Cultivating Disciples To Breakthrough

by Stayrr

Within a quiet pavilion on top of a lonely mountain peak, Xuan Hao slowly opened his eyes with a bewildered look on his face, he had transmigrated into a cultivation world as an elder of the Flying Sword Sect. He was even an expert at the Nascent Soul Realm, who had the power to easily destory an entire city with a wave of his hand. Most importantly, he had a system that allowed h

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Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough #Chapter 981 Absorbing the Starlight Essence, Increase in Strength - Read Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough Chapter 981 Absorbing the Starlight Essence, Increase in Strength Online - All Page - Novel Bin

Chapter 981 Absorbing the Starlight Essence, Increase in Strength

Feeling his hands tremble with a mixture of excitement and nervousness at this realization, Xuan Hao carefully reached out towards the delicate crystal filled with starlight essence-

Whoosh~

The moment his fingertips touched the delicate crystal's surface, a surge of warmth spread through his body as he felt the small bits of starlight essence lingering around the edge of the crystal enter his body and resonate with his still dormant physique. Although only for a brief moment, Xuan Hao felt like his body had improved after the bits of starlight essence lingering around the crystal had been fully absorbed by his body.

[Physique: ??? (40.1% Awakened)]

Hm? The awakening progress of my physique actually improved…

Looking over his status, Xuan Hao could not help showing a surprised expression on his face after noticing that his physique had indeed grown closer to awakening after he finished absorbing the small bits of starlight essence that had leaked out from the crystal.

Even if it didn't improve more than one tenth of a percent, it still confirmed the fact that absorbing the starlight essence would indeed be useful for helping his physique awaken faster.

Knowing this, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time, as he grabbed the crystal floating in the air in front of him before sitting down and closing both of his eyes before focusing his full attention on extracting the starlight essence stored inside of the crystal.

Rumble~ Dive into Stories, Embrace Enchantment: NvεlB¡n.

Now entering his body in a far larger quantity compared to before, the starlight essence seemed to resonate with the qi inside his dantian and meridian. Resulting in not only his body growing stronger, but also the qi in his body being refined by the mystical starlight essence.

As Xuan Hao felt the starlight essence flowing through his body, a change soon took place, as he felt like his physique managed to reach another milestone. Resulting in an influx of insights regarding the Dao of Space flooding his mind. Improving his comprehension of the Dao of Space at a speed that was even faster than when he had been observing the true spatial collapse back in the forest of the mist covered mountain range.

Unknowingly, an hour passed like this before the last bit of starlight essence inside the delicate crystal was fully absorbed by Xuan Hao-

Crack~

And the moment this happened, the delicate crystal shattered into tiny pieces before scattering in the wind. Leaving no traces behind of its existence. Unable to exist without the support of the starlight essence.

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Opening his eyes with a somewhat disappointed expression on his face, Xuan Hao looked at the remnants of the crystal that had been holding the starlight essence slowly dispersing across the foundation and into the water not too far away.

"How unfortunate that there isn't any more…" Muttering this to himself before shaking his head in regret, Xuan Hao began to examine his body. Although the primary use of the starlight essence was to help his physique awaken, it also helped refine the qi inside his dantian. Allowing it to improve in quality compared to before.

Not only that, but he also felt that his comprehension of the Dao of Space had increased compared to before. Even if it had not broken through to the Small Success Realm yet, Xuan Hao clearly felt that the starlight essence had allowed the dao of space to fully merge together with his dao domain and fully integrate into. Increasing the strength of his dao domain in the process.

Although Xuan Hao had no idea how much the starlight essence had managed to increase his strength, he felt that his current strength should at the very least have surpassed the level of someone in the Fourth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm and reached the level of someone who had reached the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm at this point in time.

Even if this might not sound like a lot, it was an important milestone that signified that he had solidified his foundation and could no longer be considered to be someone who just broke through to the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm. Instead, it would be more accurate to say that he had reached the middle part of the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord.

Narrowing both of his eyes with satisfaction as he thought about this while examining his body and dantian, Xuan Hao clearly remembered the information that the elder from the Mirage Sect had transferred to him about the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

The information did not contain a lot on the Intermediate Stage or Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, but it did contain the way that the elder from the Mirage Sect had used to reach the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm during his youth.

The method in question was not complicated, but still came with a terrifying difficulty that was impossible for most people to even dare think about attempting to overcome, comprehend six different Daos and integrate them into your dao domain.

However, comprehending the six Daos and integrating them into the dao domain was only enough for someone to reach the Peak of the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm. Giving them strength equal to that of the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm. To break through to the Late stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, the comprehension level of the six different Daos needed to have at least reached the Small Success Realm, while at least one needed to reach the Large Success Realm.

