Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Shortly after the conversation with the person from the Explorer Union, Bai Ning discovered that they had made their way inside a mountainous part of the Azure Sky Kingdom. Even without knowing anything about this place, it was still rather obvious that such a place would have a lot of demon beasts. Especially if there weren't any sects that had decided to make the place their home and keep the demon beasts in check.

However, from how desolate and rundown the road they were using was, it was clear that there wasn't any sect around keeping the demon beasts living on the mountains around them in check. Making it clear why the person from the Explorer Union had been so uneasy about entering the place.

Roar!

Not even a second after he thought about all of this, a demon beast in the earlier stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm jumped out from the bushes located near the place where his and Hui Ying's carriage was passing through-

Swish-!

And not a second later, someone in the Later Stage Foundation Establishment Realm Expert descended upon the demon beast and blocked its path before it had a chance to do any damage to the caravan-

Roa-

Ptsh!

Overpowering and killing it in a few short exchanges!

Roar!

Rooooar!

Unfortunately, this was not the end, as dozens of loud roars soon echoed out from all around the caravan before a large number of demon beasts made their presence known as they soon descended down towards the caravan filled with killing intent. Among which, there was no lack of Core Formation Realm demon beasts.

"This- Everyone, get ready to fight!" Following the sudden ambush that was about to reach them, the older disciple at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm called out to everyone before jumping forward and into the approaching demon beast. Heading directly towards a large spider demon beast at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm that seemed to be the most powerful among the attacking demon beasts.

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Reacting to the loud yell of the oldest disciple, the Core Formation Realm Experts from both the Star Shattering Sect and the Explorer Union all rushed out to meet the approaching demon beasts. Making sure to each target the more powerful demon beasts in an attempt to prevent them from reaching the caravan and possibly damaging it as a result.

Soon enough, the sound of battle echoed throughout the mountains as the people in the Foundation Establishment Realm rushed out of their carriages to face the remaining demon beasts.

…

Watching the large battle taking place below as a sudden horde of demon beasts had descended upon Bai Ning and the rest of the caravan, Xuan Hao soon turned his attention back towards the eyeball hovering in the air above the caravan after making sure that Bai Ning and the rest were capable of dealing with the demon beasts by themselves.

The eyeball is still following after them…

Compared to when the eyeball had first shown up and he had suspected that it just belonged to some injured Soul Ascension Realm Expert secretly recovering nearby, he was now certain that this was not the case.

The main reason for this being the fact that his disciple and the rest had passed through several large towns with Nascent Soul Realm Experts inside of them, yet the eyeball had not even glanced in the direction of these Nascent Soul Realm Experts and had instead remained fully focused on them.

If the eyeball really did belong to an injured Soul Ascension Realm Expert who was just injured and recovering inside the Azure Sky Kingdom, there was no way he or she would feel Bai Ning and the rest were a bigger threat than someone in the Nascent Soul Realm…

"Haaa… Looks like it is indeed someone specifically targeting them, but where did this Soul Ascension Realm Expert pop up from all of a sudden? Be it the Sky Empire or the surrounding empires, someone this powerful is impossible to find outside of the most powerful people in said empires, like the ancestor of the Sky Empire…" Muttering this to himself as he kept his attention focused on the eyeball, Xuan Hao could not think of where this Soul Ascension Realm Expert had appeared from all of a sudden.

Even if there was a chance that he was one of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts from one of the more powerful empires who had gone to the Frozen Wasteland, it made no sense why someone like that would target the disciples of his sect.

Not only that, but there was also the fact that this Soul Ascension Realm Expert chose to keep an eye on them as they made their way through the Azure Sky Kingdom instead of just directly capturing them. After all, given the difference in strength between someone in the Soul Ascension Realm and the Core Formation Realm, doing this would be as simple as breathing.

Is there perhaps another reason for this that I'm unaware of?

Not knowing what the best thing would be to do in this kind of uncertain situation, Xuan Hao ultimately decided to continue observing the group below as they continued on with their adventure without doing anything.

In case they encountered a dangerous situation or the Soul Ascension Realm Expert behind the eyeball appeared with hostile intentions, he would escape with them before anything could happen. No matter what, his current strength was still comparable to someone who had passed through the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm and with his recent comprehension of the Dao of Space, he was confident in escaping in case the other party was stronger than him.

The only problem with this, was if the other party was really targeting the Star Shattering Sect. At that point in time, he would have to find a way to deal with a far more powerful opponent if he wanted the branch sects of the Star Shattering Sect located outside the Shattered Star Peaks to survive…

Well… If it really comes down to it, I could always try and bait the person into the Shattered Star Peak before using the formation there.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao unconsciously glanced away from floating eyeball and looked down at Bai Ning locked in a fight with a Second Stage Core Formation Realm demon beast.

Although he was holding his own against the demon beast that was one minor realm above him, it was clear that he had no way to defeat the demon beast and was instead slowly being pushed back by the stronger demon beast. Demonstrating that he was nowhere near the same level as Chu Yang and Qing Yi when it came to combat experience.

Then again, this was a given, as the only real combat experience he had was when he had hunted down demonic cultivators and entered what he believed to be a secret realm for a few days where he and Hui Ying spent most of their time hiding or escaping from different demon beasts.

When it came to actually fighting demon beasts, he had close to no experience. Especially after having reached the Core Formation Realm, as he had not left the sect after recovering from the injuries he had received back then. Focusing all of his time on either improving his blacksmithing or cultivating. Using as little time as possible on actual combat training.

"Maybe it would be a good idea if Bai Ning went out a bit more in the future…" Seeing the lack of combat experience of his third disciple on full display, Xuan Hao could not help muttering this to himself as he already began planning to inform Elder Song to have his disciple set out for some of the sects excursions outside the sect designed to help the disciple gain combat experience.

Although it was fine that Bai Ning was not as good at fighting as Chu Yang or Qing Yi, he felt that it was unacceptable that he wasn't capable of fighting equally with a demon beast only a single minor realm above himself.

…

Ching~

"Hehe, found it!"

At the same time Xuan Hao was planning on how to better train his disciple after returning to the sect, the older disciple facing off against the Peak Core Formation Realm demon beast successfully found a weak spot in the spider's exoskeleton-

"Haaa!"

Ptsh!

Taking advantage of the weakness, he didn't waste a single second as his sword pierced through the weakness with surgical precision. Instantly killing the large spider demon beast before it had a chance to defend itself.

Swish-!

Having killed off the spider demon beast, the older disciple didn't stand around doing nothing, as he turned around and began killing his way through the remaining demon beasts who were far weaker than the Peak Core Formation Realm spider he had just killed. Almost instantly causing the tide of the battle to swift heavily in their favor, even causing some of the smarter demon beasts to jump away and escape from the battlefield.