Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ending up crashing directly through close to a dozen mountain peaks as it flew through the Sky Empire, the rabbit demon beast finally managed to fight off the power trying to invade its body and destroy it from the inside just before smashing into a mountain peak located close to the capital city of the Sky Empire.

Although it had no idea where it was, it still sensed several different humans at the Soul Ascension Realm rushing out from the capital city and heading directly towards its current location.

Squeak!?

Swish-!

For this reason, the rabbit demon beast didn't hesitate for a second before turning around and escaping in the direction it had come from. Even if these humans were far weaker than itself, it had no idea if there were any stronger humans around… And given that there were so many Soul Ascension Realm Experts present, it concluded that a stronger one should show up at any moment.

At least it had managed to somewhat remember the path it had been knocked flying by the earlier clash and felt confident in its ability to escape the pursuit of anyone in the Soul Ascension Realm.

Of course, there was no way for the rabbit demon beast to know that the strong human that it was anticipating had been injured just a few weeks earlier and was no longer in the capital of the Sky Empire.

…

"I'm sure I felt something powerful over here just a few seconds earlier… Could it be that one of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts from the Onyx Empire came to spy on the capital to make sure that earlier… Could it be that one of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts from the Onyx Empire came to spy on the capital to make sure that the old ancestor of the imperial family is gone?"

Arriving at the place where the rabbit demon beast had just barely managed to stop itself before smashing into one of the mountains bordering the large fields producing food for the capital city, one of the old Soul Ascension Realm Experts from one of the noble families could not help muttering this to himself before narrowing both of his eyes while gazing in the direction that the rabbit demon beast had escaped in.

Although he had not managed to see the other party with his divine sense before the other party had escaped, he was certain that the other party was someone in the Soul Ascension Realm… And given the current state of the Sky Empire, it was only obvious that he thought of the rabbit demon beast as one of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts from the Onyx Empire who had come to spy on them.

Considering that something like this had indeed happened not too long ago, as the Onyx Empire and the other surrounding empires were trying their best to confirm the fact that the old ancestor of the imperial family had indeed disappeared like they had been told by their spies, it was not odd for the old noble ancestor to think something like this upon feeling the Soul Ascension Realm aura lingering in the air around the mountain peak.

"Old man, you are worrying too much, I don't think it was someone from the Onyx Empire this time around. Instead, I think it should just have been some demon beast that was attracted by the lingering presence of the giant snake demon beast from a few weeks ago. After it sensed us rushing over, it should have been scared away."

Flying over beside the old noble ancestor who was carefully scanning his surroundings while keeping his attention focused on the direction that the rabbit demon beast had left in, the cardinal from one of the three religions calmly stated this while using part of his power to capture some of the lingering aura left behind by the rabbit demon beast before showing it off to the old noble ancestor. "See, this is definitely not something left by a human."

"This…" Hearing what the cardinal said and using his divine sense to analyze the remnant aura left behind by the rabbit demon beast, the old noble ancestor froze on the spot before a somewhat embarrassed expression made its way onto his old, wrinkled face. "Maybe I was too nervous due to the recent developments that took place over the past few days…"

"Indeed, you have to relax a bit more. Even if the Onyx Empire or any of the other empires decided to attack us, they won't do so by sending a single Soul Ascension Realm Expert to the capital city.

After all, none of the empires wanting to end up in a life and death struggle with all of us. Even if the old ancestor of the imperial family isn't around, we are also in the Soul Ascension Realm and dealing with all of us isn't that easy… Instead of something that troublesome, they will choose to slowly take away our territory bit by bit while doing their best to avoid fighting with us..."

Nodding his head as he walked over from behind the two, the old master of the Hollow Thunder Family could not help lamenting to himself as he said this.

""…""

It was not that they didn't understand the idea behind the different empires doing something like this, it was just that they were too weak to do anything about it, as the moment they decided to split up would be the time that the powerful Soul Ascension Realm Expert of one of these empires moved.

Meaning they were forced to stay together in a single group in the capital of the Sky Empire where their most important people and things were located.

In the end, this meant that they could only watch as the surrounding empires slowly took away the territory of the Sky Empire bit by bit.

The only positive thing was that they could now monopolize the resources that had been taken up by the imperial family before. Meaning that they could at least afford to lose some of the territory and still be in a positive position overall.

"Haaa… Let's not think about this for now, the most important thing should be for us to get as many resources as possible from the spirit stone and spiritual metal mines located along the borders of the empire before they get taken over by those empires."

Seeing how everyone suddenly went quiet following what he said, the old master of the Hollow Thunder Family reminded all of them about what they should be focusing their attention on.

"Doing this might end up damaging these mines in the process and drive down their value in the long term-"

"And do you think we can keep control of those mines in the long term? Even if it destroys parts of those mines, it's at least better than just handing them over."

"This… Indeed, its better that we at least get something out of those mines before we lose them…"

Understanding that they had a limited time to make use of those mines considering that the empires were about to move and start their attempts to take control of outer parts of the Sky Empire that were the least protected, the other Soul Ascension Realm Experts quickly agreed with what the old master of the Hollow Thunder Family said.

Even if it would damage some of the more important places for spirit stone sand spiritual metal extraction in the Sky Empire, they would at least be able to get something out of it in the short term.

"So… Now that we have decided on our next course of action, we should start out with the more important mines located close to the border region. Among which, I think the spirit stone mines in the Crystal Sky Kingdom and the spiritual metal mines in the Iron Sky Kingdom should be the most important for us to deal with."

"The spirit stone mines of the Crystal Sky Kingdom shouldn't be too hard to deal with, as the strongest person in that kingdom is only in the Third Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, but dealing with the Iron Sky Kingdom will not be easy."

"Indeed, Yi Min is already in the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm and together with her formation, she is more than capable of fighting someone in the Soul Ascension Realm. If we want to take control of her spiritual metal mine, we will have to go personally… And more than one person if we want to ensure our success…"

"This… Maybe we can make use of the time while the different empires are still hesitating on whether or not to attack us to deal with Yi Min."

"No, it's far too risky-"

"Hmph! Should we just give up such a precious spiritual metal mine? You should know full well that there is no way she will cooperate with us considering her ties to the imperial family!"

"But what if-"

As the group of Soul Ascension Realm Experts began discussing their situation and how to deal with Yi Min who was more than strong enough to resist someone in the Soul Ascension Realm by herself, the group ultimately ended up deciding that three of them would leave to take care of her and take control of the spiritual metal mine while the rest remained back in the capital.

With three people in the Soul Ascension Realm present, they expected to be more than strong enough to deal with Yi Min, while also having the strength to escape together in case one of the powerful Soul Ascension Realm Experts from one of the surrounding empires appeared to attack them.