Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Gathered together with the rest of the disciples and the people from the Explorer Union, Bai Ning followed the guidance of one of his seniors and turned to look down the side of the mountain path towards a small clearing at the base of a nearby mountain.

Inside the clearing, a massive bear demon beast was peacefully sleeping with half of its body inside a cave next to the clearing. Even from a distance, it was obvious how powerful this demon beast was.

"So, this is the Peak Core Formation Realm demon beast?" Having noticed the large bear demon beast in the clearing at the base of the mountain, Bai Ning could not help growing uneasy as he felt the terrifying aura around the demon beast. Even the Core Formation Realm elders back in the sect who had reached the Peak of the Core Formation Realm were nowhere near as terrifying as the bear demon beast.

Although, this could just be because these elders had decided to restrain their Peak Core Formation Realm strength in an attempt to not scare the younger disciples, but… Looking at the expressions of the other Core Formation Realm disciples of his sect who were far stronger than him, this did not seem to be the case. Even the Peak Core Formation Realm senior brother who had taken the lead was visibly frowning as he remained focused on the sleeping bear demon beast below.

From the looks of it, the bear demon beast is stronger than a normal Peak Core Formation Realm demon beast…

As he thought about this, Bai Ning unconsciously tightened his grip around his already drawn weapon.

No matter how strong the bear demon beast, there should be no way for it to resist the combined attack of so many Core Formation Realm Experts.

…

"Oh? Would you look at that, a Peak Core Formation Realm demon beast only a single step away from the Nascent Soul Realm. If I'm not wrong, it should currently be in the process of preparing to step into the Nascent Soul Realm and should be able to succeed in another day or two."

Different from Bai Ning and the rest who were nervously looking at the bear demon beast wondering just how strong it was, Xuan Hao had instantly seen through its strength and the fact that it was currently in the process of attempting to reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

Although it was stronger compared to normal Peak Core Formation Realm demon beasts, it was far from enough to pose a threat to Bai Ning and the rest of the caravan. The main thing that made them unable to gauge the true strength of this demon beast was just the initial aura of a Nascent Soul Realm Expert that had formed around the demon beast. Making it look far stronger than it actually was.

"Hehe, in the eyes of that Peak Core Formation Realm disciple, the demon beast is properly far more terrifying considering that he should be more familiar with the Nascent Soul Realm aura present around it. Oh well, he should be able to figure out things soon enough…"

Chuckling to himself as he turned his attention towards the Peak Core Formation Realm disciple who was visibly frowning with an uneasy expression on his face as he looked down towards the sleeping demon beast, Xuan Hao was looking forward as to how this new genius of the sect would handle things.

After all, Bai Ning was far too weak to fight against a demon beast that was only a single step away from the Nascent Soul Realm with his First Stage Core Formation Realm strength. At this time, the main person fighting would be the older disciple at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm.

As for the rest of the Core Formation Realm Experts… Xuan Hao didn't think there would be a need for them to interfere in the battle, the main reason why this disciple had called out for their help just now, should be because he was unclear about the true cultivation of the demon beast and thought that it might have just reached the Nascent Soul Realm and was hoping to overwhelm it with numbers before it had a chance to stabilize its cultivation base.

Swish-!

Not a second later, the older disciple seemed to have realized the situation as well, as he rushed down towards the sleeping demon beast without explaining anything to the others who had gathered together in preparation for dealing with the demon beast.

The main reason for this being the fact that compared to Xuan Hao who could see that the demon beast was still a few days off actually breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm, he had no idea how close the demon beast was to reaching the Nascent Soul Realm and feared that it might end up breaking through at any moment.

Roar!?

Soon enough, the large bear demon beast opened its eyes filled with both confusion and anger-

Bang! Bang!

And before long, the sound of battle echoed out inside the clearing as the older disciple and the bear demon beast began to violently clash with each other in an intense battle fitting of two Peak Core Formation Realm Experts.

Even if the other Core Formation Realm Experts wanted to join in, none of them dared to venture down into the chaotic battle, as it might very well result in them becoming a burden if they weren't able to properly cooperate and instead ended up needing the older disciple to save them.

"""…"""

Stuck in this kind of situation, they could only watch as the battle below continued growing more intense. Preparing themselves in case the situation turned bad, and they needed to help out.

"Hm? The eyeball is finally moving…?" Having focused his attention on the battle taking place below, Xuan Hao suddenly noticed that the eyeball that had remained in the air hovering above the caravan since they had entered the Azure Sky Kingdom suddenly started moving.

If this had happened before they had passed through any of the larger cities with Nascent Soul Realm Experts present inside of them, Xuan Hao would not care much about this, but now that he felt the person behind the eyeball was targeting his disciple and the disciples from his sect, this was no longer the case!

"…"

Watching intently as the eyeball descended towards the place where the chaotic battle was taking place with neither of the demon beast and human fighting to the death with each other noticing its presence, Xuan Hao watched as it passed right through the bear demon beast before entering the cave behind it before continuing inside.

Whoosh~

Knowing that it shouldn't be up to any good and also feeling like he might get a chance to find out who the person behind the eyeball was, Xuan Hao descended from above before chasing after the eyeball. Making sure to keep a certain distance in case the owner of said eyeball decided to scan the surroundings again like last time.

"Hm? This is…"

However, after actually entering the cave, a frown could not help making its way on to his face, as he discovered that there was no spirit stones or spiritual herbs like what the person from the Explorer Union had talked about when describing the inside of the cave. Even the blacksmithing notes and spiritual metals that Bai Ning had finally left the sect for was not present.

Instead of all this, there were a few large lines carved into the ground and walls of the cave. Forming some kind of incomplete formation.

Looking at the direction of the eyeball going deeper into the cave, Xuan Hao didn't think too much about this for now as he also made his way deeper inside the cave. Feeling even more curious as to what purpose the owner of the eyeball had in the now rather obvious attempt to get the disciples of his sect and the few young people from the Explorer Union to come here.

Is it perhaps some demonic cultivator who wants to drain their qi and blood?

As this thought inevitably made its way through his head as he made his way deeper inside the cave, Xuan Hao could not help preparing himself for the worst. Even if it was not some kind of demonic cultivator that had made use of the Explorer Union to lure his disciple and other disciples from his sect here, it was clear that the person behind all of this didn't have any kind intentions.

This only became clearer after he reached the large hall-like structure located at the end of the cave where the eyeball had come to stop as it kept its attention focused on the entrance. Clearly waiting for his disciple and the rest to defeat the bear demon beast outside and enter.

Inside the hall and in the area just outside of it, a formation that would activate the moment someone opened the door of the hall itself had been carved into the ground…