"According to this information, I only need to comprehend one more Dao and integrate it into my domain before I can reach the peak of the realm and start thinking about breaking through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm…"

Understanding that he was still far away from comprehending a Dao to the level of Large Success, a realm of comprehension that he didn't even know about before meeting the elder from the Mirage Sect, Xuan Hao instead decided to put his focus on first reaching the Pinnacle of the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm before thinking about any of this.

At the very least, even if his Dao of Space didn't reach the Small Success Realm, it was not far off.

Shaking his head as he stood back up, Xuan Hao decided to also check through his status to see if any significant changes had taken place after he finished absorbing the starlight essence…

Name: Xuan Hao

Dao Domain: Dao of Ice (Small Success), Dao of the Sword (Small Success), Dao of Corruption (Small Success), Dao of Fire (Small Success), Dao of Space (Elementary)

Sword Intent: Nascent Sword Soul Realm

Talent: ???

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Physique: ??? (65% Awakened)

Bloodline: Three Immortals Bloodline (Half-Awakened)

Realm: Intermediate Stage Dao Domain Lord

Professions: Alchemist (Artisan), Formation Master (Expert), Blacksmithing (Expert)

Sect: Star Shattering Sect

Status: Grand Elder of the Star Shattering Sect

Disciples: Qing Yi, Chu Yang, Bai Ning, Mui

Pet: Lazy Winged Lion (Ninth Stage Domain Lord Realm), Rabbit Demon Beast (Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm)

[Reminder: Profession, Blacksmithing, is at the same level as disciple Bai Ning, it is recommended to stay above the realm of the disciple to ensure that you can provide proper guidance.]

"Huh?" Not able to stop a surprised voice from escaping his lips as he looked over his status, Xuan Hao was not surprised because of the sudden reminder from the system that Bai Ning seemed to have broken through to the Expert Realm in blacksmithing, but instead due to the sudden addition of a bloodline in his status.

As far as he knew, he did not have any bloodline the last time he checked through his status!

Is it perhaps because of my encounter with the elder from the Mirage Sect?

Not able to think of anything else other than his encounter with the elder from the Mirage Sect who seemed to say he carried some kind of special bloodline; Xuan Hao could not think of anything else that might have caused this change in his status and the sudden appearance of a bloodline in his status.

"Hm? There is a description available…?" Focusing hard on the bloodline part that had appeared inside his status, Xuan Hao was shocked to discover that there was a short description available beneath the bloodline.

[Three Immortals Bloodline (Half Awakened]

[Description: The bloodline stems from one of three immortal bloodlines, half-awakened state makes it impossible to determine which one of the three bloodlines it belongs to, special abilities related to the bloodline are unavailable, increase in talent from bloodline is caried over.]

[Special Note: The bloodline is now shown under status because the host became aware of its existence before it fully awakened. The bloodline cannot be forcefully awakened and can only awaken naturally after host reaches a certain level of strength.]

"…"

Reading through the description and special note at the end, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say. From the looks of things, the bloodline had always been there, the system had just deemed that it was of no importance given that he couldn't do anything to speed up its awakening process.

"Haaa… I wonder if there is anything more hidden in my status that I don't know about yet…" Muttering this to himself as he looked over the status panel floating in the air in front of him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of helplessness thinking about what other things the system might have hidden in his status.

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Chapter 982 Dangerous Water~

Ignoring the bloodline that had appeared in his status, Xuan Hao also noticed that the awakening of his physique had gone up from 40% to 65%. Meaning that absorbing the starlight essence had allowed his physique to progress by an entire 25%, as long as he could get another two crystals filled with starlight essence, he would be able to fully awaken his physique!

Understanding this, Xuan Hao could not help looking forward to the next quest that the system was going to issue, as he hoped that it would give him more starlight essence.

"Hm? When did the rabbit get there?" Suddenly feeling the small rabbit moving around inside his robe, Xuan Hao could not help showing a surprised expression on his face. After all, he hadn't even noticed when the rabbit demon beast had crawled inside of his robe in the first place. Even if his attention was focused on absorbing the starlight essence, he should still have noticed the rabbit demon beast approaching him, let alone crawling inside his robe and finding a hidden pocket to sleep inside of.

Maybe its because I was too absorbed on making sure to absorb all of the starlight essence and disregarded the presence of the rabbit demon beast due to the fact that it's not an enemy…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao decided not to think too much about it. Deciding to just blame it on his own lack of attention to his surroundings during the absorption process of the starlight essence.

