859 Reunited
Seeing his two disciples who had just called out to him come running towards him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of happiness that he had not felt before. Maybe it was due to him missing his disciples during the time he had been gone from the sect or maybe it was due to something completely different. No matter what it was, it made him want to delay sending them into the mystic realm for a few days.
Considering that he didn't have anything pressing to take care of at the moment, this also seemed like a good idea. Not only could he spend some more time with his disciples this way, but he would also be able to better prepare them for entering the mystic realm!
"Master, can we go to the practice area!? I really need to show you how far my spear techniques have made it during the time you were in the capital city of the Sky Empire!"
"No! Master just returned today. Having him join you for practice when it's already this late is a little too much. Not to mention, master still needs to take care of junior sister Mui when she returns from the Sea of a Thousand Furnaces together with junior brother Bai Ning!"
"Ah… I forgot about that…"
"Hehe, that is a given considering that fighting and improving your spear techniques are the only thing on your mind~!"
"No, it's not! I also do other things, like… Like… Eh…"
"Hm? Did You say something~?"
"You-!"
"Calm down both of you, I have more than enough time to teach Mui when she returns and see how much both of you improved over the past two or so months that I was not here." Listening to his two disciples as they started arguing with each other the moment they stopped in front of him, Xuan Hao could not help smiling fondly at the interaction between the two before he said this.
Realizing that they were in the presence of their master, Qing Yi and Chu Yang both froze on the spot for a short moment before silently nodding their heads. Understanding very well that they had acted a bit too childish in front of their master just now.
"Now that both of you have calmed down, do any of you have anything you want to ask me?"
"Yes! Master, I want to know about your journey! From what I learnt when asking to Grand Elder Shu Yao about the Sky Empire, even someone in the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm won't be able to guarantee their safety when travelling from the border region to the core region of the Sky Empire and even Domain Lord Realm Experts can lose their lives within some of the more dangerous areas located inside the core region of the Sky Empire!" Not wasting a second after hearing what his master said, Chu Yang excitedly jumped forward at the opportunity to learn more about the different powerful experts and demon beasts that he might have a chance at fighting in the future.
"About my journey to the capital city?"
"Yes! I'm sure Qing- Senior sister also wants to know about it! Right?"
"Yes…!" Nodding her head with a curious expression on her face as she said, Qing Yi did not hesitate in agreeing with Bai Ning. Making it clear to Xuan Hao that both of his disciples wanted to learn about what he had been through.
"Hm… Let's see… The first interesting encounter I had on my way to the capital was at a place called the Thousand Wind Mountains…" Feeling the curious and excited stares of his two disciples, Xuan Hao did not waste any time before starting to retell some of the encounters with powerful experts or demon beasts he had during his journey to the capital city. Limiting it to things that would not cause him any trouble if his disciples talked about it with the rest of the elders and disciples from the sect.
Of course, there was no way Qing Yi and Chu Yang would know that their master was only talking about some of the weaker demon beast and experts within the Domain Lord Realm that he had encountered. Not the more powerful experts in the Soul Ascension Realm.
In the end, the only Soul Ascension Realm Expert outside of those involved in the scuffle inside the capital city, was the large worm like demonic beast that he had seen on his way back. However, this alone was more than enough to make both his disciples shiver at the thought of encountering such a powerful demonic beast themselves.
"Master, is there a chance of such a powerful demonic beast hiding beneath our sect…?" Being the first to recover from the shock of realizing that such a powerful and large demonic beast existed, Chu Yang could not stop himself from asking this. After all, who knew. Maybe there was a similar demonic beast hiding beneath the Shattered Star Peaks!
At the side, Qing Yi could not help nervously looking towards her master after hearing what Chu Yang said, she also wanted to know if such a powerful and large demonic beast might be lurking beneath them!
"Pft- Haha! You two sure do have an active imagination! Did you forget just how large the mountain range with the worm like demonic creature was? Not to mention the countless holes located all over the mountain range that were created whenever the worm surfaced!" Not able to stop himself from laughing after seeing the nervous way his two disciples were looking at him, Xuan Hao reassured them that there wasn't any large demonic creature lurking beneath the Shattered Star Peak.
Even if there was, Xuan Hao was confident that the formation would have been able to detect them!
As for the Main Star Peak and if there were any powerful demonic beasts up there… Well, Chu Yang technically only asked whether there was any powerful demonic beast beneath the Shattered Star Peaks. Not above ground…
""…""
Seeing the way that their master responded, Chu Yang and Qing Yi both felt a sense of embarrassment after realizing just how weird it would be for such a powerful demonic beast to be lurking beneath the Shattered Star Peaks.
Not to mention the fact that demonic beasts that powerful would be incredibly rare and hard to find, it would also need to stay hidden without being noticed during the time that the few years that the Star Shattering Sect had been established at the Seventh Star Peak.
Even if it had managed to do all of this, it would also have needed to stay hidden during the past thousands of years that the Shattered Star Peaks had regularly been visited by desperate cultivators trying to reach the Nascent Soul Realm or weaker cultivators looking for spiritual herbs in the forest that had been present on the Ninth Star Peak before it was turned into a spiritual herb garden for the Star Shattering Sect…
All these things put together made it close to impossible for a powerful demon beast to have been lurking beneath the Shattered Star Peaks.
"Are you two still thinking about the possibility of there being a powerful demonic beast hidden beneath the Shattered Star Peaks?"
"No, I just thought about master's amazing journey and the many powerful experts present in the Sky Empire's capital city!"
"Yes, me too!"
Seeing how the two tried their best to pretend that they were not thinking about the giant worm demon beast, Xuan Hao could not help chuckling to himself.
"Now then, we don't have a lot of time before Bai Ning and Mui return, so how about you tell me what you two have been up to during the past two months' time? From what I can see, both of you have improved by quite a bit. Especially you Qing Yi, successfully breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm!" Following these words, it did not take long before Qing Yi and Chu Yang started talking about what happened during his absence from the sect.
From how Chu Yang had spent almost all his time challenging the different Nascent Soul Realm elders to the fact that Feng Chen had killed a demonic cultivator in the Third Demonic Transformation Realm in front of a group of people from the imperial family, Xuan Hao managed to learn about everything that had taken place during the time he had been away from the sect. Even learning about Shu Yao taking out his pet to intimidate some of the kingdoms that started causing problems for Elder Song and his plans of expanding the sect.
Out of everything his disciples told him about, the most troublesome thing that happened, was Feng Chen killed a demonic cultivator that had reached the Third Stage of the Demonic Transformation Realm in front of a group of people from the imperial family and Shu Yao later showing up to help them out with the flood of demonic cultivators coming from the Frozen Wasteland.
Along with the fact that he had already met this group of soldiers from the imperial family, it did not take a genius to figure out that the imperial family would learn about the Star Shattering Sect and the fact that they had at least three Domain Lord Realm Experts. One even having the ability to kill a demonic cultivator in the Third Stage of the Demonic Transformation Realm!
The only positive was that the imperial family would be far too busy dealing with the increasingly dangerous situation in the capital city to contact them. Especially considering that the Star Shattering Sect was not located in the core of the Sky Empire, but the border. Making it hard to reach even for a Domain Lord Realm Expert.
As for the imperial family mobilizing a Soul Ascension Realm Expert… Xuan Hao doubted that the three religions would allow this!
For now, it looked like things were still fine and the Star Shattering Sect could remain uninvolved in the things happening in the capital city… But… Xuan Hao doubted that this could last when the conflict between the imperial family and three religions grew more intense.
