Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Having set off towards the alchemy competition, Xuan Hao and the rest flew through the air peacefully without anyone appearing to disturb them.

After all, as they had chosen to fly, the only ones who would be able to even attack them in the first place, was someone in the Domain Lord Realm or someone who also had a flying demon beast like them.

This in turn, had made their overall journey smoother and safer compared to how it would be if they had decided to travel by land where any random bandit group would be able to attack them.

However, this was only the first part of their journey through a few kingdoms with similar strength to the past Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

After all, the farther away from the Flying Sword Sect they got and the closer they got to the core of the Sky Empire, the stronger the average strength of the people would get. The kingdoms they passed through would in turn also be stronger.

Not to mention that in the Sky Empires core areas, the few bandit groups that had been able to continue existing there were rumoured to have more than a few dozen people in the Nascent Soul Realm! A force that would easily be able to overwhelm the Flying Sword Sect of the past!

A group that powerful would of course have several flying demon beasts!

Luckily, the alchemy competition was not located anywhere close to the places where such groups operated.

Instead, it was located in a relatively small kingdom barely inside the core area of the Sky Empire.

The kingdom in question was one of the more important kingdoms under the Sky Empire, the Iron Sky Kingdom.

The main reason for the Iron Sky Kingdoms importance was not due to the fact that the ruler of the kingdom was someone in the Domain Lord Realm, but due to the fact that the Iron Sky Kingdom was by far the biggest producer of spiritual metals inside the Sky Empire.

This in turn had also allowed the kingdom to become one of the wealthiest kingdoms under the Sky Empire and had in the end solidified the kingdoms position as one of the most important under the Sky Empire.

From what little Xuan Hao had learned about the Iron Sky Kingdom, he knew that it was often seen as a gathering place for people belonging to all sorts of professions.

Blacksmiths coming for the large quantity of spiritual metals, alchemists coming to buy cauldrons and other equipment used in the making of their pills and potions and normal cultivators coming to buy artifacts or weapons from the abundant number of blacksmiths that resided in the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Even Domain Lords often made a trip to the Iron Sky Kingdom due to the fact that the ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom was not only a Domain Lord, but also a Master Blacksmith at the same time!

As for what kind of powers that existed inside of the Iron Sky Kingdom, Xuan Hao had no clue.

After all, the Flying Sword Sect was still located quite far away from the Iron Sky Kingdom and had never really interacted with it before. The only reason why Xuan Hao had even managed to learn about the Iron Sky Kingdom in the first place, was because the Flying Sword Sect had a few records about it that had been passed down over the years.

To be honest, the current situation of the Iron Sky Kingdom might be a lot different from what Xuan Hao had learned from the records in the Flying Sword Sect. The records in question were after all a few hundred years old at this point and even though not much should have changed as the Iron Sky Kingdom had the Sky Empire and a Domain Lord backing it… But one never knew if something had happened…

Maybe Gong Bo knew something? After all, he was among the older generation of the Flying Sword Sect and should have quite a few friends that travelled around the place.

Whoosh~

"Elder Gong Bo, do you perhaps know anything about the current situation of the Iron Sky Kingdom?"

Moving the Great Raven demon beast, he and Qing Yi were flying on a little closer to Gong Bo's flying demon beast, Xuan Hao asked with a curious expression on his face. At the same time, his question also caused Qing Yi to look over towards Gong Bo curiously.

Compared to Xuan Hao who had read up a bit about the place that they were going, Qing Yi had never even learned about the name of the kingdom that the alchemy competition was being held in. Instead, she had fully focused on improving her alchemy during the last few months.

"The Iron Sky Kingdom… Hm… I do have a friend who visited the place recently, but he didn't talk much about the overall situation of the kingdom itself, he only really complained about the increasing price of a few spiritual metals he had gone there for…

Ah! If I'm not wrong, he did mention that the king of the Iron Sky Kingdom recently entered closed door seclusion at that time to breakthrough. If I'm not wrong, the king of the Iron Sky Kingdom should be close to the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm if he succeeded in breaking through at that time… Maybe he even broke through and became a Peak Domain Lord already!" Finishing, Gong Bo had an awe inspired look on his face upon mentioning the fact that the ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom might have reached the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm.

Peak of the Domain Lord Realm! Even in the entire Sky Empire, someone like that would be among the top ten strongest people below the ones at the Soul Ascension Realm!

Even Xuan Hao felt a little cautious upon hearing the strength of the current ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom, he still had no clue how he would fare against someone who had truly reached the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm.

The winged lion, while strong, had not reached the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm…

"A Peak Domain Lord…" Muttering this to himself, Xuan Hao could not help but think about how his current strength compared to a Peak Domain Lord at the Ninth Stage of the Realm…

"Elder… Will that person perhaps also be present during the alchemy competition…?" Sitting a little behind Xuan Hao, Qing Yi had also begun growing nervous upon hearing the strength of the current ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom, as she asked Gong Bo.

"Haha, you don't need to worry about that Qing Yi, someone like that won't come to watch the alchemy competition! At most he would show up to greet the Artisan Alchemist due to him being part of the Sky Empire. From what my friend told me; The ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom rarely leaves his blacksmith. Even if a Domain Lord shows up, he won't leave unless they seek him out or causes trouble!" Laughing a bit as he said this in an attempt to calm down Qing Yi, Gong Bo also felt like what he was saying was the truth.

From what he had learned about the ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom, he would never leave his blacksmith and would at times even directly refuse some of the Domain Lords that came to seek him to make a weapon or an artifact at the door without meeting them.

The only time he would leave was if someone from the Sky Empire came or if one of the more powerful Domain Lords under the Sky Empire showed up to find him!

Nodding her head upon listening to what Gong Bo was saying, Qing Yi suddenly looked up at her master before…

"Do you think he will come out to greet master?"

"Ah… Maybe? I don't know…"

Feeling a bit shocked at Qing Yi's question, Gong Bo suddenly realized the fact that they also had someone in the Domain Lord Realm accompanying them to the Iron Sky Kingdom…

If the ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom came out to greet the Artisan Alchemist from the Sky Empire, would he not also end up greeting Elder Xuan after having already made his way out of his blacksmith?

"What do you think, Elder Xuan?" Not knowing what to say as Qing Yi kept staring fixedly over at him with shinning eyes, Gong Bo turned to ask Xuan Hao about what he thought.

"Hm… No idea, he might come over to say hello. After all, I'm a new Domain Lord in the Sky Empire that he never met before…" Thinking about Gong Bo's question for a short moment, Xuan Hao quickly answered.

"Really!? Then we might get to meet the king of the Iron Sky Kingdom!" Hearing what her master said, Qing Yi felt that it would be reasonable for the king of the Iron Sky Kingdom to come over and greet her master.

At the same time, she suddenly began growing nervous thinking about the fact that she would likely come face to face with such a powerful figure in the soon to be future!