the case. Even the Peak Core Formation Realm senior brother who had taken the lead was visibly frowning as he remained focused on the sleeping bear demon beast below.

From the looks of it, the bear demon beast is stronger than a normal Peak Core Formation Realm demon beast…

As he thought about this, Bai Ning unconsciously tightened his grip around his already drawn weapon.

No matter how strong the bear demon beast, there should be no way for it to resist the combined attack of so many Core Formation Realm Experts.

…

"Oh? Would you look at that, a Peak Core Formation Realm demon beast only a single step away from the Nascent Soul Realm. If I'm not wrong, it should currently be in the process of preparing to step into the Nascent Soul Realm and should be able to succeed in another day or two."

Different from Bai Ning and the rest who were nervously looking at the bear demon beast wondering just how strong it was, Xuan Hao had instantly seen through its strength and the fact that it was currently in the process of attempting to reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

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Although it was stronger compared to normal Peak Core Formation Realm demon beasts, it was far from enough to pose a threat to Bai Ning and the rest of the caravan. The main thing that made them unable to gauge the true strength of this demon beast was just the initial aura of a Nascent Soul Realm Expert that had formed around the demon beast. Making it look far stronger than it actually was.

"Hehe, in the eyes of that Peak Core Formation Realm disciple, the demon beast is properly far more terrifying considering that he should be more familiar with the Nascent Soul Realm aura present around it. Oh well, he should be able to figure out things soon enough…"

Chuckling to himself as he turned his attention towards the Peak Core Formation Realm disciple who was visibly frowning with an uneasy expression on his face as he looked down towards the sleeping demon beast, Xuan Hao was looking forward as to how this new genius of the sect would handle things.

After all, Bai Ning was far too weak to fight against a demon beast that was only a single step away from the Nascent Soul Realm with his First Stage Core Formation Realm strength. At this time, the main person fighting would be the older disciple at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm.

As for the rest of the Core Formation Realm Experts… Xuan Hao didn't think there would be a need for them to interfere in the battle, the main reason why this disciple had called out for their help just now, should be because he was unclear about the true cultivation of the demon beast and thought that it might have just reached the Nascent Soul Realm and was hoping to overwhelm it with numbers before it had a chance to stabilize its cultivation base.

Swish-!

Not a second later, the older disciple seemed to have realized the situation as well, as he rushed down towards the sleeping demon beast without explaining anything to the others who had gathered together in preparation for dealing with the demon beast.

The main reason for this being the fact that compared to Xuan Hao who could see that the demon beast was still a few days off actually breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm, he had no idea how close the demon beast was to reaching the Nascent Soul Realm and feared that it might end up breaking through at any moment.

Roar!?

Soon enough, the large bear demon beast opened its eyes filled with both confusion and anger-

Bang! Bang!

And before long, the sound of battle echoed out inside the clearing as the older disciple and the bear demon beast began to violently clash with each other in an intense battle fitting of two Peak Core Formation Realm Experts.

Even if the other Core Formation Realm Experts wanted to join in, none of them dared to venture down into the chaotic battle, as it might very well result in them becoming a burden if they weren't able to properly cooperate and instead ended up needing the older disciple to save them.

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"""…"""

Stuck in this kind of situation, they could only watch as the battle below continued growing more intense. Preparing themselves in case the situation turned bad, and they needed to help out.

"Hm? The eyeball is finally moving…?" Having focused his attention on the battle taking place below, Xuan Hao suddenly noticed that the eyeball that had remained in the air hovering above the caravan since they had entered the Azure Sky Kingdom suddenly started moving.

If this had happened before they had passed through any of the larger cities with Nascent Soul Realm Experts present inside of them, Xuan Hao would not care much about this, but now that he felt the person behind the eyeball was targeting his disciple and the disciples from his sect, this was no longer the case!

"…"

Watching intently as the eyeball descended towards the place where the chaotic battle was taking place with neither of the demon beast and human fighting to the death with each other noticing its presence, Xuan Hao watched as it passed right through the bear demon beast before entering the cave behind it before continuing inside.

Whoosh~

Knowing that it shouldn't be up to any good and also feeling like he might get a chance to find out who the person behind the eyeball was, Xuan Hao descended from above before chasing after the eyeball. Making sure to keep a certain distance in case the owner of said eyeball decided to scan the surroundings again like last time.

"Hm? This is…"

However, after actually entering the cave, a frown could not help making its way on to his face, as he discovered that there was no spirit stones or spiritual herbs like what the person from the Explorer Union had talked about when describing the inside of the cave. Even the blacksmithing notes and spiritual metals that Bai Ning had finally left the sect for was not present.

Instead of all this, there were a few large lines carved into the ground and walls of the cave. Forming some kind of incomplete formation.

Looking at the direction of the eyeball going deeper into the cave, Xuan Hao didn't think too much about this for now as he also made his way deeper inside the cave. Feeling even more curious as to what purpose the owner of the eyeball had in the now rather obvious attempt to get the disciples of his sect and the few young people from the Explorer Union to come here.

Is it perhaps some demonic cultivator who wants to drain their qi and blood?

As this thought inevitably made its way through his head as he made his way deeper inside the cave, Xuan Hao could not help preparing himself for the worst. Even if it was not some kind of demonic cultivator that had made use of the Explorer Union to lure his disciple and other disciples from his sect here, it was clear that the person behind all of this didn't have any kind intentions.

This only became clearer after he reached the large hall-like structure located at the end of the cave where the eyeball had come to stop as it kept its attention focused on the entrance. Clearly waiting for his disciple and the rest to defeat the bear demon beast outside and enter.

Inside the hall and in the area just outside of it, a formation that would activate the moment someone opened the door of the hall itself had been carved into the ground…

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Chapter 1008 Bear Demon Beast's Hidden Bloodline!

"A teleportation formation and a quite complicated one at that…" Observing the formation, it did not take long before Xuan Hao realized what the purpose of the formation.

However, this conclusion left him with the question of where this teleportation was connected to. At the same time also making him more interested in finding out just what the owner of the eyeball hovering just on the other side of the hall was up to. After all, from what he saw so far, it was rather obvious that the other party was trying their best to not leave any traces behind after taking his disciple and the rest of the disciples from the sect.

Thinking about it, it would not be too surprising if the formation would self-destruct after having teleported them away. Having the cave collapse to leave even less clues behind as to what had happened inside.

"But… I guess the other party didn't expect for someone proficient in the Dao of Space to show up before the formation even had time to activate.

Although the formation itself is far too complicated for me to understand, the Dao of Space contained inside of it is at best rudimentary and should be the work of someone who hasn't comprehended the Dao of Space and is instead just channeling its power through the formation." Shaking his head as he muttered this while hidden from the eyeball hovering at the entrance to the hall, Xuan Hao slowly descended before stopping a few inches above the ground where the formation began.

Given the obvious difference between his own comprehension of the Dao of Space and the creator of the formation, it would be a simple task for him to track the spatial nodes that the formation was anchored on and follow the path to where the formation ended. NvεlB¡n: Transforming Moments into Memories.

The only problem was that doing this would undoubtedly alert the person controlling the eyeball, but at this point in time, Xuan Hao didn't really care too much about this, as it had become obvious how lacking that person's comprehension of the Dao of Space was.

"Even if the other party has some kind of powerful formation or is someone at the peak of the Soul Ascension Realm, it should still be relatively easy for me to escape… Why not take this chance and find out who this person targeting the Star Shattering Sect is?" Narrowing both of his eyes as he said this, Xuan Hao was just about to force his divine sense into the teleportation-

Roar-!

Boom!

However, a loud roar followed by a loud explosion interrupted him, as he turned around and realized that the bear demon beast had managed to forcefully break through to the Nascent Soul Realm under the pressure of fighting the older disciple at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm. Resulting in the rest of the Core Formation Realm Experts present jumping into action to help out, Bai Ning included.

"Haaa…" Watching the sudden turn of events outside the cave, Xuan Hao could not help letting out an annoyed sigh as he full well understood there was no way for them to defeat the bear demon beast, as it had not only reached the Nascent Soul Realm, but also seemed to have awakened some kind of hidden bloodline that was constantly increasing its strength with each passing second.

Even in the short time it had taken him to lament over the sudden turn of events outside the cave, the hidden bloodline in the bear demon beast's body had already suppressed the cloud tribulation before it could cause any problems and elevated its strength to the Second Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Not only that but given the dormant power in the hidden bloodline currently in the process of awakening, it looked like the bear demon beast's strength would continue to increase until it reached the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Maybe there was even some kind of inherent domain inside the hidden bloodline that would allow it to go all the way to the Domain Lord Realm!

Without his help, it was obvious that his disciple and the rest stood no chance against this kind of cheating demon beast that seemed intent on ascending to the heavens in a single step.

Whoosh~!

However, before he had a chance to do anything, the eyeball that had remained stationary above the entrance to the hall moved. Flying out of the cave before a thick poisonous mist seeped out of it and entered the bear demon beast-

ROOOOAR!?

Instantly resulting in the strength of the bear demon beast forcefully dropping back down to the Peak of the Core Formation Realm.

"It failed to break through!" Not at all aware of what had caused the strength of the demon beast to drop back down to the Core Formation Realm, the older disciple just thought it had failed to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm-

Swish!

Ptsh-!

And taking full advantage of the bear demon beast's confusion over its sudden drop in strength, he successfully cut through its thick fur and pierced through its vital organs. Fatally wounding it to the degree that it had no way to continue fighting any longer and could only helplessly struggle for a few seconds before ultimately dying at the hands of the older disciple.

Whoosh~

Only after seeing the death of the bear demon beast and the fact that Bai Ning and the rest were preparing to enter the cave did the eyeball turn around and made its way back inside the cave again. Having successfully removed the threat of the bear demon beast without being discovered by Bai Ning or the others.

Swish-!

Unfortunately, the moment it made its way back inside the cave again, a silver sword suddenly appeared in front of it-

Boom!

Giving the controller of the eyeball no time to react before it was destroyed by the silver sword.

"Well… Now the other party definitely knows about my presence…" Emerging from the shadows of the cave as he glanced over the place where the eyeball had been hovering just a short moment earlier, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time as he turned around and took a step forward. Appearing directly in front of the teleportation formation.

Whoosh~

Knowing that he did not have a lot of time after having destroyed the eyeball, his divine sense swept out and covered the entire teleportation formation before forcefully extracting the spatial coordinates of the different spatial nodes connected to it.

"Got it!"

Only a few seconds later, he successfully managed to deduce the location that the teleportation formation led to. Unfortunately, after examining the location in detail, he quickly realized that it was somewhere inside the Frozen Wasteland.

Not only that, but it was somewhere far away from the Sky Empire's side of the Frozen Wasteland and could be considered to be on the other side of the Frozen Wasteland. Facing an empire that he didn't even know the name of…

What in the world would someone from all the way over there want with disciples from my sect? Not to mention, how come there is a teleportation formation like this inside the Azure Sky Kingdom…

Feeling a sense of unease at the sudden realization that the teleportation formation actually led to somewhere so far away, Xuan Hao didn't dare to activate the formation to try and find out more about the person targeting the Star Shattering Sect.

Even if he could use the formation to teleport to the location on the other side of the Frozen Wasteland, his current comprehension of the Dao of Space was far from enough to teleport him back to the Azure Sky Kingdom. Not to mention, he had a feeling that the person who constructed the formation was not the same person who was behind the floating eyeball.

Rustle~

As he was lost in thought about what to do about the formation and the potential enemy on the other side of the Frozen Wasteland, the sound of footsteps and complaining voices could be heard coming from the entrance to the cave as his disciple and the rest had finished resting and had entered the cave only to find it empty.

"Haaa… I should just destroy this place for now and think about it later…" Having come to a decision on what to do about the place, Xuan Hao gently waved his hand-

Rumble!

Soon enough, resulting in his dao domain erupting to destroy the teleportation formation and the hall.

"What is that!?"

"Something is happening up ahead! Is it perhaps where the treasures are located?!"

"Huh? Ah! Yes! The treasures are all up ahead!"

Hearing the sound of people growing closer as all of them began rushing over upon hearing the sound of the underground hall and teleportation formation collapsing and being reduced to nothing but dust, Xuan Hao retracted his dao domain before hiding himself.

Whoosh~!

However, before he did this, he threw out a few spirit stones, spiritual metal, and spiritual herbs around the now large empty cave for the disciples and members of the Explorer Union. Including a few blacksmithing notes, he had found but hadn't yet given to Elder Song to enter into the sect's library.

Given how hard they had worked for it, he felt that they should at least get something for their troubles. At least he wanted to ensure that Bai Ning got what he came looking for, as he hoped it would make him more excited and interested in leaving the sect for other adventures in future where he could in turn also increase his combat experience.

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Chapter 1009 Underground Treasury

"Huh? The artifact stopped working?" At the same time Xuan Hao destroyed the eyeball back in the cave, the old Domain Lord Realm Expert in charge of watching over the artifact controlling the eyeball could not help showing a surprised expression on his face as he said this.

Although Xuan Hao had expected to be found out at the moment he attacked and destroyed the eyeball, he didn't think that the person controlling the eyeball was just someone at the Domain Lord Realm. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

For this reason, the next few steps of covering his tracks and destroying the teleportation formation after realizing it was anchored somewhere on the other side of the Frozen Wasteland so quickly.

This was all done with the thought that the one controlling the eyeball was someone in the Soul Ascension Realm. However, due to the fact that the old man controlling the eyeball had only reached the Domain Lord Realm, he did not manage to pick up what had happened and was just left in a state of confusion. Not understanding what had just happened to the artifact that was working perfectly fine only a few seconds earlier.

"Maybe something unexpected happened on the other side… Looks like I will have to contact Lord White Soul…" Muttering this to himself as he glanced in the direction of the large doors of the hallway that Lord White Soul had left through earlier, the old man could not help shivering in fear at the thought of having to go and explain something unexpected happened to one of the ethereal eyes that had been made using several precious and hard to find spiritual metals and other rare materials.

Even if he knew that he should inform Lord White Soul, he could not help hesitating, as he very clearly knew that he would be the one to suffer the consequences if something really did end up happening to the ethereal eye.

And given his Domain Lord Realm cultivation base, there would be no way for him to repay the cost of a single ethereal eye without working like a slave for the two or three hundred years he had left to live. Something that would undoubtedly mean giving up any and all chances of reaching the Soul Ascension Realm in the future…

Maybe I'm just overreacting, it could just be that the ethereal eye powered down after they successfully entered the cave. By now, they have probably reached the hall with the teleportation formation.

Knowing how bad it would be if something really did happen to the ethereal eye, he convinced himself that nothing out of the ordinary had happened and the group he watched over should have already proceed to enter the cave and were about to pass through the teleportation formation.

Standing up the next moment, the old man who had managed to convince himself that nothing had happened to the ethereal eye, made his way towards the exit that was guarded by a Domain Lord Realm Expert who was in charge of watching over the hall with the ethereal eyes inside of it.

"Hm? Did your group pass through the teleportation formation already?"

"Yes, everything is done." Feeling a bit nervous on the inside as he answered the person in charge of guarding the entrance, he made sure not to show any of this as he calmly left the hall after getting a quick nod of approval in response.

Considering that he was the strongest person among the people present inside the hall and only happened to take on the job of watching over one of the ethereal eyes due to having been low on spirit stones, the person in charge of watching the exit didn't think twice after hearing that it was over. The fact that he was faster than the rest could also be considered normal given the fact that he was older and wiser than the rest of the people present in the hall.

Rustle~

So, after noting down that the old man had successfully completed his task, he no longer thought about it. Not even bothering to go up and check the ethereal eye, as it was clear that it had already been powered down.

Only after everyone had finished in their tasks inside the hall did a general inspection of the ethereal eyes take place… And it was at this moment that it was discovered that there was a fault with one of the ethereal eyes.

However, in the end, it just looked like a mistake in how it had been powered down and didn't cause any real damage to the eye and after the elder guarding the hall told them that the old man in charge of the ethereal eye had powered it down on his did they understand how he might have made a mistake and damaged the artifact in the process.

In the end, the repairs ended up costing the old man around half of the spirit stones he got from completing the task and was soon forgotten after this.

The only trace of something having gone wrong would only appear years later in the future, but at that point in time, it would be impossible to deduce where this mistake had occurred.

…

"The sound from earlier came from this place!" Back at the cave that Xuan Hao had filled with all sorts of different things that would be useful for those in the Foundation Establishment Realm and the Core Formation Realm, the older disciple of the sect who had taken the lead in charging inside after hearing the sound of the hall and teleportation formation getting destroyed called out to the people behind him-

"Huh!?"

Before freezing on the spot upon discovering the seemingly countless precious things scattered all over the cave in front of him.

Although he had reached the Peak of the Core Formation Realm, it was his first time encountering such a large number of spirits stones, artifacts, spiritual herbs, and other precious materials gathered in a single location.

The only place where he had in essence seen so many precious materials gathered in one location was when he had visited the spiritual herb fields at the Ninth Star Peak, or the piles of spiritual metals piled up at the core of the Sea of a Thousand Furnaces.

Never had he ever encounter anything like it when adventuring outside the sect, something that had made him initially doubt the description of the person from the Explorer Union, but… Now faced with the real thing, he had nothing to say. Only capable of remaining frozen on the spot with a speechless expression on his face while the rest of the people from the caravan slowly made their way inside the cave.

"To think it was real…"

However, much like the older disciple who had entered the larger "Wha- This is…"

"Wah~ So many shiny things~!"

"To think it was real…"

However, much like the older disciple who had entered the larger section of the cave where all the precious things were stored, they also ended up freezing on the spot as they stared speechlessly at the countless treasures in front of them. Not knowing what to say as none of them had ever imagined that the description given by the person from the Explorer Union would actually be accurate- No, it would be more accurate to say that it had been an understatement…

In the end, Xuan Hao dumping a few of the things he had picked up during his journey inside the mystic realm and other adventures and considered useless was worth far more than just a few things that would be useful to those in the Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Realm. On the other hand, the total value of all the treasures stacked up inside the cave could be considered to exceed the value of all the treasures carried by a normal Nascent Soul Realm Expert at the middle stages of the realm…

"So… How are we going to divide the treasure…?"

Only when one of the weaker disciples in the Foundation Establishment Realm asked this question did everyone start to wake up from their frozen states and started to discuss loudly with each other how to properly divide the treasures among each other.

"Blacksmithing notes…"

Not at all caring about any of this, Bai Ning instead began searching through the treasures for the blacksmithing notes together with Hui Ying who had volunteered to help him out instead of participating in the discussion that was happening back at the entrance to the larger section of the cave.

"…"

Observing all of this happening from a corner of the cave where he had hidden himself before the older disciple had shown up, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly after realizing that he had thrown out more than just a few useful things.

But in the end, he did not really care too much about it, as it could indeed be considered useless junk that just took up space inside his interspatial ring. Not to mention, most of it would be going to the disciples of his sect anyway…

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Chapter 1010 Grand Sect Meeting

Staying around to watch as Bai Ning got his hands on the blacksmithing notes and blueprints he had scattered around among the other treasures inside the cave, Xuan Hao began making his way back to the sect after making sure that there wasn't any other teleportation formation located around that the people behind the first teleportation might be capable of using to check out why the teleportation formation had been destroyed together with the floating eyeball. Not feeling too worried about the owner of the eyeball showing up given just how far away he or she should be from the Azure Sky Kingdom.

Even if the other party was more skilled in the Dao of Space than the teleportation formation suggested, it would still be impossible to reach the Azure Sky Kingdom from the other side of the Frozen Wasteland in a short period of time. Not to mention, there were also the powerful demonic cultivators lurking in the core of the Frozen Wasteland.

Without proper preparation, it would be impossible to cross the core section of the Frozen Wasteland safely… And that was not mentioning the current chaotic situation of the Frozen Wasteland where even True Demon Realm demonic cultivators could be found roaming in the outer parts of the Frozen Wasteland.

In a sense, it might not be too shocking if a demonic cultivator surpassing the True Demon Realm ended up appearing in the core part of the Frozen Wasteland…

"Well… If such a powerful demonic cultivator really does end up appearing inside the Frozen Wasteland, I hope they won't go anywhere near the Sky Empire…" Muttering this to himself as he thought about how powerful an Earth Immortal Realm demon beast like the cloud demon beast had been, Xuan Hao could only pray that a demonic cultivator that powerful wouldn't end up appearing anywhere near the Sky Empire.

After all, even if the Sky Empire had a few Soul Ascension Realm Experts and the presence of three different- Four different large religions, it had no way to deal with an existence comparable to the Earth Immortal Realm. Not to mention, the one to suffer first would not be the Sky Empire but would instead be his Star Shattering Sect located at what could essentially be considered the border between the Sky Empire and the Frozen Wasteland.

Maybe the location of the Star Shattering Sect will end up benefiting the Sky Empire…

Smiling wryly as he thought about this, Xuan Hao shook his head before passing through a layer of clouds and descending back down towards the Ninth Star Peak.

Given the improvements his movement technique had received after he comprehended the Dao of Space and his strength took another step forward, the distance between the Azure Sky Kingdom and the Shattered Star Peak could be almost instantly covered. Taking no more than a few steps with his current strength.

Of course, he could always use the Dao of Space and try to teleport all the way back to the Shattered Star Peaks, but… Given that he did not really have that much experience when it came to things like teleportation, outside of the short distance teleportation used during fights, he ran the risk of accidently teleporting into a rock, a tree or possibly some unexpecting disciple's bathtub… Not really something he wanted to run the risk of doing to save a few seconds of time…

Whoosh~!

However, after landing on the Ninth Star Peak and using his divine sense to scan across the Shattered Star Peaks like he would normally do when returning to check up on how his disciples were doing and how much stronger the elders and disciples had grown, he was shocked to discover that there were more than a dozen new Nascent Soul Realm auras present on the Seventh Star Peak… And observing the owner of these new auras more clearly, it became obvious that none of them were elders or disciples from the Star Shattering Sect.

Where did all of these people come from? Are they perhaps negotiators sent over by the different major kingdoms? But if that was the case, there would be no need to send so many of them. Not to mention, it also looks like there are quite a few unfamiliar Peak Core Formation Realm Experts present as well…

Investigating the new and unfamiliar auras who seemed to have appeared inside the sect, Xuan Hao discovered that there was an even larger number of unfamiliar Core Formation Realm Experts. Most of which had either reached the Peak of the Core Formation Realm or were at the Late stage of the Core Formation Realm.

This number of experts that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere was quite surprising. Especially when considering that Xuan Hao felt certain that these people were not any of the elders who had been placed in charge of the different branch sects located across the new territory of the sect.

Swish-!

Noticing that Elder Song had left his courtyard and was at the same location as Feng Chen, Zu Fei and a few other elders from the sect, Xuan Hao decided to go over and ask them instead of just speculating on his own.

…

At the same time Xuan Hao had just begun making his way back towards the Star Shattering Sect, Elder Song, and the rest of the important elders of the Star Shattering Sect had gathered together inside a meeting hall located close to the Qi Spring Lake at the center of the sect. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

Be it Feng Chen, Zu Fei, Shu Yao, the two Wang brothers, even more secluded elders who didn't participate in most normal meetings like Elder Dust Fairy had shown up.

"So, have everyone arrived?" At this time, Elder Song who had been looking over everyone present turned to ask one of the newer elders of the sect who had just recently broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

"Yes, Elder Song, everyone who could show up, has shown up for this meeting. Outside of Grand Elder Xuan, everyone is here!

As for the different sects that are under our management… A little over 700 sects have shown up. Although, most of these representatives are either the ancestors or sect leaders of these sects. Even a few of the sects from the recently captured Rock Sky Kingdom have managed to make the journey and show up with the short time available to them.

If we wait for another few days, there will undoubtedly be more people showing up for the meeting, but I doubt they will be strong enough to make a difference. All things considered, I think we should start the meeting now and get the matters of how to deal with the rest of those major kingdoms sorted out before they get a chance to cause trouble like last time!" Responding to Elder Song, the young Nascent Soul Realm Elder stepped back and nervously looked up at Elder Song.

Even though he had suggested that they started the meeting, he did not hold any real power to do so and could only patiently wait for Elder Song to give him the go ahead to begin the meeting.

After all, even if he knew that the most powerful elder of the sect, Grand Elder Xuan, didn't like participating in official matters like this, he also understood that today's meeting was far more important than any other meetings that had taken place since the creation of the Star Shattering Sect. Maybe only comparable to the creation of the Star Shattering Sect in the past.

The main reason for this, was the subject of the meeting that involved not only the plans for dealing with the different major kingdoms, but also how the new territory of the Star Shattering Sect was going to get divided after the fall of these major kingdoms.

In the end, all of the sects who had shown up today had all come with the express purpose of trying to be put in charge of some of the more important resources that were located inside these major kingdoms. Understanding very well that if they could be put in charge of collecting resources from some of the large spiritual herb fields, sprit stone mines or spiritual metal mines, their sect would experience a leap in strength compared to the past.

Especially so when considering that most of the sects present at most had someone in the Core Formation Realm. Controlling a rich spirit stone mine might allow a sect like that to finally produce someone in the Nascent Soul Realm. Allowing their sect to experience a leap in strength that they could only dream about before!

"Indeed… It looks like everyone is here, we shouldn't wait for Grand Elder Xuan, I doubt he is interested in something time consuming like this in the first place…" Smiling wryly as he said this, Elder Song gave the go ahead for the young Nascent Soul Realm Elder to go and inform the different representatives of the sects anxiously waiting, that the meeting was going to begin.

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Chapter 1011 "Happily" Joining the Gathering

Just at the moment that the young Nascent Soul Realm Elder left the meeting hall and made his way towards the buildings that had been dedicated to housing the hundreds of different representatives who had shown up to participate in the meeting, Xuan Hao arrived at the entrance to the meeting hall. Bumping into the young Nascent Soul Realm Elder who had just stepped out of the meeting.

"G-Grand Elder Xuan?!"

"No need to be so nervous, I'm just here to look for Elder Song, you can just ignore me and continue what you were doing before."

"Y-y-yes! I-I will get going!" Fidgeting nervously with his hands, the young Nascent Soul Realm Elder didn't waste a second after hearing what Xuan Hao said and soon disappeared in the direction of one of the buildings filled with representatives from the different sects and other powers located across the Star Shattering Sect's territory.

"…"

Am I really that scary…?

Not knowing what to make of the reaction from the elder just now, Xuan Hao could not help wondering what had caused the elder to react like that. Hopefully, it had nothing to do with his appearance…

Crack~

Deciding not to think too much about it, Xuan Hao made his way into the meeting hall and was instantly met with the curious gazes of a little over thirty elders who had all at least reached the Nascent Soul Realm. In a sense, outside of the elders in charge of guarding the different branch sects, almost all of the important elders of the sect seemed to have gathered together inside the meeting hall.

"Am I interrupting something…?" Not having expected to be met with such a situation the moment he entered the meeting hall where he had sensed Elder Song's presence, Xuan Hao showed a somewhat awkward smile as he said this. Feeling quite embarrassed at having seemingly barged into some kind of important meeting between the higher ups of the sect.

"Xuan Hao! Haha, not at all, we were just in the process of making a few last-minute preparations for the upcoming meeting with the different sects and other powers inside our territory."

"Upcoming meeting? Is this perhaps related to the large number of unfamiliar people who are currently gathered at the sect?"

"Yes, they are all representatives from the different sects and powers inside our territory. Although… Most of these representatives are actually just the sect masters, family heads, ancestors and so on of these different powers."

Jumping forward to explain the situation before anyone else had the chance to do so, Wang Hu, who had been one of the original Nascent Soul Realm Elders in the Flying Sword Sect and had gotten along quite well with him, explained the matter in detail while at the same time making sure to dismiss his earlier worry of possibly having barged in during an important meeting.

"I see… So, that is why there are so many unfamiliar people inside the sect." Nodding his head in understanding as he muttered this to himself, Xuan Hao finally understood where the large number of people had appeared from. At the same time, he also took this opportunity to inspect the different elders of the sect.

Outside of Feng Chen, Shu Yao, and Elder Song, whom he would often interact with and had a far clearer picture of how they had been doing since the establishment of the Star Shattering Sect, the same could not be said for the rest of the elders, who he didn't really interact with.

For example, the two twin brothers, Wang Hu and Wang Lan had both managed to far surpass their earlier cultivation at the Third Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and were now both in the Seventh Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Far surpassing most other Nascent Soul Realm elders in the sect and even showing some promise of breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm in the future.

Other than them, there was also Chi Hu, that he had helped join the sect in the past, who had already managed to step into the middle stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Reaching the Fifth Stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Although not as big an improvement as the two Wang brothers, it was still far better than the average elder of the sect.

However, out of everyone present, the person who had made the biggest improvement was not any of the former elders of the Flying Sword Sect, but was instead an elder called Shen Xuefeng, who had originally been from the spring Flower Sect.

Although he had not seen her more than a few times, he was still taken aback when he saw her current cultivation base, Eighth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm!

Even when compared to his own disciples, her growth was not far behind and possibly even faster considering that it was harder to improve in the Nascent Soul Realm and his two disciples currently in the Nascent Soul Realm were still in the earlier stages of the realm.

Without a doubt, Shen Xuefeng would definitely be able to break through to the Domain Lord Realm in the future!

Feeling himself thinking about this, Xuan Hao could not help growing a bit more curious about the rest of the disciples of the sect. Wondering if there was anyone as talented as Shen Xuefeng, whom he had not discovered yet among them.

Maybe I should start doing public lectures for the younger disciples again, who knows, I might find myself another disciple if I'm lucky enough…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao turned his gaze away from the gathering of sect elders standing in front of him with curious expressions plastered all over their faces. Making it more than obvious that most of them were curious about why he had suddenly shown up inside the meeting hall all of a sudden.

"Ehm, I just wanted to know why so many unfamiliar people had shown up inside the sect during my short absence. No need to worry about anything, I will be taking my leave again." Not wanting to worry these elders into thinking he had shown up because something bad had happened, Xuan Hao hurriedly said this before making his way towards the doors that were still wide open. Not intending to stay around for any longer now that he had the answer to the question he had come for.

Although the person who answered him wasn't Elder Song whom he had originally come to ask, it didn't really matter as the outcome wouldn't have been much different- No… Thinking about it, if it was Elder Song answering the question, he would undoubtedly have been given a far longer explanation and would have ended up staying around for at least half an hour as he explained the reason and goals of the gathering…

As he thought about this, Xuan Hao secretly felt happy that Wang Hu had jumped out to explain the situation to him before Elder Song got a chance to do it. At least he saved a lot of time because of this-

"Wait up."