"Well… It's about time to leave this place." Muttering this to himself as he glanced down at the foundation beneath his feet, Xuan Hao understood that it would be impossible for him to get anything more from trying to investigate what might be hidden inside of the foundation. Even the terrifying dragon from the past had only barely managed to leave behind a single scratch on the foundation and in the end, the single scratch had resulted in the defensive formation in place on the formation activating before killing said dragon…

Swish~

Jumping off the side of the foundation, Xuan Hao was about to fly in the direction of the mountains a few kilometers away from his current location, when suddenly-

"Huh!?"

Splash!

He found himself falling straight down into the crystal-clear water around the foundation.

Splash~ Splash~

Splashing around in the water as he attempted to use his dao domain to lift himself out of the water, Xuan Hao was shocked to discover that his dao domain didn't help him get out of the water. Instead, it felt like the water was forcefully drawing away the energy that he was using in an attempt to lift himself out of the water. The more energy he put into his dao domain, the more energy the water absorbed.

Realizing that it was useless to use his dao domain to lift himself back out of the water and that it was instead rapidly decreasing the qi inside his dantian, Xuan Hao immediately stopped using his dao domain and instead remained floating in the water without trying to lift himself out of the water into the air.

Wait… Is this perhaps the reason why the rabbit demon beast jumped into the water and decided to slowly swim across to the edge where the tree is located!? But how did it know about this? Does it perhaps have some kind of special ability that allows it to notice things like this?

Remembering how the rabbit demon beast had just jumped into the water without even trying to fly over it, Xuan Hao could not help suspecting that the rabbit demon beast might have some kind of hidden ability that allowed it to see through the weird abilities of the crystal-clear water.

Now that I think about it, the rabbit demon beast didn't seem to have any problems when swimming through the water normally…

Feeling like this might work as he felt the drain on his energy decrease the moment, he stopped trying to escape from the water with his dao domain, Xuan Hao began to slowly swim through the water only using his physical strength.

Given that his physical strength was far superior to that of an ordinary mortal, he should have been able to cross the distance of a few hundred meters of where the edge of the terraced pool of water was located, but he found out that traveling this short distance seemed to take far longer than what a normal mortal would have needed to travel this short distance. Not only that, but he also noticed that the drain on his energy seemed to increase the longer he stayed inside the water.

"Haaa… That was far harder than I expected it to be…" Feeling a wave of exhaustion washing over him as he dragged himself out of the water and on to the edge where the small thin tree was located, Xuan Hao could not help wondering how the rabbit demon beast had managed to reach the tree at a speed far faster than him. Back then, he had not even seen the slightest sign of exhaustion on the face of the rabbit demon beast!

Maybe it gets more difficult to swim through the water the higher one's cultivation is? Or maybe its because there is some kind of special way to travel through the water…

Thinking this to himself as he glanced towards the location where the rabbit demon beast was sleeping inside his robe completely isolated from the water by a thin energy barrier created by the robe to prevent it from getting wet, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if he should throw the rabbit out from his robe and try to see if the rabbit demon beast really was using some kind of special ability to swim through the water. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via N0v3l.B11n.

Squeak?

Having somehow sensed the danger that it was in, the rabbit demon beast suddenly woke up before it crawled out of Xuan Hao's sleeve before turning to look at him with a cute expression filled with confusion.

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Chapter 983 Spatial Tunnel

"..."

Faced with the innocent expression filled with confusion, Xuan Hao stopped himself just as he was about to grab the rabbit demon beast and throw it into the water.

Squeak?

Not understanding why Xuan Hao was looking at it in a rather weird way, the rabbit demon beast slowly tilted its head with an even more confused expression than before present on its small fluffy face. Resulting in Xuan Hao feeling even more awkward about what he had been planning to do.

But… If I don't throw it in the water, there is no way I will be able to figure out how it was able to make it through the water so easily…

Whoosh~

Squeak!?

Splash!

Before the rabbit demon beast had any time to react, Xuan Hao gently shook his sleeve over the edge of the terraced pool. Resulting in the rabbit demon beast falling straight into the crystal-clear water below.

SQUEAK!

Splash~ Splash~

Not at all having expected to suddenly end up in the water, the rabbit demon beast splashed around in panic for a short moment before calming down. Soon beginning to slowly swim toward the edge of the terraced pool before starting to climb back up to the small dry stop with the tree where Xuan Hao was standing and observing its every move with his divine sense.

Squeak!?

Reaching the top, the rabbit demon beast let out a confused squeak filled with anger. Not understanding why Xuan Hao had suddenly waved his arm, that had ended up causing it to fall out of the sleeve and into the water below.

"My bad, I thought you were holding on to my sleeve…" Not intending to admit that he had planned for it to fall into the water, Xuan Hao somewhat awkwardly apologized to the rabbit demon beast who was now staring directly at him with what could be described as the cutest frown he had seen, while he handed over a handful of spirit stone.

Squeak!

