Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Leaving the Star Shattering Sect only a few days after he had returned to the sect, Xuan Hao decided to first stop by Yi Min before he made his way towards the location of Pei Yang's Grandmaster Blacksmith friend. The reason for this was that he wanted to see if he could get any help from her and at least improve his blacksmithing realm beyond the Expert Realm before meeting the Grandmaster Blacksmith.

After all, even if Yi Min wasn't anywhere near the Grandmaster Realm, she had still reached the Master Realm and would be able to provide him with some help when it came to reaching the Artisan and Master Realm.

Other than that, he also had to thank her for ensuring that none of the chaos from the war between the forces of the Sky Empire and invading empires ended up affecting the Star Shattering Sect over the past two years.

If not for the fact that she had blocked the way for any Soul Ascension Realm Expert passing by who wanted their empire to take over the border region where the Star Shattering Sect was located, the Star Shattering Sect would not have been able to expand and develop to the same extend that it had been able to over the past two years.

Because of her help and the relationship between her and Xuan Hao, the territory of the Star Shattering Sect ended up bordering her Iron Sky Kingdom… And of course, due to the help Yi Min had provided to the Star Shattering Sect during the past two years, Feng Chen, and the rest of the elders of the Star Shattering Sect didn't try to think of ways to take over the Iron Sky Kingdom and instead began doing their best convincing Yi Min to join the Star Shattering Sect.

Although Feng Chen and the rest hadn't managed to successfully convince her yet, the relationship between the Star Shattering Sect and the Iron Sky Kingdom had already become inseparable due to most of the spiritual metals in the Iron Sky Kingdom being bought up by the Star Shattering Sect instead of the Sky Empire who would have bought them in the past before the war between them and the surrounding empires had begun…

"It's been quite some time; I wonder how much Yi Min improved over the past two years…" Muttering this to himself as he arrived at the edge of the Iron Sky kingdom's capital city, Xuan Hao could not help feeling curious as to whether or not Yi Min had been able to increase her strength after she broke through to the Soul Ascension Realm.

Considering the fact that it would normally take dozens- if not hundreds of years to break through a single minor realm in the Soul Ascension Realm, he wasn't expecting her to have improved by a lot in the few years he hadn't seen her. Even then, he still felt like she wasn't one to be underestimated.

"Huh!?"

Even with all of this in mind, he was still taken aback when his divine sense swept over the capital city and found her quietly chewing on some treats in the main palace at the center of the city.

Not because she was laying around doing nothing, but because he sensed that her cultivation realm had actually managed to reach the Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm in the two short years, he hadn't seen her.

Meaning that she had broken through one minor realm a year since he had left to try and break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm!

"Who?!" Not hiding his divine sense from her as he also intended to inform her about his presence, the relaxed Yi Min abruptly jumped up with serious expression on her face and a half-eaten cookie still in her mouth. "Huh? Xuan Hao?" Only after using her own divine sense and noticing Xuan Hao did she relax again.

Chomp~!

Whoosh-!

Not a second later, Yi Min ate the last bit of the cookie before leaving the palace. Soon landing in front of Xuan Hao with a curious expression on her face. Wondering why Xuan Hao had come to her kingdom all of a sudden.

Inevitably, her thoughts ended up drifting towards the elders of the Star Shattering Sect who had shown up over the past few months to talk to her and her kingdom joining the Star Shattering Sect.

"It's been a while, Yi Min; I see that you have helped my sect quite a bit over the past two years and came to thank you on their behalf. Outside of that, I also want to ask for your help with something."

"What is it…?" Feeling like she already knew what Xuan Hao was going to ask her about, Yi Min narrowed her eyes ever so slightly as she looked at Xuan Hao.

"Ah, it's nothing big, I just wondered if you could help teach me blacksmithing for a week or two."

"B-Blacksmithing? Teach? You… You want me to teach you blacksmithing?"

"Yes, I heard you are a blacksmith in the Master Relam and hoped you would be able to lend me a bit of your time if possible."

"This…" Not at all expecting Xuan Hao to ask her to teach him blacksmithing all of a sudden, Yi Min could not help freezing on the stop for a short moment after hearing him confirm that he indeed wanted her to teach him blacksmithing. Unable to guess why Xuan Hao wanted to learn blacksmithing all of a sudden.

"Are you perhaps busy at the moment?"

"No, no, I'm not, I would be more than happy to teach you for a few weeks!" Realizing that she had frozen up long enough for Xuan Hao to start worrying, Yi Min quickly shook her head and agreed.

Let alone teaching him blacksmithing for a few weeks, she would even be willing to have her kingdom join the Star Shattering Sect in a heartbeat if he was the one asking. After all, she still felt like she hadn't repaid him for saving her when she had been besieged by the three Soul Ascension Realm Experts…

"That's great."

Whoosh~

Waaa!? Why is he leaving just like that? Isn't he supposed to ask me about my kingdom joining the Star Shattering Sect!?

Watching Xuan Hao turn around and make his way inside the capital city after hearing her agree, Yi Min could not help starting to panic internally. The main reason why she hadn't joined the Star Shattering Sect yet was due to the fact that Xuan Hao was nowhere to be found over the past two years and she wanted her kingdom to join the sect through him instead of some random elder.

However, the person in question had just turned around and left without asking her. Leaving her confused as to whether or not she should bring up the matter herself.

No, he said that he wanted me to teach him for a week or two. During this time, I doubt that he will not bring up the matter of my kingdom joining the Star Shattering Sect over the next two weeks!

Thinking this to herself as she watched Xuan Hao disappear in the direction of her palace, Yi Min soon followed after him before both of them made their way towards the massive forge located directly beneath the main palace at the center of the capital.

The forge in question was the place where Yi Min practiced her blacksmithing, while also being the place where a group of skilled blacksmiths working under her processed the more precious spiritual metals in preparation for her to use.

Of course, given that she agreed to teach Xuan Hao over the next few weeks, she purposely made these blacksmiths leave after both of them arrived at the forge. Not intending to have anyone around to disturb her while she was taking care of Xuan Hao and soon enough, Yi Min began to teach Xuan Hao blacksmithing. Not holding anything back as she did her best to teach him with all of her strength.

Following this, two weeks quickly came and went.

Over these two weeks, Yi Min was shocked to discover Xuan Hao who had only been at the Expert Realm at the start, somehow managed to reach the Pinnacle of the Artisan Realm. Even with her own talent in the Dao of Blacksmithing being far above the norm, she understood that it was nowhere near the same level as Xuan Hao.

Of course, she had no way to know that the main reason for Xuan Hao's fast progress was due to his strong soul making it far easier for him to comprehend what she taught him. Allowing him to begin sensing the existence of the Dao of Blacksmithing over the short two weeks they had spent together. Making him only a single step away from reaching the Master Realm by the end of the second week.