Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

"One hundred and twenty seven thousand!"

"One hundred and thirty thousand!"

"One hundred and…"

As Xuan Hao felt himself becoming increasingly depressed over just how poor he was compared to this group of old seasoned Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators, he didn't notice the subtle change in Huo Fen's expression as he looked Saint Grade Elixir on the stage. Even if he did, he wouldn't think too much about it, as anyone would have some reaction faced with a Saint Grade Elixir that could not only increase their lifespan by up to twenty thousand years but also increase one's comprehension of two specific Daos.

"Two hundred and forty-five thousand… And sold!"

By the time that the elixir was sold for over double its initial price, Huo Fen's gaze had returned to normal while Xuan Hao also managed to recover from the state of depression, he had found himself in. Having convinced himself that the only reason why he was so poor compared to other Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators was because he himself had only been around for a fraction of the time they had been around.

With time, he was sure that he would also have the ability to throw around hundreds of thousands of top-grade spirit stones.

That or the system decided to give him a few more quests to complete with spirit stones as a reward.

To be honest, when it came to the system, he had mostly given up on trying to get it to issue new quests. Realizing that the only way for him to guarantee rewards from the system was through increasing the strength of his disciples or improving the overall strength of the sect.

Speaking of which, he only really used the system to check on the progress of the main sect quest…

[Main Sect Quest: First Steps towards Becoming a Major Power (I)]

Content sourced from MV4LEMPYR – My Virtual Library Empire.

[Description: The sect has entered a state of rapid growth and is about to finally step onto the main stage of the Ewaria Continent. Help the sect reach the requirements to become a major power on the Ewaria Continent.]

[Core Formation Realm Disciples: 8922/10.000]

[Nascent Soul Realm Disciples: 37/100]

[Domain Lord Realm Disciples: 5/10]

[Soul Ascension Realm Elders: 71/100]

[Dao Seed Realm Elders: 8/10]

[Profound Immortal Realm Ancestor: 0/1]

[Reward: World Stone (Immortal), Chaotic Qi Formation Upgrade, ???]

[Note: Does not count host as part of the requirements]

Looking at it again as the Saint Grade Elixir was brought down from the stage and a new item was being prepared to be brought out, he couldn't help letting out a somewhat helpless sigh as he noticed the overall number of Nascent Soul Realm disciples had decreased once again without the number of Domain Lord Realm disciples increasing.

Without a doubt, Elder Song was recruiting some of these young Nascent Soul Realm disciples to work for him. Promoting them to the position of elders in the process, something he couldn't really stop, as the Star Shattering Sect's internal management was truly in need of new people due to the increasing size and complexity of the sect's inner workings. Especially so after Elder Song himself broke through to the Domain Lord Realm and comprehended the Dao of Order and used it to perfect the inner workings of the sect.

In fact, he had already noticed that most of the talented young disciples who had broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm before being recruited by Elder Song were all being taught the Dao of Order from the old man. A clear sign that he intended to cultivate these now young elders to create a future backbone for the sect.

That aside… The number of Core Formation Realm disciples increased by over a thousand since he last checked it. Not too surprising considering a lot of the sect's disciples who had been with the sect before it became the Star Shattering Sect had reached the Late Stage or Peak Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm by now and was only a step away from the Core Formation Realm.

The surprising thing was that the number of Soul Ascension Realm Elders in the sect had actually increased by three since he had left the sect in a rather unsuccessful attempt to visit his disciple in the Eastern Central Region.

Given that the original elders of the sect were still far off from reaching the Soul Ascension Realm, with most of them lingering around the first three stages of the Domain Lord Realm and only a few of the most talented having broken through to the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, the three new Soul Ascension Realm cultivators had undoubtedly come from outside the sect. Potentially wandering cultivators recruited by Elder Song.

But… He felt that it couldn't be that simple, as he had already told Elder Song not to recruit any more wandering cultivators or outsiders to join the sect as there were already enough.

The only reason he might go against what he told him would be if he saw some kind of value in recruiting these three people… And from conversations with Elder Song, the only real value more Soul Ascension Realm cultivators could bring to the current Star Shattering Sect that had no lack of Soul Ascension Realm cultivators would be understanding of certain professions that did not include ones like Alchemy and Blacksmithing that had mostly been covered by Pei Yang and Gong Cheng.

The art of disguise, botany and beast taming had also been covered by the three people brought by Gong Cheng.

So… That would mean the three people that had been recruited while he was gone should be someone skilled in different Daos, like the Dao of Formations, as the sect really was in need of a skilled formation master that was not him to help teach the sect's disciple and also give the Formation Hall a chance to catch up with the Blacksmithing and Alchemy Hall of the sect.

"Next up is another Saint Grade Elixir, brought from the same sect ruin as the last one. The main difference between…"

As he was thinking about who the three new Soul Ascension Realm cultivators recruited for the sect were, the auction continued, as another Saint Grade Elixir was brought out.

However, even though the Saint Grade Elixirs being brought out were extremely useful, they didn't really interest him much outside of their ability to increase comprehension.

Although the ability to increase comprehension was great, it was clear that the main effect of these elixirs was focused on their ability to increase the lifespan of the one who consumed it… And this effect was clearly limited to the Dao Seed Realm from what he could tell. Meaning that, though useful to someone in the Celestial Immortal or Profound Immortal Realm, they weren't that useful.

At the very least, he felt that they weren't enough to draw over so many Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators.

For this reason, he himself didn't really pay much attention to the elixirs being brought up, as he was far more interested in finding out who the three new Soul Ascension Realm cultivators joining the sect were.

Besides him, Meng Jie was similarly disinterested and seemed far more interested in the snacks that had been brought out and resupplied several times during the auction so far.

The only one who seemed to have any interest in their little private box was Huo Fen, who was nervously fidgeting while observing the bidding contest taking place between the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators who all wanted to get their hands on the Saint Grade Elixirs.

Even though it was clear that the elixirs had limited use for them, all of them belonged to major powers and had juniors to take care of. None of them intended to pass up on these Saint Grade Elixirs.

Because of this, as the auction dragged on and a little of twenty different Saint Grade Elixirs ended up being auctioned off, nineteen of the twenty ended up being won by the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators.

Only one of the Saint Grade Elixirs of a slightly lower quality ended up being snagged up by an old Dao Seed Realm cultivator who was clearly only one step away from ending up in the grave.

Clearly, the Saint Grade Elixir was his only chance at staying alive, thus he had come to the decision to get his hands on one of the Saint Grade Elixirs and drink it immediately before he left the safety of the auction hall.

Even if this would end up potentially offending the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators, this was the only path this old one saw at continuing to live another day and have a chance at breaking through to the Celestial Immortal Realm himself in the future.

After all, even though the elixir was of a lower quality than the rest, it would still increase his lifespan by around ten thousand years and help his comprehension of the Dao of Earth that happened to be his main Dao. Enough for him to risk his life for.