Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

As countless thin lines began to spread out from the small formation symbol before connecting to the rest of the small formation symbols that had been hidden throughout the auction house, the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators who were moving to catch Huo Fen and had originally decided to ignore this small and seemingly insignificant formation-

"Huh…?"

"Wha-what in the world is this!?"

"A trapping formation!?"

Ended up being caught off guard, as the small formation covering the auction house connected to the much larger formation hidden beneath the city. Forcing them to retreat out of caution to examine the situation before doing something reckless.

"Hmph! Just a small trapping formation laid down by a little Earth Immortal, there is no way a formation like that can restrain this lord!"

Whoosh~!

Of course, this did not include the one from the Southern Central Region who had reached the Peak of the Middle Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm, as he charged forward without any hesitation.

Even though he had felt a clear threat from the formation that had suddenly emerged, he simply didn't believe that a formation laid down by someone below the Celestial Immortal Realm had the ability to threaten him…

Swish! Swish! Swish!

And soon enough, he ended up being the first victim of the trapping formation, as countless vines broke through the wooden floor of the auction house and shot towards the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator rushing towards Huo Fen-

"Huh? You-! What is this!? LET GO OF ME!"

By the time he realized what had happened and attempted to break free, it was already too late, as the vines shooting up from below had already managed to grab hold of his legs and had begun to slowly snake their way up around them, while simultaneously pulling him back down to the ground.

The vines themselves lighting up with a soft green glow, as countless formation symbol danced beneath their bright green surface. Allowing anyone watching to understand that these vines were part of the massive formation that had just been activated.

However, more surprising to the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators who had decided to first examine the formation before acting, the vines managed to forcibly restrain the Peak Middle Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Southern Central Region.

"DAMNABLE VINES! I WILL TEAR YOU APART! I WILL- MHMM!?"

Even as he was dragged beneath the surface, he went down screaming angrily while flailing wildly trying to break the vines that almost completely encased his body as he was dragged away.

The chaos caused by this first encounter between man and vines causing the entire auction house to start falling apart, as the people still left inside tried their best to escape before being dragged into the confrontation that was taking place between Huo Fen and the group of Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators.

Rumble~ Bang!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

However, the main problem with using this kind of high-level formation without the proper qualifications to understand it soon presented itself, as the countless vines shot up from the ground before targeting everyone.

"Huh!? WHY ME!?"

"Why are you involving innocent people in- Ahhh!"

"Please, don't target bystanders! I'm just a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, I- Ahhh!"

Sorry… I could only barely create an exception in the targeting of this formation for myself and my disciple, but at least it isn't a killing formation and won't kill anyone.

Silently apologizing to the countless people not only inside the auction house, but also throughout the city that suddenly found themselves being dragged underground by the endless vines emerging below following the activation of the trapping formation, Huo Fen turned his attention towards the remaining 6 Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators who had already come to a brief truce as they worked together to fight off the endless vines emerging from below trying to bind them and drag them underground along with everyone else.

Although this did end up buying them some time, they were ultimately helpless in fending off the endless waves of vines that could only be knocked away and not destroyed no matter what they threw at them. Soon enough, also being dragged underground like everyone else.

The only problem was the small temple, as Huo Fen clearly sensed through his connection to the formation that the small temple was still standing and had been able to guard itself from the vines trying to break through its defense and drag the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator hidden inside of it out.

Even worse, he could clearly sense that the power radiating off the small temple was rapidly growing. Starting to push back against the vines.

Along with the fact that the situation would soon draw the attention of far more powerful figures behind the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators he had just caught, Huo Fen understood that he would realistically only have a few minutes to escape along with his disciple before it was too late.

So, with that in mind, Huo Fen didn't waste any time lingering around the already destroyed interior of the auction house and rushed towards the second floor that had managed to survive the initial clash between the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators and the vines before they had been dragged underground.

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have been possible, as even a simple attack from a Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator would have been more than enough to devastate the entire city.

But… The formation now trapping everyone inside the city also had the ability to restrain the power of the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators. Preventing widespread destruction.

If not for this simple fact, Huo Fen wouldn't have dared to use this kind of trapping formation, as he understood full well that just the remnant power of those Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators would have been more than enough to kill him before they were dragged down below ground where the true core of the trapping formation was located.

The problem was… In his original plan, the one hidden inside the small temple should also have been dragged down into the core of the trapping formation and should be trapped along with everyone else.

"Less time than originally expected, I really hope that artifact will be able to gather enough strength to take us out in time…" Muttering this to himself as he looked off in the direction of the small temple engulfed in a layer of golden light that prevented the vines from approaching, Huo Fen began making his way back up to the second floor of the barely standing auction house where his disciple would be waiting for him together with the spatial artifact that was going to take the two of them away before the situation ended up getting any worse…

"Huh? You…"

However, the scene that he saw after stepping back into the small private box left him in a state of complete bewilderment, as he saw Xuan Hao, someone who should also have been targeted by the vines when the formation had activated still sitting together with his disciple like nothing had happened.

From everything he knew, this should be impossible, as the formation currently active throughout the city had originally been designed to restrain someone in the Land Creation Realm.

Even if it only retained a fraction of its original power due to its shoddy set up, it should still have the strength to delay someone in the Land Creation Realm for a few seconds.

To completely ignore this kind of formation, Huo Fen had no idea who could do something like that and could only start to wonder if the person sitting together with his disciple was a legendary being that had surpassed the Land Creation Realm and broken through to the Star Creation Realm.

Such a being should have the ability to ignore this kind of formation, but Huo Fen simply found it unbelievable that he had somehow managed to run into this kind of powerful existence that could be considered at the very pinnacle of the entire continent in terms of power. Standing above everyone, a being that could be the stabilizing factor for any major power that wanted to establish itself as one of the strongest on the continent.

As for his disciple, sitting right next to such a potentially legendary existence…

Chomp~!

"These spiritual fruits are great~ I wish there were more of them…"

She was fully focused on eating the last remaining spiritual fruits. Not paying any attention to the one sitting next to her even though she should know that the trapping formation had been activated and the person next to her should have been restrained like everyone else.

At some point, he really doubted this disciple of his when it came to reading the situation she found herself in, but it at least seemed like the person in question didn't really mind and just played along. Even starting to take out spiritual fruits of his own for his disciple to try out.

"…"

Not knowing what to say faced with this kind of situation, Huo Fen silently looked up at the sky that had been revealed when the roof of the auction house had been blown open during the brief struggle from the Peak Middle Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator.

His disciple was not the smartest tool in the shed, but her talent was one of a kind and her unique ability to turn any situation she encountered into one that ended up benefiting her in the end was truly amazing and something that had never seized to amaze him. Especially now, where she had somehow managed to make someone who could very well be a Star Creation Realm cultivator hand over spiritual fruits for her to eat…