Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Solving the situation with the spies and troublemakers still hidden inside of the branch sect over the next few days, Xuan Hao made sure to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention from jiang Chen. Of course, he could have finished everything far faster; the main reason why it ended up taking him a few days to complete was because he used the time to discreetly investigate the background of Jiang Chen to see if there was anything of interest in his background.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for him to realized that there was nothing special about his family, as they were just ordinary mortals who made their living farming outside a small, secluded village located a little over a hundred kilometers away from the branch sect. Not much different from most of the new disciples who had been accepted into the sect this time around, as most of them came from mortal backgrounds.

Speaking of, out of the seventy thousand or so new disciples that had been added to the sect this time around, over sixty thousand, came from mortal families with no prior ties to the world of cultivation. The remaining ten or so thousand coming either from different powers inside nearby major powers or small kingdoms located close to the Star Shattering Sect's borders.

All things considered, most disciples that had been recruited by the Star Shattering Sect were from normal mortal backgrounds without much prior insight into the cultivation world. Not that surprising or special, as the mortals by far had the largest population in the entire cultivation world. Working behind the scenes to ensure that the world kept running smoothly.

Mortals so to speak, weren't just those without any cultivation at all, but also encompassed those in the Qi Condensation Realm in most circumstances… And in the core region of the continent, those in the Foundation Establishment Realm were also considered mortals by the different major powers. The difference between someone without any cultivation and someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm being completely negligible to someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, much less the Celestial Immortal Realm.

Although… Another reason for this was also the fact that the cultivation environment of the core region was far better than that of the outer regions of the continent that the current Star Shattering Sect existed in. Allowing even the most ordinary people to easily reach the Qi Condensation Realm without any difficulties, while reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm was within reach of the more dedicated mortals who set aside extra time for cultivation after a day's work.

Of course, going beyond the Foundation Establishment Realm was still an incredibly difficult endeavor and normally those among the mortal population that managed to accomplish this ended up doing so by leaving their home behind to wander the world as wandering cultivators.

The situation in the outer regions where the Star Shattering Sect was located was a bit different, as this process normally didn't begin at the Foundation Establishment, but instead the Qi Condensation Realm, as it was almost impossible for a normal mortal to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm on their own outside the core region of the continent.

In that regard, the Star Shattering Sect had implemented some general policies to try and increase the strength of the mortal population of its territory by disseminating several simple cultivation techniques that led all the way from the Qi Condensation Realm to the Nascent Soul Realm.

The reason for this was rather simple, as the Star Shattering Sect would benefit if the overall strength of the mortal population grew, even if there was a chance that doing so could create some instability. Even a small increase of a single minor realm would make it worth it. After all, such an increase in overall strength of the mortal population would also mean an overall increase in productivity, as a stronger cultivation base meant one would be healthier, live longer and more importantly, could do more work.

Although Xuan Hao himself didn't fully understand the reasoning behind this kind of policy and why the cultivation techniques disseminated led all the way to the Nascent Soul Realm instead of just the Core Formation Realm or Foundation Establishment Realm, he trusted that Elder Song and the rest of the elders who had come up with this policy understood what they were doing.

In a sense, it was because of this kind of policy that the Star Shattering Sect had managed to recruit so many disciples from mortal families, as they had been more willing to allow their young to seek out a better future in the Star Shattering Sect.

If not for the fact that this kind of policy had only been around for a few years now and most normal people hadn't had the opportunity to truly benefit from it, it wouldn't be surprising if the number of new disciples joining the sect this time would have reached a few million.

In that regard, the total number of participants who had attempted to join the Star Shattering Sect during the large-scale disciple recruitment had surpassed a million according to Elder Song. Resulting in the current over seventy thousand new disciples that had been accepted into the sect.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao took a step forward as he silently disappeared from the branch sect.

Outside of rooting out the spies and troublemakers that had snuck into the sect and investigating the background of Jiang Chen, he had also made sure to inform the elder currently in charge of the branch sect, Elder Chu, about the different talented disciples he had found during his first sweep through the sect with his divine sense.

Of course, among these talented disciples that had been overlooked was none other than Jiang Chen.

Although he intended to keep his distance from this reincarnated great power, it didn't mean he intended on fully ignoring him, as he planned to ensure that the other party would be able to cultivate inside the Star Shattering Sect without any problems.

In the future, when he completed the main sect quest and upgraded the strength of the Chaotic Qi Formation, he wouldn't mind allowing him to enter the Shattered Star Peaks, as he felt that the strength of the Chaotic Qi Formation would undergo tremendous improvement after it was upgraded.

After all, even now, it had more than enough strength to resist someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm. Potentially even having the power to fend off someone in Breaking Dawn Realm of the Profound Immortal Realm.

…

At the same time Xuan Hao disappeared, in a corner of the branch sect, Jiang Chen silently let out a sigh of relief as he looked up into the dark night sky.

"That person finally left… But… For me to be among those talented disciples that were missed… Did that existence notice anything? No… that should be impossible, even if that person reached the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm and is close to the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, it shouldn't be possible to notice my presence.

Then what could he have noticed about me? My talent? Indeed, in this life, although my talent can't be considered the best, it is above average…" Muttering this to himself, Jiang Chen could ultimately not figure out if Xuan Hao had noticed anything strange about him.

Even if part of him wanted to leave the Star Shattering Sect branch to ensure his own safety, he also understood that there would have been no reason for Xuan Hao to simply leave him if he had discovered something off about him.

After all, he was only a new disciple in the Qi Condensation Realm and had no way to resist the scrutiny of someone close to the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm. Not to mention, he had already firmly convinced himself that the Star Shattering Sect was an ancient holy land from the past in the process of emerging back into the world.

An ancient holy land would undoubtedly know about the process of reincarnation and an existence close to the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, someone that likely bore the identity of holy son, a future master of the holy land, would likely know about this as well.

If someone like that suspected anything, they would have immediately acted… Or at least Jiang Chen believed so, as he convinced himself that nothing special had been noticed about him and only his inherent cultivation talent had been noticed.

In the end, this in turn convinced him that it would be for the past to remain inside the Star Shattering Sect to continue his cultivation, as he would have access to the resources he needed for his cultivation this way.

In the future, if his identity was discovered, he could always repay the holy land by becoming a guardian elder. Anyway, with the strength of an ancient holy land, it wouldn't be beneath him to become a guardian elder.