However, just as he was about to leave while secretly feeling happy that he didn't end up listening to a half an hour-long explanation of the goals and reason for the meeting, a familiar voice called out behind him. Making him come to a stop with one foot out the door.

"Elder Song… Is there anything I can help with…?" Feeling a bit reluctant to stay around and possibly get caught up in some kind of overcomplicated explanation of the political situation of the sect and the different powers under it, Xuan Hao could not help unconsciously swallowing his saliva as he turned around and did his best to calmly face Elder Song who had stepped forward and was currently smiling in his direction.

"Ah, Grand Elder Xuan, I know that you normally don't like participating in these kinds of meetings, but I think that it would be a good idea for you to participate in this one. Not only because of the importance of today's meeting, but also because I think it would be good for you to show yourselves to these sects.

After all, they have only heard about what you have done over the years and have never seen you in person. As one might say, it's hard to believe what others say and easier to believe what one sees in front of them. Hopefully Grand Elder Xuan has a bit time to spare for this occasion…" Dive into Stories, Embrace Enchantment: NvεlB¡n.

"… Sure…"

Hearing what Elder Song said, Xuan Hao felt a shiver run down his spine. Although Elder Song was far weaker than him and was nowhere near being a threat to him with his Nascent Soul Realm cultivation base, something in the way he was looking at him was far more terrifying than any of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm Experts he had faced back in the mystic realm…

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Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough #Chapter 1012 Grand Meeting Hall - Read Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough Chapter 1012 Grand Meeting Hall Online - All Page - Novel Bin

Chapter 1012 Grand Meeting Hall

"Haha, that is great! I'm sure everyone will be excited to learn that you are joining the meeting." Laughing happily after hearing Xuan Hao agreeing to participate in the meeting, Elder Song pretended like nothing had happened before signaling for one of the Core Formation Realm Elders standing guard close to the entrance of the meeting hall to prepare an extra seat for the meeting.

"…"

Seeing this, Xuan Hao could only let out a somewhat reluctant sigh as he made his way back into the meeting hall in the direction of Feng Chen and the rest of the elderly.

Considering that he was now going to participate in the meeting, he wanted to at the very least get a better understanding of what the meeting would be about. Even if he couldn't get an in-depth explanation given that it looked like the meeting was just about to start from what he could see, he at least wanted to know when it would be possible for him to sneak away without causing any commotion after his introduction.

"Well then, let's get going to the Grand Meeting Hall."

However, before he even had a chance to attempt a conversation with Feng Chen or any of the other elders present, Elder Song happily announced this before leaving together with the rest of the elders. Leaving Xuan Hao frozen on the spot for a short time before ultimately turning around to follow after Elder Song and the rest of the elders.

…

Following behind the rest of the elders as he caught up with Feng Chen, Shu Yao and Zu Fei who were walking somewhat in the back of the group of elders while chatting with each other, Xuan Hao managed to learn a bit more in-depth information on the meeting itself and what Elder Song hoped to archive with it.

At the same time, he also managed to learn that the Grand Meeting Hall mentioned by Elder Song was a brand-new building located at the base of the Seventh Star Peak with the sole purpose of serving as a place for the elders of the sect to meet with the representatives of the different sects, family clans and other powers inside the Star Shattering Sect's territory.

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After all, although it wouldn't be a problem to hold the meetings inside the main sect at the Seventh Star Peak at the moment, it would undoubtedly become hard to do when the size of the Star Shattering Sect's territory expanded to incorporate tens of thousands of smaller powers.

In a sense, even the Grand Meeting Hall that had been constructed at the base of the Seventh Star Peak was not a permanent answer to this future problem and could only be considered a temporary solution until a much larger facility for the management of the different powers got constructed in the growing city at the base of the Ninth Star Peak.

The main reason why the structure that would be used for the management of the different powers under the Star Shattering Sect would be located outside the Shattered Star Peaks was rather simple, as there would be a lot of people not from the Star Shattering Sect constantly moving around inside such a building. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

Although the Star Shattering Sect didn't really have to worry too much about enemy spies at the moment, as the sect didn't really have any real enemies targeting them inside the Sky Empire, this might not be the case in the future. Especially considering the fact that there was no way that the Star Shattering Sect would be limited to the border territory of the Sky Empire…

Well, considering that Elder Song is preparing to land a final blow on those large kingdoms, it won't be long before the Star Shattering Sect's territory borders the core region of the Sky Empire…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao could not help growing a bit nervous when he realized that the Star Shattering Sect might soon end up falling out with the Sky Empire.

Even if the large empire didn't care much for what power under them was in control of their border territory, they would undoubtedly start to worry when the entire northern border of their empire was suddenly under a single power that was also starting to expand into their core territory.

At that point in time, it would honestly be surprising if the Sky Empire didn't start to consider the Star Shattering Sect a hostile entity.

As for why he was feeling nervous about this even though his strength had already surpassed the ancestor of the Sky Empire, that was due to the existence of the three religions that existed in the capital of the Sky Empire.

Religions and sects had always been hostile to each other across in question had some degree of control over.

the continent for as long as history was recorded. Although the reason for this was attributed to different things, like the different cultivation paths, one preaching of serving a higher power, while the other wanted to go against the heavens that the higher power in question had some degree of control over.

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But this was far from enough for them to reach the current level of hostility that naturally existed between them. After all, those from the different kingdoms and empires also walked the path of cultivating the dao most of the time.

"Maybe they tolerate the kingdoms and empires because they can still gather faith from them, and their strength is not at a level where it threatens them.

From what little I actually know about the different religions on the continent, they might not be so friendly to the empires and kingdoms at the core of the continent who has cultivators above the Soul Ascension Realm…" Falling a bit to the back of the group as he muttered this to himself while gazing down towards the large building that had appeared at the base of the Seventh Star Peak, Xuan Hao could only to try and guess the reason behind the seemingly inherent hostility between the different sects and religions on the continent.

Maybe when he went to the core of the continent in the future, where the different religions were located, would he be able to find an answer to this question. At the same time, he might also get a chance to find out just how strong the gods that these religions preached about were. At least, he felt certain that they should have exceeded the Earth Immortal Realm.

Rustle~

Just at this moment, Shu Yao, who had been pushed away by an all too eager Zu Fei, who wanted nothing more than to use this precious opportunity to chat with Feng Chen, slowed down until she reached Xuan Hao.

Seeing Shu Yao suddenly appearing beside him, Xuan Hao turned his attention away from the future clash with the religions of the Sky Empire and instead turned to look curiously at Shu Yao, wondering if there was something she wanted.

"Hehe~ No need to look at me like that, I'm not going to bite you~"

"Ahm- Is there something I can help with?" Almost feeling himself choking at the sudden flirtatious comment, Xuan Hao awkwardly smiled as he asked this. Partly praying that she had not come to him just because she was bored and wanted to poke fun at him.

"Oh~? I do indeed have a little something that requires your assistance~" However, Shu Yao didn't listen to his inner thoughts as she teasingly asked this with a small smile on her face.

"… What is it…?" Not knowing what to do in this kind of situation, Xuan Hao could only let out an internal sigh before saying this. From what he had seen happen to Feng Chen or the other elders who had been targeted by Shu Yao when she wanted to tease someone, he understood that it would be best not to say anything and just go with the flow.

"Buuu~! You are no fun Elder Xuan!" Frowning visibly as she said this, Shu Yao quickly gave up on teasing him as her expression became a bit more serious compared to before. "Any way, I did want to ask you about something, the blue deer that you left me to take care of has grown quite a bit and I was wondering if you had any plans for it or intended for me to continue taking care of it.

Ah! I don't mean to say that I don't want to take care of it, it's just that it has grown quite a bit compared to before and I wanted to know if it would be fine for me to build it a bit more permanent home if I am to continue looking after it in the future."

"Huh? Blue deer- Ah! Yeah, you can continue to look after it!" Hearing what Shu Yao said, Xuan Hao froze for a short second before nodding his head in approval. Having briefly forgotten about the blue deer he had left in her care…

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Chapter 1013 Future of the Blue Deer and Speculations of the Different Powers

"Great, I was hoping for you to say that. Now that I think about it, I also think Zu Fei will be quite overjoyed over this news, as she won't have to guard her water lotuses against the blue deer after it gets a proper home." Smiling happily after hearing Xuan Hao's response, Shu Yao could still not help chuckling to herself after mentioning the unfortunate fate of Zu Fei's water lotuses.

"This…" Outside of the one time he had found Zu Fei trying to get the blue deer away from the water lotuses she had been growing inside the Qi Spring Lake, it looked like the blue deer had decided to visit the water lotuses a few more times after he had left for the mystic realm…

"Hehe~ No need to think too much about it, the number of water lotuses eaten by the blue deer over the past few months are negligible compared to how many little Zu Fei has grown. Not to mention, they helped the blue deer rapidly increase its strength in the Nascent Soul Realm and can be considered to have become quite sought after among the beast tamers of the sect because of this.

Now that I think about it, the water lotuses that was eaten by the blue deer are nowhere near the number of water lotuses that have been scheduled to go to the beast tamers when they are fully grown."

"…"

Hearing Shu Yao suddenly start defending the blue deer's action of obvious that she had grown attached to the blue deer during the time he had left it in her care.

stealing Zu Fei's water lotuses before he had a chance to say anything, Xuan Hao could only roll his eyes as he saw the expression on Shu Yao's face. Even from a single glance, it was obvious that she had grown attached to the blue deer during the time he had left it in her care.

Considering that he had now officially handed it over to her, he felt like he would be hearing more about the blue deer whenever he met her in the future. Not only that, but he also had a feeling that the blue deer might be able to break through to the Domain Realm faster than he had first expected with someone like Shu Yao taking care of it.

For some odd reason, he had a feeling that most of the water lotuses that Zu Fei seemed to have decided to give the beast tamers to help increase the strength of the sect's demon beasts would end up going to the blue deer. Thinking about it, it wasn't that bad of a thing, as the talent of the blue deer far surpassed any of the demon beasts under the care of the sect's beast tamers.

If it could break through to the Domain Lord Realm faster because of a constant supply of water lotuses, it wouldn't be considered a loss for the sect, the only people losing out would be the demon beasts who would originally have eaten the water lotuses that ended up going to the blue deer, but… All things considered; they should be able to get their hands on them again in the future after the blue deer had managed to reach the Domain Lord Realm…

The only thing that worried him slightly about this possible future arrangement, was the fact that the blue deer might not want to give up on the water lotuses after reaching the Domain Lord Realm. Even if their usefulness for its cultivation would become close to negligible.

But thinking a bit more about it, there was no way Elder Song, who was overseeing where all the resources inside the sect went, would allow something like that to happen.

Helping it reach the Domain Lord Realm faster might be tolerable to him, but gobbling up resources that would normally help increase the sect's strength for no reason was unacceptable!

"Hm? Already at the entrance?" Lost in his own thoughts as he continued moving down towards the Grand Meeting Hall, Xuan Hao suddenly heard a voice call out to him as he realized that he had already reached the entrance of the Grand Meeting Hall.

"Grand Elder Xuan, your seating spot is located close to the center of the Grand Meeting Hall together with the Sect Master, Grand Elder Shu Yao and a few other important elders." Coming up to him at this moment, a slightly older disciple that seemed to have just recently broken through to the Core Formation Realm and was currently standing guard at the entrance together with a few other disciples and elders, politely said this before pointing in the direction of a path heading towards the core section of the Grand Meeting Hall.

A short distance behind him, the other disciples who had been standing guard at the entrance were all looking over towards him enviously, as they obviously missed the chance to come over and talk with.

Am I perhaps more popular among the disciples of the sect than I first thought?

"Thank you." Thanking the Core Formation Realm disciple in front of him as these thoughts ran through his head, Xuan Hao suddenly realized that he was more popular among the sect's disciples than he had thought.

But then again, it was obvious that he would be popular among the disciples of the sect. After all, he was still the strongest person in the Star Shattering Sect… And given that cultivators strived to reach a higher realm, it was obvious that they would have a sense of curiosity and admiration towards the strongest person in the sect.

Looking more closely at the way that these disciples were looking at him, it suddenly became rather obvious that they were secretly hoping that he would take them in as his disciple and tell them about how they had some kind of hidden potential that could help their cultivation soar far above their peers…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao slowly made his way inside the Grand Meeting Hall together with the rest of the elders.

…

"Both of the Star Shattering Sect's Grand Elders are participating in the meeting!? Wasn't it said that Grand Elder Xuan didn't participate in the sect's internal management and focused all his attention on cultivating and training his disciples!?" Discover, Devour, Delight: NvεlB¡n.

"Yes… That is what we managed to learn about him from asking around among the disciples of the sect. Not only that, but apparently, he also recently stopped holding lectures over the past few months due to him focusing on training his disciples.

To be honest, I don't understand why someone like that would suddenly decide to participate in today's meeting. Even if it's an important meeting that will carve up the future territory of the Star Shattering Sect, there shouldn't be a need for- Ah! Unless…"

"Hm? Did you think of something, old man, you better share with the rest of us!"

Hmph! Calm down you stinking old fossil! The reason for the appearance of Grand Elder Xuan might have to do with the recent movements of the major kingdoms. Even if the Star Shattering Sect is far stronger than them, it is obvious that they have some sort of secret backing. The reason for Grand Elder Xuan's appearance at today's meeting might be because of this…"

"Indeed, but for it to require Grand Elder Xuan's appearance, I fear that the secret backing of these major kingdoms are far more powerful than we first expected…"

"Huh? Secret backing? How come I haven't heard about this before? But then again, if that is really the case, the appearance of Grand Elder Xuan makes sense… And did you just call me stinking old fossil?! Are you trying to pick a fight!?"

At the same time Xuan Hao and the rest of the Star Shattering Sect's elders made their way to the Grand Meeting Hall, the news of the meeting starting together with the news that Xuan Hao was going to participate in the meeting rapidly began to spread among the different representatives gathered together at the Seventh Star Peak.

Among which, the most popular opinion was that the appearance of Xuan Hao at the meeting had something to do with the secret backing of the major kingdoms.

After all, given that some of these sects and other powers had once been part of some of the major kingdoms that had already fallen to the Star Shattering Sect, it made sense that they had heard something about the secret technique and the fact that it had been provided by an outside force.

Even if they had no idea who this outside power was nor how strong they were, they understood that it would be the main force when it came to resisting the Star Shattering Sect's expansion into the remaining major kingdoms… And given that even the strongest elder of the sect had now shown up at today's meeting, these different powers could not help speculating about how strong this hidden power was to cause such a reaction from the Star Shattering Sect.

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Chapter 1014 Suspicious People~

The inside of the Grand Meeting Hall was made up of a single large chamber with a little over a thousand seating spots that formed a half circle centered around a few seats located at the front of the half circle. Among these seats, it was obvious that the one at the center was reserved for Feng Chen, the current sect master of the Star Shattering Sect, while the few seats located beside him should be for the important elders of the sect.

So, that is where I will be sitting…

Not knowing how to feel about the attention he would inevitably end up drawing because of this, Xuan Hao unconsciously glanced in the direction of Elder Song, who in return gave him a victories grin. Fully aware of the fact that it would be impossible for him to sneak away in the middle of the meeting without being noticed.

"Well played, old man…" letting out a sigh as he muttered this to himself, Xuan Hao gave up on his plan of trying to escape in the middle of the meeting.

At least, it could not be considered a total waste of time, as he would get an opportunity to get a better understanding of the sect's current state and the state of the different powers inside of its now rather large territory.

Rustle~

Not wasting any time after coming to this decision, he quickly made his way towards the most comfortable looking seat before sitting down and closing his eyes. Given that none of the representatives had arrived yet, it would likely still be some time before the meeting began. Time that could be used to try and figure out how he was going to improve his different professions after the meeting came to an end, the most important of which was Blacksmithing, as there was no way he wanted to end up in a situation where he wouldn't be able to help Bai Ning due to his own incompetence on the subject.

Like this, time slowly passed as the different representatives of the sects and other powers across the Star Shattering Sect's territory slowly made their way into the Grand Meeting Hall…

"Looks like everyone is here. Ehm! Everyone, welcome to the first official meeting involving the future distribution of the Star Shattering Sect's territory." As everyone had made their way inside the Grand Meeting Hall, Feng Chen got up from his seat and began the meeting.

"Given that the size of the territory has already grown to a degree where it will be hard to manage without the help of smaller powers like yourselves overseeing some of the less important areas of the territory, we of course want to ensure that you also get your share of benefits and…" First and most importantly going over the main objectives of the meeting that could be boiled down to finding out who would manage what inside the now much larger territory of the Star Shattering Sect.

Of course, the most important resources would still be controlled directly by the Star Shattering Sect, with the main focus of the meeting instead being on the smaller mines and spiritual herb fields that would be distributed among these smaller powers.

How boring…

Watching how Feng Chen began explaining the meeting followed by a heated discussion between the smaller powers starting as they tried to argue for why they would be the best choice for managing a certain resource spot, Xuan Hao could not help rolling his eyes in boredom.

Although he had already expected something like this to happen when he had first reluctantly agreed to join the meeting, he was still a bit disappointed that nothing more than a few discussions on resource management was what came up at the meeting. Even if he knew that this was something important for the future growth of the Star Shattering Sect, it didn't make it any less boring. This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

The only interesting thing was the occasional verbal fights that took place when two of the smaller powers were eyeing the same mine and neither wanted to give up on getting their hands on it.

Unfortunately, when something like that happened, Elder Song would be quick to step in and calm both parties down before coming up with a solution that helped both parties involved.

For the first time in a long time, Xuan Hao found himself wishing that Elder Song wasn't so good at these kinds of things. At least the meeting would have been far more entering if that was the case.

Rustle~

"Hm?"

Feeling the familiar sensation of something moving around inside his robe, Xuan Hao could not help glancing at his sleeve as a small fluffy head poked out.

"I almost forgot about you. Finally coming out of hiding? Don't cause any trouble in here!"

Squeak~!

Letting out a lazy squeak in response to his question, the rabbit demon beast who had fallen asleep inside his sleeve curiously began to examine its surroundings with interest.

Compared to the mystic realm that was filled with all sorts of exotic vegetation, forests, mountains and demon beasts, the current noisy room filled with humans who were all too busy discussing with each other was far from anything that the rabbit demon beast had ever seen before.

If not for the fact that Xuan Hao had given it a warning just now, it would already have jumped out of his sleeve to examine the humans in front of it. After all, it had already seen through their strength and understood that there was no way for them to fight against it.

Squeak?

Observing the humans for a few minutes without doing anything, the rabbit demon beast could not help turning its head up towards Xuan Hao before letting out a sound to catch his attention.

"Is there something wrong?" Not knowing what the rabbit demon beast wanted, Xuan Hao asked curiously as he turned his attention away from the ongoing discussion centered around a spirit stone mine that more than 10 of the smaller powers present wanted to get their hands on.

Squeak! Squeak, squeeeaaaak!

Not able to properly communicate due to the language barrier between a human and a demon beast, the rabbit demon beast could only try its best to explain what it wanted to say by moving around its small head and paws, while also trying its best to use the connection that had been established between them after the blood contract to convey the meaning behind these gestures.

"You mean to say that something is off about one of the people here?" Although he didn't fully understand what the rabbit demon beast wanted to convey to him through the elaborate movements, the blood contract at least allowed him to understand that the rabbit demon beast was trying to tell him that there was something weird about one of the people present in the Grand Meeting Hall on the side of the smaller powers who had shown up.

Squeak!

Nodding its small fluffy head in response to hearing what Xuan Hao said, the rabbit demon beast discreetly pointed its small fluffy paw in the direction of a small group of people located at the back of the Grand Meeting Hall.

"Hm?" Following the small fluffy paw in the direction of this small group of people, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he understood what the rabbit demon beast had meant with weird about someone in this group of people. More specifically, one of the people inside the group, that looked ordinary on the surface, had a clear problem with his cultivation base.

Although his cultivation base was outwardly showing as someone in the Eighth Stage of the Core Formation realm, upon clearer inspection, it became clear that this wasn't the true cultivation base of this person. In reality, the true strength of this person was somewhere around the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm!

However, the most surprising thing was not this, but the fact that he hadn't managed to notice this before it was pointed out by the rabbit demon beast, who clearly was far sharper than him when it came to spotting this person.

Or maybe it was just that the artifact that he was using to hide himself didn't take demon beasts into account. Making it easier for the rabbit demon beast to spot him compared to someone like himself…

No matter what, Xuan Hao understood that this person shouldn't have come with good intentions given that he was hiding his cultivation base and had snuck inside the Star Shattering Sect.

The only problem left was finding out just where this person had come from. For him to have access to an artifact that could even fool his senses… it was obvious that he belonged to some sort of powerful force, but where did this powerful force come from and what relationship did it have with the Star Shattering Sect?

Was it perhaps the mysterious force behind the appearance of the secret technique allowing the old Nascent Soul Realm Elders of the different major kingdoms to suddenly reach the Domain Lord Realm…?

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Chapter 1015 Mysterious Disappearance of the Snacks~

Observing the Fourth Stage Domain Lord Realm Expert that seemed to have snuck inside the Shattered Star Peaks together with the rest of the smaller powers participating in today's meeting, Xuan Hao began to turn his attention towards the people standing beside him. Hoping to find out what force he belonged to among the smaller powers, but upon closer inspection, he realized that the people standing beside the Domain Lord Realm Expert was not people. Instead, they were very well-crafted golems that imitated the appearance of what he could only guess to be a group of representatives from some of the smaller powers who had been invited to join the meeting.

As for the outcome of the people who had been replaced by these golems… Xuan Hao could only hope for their own sake that they had just not managed to reach the sect in time and the Domain Lord Realm Expert happened to learn about this and ended up taking advantage of this to sneak inside.

Now that I think about it, I might need to set up a few extra safety measures around the entrance to the sect to ensure that Feng Chen doesn't end up letting someone like this enter the sect by mistake again…

Shaking his head as he only now realized this obvious flaw with the chaotic qi formation protecting the Shattered Star Peaks, Xuan Hao could not help feeling grateful that it was only someone in the Domain Lord Realm who had managed to sneak inside.

If it was someone in the Soul Ascension Realm- Or maybe even the Earth Immortal Realm who managed to sneak inside, the situation would have been far worse. After all, although the power of the chaotic qi formation would not be affected and he could still use it to isolate the person who had forced their way inside, it would be far harder and would inevitably end up causing a certain level of damage to the sect as a result…

Squeak~

Seeing Xuan Hao had discovered the suspicious person, the rabbit demon beast let out a cute squeal before sneakily crawling over his arm and on to the desk in front of him where a small tray of snacks was located-

Whoosh~

And before anyone among the smaller powers or elders from the Star Shattering Sect had a chance to see anything, the snacks much to react like this… NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

"Hm? Where did the spirit flower cake go?"

placed on top of the table with Xuan Hao and the rest of the Star Shattering Sect's higher ups disappeared without a trace.

Among everyone present, only Xuan Hao noticed this happening…

"How troublesome…" Muttering this to himself as he glanced down towards the place on his robe where the hidden pocket that the rabbit demon beast had decided to make its home was located, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly at its behavior.

At one point, it was interested in everyone present and looked like it was about to jump out to examine them in person, while the next moment, it used all of its strength to dash forward and take away all the snacks on the table in front of him before escaping back inside his robe to hide away inside the hidden pocket where it then began to gobble down on the stolen snacks.

The proud and curious behavior from earlier had completely disappeared when faced with a few snacks. Even if they were made using spiritual fruits and other high-quality ingredients, it was a bit much to react like this…

"Hm? Where did the spirit flower cake go?"

At this time, the surprised exclamation from Shen Xuefeng could be heard beside him, as she discovered that the cake, she had just been in the process of eating had disappeared.

Different from the rest of the elders present among the higher ups of the sect, she was in a similar state of boredom like himself and had instead focused her attention on eating the snacks present on the table while ignoring the ongoing discussion. Leaving it to the more senior elders who were far more experienced than her.

"Wait… Where did the rest of the snacks go…?" For this reason, she was the first person to discover that not only her spirit flower cake, but all the snacks placed on the table had seemingly disappeared into thin air. The only thing left being the decorative flowers that didn't taste like anything and would be rather uninteresting to eat on their own…

"Is something wrong?" Sitting beside the young Shen Xuefeng, who was currently in a state of both confusion and sadness over the disappearance of the only thing that made the meeting bearable for her, Meng Lingxin, another elder from the former Spring Flower Sect who had also managed to become a core part of the Star Shattering Sect over the past few years, quietly asked her what was wrong. Not wanting to interrupt the ongoing discussion about the spirit stone mine that seemed to be about to reach a conclusion.

"The snacks disappeared! All of them! Gone!"

"Haaa… Didn't I tell you to eat in moderation earlier? I will call a few of the servants and get more…" Hearing what Shen Xuefeng said, Meng Lingxin could not help rolling her eyes as she said this before discreetly picking up a communication talisman to call for a few more snacks from the servants who were on standby throughout the Grand Meeting Hall.

"That is not what I mean, I didn't eat them! They disappeared on their own, like "puff" and they were gone all of a sudden!" Feeling that she was not taken seriously, Shen Xuefeng did her best to explain how she was not the one who had eaten the snacks and they had in fact disappeared on their own.

"Sure, sure…" Something that didn't sound the slightest bit convincing to Meng Lingxin, who just informed the servants on standby to bring out a few more snacks before turning her attention back towards the ongoing discussion. Although she was not participating in it herself, she was curious about who would ultimately end up getting this spirit stone mine. Mainly due to the fact that it would show which of these 10 smaller powers would end up with the highest chance of producing someone in the Nascent Soul Realm in the future.

"Hmph! Then I will just figure it out on my own!" Feeling quite offended, Shen Xuefeng decided to investigate the situation herself now that her big sister didn't believe her.

Whoosh~

Soon enough, she began to suspiciously glance around at everyone present among the Star Shattering Sect's higher-ups. Trying her best to find out who it was that stole her snacks and more importantly, who had the gall to steal her half-eaten cake!

"…"

Watching this happening, Xuan Hao had no idea how to explain the rabbit demon beast's actions to Shen Xuefeng. So, without thinking too much about it, Xuan Hao decided to ignore the matter and leave Shen Xuefeng to herself.

At least she had something to do now…

Whoosh~

Turning his attention back on to the Domain Lord Realm Expert who had snuck inside the sect, Xuan Hao directly used his divine sense to carefully examine him without being noticed. Trying his best to find anything that might help in figuring out where this person had come from.

"Nothing…?"

However, after thoroughly searching him with his divine sense for a little over five minutes, Xuan Hao could not help frowning to himself.

Be it the interspatial ring that he had hidden inside his pocket or small teleportation talisman that he was hiding in his right hand for an emergency escape, there was nothing on the Domain Lord Realm Expert that helped him in understanding his identity or where he had come from.

On the other hand, it only made more questions appear, as the teleportation talismans hidden in his hand were not something that someone in the Domain Lord Realm should be able to get their hands on. Even if they had reached the Peak of the realm!

With his understanding of the Dao of Space, he could tell that the teleportation talisman was far more powerful than a simple short distance teleportation and should have the power to directly teleport a distance that was equivalent to the entirety of the Sky Empire when activated.

Of course, this was considering that it didn't encounter any obstacles in its path. Given that this Domain Lord had already entered the chaotic qi formation, there was no way for him to escape even if he activated the teleportation talisman.

In the end, this was also one of the main reasons why Xuan Hao didn't feel a need to make a move to catch him immediately- With the chaotic qi formation around, where could this person escape to? Even someone in the Soul Ascension Realm would be unable to break through the chaotic qi formation, let alone someone who had only reached the Domain Lord Realm.

A small teleportation talisman would make no difference, as the formation also sealed the space to prevent someone from just teleporting inside the Shattered Star Peaks.

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Chapter 1016 End of the Meeting

With all of this in mind, Xuan Hao decided to just quietly observe the Domain Lord Realm Expert as the meeting continued without any interruption. Intending to wait for him to reveal anything that might point towards who was behind him and more importantly, give him a chance to find out why this power had suddenly decided to target the Star Shattering Sect for seemingly no reason.

Rustle~

Outside of the rabbit demon beast occasionally leaving his robe to look for more snacks and further confusing Shen Xuefeng, who had no idea where her snacks went, nothing out of the ordinary happened during the rest of the meeting and the different locations with resources was distributed among the hundreds of smaller powers present. The most notable of which was a rather large spirit stone mine that went to a sect called the Gold Fortune Sect.

The Gold Fortune Sect could be considered a relatively new sect that had emerged under rather similar circumstances to the Star Shattering Sect, with two different sects merging together. Instantly allowing this new sect to propel itself to become one of the strongest subordinate sects under the Star Shattering Sect. Boasting a total of two elders in the Nascent Soul Realm, with one of these Nascent Soul Realm Expert even having reached the Seventh Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Now that they would be supported by a large spirit stone mine, it should allow their strength to reach a new level. Maybe even allowing the Seventh Stage Nascent Soul Realm Expert to reach the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Of course, these benefits were mainly a way for Elder Song to try and secure the loyalty of these smaller powers and show off the benefits they could receive in the future. After all, if not for something like this, there was no way a large spirit stone mine would have been given to one of these smaller powers to manage.

"…. And this marks the end of the meeting. In the future, we plan to construct a new building in the city below the Ninth Star Peak where the main management of the territory will take place. After its construction is done, it's expected that each of you will send a representative there."

Listening as Elder Song as the meeting officially came to an end with all of the new and future resources that would be available after the fall of the remaining major kingdoms were dispersed among these smaller powers to manage, Xuan Hao continued to keep his eye on the Domain Lord Realm Expert who had remained hidden in the back of the Grand Meeting Hall without saying anything during the entire meeting.

The only thing he did during the meeting was control some of the golems to join the discussion and win over a few mines and spiritual fields for the sects that the golems were disguised as. Outside of this, he only listened to the conversations taking place. Making Xuan Hao even more curious as to what reason this person had to sneak inside the Star Shattering Sect.

After all, the information on who got their hands on what resources would be relatively easy to gather after the end of the meeting and didn't hold any real significance when it came to the Star Shattering Sect's battle against the different major kingdoms.

At most, the information could be used to sabotage some of the resource spots mentioned before these smaller powers could get their hands on them, but doing something like this would at most delay things for a bit and wouldn't do any real damage to these smaller powers, let alone the Star Shattering Sect.

