Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

"They sure are fast to run away…" Muttering this to himself as he watched the last few of the elders disappearing from the Sea of a Thousand Furnaces, Feng Chen turned his attention towards the forge where Bai Ning was hard at work putting the finishing touches on the Mystic Grade Greatsword.

To be honest, he had come for a similar reason as these elders and intended to ask Bai Ning for help with forging a sword…

Of course, compared to the rest of the elders, he had more of a reasonable excuse to do this, as he was still the sect master and needed to put on a strong front for the sect when faced with outside forces.

Yes! He needed a Mystic Grade Sword to show off for the sect and ensure that the different independent sects under them and any external forces trying to cause trouble knew that the Star Shattering Sect wasn't weak in any way and had more than just Xuan Hao and Pei Yang to rely on!

"Feng Chen, didn't expect to see you here."

"Xuan Hao!?"

Just as Feng Chen was lost in his own thoughts, Xuan Hao decided to land right next time, causing no small amount of shock as Feng Chen hadn't expected him to show up. Especially considering that he had learnt beforehand that he was busy taking care of his first disciple who was in the process of breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm.

In a sense, it was also because of this that he felt shameless enough to approach one of his disciples for a favor. Feeling that it would be a bit embarrassing to ask Xuan Hao to get his help in convincing his disciple to help him. Instead planning to do so secretly without Xuan Hao finding out about it… And considering that Xuan Hao would normally be in secluded cultivation most of the time with only going out when teaching his disciples every now and then, it wouldn't be that hard to do without him learning about him asking his disciple for help.

"I'm just here to ensure these elders don't cause any trouble. By the way, what are you doing here? Weren't you busy with little Qing Yi?"

With that in mind, Feng Chen decided to throw the matter of asking for a Mystic Grade Sword from Bai Ning to the back of his mind for now and instead decided to ask into the reason for Xuan Hao's appearance when he should have been busy helping Qing Yi in her breakthrough to the Domain Lord Realm.

"Ah, she already finished her breakthrough to the Domain Lord Realm. Now standing firmly in the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm."

"I see, I see, so she already broke through to the Fourth Stage of the Doma- WAIT A SECOND!" Nodding his head at first in understanding after hearing that Qing Yi had broken through, Feng Chen's understanding soon turned into shock as he realized what Xuan Hao said. "Did you say Forth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm!? Did she really reach the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm."

"Yes, she managed to break through directly to the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, though it was mostly assisted by one of the strange things made by Mui, she still managed to reach the Third Stage of the Domain Lord Realm after her breakthrough."

"This…"

Hearing Xuan Hao confirm that Qing Yi had indeed broken through to the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, Feng Chen could not help freezing on the spot as the disbelief on his face only became more pronounced than before.

Although he knew that the day when he would be surpassed by Xuan Hao's disciples would come soon now that they had started to break through to the Domain Lord Realm, he had never expected one of them to have already reached the same cultivation realm as himself.

Though he was only a step away from the Fifth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm and could be considered at the Peak of the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, he was still at the same realm as one of Xuan Hao's disciples.

Monsters… All of them…

Thinking this to himself as he remembered just how young Xuan Hao's disciples were compared to himself, Feng Chen could only smile awkwardly. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before the rest of them surpassed him in terms of strength.

Maybe I should start thinking about stepping down as the sect master and focus all of my efforts on cultivation. Hm… It seems that's what most ancestors from other powers do when they become strong enough. Relegate the management of the sect to the younger generation…

Narrowing both his eyes as his thoughts started to wander, Feng Chen began to seriously consider stepping down from the position of sect master and hand over the mantle to the younger generation while he himself planned to focus all of his efforts on cultivation.

However, after thinking about it for a few seconds longer, he realized that he didn't really do that much as the sect master and most of the management aspects of the sect were taken care of by Elder Song and the elders under him. Essentially giving him all the time in the world to focus on cultivation.

"Haaa… I really feel like I'm starting to fall behind the younger generation. Not just your disciples, but also the rest of the sect's disciples have made great progress over the past few years. Especially a young girl called Yi Xuan, a personal disciple of Zu Fei who managed to reach the Nascent Soul Realm not that long ago.

Outside of that, there was also the personal disciple of Wang Hu called Lu Wen who also broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm. Although, it seems like he is quite a troublemaker. Often getting in trouble with the female disciples and elders of the sect. Now that I think about it, I even heard about him hitting on a Domain Lord Realm female cultivator when out adventuring. Only barely escaping with his life due to some fortunate circumstances."

As Xuan Hao listened to Feng Chen talking, he couldn't help narrowing his eyes slightly when he heard the name Lu Wen. Not so much because he knew a lot about him, but because he had heard from Mui that he was one of the people who had helped her cause quite a lot of trouble in the past.

Indeed, a troublemaker who was even daring enough to work together with his disciple, the most infamous troublemaker in the sect.

But… Back to Feng Chen, it seems like he is rather troubled by the fact that he is being surpassed by my disciples so fast. Maybe I should try and lend him a hand?

Thinking this to himself as he looked at Feng Chen who was clearly affected by the knowledge that Qing Yi had already managed to reach the same realm as him, Xuan Hao thought about what he could do to help Feng Chen… And in the end, the most obvious answer was to help guide him in the Dao of the Sword.

After all, his own understanding of the Dao of the Sword had already reached the Large Success Realm, while Feng Chen was still in the Domain Lord Relam and had yet to even touch upon the Elementary Realm in the Dao of the Sword.

With that in mind, it shouldn't be that hard for him to help guide Feng Chen into the Dao of the Sword and help him progress through the Domain Lord Realm far easier and lay the groundwork for him to comprehend the Dao of the Sword in the future. Hopefully making his ascension through the Soul Ascension Realm to the Dao Seed Realm far simpler.

The reason he didn't think about helping him reach the Dao Domain Lord Realm was simply due to the fact that Feng Chen wasn't the slightest bit interested nor did it seem like he had any affinity for any other Dao than the Dao of the Sword.

Not to mention, reaching the Profound Immortal Realm in the future didn't require one to first reach the Dao Domain Lord Realm, it just meant one had to wait until reaching the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm before breaking through, as breaking through below the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm would result in one reaching the Celestial Immortal Realm.

"Feng Chen, it's been some time since we last had a chat together… Why don't you join me at the east lake pavilion for a cup of tea to discuss the sword. After all, we both comprehended the Dao of the Sword and are sure to have come to some different understanding. Only through comparison can one pick out flaws and perfect the dao."

"This…! Of course, let's go!"

Understanding what Xuan Hao wanted to do, Feng Chen could not help flashing a grateful smile as he immediately accepted before the two of them left the Sea of a Thousand Furnaces together.

As for Bai Ning, Xuan Hao decided to wait until he finished the Mystic Grade Greatsword. Intending to help out Feng Chen while waiting.