Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

"Hm!? Did we pass through a formation just now… And this qi…"

Passing through the chaotic qi formation, Yi Min could not help letting out a surprised voice as she felt the presence of qi between heaven and earth growing far denser compared to before- No, it could not simple be described as the amount of qi present growing denser. Instead, it would be more accurate to say that the quality of the qi present had also increased compared to outside the Shattered Star Peaks.

Even with her experience, she had never experienced such a good cultivation environment before. 

The only time she had gone anywhere near this good for cultivation was when she was younger and had just broken through to the Domain Lord Realm.

Back then, she had happened to chance upon a secret realm with a similar environment. However, it had only lasted for a few years before the secret realm ended up collapsing as a result of stimulating the qi between heaven and earth.

The experience of cultivating in such an environment for a few years had ended up allowing her strength to rapidly improve. Having helped her break through to the Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm while also taking significant steps towards the Third Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.

If not for that chance encounter back then, she might not have been able to smoothly establish the Iron Sky Kingdom and later grow into one of the pinnacle existences of the Sky Empire.

"What kind of qi gathering formation is this powerful…" Muttering this to herself as she thought about this, she could not help looking back towards the place where she had felt them passing through some kind of formation just a short time earlier.

Although she couldn't see the formation in question, she knew it was there. Not only that, but she felt certain that the formation should have other uses than just gathering qi. The most obvious being protecting the Shattered Star Peaks from any outside force that might have an interest in attacking the Star Shattering Sect.

But if that was the case, the formation should be far beyond the strength of her formation back in the Iron Sky Kingdom…

Thinking up to this point, Yi Min could not help looking back up towards Xuan Hao with a somewhat suspicious look on her face.

No matter how powerful Xuan Hao was, he should still be someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, there should be no way for him to create such a powerful formation. Meaning… The Star Shattering Sect might be backed by a powerful power from the central part of the continent- At least that was what Yi Min wanted to believe…

Given her interactions with Xuan Hao so far, she was certain that he was not someone from the central part of the continent as his knowledge of the world was far too shallow for that. 

Even if he pretended to be someone from the Sky Empire that didn't have any knowledge about the central part of the continent, there was no reason for him to not know anything about the Sky Empire and need her help to learn about it…

Then… Did he just happen to find this powerful formation?

Only able to come up with this after close to five minutes of thinking about all sorts of ways that Xuan Hao might have managed to get his hands on such a powerful formation, Yi Min didn't notice the slightly awkward smile that had appeared on Xuan Hao's face.

"Yi Min… Is there perhaps something you want to say to me?"

"Huh?"

Suddenly hearing Xuan Hao calling out to her, Yi Min let out a somewhat surprised voice as she stared blankly at him for a few seconds before a look of realization appeared on her face.

"This- I- No- There isn't anything, I-I was just thinking about something…" Trying her best to keep calm as she said this, Yi Min quickly stopped staring up at him and instead turned to look down at the ground with a somewhat flustered expression.

For the first time in her life, Yi Min had a feeling of wanting to dig a hole and hide away.

Unfortunately for her, she couldn't even walk properly in her current state and had to be carried. No matter how much she wanted to run away, there was no way for her to do so and she could only try her best to try and calm herself down.

"…"

Not understanding what was happening with Yi Min as she turned to look down at the path below them with a rather intense look in her eyes, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if she had noticed something special about the path. After all, it had survived for thousands of years. Maybe even longer than that.

Perhaps she found something special about the path and wanted to investigate it. Guess I should slow down a bit and give her a chance to properly examine it…

In the end, as Yi Min showed no intention of taking her eyes off the path and looked towards it with an almost spellbound look on her face, Xuan Hao decided to slow down his speed and give her a chance to properly examine whatever it was she had noticed about the path. 

…

WHY ON EARTH IS HE GOING SO SLOW!? IS HE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE TO TORTURE ME!?

Unaware of the reason behind Xuan Hao slowing down, Yi Min could not help screaming inside her head as they had still not reached the Seventh Star Peak after two hours of walking along the path.

Not only that, but she still felt a sense of unknown shame whenever she was about to turn around and ask Xuan Hao about his reason for slowing down. Resulting in her current predicament of continuing to stare at the path below while being slowly carried towards the Seventh Star Peak.

…

"We arrived, do you want to continue investigating the ancient path or do you want to enter the sect now?"

Arriving at the base of the Seventh Star Peak after a little over three hours of walking along the expanded ancient path going through the Shattered Star Peaks, Xuan Hao came to a stop just in front of the newer path leading up the Seventh Star Peak before asking this.

Given Yi Min was so focused on examining the ancient path without showing any signs of looking away, he felt like it was best to ask her in case she wanted to continue investigating the ancient path.

Considering that he was planning on having Yi Min join the Star Shattering Sect, he wouldn't mind staying with her for a few days as she investigated the ancient path.

Of course, there was also the fact that she might have discovered the reason why the ancient path had managed to remain even after thousands of years!

"Huh…?" Letting out a somewhat confused sound as she heard what Xuan Hao said, Yi Min could not help looking more closely at the path beneath her.

Did he really think the reason why she kept staring down at the path was because she wanted to investigate it? 

Not only that, but from what he said, the reason he slowed down should have been because he thought I was investigating the path… But… This can be considered better than him realizing what really happened…

"Yes! I want to enter the sect!" Deciding not to think too much about it, Yi Min decided to just pretend like she had really been investigating the path. Feeling that it would be better than Xuan Hao finding out she had been too embarrassed to turn around and face him after being caught staring directly at him for a rather long period of time.

"Great, I will take you to my palace for now, it's located close to the core of the sect and is by far one of the best locations to stay inside the sect. After that I will inform some of the elders about your presence and arrange for you to meet them when you recovered enough to walk around on your own again." 

Not feeling anything odd about the way Yi Min was acting, Xuan Hao just nodded his head before making his way up the Seventh Star Peak.

Whoosh~

Considering that it was already late and the number of disciples and elders around them had almost been reduced to none, he decided to undo the invisibility created by the domain before jumping into the air and making his way back to his palace. Not thinking that any of the disciples around would be able to see him.

"Ah? Is that Grand Elder Xuan!? But who is he carrying?"

Unknown to Xuan Hao, an older female disciple walking alongside a younger disciple happened to spot him on their way back to the sect from a trip to the spiritual herb fields at the Ninth Star Peak.

"Huh? You are right… And I don't know… Maybe someone got injured and he's carrying them back to the sect?"

"Hehe~ I don't think that's the case!"

"Senior sister? What do you mean?"

"Hehe~ Little junior brother, I think it would be best if we don't say these kinds of things out in public, why don't you come with this senior sister, and I will tell you in private…"

"Huh? Sure!"