"Xuan Hao! Thank you for joining today's meeting. Hehe, look over there, quite a few of those smaller sects are awed at your presence and looks quite satisfied having seen all the higher ups of our sect today." Interrupting his train of thought, one of the two Wang brothers, Wang Hu, happily walked over as he said this while pointing towards some of the people making their way out of the Grand Meeting Hall while constantly turning around to glance in his direction filled with awe.

Indeed, like Wang Hu said, another reason why these different smaller powers had shown up was not only due to resources that they could get their hands on but was also to see the people who were now essentially in control of them and their territory. Among which, all of them wanted to catch a glimpse of Xuan Hao, who was considered the strongest person in the Star Shattering Sect.

Not only because they felt curious about him, but also because they wanted to ensure that none of their disciples or elders ended up accidentally offending him in the future. After all, different from someone like Elder Song or Shu Yao, who were active outside the sect and were easy to identify, Xuan Hao never appeared outside the sect… And when he did appear for a short period of time, like when dealing with the powerful demonic cultivators at the border of the Azure Sky Kingdom, he would disappear just as fast. Not giving anyone enough time to get a proper look at him.

Because of this, many of these smaller powers thought that only by entering the Star Shattering Sect did they have a chance to catch a glimpse of this illusory Grand Elder of the Star Shattering Sect… And having understood this, Elder Song had ended up making Xuan Hao join the meeting to satisfy the curiosity of these smaller powers that would now be working under them.

Similar to these smaller powers, Elder Song didn't want an incident where someone from these smaller powers ended up doing something stupid that would end up offending Xuan Hao. Not because he cared that much about these smaller powers, but because he didn't want to deal with the aftermath that would come following one of these smaller powers being destroyed by someone who was an elder of the Star Shattering Sect. At the moment, he already had enough work to do…

"Wang Hu… I have something to do, so I will be taking my leave first."

"Huh? Not staying around for the-"

Whoosh~

Not waiting for Wang Hu to finish his sentence as he noticed the Domain Lord Realm Expert who had snuck inside the sect making his way out of the Grand Meeting Hall, Xuan Hao directly stood up and teleported out of the Grand Meeting Hall before hiding himself with his domain as he silently followed the Domain Lord Realm Expert who beelined directly for the Ninth Star Peak where the path out of the Shattered Star Peaks was located.

This could be considered the first time that he did something different from the rest of the smaller powers, who were all staying around the outskirts of the Grand Meeting Hall chatting with each other about the meeting and discussing the future together.

Of course, more important than this, was the fact that none of them wanted to leave the Shattered Star Peaks due to the rich qi present everywhere that made it far easier to cultivate. If these experts from the different smaller powers really had the chance, it was doubtful whether or not they would want to return to their sect again after experiencing the wonderful effect of the chaotic qi formation…

Needless to say, Xuan Hao didn't care too much about these smaller powers who just wanted to increase their own strength.

Swish~!

"Hm? He turned around?"

Continuing to follow behind the Domain Lord Realm Expert who had been making his way towards the Ninth Star Peak in a relatively relaxed manner that didn't arouse any suspension from any of the disciples or elders walking along the path as well, Xuan Hao was taken aback when the Domain Lord Realm Expert suddenly turned around and headed back in the direction of the Seventh Star Peak. This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

However, different from before, he had now completely hidden himself with some kind of artifact that made it hard to notice him. Even with his cultivation base at the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm!

Not only that, but the golems disguised as representatives from some of the smaller powers had been absorbed back into the interspatial ring of the Domain Lord Realm Expert. Making it seem like he had already left the sect in case anyone asked about his presence in the future.

Hehe, I wonder what you are up to…

Not at all feeling uneasy at this turn of events, Xuan Hao instead felt a bit excited about this turn of events. After all, from the behavior of the Domain Lord Realm Expert, it was obvious that he was about to show him why he had dared to sneak inside the Star Shattering Sect… And with the chaotic qi formation around, he didn't have to worry about him escaping nor causing any sort of trouble for the elders and disciples of the sect.

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Chapter 1017 Fifth Star Peak...?

As the Domain Lord Realm continued moving back towards the Seventh Star Peak where the main sect was located, Xuan Hao narrowed both of his eyes as he drew upon the power of the chaotic qi formation to separate the Domain Lord Realm Expert from the area around the Domain Lord Realm. Ensuring that he would not be able to do any damage to the sect or the disciples and elders wandering around just below the Seventh Star Peak.

Whoosh~

However, contrary to the possible attack that he had expected to happen, the Domain Lord Realm Expert completely ignored the Seventh Star Peak and flew straight past it before heading deeper inside the Shattered Star Peaks. Not even bothering to make sure that no one had spotted him. Although, this was likely due to him feeling confident in the artifact being able to hide from Shu Yao and Feng Chen.

Not only that, but he also felt confident that he could avoid him…

Haaa… Talk about overconfidence…

Shaking his head as he thought about this while following behind the Domain Lord Realm expert who continued moving deeper inside the Shattered Star Peaks without showing any signs of stopping, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if the Domain Lord Realm Expert had accidentally thought about him as someone similar to Feng Chen and Shu Yao, who had both only just recently broken through to the Domain Lord Realm. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

If the Domain Lord Realm Expert had really calculated his cultivation base to be somewhere around the earlier or possible middle stages of the Domain Lord Realm, it meant that he didn't have some kind of powerful identification artifact on him.

On the other hand, it could also just be the fact that his aura wasn't that much different from someone in the Domain Lord Realm if he didn't use his dao domain, which might have resulted in a misunderstanding…

Well… No matter what it is, it's a fact that he didn't notice me and showed no signs of even suspecting that his artifact didn't work.

Watching as the Domain Lord Realm Expert reached the Sixth Star Peak, Xuan Hao decided not to think about this matter any longer and instead focused his full attention on trying to figure out what this Domain Lord Realm Expert was planning to do.

After all, he couldn't have just entered the Star Shattering Sect for an opportunity to enjoy the view of the towering Star Peaks in person. If that was really the case, Xuan Hao felt like he would have to seriously question the intelligence of the person he was following and also the people who had supplied him with so many rare and precious artifacts.

Whoosh~

However, just like the Seventh Star Peak, he completely ignored the Sixth Star Peak and continued deeper inside the Shattered Star Peaks in the direction of the Fifth Star Peak.

Thump~

Only after reaching the base of the fifth Star Peak did, he finally come to a stop before starting to slowly make his way up the Fifth Star Peak.

"Oh? Looks like he has finally come to a stop, but what could he want from the Fifth Star Peak? The only thing there is a lake that agitates the surrounding chaotic qi…" Noticing that the Domain Lord Realm Expert finally coming to a stop before he started making his way up the Fifth Star Peak, Xuan Hao could not help muttering this to himself as he curiously followed behind the Domain Lord Realm Expert as he slowly approached the peak of the Fifth Star Peak where the lake was located.

Although almost the entirety of the Shattered Star Peaks had been covered by the chaotic qi formation at this point in time, there were still a few places that it did not yet cover, either due to certain limitations, or the fact that the formation was not powerful enough to cover certain parts of the Shattered Star Peaks, like the Main Star Peak.

And among these different special places, the top of the Fifth Star Peak was one of the places that had not been covered by the chaotic qi formation yet. The main reason for this being the fact that the lake's effect of agitating the surrounding chaotic qi made it harder for the chaotic qi formation to absorb the chaotic qi and in turn would just end up destabilizing the chaotic qi formation if it was included.

Not only that, but Xuan Hao also felt a certain level of fear that the lake wouldn't just agitate the chaotic qi after being integrated by the chaotic qi formation, but that it would also start to agitate the normal spiritual qi inside the chaotic qi formation. Not something that would be beneficial to the sect nor himself, who relied on the rich and calm qi present inside the chaotic qi formation to cultivate.

As he was going through his own thoughts, the Domain Lord Realm Expert who had been making his way up the Fifth Star Peak finally reached the top of the mountain and began smiling happily after seeing the lake located at the top of the top of the Fifth Star Peak.

"To think it's still here…" Not letting go of the smile that was now covering his face, the Domain Lord Realm Expert remained fully focused on the lake in front of him as he said this. Making Xuan Hao, who was still observing him in secret, narrow both of his eyes in surprise. After all, from what the Domain Lord Realm Expert just said, it was obvious that he knew about the Fifth Star Peak and had been there in the past.

Even if the Star Shattering Sect had only been around for a few years at this point in time and the Shattered Star Peaks had been relatively easy to enter in the past when it had been regarded as nothing more than a place to harvest a few lower quality spiritual herbs or a place to go for the final attempt to reach the Nascent Soul Realm, the place had still been under the management of the Flying Sword Sect for hundreds of years before this!

Although it would be impossible to detect a Domain Lord Realm Expert entering the Shattered Star Peaks back then, he really doubted that this person only came to visit the lake at the Peak of the Fifth Star Peak.

Splash~!

And as if to prove him correct, the Domain Lord Realm Expert took out a small strange metal object from his interspatial ring before throwing it into the lake-

Rumble~

Not a second later, the entire Fifth Star Peak started trembling. Although not violent, it was still more than enough to be felt by anyone present inside the Shattered Star Peaks and might even have affected the area surrounding the Shattered Star Peaks to a certain extent.

Swish-!

Of course, Xuan Hao didn't want this to happen, so he quickly acted before the effects from the Fifth Star Peak's sudden violent behavior had a chance to spread throughout the Shattered Star Peaks and beyond, sealing up the entire area around the Fifth Star Peak with the help of the chaotic qi formation. Not forgetting to ensure that the Domain Lord Realm Expert didn't notice anything odd happening in the process.

However, even if I hide it like this and he can't sense me, he will undoubtedly start growing suspicious after not seeing Feng Chen and Shu Yao show up… After all, with such a large event taking place, they should show up quickly to investigate the origins of the sudden earthquake.

Narrowing both of his eyes even further as he thought about this, Xuan Hao kept his full attention focused on the Domain Lord Realm Expert still standing at the shoreline of the lake filled with anticipation as he looked at the place where he had thrown in the few weird objects earlier.

Different from the somewhat panicked reaction that he expected the Domain Lord Realm Expert to show after realizing that Shu Yao and Feng Chen, two Domain Lord Realm Experts, should have noticed him by now, he was instead filled with excitement as he remained fully focused on the lake in front of him. Seemingly waiting for something to happen.

Splash~! Splash~!

Rumble~

It was at this moment that something emerged from the depths of the lake.

Soon, it became obvious that the thing in question that had emerged from lake, was some sort of spiral staircase surrounded by some sort of strange white rock leading straight down into what he could only describe as some sort of structure that had managed to remain hidden under the surface of the water filled to the brim with chaotic qi.

"I have to inform master about this!"

Swish-!

Not at all caring about Xuan Hao's surprise at the sudden realization that there was some sort of structure hidden beneath the lake of the Fifth Star Peak, the Domain Lord Realm Expert didn't waste a single second after seeing the spiral staircase before turning around and rushing in the direction of the exit out of the Shattered Star Peaks.

Most likely in anticipation of Shu Yao and Feng Chen showing up at any moment.

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Chapter 1018 Blue Sea Empire

Bang!

However, before the Domain Lord Realm Expert had a chance to leave the Fifth Star Peak, an invisible barrier suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked his path. Not only that, but he could also clearly feel a similar barrier all around him that was slowly becoming smaller with each passing second.

"This- Where did this barrier come from!?" Panicking at this sudden unexpected development, the Domain Lord Realm Expert froze for a short moment in front of the barrier before realizing his current dangerous situation-

"I have to get out of here!"

And without wasting a single second after coming to this realization, he directly chose to use the precious teleportation talisman that he was still holding on to in case he was caught with no way out.

Riiip~!

The moment he used the teleportation talisman, the space around him was violently torn apart before a powerful suction force emerged from torn space. Dragging the Domain Lord Realm Expert inside before the barriers surrounding him had a chance to capture him, allowing the Domain Lord Realm Expert to just barely escape.

"Hah… That was close…" Feeling a sense of relief upon feeling himself shuttling through space far away from the Shattered Star Peaks, the Domain Lord Realm Expert felt himself relax as he understood that there would be no way for anyone in the Star Shattering Sect to chase after him after he had used the teleportation talisman.

Even if there was someone who could trace the direction of the teleportation talisman, due to the distance that it covered, he would be long gone by the time someone from the Star Shattering Sect appeared.

"But… What was that just now? Did the formation covering the Shattered Star Peaks perhaps get activated just now?" Feeling reassured about his own safety after convincing himself that there was no way for the experts of the Star Shattering Sect to chase after him, the Domain Lord Realm Expert could not help muttering this to himself as he looked back in the direction of the Shattered Star Peaks.

Although the only thing he could see was the black empty void that seemed unchanging even as he moved through it at a terrifying speed, a shiver still ran down his spine when remembering how close he had been to getting caught just now.

If not for the fact that he had the teleportation talisman, he would undoubtedly have been caught just now!

When I return and tell master about this, I have to thank him for the teleportation talisman…

Thinking about this as he remembered how he had told his master how he didn't need something precious like a teleportation talisman when infiltrating a small sect located at the border of a low tier empire, he could not help feeling a sense of embarrassment.

In hindsight, his master had been right in giving him the teleportation talisman, as the small border sect in question turned out to be far stronger than he had first expected upon hearing about it from his master.

Riiiip~!

"Looks like this is as far as the teleportation talisman takes me…" Feeling the space around him start to shake violently as a bright light appeared in front of him from a tear leading out of the empty black void, the Domain Lord Realm Expert could not help muttering this to himself as he understood that the teleportation talisman had run out of power and couldn't transport him any farther.

Whoosh~

Not a second later, he passed through the tear in space in front of him and found himself inside a small forest. Not too far away, a few deers could be seen looking over towards him filled with both surprise and terror.

"A normal forest without any demon beasts? This really is a low tier empire… Hah… Whatever, I should return to master as soon as possible!" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself, the Domain Lord Realm Expert didn't think too much about the place he had appeared in and pulled out a small compass artifact before flying in the direction that the compass was pointing towards.

Unaware that, a few minutes earlier when he had first activated the teleportation talisman, Xuan Hao had decided to follow after him to try and find out more on the power behind him. Able to follow along the path that had been carved through the void by the teleportation talisman before it repaired itself.

After all, travelling a distance equal to the entire Sky Empire in a few minutes was not something that was doable for Xuan Hao at the moment with his current comprehension of the Dao of Space. Maybe in the future, but for now, doing something like that would still take a few hours considering he also had to avoid certain dangerous areas due to not having learnt any form of long-distance teleportation yet.

Whoosh~

Appearing just a few seconds behind the Domain Lord Realm Expert who had already run away, Xuan Hao curiously examined his surroundings.

"I wonder where I ended up…" Muttering this to himself as he used his divine sense to get a better grasp of where he had ended up, it did not take long to find out that his current location was somewhere just outside the Sky Empire's border located in the opposite direction of where the Star Shattering Sect was located.

If I'm not wrong, this should be the Blue Sea Empire…

Not taking too long to figure out what empire he had ended up inside of, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine as he remembered what little information, he had managed to learn about the Blue Sea Empire in the past.

Different from the Sky Empire that could be considered among the worst empires present on the continent, the Blue Sea Empire was a truly powerful empire that stretched far into the core of the continent and could even be considered to be one of the most powerful empires. Discover, Devour, Delight: NvεlB¡n.

However, the main thing that the Blue Sea Empire was famous for was not its strength, but the massive inland sea located at the center of the empire. The inland sea was by far the largest body of water on the Ewaria Continent and was also the main reason why the Blue Sea Empire was powerful to begin with, as the inland sea contained countless treasures and other resources that had helped the empire reach its current position.

In a sense, a powerful empire like this should not have shared its borders with a small empire like the Sky Empire located at the edge of the continent, but it just so happened that a large river connecting the inland sea to the ocean ran straight through a large part of the Sky Empire, causing this small empire to end up sharing its borders with this far more powerful empire.

Even with his current strength at the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he wouldn't be considered among the strongest inside such a powerful empire that undoubtedly had experts in the Earth Immortal Realm…

"But… Why is someone from such a large empire sneaking into the Shattered Star Peaks?" Muttering this to himself as he glanced in the direction that the Domain Lord Realm Expert was escaping in, Xuan Hao could not help feeling even more confused as to what the identity of this Domain Lord Realm Expert was.

At least he was sure that it shouldn't be someone too powerful inside the Blue Sea Empire, as there would have been no way someone like that would have bothered to have someone sneak inside a sect located at the border of a low tier empire like the Sky Empire.

Or maybe there is some kind of internal struggle taking place…

Smiling wryly as he thought about this, he sincerely prayed that he and the Star Shattering Sect wouldn't end up getting caught up in some sort of power struggle taking place inside the Blue Sea Empire.

Although he had already been caught up in the power struggle of the Sky Empire to some extent, it wasn't a problem due to the fact that his current strength outstripped anyone else in the Sky Empire.

"Haaa… I'm worrying too much about this, I haven't even confirmed that he is really someone from the Blue Sea Empire yet…" Stopping himself before he could continue along this train of thought, Xuan Hao turned his attention back towards the Domain Lord Realm Expert who was continuing deeper inside the Blue Sea Empire without slowing down in the slightest.

For now, he had to decide on whether he should continue secretly tailing behind him or just capture him now before he had a chance to make it any farther inside the Blue Sea Empire.

After all, for all he knew, the master that the Domain Lord Realm Expert had mentioned to himself, could very well be someone in the Earth Immortal Realm… And if that was the case, he would be in trouble…

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Chapter 1019 Blue Sea Empire Border Guard

I'm already inside the territory of the Blue Sea Empire and this is still far away from the core where the powerful experts should be residing, it won't hurt to follow the Domain Lord Realm Expert for a bit longer and see if I can get a better idea of his identity…

Continuing to look in the direction that the Domain Lord Realm Expert had disappeared in as he thought about this, Xuan Hao ultimately decided to continue following him deeper inside the Blue Sea Empire. In any case, he was indeed far away from anywhere important where there might be someone in the Earth Immortal Realm present.

At most, he expected to encounter someone in the Soul Ascension Realm patrolling the border between the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire. After all, the difference between the two empires was like that of a small lizard crawling on the ground and a majestic dragon perched on top of a large mountain.

No matter how the Blue Sea Empire looked at an empire like the Sky Empire, they posed no threat to it and didn't warrant any powerful experts guarding their only existing border with this kind of weak empire who at most had a handful of Soul Ascension Realm Experts present inside of it.

Swish~

Just as he decided to follow the Domain Lord Realm Expert deeper inside the Blue Sea Empire instead of catching him immediately to try and get as much information out of him as possible, the sound of something cutting through the air heading directly towards him could be heard across the small forest that he now found himself inside of.

"Hm? Someone is here…?" Narrowing both of his eyes visibly as he realized that the sound came from someone rushing towards him, Xuan Hao prepared himself for battle. After all, for the other party to have noticed him faster than he could notice him, it was obvious that the other party should at least have reached the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Maybe even stronger than that!

Rumble~

Not a second after Xuan Hao had prepared himself for a possible fight, a middle-aged woman dressed from head to toe in a heavy armor landed on the ground a few hundred meters in front of him, destroying the surrounding trees and other small plants in the process.

"What is your purpose for entering the Blue Sea Empire? Anyone in the Soul Ascension Realm and above are required to register before entering!" Not wasting a single second after landing on the ground as she said this, the woman looked like she was just about to draw the large heavy sword on her back to cut him down… And if he didn't give her a satisfactory answer, he didn't doubt that this would happen…

"Greetings, I'm someone from the Sky Empire and just happened to enter the territory of the Blue Sea Empire by accident when following behind someone who broke into my abode and used a teleportation talisman to escape when discovered. If I'm not wrong, you should have also sensed the Domain Lord Realm Expert who appeared here a few seconds before me." This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Not at all wanting to take any chances and lie to this person who was very likely the person from the Blue Sea Empire in charge of guarding this part of the large empire's borders, Xuan Hao decided to just tell her the truth. In any case, he was sure that she wasn't with the Domain Lord Realm Expert he was chasing.

If that was the case, he highly doubted she would have bothered to talk with him in the first place and he would most likely be locked in a deadly fight right about now…

"Hm… Teleportation talisman…?" Muttering this to herself as she thought about what he said for a short moment, the woman's eyes didn't leave him for even a second as she examined him from head to toe at the same time.

"Hah… If that is the case, I understand that you wouldn't be able to register before crossing the borders of the Blue Sea Empire. Not to mention, I did indeed sense a spatial abnormality earlier and saw the little fellow you mentioned…

For now, I can look past the transgression of entering the Blue Sea Empire unregistered. However, I will have to register you and make sure of your identity if you want to continue chasing after the little fellow you are chasing." Saying this after having thought things through, the woman relaxed her guard ever so slightly.

"Thank you! What would you need for me to register myself?" Feeling a sense of relief that he didn't have to fight the woman who had clearly reached the pinnacle of the Soul Ascension Realm, Xuan Hao retracted part of his dao domain to show that he didn't mean any harm.

As for registering with the Blue Sea Empire? He didn't really think too much about it, as there would be a lot of people entering the Blue Sea Empire at all times and he could always give a false identity instead of his real identity. At most it would result in the person possibly behind the Domain Lord Realm Expert discovering some links between a powerful expert entering from Sky Empire and the death of the Domain Lord Realm Expert.

Considering that he planned to use a false identity, this wouldn't end up affecting the Star Shattering Sect and had a higher chance of affecting the Sky Empire who would have to bear the burnt of this powerful expert possibly showing up to investigate the matter by himself.

After all, the current Star Shattering Sect was still located around the border of the Sky Empire, and it would still be some time before it started expanding into the core territory of the Sky Empire… And when that happened, he should have been able to become strong enough to face off against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm!

"Good, I will ask you a few questions and you just have to answer them. After this, I will register your aura to make sure you don't end up changing your identity in the future and cause trouble inside the Blue Sea Empire!" Feeling relieved that Xuan Hao was so cooperative, the middle-aged woman covered in armor from head to toe also let out a sigh of relief as she said this before walking over to him.

Although she hadn't shown it outwardly, she had also been on edge ever since she saw Xuan Hao who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere a few thousand kilometers inside the Blue Sea Empire. Not only because of his sudden appearance, but also because she couldn't see through his strength.

Considering that she herself had already reached the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm, this could only mean one thing… Either he was also someone at the peak of the Soul Ascension Realm or he was someone who had reached the Earth Immortal Realm!

No matter what it was, it was not someone she had wanted to fight if she could avoid it. In turn, this was also the main reason why she didn't just directly attack Xuan Hao when he had first appeared so far inside the Blue Sea Empire. After all, standard procedures would have her kill anyone daring enough to enter the Blue Sea Empire above the Domain Lord Realm without first registering with the border guard stationed at the countless small checkpoints all around the Blue Sea Empire's borders.

"First of all, you are from the Sky Empire…"

Family, independent power like a sect, Explorer Union-"

"Explorer Union, my title in the Explorer Union is Bright Sword." "Yes."

"Okay, what power do you belong to in the Sky Empire? Imperial Family, independent power like a sect, Explorer Union-"

"Explorer Union, my title in the Explorer Union is Bright Sword." Not planning to give away his identity as someone from the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao instead decided to make use of his identity from the Explorer Union.

Although he had never used this identity since the time, he needed to find the spiritual herb required to awaken Qing Yi's special physique, it was indeed a real identity that there weren't any mistakes with.

As for him not having used the identity more than once and the Explorer Union only having Bright Sword registered as someone either in the Core Formation Realm or Nascent Soul Realm… This didn't matter to Xuan Hao. After all, what did the Explorer Union's mistaken information have to do with him?

"Hm? Explorer Union? Haaa… I see, now I just need you to place your hand on this artifact and your aura will be officially registered. If you do anything to harm the Blue Sea Empire, we will find you!" Nodding her head as she took out a strange looking artifact in a somewhat threatening manner, the middle-aged woman signaled for him to put his hand on the strange artifact and let it register his aura.

Whoosh~

Not intending to fight her, Xuan Hao did as he was told and placed his hand on top of the strange artifact. Allowing it to absorb part of his aura.

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Chapter 1020 Secret Outpost

Placing his hand on top of the strange artifact, Xuan Hao felt part of his qi being drawn out-

Sizzle~

However, after part of his qi had been drawn, the artifact started making a weird sizzling sound similar to that of boiling water before part of the artifact lit up for a brief moment. After which the middle-aged woman extracted a small note from the side of the artifact that she began to read through in silence. This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

"…"

Not knowing anything about how this artifact worked nor what was written on the small note that the artifact had just spit out for the woman in front of him to read, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit uneasy. Wondering if there had been any problem with his registration just now.

"Hm… From the looks of it, everything is in order, and this is the first time you have been inside the blue Sea Empire. Unless you snuck inside at some other point in time. Oh well, everything seems to be fine, so I will be on my way. Have a good time hunting down that little fellow. Given that he is only someone in the Domain Lord Realm, he shouldn't have managed to escape too far away over our short conversation.

Ah! A slight warning for you, the Blue Sea Empire is not only a place for the different powers that exist under the Blue Sea Empire but is also a major trading spot for a lot of other powerful forces. Make sure that the little one you are chasing is not from one of these forces… And if he is, I would recommend not leaving any traces behind. At the very least, I can confirm that he does not belong to anyone from the Blue Sea Empire."

"Thank you for the reminder, I will keep it in mind."

"Good, I will take my leave then."

Swish~

Jumping into the air after she had made sure everything was in order, the middle-aged woman at the pinnacle of the Soul Ascension Realm disappeared into the distance. Although someone like Xuan Hao was rare to encounter, he was far from the only person who ended up crossing the border without first registering at the border guard.

Boom~!

Hearing the audible explosion that echoed out not too far away in the direction that the border guard had just disappeared in, it was quite obvious that one of these people trying to sneak inside had met a rather quick demise. Different from the preferential treatment he had ended up receiving, a clear benefit of having a high enough cultivation that the border guard wouldn't just kill him without asking any questions…

If I entered some of the more guarded areas deeper inside the territory of the Blue Sea Empire where Earth Immortal Realm Experts are present, I would most likely have ended up being attacked first as well…

Shaking his head as he thought about this while looking in the direction where the explosion had occurred just a few seconds earlier, Xuan Hao jumped into the air before moving the direction that the Domain Lord Realm Expert had escaped in.

Although he had managed to run out of the range covered by his divine sense, it was not too hard to chase after him, as he had still left quite a few traces behind during his escape. Not to mention, he thought that he was safe now and didn't know that anyone was chasing after him. Meaning that he left behind even more traces than he would have done if he knew someone was right behind him.

Whoosh~

"Hm? What is he doing?"

Catching up with the Domain Lord Realm Expert in less than five seconds, Xuan Hao could not help showing a somewhat confused expression on his face as he watched how the Domain Lord Realm Expert in question had come to a stop at the edge of a small ravine cutting through a small forest.

Did he discover me?

Only able to think about this as he watched how the Domain Lord Realm Expert didn't do anything and had seemingly given up, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if one of the many artifacts that he carried might have detected him. Resulting in the Domain Lord Realm Expert giving up on escaping.

After all, he should know very well that he stood no chance of escaping from someone with Soul Ascension level strength without any teleportation talisman with his current cultivation realm.

"Haha! Found it!" However, not even a few seconds later, the Domain Lord Realm Expert proved his worries wrong as he jumped in joy over something before jumping into the small ravine filled with excitement. Making Xuan Hao momentarily question if something was wrong with him, as he had not noticed anything out of the ordinary about the small ravine.

The only thing out of the ordinary about the ravine was the fact that it was not a natural ravine and should instead have been created as a result of a battle between powerful cultivators in the past. Likely someone who had tried to cross the borders of the Blue Sea Empire without registering and had promptly been dealt with…

"Huh?"

However, as he watched the Domain Lord Realm Expert pass through the solid ground at the bottom of the small ravine, Xuan Hao could not help showing a dumfounded expression on his face.

Whoosh~

Calming down as he realized that he might be stepping into a rather dangerous situation, Xuan Hao used his divine sense to thoroughly analyze the bottom of the ravine in detail. Making sure to also use his dao domain to further enhance his divine sense.

"A concealment formation? And one powerful enough to even fool someone at the like me…" Only after doing all of this, did he realize that the bottom of the ravine was covered in an extremely powerful concealment formation. Even after knowing that it was there, he could still not look through it and could only barely analyze the surface of the formation. Making him once again realize the importance of improving his understanding of formations.

Swish~

Hesitating for a short moment above the concealment formation that the Domain Lord Realm Expert had disappeared inside, Xuan Hao stopped hovering above the ravine and focused all of his strength on creating a protective shield around his body. Allowing gravity to take hold of him as he plunged into the ravine-

Swoosh~

Soon passing through the concealment formation. Finding himself inside a large underground space that was lit up by countless small crystals covering the sides of the underground space. Allowing him to see the dozen or so buildings below him filled with people moving around in a panic as they carried some kind of special crystal towards a large formation located at the center of the buildings.

"Hm? A teleportation formation?" Looking closer at the formation located at the center of the buildings at the bottom of the ravine, it did not take more than a single glance for him to realize that it was a teleportation formation.

Not only that, but the teleportation formation was by far the most complicated one he had seen. Even the teleportation gate that he had found inside the small territory of the Half Spirit Race was at most comparable to this teleportation formation in terms of complexity. Meaning that the distance covered by the teleportation formation in front of him should be leading to somewhere outside the Blue Sea Empire. Maybe even leading directly to the core territory of another major power of the central region of the Ewaria Continent!

From the looks of things, it was obvious that this was a secret outpost that had been created inside the Blue Sea Empire by the power behind the Domain Lord Realm expert… And now, this secret outpost had switched their full attention towards gathering the required materials to activate the teleportation formation and send the Domain Lord Realm Expert away from the Blue Sea Empire.

"At least the strongest person here is only at the First Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm and has not yet noticed me…" Muttering this to himself as he observed the people below running all over the place, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes.

No matter what, he could not allow the Domain Lord Realm Expert to escape again. After all, if he followed after him like he did before, he might very well end up facing someone in the Earth Immortal Realm!

RUMBLE~!

As he thought about this, he no longer bothered hiding himself any longer as his aura violently exploded out in all directions.

"Wha-!? What is that!?"

"Who!?"

"Don't tell me… The Blue Sea Empire found us!?"

