As the day slowly passed with walking around the sect and talking to the different disciples and elders of the sect, Xuan Hao felt himself relaxing as he soon found himself at the shore of the qi spring lake located at the centre of the Seventh Star Peak.

Over the past few years since it had first been constructed, the qi spring lake had already been filled up. Allowing Zu Fei to start growing different kinds of lotus flowers like agreed, while at the same time finally giving Elder Song the chance to use the qi spring lake to help the disciples and elders enter and improve their strength after completing a difficult sect mission or as a reward for one of the many events he helped hosting.

At first the elders and disciples didn't really know much about the benefits brought by cultivating inside the qi spring lake, but after the first few people entered and returned having experienced a qualitive improvement in strength, the disciples and elders all tried their best to get a chance at entering the qi spring lake.

"Looks like Elder Song knows how to manage the number of people entering the qi spring lake already..." Glancing towards the qi spring lake that didn't seem to show any signs of its water level lowering even after the sect disciples and elders got a chance to cultivate inside it, Xuan Hao could not help admiring Elder Song.

Even without him having to say anything, Elder Song had already found a balance in the number of people that could enter the qi spring lake to stop it from overflowing and at the same time does not end up drying it up.

In the future, expanding the qi spring lake would not be a bad idea... Or maybe creating a few small rivers running off the side of the mountain to form a few smaller qi spring lakes that will be easier for disciples to access...

Thinking this to himself as he gazed over the peaceful qi spring lake at the centre of the Seventh Star Peak, Xuan Hao could not help feeling just how important the qi spring lake would be for the development of the Star Shattering Sect in the future.

Even if the qi spring lake was not that important when it came to the safety of the sect itself, it was slowly starting to become a goal for the disciples and elders of the sect to enter the qi spring lake to cultivate and increase their strength.

In a sense, the qi spring lake had started to serve as a form of motivation for the disciples and elders of the sect to continue improving and trying their best to complete the difficult sect missions or get a good ranking in some of the events hosted by Elder Song!

"Hm? Someone trying to enter the Shattered Star Peaks? Is it perhaps another envoy from a power that wants to submit?" Suddenly feeling two people at the Nascent Soul realm appearing at the base of the Ninth Star Peak before patiently waiting in front of a small gate that had been created to symbolize entering the Star Shattering Sect and to prevent people from accidently getting killed by the Chaotic Qi Formation when visiting, Xuan Hao thought about something for a moment before disappearing from the shore of the qi spring lake.

...

"Are you really sure that the Star Shattering Sect would be willing to accept us? After all, our current situation is not too great. Especially considering the recent surge of demonic cultivators from the Frozen Wastelands...!"

"No need to worry about any of this, our Ascendant Frost Hall's trouble is nothing to a sect the size of the Star Shattering Sect. Not to mention, considering how close we are to their territory, the demonic cultivators would inevitably start causing chaos inside their territory!

At that point in time, it would not be odd for the Star Shattering Sect to forcefully take over the territory of our sect to ensure that they would be able to better prevent the demonic cultivators of the Frozen Wastelands from entering their territory... Us joining them can only be considered a positive thing given our current situation!"

At the same time outside the small gate leading into the Shattered Star Peaks located at the base of the Ninth Star Peak, the two Nascent Soul Realm Experts Xuan Hao had sensed were talking with each other with a serious tone.

From their conversation, the two Nascent Soul Realm Expert were both elders from the Ascendant Frost Hall, the only sect inside the Azure Sky Kingdom that had managed to remain independent in the fact of Su Wuhan's constantly trying to absorb them into being part of his kingdom.

Swish~

"..."

Silently arriving a few meters above the two people and hearing their conversation clearly, Xuan Hao could not help thinking to himself.

Compared to Elder Song who was rather familiar with the surrounding powers that he planned to expand over; Xuan Hao only knew a tiny amount of information on the different powers.

Outside of the fact that there was rumoured to be a dangerous mystic realm inside their territory and the fact that they were the only sect that had dared place their main sect on a mountain range that bordered the Frozen Wastelands filled with demonic cultivators.

Given that the Ascendant Frost Hall spent most of their time fighting demonic cultivators trying to attack them from the Frozen Wastelands, Xuan Hao could understand why the Ascendant Frost Hall wanted to join the banner of the Star Shattering Sect now that the number of demonic cultivators appearing was increasing.

Even before the increase in demonic cultivators showing up, they had only just barely managed to keep them at bay. Now that the number of demonic cultivators was increasing, it was obvious that they would end up getting destroyed without any outside help.

Thinking about it like this, joining the recently emerging Domain Lord Realm level power located only a short distance away from them, the Star Shattering Sect, was the only way out of their current situation. Outside of producing a Domain Lord Realm level expert themselves...

"Haa... Relying on help from the Azure Sky Kingdom is not really possible given their current situation. After the disappearance of that Su Wuhan, the entire kingdom collapsed in on itself, I won't even find it suppressing if the Azure Sky Kingdom completely disappears over the next 5 or 10 years...

I agree that joining the Star Shattering Sect is our best option at this point in time, if I didn't, I wouldn't have come here together with you!"

"Haha! At least you admit it this time around! Back in the sect, you-"

"Shut it..."

"Haha~"

Listening to the two elders from the Ascendant Frost Hall chatting with each other, Xuan Hao could not help showing a thoughtful expression on his face after hearing the current situation of the Azure Sky Kingdom.

Even after some time had passed, Xuan Hao still clearly remembered the massive amount of spiritual metal he had found below the capital city of the Azure Sky Kingdom.

Now that the Azure Sky Kingdom was collapsing on its own, Xuan Hao could not help feeling that this was the perfect place for the Star Shattering Sect to start it first massive expansion.

Not only would it be easy to secure a large territory without having to waste too much time dealing with the local powers, but it would also secure a source of spiritual metal for the sect in the long term!

If the Ascendant Frost Hall joined them, this would become even easier to do. Especially considering the fact that they could now be considered the strongest faction inside the Azure Sky Kingdom after the disappearance of Su Wuhan and the fast collapse of his kingdom.

Having to deal with the demonic cultivators from the Frozen Wasteland was not something Xuan Hao was too worried about given the strongest that had appeared inside the Sky Empire so far was only in the Nascent Soul Realm.

Not to mention, the Star Shattering Sect would have to deal with them when the Ascendant Frost Hall got destroyed any way, so why not just deal with it now and absorb the Ascendant Frost Hall in the process?

Not to mention, fighting and dealing with demonic cultivators was a perfect thing for training the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect!

After all, even if demonic cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm had appeared, they were still rare. The most common demonic cultivators appearing were all comparable to the Foundation Establishment Realm or the Core Formation Realm. The perfect opponent for the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect!

Whoosh~

Having made up his mind on how to proceed with absorbing the Ascendant Frost Hall and turn the Azure Sky Kingdom into a place where the disciples of the sect could go to train in real life combat against demonic cultivators, Xuan Hao landed on ground before revealing himself-

"You-!?"

"An elder of the Star Shattering Sect?!"

Causing both elders from the Ascendant Frost Hall to jump up from shock after suddenly seeing someone appearing from the other side of the gate leading up to the Ninth Star Peak.