Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Roooar!

Taking the lead, one of the illusory beasts at the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm took the lead as it charged forward. Soon causing the rest of the impatient illusory beasts to similarly charge forward.

Boom-!

However, before the first illusory beasts had a chance to reach the unknown cultivator, a loud explosion could be heard as the area around the unknown cultivator blew up. Following which the unknown cultivator disappeared together with the dead body of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast.

Roar!?

Causing the illusory beasts about to attack to enter a state of confusion as they stared at the place the unknown cultivator had been standing just a short second earlier. Not knowing where he had suddenly disappeared to.

Out of everyone present, the only one who managed to pick up on what had just happened to the unknown cultivator was Xuan Hao, who barely managed to see that the unknown cultivator had actually used the Dao of Illusions to hide himself the moment he had destroyed the surroundings. Following which he used the momentary confusion caused by the large explosion to sneak away before any of the illusory beasts had time to realize what had just happened.

Even knowing what had just happened, Xuan Hao still ended up losing sight of the unknown cultivator as he disappeared deeper inside the valley together with the dead body of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast.

"I Should properly get out of here for now before those illusory beasts end up finding me…" Muttering this to himself as he noticed that some of the illusory beasts had begun to search the surroundings for any signs of the missing cultivator, Xuan Hao decided to leave the place before he ended up getting discovered by any of the illusory beats.

After all, even if he was more than strong enough to deal with some of them and was more than confident in being able to escape when things got dangerous, he also understood that there were simply far too many illusory beasts present for him to be capable of fighting back for more than a few minutes before being overwhelmed by them.

Outside of that, there was also the fact that he didn't want to reveal his existence to the unknown cultivator without first making sure that he was not someone hostile, who might want to try and kill him to ensure that he could monopolize the Valley of Illusory Beasts for himself before more people started to show up. If not that, he might also want to kill him just to ensure that he wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed during a battle in the future…

Whoosh~

Not thinking too much about this as he left the place after glancing over in the direction that the unknown cultivator had disappeared in, Xuan Hao left the deeper part of the valley that he found himself inside of. Soon arriving back in the relatively safer outer part of the valley where the wooden gate leading back to the Sea of Mist was located together with the wooden gate to the Ephemeral Forest.

For now, he decided to continue hunting the illusory beasts in the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm until they were of no use to him. Deciding to hold out on going any deeper inside the valley in search of Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts before it became the only way for him to continue his current speed of improvement.

…

As half a month went by like this, the illusory beasts at the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm also ended up becoming useless for improving his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions. Leaving only the ones that had reached the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm for him to hunt down in the outer part of the valley.

Unfortunately, the illusory beasts in the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm were far harder to find compared to the ones in the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Relam and he soon realized that the only way for him to continue increasing his strength was to go deeper inside the valley.

Well… That, or he could wait for the illusory beasts to reappear again… And considering that only a single illusory beast at the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm that he had killed before had reappeared after four months inside the valley, he had a feeling that he would be waiting around for a long time before the illusory beasts at the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm began to reappear.

In the end, the only way he could continue to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions at his current speed was to head deeper into the valley and risk running into the powerful unknown cultivator.

Haaa… I'm thinking far too much about this, even if that person is hostile and decides to attack me, I'm still more than strong enough to fight back. Not to mention, I should be able to escape with the help of the Dao of Space as long as I don't go too far into the valley where the space is too solid and rigid for me to use the Drifting Cloud Steps.

Shaking his head as he thought about this to himself, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time before he began to make his way deeper into the valley. Making sure to go at a rather slow pace so he could keep an eye on the state of the space around him and not end up going so far inside the valley that his movement technique would be rendered useless by the immovable and hard to manipulate spatial structures of the space that made up the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Even if it increased the time it took him to travel back to the spot where he had first witnessed the battle between the unknown cultivator and the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast by over seven hours. At least he was certain that the space along the way was easy enough for him to manipulate with his current understanding of the Dao of Space.

Of course, there was also the fact that he killed a few illusory beasts at the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm along the way…

[Hidden Main Quest: Have four disciples reach the core Formation Realm (Complete)]

"Huh?"

It was just at this moment that a screen from the system suddenly appeared in front of him. Ruining the rather tense feeling of returning back to the place where he had watched the unknown cultivator fighting with countless powerful illusory beasts ready to pounce the moment the fight ended.

To be honest, Xuan Hao was not expecting the system to do anything, yet it decided to show up now of all times. Alerting him to the fact that he now had four disciples in the Core Formation Realm… And considering that he only had a single disciple who had yet to reach the Core Formation Realm, it was rather obvious who had reached the Core Formation Realm.

The only problem was… Mui had only been at the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm when he had left the sect. For her to reach the Core Formation Realm in a short four months, her talent of 78 was not just for show, she had already far exceeded his other disciples in terms of cultivation speed.

Not to mention, he didn't really have to guide her much, outside of the basics, after he had given her the Myriad Water Arts for cultivation…

Outside of Mui, his three other disciples should also have improved by a lot during the time he had been gone. Especially Chu Yang, who focused most- If not all of his energy and time on improving his strength.

Not only his disciples, but the rest of the sect should also have seen significant changes over the past few months as the new territory of the different major kingdoms became more and more integrated into the Star Shattering Sect and allowed far more resources to flow back into the Star Shattering Sect and promote the strength of both the young and old…

Fighting back his curiosity over just what had happened during the four months he had been gone from the sect, Xuan Hao turned his attention back to the screen floating in the air in front of him before the entire quest appeared before him.

[Hidden Main Quest: Have four disciples reach the core Formation Realm (Complete)]

[Description: Have at least four disciples reach the Core Formation Realm below the age of 25.]

[Reward: Awakening of physique advanced by 10%]

[Bonus Reward Requirements: Have four disciples reach the Core Formation Realm within the first year of taking a disciple, all disciples below the age of 20. (Failed)]

[Bonus Reward: Fully Awaken physique.]

"…"

Looking at the quest and the rewards, Xuan Hao at first felt a sense of happiness when seeing the awakening percentage of his physique would increase before feeling a sense of disappointment after seeing the so-called bonus reward presented by the system.

Even if he failed getting the bonus reward in a hidden quest, there was no reason for the system to show him what he missed out on like this…