At the same time his aura spread out, all sorts of panicked screams could be heard from below as the people running all over the place began panicking. All of them thinking that they had been discovered by the Blue Sea Empire, as they started rushing towards the teleportation formation in an attempt to activate it before it was ready and get away from the outpost before it was too late.

None of them were thinking that the person who had shown up was not someone from the Blue Sea Empire...

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Chapter 1021 Heavenly Dragon Temple

"How did the Blue Sea Empire mange to discover us now of all times- Wait… Is it perhaps because of that person!?"

"Yeah! The Blue Sea Empire just so happened to discover this place shortly after that guy entered and made us prepare the teleportation formation, I'm sure he knew he was being chased by someone from the Blue Sea Empire and wanted to escape before the other party caught up!"

"Hmph! This damnable core disciple, he really wants to take advantage of his position and leave us all to die!"

"Hm? Maybe the person from the Blue Sea Empire is only after that guy. If we hand him over, we might have a chance to escape this situation alive!"

"Huh? Indeed… What you say makes sense, maybe this senior is generous enough to let us escape alive if we hand over that damnable core disciple!"

As Xuan Hao had fully revealed himself and was about to kill the people below and catch the escaping Domain Lord Realm Expert for information, a large number of people below, who had been preparing the teleportation formation and were trying their best to escape, suddenly turned around and focused their attention on the escaping Domain Lord Realm Expert.

"Wh-what are all of you looking at!? Hurry up and activate the teleportation formation so I can get out of here! I have important information that I need to hand over. None of you can afford the price if my master doesn't get this information!"

Feeling the clear hostility from the surrounding people, the escaping Domain Lord Realm Expert could not help lashing out, as he reminded them about how his master was going to punish them if he learnt about anything happening to him.

"""…"""

However, unfortunately for the escaping Domain Lord Realm Expert desperately trying his best to get them to activate the teleportation formation and send him away from the Blue Sea Empire, none of the people listened to him-

"I will ensure that he doesn't cause any harm, Hou and Ling, you two will be in charge of restraining him…"

Instead, the expert at the First Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm stepped forward and said this while signaling to two Peak Domain Lord Realm experts.

"Y-you! You can't do this! I'm a core disciple, my master will- mhhh!"

Considering that there was a clear difference in strength between the three people and the so-called core disciple, he was easily restrained by the three. Not only that but given that none of them wanted to listen to his complaints and curses, one of the Domain Lord Realm Experts quickly pulled a rag hanging out of one of the nearby building windows and stuffed it into his mouth. Making sure to use part of his power to ensure that the rag wasn't destroyed or spit out.

Whoosh~

Not wasting any time after this, the expert at the First Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm grabbed the flailing core disciple desperately trying to free himself and flew up towards Xuan Hao who was watching the entire thing play out with interest.

"Senior, I hope you will let go of us, we are all from the Heavenly Dragon Temple and don't mean any harm. The reason we are here in the Blue Sea Empire is just for some basic information gathering on who enters and leaves the Blue Sea Empire from this part of your border. Nothing more!" Not giving Xuan Hao a chance to say anything, the Soul Ascension Realm Expert did his best to explain that they didn't do anything that would harm the Blue Sea Empire and at most observed who was entering and leaving the Blue Sea Empire.

Although this would still be something that the Blue Sea Empire would undoubtedly crack down on. Especially considering that they had essentially done this without informing the Blue Sea Empire about their presence, it was still something that could be forgiven if the power behind this operation was strong enough that even someone like the Blue Sea Empire had to be cautious of them.

The Soul Ascension Realm Expert also banked on the fact that he was from one such power and the fact that he had willingly handed over the core disciple and informed him about what he and the rest of the people here had been up to.

"Hm? The Heavenly Dragon Temple?"

Not knowing anything about the Heavenly Dragon Temple that the Soul Ascension Realm Expert had just mentioned, Xuan Hao decided to take advantage of the situation and put on a thoughtful expression.

Even if he had already ensured that his identity couldn't be tracked back to the Star Shattering Sect, it would be far better if these people ended up thinking that someone from the Blue Sea Empire was behind the entire thing.

Given that the Heavenly Dragon Temple should be a force strong enough that even the Blue Sea Empire had to take them seriously, it would make sense that he let these people go back and spread this news to the rest of the Heavenly Dragon Temple to ensure their own innocence in the disappearance of this core disciple. In turn, this would also end up washing away any suspicion that might end up being directed towards a small fringe sect like the Star Shattering Sect or someone from the Sky Empire being behind the disappearance of the core disciple.

Not only that, but it was doubtful whether or not this Heavenly Dragon Temple would even dare to ask the Blue Sea Empire about this matter. After all, one of their secret outposts inside the territory of the Blue Sea Empire had just been found.

Thinking about it, it might be better for the Heavenly Dragon Temple to try their best to bury this matter in case the Blue Sea Empire showed up for an explanation regarding this secret outpost located inside their territory…

"I understand, I will look the other way regarding this little outpost and hope you and your friends below will leave the Blue Sea Empire immediately!" Nodding his head sternly after having pretended to seriously think this matter through for a minute, Xuan Hao grabbed the terrified core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

Different from the rest of the members from the Heavenly Dragon Temple present, he had clearly recognized Xuan Hao as one of the two Grand Elders of the Star Shattering Sect. Unfortunately for him, he had no way to convey this to the Soul Ascension Realm Expert who was jumping with joy after hearing that they had been allowed to leave alive.

"Thank you! Thank you senior! We will leave this place immediately!" Not wasting any time as he was overcome with happiness, the Soul Ascension Realm Expert quickly descended towards the people nervously waiting below before giving all of them the good news… And before long, all of them rapidly began to pack away everything inside the secret outpost. No longer caring about the core disciple or what would end up happening to him. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

In their eyes, this core disciple was the reason why they had been found by the Blue Sea Empire in the first place, so it was only fair that he paid them back by ensuring that they could leave alive…

"Well… That was easier than I expected." Muttering this to himself as he looked down at the people from the Heavenly Dragon Temple below, Xuan Hao turned his attention back towards the core disciple who was now hovering in the air a few meters away from him. "Now, why don't we go somewhere a little more private and have a chat?"

"Mmmh!"

Showing an even more terrified expression on his face after hearing what Xuan Hao said, the core disciple fully understood that there was no way for him to escape his current situation. Even if he tried to use the Heavenly Dragon Temple to threaten Xuan Hao, he understood that it was of no use given that the Heavenly Dragon Temple would think the Blue Sea Empire were the ones who had taken him away.

As for how Xuan Hao had even managed to chase after him when he had essentially crossed through the entire Sky Empire and entered the borders of the Blue Sea Empire? The question didn't even cross his mind, as he was far more focused on trying to come up with a way to escape alive from his current situation.

Regrettably for this core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, there was no way Xuan Hao was going to let him go knowing his identity.

Doing something like that would inevitably end up attracting the ire of the Heavenly Dragon Temple. Not to mention, he still had no idea why this core disciple of such a powerful force had suddenly snuck into the Shattered Star Peaks to visit the Fifth Star Peak.

The only real clue he had was the weird ruin that had revealed itself after the core disciple threw something into the lake at the top of the Fifth Star Peak. Unfortunately, even if he wanted to investigate the ruin more, it had snuck back below the surface of the lake just a short time before he chased the core disciple to the Blue Sea Empire.

"Hopefully this guy will give me a little more information on that ruin…" Muttering this to himself as he glanced at the terrified core disciple one last time to make sure he didn't have some kind of special artifact that would allow him to escape, Xuan Hao grabbed him by the neck before caring him out of the secret outpost at the bottom of the small ravine.

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Chapter 1022 Interrogation

Flying out of the secret outpost together with the terrified core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple, Xuan Hao found a small, isolated spot at the base of a nearby mountain to land before carving out a small cave where he could question the core disciple about his reason for breaking into the Star Shattering Sect without anyone coming to disturb him in the process.

"W-what do you want to do!? The Heavenly Dragon Temple isn't going to let you go after doing something like this to a core disciple and- Mmmh!" Hearing the core disciple start complaining loudly without showing any signs of understanding his current situation, Xuan Hao put the rag back into his mouth and prevented him from continuing to threaten him with the might of the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

Although he thought that this core disciple might have figured out that there was none coming to avenge or search for him after his disappearance due to the fact that the people back in the secret outpost going back and informing the rest of the Heavenly Dragon Temple that someone from the Blue Sea Empire had taken him away- Or maybe he had already realized this and intend to remain silent to the end…

"How troublesome… I'm only going to ask you this once, what is the reason you broke into the Star Shattering Sect? Was your goal only to find that ancient ruin at the Fifth Star Peak or did you also have some other goal for entering the Star Shattering Sect?" Removing the rag once again after he had finished talking, Xuan Hao penitently gazed down at the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

Different from before, the core disciple didn't start cursing and threatening him like he had done before. Instead, his eyes darted back and forth between Xuan Hao and the exit of the cave as a struggling look appeared on his face.

Although he understood that there was no way Xuan Hao would let him escape given that he knew about his identity as someone from the Star Shattering Sect and would undoubtedly tell his master and the rest of the Heavenly Dragon Temple about what had happened, he still found himself hesitating.

"You… Can you ensure that I can leave alive if I tell you why I broke into your sect…?"

In the end, the fear of death was simply far too terrifying for a core disciple of a major power who had never really been in any real life and death situation before today.

"Sure, but I hope you understand that I will put a few restrictions on you to ensure you don't end up causing trouble to the Star Shattering Sect in the future." Nodding his head with a slight smile on his face in response to what the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple said, Xuan Hao didn't mind agreeing with his request of being able to leave alive. In any case, he was still someone in the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he had more than one way to ensure that he wouldn't end up implicating him in the future.

For now, the most important thing was to learn why someone from a powerful force like the Heavenly Dragon Temple had suddenly decided to send someone to the borders of a small empire like the Sky Empire.

"Thank you senior!" Understanding that Xuan Hao had no reason to lie to him in his current situation, the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple was overcome with joy upon hearing him agree on him leaving alive. Even if he understood that all sorts of restrictions would end up being placed on him as a result of this, it was still far better than being killed.

Not to mention, after he returned to the Heavenly Dragon Temple, he could always ask his master to help him undo the restriction. After all, he highly doubted someone from a backwards empire located at the edges of the continent to be more powerful than his master, one of the pillars of the Heavenly Dragon Temple!

"No need to waste time, the sooner you finish, the faster you can leave."

"I understand senior. Ehm… First off, the reason why I entered the Star Shattering Sect was to investigate the state of the ruins located at the Fifth Star Peak and see if they were about to open up. After all, the ancient protective formation placed on those ruins far exceed the Earth Immortal Realm and is not something that can be dealt with by someone in the Earth Immortal Realm… And, from my investigation, it looks like the ruins were indeed about to open up.

Outside of this, I also ran into some people before entering the Star Shattering Sect who asked me if I could gather some information about the strength of the Star Shattering Sect. Normally, I would never do something like this, but the people who asked me already knew about my identity and had also reached the Soul Ascension Realm.

Although I could escape by using the teleportation talisman my master gave me, I decided not to and agreed to help them. After all, if I used the teleportation talisman before even entering the Star Shattering Sect, I would have failed my master's mission…" Going quiet after he finished saying this, the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple nervously fidgeted with his hands as he looked towards him filled with fear.

Even if he had gotten Xuan Hao's word that he would spare him if he told him the reason for him entering the Star Shattering Sect, he didn't fully believe that Xuan Hao would allow him to leave alive. After all, if he could think of his master helping him with the restrictions, so could Xuan Hao…

"Hm… I understand, do you know anything about the ruins on the Fifth Star Peak?"

"N-no… My master never told me anything other than the fact that the ruins once belonged to a powerful ancient sect from the past." Shaking his head fearfully as he instantly responded to Xuan Hao's question, the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple began feeling even more nervous about his fate compared to before. This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

"Haaa… Do you know anything about the people who asked you to investigate the strength of the Star Shattering Sect? Given that they had reached the Soul Ascension Realm, you should at least have some impression of them." Shaking his head in disappointment after hearing the answer from the core disciple, Xuan Hao instead decided to try and ask about the group of people who had stopped him before he snuck inside the Star Shattering Sect.

All things considered. Finding out who these people were was far more important than the ancient ruins about to open at the Fifth Star Peak.

Not only did they clearly sound hostile to the Star Shattering Sect from the task they had given to the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, but they were clearly also powerful enough to know about a power like the Heavenly Dragon Temple, someone that he had never heard about inside the Sky Empire before today.

Maybe they are the people behind the secret technique spreading among the different major kingdoms… But why would someone like that target the Star Shattering Sect? Is it perhaps related to the ancient ruins about to open up at the Fifth Star Peak?

As he thought about all of this, the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple nervously looked at the visible frown on his face and understood that he might not be able to leave the Blue Sea Empire alive if he didn't come out with any useful information-

"S-senior… Although I'm not certain about the identity of those people, I might have an idea…"

For this Reason, he could only use everything he had. Even if his master was going to kill him personally if he found out…

"Hm? Go on…"

"Thank you senior… The people who recognized me and asked me to investigate the strength of your sect might also be related to my Heavenly Dragon Temple…"

"Also related to the Heavenly Dragon Temple? What do you mean?" Not knowing what to say when he heard that the group of people causing trouble for the Star Shattering Sect in the Sky Empire might be related to the Heavenly Dragon Temple as well, Xuan Hao could not help showing a confused expression on his face as he asked for the core disciple to clarify what he meant.

"To be more precise, I think they are part of a special group trained by my master outside the supervision of the Heavenly Dragon Temple. My presence here to investigate the Fifth Star Peak might not have been to help my master learn about the state of the ancient ruins at the Fifth Star Peak but should be a rouse to mislead the rest of the elders from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

If I'm not wrong, my master should have wanted to falsely show me that the ancient runs were nowhere near opening and have me report this back to the rest of the sect, just… He miscalculated and didn't account for a powerful sect like the Star Shattering Sect to appear and occupy the Shattered Star Peaks before he could set any of his plans into action…"

"This…"

Listening to what the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple said, Xuan Hao could not help freezing on spot as he realized that things were far more complicated than he had first expected. Not to mention, it looked like he wouldn't be able to avoid the Heavenly Dragon Temple…

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Chapter 1023 "Punishment" From the Blue Sea Empire

Letting out a somewhat frustrated sigh as he realized that he would still have to deal with the Heavenly Dragon Temple, Xuan Hao could not help silently hoping that the master of this little core disciple in front of him ended up getting held up by the other elders of the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

After all, from the information he had managed to gather so far, it seemed like this little core disciple's master was up to something that didn't align with the overall interests of the Heavenly Dragon Temple. Even going so far as to nurture a force of his own outside the Heavenly Dragon Temple…

"Hopefully the Heavenly Dragon Temple will continue to be chaotic for a few more years until I become strong enough to face off against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself, Xuan Hao turned his attention back towards the fearful core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

Even if he had given him his word that he would not kill him, it was rather obvious that this core disciple didn't trust his words and had partly come to terms with the fact that he might not be able to return to the Heavenly Dragon Temple alive.

"No need to look at me like that. If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead." Rolling his eyes as he said this in response to the terrified core disciple already prepared for death, Xuan Hao didn't Following this, he forcibly infused his qi into his body and effortlessly broke through any defense around his dantian.

wait for him to say anything, as he made his way over and placed his hand on top of the core disciple's head before he had a chance to say anything.

Whoosh~

Following this, he forcibly infused his qi into his body and effortlessly broke through any defense around his dantian.

"Here it is…" Finding what he was looking for after his qi flooded the dantian of the core disciple, Xuan Hao didn't hesitate as his qi entangled itself with the panicked nascent soul inside the dantian-

Crack~

And before the core disciple had any time to realize what was happening, he applied pressure on the nascent soul and the dantian, causing the dantian to show signs of fracturing while the nascent soul was completely destroyed in the process. Only leaving behind a small bit of the core disciple's soul. Rendering the Domain Lord Realm cultivation base of the core disciple completely useless, as his strength fell all the way to the Core Formation Realm.

Although this did not end up killing the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, it essentially crippled his cultivation together with the memories he had accumulated ever since forming his nascent soul. Only leaving behind incomprehensible fragments of his life after having reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

In a sense, he was left in the same state as he had been when he had been at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm. The only clear difference was the fact that his physical body was far stronger than someone in the Core Formation Realm and made him close to invincible against anyone below the Domain Lord Realm.

In the future, he would also be able to reach the Domain Lord Realm again more easily, as it was only a matter of recovering his lost cultivation base.

The only real permanent damage that he sustained from this, was the damage caused to his soul after his nascent soul had been destroyed… And the fact that a large chunk of his memories had been destroyed.

"Huh? W-where am I- Who are you!?" Seeing the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple slowly recover as he looked around himself filled with confusion as he called out to him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit bad about what he had done, but… Considering the strength of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, this was the only way he could ensure that his identity didn't leak out if he decided to keep the core disciple alive!

"I'm a border guard from the Blue Sea Empire, you are a core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple and was found to have created a secret outpost inside the borders of the Blue Sea Empire. In return, you were interrogated, and your life was sparred, but… Offending the Blue Sea Empire does not come without punishment!

You are free to leave and return to the Heavenly Dragon Temple, but! Make sure to inform them that there won't be a next time!" Putting on a stern expression filled with killing intent as he said this to the terrified core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, Xuan Hao didn't bother staying around for any longer, as he left the small cave after saying this.

As for what happened to the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple who was now missing a large chunk of his memories… That had nothing to do with him, he had already upheld his part of the promise to let him leave alive, whether or not he made it back to the Heavenly Dragon Temple again had nothing to do with him.

…

"Huh!? I actually managed to become a core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple!? But… Blue Sea Empire? Punishment? Just what happened and where am I…"

Only waking up from his dazed and terrified state half an hour after Xuan Hao left, the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple felt an overwhelming sense of shock at what he had just learnt. After all, from what he could remember, he had just set out to prepare for the deadly entrance tests of the Heavenly Dragon Temple and was nowhere near being one of the legendary core disciples he had only ever heard of before.

As for the Blue Sea Empire that the terrifying person just now had mentioned… He had absolutely no idea about it.

"For now, I should get out of this place. Maybe if I go to the Heavenly Dragon Temple, I will be able to find out what happened and how I ended up in this place…" Muttering this to himself as he looked out the small cave towards the forest located at the base of the mountain, the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple felt that this was the only reasonable course of action, as he took a step forward and began his journey down the mountain.

Picking a random direction to walk in, as he had no idea where the Heavenly Dragon Temple was located or where to find it. Not to mention, he was clearly inside some sort of powerful empire that didn't seem to fear the all-encompassing Heavenly Dragon Temple he had grown up learning about as the strongest power in the world.

…

"Wait! Isn't that the core disciple that the senior from the Blue Sea Empire took away earlier!? What happened to him? Why is his aura so weird…?"

"Huh? Ah! You are correct! But… What will happen to us now that the core disciple is still safe and sound!? Won't he tell on us to the higher ups!?"

"AH! You are right! But we can't do anything about this by ourselves, let's inform the captain first and have him deal with the situation…" This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Not too long after the confused core disciple had made his way down the mountain, he was accidentally spotted by a few of the people from the secret outpost, who were making last minute preparations before leaving the Blue Sea Empire.

Luckily for the confused core disciple, the two of them didn't dare to attack a core disciple by themselves, so they rushed back to get the Soul Ascension Realm captain in charge of the secret outpost and have him deal with the situation.

"What!? That core disciple is still alive!?"

In the end, when they arrived back at the secret outpost and informed their captain, he didn't wait a second before rushing out to confirm things for himself. After all, if the core disciple really did survive and made it back to the Heavenly Dragon Temple and informed the elders about what happened, he and the rest of the people in the outpost would be as good as dead!

"Huh?"

However, after seeing the core disciple in person, he quickly realized something was wrong… And after a thorough examination, he realized that the core disciple had his nascent soul destroyed. Erasing most of his memories in the process.

Although this could be considered as mercy from the side of the Blue Sea Empire, it was still an incredibly cruel punishment.

"But… This way, I don't have to worry about explaining the death of a core disciple to the elders. Not to mention, he won't ever be able to recover the memories of what happened! Hah… I don't know whether or not to thank the person from the Blue Sea Empire for this…" Muttering this to himself after realizing the situation, the captain went forward and picked up the confused core disciple before he had any time to react and brought him back to secret outpost in the process of being dismantled.

At least, he now had a way to defend himself from any severe punishment from the elders…

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Chapter 1024 Blue Sea Empire's Eight Immortals

Having left the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple to fend for himself after having made sure that he would not be able to pose any threat to the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao made his way back in the direction of the Sky Empire.

Although he had entered the Blue Sea Empire by mistake and was curious about it, he did not plan to stay around and explore it. After all, who knew when he would end up running into someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.

Not to mention, the Blue Sea Empire was also a gathering place for other powerful forces according to the border guard he had encountered. Meaning that he would most likely not only have to worry about encountering the Earth Immortals from the Blue Sea Empire, but also the Earth Immortals from these different powers.

Whoosh~!

However, just after leaving the mountain with the core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple still in a state of confusion, Xuan Hao froze on the spot as someone was rapidly approaching his current location. Not only that, but from the speed alone, it was obvious that this person was someone in the later stages of the Soul Ascension Realm!

"Wait… Isn't that the border guard from earlier?" As the person entered the range of his divine sense, Xuan Hao could not help showing a surprised expression on his face as he recognized the person as none other than the woman who had stopped him just a short time earlier. Not only that, but from the panicked look on her face, it was clear that something unexpected had happened.

Noticing Xuan Hao at the same time that he saw her, the border guard's eyes shone briefly as she said this before making her way over towards him.

"Is there anything I can help with…?" Not knowing why, she had suddenly decided to approach him, Xuan Hao could not help asking this in a somewhat cautious manner. Not wanting to end up getting involved in anything troublesome, just as he was about to leave the Blue Sea Empire and make his way back into the Sky Empire.

"No, but I recommend that you leave this place as fast as possible. If I can, I would recommend you follow me to the nearest city, we will be far safer moving together compared to alone." Shaking her head before saying this, the border guard was just about to grab him to drag him along with her to escape in the opposite direction of the Blue Sea Empire's border with the Sky Empire-

Whish~

"First of all, what happened to cause even a border guard from the Blue Sea Empire to run away like this?" However, Xuan Hao easily dodged her before asking the question that had appeared the moment, he saw her rushing in his direction.

Even if she was just a border guard of the Blue Sea Empire, she was still someone at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm. For her to run away like this… it was obvious that something serious had happened.

"I don't have enough time to explain, but to make a long story short, one of those damnable ancient demon beasts sleeping all across the waters of the Blue Sea Empire seems to be awakening, I have already informed my superiors about this, and someone will be here to deal with this in at most a few minutes.

If you are not aware of what I'm talking about, just know that the weakest of these demons are in the Earth Immortal Realm! Now, let's get out of here before it's too late!"

Whoosh~!

Not wasting any time after finishing her rapid explanation of what was happening, the border guard used all of her strength to escape in the opposite direction of the border. Although she would be safer if she was together with Xuan Hao due to them possibly being able to resist the awakening demon beast in question for a few seconds, she didn't want to waste too much time explaining things to him.

"This…" Realizing the seriousness of the situation that he suddenly found himself inside of, Xuan Hao could not help feeling even more certain about his earlier decision of leaving the Blue Sea Empire as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, for now, it looked like he wouldn't be able to leave the Blue Sea Empire for the time being…

As for trying to teleport past the ancient demon beast in the process of waking up… He didn't really want to risk his life on whether or not the demon beast in question had the ability to catch up with him.

Swish-!

In the end, he decided to go with the far safer option, that was, following after the border guard and hiding in the city that she mentioned until her superiors showed up to deal with the ancient demon beast. In any case, she had said that they would be there in at most a few minutes, so he didn't really worry too much about being stuck inside the Blue Sea Empire for a long period of time due to this.

Not to mention, if the fight ended up dragging on, he could always try and return to the Sky Empire through some of the other empires connected to the Blue Sea Empire who also happened to share a border with the Sky Empire.

"Hm? Decided to escape as well. Good decision!" Seeing Xuan Hao catch up to her, the border guard nodded her head happily as she said this through her divine sense while they continued rapidly moving deeper and deeper in the Blue Sea Empire.

Soon enough, a massive city many times larger than the capital city of the Sky Empire came into view.

The city was located at the banks of a massive river that seemed to go on forever, while a wall more than a dozen meters tall surrounded it. On closer inspection, these walls were covered in all sorts of ancient symbols that seemed to make up some kind of massive formation covering the entire city. Not only that, but Xuan Hao also felt a terrifying aura erupt from the center of the city the moment they saw it.

RUMBLE-!

Not a second later, the origin of this terrifying aura shot up from the city before rushing past both of them in the direction of the borders. Only allowing him to catch a glimpse of the person who the aura belonged to.

Just who was that? Someone in the Earth Immortal Realm? But that person was clearly far stronger than the cloud demon beast…

Feeling an intense shock at the display of power, Xuan Hao could not help turning around to look in the direction that the mysterious person had disappeared in.

Deep down, he was wondering if he would have been able to escape alive if that person had targeted him just now… And in the end, he could only helplessly shake his head in defeat. Even with the help of his Dao of Space comprehension, he had yet to master long distance teleportation and would undoubtedly be caught before he had a chance to escape from the other party. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

In a sense, this was the first time that Xuan Hao had encountered someone who was far stronger than himself and also had the ability to catch up to him, something that only made him want to leave the Blue Sea Empire even more than before…

"Looks like Senior Peng decided to make a move himself. Looks like the awakened demon beast is stronger than expected…" Different from Xuan Hao who was thinking about how to leave the Blue Sea Empire as fast as possible, the border guard was looking in the direction of the mysterious person filled with a sense of both awe and respect.

"Senior Peng?" Catching on to the fact that she knew the other party, Xuan Hao curiously turned to ask the border guard looking like a young maiden in love as she stared fixedly in the direction that the mysterious person had left in.

"Ha!? You… You don't know Senior Peng!? Senior Peng is one of the Blue Sea Empire's Eight Immortals! An exalted existence that even Earth Immortals have to look up to! Not only that, but Senior Peng also-"

Seeing that Xuan Hao had no idea about the identity of the person who had just flown past them just now, the border guard proudly introduced him. Unaware of the fact that Xuan Hao had no idea what the Eight Immortals of the Blue Sea Empire was.

"…"

In the end, the only thing he managed to gather from the fan girl like behavior that the border guard suddenly decided to engage in during the last bit of their journey to the city, was the fact that Senior Peng was someone who had surpassed the level of ordinary Earth Immortals.

Other than that, he also learnt a lot more useless information about this Senior Peng, like the type of food he enjoyed and where he liked to cultivate…

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Chapter 1025 Leaving for the Sky Empire

Arriving in front of the gate leading into the massive city, it did not take long before one of the guards stationed at the gate recognized the border guard and came running over.

"Senior! Why are you here!? Did something happen at the border?"

"Yes, an ancient demon beast began to awaken below the surface of the main river that runs through parts of the Sky Empire."

Listening in on the conversation between the two as they began to discuss what had happened and how long it would take to resolve now that this Senior Peng had taken action to deal with the ancient demon beast, Xuan Hao realized that he would at least have to stay in the Blue Sea Empire for a few days. Unless he decided to risk trying to pass through the place where the battle between the ancient demon beast and the expert from the Blue Sea Empire was likely about to start.

Or I could go through one of the adjacent empires…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao decided to leave the border guard to do her own thing and made his way inside the massive city.

Even if he didn't intend to stay in the Blue Sea Empire, he was still curious about the difference between a large empire like the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire.

In the end, he ended up spending the next half hour wandering around the entrance of the city browsing the different shops filled with all sorts of artifacts, spiritual herbs and other rare materials that would normally be hard to find inside the Sky Empire. Not only However, different from any of the other branches of the Explorer Union that he had seen inside the Sky Empire, this branch only that, but he also ended up stumbling on a branch from the Explorer Union located close to the entrance of the city.

However, different from any of the other branches of the Explorer Union that he had seen inside the Sky Empire, this branch only specialized in selling different potions and pills made by alchemists.

After chatting with one of the store clerks, he also managed to learn that it was not the main branch inside the city but was just one of countless smaller branches of the Explorer Union Branch inside the city and was only in charge of selling different items and products related to alchemy.

Other than that, he also found out that the main branch of the Explorer Union inside of the city was guarded by someone in the Earth Immortal Realm. Making him once again realize just how big the difference between a place like the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire was.

Although he was only at the borders of the Blue Sea Empire, he had somehow already managed to encounter a place with two people in the Earth Immortal Realm… And that was not mentioning the fact that one of these two people had apparently surpassed the level of an ordinary Earth Immortal. Not that he had any idea what that even meant in the first place, as he was still rather unfamiliar with the Earth Immortal Realm…

"It really is no wonder that the Blue Sea Empire is considered one of the strongest on the entire continent…" Muttering this to himself as he left the small branch of the Explorer Union, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a profound sense of fear after realizing just how strong the Blue Sea Empire was.

Not because he felt fearful that the Blue Sea Empire would do something to him, but because he realized that the Heavenly Dragon Temple should be around the same level as the Blue Sea Empire in terms of strength.

Even after reaching the Earth Immortal Realm, he doubted that he would be able to do anything to such a terrifying existence. Meaning that he needed to find some way to protect himself and the Star Shattering Sect in case the Heavenly Dragon Temple decided to attack before he had a chance to become strong enough to resist them.

At least, for now, he wouldn't have to deal with the entire Heavenly Dragon Temple and just had to worry about the possible Earth Immortal Realm elder who clearly had some kind of plans for the ancient ruins at the Fifth Star Peak. Not that it was that much better considering that he was still nowhere near strong enough to fend off against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…

"Haaa… I should really leave this place before I end up accidently offending someone from the Blue Sea Empire as well…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while looking in the direction of the center of the city where the main branch of the Explorer Union in this city was located, Xuan Hao began making his way back in the direction of the gate leading out of the massive city.

Although it was still dangerous for him to return to the Sky Empire given that he would have to pass through the place where the powerful ancient demon beast and the senior from the Blue Sea Empire was fighting, he thought things through and realized that he should be capable of avoiding the two with his movement technique.

Even if the ancient demon beast ended up trying to attack him, he had realized that there was no way that the senior from the Blue Sea Empire would allow something like that to happen. Not because he would care about a complete stranger like himself, but because it would present a perfect opportunity to launch an attack.

