Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

As Yi Min settled down in the Star Shattering Sect and managed to recover the ability to walk around without any help, it did not take long before she began getting acquainted with the different elders of the sect.

At the same time, she also used some of her time to explore the Star Shattering Sect by herself. Ending up rather surprised after finding out about the existence of the winged lion demon beast that was lazing around not too far away from the Seventh Star Peak.

Even if she had expected to find other Domain Lord Realm Experts inside of the Star Shattering Sect, she had never expected to find a demon beast. Not only that, but the demon beast had actually reached the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm!

If not for the fact that she had already broken through to the Soul Ascension Realm, she doubted that she would have been able to win against such a powerful demon beast without the assistance of her formation back in the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Even more surprising than that, she found out that the demon beast had not recently been accepted into the Star Shattering Sect but had instead been around for several years already. Meaning that it was likely that Xuan Hao had managed to subdue the demon beast before he had broken through to the Soul Ascension Realm.

Considering that a demon beast would normally be a bit stronger than a human at the same realm due to their powerful physical bodies, she could easily guess just how strong Xuan Hao was for him to be capable of subduing such a powerful demon beast in the Domain Lord Relam.

"Hm…? Why is it just laying around?"

However, after observing the majestic demon beast for a few hours, she was shocked to discover that the winged lion demon beast spent most of its time just sleeping in the sun on a large warm rock while having the disciples of the sect come over with spirit stones and other foods for it. Even if demon beasts would normally spend most of their time laying around, they would at least be cultivating in their own way to increase their strength during this time.

Looking at the winged lion demon beast, it didn't even seem to be doing this and was indeed just sleeping or eating all the time.

Maybe all he needed to do to subdue it was offering a place to sleep and food to eat…

Thinking this to herself as she looked towards the winged lion demon beast, Yi Min felt that she understood how Xuan Hao had managed to subdue such a powerful demon beast and have it become part of the Star Shattering Sect. 

Not wasting too much time observing the winged lion demon beast after she came to this realization, Yi Min went around and saw the different important locations of the Star Shattering Sect. 

From the Qi Spring Lake located at the center of the sect that made the density of qi to the Grand Mission Pavilion that had a constant flow of disciples entering and leaving at all times, Yi Min only felt more impressed the more she found out about the Star Shattering Sect. Especially the Combat Hall.

Although the place didn't seem that impressive on the surface as it was just a place for the disciples and elders to practice their combat techniques, the same could not be said after she personally entered one of the rooms of the Combat Hall.

Almost instantly, she was taken aback by the fact that the space inside of one of the rooms was far larger than it seemed on the outside. Showing off the Star Shattering Sect's mastery over space.

But this was not what caused Yi Min to admire the Combat Hall. After all, there was a fair number of powerful experts in the Sky Empire that could create their own secret realm with enough resources, let alone expand space inside a room with the help of a formation.

Instead, the thing that caused Yi Min to admire the Combat Hall was the fact that the environment inside of these rooms could change according to the needs of the disciple or elder using them. From a volcanic area filled with fire qi to a blank empty ocean filled to the brim with water qi. Allowing them to fully use some more specialized techniques that could only show off their full power in these kinds of environments.

Of course, outside of that, there was also the fact that the rooms of the Combat Hall were durable, to the point that it gave her a feeling that she wouldn't even be able to destroy one of them after she recovered her strength.

This fact alone was more than enough to make admire the Combat Hall while at the same time also wonder who in the Star Shattering Sect had managed to make such a building filled with countless different formations that even a First Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm Expert like herself couldn't break.

Given that she had already witnessed Xuan Hao's skill when it came to alchemy and the fact that the likelihood of him being even more skilled in the art of formations was incredibly low, Yi Min ended up concluding that there should be an incredibly skilled formation master in the Star Shattering Sect. Not only that, but maybe that formation master had also reached the Soul Ascension Realm!

"If that is really the case, I will have to reevaluate the strength of the Star Shattering Sect again…" Muttering this to herself as she left the Combat Hall, Yi Min soon left the place. Finding herself wandering back towards the center of the sect where Xuan Hao's palace was located.

…

As Yi Min returned to the palace and focused her attention back on getting rid of the chaotic qi present inside her dantian after looking around the sect and meeting a few of the sect elders, Elder Song began to move forward with his plans for stabilizing the new territory that had come under the Star Shattering Sect following the surrender of the last remaining kingdom standing against them.

Although it wouldn't be a difficult thing to accomplish with the Star Shattering Sect's current strength and the fact that they now also had someone in the Soul Ascension Realm to crush any ambition that some of the remaining powers inside these kingdoms might have, it would still take years before these kingdoms could be considered to officially have been integrated into the Star Shattering Sect.

Outside of that, there was also the increasing unrest that had begun spreading through the Sky Empire. Even though it had yet to affect the Star Shattering Sect due to the strength of the Star Shattering Sect serving as a deterrent for anyone wanting to start up trouble inside their territory, it would only be a matter of time before the surrounding empires set their sights on the Star Shattering Sect.

After all, even if they heard about the presence of a Soul Ascension Realm Expert in the Star Shattering Sect, it would be far from enough to stop them. 

In a sense, the only reason why the Star Shattering Sect had been ignored by these empires was because it was located at the border of the Sky Empire, while also bordering the Frozen Wastelands.

In case something ended up happening with the Sky Empire's border with the Frozen Wastelands, one of the first places affected would be the Star Shattering Sect. If there was a Soul Ascension Realm Expert there, it would be beneficial for them, as he would draw the attention of the demonic cultivators away from the rest of the Sky Empire. Potentially giving them enough time to destroy and divide the Sky Empire before the demonic cultivators managed to reach the core region of the Sky Empire.

Because of this, a month slowly passed with Elder Song sending out countless elders to stabilize the new territory of the Star Shattering Sect, while the situation in the Sky Empire continued to grow more chaotic with each passing day.

However, this did not last for long, as the Onyx Empire who had been enemies with the Sky Empire for a long time, officially crossed the border and entered the Sky Empire.

…

"Huh!? The Onyx Empire crossed the border!?"

"Yes, I heard that they mobilized three Soul Ascension Realm Experts for this. Apparently intending to take over the Earth Hill Spiritual Metal Mines…" 

"This… Isn't most of our spiritual metal coming from that place following the Iron Sky Kingdom cutting off their supply of spiritual metal?"

Back in the capital city of the Sky Empire, this news spread like wildfire as everyone began panicking. Understanding that the surrounding empires had concluded that the imperial family and the old ancestor were indeed gone.

Not only that, but the Onyx Empire had decided to go after one of the most important mines in the Sky Empire from the start. Intending to take control of it before any of the other empires had the chance to…