Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Returning back to the Star Shattering Sect after a little over half a day had passed, the rabbit demon beast didn't waste a second before rushing back into Xuan Hao's robe.

Did something happen…?

Feeling that it was a bit weird for the rabbit demon beast to just rush inside his robe without even asking for a reward for the task it had just completed, Xuan Hao could not help poking the spot on his robe where the rabbit demon beast was nesting. Curious about what had caused it to react in such a frantic manner that it didn't even ask him for a reward.

Squeak!

Feeling Xuan Hao poking it from the outside, the rabbit demon beast let out a squeak in protest before informing him about what had happened through their blood contract. Even though the blood contract didn't allow him to fully understand what the rabbit demon beast said, it at least helped him get a general understanding of what it was saying.

Allowing him to at least understand that the rabbit demon beast had killed someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, who had been waiting at the Flame Sky Kingdom. In the end, this had resulted in it being knocked far away. Ending up in a place where it had been chased away by a group of Soul Ascension Realm Experts.

Although he had no idea about who the group of Soul Ascension Realm Experts that the rabbit demon beast encountered were, he was fairly certain that the soul Ascension Realm Expert at the Flame Sky Kingdom should be the unknown Domain Lord Realm Expert that Sheng Mei had informed Elder Song about earlier.

Even without having to guess too much, it was fairly obvious that this Soul Ascension Realm Expert should be one of the people from the Heavenly Dragon Temple that the core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple had mentioned encountering before sneaking inside the sect.

"But… What are those people from the Heavenly Dragon Temple planning? Do they want to draw me out of the sect and deal with me in a place where I don't have the support of a formation before dealing with the rest of the Star Shattering Sect?" Muttering this to himself as he tried to think about why the Heavenly Dragon Temple might have decided to do something like that, Xuan Hao could only shake his head helplessly.

No matter what, they should understand that a single person in the Soul Ascension Realm would not be enough to deal with him…

So why did they still go forward with the ambush? Did they perhaps think that he had not reached the Soul Ascension Realm like the rumors spread around by Elder Song suggested, or did they just plan to fail at killing him so they could use it as an excuse to ask for more help from their master?

Lost in his own thoughts as he momentarily stopped his cultivation, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit worried about the Heavenly Dragon Temple. Especially considering that he was still rather far away from reaching the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

"Haaa… No mater what they have planned, I will only be able to do something about it after reaching the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm…" Shaking his head as he said this, Xuan Hao closed both of his eyes again as he ignored his surroundings and focused his attention back on trying to comprehend the Dao of Space.

At the moment, the Heavenly Dragon Temple was simply not something he could deal with before he broke through.

…

At the same time that Xuan Hao returned back to comprehending the Dao of Space and the group of three Soul Ascension Realm Experts began making their way towards the Iron Sky Kingdom, Yi Min was sitting on top of a small comfortable couch as she looked out a large window overlooking the entire capital of her kingdom with a worried expression plastered all over her face.

"What to do… Those people are definitely going to try and attack me now that the imperial family is gone. At least they shouldn't be able to send too many people over due to the threat of the surrounding empires making a move to destroy the capital city while they are gone…" Muttering this as she turned her attention towards the large walls that served as the core part of the formation guarding her capital city, Yi Min could not help worrying about the future.

Although her strength had improved a lot over the past few years, she had still not managed to reach the Soul Ascension Realm and was still stuck at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm.

Even though she had a clear path towards the Soul Ascension Realm and felt like she would be able to reach it in another year, she didn't think the people who had been suppressed by the imperial family back in the capital could wait that long.

Not to mention, even if they didn't make a move to try and take over her kingdom and the massive spiritual metal mine located beneath the capital city, the surrounding empires would definitely do so in another month or two.

Only by reaching the Soul Ascension Realm and using her formation at the same time did she stand a chance at keeping her kingdom from any outsiders who might want to seize it for themselves.

Is my only choice to forcefully try and break through to the Soul Ascension Realm?

Continuing to gaze out the window as she thought about this, Yi Min slowly laid down on the small couch as she stared up at the ceiling with a helpless look in her eyes.

Although she was only a single step away from being able to take on the first tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, she didn't dare to try and take this step before she was absolutely certain about being able to overcome the tribulation because of the danger involved.

Failing the tribulation didn't just mean death but rumors also said that it would destroy the true soul if one failed to overcome it. Destroying any hopes of reincarnating.

Even if the concept of reincarnation wasn't anything that had been directly proven to exist in the first place, most cultivators on the Ewaria Continent believed that one's true soul would reincarnate after death. Even powerful experts who had long since reached the Nascent Soul Realm or above believed in this, the only difference being that they thought of the true soul as another part of their soul that remained hidden inside of their nascent soul after they broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

Like most people on the continent, Yi Min also believed in reincarnation. In the end, this was also one the main reasons why she hesitated so much when it came to taking on the tribulation before being fully prepared.

After all, even if she ended up dying, she believed that she would have another chance at life after going through the cycle of reincarnation.

Of course, all of this was something taking place in the subconscious part of her head, and she didn't really think about any of this as the reason why she didn't want to take on the tribulation. Instead, just thinking to herself that her nervousness and fear of the tribulation was due to her not being fully prepared.

Bang!

Just as she was lost in her own thoughts contemplating whether or not she needed to take on the tribulation and try to reach the Soul Ascension Realm ahead of time, the double doors to the room swung open violently as a young woman dressed in a formal maid attire rushed inside the room.

"Your Highness!"

Thump!

"What is it? Why are you barging in like that? Did something happen?" Hearing the desperate cry from the maid before she half collapsed on to the ground to catch her breath, Yi Min didn't waste a second as she jumped off the couch before starting to question the exhausted maid. Understanding very well that there had to be a good reason for her to barge into her personal quarters like that.

"The… The noble families and three cardinals just issued… Hah… A request for us to give up the spiritual metal mines… O-Or they would personally come to take them!" Saying this with all of her power as she fought the exhaustion from running across the entire palace with her meager Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation base to deliver this news-

Thump~

The maid promptly collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.

"This… They are acting faster than I expected…" Hearing what the maid said before she collapsed, Yi Min could not help frowning visibly as she signaled for the two guards standing at the door to take the maid to the infirmary.

Only when the door was shut again did the reality of the situation set in for Yi Min, as she realized that her only way out of her current situation was to break through to the Soul Ascension Realm.