Other than that, a part of him was also curious about how a battle between Earth Immortals would be like. After all, outside of the short glimpse of the cloud demon beasts struggle with the guardian formation of the mystic realm, he had never seen someone in the Earth Immortal Realm fighting in person. The glimpse of the past he had seen back during his visit to the Thousand Wind Mountains didn't really count, as he was only strong enough to observe the battles taking place between those in the Domain Lord and Soul Ascension Realm.

The battles between those above the Soul Ascension Realm had not even entered his eyes back then, likely due to them happening away from the ancient battlefield he had ended up on or that they were just taking place somewhere far above him. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

Whoosh~!

With this in mind, Xuan Hao soon left the large city at the banks of the river. Making his way back in the direction he had come from.

…

"Hmph! To think one of those old, fossilized creatures actually managed to wake up after going to sleep… Haaa… And I was just about to return to the capital for the upcoming auction hosted by the Explorer Union…"

Further down the river that Xuan Hao was following back in the direction of the Sky Empire, the Senior Peng that the border guard had gone full fan girl mode over, was complaining with a visible frown on his face, while looking down at an enormous snake head below him that had just popped up from the river below.

Even from a glance, it was obvious that the size of the demon beast below him was far too large for the river below, the head alone almost taking up the entire width of the more than a hundred-kilometer-wide river.

"How on earth did you even manage to drift all the way here in the first place? Or are you perhaps trying to swim inland and come from the ocean? If you only accidentally ended up here from the ocean, I have to ask you to leave!" Not showing any signs of fear or panic when faced with the absurdly large snake beneath him, Senior Peng just casually asked this as he seemingly waited for the large creature to respond.

"Sssss~ Human, I come from the ocean and have seen far more powerful creatures than you, little creatures, do you really think I would leave just because you tell me? Not to mention, the inland sea is said to be filled with all sorts of precious things that will make my evolution smoother!" Unexpectedly, the large snake responded to Senior Peng floating in the air above it. Different from other mindless demon beasts, it could fully communicate and was no different from a human in terms of intelligence.

Unfortunately for Senior Peng, the response he got from the large snake was not the response he wanted…

"Haaa… I see, looks like there is no way out of a fight then… And here I hoped I would be able to end things early…"

RUMBLE-!

Not wasting any time after having confirmed that the large snake demon beast had no intention of leaving, Senior Peng unleashed all of his power as he attacked the large snake demon beast without a second thought-

BOOOOOM-!

Giving it close to no time to react, as it was suddenly hit directly on the head. Sending it back down beneath the water.

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Chapter 1026 Difference Between Earth Immortals

"Hm? What is that..."

Following the river back in the direction of the Sky Empire, Xuan Hao was suddenly shocked to discover a large wave of water hundreds of meters tall heading in his direction. Not only that, but upon closer inspection, large chunks of flesh larger than even the tallest building back in the Star Shattering Sect could be seen in the water. Coloring parts of the water a distinct reddish color that stood out from the normal darkish blue water of the river.

Whoosh~

Moving higher into the air to avoid the incoming wave of water, Xuan Hao was surprised to discover that on the other side of the wall of water, there was an enormous snake barreling directly towards him.

"Huh?"

Only able to let out a somewhat stupid sound when suddenly faced with an enormous snake flying directly towards him, Xuan Hao quickly realized the seriousness of his situation-

Swish-!

Allowing him to just barely use his movement technique to move out of the way before the massive snake slammed into.

BANG!

RUMBLE-!

Continuing through the air, the large snake smashed into a small mountain range located beside the lake. Instantly reducing the mountain range to rubble, while also causing a massive earthquake that destroyed everything within the area that it landed.

On the positive side, this part of the Blue Sea Empire did not have a lot of people living in it, outside of the massive city he had been to. Meaning that the only once to suffer were the few unfortunate cultivators wandering around the small mountain range and the different demon beasts and other animals living around the area where the enormous snake had ended up landing.

If something like this had happened in the middle of a more populated area, it would be easy to imagine just how many deaths the simple earthquake would have caused, let alone the ones unfortunate enough to be crushed beneath the enormous body of the snake.

"Sssss~! HUMAN! YOU ARE DEAD!" NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

At the same time Xuan Hao was lost in his own thoughts staring down at the massive snake that had completely erased the small mountain range and any living creatures within a few hundred kilometers, the snake in question suddenly let out a loud roar filled with killing intent.

It can speak…?

However, the most surprising thing to Xuan Hao was not the fact that the snake was still alive and moving, but the fact that it could speak like a normal human.

Not only that, but it was also at this moment that Xuan Hao finally managed to get a real feeling of the snake's strength… And to put it simply, he was terrified, as the strength displayed by the snake was obviously above that of the cloud demon beast he had encountered back in the mystic realm.

"So, this is the ancient demon beast the border guard was talking about…" Allowing him to finally put two and two together, as he realized that the snake on the ground not too far away from him, was none other than the ancient demon beast that the border guard had mentioned to him.

Swish-!

Not even a second after he had realized this, a person appeared in the air above the snake before a golden fist almost twice as enormous snake manifested above him and began rapidly descending towards the snake that was in process of getting back up-

BOOOM-!

As a result, a massive crater was created with the snake at the center where the rubble from the mountain range had been just a second earlier.

"Ah! Nooo!"

"W-what is happening!?"

Roooar!

The few cultivators and other demon beasts who had been lucky enough to escape earlier, were ultimately swept up by the terrifying fist attack and almost all of them ended up dying. Only a few Domain Lord Realm cultivators and demon beasts had been able to hide beneath the ground managing to escape with their lives.

Bang!

"So, this is the power of someone in the Earth Immortal realm…" Feeling his hands shaking as he felt the terrifying power from the aftershock still coursing slam into his dao domain. Soon causing it to start showing sign of cracking apart under the pressure, Xuan Hao could not help feeling shocked at just how much stronger the senior from the Blue Sea Empire was compared to himself.

Although it had just been the aftershock of the attack just now, it had almost ended up destroying his dao domain!

Even if he reached the Peak of the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he doubted that he would be able to face the fist attack just now head on. Only after reaching the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm would he have a chance to survive such a terrifying attack.

As for fighting the other party… That would depend on how much stronger he would be after reaching the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm…

"Ssss! YOU DARE ATTACK LIKE THAT AGAIN!? PREPARE TO DIE ARROGANT HUMAN!" Seemingly not affected by the attack just now, the snake demon beast sprung up from the massive crater and opened its mouth wide as its two hill sized fangs bared down on the tiny Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire.

"Hmph! To think your scales are this tough… Haaa… Looks like I won't be able to attend the Explorer Union's auction this time around…" Not at all worried or fearful of the giant mouth that was about to swallow him whole, Senior Peng just let out a disappointed The next moment, he raised the snake up into the air before starting to violently slam it into the ground again and again, sigh filled with frustration as he complained about not being able to attend some kind of auction. Making it rather clear that he was annoyed with the snake's tough scale that made it hard to kill.

RUMBLE-!

The next second, Senior Peng's aura violently exploded all around him as he conjured two massive hands with his qi before using them to forcibly grab the two large fangs. Stopping the snake before it had a chance to swallow him.

Boom-boom-boom!

The next moment, he raised the snake up into the air before starting to violently slam it into the ground again and again, creating massive earthquakes, while at same time also destroying the surrounding terrain. Killing a few of the lucky Domain Lord Realm demon beasts and humans who had managed to hide underground in process.

"…"

Not knowing what to say as he saw this one-sided battle play out, Xuan Hao understood that there was a very clear difference between Earth Immortals. Even if the snake demon beast didn't die and managed to hold on to its tough scales and great defensive abilities as a demon beast, it was obvious that it was only a matter of time before it would lose…

Maybe I should leave them alone and get on my way. After all, there isn't much to learn from this one-sided battle. Not to mention, I really don't want to accidentally end up offending that Earth Immortal…

Thinking this to himself as he continued observe the one-sided beating of the snake demon beast that had already started to painfully cry out whenever it was slammed into the ground, Xuan Hao came to the decision that it would be best for him to leave before the battle came to an end or he possibly ended up catching the attention of the rather annoyed looking Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire.

Swish-!

Not wasting any time after coming to this decision, Xuan Hao directly used his comprehension of the Dao of Space together with his movement technique to rapidly escape from the place before any of this ended up happening.

At the same time, he vowed to never take a single step inside the Blue Sea Empire again before he had at least reached the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm. Before that, he simply did not dare to return.

After all, outside of the Senior Peng whom he had just encountered, there should be at least seven other people at the same level as him inside the Blue Sea Empire according to what the border guard had told him about the Eight Immortals of the Blue Sea Empire that this Senior Peng was a part of… And that was not mentioning the fact that these Eight Immortals were not part of the imperial family. Meaning that there were likely even more terrifying experts present inside the Blue Sea Empire. Maybe there was even someone above the Earth Immortal Realm!

Just thinking about this made a shiver run down his spine. Not to mention someone above the Earth Immortal Realm, he didn't even have any confidence to face someone in the Earth Immortal Realm!

To face someone above the Earth Immortal Realm, he would likely have to reach the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm or maybe even ascend the Immortal Soul Tribulation before he stood a chance against someone like that!

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Chapter 1027 Back in the Sky Empire

Following what little was left of the river after the Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire and the enormous snake demon beast had passed through, Xuan Hao could not help looking behind himself from time to time with a worried expression on his face.

Although he didn't have any interaction with the Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire before leaving and didn't think the other party was going to chase after him, he was still worried that the direction of the battle would start moving in his direction. After all, there was no way that the senior from the Blue Sea Empire would allow the battle to reach the city located further down the river. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Instead, it was far more likely that he would direct the battle towards the borders where there weren't that many people around…

"SSsssss~!"

As if to confirm his suspicions, a loud hissing sound suddenly echoed out behind him before the enormous snake came flying directly towards him.

Is he aiming for me or something!?

Not able to stop himself from quietly crying at the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Blue Sea Empire after realizing that the snake demon beast was once again heading directly towards him, Xuan Hao wasted no time in using his movement technique to dodge out of the way-

BOOOOM-!

RUMBLE~!

Once again, only barely managing to avoid the enormous body of the snake demon beast before he rapidly escaped in the direction of the Sky Empire. Not intending to stay behind and give the Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire a chance to accidently throw the demon beast directly at him again-

"SSSsssss-!"

However, only a few minutes later, Xuan Hao was once again met with the scene of a giant snake demon beast blocking out the sun as it came barreling down towards him from above. Making him begin to seriously question whether or not the Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire was messing with him on purpose.

"Haaa… No mater what it is, I should be fine as long as I leave the Blue Sea Empire…" Muttering this to himself as he dodged the enormous body of the snake demon beast with far more ease compared to the first two times, Xuan Hao looked at the thin line of towers that had appeared in the distance.

The towers in question were not ordinary towers holding the guards of the Blue Sea Empire in charge of guarding the border but were instead formation towers that would record everyone entering the Blue Sea Empire.

Although he had never seen these towers before in person due to his rather unique way of entering the Blue Sea Empire, he had read about them before and seen illustrations of them in the few books he had found about the powers existing outside the borders of the Sky Empire back in the now rather large library of the Star Shattering Sect.

The only problem was that the snake demon beast and the Earth affect the Star Shattering Sect located far away from the border between the Sky Empire and the Blue Sea Empire, he was still Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire had begun fighting a short distance behind him and were moving in his direction.

Even if he didn't really care too much about the damage that their fight might end up causing to the Sky Empire, as it wouldn't really affect the Star Shattering Sect located far away from the border between the Sky Empire and the Blue Sea Empire, he was still worried that the Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire might ignore this powerful snake demon beast after it was throw out of the Blue Sea Empire and didn't show any intentions of trying to break inside again.

If something like that really ended up happening, he would have to start worrying about what this snake demon beast would do after being left alone. The best outcome being it going back to the ocean, while the worst would be it destroying the Sky Empire in a fit of anger over being beaten up by the Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire.

No, I can't allow something like that to happen, but… What in the world can I even do to stop a demon beast in the Earth Immortal Realm…?

Whoosh~

Coming to a stop a few hundred meters away from the formation towers carving out the border between the Sky Empire and the Blue Sea Empire as he thought about this, Xuan Hao turned to look back in the direction of where he had come from. Half expecting the snake demon best to come flying towards him at any moment.

However, even after waiting around for a little over five minutes, nothing ended up happening. Not only that, but he couldn't feel the vibrations that the fight between the senior from the Blue Sea Empire and the snake demon beast in the ground beneath him.

"Did the fight perhaps come to an end? But how did the snake demon beast lose so fast? Even if it was at a clear disadvantage and was losing, its scales should at least be able to hold up for a few days before the relentless attacks of the Expert from the Blue Sea Empire managed to cause any serious injuries.

Not to mention, if it was really in a life and death situation, I doubt it would continue to stay around and fight to the death. After all, the snake demon beast was obviously far smarter than ordinary demon beast…" Muttering this to himself as he continued to keep his attention focus in the direction that he had come from, Xuan Hao could not help feeling like something was wrong.

For this reason, he decided to continue waiting around the border of the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire for half an hour. If nothing ended up appearing during this period of time, he would turn around and make his way back into the Sky Empire.

Like this, time slowly passed as Xuan Hao continuously scanned his surroundings with his divine sense to ensure that nobody could sneak up on him without him first knowing about it.

Whoosh~

After the thirty minutes were up, Xuan Hao did one last sweep of his surroundings with his divine sense before turning around and making his way back into the Sky Empire that was on the other side of the formation towers.

Well… No matter what ended up happening to the snake demon beast, as long as it doesn't end up affecting the Star Shattering Sect, I should be fine…

With this in mind as he chose not to think too much about the fate of the snake demon beast who had ended up going against the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao smoothly made his way back in the direction of the Star Shattering Sect. Doing his best to avoid any dangerous places that might end up delaying his journey back to the sect where he intended to try and increase his cultivation base beyond the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

All for the simple goal of having the ability to stand up when faced with terrifying powers like the Blue Sea Empire and the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

Although he doubted that he would be able to intimidate these large powers after reaching the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he should at least have grown strong enough that these powers wouldn't regard him as someone that could be messed with for no reason.

Even if the Blue Sea Empire was more than strong enough to deal with someone in the Earth Immortal Realm, it would undoubtedly still be a troublesome and risky thing to do. Especially if they went around offending everyone in the Earth Immortal Realm without being a part of some of the other large powers on the Ewaria Continent… And that was not mentioning the fact that some of these Earth Immortals might be deliberately hiding their true identity in a similar fashion to what he had done when confronted by the border guard.

If the Blue Sea Empire ended up accidentally killing someone important from a similarly large power because of this, it was obvious that they wouldn't be in for a good time hen said power began taking revenge…

BOOM!

Thinking about all of this as he continued making his way back in the direction of the Shattered Star Peaks, Xuan Hao suddenly heard a large commotion taking place not too far away from his current location.

"Hm? What is tha-"

However, the moment he turned to look in the direction of the commotion, he froze on the spot, as he realized that the origin of the commotion was none other than the large snake demon beast whom he had been expecting to fall on him for a fourth time at the border between the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire.

Boom-boom-boom!

Not only that, but it was currently locked in a deadly battle with the expert from the Blue Sea Empire!

The only problem with all of this… Was the fact that the battle was now taking place inside the borders of the Sky Empire…!

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Chapter 1028 Two Earth Immortals, Chaos In the Capital City

Scanning the area around the battle, Xuan Hao discovered that three Soul Ascension Realm Experts had already shown up and were nervously watching the terrifying battle from afar. Upon closer inspection, it became obvious that these three Soul Ascension Realm Experts were related to the Sky Empire. However, given that he didn't really know much about the Soul Ascension Realm Experts of the Sky Empire, outside of the old ancestor from the imperial family, he could only guess where these three came from.

Of course, the most obvious being that they belonged to either the noble families or one of the three religions. The only problem with this was how they had managed to reach the border so quickly. After all, the capital city of the Sky Empire was nowhere near the border of the Blue Sea Empire.

Well… their identities don't really matter; they are far too weak to interfere in the battle between the snake demon beast and the Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire. If they had been at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm, they might have been able to lend a hand in killing the snake demon beast.

Shaking his head as he thought about this after having finished examining the strength of the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts, Xuan Hao focused his attention back on the chaotic battle taking place. The strongest among the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts had only barely reached the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Nowhere near strong enough to interfere in a battle between Earth Immortals…

"Look, someone new appeared from the Blue Sea Empire! I can't sense his cultivation either, is he perhaps another expert above the Soul Ascension Realm!?"

"Maybe… It might be best for us to retreat a bit further away in case the battle moves deeper into the Sky Empire…"

At the same time Xuan Hao examined the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts from the Sky Empire, they had also noticed him appearing from the Blue Sea Empire's side of the border. Making them guess about his identity and strength, while at the same time retreating further into the Sky Empire to avoid the battle that was slowly inching deeper into the Sky Empire with each passing second.

Compared to Xuan Hao who could still somewhat easily resist the remnant power that was thrown all over the place as a result of the snake demon beast and Senior Peng clashing with each other, these three were far too weak to do something like that and were forced to retreat to avoid getting killed by this remnant power.

The reason why they didn't run away from the battle was rather simple, as they cherished this opportunity to watch a battle between powerful cultivators far beyond themselves. Different from Xuan Hao, who was still young and hadn't experienced any real bottleneck so to speak, they were all close to reaching the time of their next tribulation and were eager for any opportunity that might help them improve their strength enough to survive the tribulation.

It was also because they witnessed how Xuan Hao was unaffected by the remnant power of the battle that they thought he was someone in the Earth Immortal Realm like the two currently locked in a deadly fight. After all, the three of them had felt just how terrifying the remnant power was and understood that there would be no way for someone like themselves to survive it.

Not thinking that he might be someone who had just reached the Later Stages of the Soul Ascension Realm due to not at all being familiar with the Later Stages of the Soul Ascension Realm. Not too surprising considering that the strongest person in the Sky Empire had only reached the Fourth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm… And that was not even considering the fact that this person had never really shown off his power before he was forced to face the people who had been called over from the different religions to deal with him…

"Hm?"

Having focused his full attention on the battle between Senior Peng and the snake demon beast, Xuan Hao could not help turning around to look in the direction of the Blue Sea Empire after sensing a terrifying presence no weaker than the two rapidly approaching.

Rumble~!

As the terrifying presence grew closer, the snake demon beast and Senior Peng also seemed to notice that someone was approaching, causing both of them to momentarily stop their fight as both of them turned to look in the direction of the terrifying presence.

"Hahaha! I didn't think you would show, here to help me deal with the oversized worm before it becomes too late for the auction back at the capital?"

However, before Xuan Hao or the snake demon beast had a chance to guess the identity of the terrifying presence rapidly approaching, Senior Peng suddenly began laughing out loud as he called out in the direction of the Blue Sea Empire that the terrifying presence was approaching from.

"Peng! You know full well that you are the one holding most of the spirit stones for the upcoming auction, how am I supposed to go there without any spirit stones!?"

Not a second later, an angry roar echoed out across the now desolate wasteland that had been created by the battle between Senior Peng and the snake demon beast over the past few minutes-

Swish-!

Following this loud roar filled with anger, a tall woman close to two meters in height appeared in the air a few hundred meters away from the desolate wasteland, her gaze completely focused on Senior Peng while she ignored the panicked expression that had made its way onto the scaly face of the snake demon beast after it realized that another Earth Immortal had appeared. Especially after it realized that this Earth Immortal was on the same side as its opponent!

Whoosh-!

Thinking fast and knowing that it would end up losing if the two Earth Immortals from the Blue Sea Empire started working together to fight it, the snake demon beast used all of its strength to escape from the battle. Not wasting a single second before diving into the large river and escaping in the direction of the ocean where it knew it would be safe from anyone chasing after it.

"Oh? It looks like your little friend is taking the opportunity to escape… Are you not worried that it might cause problems in the future?"

"And whose fault is that…?"

"Yours, of course!"

"… Just, help me deal with it…"

Knowing that it would only take longer to catch the snake demon beast if he continued arguing with the tall woman, Senior Peng decided to just ask for help before he turned around and dived into the river to chase after the escaping snake demon beast.

Although it wouldn't make much of a difference when it came to speed, he would at least be able to better sense the snake demon beast inside the water, while at the same time having a better angle for attacking.

"Hehe, quite a troublesome one, I guess I will help out." Shaking her head as she muttered this to herself while looking at the enormous snake demon beast slowly disappearing in the horizon together with Senior Peng as they moved deeper inside the territory of the Sky Empire, the tall woman didn't continue standing around for long before she similarly chased after the escaping snake demon beast.

"Hm? Isn't that the direction of the capital city…?" Curiously looking in the direction that the three had disappeared in, Xuan Hao could not help muttering this to himself after realizing that the three were moving directly towards the capital city of the Sky Empire.

Only after trying to recall information on the part of the large river in front of him that ran through a part of the Sky Empire did Xuan Hao realize that the river passed close by the capital city at some point before going directly past it and into the neighboring Onyx Empire.

Even without being able to follow behind the three rapidly approaching the capital city of the Sky Empire, it was not that hard for him to imagine the panic that they were going to cause.

…

"W-w-what is that?!"

"S-SNAKE! A GIANT SNAKE!"

"Who is that fighting the giant snake!?"

"More importantly than all of that, why are they heading directly towards us!?"

At the same time, in the capital city of the Sky Empire, a large number of people noticed the enormous snake that had suddenly emerged from the river and begun to fight with the two Earth Immortals from the Blue Sea Empire. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Unfortunately for the Sky Empire, these two Earth Immortals just happened to catch up with the snake demon beast just outside the capital city of the Sky Empire. Meaning that the old ancestor of the Sky Empire could only activate the guardian formation of the capital in an attempt to minimize any damage that the remnant power of these powerful cultivators and demon beast might end up causing, while silently praying that they would get any closer to the capital city…

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Chapter 1029 Guardian Formation on its Last Leg

"From the looks of it, it seems like the two Earth Immortals from the Blue Sea Empire are not intending to let the snake demon beast escape. Meaning, I won't have to worry about it showing up at the Star Shattering Sect, something that can't be said for the imperial capital…" Muttering this to himself as he gazed in the direction that the snake demon beast and the two Earth Immortals from the Blue Sea Empire had disappeared in, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit curious as to whether or not the imperial capital of the Sky Empire was strong enough to survive these three passing by.

After all, although the none of the three would deliberately target the capital city, the remnant power from their fight would be more than enough to destroy the guardian formation over time and that was not even mentioning how bad things would be if the snake demon beast ended up getting thrown into the capital city!

Considering that the snake demon beast had already been close to hitting him three times at this point in time, Xuan Hao didn't feel that this would be too unrealistic. Especially if the two Earth Immortals caught up to the snake demon beast close to the capital city itself.

Although the Sky Empire would weaken with the fall of the capital city, it was not realistic to think that the old ancestor was going to die because of something like that, as he would have more than enough time to escape before any of this happened. Not to mention, when the Sky Empire weakened enough, the surrounding empires, like the Onyx Empire, would undoubtedly jump at the opportunity to take some of the Sky Empire for themselves.

No matter what ends up happening to the capital city and the old ancestor of the imperial family, it can be considered a good thing for the Star Shattering Sect if this ends up weakening the Sky Empire as a whole…

Shaking his head as he thought this to himself, Xuan Hao glanced at the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts who were still busy trying to comprehend what had just happened before turning around to leave in the direction of the Star Shattering Sect.

"Hm? That person left as well… Did he follow the other two to chase down the snake demon beast?" Noticing Xuan Hao leaving, one of the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts from the Sky Empire recovered as he almost whispered this to himself while looking at the place where Xuan Hao had been just a few seconds earlier.

"Who knows where he went. The important thing is the direction that the two experts from the Blue Sea Empire and the snake demon beast were moving in! Haven't nay of you realized that this river runs directly past the capital city!?" Recovering from his daze following the words of his friend, another one of the three Soul Ascension Realm Expert exclaimed loudly as a panicked expression slowly made its way on to his face.

""Ah!""

Realizing the seriousness of the situation and just how dire the situation of the Sky Empire was after hearing what their friend said, the other two began to panic as well. Understanding very well that there would be no way for the capital city to survive if those three ended up fighting in front of it.

Even if the guardian formation was powerful and should be able to withstand someone at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm if the old ancestor of the imperial family was the one in control of it, there was no way for it resist when faced with someone above the Soul Ascension Realm!

At the end of the day, the difference between the Soul Ascension Realm and the Earth Immortal Realm was not something that could be overcome with the help of a simple defensive formation. At most it would allow the capital city to survive for a few minutes longer.

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Knowing this, the three didn't waste any time before they shot into the sky and rushed back towards the capital city at the fastest speed possible. All of them hoping that they would be able to get back in time to evacuate their people out of the capital city in case the worst-case scenario really ended up happening.

…

Boom-boom-boom!

At the same time, back at the capital city, the battle between the snake demon beast and the two Earth Immortals from the Blue Sea Empire had moved closer to the capital city. Inevitably causing the guardian formation protecting the capital city to show signs of cracking apart as it was put under more stress.

Even the fact that it had been able to hold up was a testament to just how strong the old ancestor of the Sky Empire's imperial family was. Especially when considering that the formation was not just protecting a single person, but the entire capital city, the area it covered was enormous and in turn, the remnant power crashing into it was also far more than what a single person standing close to the fight would ever experience…

"Why did these three appear here all of a sudden!? Is this perhaps something done by those three- No, they wouldn't do something like that, as the destruction of the capital would compromise their position in the Sky Empire and potential attract other religions to try their hand at entering the Sky Empire...

But if its not any of those three's fault, is it perhaps just a coincident that three Earth Immortals suddenly decided to have a life and death battle in front of my capital!?"

Standing at the center of the guardian formation as he used all of his strength to try and resist the terrifying power constantly bombarding it, the old ancestor of the imperial family could not help cursing to himself as he looked out at the battle that was slowly moving closer and closer to his city.

Deep in his soul, a profound sense of fear had already started to take root, as he realized just how helpless he was when faced with someone in the Earth Immortal Realm. Not to mention fighting back, he already had a difficult time resisting the remnant power from the battle taking place outside his city.

BOOOM-! This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Just at this moment, a wave of energy far more powerful than before suddenly swept towards the capital city-

Craaack-!

Catching the old ancestor off guard, as the formation began cracking in several locations for the first time since its construction.

"This…"

Although the guardian formation still managed to hold up, the old ancestor understood that it was not going to hold up for more than a minute. Meaning that, if the three fighting outside didn't stop before that, the capital city of the Sky Empire would have to face the terrifying power that was being released by these powerful experts without any kind of protection.

For everyone below the Soul Ascension Realm, this was essentially a death sentence!

"I really hope those three leave…" Not able to do anything other than silently pray for them to leave, the old ancestor prepared himself for the worst as he contacted his son, the current emperor of the Sky Empire, through his divine sense before having him leave the city together with a few of the more important members of the imperial family.

Managing to leave the capital through a secret teleportation formation that had been put in place for just such a situation. Allowing the weaker members of the imperial family to escape without having to worry about getting killed by the terrifying energy that was destroying everything outside the guardian formation that kept the capital city intact.

…

"Hey… Peng… I think we are accidentally in the process of destroying that… Ehm… What was the name of this empire again?"

Having managed to gain the upper hand in the now even more one-sided battle with the snake demon beast struggling to keep itself alive, the tall woman who was currently in the process of cutting off a large part of the snake demon beast casually called out to Senior Peng, who was holding the snake demon beast in place as it tried to free itself and escape back into the water.

"The Sky Empire."

"Yeah, that was it! Old Peng, we might be accidentally destroying the capital of this Sky Empire…" Nodding her head as she said this, she quickly motioned towards the capital city of the Sky Empire a short distance away from them.

"Hm? What do you mea- Ah… I see what you mean…" Turning around to see what she was motioning towards; Senior Peng could not help showing a somewhat awkward smile upon seeing the state of the guardian formation that looked like it was about to crack apart at any moment.

Only now realizing that they were actually fighting right next to the capital city of an empire, having been far too focused on getting rid of snake demon beast so he could return to the Blue Sea Empire and make his way to the capital before the auction of the Explorer Union began…

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Chapter 1030 Chaos Among the Remaing Powers of the Sky Empire

"If we accidentally ends up destroying the capital city of a low tier empire, the imperial family will definitely find trouble with us…" Muttering this to himself as he looked back at the capital city of the Sky Empire, Senior Peng could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine when remembering a certain agreement that had been made between the different large powers at the core of the continent.

Although he was not fully clear on the reason behind this agreement, he understood that it prevented the stronger empires and other powers at the core of the continent from attacking the lower tier and weaker empires located at the edges of the continent.

The only people who dared to go against this, was the different religions, who had somehow managed to avoid any trouble by not sending anyone too powerful to the edges of the continent. Resulting in most of the low tier empires forming a relationship with these religions, existing together with them in a way similar to the Sky Empire and the three major religions.

If anyone else was found in violation of this, the different large powers would band together to attack the offending party. Most notably, this had once led to the destruction of one of the largest and strongest empires at the center of the continent.

With this in mind, it was likely that the Blue Sea Empire would deal with them before any of the other major powers learnt about some of their experts accidentally destroying the capital city of a low tier empire. Even if they would not be killed due to their strength and position, it was likely that they would be locked up for a few thousand years until the rest of the major powers forgot about the matter… This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Whoosh~

Not wanting to end up in such a situation, Senior Peng didn't waste a single second as he dedicated part of his power to create a protective barrier around the capital city of the Sky Empire. Preventing the already crumbling guardian formation from breaking at the last possible moment.

ROOOOAR!

Sensing the grip of Senior Peng weakened as he protected the capital city of the Sky Empire, the snake demon beast let out a bestial roar filled with power, as it used all of its strength to forcibly free itself before diving into the river in the direction of the ocean.

"Don't let it get away!" Seeing the snake demon beast taking advantage of the opportunity to escape, the tall woman yelled to Senior Peng before diving into the water to chase after the snake demon beast.

This- Ah! If not for that damnable agreement, I-

Feeling like he had made a mistake earlier when protecting the capital city of the Sky Empire, Senior Peng could not help silently cursing to himself as he became visibly annoyed at the fact that the formation of the capital city-

07:25

CRAAAAAACK-!

snake demon beast had managed to escape.

"Hmph!"

Because of this, he let out his anger on the already collapsing formation of the capital city-

CRAAAAAACK-!

BOOOM-!

Destroying it before jumping into the water to chase after his companion and the snake demon beast.

Ptsh~!

