Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Smiling happily as he began inspecting the bracelet made by Bai Ning, the Grand Elder of the Blacksmithing Hall used part of his strength to activate the bracelet, causing a thin barrier to cover his entire body.

"This is quite an interesting artifact that you have made, young boy! From the looks of it, it should be somewhere between the Earth Grade and the Spirit Grade. All that is left now, is to test how strong it is…"

Saying this, the Grand Elder of the Blacksmithing Hall proceeded to use part of his strength to test out the defensive capabilities of the thin barrier covering his body.

Bang!

Crack~

Raising one of his eyebrows in astonishment upon seeing that the thin barrier covering his body, albeit filled with cracks, was not broken. The Grand Elder took a short time to recover, as he had not expected for the thin barrier to survive his attack.

"Looks like this bracelet of yours is more impressive than expected, I had only thought it was somewhere between the Earth and Spirit Grade, but from the looks of it, it's defensive capabilities should have already reached the Spirit Grade. More than capable of defending against someone in the Core Formation Realm!"

Handing the bracelet over to Bai Ning after explaining all of this, the grand elder suddenly seemed to have noticed something, as he narrowed both his eyes.

"You have to be careful when using it, as it should only be able to work a limited number of times before breaking…"

"Really!?"

"Yes, just look here. More cracks should appear on the bracelet with every use. Until finally breaking… Hah, if it managed to truly reach the Spirit Grade, this flaw would not exist"

Shaking his head as he pointed down towards a small crack that had appeared on the bracelet after having withstood his earlier attack. The Grand Elder felt that it was a pity such an artifact would be destroyed only after a few uses.

However, in the end, it would still act as a life-saving defensive artifact for the few times that it could be used…

"Hah… This flaw should be what allows this bracelet to archive the strength comparable to a Spirit Grade Defensive Artifact…"

Sighing to himself as he said this, the grand elder soon took his leave after having found out the origin of the disturbance and at the same time looked over Bai Ning's newest artifact. The destruction of the two forges never seemed to have bothered him, as he didn't pay any attention to them during the short time he was there.

"So, it was not a Spirit Grade Artifact, but instead a sacrificial defensive artifact…"

Muttering this to himself as he looked at the bracelet with disappointment, Bai Ning understood that the bracelet didn't end up becoming his first ever Spirit Grade Artifact…

"What are you looking so disappointed for!? If you really managed to forge a Spirit Grade Artifact and managed to become an Expert Blacksmith, what in the world would someone like me do with themselves!? You still have a long time ahead of you kid, you will surely be able to become an Expert Blacksmith in the future. Even becoming an Artisan Blacksmith shouldn't be too hard with your talent!"

<br/>Feeling a wave of annoyance upon seeing how disappointed Bai Ning was upon realizing that the bracelet had not reached the Spirit Grade, Elder Teng could not stop himself  from saying this.

"I understand Elder Teng, I was simply way too impatient earlier! Thank you for your guidance, I will not try to hurry up my breakthrough and will take some time to slowly familiarize myself with the Peak of the Journeyman Realm before attempting to make a Spirit Grade Artifact again!"

"…"

Hearing what Bai Ning said before the young boy ran off towards one of the empty forges, Elder Teng had a feeling that the Flying Sword Sect might soon see the birth of a new Expert Blacksmith!

While an Expert Blacksmith was not even close to the importance of an Expert Alchemist, it would still be a significant thing on the level of getting a new elder at the Core Formation Realm! Something that would help increase the strength of the Flying Sword Sect's foundation.

"I should also try to increase my realm… I can't have him catch up to me so easily…"

Smiling a bit to himself as he watched Bai Ning's figure disappear, Elder Teng didn't stay around for long, as he returned to his own forge to improve his own blacksmithing realm.

…

"Looks like someone blew up a forge recently, I wonder what happened… From the scale of the explosion, it should be one of the elders at the Expert Realm. Those blacksmithing elders really need to be more careful."

Arriving at the Blacksmithing Hall only a short time after everything had concluded, Xuan Hao only glanced over the ruins of the two ruined forges for a short moment before moving towards the location of his disciple.

Whoosh!

Stopping a few meters outside the forging room that Bai Ning was currently inside of, Xuan Hao used his divine sense to check out the situation inside. After all, the last thing he wanted to do, was accidently interrupt his disciple while he was in the process of forging and end up ruining whatever he was making.

"Good, looks like he isn't forging anything and is just fiddling with a bracelet…"

Not waiting around outside after finding out that Bai Ning was not busy forging something, Xuan Hao directly entered the forging room-

"M-master?!"

Instantly catching his little disciple by surprise, as he had not expected for his master to suddenly show up all of a sudden.

"A-are you perhaps here because of… That…?"

"Hm? What are you talking about? I'm here to bring you back to the pavilion for some training. Did something perhaps happen for you to be worried about me showing up?"

Not expecting Bai Ning to react all guilty the moment he saw him, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he asked this.

Did his disciple perhaps cause trouble while he had been gone during the past month!?

"Nonono, it's nothing master, I was just thinking about something else!"

"Let's go back to the pavilion for now…"

"Yes master!"

Not believing that it was nothing, Xuan Hao decided to ignore it for now. If Bai Ning had really caused a serious problem, the elders of the Blacksmithing Hall would inform him about it…

Bai Ning didn't say anything about it either and obediently followed him out of the Blacksmithing Hall.

Whoosh!

Not wanting to waste too much time on getting back on foot, Xuan Hao used his domain to fly back together with Bai Ning after leaving the Blacksmithing Hall.

"Wah!"

Catching Bai Ning by surprise, as he fearful clung to his master upon suddenly discovering the ground disappearing beneath his feet.

"Calm down, you are inside my domain and won't fall…"

"R-really…?"

"Yes."

Realizing that he had yet to fly with Bai Ning after having acquired his domain, Xuan Hao could not help chuckling a bit to himself as he watched Bai Ning begin moving around mid-air under the support of his domain.

"Look, look master! I can fly!"

Rolling his eyes as Bai Ning moved around mid-air like he was swimming in water, Xuan Hao decided to fly a little slower. Allowing Bai Ning to play around mid-air for a few minutes.

…

"Is this really the place where the entrance to the secret realm was located…?"

"Yes, the Sky Empire proclaimed that the secret realm was destroyed during their initial exploration together with the Onyx Empire. The Onyx Empire also supports this claim, so it's almost certain that it's the truth. After all, who doesn't know about the relationship between the Sky and Onyx Empire…"

"But… If they are lying and that secret realm did indeed belong to someone from that place…"

"…"

At the place where the secret realm Xuan Hao and Chi Hu had entered in the past was located, two people arrived mid-air above the now deep and seemingly large hole in the ground that had appeared in the place where the isolated valley and the entrance to the secret realm had once been located.

"Hm? It looks like there is quite a strong demon beast digging down there…"

About to head down into the chasm below, one of the two figures froze as he said this.

"Looks like you are right. From the looks of it, it should have reached the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm and will probably soon take on the first tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm…"

Frowning as he also looked down into the large hole that was below them, the other figure didn't dare move any closer to the place where the entrance to the secret realm had once been located.

"Looks like we will have to inform master about this, it's no longer something we can deal with ourselves. Only someone in the Soul Ascension Realm can deal with that giant lizard…"

"Indeed… Let's head back…"

Whoosh!

Following the short exchange, the two figures above the isolated valley disappeared into thin air, like they had never been there in the first place. Even the giant lizard close to reaching the Soul Ascension Realm didn't notice them from start to finish and just continued digging. Making the hole even bigger...