Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

As Xuan Hao was focused on repairing his dantian ever since he had returned from the enlightenment space, Chu Yang had ended up becoming the one to train together with Bai Ning for the last few days before he would be leaving for the Azure Sky Kingdom.

Not only making sure that Bai Ning managed to learn how to properly fight as someone in the Foundation Establishment, but also to make sure that he understood how to deal with certain situation that might come up during his time in the Azure Sky Kingdom fighting demonic cultivators, bandits, and other troublemakers...

"Good luck with helping out in the Azure Sky Kingdom, but… You have to remember what I said earlier. Never take a fight you are not certain about. Keeping your life is the most important thing!"

"I understand senior brother…!"

Waving a final goodbye to his senior brother, Chu Yang, Bai Ning quickly made his way towards the gathering place for the rest of the disciples who were going to the Azure Sky Kingdom. Feeling a little less bad about leaving the sect for some time after training with Chu Yang over the past few days.

Even if he was still unwilling to leave and just wanted to stay inside the sect and practice his blacksmithing. At the very least now, he felt curious about how his strength would compare against the other Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators of the Star Shattering Sect, a part of him wanted to prove to his master that he was not worse than someone who had reached the same cultivation realm as him…

"Now that everyone is here, let's get going!"

Following Bai Ning reaching the place where the rest of the disciples gathered in preparation for leaving the sect and going to the Azure Sky Kingdom, it did not take long before he soon found himself leaving the Shattered Star Peaks under the protection of a group of Nascent Soul Realm Elders that would be in charge of protecting them from the stronger demonic cultivators that were hiding inside the Azure Sky Kingdom.

…

Riding the demonic beasts kept by the sect to travel, Bai Ning planned to spend his time during the journey on trying to think of all sorts of different artifacts that he would make after returning to the sect again… However-

"I have never seen you during any of the lectures before… Are you perhaps an Inner Disciple!?"

Another disciple of the sect was sitting together with him on the demonic beast and from the moment that they had gotten on top of the demonic beast… She hadn't stopped trying to talk to him!

Even him ignoring her for the first half hour pretending like he was cultivating did not help, as she would try and ask him again only a few minutes later…

"Still not awake… Is it really that important to cultivate at a time like this…"

Hearing the all too familiar sounding words, Bai Ning could not help letting out a quiet sigh as he lamented over the fact that he did not try to ask his master to help him get to the Azure Sky Kingdom.

After all, without his master's help, the journey to the Azure Sky Kingdom would at the very least take half a week on demonic beasts. Maybe even an entire week depending on how long they rested!

Something Bai Ning didn't think about before he set off together with the sect elders and other disciples from the sect…

"Hm? W-w-what is that?!"

Suddenly hearing the young girl sitting on top of the demonic beast together with him suddenly exclaim loudly in a surprised voice when he was deep in thought thinking about how much he had messed up by not asking his master for help in getting to the Azure Sky Kingdom, Bai Ning could not help opening both of his eyes to see what had surprised the young girl.

"Haha! I knew it! You are not cultivating!"

"…"

Not knowing what to say as he stared directly into the eyes of the young girl in question that had climbed in front of him at some point in time, Bai Ning had no idea what to say after realizing that her earlier exclamation had only been a way for her to confirm whether or not he was truly cultivating…

This girl… Is smarter than I expected…

Not thinking anymore about it, Bai Ning decided to pretend nothing had happened as he slowly closed his eyes and ignored the triumphant expression on the young girl's face-

"Hey! Don't just close your eyes again!"

Not intend on allowing him to escape, the young girl did not plan to give up so easily after knowing that Bai Ning was just pretending to cultivate to ignore her.

Rustle~

Hm?

Not able to see anything with his eyes closed, Bai Ning could not help feeling like something bad was about to happen after suddenly hearing a rustling sound coming from the place where the saddle, he was sitting on top of was connected and secured around the demon beast.

"Don't-!"

Opening his eyes only to she the annoying girl in question trying with great difficulty to loosen his saddle, Bai Ning quickly sprang into action and stopped her before she had a chance to do anything.

"Hmph! Prepared to not ignore me anymore?"

"Yes…"

Seeing the clearly triumphant expression on the annoying girl's face, Bai Ning could not help rolling his eyes before agreeing.

The annoying girl in question was very clearly smaller than him and should be no more than 14 or 13 years old, a few years young than him who was just about to reach the age of 16…

If she was any older than this, Bai Ning would not have been so kind to her after she had annoyed him for so long…

"So, I have never seen you during any of the lectures held by the different elders before… Could it be that you are really an Inner Disciple… Maybe even a personal disciple of one of the elders!?"

"No, I'm not an Inner Disciple… I'm a personal disciple and the reason why you haven't seen me during any of the lectures is mostly because I spent most of my time focused on blacksmithing. Not cultivation!"

"Hm~ I see… I'm still an Outer Disciple, but I already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, so the elders allowed me to go on this trip to the Azure Sky Kingdom. Apparently, it will be a good chance for me to improve my strength!

If I do well, the elders even told me that I would have a chance to get promoted from an Outer Sect Disciple to an Inner Sect Disciple! By the way… Why did you join this trip to the Azure Sky Kingdom? To get stronger? Fight demonic cultivators… Or maybe get your hands on some kind of rare spiritual herb located inside the Azure Sky Kingdom which location only you know about?"

Listening to the annoying girl get all excited after hearing his answer before asking him a new reason, Bai Ning could not help regretting the fact that he even answered her question in the first place… And for some reason, the last reason she gave for joining the trip to the Azure Sky Kingdom seemed oddly specific…

"My master told me to participate in helping deal with the demonic cultivators in the Azure Sky Kingdom to gain more combat experience."

"Good reason, a lot of the other disciples are here for similar reasons. Although… Most of them are also here for the contribution points that can be obtained from killing demonic cultivators.

Hah… with enough contribution points, you can get everything you need to help increase your safety when out adventuring or make it easier to increase your cultivation realm! If I could just get a few more contribution points, I would be more than safe going to that place…"

"…"

Seeing the annoying young girl show a dazed look on her face after mentioning the contribution points that could be obtained through killing demonic cultivators, Bai Ning felt like he managed to find out one of the main reasons why the annoying young girl decided to participate in the trip to the Azure Sky Kingdom.

For some reason, Bai Ning had a feeling that it was connected to some kind of rare spiritual herb hidden inside a dangerous place that happened to be located in the Azure Sky Kingdom…

"Ah! Did… Did I perhaps say the last part out loud…?"

"Yes…"

"W-well, let's change the topic! What is your name? My name is Hui Ying!"

"My name is Bai Ning. By the way, what is the place you mentioned just now? Something dangerous…?"

Watching as the annoying young girl going by the name of Hui Ying was starting to get both embarrassed and nervous at the same time, Bai Ning decided to not let go of the small slip she had.

After all, she was the one who had been annoying him for the past half hour! There was no way he would allow her to escape without paying a price…