Much to the surprise of the old ancestor who was still bound together with the formation, causing him to receive a backlash after its sudden destruction that made him throw up a large mouthful of blood.

"Huh? This is- Aaaaah!"

However, before he could comprehend what had just happened, a terrifying power belonging to the Earth Immortal Realm suddenly found its way into his body before his connection to the guardian formation disappeared. Resulting in his strength to momentarily falling down to the Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm.

Not only that, but it also ended up injuring the old ancestor's soul, causing him to blackout before falling towards the palace of the imperial family below him.

"Father!"

Not having left like his father had told him to do, the current emperor of the Sky Empire saw his father suddenly throw up blood before losing consciousness and falling towards the ground.

Swish-!

So, before anyone else had a chance to attack the old ancestor or do anything to him, the emperor rushed out and grabbed the old ancestor before rushing back into the imperial palace with him-

Whoosh~!

Not wasting any time before using the secret teleportation formation to take them away from the capital city. Knowing very well that the three religions or the new Soul Ascension Realm Expert from the noble families might take advantage of the old ancestor's state to overthrow the imperial family and take control of the Sky Empire.

Although doing this would still end up damaging the Sky Empire and gave a chance for these different powers to wither away the imperial family's power, it would still leave a chance for the imperial family to return after the old ancestor woke up again and recovered from his injuries.

The only real threat in the eyes of the emperor was if any of the nearby empires took advantage of the situation to start expanding into the Sky Empire during this period of absence. The most likely one being the Onyx Empire who was already on bad terms with the Sky Empire and was constantly probing the borders for any sign of weakness.

Despite the fact that the Domain Lord Realm Experts guarding the border wouldn't move after the disappearance of the imperial family, as none of the powers inside the Sky Empire wanted to see an outside party show up, the situation would only remain stable for as long as the information regarding the disappearance of the imperial family remained hidden from the outside world.

Unfortunately, with things like communication talismans being widely available because of the Explorer Union, what happened in the capital city would not remain hidden for long. The only hope of all the larger powers in the Sky Empire, was that none of the spies inside the capital city had access to communication talismans powerful enough to transfer information all the way back to their own empires.

Of course, this was nothing more than an empty hope. Even if the spies inside the capital city didn't have access to a communication talisman powerful enough to transfer information all the way back to their own respective empires, they would undoubtedly be able to contact a secret outpost located somewhere inside the Sky Empire that would then be capable of sending the information back home.

Although this would delay the speed at which the information was transferred back, it would at most be by a day or two.

After which, these empires would undoubtedly begin preparations to invade the Sky Empire before it had a chance to recover. Especially after learning how the guardian formation of the capital city had been broken and was no longer around to act as a deterrent for anyone trying to take on the Sky Empire.

…

Knowing how dire the situation was, the Soul Ascension Realm Experts from the capital had gathered together to come up with a solution on how to deal with the impending invasion from the surrounding empires looking to take advantage of the imperial family's absence.

"We have to find a way to keep out those empires… I suggest that we band together for now and deal with them before splitting up the Sky Empire accordingly. If the imperial family ends up returning in the future, we can band up again to deal with them!"

Among the group of people gathered, the first one to step forward was none other than the old master of the Hollow Thunder Family who had just recently broken through to the Soul Ascension Realm.

"Band together? Do you really think something like that will work? Those empires already expect something like that to happen. If we want to stand a chance of keeping those opportunistic empires at bay, we have to come up with something different." Not at all convinced by the old master from the Hollow Thunder Family, an old man dressed in a luxurious crafted from the finest silk with all sorts of gemstones carefully woven into it, scoffed disdainfully as he shot down his suggestion.

"You-"

"Now, now, no need to start fighting, the ancestor of the Earth Dragon Clan is correct, we need to do something more than just band together to fight those empires off. The main problem is that without the protection of the guardian formation, we won't be able to safely do anything without having to worry about someone suddenly showing up to destroy our homes."

"And how are we supposed to do that!?"

"This… Maybe we could…"

As more people chimed in to join the conversation, the old master from the Hollow Thunder Family could not help letting out a sigh filled with sadness.

"Haaa… How ironic, we finally got rid of that damnable imperial family, but we can't properly defend the land now that we don't have their guardian formation around to ensure our families safety…" Muttering this to himself, the old master could not help silently hoping that the imperial family would return again…

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Not aware of what had happened in the capital and how chaotic the Sky Empire was going to get, Xuan Hao managed to make his way back to the Star Shattering Sect in less than a day. Spending a few hours longer on the journey back to the sect because he avoided any of the dangerous places on the way. Not wanting to end up stuck in a situation similar to what ended up happening to him when he went to the Great Poison Swamp in the past. No matter how much stronger he had grown since that time, he didn't feel like trying his luck at potentially ending up inside the ruins of an ancient sect again.

Especially after remembering the large squid like demon beast related to the Dao of Corruption that he had encountered inside that ancient sect. Even if it was dead, it would have been far more powerful than just the Soul Ascension Realm when it had been alive. Meaning that if he ended up encountering one alive, he would most likely end up in a rather helpless situation, similar to how he had escaped from the ancient battlefield with the large golem that ended up being controlled by the Dao of Corruption…

As he thought about this while descending down towards the Ninth Star Peak, Xuan Hao could not help wondering what had ended up happening to the golem that had been taken over by the Dao of Corruption.

Although it had been sealed away inside an ancient battleground, it was more than strong enough to tear apart the fabric of space that kept the ancient battleground sealed with if given enough time. At that point in time, it would either end up getting destroyed in the void between worlds or end up finding a safe path.

Knowing this, Xuan Hao sincerely hoped that it would not be able find its way out of the ancient battleground. The main reason for this being the fact that even its weakened state after taking over the golem had already far surpassed the strength of someone in the Soul Ascension Realm. If it managed to fully utilize the strength of the golem… Just thinking about it was more than enough to send a shiver down his spine. Especially after remembering how he had essentially caused it to lose one of its arms when it had been trying to catch him.

If it really ended up coming to the Ewaria Continent, it would undoubtedly come looking for him for revenge…

"G-Grand Elder Xuan!?" As he was lost in his own thoughts thinking about the potential future enemy he would have to face, one of the disciples in charge of guarding the Ninth Star Peak noticed him before rushing over. "I-Is there anything I can help with…?"

"No, I'm just coming back after a short trip." Noticing the nervous disciple who had come rushing over, Xuan Hao decided to throw the matter of the golem to the back of his mind as he tried to calm down the nervous disciple in front of him.

"I-I see, I-I-I will take my leave then!" Hearing what Xuan Hao said, the nervous disciple didn't say anything more as he turned around and ran away like a terrifying demon beast was chasing after him.

"…"

Earning a rather awkward smile from Xuan Hao, who had no idea why the disciple was so terrified of him. Not at all thinking about the current difference in status between them as he soon began walking along the path leading back to the Seventh Star Peak. Not feeling too hurried about starting to cultivate, as he understood that he wouldn't be able to relax for a long time after he began cultivating to reach the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

Well… That was not entirely true, as he would still need to set aside some time to teach his disciples and improve his understanding of the different professions that he had ended up falling behind in over the years…

If he wanted anything right now, it would be for the system to give him a quest to help improve his lacking professions like it had done in the past. At least this way, he would not have to spend so much time on trying to improve all of his professions by himself.

"But there is no way something like that would happen…" Muttering this to himself as he walked past the Eighth Star Peak, Xuan Hao nonchalantly glanced through his status, something he had not done since he had broken through to the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Name: Xuan Hao

Dao Domain: Dao of Ice (Small Success), Dao of the Sword (Small Success), Dao of Corruption (Small Success), Dao of Fire (Small Success), Dao of Space (Elementary)

Sword Intent: Nascent Sword Soul Realm

Talent: ????

Bloodline: Three Immortals Bloodline (Half-Awakened)

Physique: ??? (66% Awakened)

Realm: Intermediate Stage Dao Domain Lord (Comparable to Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm)

Professions: Alchemist (Artisan), Formation Master (Expert), Blacksmithing (Expert)

Sect: Star Shattering Sect

Status: Grand Elder of the Star Shattering Sect

Disciples: Qing Yi, Chu Yang, Bai Ning, Mui

Pet: Lazy Winged Lion (Ninth Stage Domain Lord Realm), Rabbit Demon Beast (Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm)

Looking through his status for the first time in quite some time, Xuan Hao didn't notice any major changes compared to after he had broken through to the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm. The only real change was that the awakening process of his physique had actually gone up by a single percent.

Although it might not sound like a lot, this was the first time that his physique awakening process had improved without him breaking through. Meaning that his cultivation should have reached a level where the physique could start awakening on its own!

Even if he had no idea how long exactly it would take for his physique to awaken on its own, it was still better than nothing. At least he could now throw out his earlier though of first having to break through to the Earth Immortal Realm before his physique could awaken fully.

Outside of this visible change, there was also another change to his cultivation realm, as it was now kind enough to display the realm that his current strength was comparable to. Not that it really mattered, as he was well aware of how strong he was compared to someone in the Soul Ascension Realm.

Then again… It might be useful for when he reaches the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, as the status should display whether or not he was comparable to someone in the Earth Immortal Realm. Sparing him the effort of finding an Earth Immortal to compare his own strength against.

"Ah! Grand Elder Xuan! I was looking for you!" Just as he was looking through his status for any other changes that might have taken place, an excited voice called out to him before a small figure blocked his path.

"You are… Shen Xuefeng…" Recognizing the petit young woman as none other than one of the most promising elders for reaching the Domain Lord Realm in the future that he had seen during the meeting that had taken place only a few days earlier before he had ended up chasing the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple all the way to the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao could not help examining the young woman in more detail.

From her short stature and cute appearance, it would be easy to misinterpret her as a young disciple who had only recently joined the sect, that was… If one didn't see the giant hammer that she was carrying around with her like some kind of oversized toy.

The comical sight even made Xuan Hao wonder why she didn't just keep the hammer in her interspatial ring while walking around the sect.

"Ah! I forgot to put it away! Sorry, I rushed over from training in the combat hall and forgot…!" Seeing how Xuan Hao was eyeing up her hammer, Shen Xuefeng suddenly became aware of its presence as she quickly put it away with an embarrassed expression on her face. "Ahm, the thing I wanted to say was that senior sister Shu asked me to bring you over."

"Shu Yao? Did something happen while I was gone?" Hearing that Shu Yao was looking for him and had even sent out Shen Xuefeng to pick him up the moment he returned to the sect, Xuan Hao could not help fearing that the Heavenly Dragon Temple had learnt about what happened to their core disciple and decided to exact their revenge.

"No, nothing of notice happened, I think it's just something regarding the next step for the sect or something along that line. At least from what I could gather after listening to parts of the conversation between senior sister Shu and Elder Song." Shaking her head as she said this, Shen Xuefeng tried her best to put him at ease.

"I see… Let's get going then, I'm quite curious about what Shu Yao wants to talk about…" Feeling himself relax as he said this, Xuan Hao and Shen Xuefeng soon made their way back towards the Seventh Star Peak together before heading directly for where Shu Yao was waiting.

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Chapter 1032 Domain Lord... Zu Fei...?

Along the way to where Shu Yao was waiting for him, Shen Xuefeng could not hold back her curiosity as she used the little time, she had together with him to ask all sorts of question. From simple questions relating to her cultivation and how she should prepare for reaching the Domain Lord Realm in the future, she also asked about the Sky Empire and beyond. Filled to the brim with curiosity about what lay outside the constantly expanding borders of the Star Shattering Sect.

As he didn't see any reason in not telling her about the Sky Empire and the world outside of it, Xuan Hao happily shared his most recent journey to the Blue Sea Empire, causing her to open her eyes wide in surprise upon hearing about the fight between the two Earth Immortals from the Blue Sea Empire and the snake demon beast that had similarly reached the Earth Immortal Realm.

Obviously, this was the first time she heard about the realm that came after the Soul Ascension Realm, a realm she hadn't even thought about existing after hearing how powerful Soul Ascension Realm Experts were from one of her senior sisters.

The Domain Lord Realm was already powerful and beyond that was the even stronger Soul Ascension Realm. If that was the case, just how powerful was someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…?

As she was left thinking about this while listening to Xuan Hao's detailed description of the fight he had watched, Shen Xuefeng felt herself getting pumped up over the thought of reaching the Earth Immortal Realm- This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

"I will take my leave Grand Elder Xuan!"

And after Xuan Hao finished up retelling the battle he had witnessed, Shen Xuefeng excused herself before rushing back to try and break through to the Ninth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm as fast as possible so she could begin trying to reach the Domain Lord Realm. "Senior sister, Elder Song and a few others are waiting in the pavilion over there!" Only barely pointing him in the direction of a pavilion not too far away before she disappeared out of sight.

"…"

Not knowing what to say as he was left alone a little over a hundred meters away from the pavilion that Shen Xuefeng had pointed him towards, Xuan Hao could only blame himself for getting her fired up for cultivating. If she really ended up being successful in reaching the Ninth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm due to this. Maybe she might even end up reaching the Domain Lord Realm before Zu Fei…

No… Zu Fei already created a pseudo domain and is only a single step away from the Domain Lord Realm. The only way for Shen Xuefeng to stand a chance at reaching the Domain Lord Realm faster than her, is if she manages to create a pseudo domain of her own directly after reaching the Ninth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm!

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao could not help looking back in the direction that Shen Xuefeng had run off in. For some reason, he could not help looking forward to seeing if she could really create a pseudo domain of her own directly after breaking through to the Ninth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

After all, in terms of talent alone, Shen Xuefeng was far above that of any other elder in the Star Shattering Sect. Even Feng Chen and Shu Yao, who had reached the Domain Lord Realm, were inferior to her.

Maybe in the entire Star Shattering Sect, the only ones comparable to her in terms of talent were his own disciples!

"Shen Xuefeng… I hope you successfully break through…"

Not intending to stand around for any longer as quite a few disciples and elders walking by had started recognizing him, Xuan Hao quietly took a step forward before appearing directly in front of the pavilion before making his way inside.

"Zu Fei!?"

Seeing someone he did not expect the moment he entered the pavilion as he didn't really investigate the place with his divine sense, Xuan Hao could not help letting out a somewhat surprised exclamation.

Considering how she had seemingly disappeared from the sect as she focused all of her energy on trying to reach the Domain Lord Realm so as to not get left behind by Shu Yao and Feng Chen, he really didn't expect to see her so fast after the meeting with the different powers under the Star Shattering Sect ended.

"Xuan Hao! You are here!" Hearing her name being called out, Zu Fei reacted quickly, as she turned around and excitedly called out to him.

"Hm? Wait… This aura…" Suddenly realizing something different about Zu Fei compared to how she had been a few days earlier before he had ended up in the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao narrowed both of his eyes as he used his divine sense to examine her-

"You… You reached the Domain Lord Realm!?" Not a second later, he unconsciously exclaimed in surprise once again, as he realized that Zu Fei had actually managed to reach the Domain Lord Realm. Not only that, but from her stable and calm aura, it was obvious that she had somehow managed to stabilize her strength already.

I should only have been gone for a little over two days. How in the world did she manage to break through to the Domain Lord Realm and also stabilize her strength in such a short period of time? From my earlier calculations, it should at least have taken her three years to reach the Domain Lord Realm. Maybe two in the best-case scenario…

Filled with questions as he stared directly at Zu Fei, it was rather obvious to everyone present inside the pavilion that he wanted to know how she had managed to break through to the Domain Lord Realm in the short time that he had been gone from the sect. Not only that, but also how she had managed to stabilize her cultivation base so quickly.

"Xuan Hao, allow me to explain…" Being the first to pick up on the questions that Xuan Hao had, Elder Song stepped forward before starting to explain what had happened after he left the sect to chase after the core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

…

A few days earlier after Xuan Hao left the sect…

"Is this the place the commotion from earlier came from?" Arriving at the Fifth Star Peak, Shu Yao narrowed both of her eyes as she scanned the surroundings with her divine sense. Leaving no stone unturned as she was fully prepared for combat.

Whoosh~

"Yes… Xuan Hao informed me that someone managed to sneak inside the sect during the meeting and he chased after them. The person already used some kind of teleportation talisman to escape, and Xuan Hao chased after him, but… I have no idea what that thing on the Fifth Star Peak is, Xuan Hao didn't mention it before chasing after the intruder…"

Arriving beside her at this time, Feng Chen nodded his head as he told her about what Xuan Hao had said to him before chasing after the core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple before turning to curiously look at the strange staircase that had popped up from the water on the Fifth Star Peak. Not knowing what it was, as Xuan Hao hadn't said anything about it before chasing after the core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

"I see, we should probably leave it alone until Xuan Hao returns. After all, even if the Shattered Star Peaks are now essentially our main sect grounds, it still has a lot of unknown dangers hidden inside of it."

"Indeed, waiting for Xuan Hao is the best option as he is also the one with most experience regarding the Shattered Star Peaks. Especially considering that he examined all of them before choosing the Seventh Star Peak as the best location for the sect to be built."

Both concluding that it was best to wait for Xuan Hao to return before thinking about investigating the strange staircase that had popped up from the water at the Fifth Star Peak, they suddenly noticed that someone was approaching.

"Hm? Zu Fei? Elder Song? What are you two doing here?"

"Sect Master, Grand Elder, we just came here because of the earlier commotion, but from the looks of things, everything has already been solved."

"Yeah, good job you two… I just tagged along because I thought it would be dangerous for Elder Song to come here by himself. After all, the fluctuations from earlier were at least in the Domain Lord Realm-"

RUMBLE-!

Just as Zu Fei was about to finish her sentence, a loud rumbling sound suddenly echoed out from the Fifth Star Peak before a bright light lit up beneath the surface of the water-

Whooosh~

And before any of them had the chance to react, a terrifying wind swept through the surroundings-

"Huh?"

Knocking the dumbstruck Zu Fei into the air and down the spiral staircase that had emerged at the top of the water…

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Chapter 1033 Strange Cave, Strange Creature, Strange... Everything...

"ZU FEI!"

Seeing Zu Fei being knocked flying by the violent wind before tumbling down the spiral staircase and disappearing from sight, Feng Chen and the others started panicking as they rushed over to see if anything had happened to her-

WHOOOSH-!

However, before they had a chance to get anywhere near the spiral staircase that had popped up from the lake on top of the Fifth Star Peak, the violent wind forced them back. Even with Shu Yao and Feng Chen having reached the Domain Lord Realm, there was no way for them to approach the spiral staircase.

This was not only because of the violent wind forcing them back but was also due to the fact that the top of the Fifth Star Peak was essentially outside the chaotic qi formation that covered the Shattered Star Peak. Meaning that approaching the spiral staircase would mean they had to first pass through the chaotic qi on top of the Fifth Star Peak.

Normally, this would have been fine, but faced with the violent wind at the same time, it became impossible for them to take more than a few steps before being forced to retreat.

In the end, they were forced to wait in front of the lake on top of the Fifth Star Peak until the violent wind calmed down and gave them an opportunity to reach the spiral staircase that Zu Fei had been forced down just a few seconds earlier.

…

At the same time that Feng Chen and Shu Yao were nervously waiting in front of the Fifth Star Peak for the violent wind to calm down and give them a chance to enter the spiral staircase, Zu Fei pushed herself up from the ground before starting to examine her surroundings.

"Hm?"

Having expected to see the spiral staircase that she had been rolling down for what had felt like hours to her, Zu Fei could not help showing a confused expression on her face after seeing no signs of the spiral staircase that she had just rolled down. Instead, upon closer inspection, she realized that she was inside some kind of cave.

The cave itself didn't look much different from some of the caves she had seen before while out adventuring. Outside of one simple detail, water. The cave was covered in small puddles of water that had been formed from water dripping down from the ceiling above and water running down from the sides of the walls.

If she was wondering whether or not she was still inside the underwater structure that the spiral staircase should have led down towards, she was now certain that she was indeed somewhere underwater. Although, it could not be considered something that had been built and should be more of a natural cave that the spiral staircase had somehow been attached to.

"Huh?" Continuing to look around the underwater cave that she now found herself inside of with her divine sense, Zu Fei could not stop a small gasp from escaping her lips as she noticed something deeper inside the underwater cave.

Swish~!

However, before she had a chance to investigate the thing in more detail, a creature appeared inside the range of her divine sense. Not only that, but it was also rushing directly towards her!

"Hmph!"

Even if there was a chance that the creature was not planning to attack her, Zu Fei didn't dare take a chance on this considering that she was currently in an unknown location without any knowledge on how to leave.

Bang!

Because of this, the creature had no time to react before colliding with her palm attack-

Boom!

Resulting in the creature exploding into a gooey mess that flew everywhere, covering the walls and ground in some kind of weird slimy liquid.

"This… What kind of creature is that…?" Not having expected the creature to just explode, Zu Fei could not help showing a confused expression on her face as she examined the weird liquid on the ground only a few meters away from where she was standing.

Wait… Is it still alive!?

Other than realizing that the creature should only have been somewhere around the Peak of the Core Formation Realm and the First Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, she also discovered that the strange slimy liquid was still moving and had started to gather together. Not only that, but it seemed like its strength had also started increasing as it was gathering together again.

Although the gathering speed was incredibly slow and would at least take a few days, it should be able to reform its body again- No… It would not only be able to reform its body but would also be stronger than it had been before! This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Realizing this, Zu Fei could not help feeling shocked. If given enough time and if it could continue growing stronger in this way, the strange creature might be able to reach the pinnacle of the world in the future!

Boom-!

This idea only became more ingrained after she tried to destroy the weird slime unsuccessfully again.

"Hm? What is that…?"

However, just as Zu Fei was filled with admiration and fear towards the strange creature that she had failed to kill twice now, she discovered a strange crystal on the ground not too far away.

The crystal shone gently in the dark cave, but the thing that caught Zu Fei's attention was not this, but instead the fact that the weird slime of the strange creature seemed to be gathering towards the crystal. Even starting to form a thin layer around the crystal. Making it harder to see due to the slime of the creature being a deep blue color that also made it hard for already weak glow of the crystal to pass through it.

Whoosh~

Feeling like curious about the strangeness of this crystal that seemed to attract the remains of the slimy creature, Zu Fei wasn't the slightest bit polite as she went over to pick it up to examine it more closely-

Crack~

Unfortunately, the moment she picked up the strange crystal with no more strength than a normal mortal, it shattered between the two fingers she had used to pick it up.

What in the… How is it so weak!?

Feeling a sense of profound bewilderment over how the crystal had shattered from such a weak touch, Zu Fei could not help wondering if she had accidentally applied more pressure than she had thought she did. After all, she had just started the process of forming her pseudo domain. Maybe this had caused her to misjudge her own strength…

Splat~

As Zu Fei was lost in her own thoughts, thinking about whether or not she had misjudged the strength her two fingers had applied to the strange crystal, the slimy liquid that seemed to be gathering towards the strange crystal suddenly came to a complete stop before collapsing into several small puddle all around her.

"Huh!?"

Not at all having expected this development, Zu Fei could not help looking even more confused as she was trying her best to try and comprehend what had just happened to the weird slime creature.

Wait! Are the two perhaps related? If the crystal is shattered, the slime creature dies…?

Whoosh~

As her brain was working overtime comprehending what had just happened, a small stream of blue energy suddenly seeped out from the shattered remains of the strange crystal on the ground in front of Zu Fei-

"Wha-!?"

And before Zu Fei had any time to react to the strange new energy that had appeared in front of her, the blue energy rushed into her wide-open mouth before entering her dantian.

"W-w-what just happened!?" Feeling herself starting to panic as some kind of strange unfamiliar energy had suddenly rushed into her body before entering her dantian, Zu Fei started to understandably panic at the realization that something unknown had just forced its way inside her dantian.

No… I need to calm down. First of all, I should find out what that strange blue energy is…

Calming herself down over the next few seconds, Zu Fei didn't waste any time before sitting down to investigate the situation inside her dantian and prepared herself for a possible internal battle with the foreign energy now inside her dantian…

Only after a few minutes stand off with the blue energy doing nothing but float around inside her dantian, did Zu Fei decide to take the initiative to investigate the strange blue energy and try to find out what it was by herself-

Whoosh~!

However, the moment that she tried to reach out and start to investigate the blue energy with her own qi, the blue energy suddenly sprung to life as it merged together with her qi before she had a chance to fight back against it. Even when she had her full attention focused on the blue energy for just such a situation, its speed was simply far above anything she could handle…

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"Wah!?" Letting out a somewhat panicked scream as she felt the blue energy merging together with her qi, Zu Fei tried her best to stop it from doing anything, but by the time she managed to regain control over the situation, it was already too late for her to do anything about the strange blue energy. Not because it had perfectly merged together with her qi, but because removing it at this point would damage her foundation.

Although it wouldn't have been too much of a problem under normal circumstances, considering that she was in the process of forming a pseudo domain at the moment, any damage to her foundation might end up disrupting this process. Meaning that she might be forced to start all over in trying to form a new pseudo domain.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, Zu Fei wanted to avoid something like that happening. Resulting in her just observing her own qi for now instead of outright trying to do anything in her power to remove the blue energy that had merged together with it.

At least for now, the blue energy was completely harmless. The only real change it caused to her qi, was turning it blue. Not really anything that would warrant her damaging part of her foundation to remove.

"Hm? This is…"

However, as she felt the blue energy blending together with her qi, becoming part of her own power, she realized that her comprehension of the Dao of Water seemed to experience a qualitive change all of a sudden. Making it far easier for her to grasp the Dao of Water.

Rustle~

Not wasting the opportunity that had been given to her, Zu Fei sat back down and focused all of her attention on trying to comprehend the Dao of Water. No longer bothering to think about the blue energy that had now fully merged together with her qi.

Whoosh~!

Only a few minutes later, the increased sensitivity towards the Dao of Water disappeared. Only leaving a small and almost negligible permanent increase in sensitivity towards the Dao of Water behind. However, Zu Fei didn't care about this at all-

"I… I successfully created a pseudo domain!?"

Instead, she was far more excited over the gentle yet powerful pseudo domain of water that had formed around her.

Although the increased sensitivity had only lasted for a little over ten minutes, it had still allowed her to grasp a small part of the Dao of Water and use this comprehension to successfully form a pseudo domain of her own. Taking the final step needed before reaching the Domain Lord Realm.

Now, the only thing she needed to do, was grow her pseudo domain enough to transform it into a real domain that she could merge together with her nascent soul to break through to the Domain Lord Realm!

"Wait… If I find more of those slime things with the blue energy that increases my comprehension, won't I be able to grow my pseudo domain at a far quicker speed and reach the Domain Lord Realm faster!?" Muttering this to herself as she suddenly remembered the slime like creature that contained the blue energy, Zu Fei realized that if she found more of the slime creatures, she would be able to grow her pseudo domain far faster than if she just cultivated normally.

This… Is a great opportunity!

Not wanting to let go of such a great opportunity, Zu Fei only thought about the matter for a few seconds before she got up and began searching through the underwater cave for any more of the slime creatures.

…

"The wind finally stopped! Let's go in and find Zu Fei before anything bad happens to her! Elder Song, you stay here and keep an eye on whether or not she comes out while we are inside. If she does come out, try to contact us through the communication talismans. Although… Given that Zu Fei hasn't contacted us, I doubt they work inside…"

At the same time Zu Fei was excitedly searching for more slime creatures inside the underwater cave that she had found herself inside of, Feng Chen was giving out instructions to Elder Song before he and Shu Yao worked together to approach the spiral staircase after the violent wind had subsided.

"Hm? The chaotic qi is gone?" Instantly feeling the change, the moment he stepped on to the first step of the spiral staircase, Feng Chen was surprised to discover that there was no chaotic qi past the point where the spiral staircase started.

Considering that Zu Fei was still only at the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, this could be considered a good thing, as it was doubtful whether or not she would have been able to survive inside the chaotic qi for more than few seconds…

"Let's get going, we don't know when this structure will submerge below the surface again. Finding Zu Fei as fast as possible should be our priority!" Seeing Feng Chen freeze on the spiral staircase, Shu Yao stepped in and reminded him that they had to get going.I think you should take a look at

"Yeah…" Feeling a bit embarrassed that he had frozen, Feng Chen didn't say anything else as they both began descending down the spiral staircase. Soon disappearing out of sight from Elder Song who was nervously watching them from afar.

"I hope all three of them return soon or I will have to try and find Xuan Hao for help. The only problem is, I have no idea where Xuan Hao disappeared to. All I know is that he chased after an intruder who broke into the sect…" Letting out a small sigh as he said this to himself while staring nervously towards the spiral staircase just above the surface of the water, Elder Song took out his communication talisman as he silently waited at the boundary where the top of the Fifth Star Peak and the chaotic qi formation met each other.

Given that he was still only in the earlier stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, there was no way for him to help out, outside of waiting around to see if anyone appeared and if there were any changes to the spiral staircase.

For the first time in a long time, Elder Song felt that he was too weak and needed to increase his strength so the gap between himself and the rest of the sect's important elders didn't end up becoming too big.

After all, even if he did have the respect of everyone in the sect, he also understood that it wasn't a good image for the vice sect master to only have reached the earlier stages of the Nascent Soul Realm while there were several people in the Domain Lord Realm present in the sect.

"Haaa… Looks like I will have to take some time off in the future and spent some more time on cultivating…" Muttering this to himself as he thought about this matter, Elder Song ultimately ended up deciding that it would be best for the sect as a whole if he took a few days off from time to time to focus on cultivating.

Although this would undoubtedly end up having a negative effect in the short term, it should pan out well in the long term. Especially considering that he could use these off days to test the new line of elders specialized in the management of the sect.

In a sense, taking a few days off could be considered far more beneficial to the sect compared to him always being around. After all, with him around all the time, there was no way for these new management elders to test their skills and show off what they had learnt.

Rumble-!

As Elder Song was lost in his own thoughts, coming up with new plans on how to properly keep the sect running without him around every single day, a loud rumbling sound suddenly echoed out from the lake in front of him-

"Huh? Ah! The staircase is sinking!"

And upon turning to look at the lake where the sound had come from, it did not take him long to discover that the rumbling sound had come from the spiral staircase slowly starting to sink below the surface.

Even if the speed that it sank down was unimaginably slow, it was only a few centimeters off the surface of the lake and would at most stay above the water for another minute or two.

Rustle~This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Knowing that there was no time to waste, Elder Song fumbled nervously with the communication talisman before trying to contact Feng Chen and Shu Yao through to inform them about the sinking spiral staircase.

"Elder Song? What is wrong?"

