Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

After Xuan Hao began focusing on recovering and let out the rabbit demon beast and the squirrel, it did not take long before the rabbit demon beast took command of the situation and began the process of training the rabbit once again. Taking full advantage of the beneficial environment in the Ephemeral Forest to help increase the strength of the squirrel, while at the same time not forgetting to make sure that the squirrel didn't slack off-

Squeak!

Because of this, the squirrel ended up in a half-dead state as it was trained in a way that could only be described as tortuous for the next week. Even though its strength grew rapidly because of this, it wanted nothing more than to go back to training inside the small space of the pocket again. Not only because it was far more relaxing, but also because it would have some time to rest in between training sessions, something that it didn't have during the week inside the Ephemeral Forest.

The main reason why the rabbit demon beast went so hard on training the squirrel to the point of it almost fainting from exhaustion inside the Ephemeral Forest was not because it hated or had anything against the squirrel. Instead, it was because it had long since realized just how beneficial the Ephemeral Forest was for the squirrel and wanted to take full advantage of its time there before having to return to Xuan Hao's pocket again.

"Hm?"

Waking up to this scene, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of pity while looking at the half-dead squirrel being forced to continue training by the slave driver of a trainer in the form of a small cute looking rabbit.

Even if he didn't have any chance to interact with the squirrel, he still felt a little bad knowing that the reason why it was in its current state was because the rabbit demon beast wanted to make use of the short time that it had inside the Ephemeral Forest.

For this reason, Xuan Hao slowly got up before calling out to the two demon beasts. "You two, stop for a moment."

Squeak?

Squeak!?

As a result, he was soon met with the confused expression of the rabbit demon beast and the terrified expression of the squirrel who had no idea why Xuan Hao had suddenly called out to them.

"From now on, you two can continue staying here while I return to the Valley of Illusory Beasts. Before leaving this place, I will come back to pick you up again."

SQUEAK!?

Hearing what Xuan Hao said, the squirrel let out a loud scream filled with terror before rushing towards him with an almost begging expression on its face. 

No matter what, it couldn't continue staying inside the Ephemeral Forest or the rabbit demon beasts training might really end up killing it!

As these thoughts passed through its head, it seemingly forgot the fact that Xuan Hao was far scarier than the rabbit demon beast as it looked up at him with tears in its eyes.

Squeak!

Bang!

However, before he had the chance to say anything, the rabbit demon beast arrived beside the squirrel and knocked it out. Not intending to sit back and watch it badmouth its training in front of its master.

Squeak~

Dragging away the unconscious body of the squirrel, the rabbit demon beast let out a small squeak of reassurance to him before disappearing inside the Ephemeral Forest.

In the end, Xuan Hao didn't have the chance to say anything before the rabbit demon beast and squirrel had disappeared and could only give one last stare in the direction that the two had disappeared in before turning around and making his way back through the wooden gate connected to the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

…

Returning back to the Valley of Illusory Beasts after having fully recovered the massive amount of qi he had used for the true spatial collapse; Xuan Hao didn't immediately begin to search for Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts to kill. Instead, he used the first few days after returning to the Valley of Illusory Beasts on finding out where he could go inside the valley before the spatial restrictions prevented him from using his Drifting Cloud Steps. 

Making sure that he knew just where he could go and still have all of his escape abilities available in case a powerful creature in the Earth Immortal Realm appeared.

Only after having made sure of this, did Xuan Hao begin to search for a suitable Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast to target… And before long, he managed to successfully find a Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast inside the area where he could still use his Drifting Cloud Steps. Officially marking the start of actively hunting down the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts, something that was only possible due to the fact that their abilities had significantly weakened after he had broken through to the Small Succes Realm in the Dao of Illusions.

The only real problem was the fact that he still had to avoid the Chu Li and not end up in a fight with an illusory beast anywhere near where he was so as to avoid revealing the fact that he was not a senior and instead someone who was actually weaker than him.

At the very least, this was not too hard to accomplish given that his divine sense covered a larger area than that of a normal Peak Soul Ascension Realm cultivator due to his stronger soul. Giving him more than enough time to leave if he spotted Chu Li.

Other than that, given he was more than strong enough to fight the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts after his Dao of Illusions had reached the Small Success Realm, this resulted in his somewhat stagnant progress in the Dao of Illusions once again rapidly improving at pace similar to when he had first entered the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Like this, Xuan Hao ended up spending the next few months solely focused on hunting down the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts to improve his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions, while at the same time doing his best to avoid encountering Chu Li again.

…

At the same time Xuan Hao was dedicating all of his time towards trying to improve his Dao of Illusions to the Large Success Realm, the rabbit demon beast was making the squirrel go through hell back in the Ephemeral Forest.

Although it had decreased the intensity of the training to some extent after Xuan Hao had left and allowed them to continue staying inside the Ephemeral Forest, it was at most enough to give the squirrel a few hours of rest every so often…

Even then, the benefits of the spartan like training of the squirrel began to show itself a month after Xuan Hao had left for the Valley of Illusory Beasts, as the squirrel successfully managed to reach the Fourth Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Going from the First Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Fourth Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm in just a little over a month!

Even when compared to the geniuses of the Star Shattering Sect or outside the Star Shattering Sect for that matter, the squirrel's talent far surpassed most of them. Showing just how much potential it had, while at the same showcasing how effective the rabbit demon beast was when it came to training other demon beasts.

If Xuan Hao had witnessed all of this, he would undoubtedly have attributed it to the rabbit demon beast's special bloodline. Even though it hadn't fully awakened, it definitely did seem to have some effect on the rabbit demon beast, while at the same time also having an effect on the squirrel.

The main effect on the squirrel being the fact that it naturally began to follow the rabbit demon beast. Not in the same way it had done when the rabbit demon beast had first picked it up and forcibly taken it in, but instead in the sense that it felt subservient to the rabbit demon beast.

On the other hand, it also began to feel the benefits of the training more prominently compared to going from the Qi Condensation Realm to the Foundation Establishment realm, as the rabbit demon beast had now begun to teach it all sorts of different ways for it to utilize its qi, both in combat and outside of combat.

It might be a bit odd that this was what was needed for the squirrel to understand that its strength had improved and that it was different from before it had ended up wandering into the Sea of Mist a few months earlier, but that was ultimately what ended up making it realize it.

Much like Xuan Hao, the squirrel had also begun a process of rapid improvement and was showing no signs of stopping as it got closer and closer to the Core Formation Realm with each passing month…