Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Outside of Bai Ning, Qing Yi and Chun Hua also learnt about Zhao Ling breaking through to the Dao Seed Realm, but neither of them had the time to come over and watch the breakthrough, as they found themselves busy doing their own thing. Not feeling that watching Zhao Ling's breakthrough was that important, as they both felt that asking their master for guidance when the time came would be far more useful.

Not to mention, they understood that Zhao Ling would not be the only one to breakthrough to the Dao Seed Realm before they themselves had to think about breaking through to the Dao Seed Realm.

But that was not to say Bai Ning was the only of Xuan Hao's disciples to show up to watch Zhao Ling breakthrough to the Dao Seed Realm, as Mui, who had more than enough time to spare and generally driven by curiosity over what everyone was gathering for, had ended up also participating in watching Zhao Ling's breakthrough to the Dao Seed Realm.

Although, different from everyone else, Mui had not ended up observing the breakthrough because she wanted to learn anything or because she planned on using the pressure and aura released during the breakthrough to refine some kind of tressure…

"Wasn't that pretty Baobao!?"

Kyuuu~

Instead, she had come for the simple purpose of admiring the spectacle of Zhao Ling's breakthrough together with Baobao, who had begun making new sounds that sounded increasingly cute.

After all, the breakthrough to the Dao Seed Realm was something rather breathtaking if one looked at it in that kind of way and was indeed something worth admiring. Making Mui's reason for appearing understandable in its own way, though… When it came to Baobao, it was clear that the little floating ball didn't care the slightest bit about any of this.

The main reason why it was overjoyed in its response to Mui was because it could freely absorb the vast quantity of spiritual qi that was gathering towards Zhao Ling following her breakthrough to the Dao Seed Realm to help her stabilize her cultivation realm.

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be good, as it would slow down the speed at which she could stabilize her foundation, but Baobao didn't just absorb the spiritual qi, but more importantly released a far purer spiritual qi that in turn allowed Zhao Ling to stabilize her cultivation realm far faster than normal.

Witnessing this, the surrounding elders couldn't help showing a somewhat jealous look on their faces as they watched Baobao freely releasing vast amounts of pure qi in the direction of Zhao Ling, as it floated just above Mui's head.

Although they knew about the little floating ball that sometimes turned into what looked like a floating jelly fish, it was the first time most of them witnessed just how magical this strange creature known as Baobao was. Making some of them want to seize the little thing for themselves.

Of course… These thoughts were fleeting and vanished just as fast as they had emerged. Not because they were part of the Star Shattering Sect or who Mui's master was, but instead because of how scared they were of retaliation from Mui herself, as her reputation and ability to cause chaos throughout the sect was well known by this point in time.

Even if her cultivation might be lower than most of the elders present, the countless strange creations she had made over the years were enough for them to shiver, as those things didn't seem to be limited by her cultivation, some of them being more than powerful to end a Soul Ascension Realm cultivator…

The distraction caused by Baobao and in turn Mui aside, Zhao Ling managed to successfully establish herself in the Early Stage of the Dao Seed Realm and fully stabilize her cultivation base in an extremely short period of time. Giving birth to the Star Shattering Sect's Ninth Dao Seed Realm Elder. Bringing the sect one step closer to having the ten Dao Seed Realm cultivators needed for Xuan Hao's sect mission to be completed.

Now, the main problem regarding the completion of that sect mission wasn't a lack of Dao Seed Realm cultivators, but instead a lack of a Profound Immortal Realm cultivator and Domain Lord Realm disciples.

The latter could be completed within a few years after the sect's younger generation had more time to grow, while the matter of someone other than Xuan Hao himself reaching the Profound Immortal Realm would be difficult to accomplish in the short term.

Going along with the elders already part of the sect breaking through to the Profound Immortal Realm, it could take anywhere from a few hundred years to a few thousand years.

Even with his disciples and their talent, Xuan Hao himself doubted they would be able to break through to the Profound Immortal Realm as fast as he had done. Needing at least a hundred or so years to go make their way through the Dao Domain Lord Realm according to his own speculations.

The only potential anomaly he could foresee being Mui, as he didn't really have any way to predict that girl.

That aside, if the sect mission was unlikely to be completed in the short term, as finding or nurturing a Profound immortal Realm cultivator were both equally difficult to accomplish.

Not that the rest of the sect had any clue about any of this, as they were now all starting to celebrate the ascension of Zhao Ling to the Dao Seed Realm. Especially the younger disciples, who all saw this as a potential opportunity to be taken as a disciple by a powerful Dao Seed Realm Elder after they learnt that Zhao Ling didn't yet have any disciples.

But… Eager as many of them were, they were all left in disappointment, as Zhao Ling had no intention of taking in any personal disciple. Believing that it would slow down her cultivation speed, while also believing that she was far too young to take on any disciple.

Stating this directly to an elder over 500 years her junior with more than a dozen personal disciples when he had come to ask her on behalf of several talented younger disciples who wanted to become her disciple.

To say this elder was taken aback would be an understatement, as he couldn't comprehend her train of thought for a few seconds before he realized just how long the lifespan of someone in the Dao Seed Realm was.

In fact, he himself had originally only been in the Core Formation Realm back when the Star Shattering Sect had first been established. Having managed to climb his way all the way from the Peak of the Core Formation Realm to the Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm since the establishment of the Star Shattering Sect.

Back then, he was already over 250 years old and was close to the end of his life, so taking on a few disciples wasn't weird, causing him to carry that same mindset all the way to the Domain Lord Realm, where he still considered himself an elder who had the responsibility to teach the younger generation.

However, thanks to the response from Zhao Ling, he suddenly found him realizing that he was still young for his cultivation realm, as someone in the Domain Lord Realm could live for up to 10.000 years.

His current age, close to 300, was young for the Domain Lord Realm, and on par with the younger generation of different major powers. Far from being an elder of the older generation, his elevation in cultivation had suddenly placed him back amidst the younger generation, something that caused a significant shift in perspective for this specific elder.

Even more so, as he went back to his peers to discuss the situation. Only to realize that everyone was in a similar situation to him, as none of them viewed themselves as part of the younger generation because of their past experience in either the Flying Sword Sect or the Spring Flower Sect.

The short throwaway comment made by Zhao Ling in referring to herself as still being too young to start taking on disciples while being over a thousand years old, had unknowingly caused an identity crisis among many of the sect's elders who had viewed themselves as seniors only to find themselves becoming part of the younger generation again.

In the end, this problem ended up spreading all the way to Elder Song, who quickly stepped in to calm down these elders before the situation potentially developed in a dangerous direction that would end up with the sect gaining a few powerful new disciples, while losing what was essentially one of the main workforces in the sect, something that Elder Song could not allow to happen.

As for the way he solved the situation? It was rather simple, as he just straightforwardly told them that the benefits received by elders were superior to that of disciples.

And… At the prospect of losing access to the benefits they had enjoyed so far as elders, like easy contribution points through teaching the younger disciples, these elders quickly forgot any doubts and returned to normal…