Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

I wonder what that person meant with only the East Sea Army being dispatched to deal with the illusory beasts alone is true…

Watching as the flying ship disappeared as fast as it had appeared, Xuan Hao could not help feeling curious about what the man from the East Sea Army had said before he left with the rest. After all, even if the people on the flying ship were powerful and there were around a dozen Earth Immortal Realm Experts present, it was far from enough to deal with the close to hundred Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts.

Could it perhaps be that Chu Li isn't the only person being targeted by someone in the East Sea Army, but instead that the entire army has been targeted by someone and they are currently trying to use the illusory beasts as a way to suppress and possible kill them? Feeling his thoughts wander as he remembered how Chu Li had likely been targeted by someone who wanted to kill him by sending him to the Valley of Illusory Beasts, Xuan Hao realized that it wasn't just Chu Li being targeted, but also the East Sea Army itself.

"The situation in the Blue Sea Empire is far more dangerous than I first thought, it was a good idea to not recklessly get myself involved with Chu Li and the East Sea Army…" Muttering this to himself as he continued looking in the direction that the flying ship had disappeared in, Xuan Hao could not help feeling relived that he didn't stay behind and get himself involved with Chu Li.

Even if he did have a good impression of him given his help in explaining the Valley of Illusory Beasts and how respectful he was to him, it was far from enough to make him risk his life to get involved in whatever mess the East Sea Army found itself in at the moment.

Swish-!

Just about to leave again, Xuan Hao once again stopped himself as he turned to look at the figure that had suddenly appeared at the edge of his divine sense. The main reason why this person caught his attention was that the strength of the person who appeared was above the Soul Ascension Realm and had reached the Earth Immortal Realm. Although, upon closer inspection, it was clear that the person in question was in a bad state.

"Isn't that the old man from the Sea of Mist? I guess he decided to escape after learning about the situation from Chu Li. Although, I wonder why the people from the East Sea Army didn't stop him… Hm… Maybe they didn't bring that special artifact with them…?" Muttering this to himself as he watched the old man struggle with all his might to continue using his movement technique while getting closer to him, Xuan Hao felt curious about what plans the old man had.

Not so much because he cared about the old man, as they essentially didn't have anything to do with each other, but because he was curious about how he planned to leave the Blue Sea Empire in his current state. After all, not to mention crossing the border that was guarded by a lot of powerful cultivators who would at least be in the Later to Peak Stages of the Soul Ascension Realm, he likely wouldn't even be able to reach the border in his current state.

The reason why he was certain that the old man didn't just plan to find somewhere new to hide away and recover was because more people from the Blue Sea Empire were bound to show up to search for any illusory beasts after the people from the East Sea Army inevitably failed to deal with them.

At that point in time, it wouldn't be possible for the old man to find a new place to hide and recover his strength inside the Blue Sea Empire, as the entire place would be teeming with Earth Immortals and possibly stronger cultivators from the Blue Sea Empire.

Whoosh~

With this in mind, Xuan Hao decided to hide himself from the old man before he had a chance to find him. Not something difficult to accomplish considering how bad the old man's state was at the moment.

As for it taking him a few days or weeks longer to return to the Star Shattering Sect… Xuan Hao didn't really care too much about that, as he still felt like he had a few years left before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple appeared.

Outside of that, if something really did end up happening back in the Star Shattering Sect, Feng Chen would always be able to contact him through the communication talisman he had left with him before leaving the sect.

All things considered, he had more than enough time to spare on finding out what the old man was up to.

Maybe, if he was lucky enough, he might find another path into the Blue Sea Empire that didn't involve crossing the borders of the empire, something that might become useful in the future when the Star Shattering Sect began looking to expand beyond the borders of the Sky Empire.

…

Almost collapsing on the ground after using his movement technique for the past few minutes to escape from the place filled to the brim with illusory beasts in the Earth Immortal Realm, the old man in the Earth Immortal Realm came to a stop in front of the small mountain range that Xuan Hao had talked with the people from the East Sea Army only a short time earlier.

Of course, the old man had no idea about something like that happening, as he just thought it was a normal mountain range.

"This should be far enough. Even if those illusory beasts chase after me, I doubt they will come before the people from the Blue Sea Empire shows up to deal with them…" Almost whispering this to himself as he looked back in the direction he had come from with a hint a relief on his aged face, the old man used his divine sense to scan the small mountain range before finding a small abandoned temple on the side of one of the mountains.

Whoosh~

Wasting no time, he used what little strength he had left to fly down to the small temple before finding a small seating place to sit down and stabilize his condition. Even if he didn't use all of the power, he had managed to gather over the past two years, using it in his current state inevitably caused some complications that he had to deal with as fast as possible to prevent future problems.

The small, abandoned temple was not out of the ordinary and looked like an ordinary temple that had been abandoned for a few hundred years, with parts of it starting to crumble without any repairs or maintenance.

Given the age of the Ewaria Continent and the fact that many old wandering cultivators chose to find somewhere secluded to build a small place for themselves to reside after giving up hope of breaking through and extending their lifespan. Places like the small temple weren't out of the ordinary and places like it could be found all around the place.

Because of this, Xuan Hao who was observing the old man now silently cultivating inside the temple didn't really pay any attention to the temple after arriving at the small mountain range-

"This should be enough for now…"

however, this changed when the old man suddenly opened his eyes after having dealt with the most pressing injuries that had appeared after he used his movement technique to escape and began making his way into the deeper parts of the temple that were still in a somewhat fine state since the temple had been abandoned.

"This should be the place…"

It was inside this part of the temple that Xuan Hao witnessed the old man methodically pulling out a small metal box that had been buried under the rubble from part of the ceiling that had been collapsed before retrieving two dusty talismans that looked like they were about to fall apart at any moment.

"Hm… If I'm not wrong, they should be placed around here…" Muttering something to himself as he looked over the dust covered interior of the temple, the old man soon arrived in front of a small inconspicuous stone before placing the two dusty talismans on top of it-

Rumble~!

Instantly causing the inconspicuous stone to absorb the two dusty talismans before a power emerged from the small stone and began to slowly draw in qi from the surroundings to draw a large formation on the floor of the temple.

"This is-!?"

Seeing the formation slowly appearing on the floor of the temple, Xuan Hao could not help sucking in a breath of cold air.

Although the speed at which the formation was being created was slow and would at least take a few weeks before being completed, it was undoubtedly a teleportation formation!