Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

As time passed inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts and Xuan Hao's comprehension of the Dao of Illusions increased with each passing day, the situation back in the Star Shattering Sect also began to change as the first independent sects began to arrive at the different kingdoms surrounding the Star Shattering Sect. Soon beginning the process of taking over these kingdoms according to their earlier agreement with the Star Shattering Sect before beginning the process of merging these territories together with the Star Shattering Sect.

In the process of this, Elder Song also made sure to dispatch a large number of Nascent Soul Realm Experts to facilitate this process, most of these Nascent Soul Realm Experts being from the different subordinate powers under the Star Shattering Sect. Among which, the most prominent one was the Ascendant Frost Hall, who dispatched three elders in the Nascent Soul Realm to help out.

Solidifying the fact that the Ascendant Frost Hall was by far the strongest subordinate power under the Star Shattering Sect. Not only because of their high number of Nascent Soul Realm Experts compared to most other forces below the Star Shattering Sect, but due to the fact that their sect master had managed to break through to the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm after a fortunate encounter and the support of the Star Shattering Sect's resources.

At this point in time, outside of some elders from the Star Shattering Sect like the grand elder of the half spirit race, the sect master of the Ascendant Frost Hall was the one with the highest hopes of reaching the Domain Lord Realm in the near future.

The only person who would be able to threaten the Ascendant Frost Hall's position as the number one subordinate power under the Star Shattering Sect would be Wan Linyun, the Domain Lord Realm Expert who had been taken in as a guest elder after during the Star Shattering Sect's expansion into his kingdom… And that was only if he decided to try and build up his family, something that didn't look like it was going to happen considering he had willingly become a guest elder and spent all of his time in the Star Shattering Sect.

Outside of the expansion of the Star Shattering Sect through the addition of the different independent sects from the core region of the Sky Empire seeking refuge with them, the number of rogue cultivators and refugees from the kingdoms closer to the core region passing through the borders of the Star Shattering Sect also increased.

The difference between these people and the ones from the independent sects being the fact that none of them entered the Star Shattering Sect for protection but had instead been pushed further away from the core region of the Sky Empire as the surrounding empires began to cause chaos all across the Sky Empire.

Although unintentional, the sudden influx of refugees and rogue cultivators looking for somewhere safe to settle down during the ongoing chaos in the Sky Empire inevitably ended up causing unrest across the border territory of the Star Shattering Sect.

However, before things could get out of hand, Elder Song took action to calm things down without needing to stoop down to things that wouldn't solve the root cause of the problem, like blocking their entry, expelling, or outright killing them.

Taking advantage of the large number of rogue cultivators who were mostly between the Foundation Establishment Realm and the Core Formation Realm, Elder Song recruited a large number of them and had them use their superior strength to help build out new cities to house the large number of refugees within a short span of a few months.

In the end, settling down the situation in the border region before it could grow out of control and potentially affect the core part of the Star Shattering Sect's territory.

At the same, the Star Shattering Sect also managed to get a large number of ordinary people who could help build up some of the different infrastructure projects that Elder Song and the rest of the management elders of the sect had thought about implementing but lacked the necessary manpower to accomplish at the moment.

As for food… That was no problem at all considering the fact that a single cultivator in the Core Formation Realm skilled in a farming related spiritual technique would be able to create food enough to feed millions of people with a few hours of work.

In a sense, the large number of refugees turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Star Shattering Sect as it helped filling out the current need for ordinary mortal manpower, while also covering the need for Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Realm manpower that the Star Shattering Sect needed to continue expanding at its current speed.

…

Three months after the refugees settled down and began working on different infrastructure projects to better connect the territory of the Star Shattering Sect, the Star Shattering Sect encountered its first real challenge since the chaos in the Sky Empire began, as a Domain Lord Realm Expert from one of the surrounding empires had ended up finding his way inside the Star Shattering Sect's territory.

If he had just been passing through the place on his way to the core region of the Sky Empire, everything would have been fine, and the Star Shattering Sect could just ignore him and continue keeping their neutral position in the current conflict without getting involved in the chaotic situation.

However, this Domain Lord Realm Expert did not have this intention as he headed directly towards the core of the Star Shattering Sect's territory where the Shattered Star Peaks and the main sect was located. Having obviously come with a purpose in mind.

Learning about this the moment the Domain Lord Realm Expert had passed through the borders of the star Shattering Sect and asked one of the elders present at an outpost for directions to the Shattered Star Peaks, Elder Song decided to preemptively leave the sect together with Feng Chen to meet up with this Domain Lord Realm Expert before he had a chance to reach the Shattered Star Peaks. 

Doing so would not only prevent this Domain Lord Realm Expert from finding out just how powerful the Star Shattering Sect was but would also give him an illusion of subservience that might end up helping the Star Shattering Sect in staying out of the current war that was happening in the core region of the Sky Empire without offending one of the empires behind this war.

Even if doing something like this might damage to reputation and image of the Star Shattering Sect in the eyes of some people, both Elder Song and Feng Chen agreed that this was worth it if they could stay out of the war between the large powers of the Sky Empire and the surrounding empires.

…

Upon meeting the Domain Lord Realm Expert as he was making his way towards the Shattered Star Peaks, both Elder Song and Feng Chen could not help cursing inside themselves as they saw the arrogant grin plastered all over his face as he observed both of them.

"So, you are the sect master of the Star Shattering Sect?" Ignoring Elder Song, the Domain Lord Realm Expert focused all his attention on Feng Chen as he examined him from head to toe before sneering disdainfully at him. 

"I heard the Star Shattering Sect had someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, but from the looks of it, that was just a rumor. Tsch, as expected of the Sky Empire's border region. Mistaking someone in the Domain Lord Realm for someone in the Soul Ascension Realm." Shaking his head as he said this to himself the next moment, the Domain Lord Realm Expert belonging to one of the invading empires didn't bother saying anything more before turning around and leaving.

From start to finish, Elder Song and Feng Chen didn't even get to say a single word before the Domain Lord Realm Expert had turned around and left. 

""…""

Left in a state of speechlessness due to the weird interaction that had just taken place, they had no idea whether to feel offended at the blatant disregard or feel happy over the fact that they had managed to avoid getting involved in the war between the Sky Empire and surrounding empires.

"Haaa… I think we should just go back for now, let's just pretend this never happened…" Not knowing what else to say as an audible sigh escaped his lips, Feng Chen decided to pretend like the Domain Lord Realm Expert had never appeared in the first place.

"Indeed… Let's do that…" Nodding his head in approval to Feng Chen's suggestion, Elder Song also felt like pretending the meeting just now had never happened would be for the best. Especially when considering the fact that they still had no idea what power this unknown Domain Lord Realm Expert was from.

Whoosh~!

Like this, Elder Song and Feng Chen soon left the spot and made their way back to the Star Shattering Sect in a quiet manner. Pretending like the Domain Lord Realm Expert they had met just now never appeared.