"Great! For now, I will give you this cultivation mantra and have you go back and study it. After I finish training Qing Yi and Chu Yang, I will see how much you learned and also help you take your first step into the Qi Condensation Realm!" Smiling happily as he looked at his third disciple, Xuan Hao handed the Unformed Mantra over to him before making his way towards the training ground where both Qing Yi and Chu Yang were waiting for him.
"Yes! M-master…!" Nodding his head as he excitedly looks at the cultivation mantra Xuan Hao had given to him; Bai Ning did not dare to slack off as he hurried back inside the pavilion to study the Unformed Cultivation Mantra that his new master had given him.
Before Xuan Hao came back, Bai Ning prepared himself to learn as much as he could from the Unformed Mantra!
No matter what, he had to do his best to try and impress his new master and make sure that he would not regret taking him in as a disciple.
…
Making his way over to the training ground, Xuan Hao soon spotted both of his disciples locked in a practice match with each other as both of them went back and forth attacking each other.
The strongest among the two of them was clearly Chu Yang, as he focused more on combat techniques along with having a higher cultivation than Qing Yi.
If not for the fact that he had limited his strength to around the same as what Qing Yi had, Xuan Hao was sure that Chu Yang would easily be able to win against Qing Yi.
Even then, Qing Yi was constantly on the defensive as she had a difficult time keeping up with Chu Yang as she was slowly driven into a corner.
Ching~
The sound of metal hitting metal resounded throughout the training ground as Chu Yang's spear was blocked by Qing Yi's sword only a few centimeters from her face.
But this was not the end as Chu Yang quickly retreated back, causing Qing Yi to lose her balance for a short moment.
During this short timeframe, Chu Yang once again attacked as the tip of his spear rested just beside Qing Yi's neck.
"Hah… Looks like I lost…" Letting out reluctant sigh, Qing Yi looked at Chu Yang full of unwillingness as she put up both of her hands signalling her defeat.
"No need to worry senior sister! The only reason I am stronger at the moment is because you are focusing so much on alchemy. I'm sure you will be able to defeat me in the future!" Smiling happily at his victory, Chu Yang tried his best to encourage Qing Yi after seeing the unwilling look in her eyes.
"It's fine- Master!" About to tell Chu Yang not to worry about it, Qing Yi managed to spot Xuan Hao walking over from the entrance of the training ground as she quickly forgot the fact that she had just lost a practice match to Chu Yang.
"It's great to see that both of you are improving even without my help." Feeling happy inside as he watched how both of his disciples had improved after entering the Flying Sword Sect, Xuan Hao could not help but praise both of them.𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
By this point in time, Qing Yi had reached the Third Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, while Chu Yang had improved even further and had already reached the sixth stage!
Qing Yi could be considered to be worse than Chu Yang when it came to cultivation, but Xuan Hao knew that she was not spending most of her time cultivating like Chu Yang had and was instead focused on improving her alchemy for the upcoming alchemy competition.
In that regard, she had already become a Journeyman Alchemist and could definitely be considered to have improved by leaps and bounds.
This was in part also thanks to the fact that there were not any other disciples at the Alchemy Hall from the younger generation. Meaning most of the resources and elders of the Alchemy Hall gave it their all to help her improve for the upcoming alchemy competition.
She was after all, the only person in the Flying Sword Sect that was qualified to participate…
Chu Yang on the other hand, had focused completely on improving his strength and cultivation. Not using much, if any time at all on a profession… By this point, Chu Yang did not really study botany anymore.
Qing Yi did not really care much about it either after getting the full support of the Alchemy Hall and having as many herbs she ever wanted for free or extremely cheaply.
All in all, both of his disciples had been doing well as both of them had improved by a lot during the time he was not there to teach them or help them train.
"For today, I will be teaching both of you about the Foundation Establishment Realm and what I have learned about the realm so far and some of my own insights in how to go about the construction of the foundational pillars inside the dantian!
First when gathering the qi to construct a foundational pillar, the type of qi, mantra and image is important…" Looking over both his disciples as both of them attentively stood in front of him, Xuan Hao began sharing his understanding of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Both Qing Yi and Chu Yang stood directly in front of him as Xuan Hao signalled for both of them to sit down.
Thumb~
Sitting down in a meditative position, Qing Yi and Chu Yang tried their best to remember every word Xuan Hao said.
A calm and serene aura spread out and filled up the entire training ground as a few clouds passed by above.
The sun slowly moved above head and two hours peacefully passed as the two disciples were completely engrossed in everything Xuan Hao taught them about the Foundation Establishment. Not noticing the passing of time as they remained completely focused on absorbing as much knowledge they could as possible.
…
"… And that will be it for my current understanding of the foundation establishment realm…" Coming to an end, Xuan Hao looked up at the sky as he suddenly discovered a little over two hours had passed from start to finish.
"I didn't even notice that so much time passed… And my domain also seems to have improved even faster over the last two hours…" Muttering this to himself, Xuan Hao looked over at both of his disciples having entered a state of enlightenment as he could feel both of their auras growing by leaps and bounds.
When they woke up again, they would both have a stronger foundation and might even breakthrough a minor realm!
Thinking this, Xuan Hao no longer paid any more attention to his two disciples and instead focused on his pseudo domain.
His domain that was close to becoming a true domain, had suddenly improved over the last two hours of him teaching Qing Yi and Chu Yang about the Foundation Establishment Realm.
By now, Xuan Hao could feel that his domain would become a true domain in at most a few hours… Compared to the week he had needed before, Xuan Hao felt quite surprised by this sudden but welcome improvement…
Other than that, his sword intent that had not shown any sign of improving over the last few months had begun to merge together with his sword domain.
This change alone brought about a qualitive change as Xuan Hao clearly felt his strength had improved by a lot compared to before.
But this in turn also brought up a problem for Xuan Hao that he did not foresee beforehand.
The Pseudo Sword Domain that he was creating before was in accordance with his cultivation mantra, The Untold Swords Mantra… But with his sword intent suddenly merging together with his pseudo sword domain, Xuan Hao was no longer able to follow the steps in the Untold Swords Mantra to evolve his Pseudo Sword Domain into a Sword Domain and step into the Domain Lord Realm…
Worst of all, he did not have a lot of time to figure out how to evolve his pseudo sword domain into a fully-fledged domain as it was continuously growing without showing any sign of stopping.
If he did not manage to evolve his pseudo sword domain in time and it continued to grow and expand…
Xuan Hao had no idea what would happen.
Would his pseudo sword domain just continue growing or would something different happen after it grew too big?
Whoosh~
Leaving the training ground where Qing Yi and Chu Yang were cultivating, Xuan Hao hurried back to the pavilion where he quickly taught Bai Ning how to begin cultivating before entering his room and sitting down in a meditative position.
First of all, he had to better asses his current situation. After that, he would have to find a way to allow his pseudo sword domain to evolve into a sword domain!