"Feng Chen! The spiral staircase has started to sink into the water, you have at most two minutes before it sinks below the surface!"

Miraculously, the communication talisman managed to get through and Elder Song didn't waste a single second before informing them about what was happening above them.

Crack~!

However, before Feng Chen had a chance to respond to the sudden terrifying news, the connection between them was disrupted.

"…"

Resulting in Elder Song only being able to helplessly look at the slowly sinking spiral staircase while praying that Feng Chen and Shu Yao would be able to get out with Zu Fei before it was too late.

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Only a few minutes earlier, Feng Chen and Shu Yao had made their way down the spiral staircase and arrived inside a long hallway that seemed to go on forever. Different from the underwater cave that Zu Fei had found herself inside of after she recovered from tumbling down the spiral staircase.

"Zu Fei is not here… Did we perhaps get trapped in some kind of illusion while moving down the staircase…?" Being the first of the two to speak, Shu Yao narrowed both of her eyes as she said this while examining the makeup of the hallway that they found themselves inside of.

The fact that Zu Fei was not on the bottom of the staircase was already weird enough, but the endless hallway had caused all of her senses to warn her not to enter the hallway and instead remain on the staircase.

"Indeed… Zu Fei should have been at the bottom of the staircase. Even if she decided to get up and move around, we should at least have been able to find some trace of her…" Similarly feeling suspicious about their current situation, Feng Chen also decided to stay on the spiral staircase as he joined Shu Yao in examining the strange hallway with his divine sense.

"Hm?"

However, the moment he began examining the hallway with his divine sense, he discovered that his divine sense was seemingly swallowed up by some kind of strange power. Preventing it from leaving the confines of the spiral staircase that he was still standing on… And looking over at Shu Yao standing beside him, he made eye contact with her and realized that she had encountered a similar situation as him.

Dangerous!

Considering that they had no idea if the reason behind their divine sense being swallowed up was some kind of defensive formation to protect against probing divine sense or an incredibly powerful demon beast whose aura alone had caused their divine sense to collapse before they had a chance to see anything.

No matter what had caused their divine sense to get swallowed up completely after trying to gauge the endless hallway, they both understood that it was something dangerous that neither of them had any plans of trying to confront. All they could do was silently hope that Zu Fei hadn't ended up falling into the endless hallway.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn't think of anywhere else that Zu Fei could have ended up as they had already reached the bottom of the spiral staircase with no sign of Zu Fei-

"Wait… What if this is not the bottom of the staircase…?"

Having suddenly realized something, Shu Yao carefully took a step forward into what should have been the floor of the endless hallway-

Thump~

However, instead of hitting the floor of the hallway, her foot passed straight through the floor and instead landed on a brand-new step of the spiral staircase leading even deeper under the surface of the lake.

"It does indeed go deeper! Let's go, Zu Fei should have fallen further down the staircase." Smiling happily upon discovering this, Shu Yao rushed down the spiral staircase without waiting for Feng Chen's response. Soon disappearing below the floor of the endless hallway.

"Ah! Wait for me!" Not wanting to be left alone inside the hallway that seemed to be hiding something dangerous, Feng Chen quickly rushed after her as both of them continued moving down the spiral staircase.

Taking a little over a minute to reach the true bottom of the spiral staircase that placed them inside the same underwater cave that Zu Fei had found herself inside of after regaining her senses from being violently thrown down the spiral staircase.

"This presence… Looks like Zu Fei was indeed here at some point in time!"

Taking no more than a second to pick up the remnant energy that Zu Fei had left behind from her fight with the strange slime creature, both Shu Yao and Feng Chen understood that they had found the place where Zu Fei had landed.

The only problem now was that Zu Fei had wandered deeper inside the cave instead of just staying around the spiral staircase. Not only that, but from the fact that she could still fight, she should have been more than capable of making her way back up the spiral staircase, but she instead chose not to do this…

"Hm… Maybe some powerful demon beast appeared and chased her away before she had a chance to escape up the spiral staircase. After all, there is no sign of any body, so whatever she fought should have been powerful enough to resist her and force her to run away…"

Coming to this conclusion after analyzing the cave in front of him, Feng Chen could not help getting worried. After all, if she had really encountered a demon beast powerful enough to force her to escape, her current situation would definitely not be good!

"Indeed… At least she left traces of her energy behind that we can follow…" Nodding her head as a worried expression also made its way onto her face, Shu Yao also began fearing what kind of horrible situation Zu Fei might be stuck in.

Thump~

As both of them understood how dangerous and deadly Zu Fei's current situation might be, they both took a step forward and entered the cave-

Whoosh~!

However, just as they did this, the spiral staircase behind them disappeared and seemingly turned into a part of the cave wall. Showing no signs of it ever having been there in the first place.

"Huh!?"

"This…"

Seeing this, both Shu Yao and Feng Chen began panicking as they began trying to leave the cave-

Whoosh~!

Luckily for them, it was only an illusion, and the spiral staircase was still there, causing both Feng Chen and Shu Yao to let out a sigh of relieve that they didn't suddenly end up accidentally trapping themselves inside the cave that Zu Fei had also ended up inside of.

"Hm? Elder Song is contacting me?"

It was just at this moment that Feng Chen felt Elder Song trying to contact him through his communication talisman.

"Elder Song? What is wrong?"

"Feng Chen! The spiral staircase has started to sink into the water, you and Shu Yao have at most two minutes before it sinks below the surface!"

"This… I understand. Continue keeping an eye on the spiral staircase and inform us if anything new happens!"

"Yes, just… Never mind, I hope I will see all three of you soon…"

"Of course!"

As the conversation finished, Feng Chen showed a visible frown on his face as he turned towards Shu Yao standing beside him. Although neither of them said anything to each other, they both understood that if they didn't find Zu Fei soon, they would be forced to leave her behind and escape from the underground structure before it sank beneath the water.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Swish~!

Knowing this, they didn't waste any time, as both of them used all of their strength to rush in the direction of Zu Fei's presence. Hoping that she hadn't wandered too deep inside the cave in the short period of time she had been inside of it.

…

"Hahaha! If I just get a few more, I should be able to break through to the Domain Lord Realm and establish a water domain. Not only that, but my connection with the Dao of Water has also grown a lot stronger. Even without any more of these strange slime creatures, my comprehension of the Dao of Water is already far above any other dao that I tried to comprehend in the past!"

A short time before Shu Yao and Feng Chen arrived in the cave below the surface of the lake, Zu Fei was happily laughing to herself filled with joy as she watched her pseudo water domain growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At this point in time, she had already killed a little over a hundred of the strange slime creatures and absorbed the strange energy from them. Allowing her pseudo domain to grow at a speed far beyond anything she had ever seen or heard about before. Even reaching the point where she was now about to directly enter the Domain Lord Realm…

Not only that, but because she had ended up absorbing so much of the strange blue colored energy, it had permanently altered the color of qi. Transforming it into a blue color, creating what looked like a genuine ocean inside of her dantian.

However, given that it didn't really affect her cultivation, Zu Fei didn't really care too much about this and was instead far more focused on trying to find more of the strange slime creatures to reach the Domain Lord Realm and finally catch up with Feng Chen and Shu Yao, who had left her far behind after both of them reached the Domain Lord Realm.

No longer would she be the only person among them that was still stuck in the Nascent Soul Realm!

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Whoosh~

Using her now powerful pseudo water domain to create several small spheres of water all around herself, Zu Fei waved her hand as the water spheres flew out in all directions. Capturing any unlucky slime creatures that they encountered along the way before sending them back for Zu Fei to personally kill so she could absorb the blue energy contained inside of them to further strengthen her pseudo domain.

Soon enough, her pseudo domain seemed to have reached a barrier, as Zu Fei had officially managed to reach the absolute pinnacle of the Nascent Soul Realm. Needing only to take a single step to officially evolve her pseudo water domain into a real water domain.

After this, she just needed to fuse her new and complete domain together with her nascent soul to successfully reach the Domain Lord Realm.

"This is it…!" Feeling that her pseudo water domain had reached the limit, Zu Fei didn't waste any time before breaking through the barrier blocking her-

Rumble-!

Instantly resulting in a terrifying sound echoing out around her, as her domain evolved from what could be considered an early formation of a domain into a true domain.

Whoosh~

Not only that, but with her water domain now turning into a real domain, it began the process of merging together with her nascent soul-

"Aaaaaah-!"

Something that Zu Fei had momentarily forgotten about as she was fully focused on trying to reach the Domain Lord Realm as fast as possible after having experienced the fast and smooth growth that the slime creatures provided her with. Not at all having thought about the inherent danger that was involved in the process of fusing one's domain and nascent soul together before it was already too late for her to regret.

Even if it was not a tribulation like the cloud tribulation one would have to experience to reach the Nascent Soul Realm, the process of fusing one's domain and nascent soul was far more deadly.

Just looking at the Sky Empire as a whole was more than enough to tell just how difficult it was to successfully make it through this process, as someone in the Nascent Soul Realm could be found everywhere in the Sky Empire, while there was at most a few hundred people in the Domain Lord Realm inside the entire Sky Empire…

"Zu Fei!"

I-I should have waited until I got out of this place… Hm… Is that… Feng Chen…?

Barely managing to catch a glimpse of a familiar figure appearing at the entrance to the small cave she had decided to break through to the Domain Lord Realm inside of, Zu Fei was forced to close herself off to the outside world and focus her full attention on breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm. Doing her best to ignore the terrifying pain originating from the depths of her soul that was slowly starting to spread throughout her entire body.

…

A short time earlier, in one of the tunnels that Zu Fei had run through not too long ago while collecting slime creatures to increase her own strength, Shu Yao and Feng Chen both came to an abrupt stop as Shu Yao frowned visibly before examining the walls of the tunnel.

"Her presence is growing stronger, she should be somewhere nearby and from the looks of it, her strength has also increased by quite a bit. If I'm not wrong, she should have successfully managed to form a pseudo domain…" Muttering this to herself as she felt something wrong about the sudden increase in strength that Zu Fei had seemingly archived out of nowhere, Shu Yao decided to keep her suspicions to herself.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

For now, it was not important how Zu Fei had suddenly managed to increase her strength. Instead, it was far more important to get out of the underwater structure that they were currently inside of before it ended up sinking below the surface of the lake… And from the time that Elder Song had given them, they should only have a little over 40 seconds left before this ended up happening!

"Looks like she got rid of the demon beast chasing after her or we should have seen far more signs of fighting along. Now we just have to find her before this entire place sinks below the lake…" Understanding this as well, Feng Chen didn't say anything more than this before both of them continued moving in the direction of Zu Fei's presence.

Rumble-!

Just at this moment, the entire cave system began violently shaking before a terrifying aura spread through the countless tunnels, carrying with it a distinct calm yet powerful feeling that forced both Shu Yao and Feng Chen to freeze on the spot. Not because the powerful aura had overwhelmed them or caused them to have second thoughts about continuing deeper inside the cave network, but instead because both of them almost instantly realized what this terrifying aura represented and more importantly, who it belonged to!I think you should take a look at

"This aura… Someone is breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm!"

"Yeah… And from the look of it, that person is very likely Zu Fei…"

As both of them just stared at each other for a few seconds as they came to terms with this, Shu Yao, and Feng Chen both rushed into the area now covered by Zu Fei's brand-new water domain. Protecting themselves with the help of their own domains to not end up getting killed by the chaotic water domain that was still far from being under Zu Fei's control.

"Zu Fei!"

Spotting Zu Fei only a short time later, Feng Chen tried to call out to her, but ended up getting no response as she was completely focused on trying to break through to the Domain Lord Realm. Nothing could get through to her, as even the slightest bit of error at this point in time could result in the fusion between the nascent soul and domain failing. Killing her on the spot.

"No need, she can't hear you. Let's work together and try to get her out of here while we still can…" Understanding this, Shu Yao didn't waste a single second as she rushed forward while saying this before using her domain to create an enormous flower that completely engulfed the unresponsive Zu Fei before carrying this flower to leave in the direction they had come from.

"This…"

Leaving Feng Chen completely speechless at the display. Although he knew that Shu Yao's domain could be considered a flower domain that dealt in the Dao of Nature, it was the first time that he had seen her use it outside of combat… And it was far more versatile than his sword domain that could almost exclusively be used for fighting…

"Ah!? Wait for me!" Suddenly realizing that Shu Yao and Zu Fei were getting further and further away from him, Feng Chen didn't continue linger around either as he chased after Shu Yao.

Luckily, due to the fact that Shu Yao was also carrying Zu Fei who was currently in the process of breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm, it did not take long to catch up with her. Not only that, but he also realized that he had to help carry the burden of transporting Zu Fei, as the pressure caused by Zu Fei's water domain trying to expand inside the flower was getting more and more powerful.

Even if Shu Yao was stronger than Zu Fei, putting a halt on her breakthrough was not something she could do with her current strength. At most, she could forcibly delay it for a few seconds until they had made their way back to safety.

Crack~!

But… Considering that the flower surround Zu Fei had already begun cracking the moment they reached the spiral staircase. Even with Feng Chen's help, it was doubtful whether or not they would be able to make it back out in time.

Whoosh~!

However, having seemingly sensed the trouble that Feng Chen and Shu Yao was going through to try and help her, Zu Fei managed to successfully fuse with part of her domain. Resulting in the expansion of her water domain slowing down just enough for Shu Yao and Feng Chen to make their way out of the underground structure.

Craaaack-!

And not a second later, the flower created by Shu Yao's domain began shattering-

Whoosh~!

Giving Shu Yao just enough time to throw Zu Fei inside the protection of the formation before it fully shattered, while Feng Chen quickly grabbed her exhausted body and carried her inside the formation as well before the chaotic qi had a chance to cause any problems.

As for Elder Song…

"Huh?! What is that terrifying aura? Did Shu Yao and Feng Chen escape? Hm? A flower- Wait! Why is it coming directly towards me!?"

He suddenly found himself running for his life as a certain large flower with Zu Fei inside of it was heading directly towards him without showing any signs of stopping…

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Chapter 1037 Future Trouble

Boom-!

Following the flower shattering completely without the support of Shu Yao, Zu Fei's water domain rapidly began expanding in all directions without showing any signs of stopping. Giving Elder Song no chance to escape, as Feng Chen needed to jump in and save him before he ended up getting killed by the chaotic water domain that was still far from under Zu Fei's control.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes… Just a little shocked..." Recovering from the shock of what had just happened, Elder Song did his best to demonstrate that nothing had happened to him before turning his attention towards the figure that had broken free from the flower that had been hurled towards him.

"Hm? Is that… Zu Fei? What happened to her…?" Recognizing the person as none other than Zu Fei, Elder Song could not help showing a confused expression on his face as he unconsciously muttered this to himself. Even though it was rather obvious that her strength had grown a lot stronger from before, he had no idea how she had managed to increase her strength by so much in such a short period of time.

"Indeed, it's Zu Fei. As for her increase in strength… I have no idea what happened to her inside that place. All I know is that when we found her, she had already begun the process of breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm." Shaking his head as he said this, Feng Chen also turned his attention towards Zu Fei. "From what little I have gathered so far; it seems that she encountered something that allowed her to increase her comprehension of the Dao of Water. Allowing her to establish the water domain that she is now using to break through to the Domain Lord Realm…"

Although it was just a guess, Feng Chen had no idea how close to the real answer that he actually was, that is… If he considered the act of killing the helpless slime creatures an opportunity…

"I see, so that is what happened… Hopefully she manages to successfully reach the Domain Lord Realm…" Hearing what Feng Chen said, Elder Song felt that it made sense as he silently began to watch Zu Fei's expanding water domain with a hint of excitement present in his eyes.

The process of watching Zu Fei's break through might not mean a lot to Feng Chen and Shu Yao, who were already in the Domain Lord Realm, but it presented a great opportunity for Elder Song to get more familiar with the process involved in breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm.

Although he was still far away from reaching the Domain Lord Realm himself, this kind of experience was extremely precious. After all, compared to reading about the process, it would always be far more beneficial to see the process in person…

As time slowly began to pass at the base of the Fifth Star Peak, Zu Fei struggled in a sate between life and death with both Feng Chen and Shu Yao standing guard at her side in case something they could help with came up, while Elder Song eagerly took in everything, he could learn from watching Zu Fei's breakthrough.

Rumble~

Close to a day after her breakthrough had begun and in a state that was only a single step away from entering the underworld, Zu Fei's breakthrough officially came to an end as a powerful aura belonging to the Domain Lord Realm emerged from her. Announcing to the world that she had successfully managed to fuse her nascent soul and domain together and step into the Domain Lord Realm!

…

"So… That's what happened? Zu Fei killed a few random slime creatures and managed to reach the Domain Lord Realm in a few minutes without any side effects? Not only that, but her chaotic cultivation base also stabilized by itself a few hours after she broke through…?"

Back on the Seventh Star Peak, Xuan Hao could not help asking this as he finished listening to Elder Song explaining what had happened with the help of Feng Chen, Shu Yao, and Zu Fei.

"Well… Yes…"

Knowing just how weird the entire thing was, Elder Song could only show a somewhat awkward smile as he said this. Understanding very well that Xuan Hao was hoping for a better explanation on how Zu Fei had suddenly managed to reach the Domain Lord Realm in such a short period of time.

Unfortunately, this was the best he could do, as the entrance to the structure beneath the lake on the Fifth Star Peak had already been covered in the dangerous lake water and there was no way for them to return to investigate what Zu Fei had told them.

Entering the lake itself was completely off limits, as it was essentially a gathering spot for chaotic qi. Even if Shu Yao and Feng Chen used all of their strength to try and enter the lake water, they would still end up dying the moment they ended up coming in contact with the lake water.

"Haaa… How troublesome… Looks like I will also have to allocate some time to investigating the Fifth Star Peak in the future." Muttering this to himself as he was fully aware that neither Shu Yao nor Feng Chen were strong enough to endure the lake water, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of helplessness when recalling how he had told himself that he would focus on increasing his cultivation realm after returning from the Blue Sea Empire.

No… I should focus on my cultivation for now. Investigating the Fifth Star Peak can wait. Getting strong enough to resist the Heavenly Dragon Temple is far more important. Not to mention, there is a lot of other things I have yet to check up on, like the strange seal below the Raging Flame Sect, the likely origin of the strange black vortex of qi… Hm… Now that I'm at the topic, that small vortex did seem to grow stronger along with me before it was exterminated by the system...

Closing both of his momentarily as he was thinking about this, Xuan Hao turned his attention towards his dantian before focusing on the place where the tiny black vortex had been in the past.

Although the small dark vortex had done nothing to him before it was destroyed by the system, its presence alone had left a small scar on his dantian that had taken quite some time to recover. Not to mention, he was always thinking about whether or not it would return in the future. Especially after he came to the realization that the small black vortex of qi was related to the ancient seal below the Raging Flame Sect…

No use thinking too much about it, I already destroyed it. Maybe only after making a trip to the seal will I be able to understand how it managed to enter my dantian-

"Xuan Hao, is something wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing, I was just thinking about something." Hearing Elder Song suddenly call out to him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit embarrassed as he said this.

"No problem, I understand, I also feel troubled thinking about how Zu Fei could have successfully broken through to the Domain Lord Realm so quickly without any side effects. Makes me really interested in just what the slime creatures she mentioned were and if we can make use of them in the future to help the sect give birth to more Domain Lord Realm experts.

Even if it can't directly help someone reach the Domain Lord Realm, it should at least be able to help quite a lot and make the process simpler and easier for our sect elders and disciples. Maybe we might even be able to use the slime creatures to trade with others. Considering how desperate for a chance to reach the Domain Lord Realm some Nascent Soul Realm Experts get at the end of their life, we should be able to get a lot of resources if we can sell the slime creatures! Not only that, but…"

Listening to Elder Song who suddenly began to talk excitedly about the slime creatures that Zu Fei had encountered and how they could be used to benefit the Star Shattering Sect and help increase the strength of both disciples and elders, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of helplessness washing over him as he turned to look at Shu Yao, Feng Chen, and Zu Fei. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

"…"

However, they didn't provide much help, as they were similarly staring at him with a clear suggestion for him to stop Elder Song before they ended up in a lesson on the importance of trade for the next few hours.

"Well, I have to get going, can't leave my disciples alone for too long now that I'm back again."

Swish~!

However, understanding that it was easier said than done to stop Elder Song when he first started, Xuan Hao instead came up with a quick excuse and left before anyone had a chance to say anything.

Having already learnt about Zu Fei's breakthrough to the Domain Lord Realm, there was really no reason for him to stay behind for the lecture…

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Chapter 1038 Fighting a Soul Ascension Realm Expert in the... Nascent Soul Realm...?

Leaving Feng Chen, Shu Yao, and Zu Fei to deal with Elder Song by themselves, Xuan Hao made his way back home before checking up on Qing Yi and Chu Yang condition. Not taking more than a few seconds to realize that both of them were fine. Outside of the fact that Qing Yi had not yet managed to wake up, still laying inside her room as her soul recovered from the stress it had been put under during the final fight before he had found both of them. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Chu Yang on the other hand had fully recovered and was currently chatting with his two younger disciples about their journey inside the mystic realm. Not showing any shame on his face as he gave a rather unrealistic description of how he had slain hundreds of powerful demon beasts in the Nascent Soul Realm.

"Oh well, at least it seems those two are feeling more inspired to cultivate because of it…" Shaking his head as said this to himself while observing how excited Mui and Bai Ning looked after listening to the nonsensical and absurd tales Chu Yang told them about his fights with the different demon beasts in the mystic realm, Xuan Hao decided not to interfere.

After all, if it could have a positive effect on his two younger disciples drive for cultivation, he wouldn't mind. Especially when it came to Bai Ning, who would spend most of his time focused on blacksmithing instead of his cultivation, to the point where he had even managed to catch up to him when it came to blacksmithing.

Not only that, but Chu Yang also gave a rather heroic description of how he had come and saved them at the last minute, so who was he to interrupt?

Whoosh~

As he thought about this, Xuan Hao made his way back into his room before sitting down to cultivate.

Although he also wanted to spend some time improving his professions like he had first intended to do after returning to the sect from the mystic realm, it was more important to increase his strength so he could deal with someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.

This was not only due to the fact that the Star Shattering Sect would likely end up clashing with the Heavenly Dragon Temple at some point in the future but was also due to his earlier encounter with the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts from the Blue Sea Empire and the powerful snake demon beast.

The encounter not only allowed him to see just how strong someone in the Earth Immortal Realm was compared to someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, but the appearance of the snake demon beast also made him feel a sense of unease he hadn't felt in a long time.

For all he knew, there might be other powerful demon beasts lurking inside the river flowing through part of the Sky Empire from the Blue Sea Empire… And at any moment, one of these demon beasts might show up and destroy a small empire like the Sky Empire.

After all, no matter how strong the current Sky Empire was, there was no way for them to resist a demon beast in the Earth Immortal Realm. In a sense, it could be considered lucky if the higher ups of the empire could escape in time to reconstruct the empire after the demon beast in question left.

"Well, I should be able to dedicate some time to improving my blacksmithing or I will really end up getting left behind by Bai Ning in the future…" Muttering this to himself as he glanced in the direction of Bai Ning who was still listening to Chu Yang's tales of his and Qing Yi's adventures inside the mystic realm, Xuan Hao closed both of his eyes as he focused all of his attention towards comprehending the Dao of Space.

Having already reached the Peak of the Elementary Realm of comprehension for the Dao of Space, he would not need too long to help promote it to the Small Success Realm.

After this, all he needed was to have one of the Daos he had comprehended reach the Large Success Realm and comprehend a brand-new Dao all the way to the Small Success Realm and he could be considered to have reached the Peak of the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

Although this would undoubtedly be a difficult thing to accomplish as he needed to comprehend a brand new Dao and reach a level of comprehension that he had no knowledge about, Xuan Hao had a feeling that it would be far harder to merge all of these different Daos together into his dao domain like the elder from the Mirage Sect had told him was how he had reached the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm in the past.

I still have a long way to go until I can think about challenging someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…

Feeling the difficulty of the task in front of him, Xuan Hao decided to enter closed door cultivation for a few weeks to try and reach the Small Success Realm for the Dao of Space before thinking about what Dao he would try and comprehend for his sixth dao.

The matter of reaching the Large Success Realm was completely thrown to the back of his mind for now as he decided to first focus on reaching the Small Success Realm in six different Daos.

...

"I never expected the mystic realm to be so dangerous… Senior brother, did you really manage to outsmart so many Domain Lord Realm demon beasts!?"

At the same time Xuan Hao began his secluded cultivation back in his room, Mui was brimming with excitement as she said this after listening to Chu Yang describe his and Qing Yi's encounter with the horde of demon beasts… Of course, he might have accidentally inflated the strength of these demon beasts to the Domain Lord Realm…

"Haha, of course! If not for the fact that we got cornered by that powerful demon beast towards the end and master had to intervene to save us, there is no way a few Domain Lord Realm demon beasts would have been able to catch me and your senior sister!" Not showing any shame on his face as he said this, Chu Yang could not help smiling happily as he saw the reaction of his junior sister.

Even if what he said wasn't entirely true, it would not be too long before he reached the Domain Lord Realm and could do something like that, and it seemed to inspire his little junior sister and brother to cultivate. At least that was what he thought considering how fast he had managed to progress through the Nascent Soul Realm so far.

"Awesome! Senior brother, was the powerful demon beast you mentioned perhaps above the Domain Lord Realm!? From what I heard some of the elders talk about, the realm above the Domain Lord Realm seems to be called the Soul Ascension Realm and is faaaaaar more powerful than the Domain Lord Realm!" Saying this as both her eyes shone with admiration, Mui excitedly mentioned the Soul Ascension Realm that she had heard some of the elders talking about while walking through the sect.

Although she had no idea what the Soul Ascension Realm was, she understood that it was the realm that came after the Domain Lord Realm and people in this realm were far stronger than those in the Domain Lord Realm.

"Huh? Ah… Y-yeah, the powerful demon beast should have been stronger than a normal Domain Lord Realm demon beast, but I don't know if it actually reached the Soul Ascension Realm. After all, there are nine different minor realms in the Domain Lord Realm, each stronger than the other…" Feeling a bit flustered when he heard Mui suddenly mention the Soul Ascension Realm, Chu Yang quickly tried to deny that the demon beast he had according to his story, fought off bravely for close to an hour before their master showed up and saved them had reached the Soul Ascension Realm.

After all, it was far too unrealistic for someone in the Nascent Soul Realm to fight off someone in the Soul Ascension Realm for over an hour…

"Oh… I see… But fighting a strong Domain Lord Realm demon beast in the Nascent Soul Realm is still difficult!" Showing a somewhat disappointed expression on her face after hearing that Chu Yang had not fought off a demon beast in the Soul Asension Realm, Mui quickly tried to cheer up Chu Yang, who had an increasingly embarrassed expression on his face.

Only now did Chu Yang understand that his little junior sister had no concept of any of the higher cultivation realms.

"…"

Even Bai Ning who had been silently listening to Chu Yang talk about the epic battles he and Qing Yi had been through inside the mystic realm, showed a somewhat wry smile on his face after hearing how Mui seemed to think that the Soul Ascension Realm was something that someone in the Nascent Soul Realm stood a chance against.

As for fighting someone in the Domain Lord Realm as a Nascent Soul Realm Expert, Bai Ning didn't think too much about this, as he had heard of geniuses being able to cross a major realm and fight against stronger experts. Not realizing that this was something that happened in the lower realms, like a Peak Foundation Establishment Realm genius winning against someone at the earlier stages of the Core Formation Realm.

Not someone at the earlier stages of the Nascent Soul Realm fighting someone at the Domain Lord Realm!

In a sense, both Mui and Bai Ning had no real idea about the difference in strength between the different cultivation realms…

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Chapter 1039 Reunion Between Disciples

Having clearly sensed the disappointment from Mui the moment he said that his opponent had not been in the Soul Ascension Realm and was instead just a powerful Domain Lord Realm demon beast, Chu Yang did his best to try and win back the admiration of his junior sister over the next few hours as he continued to elaborate on the things he and Qing Yi had gone through during their time inside the mystic realm. Even starting to make up a few different scenarios that sounded especially interesting to both Mui and Bai Ning.

During the entire process, Chu Yang not only managed to win back the admiration of Mui, but also managed to gain the admiration of Bai Ning, who was filled with excitement upon hearing about the underground part of the mystic realm. Especially after mentioning the special rock that he and Qing Yi had run into while escaping from the mole demon beast.

For some reason, Bai Ning wanted to know everything he could about this weird exploding rock… And not one to disappoint his junior brother, Chu Yang tried his best to tell him anything he had managed to learn about the strange exploding rock before he and Qing Yi escaped from the seemingly endless tunnels of the mole demon beast.

Luckily for him, although he didn't know a lot about the strange exploding rock, it was enough for Bai Ning, as the boy began starting to mumble something about wanting to go explore the underground part of the mystic realm in the future when he got stronger.

Not thinking too much about hearing his junior brother's sudden drive to enter the mystic realm that he had clearly described as a death trap filled with countless Domain Lord Realm demon beasts, Chu Yang just thought the boy felt inspired after hearing him talk about how he and Qing Yi had fought off several demon beasts far more powerful than themselves.

At least, that would have been his reaction if he had been in the same situation as Bai Ning and heard about all of this.

Not to mention, even if Bai Ning wanted to explore the mystic realm, Chu Yang understood that he would first have to get the approval of master before being allowed to go there… And considering that Bai Ning was still in the Core Formation Realm, there was no way that their master would allow him to enter a dangerous place like the mystic realm.

Nodding his head as he thought about just how dangerous the mystic realm was, Chu Yang suddenly froze on the spot.

Wait… Not to mention the Core Formation Realm, that place is deadly even to someone in the Nascent Soul Realm!This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Recalling the rather large number of high-level Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts and Domain Lord Realm demon beasts that he and Qing Yi had ended up encountering inside the mystic realm, Chu Yang suddenly came to the realization that the mystic realm was in no way safe for someone in the Nascent Soul Realm.

Not to mention someone at the earlier stages of the Nascent Soul Realm like himself and Qing Yi, he doubted that someone at the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm would be able to survive more than a few days inside the mystic realm.

After all, when he thought back on his and Qing Yi's journey through the mystic realm, he realized that there would have been no way for them to survive without the help of the talismans that their master had given them before entering the mystic realm.

The time where they didn't need the help of their master's talisman, was only when they were stuck exploring the edges of the mystic realm and even back then, they could be considered rather lucky to not have encountered any powerful Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts.

"Bai Ning, Mui, Chu Yang…? What are all of you gathered for?"

As Chu Yang was busy thinking about how dangerous the mystic realm really was, while Bai Ning and Mui had begun chatting with each other about the different demon beasts he had talked about, a familiar voice suddenly sounded out behind him.

"Huh? Qing Yi!? You recovered already!?" Turning around and seeing the familiar face of Qing Yi standing at the entrance leading inside the palace, Chu Yang could not help letting out a somewhat surprised exclamation upon seeing her.

Not only because she had been in a deep sleep just a few hours earlier when he had woken up, but also because he was clearly aware of just how exhausted her soul had been when she had fallen asleep together with him after being saved.

Given her state, it should at least take another few weeks. Maybe even months before she could wake up again, yet… Now she was standing directly in front of him without a single sign of being exhausted from having pushed herself far beyond her limits.

Is this perhaps because of her divine physique?

Reaching this conclusion, Chu Yang could not help looking at Qing Yi filled with amazement. Feeling a bit jealous that he didn't have something amazing like that himself.

"Ha? What do you mean? And why are you looking at me like that… Are you perhaps not happy to see me?" Having no clue about the thoughts going through his head, Qing Yi could not help frowning after seeing Chu Yang's surprised reaction.

Not only that, but she also felt that he had begun to observe her in a rather weird manner…

Feeling that his senior sister was starting to form some kind of weird misunderstanding, Chu Yang quickly jumped forward and clarified himself "This… I just thought that it would take you a few more weeks to recover and was surprised to see that you already managed to fully recover and-

"Big Sister!" "Senior Sister!"

However, before he had a chance to clarify himself, Bai Ning and Mui came running as both of them realized that Qing Yi had shown up.

"Bai Ning, Mui, how have you two been doing? Did the two of you get along in our absence?" Unfortunately for Chu Yang, Qing Yi chose to ignore the matter and turn her attention towards Bai Ning and Mui.

"Yes! Big Brother Bai made sure to show me around the sect and even introduced me to a lot of interesting elders- Ah! He also taught me blacksmithing, but… The furnace started exploding every now and then when I practice my blacksmithing.

I don't know why. Maybe something is wrong with the furnace or maybe the materials… Ah, no matter what it is, I have to show you and Senior Brother Chu some of the artifacts I made! Hehe, they are quite amazing compared to the ones I made when master first took me in!"

Not wasting a second after hearing what Qing Yi said, Mui jumped over excitedly as she began talking about what she had been up to during their journey into the mystic realm. Making sure to show off some strange black balls that had been made from melting countless different metals together.

"Hehe, these are the great destruction balls! They are my most powerful artifact so far. Even with my strength in the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, they are difficult to carry, a testament to their power!"

"This… Amazing! You are so awesome Mui!"

Hearing Mui's description of the weird black balls that looked like they had been made from scrap metal being forced together into a ball shape, Qing Yi froze on the spot for a split second before showing a bright smile on her face as she praised Mui.

"Hehe~ Here, you can have one big sister~"

Smiling from ear to ear after being praised, Mui happily handed over one of the black balls as a gift.

"T-thank you…"

Forcing Qing Yi to accept the strange metal ball with a grateful smile.

""…""

Observing this scene, both Bai Ning and Chu Yang did their best to stop themselves from laughing at the interesting position that their senior sister found herself in.

This was even more so for Bai Ning, who had personally witnessed the creation of these metal balls.

Not only did their creation end up taking up over a dozen different metals, but it also ended up including three different kinds of spiritual metals that Mui had somehow managed to get her hands on without his knowledge.

Although he had wanted to stop her from wasting these precious spiritual metals, by the time he found out about them, it was already too late, as they had been thrown into the furnace…

In a sense, the reason why the black metal balls were so heavy that even someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm would have a hard time carrying them was because of these spiritual metals that had been included in the weird metal mixture Mui had come up with when creating them.

A mixture that Bai Ning hoped he would never see any blacksmith use ever again…

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Chapter 1040 Xuan Hao is... A Soul Ascension Realm Expert!?

"By the way, where is master? Isn't he supposed to be back as well…?"

As the four of them finished catching up with each other, Bai Ning could not help asking this as he realized that their master was nowhere to be seen. Under normal circumstances, their master should have noticed them gathering and should have shown up at this point in time, but looking around, he was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm in secluded cultivation for the foreseeable future. Other than coming out every now and then to teach all of you, I will be spending most of my time focused on cultivating. If you really have something important to inform me about, you can go to my room at the core of the palace." Having partly followed along in their conversation since his return, Xuan Hao decided to answer Bai Ning's question, while also taking the opportunity to inform them that he would be in secluded cultivation for the foreseeable future.

"Secluded cultivation?! Master, are you about to breakthrough to a higher realm?!" Hearing what Xuan Hao said, the first person to react was Chu Yang, as he excitedly asked this. Understanding very well that this was the most likely reason why his master would suddenly decide to enter secluded cultivation.

Although he had no idea just how strong his master was at the moment, the general consensus among the disciples of the sect was that he should at least have reached the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm. Meaning that it was very likely that his master was about to try and break through to the Soul Ascension Realm!

It had to be known, that the Soul Ascension Realm was the highest cultivation realm that Chu Yang had heard about so far… And even in the entire Sky Empire, the number of Soul Ascension Realm Experts he had heard about could be counted on one hand.

If his master really managed to break through to the Soul Ascension Realm, the Star Shattering Sect would automatically become one of the strongest powers in the entire Sky Empire and the sect would also hold some sway outside the borders of the Sky Empire.

Just thinking about this was more than enough to make Chu Yang feel excited.

"Breakthrough?! How strong will master be after he breaks through?" Hearing what her senior brother and also seeing the excited expression plastered all over his face, Mui could not help tilting her head slightly as she asked this with a questioning look on her face.

"No idea, but I think it should be the Soul Ascension Realm…" Shaking his head as he wasn't too clear about just how strong their master was, Chu Yang just said this before turning his attention back towards the palace. Hoping that their master would give them an answer.

…

Well… I guess I never really told anyone in the sect about his cultivation realm, it's a given that they would grow curious about my strength at some point in time.

At the same time back inside the palace, Xuan Hao could not help opening his eyes after seeing his disciples stare intently at the palace.

"But… I can't tell them that I'm in the Dao Domain Lord Realm, as it might create problems considering that the realm is pretty much extinct in the current day and age. Maybe I should just tell them that I'm in the Soul Ascension Realm. Considering my current strength, it wouldn't be that wrong…" Muttering this to himself as he looked over his four disciples with his divine sense.

"Indeed, I am in secluded cultivation to try and break through. However, I'm already in the Soul Ascension Realm and its just a minor realm."

In the end, he decided to tell them that he was in the Soul Ascension Realm. Not only to satiate their curiosity, but also to have them spread this information out to the rest of the sect, that would then spread it to the world outside. Ensuring that the Sky Empire wouldn't dare to mindlessly try and deal with them after they began expanding into the core of their empire, but also as a way to help Elder Song with his quest for conquering the surrounding kingdoms and bring them under the Star Shattering Sect.

Although these kingdoms had still barely managed to hold on over the last few months, they would undoubtedly give up after learning that the Star Shattering Sect had someone in the Soul Ascension Realm. Even if they had no idea what the Soul Ascension Realm was, they would inevitably find out that it was the realm above the Domain Lord Realm.

At the same time, this might also result in the people supporting these kingdoms facing off against the Star Shattering Sect to show up. Although… Xuan Hao already had an idea as to who these mysterious people were…

"Woooow~ Master is amazing, to think you are in the Soul Ascension Realm! Not only that, but you are still getting even stronger! Hehe~ Master is the most powerful!"This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Smiling a bit to himself as he saw the cute reaction from Mui, who looked both overjoyed and amazed at the same time, Xuan Hao shook his head before he closed both of his eyes and resumed his cultivation. Focusing his attention back on trying to comprehend the Small Success Realm of the Dao of Space.

…

"To think master is actually in the Soul Ascension Realm. No wonder that powerful demon beast willingly follows does what he says…" Muttering this to himself with a hint of amazement on his face after his mater personally confirmed that he had already reached the Soul Ascension Realm, Chu Yang could not help remembering the winged lion demon beast that had been protecting the sect even when his master was not around.

"Indeed, if master wasn't strong enough, I doubt a powerful demon beast like the winged lion would willing listen to him and watch over the sect even when he is gone." Nodding her head in agreement, Qing Yi also had a surprised expression on her face as she said this.

Although she had suspected that their master had already reached the Soul Ascension Realm, it was different from him actually being in the Soul Ascension Realm. After all, the Soul Ascension Realm was far beyond the Domain lord Realm that she had believed to be the most powerful realm just a few months earlier.

"Hehe~ Master is sooo powerful! Even the big kitty has to submit!" Not at all showing them the same level of seriousness as her two seniors, Mui just continued to happily smile as she said this. Feeling happy that her master was strong. Not really caring too much about anything else.

"Soul Ascension Realm…" Bai Ning on the other hand just silently looked in the direction of the palace with a somewhat bewildered expression on his face. Never having imagined that he would actually end up as a disciple of such a strong cultivator.

In the end, all four of them had different reactions to finding out about their master being in the Soul Ascension Realm. Resulting in them spending the next few hours chatting together about what they knew about the Soul Ascension Realm, as the realm itself was rather unknown to them considering that there was no Soul Ascension Realm Experts in the border region of the Sky Empire. Outside of their master.

…

Following Chu Yang, Qing Yi, Bai Ning, and Mui learning about their master being in the Soul Ascension Realm, it did not take more than a day before it spread through the entire Star Shattering Sect. Resulting in every single disciple and elder learning about Xuan Hao being in the Soul Ascension Realm.

"Xuan Hao is actually in the Soul Ascension Realm!? Hmph! To think that brat hid it so well… Did he perhaps leave the sect when ascending the tribulation?"

Also learning about Xuan Hao being in the Soul Ascension Realm, Feng Chen cursed loudly at how well he had managed to hide it from him and the rest of the elders. However, the smile on his face gave away the fact that he was filled with joy after learning about this matter.

Not only would the Star Shattering Sect have a Soul Ascension Realm Expert from now on, but they would no longer have to be so careful when expanding in the direction of the Sky Empire's core territory in the future.

"Hehe, no need to be mad at him, with this we should be able to get those kingdoms to surrender in a few days." Sitting on a chair not too far away from Feng Chen, Elder Song was similarly smiling as he said this while at the same time picking up his communication talisman to inform someone to begin spreading this news to the still resisting major kingdoms.

Given that Xuan Hao had revealed his cultivation base to his disciples, Elder Song understood that he wanted him to spread this information out to help the Star Shattering Sect have a smoother time expanding, while at the same time serving as intimidation for anyone with plans of attacking the Star Shattering Sect…

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Chapter 1041 Growing Conflict

Following Elder Song learning about the fact that Xuan Hao was in the Soul Ascension Realm, it did not take long before this information began spreading throughout the major kingdoms still standing against the Star Shattering Sect. Not only that, but at the same time, Elder Song also utilized some of the people he had sent out to infiltrate these kingdoms to instead focus on trying to split the different powers inside these major kingdoms up.

The main reason he did this was not just to split up the different powers inside these major kingdoms but was also because he understood that there was a rather high chance that these major kingdoms wouldn't believe the information about the Star Shattering Sect having a Soul Ascension Realm Expert. After all, Xuan Hao had not personally appeared to fight against them. For them to believe that the Star Shattering Sect did indeed have someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, a little help was required from some of the spies inside these major kingdoms.

A few rumors spreading among the major forces of these major kingdoms and the Star Shattering Sect going out to announce Xuan Hao reaching the Soul Ascension Realm should be more than enough to fully convince them. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

Hopefully allowing the Star Shattering to smoothly take control of these major kingdoms without too many problems. After all, with the information that they were fighting against a sect with a Soul Ascension Realm Expert, some of the strong forces in these major kingdoms would inevitably have second thoughts about continuing to fight with the Star Shattering Sect.

In the end, all Elder Song wanted to do was add a little more motivation and help the major kingdoms surrender faster without wasting too many of the Star Shattering Sect's resources in the process…

"This… How is this possible!? Soul Ascension Realm!? Who would believe such an obvious lie! Even if this Soul Ascension Realm really exists, there is no way that the Star Shattering Sect would have someone like that, the strongest person in the sect should only have reached the Domain Lord Realm a few years ago!

Even if they want to lie to get us to surrender, they should at least have come up with something better than just trying to convince us that there is someone in Soul Ascension Realm in the Star Shattering Sect!"

"Hehe, if there really is a Soul Ascension Realm Expert in the Star Shattering Sect, there is no way they would have allowed us to stay alive after fighting for so long!"

"For them to spread this kind of information… Is the Star Shattering Sect perhaps running out of resources and is looking for an easy way to deal with us? If that is the case, isn't this the best time for a counterattack!? Maybe we can even take down the Star Shattering Sect in one fell swoop."

Like Elder Song had expected, the different rulers of the major kingdom all reacted with disdain and contempt after hearing the news of there being a Soul Ascension Realm Expert in the Star Shattering Sect.

In their eyes, this was nothing more than a vain attempt to make them surrender without doing anything.

Of course, there was no way that the rulers of the different major kingdoms would be fooled by something like this. Instead, some of them felt that this was a sign of weakness from the Star Shattering Sect. Potentially hinting at the fact that the Star Shattering Sect was running out of resources to keep up their continued expansion, a weakness that they might be able to take advantage of.

Although they doubted that they would be able to destroy the Star Shattering Sect, even with the secret technique, they still hoped that they would be able use this chance to stop them from expanding any further and keep their kingdoms intact. After which they would be able to buy themselves enough time to produce a Domain Lord Realm Expert of their own.

At least… That was what most of the major kingdoms believed. Having put their hope on possibly being able to use the secret technique that had been given to them to break through to the Domain Lord Realm without dying a few days later.

…

Somewhere inside the capital of one of the major kingdoms still resisting the Star Shattering Sect, a group of four people belonging to the different major forces in the kingdom had gathered together inside a small restaurant to talk about the recent developments in the defensive war against the Star Shattering Sect-

"Did you hear? Apparently the Grand Elder of the Star Shattering Sect broke through to the Soul Ascension Realm, I heard that he appeared on the battlefield of the Mist Sky Kingdom and killed all of the old ancestors of the royal family in a single attack.

If you doubt my information, I can say with certainty that the person who informed me about this is a close friend of mine and I personally don't doubt him."

However, instead of keeping to the topic of how well their kingdom was currently doing in resisting the Star Shattering Sect, one of the four suddenly spoke up as he mentioned some information that he had recently managed to get his hands on from one of his most trusted informants.

"Wha- Really!? No wonder I didn't hear anything from my friends in the Mist Sky Kingdom when we were supposed to meet up a few days ago. Looks like they all ran away after the fall of the royal family…" Not showing the slightest hint of doubt after hearing what was said, another one of the four exclaimed loudly as he told the three others about how he hadn't been able to contact his friends in the Mist Sky Kingdom before drawing up his own conclusion as to why this had happened.

The fact that the Mist Sky Kingdom had been attacked and essentially destroyed by this powerful Grand Elder from the Star Shattering Sect seemed to fit in perfectly with how his friends had suddenly stood him up without informing him beforehand.

"Indeed, it looks like it won't be long before the Star Shattering Sect finishes up the remaining kingdoms. At that point in time, we will end up under the control of the Star Shattering Sect if we are lucky and dead if we aren't…" Nodding his head in approval, the third also agreed with the other two and concluded that it was only a matter of time before the Star Shattering Sect appeared and finished things.

"""…."""

As a result, the other three quickly frowned as they all understood how dangerous their current situation was. If they didn't want to end up dying when that powerful Soul Ascension Realm Expert from the Star Shattering Sect appeared, it might be a good idea to run away while they still had the chance. At least that way, they would be able to stay alive.

Although… Doing something like that would inevitably end up damaging their forces. Not to mention, there was no guarantee that they would even be able to find somewhere to set up base again after leaving.

After all, the strongest among them had only reached the Nascent Soul Realm… And it was doubtful whether or not anyone would willingly allow them to settle down inside their territory.

As for leaving the Sky Empire… This was never something any of them considered, as they all understood that this would be the same as a death sentence for their families and those below the Nascent Soul Realm.

There was a reason why only those stuck at the peak of the Core Formation Realm or those who had at least reached the Nascent Soul Realm dared to leave their native kingdom to travel the continent, one of these reasons being the countless powerful demon beasts and bandits roaming the place.

"Maybe… Maybe we could try and ally ourselves with the Star Shattering Sect before the kingdom falls? If that is the case, we should at least be able to remain without needing to escape. At most there will be a change in the person above…"

"This… Are you-"

"Wait now, I think he has a point. Not to mention, what has the royal family ever done for us? Even now, my family's disciples are acting as the frontline while most of the soldiers from the royal family looks on from afar…"

"Indeed, at least it looks like there might be a way out for us if we decided to ally with the Star Shattering Sect before our kingdom surrenders. Not to mention, it might be better for us in the future. After all, we will have the backing of a sect with a Soul Ascension Realm Expert in it!"

"Then… Let's do that, we will secretly inform the Star Shattering Sect together before the Grand Elder shows up!"

As the four came to a decision that would ultimately spell the end for their kingdom, similar things were happening across the other major kingdoms still fighting against the Star Shattering Sect.

Unknown to all of them, everything they heard had been fabricated by the Star Shattering Sect's information network, the only thing true was the fact that the Mist Sky Kingdom had been destroyed.

How this had happened on the other hand was a completely different story…

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Chapter 1042 Sheng Mei's Decision

Over the next few weeks countless smaller powers belonging to the different major kingdoms still fighting the Star Shattering Sect secretly contacted the Star Shattering Sect. All of them were looking to build an alliance with the Star Shattering Sect before the Grand Elder in the Soul Ascension Realm appeared in their kingdom.

Because of this, Elder Song was forced to recruit more elders to contact and negotiate with the large number of powers wanting to join forces with the Star Shattering Sect. Even going as far as to use some of the more talented Core Formation Realm disciples when negotiating with some of the weaker powers. Seeing it as a perfect opportunity for them to learn, while at the same time displaying the talent of the sect to these different powers.

After all, even if these different powers had heard about the Star Shattering Sect and might even have fought them at some point, they had never encountered the disciples of the sect before and had only ever been in contact with the elders of the sect. At most they would have been able to encounter some of the disciples from the branch sects that had begun popping up inside their kingdom, but in the end, these disciples could not be considered as the real disciples of the Star Shattering Sect.

The true foundation and future of the Star Shattering Sect was not in the disciples of these branch sects, but instead the disciples nurtured at the main sect located in the Shattered Star Peaks, a place that was impossible for them to access considering their current hostile relationship with the Star Shattering Sect.

As a result of this, the different powers in the major kingdoms were all taken aback by just how strong the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect were. Not only were there a large number of Core Formation Realm disciples, but there were even a few who had approached the Middle Stages of the Core Formation Realm.

If not part of the Star Shattering Sect, these Core Formation Realm disciples would be equivalent to the true heirs and future leaders of these powers. Maybe even above that!

Because of this, these different powers who had originally been a little hesitant on whether or not to join the Star Shattering Sect were fully convinced that they were making the correct choice.

As a result, it did not take long before Elder Song began to make use of these different powers to rapidly expand the Star Shattering Sect's influence in the different major kingdoms from.

By the time they realized what was happening, it was already too late for them to fight back... And soon enough, the only major kingdoms still standing were the three oldest and most powerful kingdoms who had given birth to a Domain Lord Realm Expert in the past and still had some ancient artifacts left behind to stabilize the situation.

Among these three, the Flame Sky Kingdom was the most powerful due to the ancient formation guarding their capital and their almost full control over any power inside their borders.

Of course, there was no way that Elder Song had forgotten about them, it was just that taking them down without having Shu Yao or Feng Chen go personally was a little harder compared to the other major kingdom.

…

Standing alone inside one the large rooms of the Flame Sky Kingdoms royal palace, Sheng Mei could not help narrowing her eyes as she looked over a report one of her subordinates had handed her a few minutes earlier. This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

In it, it described clearly how almost all of the major kingdoms trying to fight back against the Star Shattering Sect had already fallen due to a sudden internal struggle that allowed the Star Shattering Sect to sweep in and take down the royal families of these kingdoms before they had the time to deal with the internal problems that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"To think only three are left now… The Star Shattering Sect is far more effective than I first imagined…" Muttering this to herself as she understood just how difficult it was to do something like this without anyone noticing anything off beforehand, Sheng Mei could not help recalling the conversation she had with Elder Song a few days earlier.

Although she had already decided to ally with the Star Shattering Sect in taking down the current royal family of the Flame Sky Kingdom, she had never imagined that the day would come so soon.

Thinking about it, she had expected to lay low for a few more years as she gathered more support among the different elders of the kingdom before starting a rebellion with the goal of overthrowing the royal family with the support of the Star Shattering Sect.

However, this was not what the Star Shattering Sect had wanted. At least that was made clear by Elder Song during their conversation a few days earlier, where he had outright denied this plan of hers as it would take far too long.

At first, she had not understood what he meant by it taking too long, as bringing down the Flame Sky Kingdom in a few years' time could already be considered extremely fast. Especially when considering just how big the Flame Sky Kingdom was and the fact that they had several different artifacts left behind by a Domain Lord Realm Expert.

Only after she learnt about the fall of the other major kingdoms did she come to understand what Elder Song meant by it being far too slow.

"Haaa… It's obvious that the Star Shattering Sect wants to end things fast so they can begin to integrate the territory over the next few years and begin thinking about expanding their borders even further. After all, now that they have someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, there is no way they will be satisfied with just remaining in the border region…" Letting out a sigh as she said this while turning to look in the direction of the Star Shattering Sect, Sheng Mei picked up a small token that had been laying on the table in front of her before making her way out of the small room.

Considering that the Star Shattering Sect had already taken care of the other major kingdoms, she no longer felt any hesitation in carrying out the plans that Elder Song had proposed to her during their meeting a few days earlier.

Even if it meant that the royal family of the Flame Sky kingdom would no longer exist after today!

…

Not too long after Sheng Mei left her room, she immediately went towards the throne room and requested to speak with the ancestors and the king. Essentially, all of the higher-ups in the Flame Sky Kingdom.

"Hm? Elder Sheng Mei is requesting an audience with the king and the old ancestors? What does she want now? Doesn't she know how bad the current situation is or does she perhaps want to take advantage of the situation to convince some of the old ancestors about surrendering to the Star Shattering Sect!?

Hmph! Whatever it is that she wants, I really want to see if she dares to continue supporting the Star Shattering Sect. From what I know, this might possibly be the last time the ancestors and king will tolerate her attitude towards our enemies!"

Learning about this, Elder Hong Xuan, who had been adamantly against Elder Sheng Mei and her constant attempts to convince the ancestors and king about joining the Star Shattering Sect was snickering disdainfully to himself as he looked in the direction of the throne room where Sheng Mei was patiently waiting in front of the large pair of doors without moving.

Even if Sheng Mei hadn't been successful in convincing the ancestors that surrendering to the Star Shattering Sect was the best option for the Flame Sky Kingdom, she had already been successful in convincing a large number of the elders in the Flame Sky Kingdom… And in the end, this had resulted in a large number of elders who had originally supported Elder Hong Xuan starting to support Sheng Mei.

In the end, this had caused Elder Hong Xuan's power to shrink continuously over the past few years.

Although he still had the ancestors and the king's support in fighting the Star Shattering Sect, the elders of the Flame Sky Kingdom had increasingly begun to protest the war against the Star Shattering Sect. Not seeing any reason to continue the fight with such a powerful sect. Especially so after the Star Shattering Sect had offered to allow them to retain their positions and continue managing their territory even after they took over with only a few restrictions.

No matter what, to most of the elders, the ancestors had been blinded by Elder Hong Xuan and couldn't see things clearly. Making many of them borderline hostile towards him, as they saw him as someone forcing the Flame Sky Kingdom into a dead end.

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Chapter 1043 Sensing Danger

Hearing what Elder Hong Xuan said while waiting in front of the entrance to the throne room, Sheng Mei could not help rolling her eyes as she felt the disdainful and scornful gaze from the person in question.

Although she had indeed caused his power in the Flame Sky Kingdom to weaken significantly among the younger elders of the kingdom, the same could not be said for the older elders of the kingdom. Most of whom were completely on his side. All of them feeling tempted by the possibility of breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm if they could figure out a way to use the secret technique without the obvious flaw of dying a few days after using it.

Even if this seemed completely delusional to someone like herself, she understood the reason why these older elders of the kingdom chose to believe this, as most of them were close to reaching the end of their life. The only chance at living that they had was breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm before their lifespan ran out.

Not only that, but she had also recently leant that the person who had originally handed over the secret technique for forcefully breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm had appeared and was actively doing everything to make the Flame Sky Kingdoms ancestors continue the fight against the Star Shattering Sect.

I wonder which power that person belongs to… Is it perhaps one of the Star Shattering Sect's enemies trying to stir up trouble in an attempt to weaken them?

As she found herself waiting longer than expected in front of the entrance to the throne room, Sheng Mei could not help remembering some information that she had recently chanced upon.

Although she did not know much about the person who had given the Flame Sky Kingdom the secret technique that allowed those old ancestors to forcibly break through to the Domain Lord Realm for a short period of time, she understood that this person was likely someone belonging to a power that was enemies with the Star Shattering Sect.

At least, considering that this power did not directly attack the Star Shattering Sect and instead used underhand methods to try and weaken them, it was obvious that it was weaker than the Star Shattering Sect or at least didn't dare to face it head on. Meaning that it shouldn't be too dangerous for her to go against the person from this unknown power with the support of the Star Shattering Sect.

Not to mention, she already got a few special things from Elder Song to deal with this person-

Creak~!

"Ah?"

"Elder Sheng Mei, you can enter."

Interrupting Sheng Mei's train of thought, a muscular servant opened the door to the throne room and called for her to enter.

"Elder Hong Xuan, you can enter as well."

However, the servant didn't only call for her, but also turned towards Elder Hong Xuan standing not too far away and called for him to enter the throne room as well.

"Huh?"

Catching both Hong Xuan and Sheng Mei by surprise, as neither of them had expected the servant to ask him to enter as well. After all, he had not come to throne room to talk to the ancestors or the king but had just shown up to scoff at Sheng Mei from a distance and laugh at her when she would inevitably fail to convince the ancestors and king once again.

"Are you sure they called for me as well? I don't remember asking for an audience…?"

"Yes, they specifically called for both of you."

"…"

Not knowing what had caused the ancestors or king to call for him, Hong Xuan could only keep quiet as he frowned visibly while walking over before making his way inside the throne room ahead of Sheng Mei.

No matter what reason the ancestors or the king had called for him, he had no plans of refusing them. Not only because of their superior position, but also because they were his strongest support at the moment. Refusing them for no reason would possibly result in his status plummeting even further than it had already done among the younger elders.

Hm… Something is wrong…

Watching as Elder Hong Xuan entered the throne room ahead of her, Sheng Mei could not help narrowing both of her eyes. Feeling that something was wrong with how the ancestors and the king had suddenly decided to call on Hong Xuan just when she had informed them about wanting to speak to them.

However, even if I'm suspicious of something being wrong, I still have to enter…

Feeling a tinge of regret as she stared into the throne room, Sheng Mei tightly gripped the small token that Elder Song had given her before entering the throne room. Preparing herself for the worst-case scenario. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

"Hm? This is…"

Stepping inside the throne room prepared for something bad to happen at any moment, Sheng Mei was taken aback when she realized that the old ancestors that she had wanted to speak to were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the only person present was the king who was sitting on top of his throne while emotionlessly looking down at her and Hong Xuan who had walked in ahead of her.

Although she had also wanted to talk with the king, as he was the current ruler of the Flame Sky Kingdom, he was not the main person she wanted to talk to. After all, when all things were said and done, he was still below the ancestors in terms of status.

The main reason for this difference in status being the fact that the strength of all the old ancestors had at least reached the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm while the king was still in the Eighth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, the same realm as her.

If she wanted to get the Flame Sky Kingdom to surrender to the Star Shattering Sect, she would have to convince the old ancestors. Not just the king who had no way to do something like that without the approval of the old ancestors.

"…"

Feeling even more uneasy than before entering the throne room with no one other than the king present, Sheng Mei unconsciously began slowing down as she approached the throne located at the end of the throne room with the emotionless king sitting on top of it. Even starting to scan her surroundings for anything out of place.

"Your majesty, it's great to see you again, I wonder what reason you called me for?" Not at all affected by the strange circumstances or the odd emotionless state of the king, Hong Xuan carelessly waltzed in front of the throne as he asked this.

Given his relationship with the king and the old ancestors being far better than Sheng Mei, he saw no reason to fear them even if the current situation was rather odd. At most he thought to himself that this was because the old ancestors were planning to punish Sheng Mei for her consistent urging of them to surrender to the Star Shattering Sect.

Part of him was even hoping that this was the case, as he smiled happily to himself while waiting for the king to respond and start dishing out punishments for Sheng Mei. Even going as far as to think that the reason the king had called for him was for him to witness Sheng Mei being punished.

After all, their constant back and forth was quite well known among the elders of the Flame Sky Kingdom even before the appearance of the Star Shattering Sect…

However, over half a minute quickly passed without the ting saying a single word as he just emotionlessly stared down at him and the approaching Sheng Mei.

"Is there something wrong your majesty?" Beginning to feel that something was off as well, Hong Xuan could not help asking as he turned to look up at his king with a somewhat confused expression on his face. Not understanding why his king had not responded to him. Especially considering that they were rather close and there was no reason for him to outright ignore him.

"…"

Noticing the oddity as well after covering around half of the throne room, Sheng Mei froze on the spot and stopped moving deeper inside the throne room. No matter what was wrong, her earlier feeling of danger when she had first entered the throne room had gone off the rails as she understood that something was wrong with the way that the king acted.

Not only that, but she had also noticed a few faint formation markings on the floor just a few meters in front of her.

Although she had no idea what these formation markings on the floor were for, she had never seen them before and felt that they were somehow related to the dangerous feeling she had felt when entering the throne room.

"Hehe~ Looks like at least one of you is smart enough to sense the danger, but its already too late for both of you to leave!"

Just at this moment, a low crackling voice filled with killing intent echoed out from behind the throne of the king. Shocking both Hong Xuan and Sheng Mei, as they watched a person slowly walk out from behind the throne.

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