Only letting out a slightly offended squeak, the rabbit demon beast grabbed the spirit stones Xuan Hao handed it before climbing back up his robe. Entering s sleeve before hiding away inside the small hidden pocket inside of it. Not showing any signs of wanting to come out any time soon, Xuan Hao also felt the presence of the rabbit demon beast's aura change, as it consumed the spirit stones and entered a state of meditation.

"At least I managed to get the information I wanted…" Muttering this to himself as he decided to leave the rabbit demon beast alone, Xuan Hao thought about what had happened to the rabbit demon beast when it fell into the water.

Different from what he had seen when he casually observed the rabbit demon beast swimming through the crystal-clear water in the past or what he himself had managed to observe during his time in the water, this time around, Xuan Hao could clearly see what happened to the rabbit demon beast the moment it entered the water.

To start with, the speed that the energy of the rabbit demon beast was being absorbed was noticeably slower compared to when he had entered the water and there was no sign of this being due to some special ability of the rabbit demon beast. Meaning that there was no way for him to slow down the speed at which his energy was being absorbed by the crystal-clear water.

Although this had not been a problem so far considering that he only had to swim a little over a hundred meters so far, there were some terraced water pools up ahead that stretched on for close to a kilometer. Even with his strength, he doubted he would be able to hold on long enough to swim to the other side before his energy ran out and he was swallowed by the crystal-clear water.

However, he also discovered that the space around the rabbit demon beast was twisting and stretching in the direction that the rabbit demon beast was swimming. Trapping it in some kind of spatial tunnel, that made travelling a distance of a few meters become several kilometers long.

But… how am I supposed to use my dao domain to negate this with the Dao of Space, when keeping my dao domain active for a few seconds uses up most of my energy? Even if it increases my speed of traversing the water, I doubt that it will be anymore effective than just swimming through the spatial tunnels…

Gazing towards the mountains in the distance as he thought about how to make it through the water without using all of his energy before reaching the other side, Xuan Hao could not help feeling worried when looking at the large body of water located in between the mountains and the place where the smaller terraced pools of water were located.

Haaa… Given that I will have to recover my energy every time I pass through one of the terraced pools of water, it will at least take a few days before I can reach the last one located between the mountain and the rest of the terraced pools. Maybe I will be able to find a way to negate the effect of the spatial tunnels created by the water now that I know that they are there…

Whoosh~

Splash! Ñøvl-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

Not wasting any more time, Xuan Hao stepped over the edge and plunged into the water of the next terraced pool of water before starting to swim towards the edge of it. Not relaxing in the slightest during this time, as he also made sure to release his divine sense to observe the spatial tunnel that trapped him the moment, he entered the water. Trying to figure out if there were any flaws in the spatial tunnel that he would be able to take advantage of, while at the same time also trying to experiment with how much energy he would have to put into his dao domain to start affecting the spatial tunnel.

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Chapter 984 Chu Yang and Qing Yi's Journey Back to the Surface

Rustle~

At the same time Xuan Hao was trying to figure out a way to cross the large body of water between him and the mountain range, the exhausted figures of Qing Yi and Chu Yang crawled out from a small hole in the ground. Even then, it was still obvious that the aura around both of them had undergone a significant change, with both of them having made significant improvements in their cultivation over the short time since they had been forced underground by the strange rise in temperature a little over a week earlier.

Chu Yang going from the Second Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm to the Third Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, while Qing Yi had not only managed to break through to the Second Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, but even looked like she was about to reach the Third Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm as well.

However, from their exhausted figures, it was also obvious that this rapid improvement did not come easily.

Thump~

"Finally, back to the surface again! I never want to go back underground ever again!" Flopping on to the ground covered in a soft layer of grass, Qing Yi didn't bother waiting for a response as she closed both of her eyes and fell asleep on the spot. Considering that she was someone in the Nascent Soul Realm, the fact that she was exhausted enough to fall asleep on the spot meant that she had overdrawn her own energy far beyond her own limits.

Although this wouldn't result in any permanent damage to her soul, it still meant that she would enter a deep sleep that she wouldn't be able to wake up from for a few days or longer depending on how exhausted her soul was.

Even if sleeping was a good way to recover energy for normal mortals and help speed up their healing process to some extent, the same could not be said for cultivators. Although it was still helpful to some degree, the process of recovery took far longer than meditation. Dive into Stories, Embrace Enchantment: NvεlB¡n.

"Looks like she couldn't hold on any longer…" Looking at the already sleeping Qing Yi from the side, Chu Yang muttered this to himself as he remembered what they had gone through over since falling into the massive underground river that swept them deeper underground.

At first, everything had been fine, and they had spent a little over a day being pulled along by the current before they encountered their first demon beast in the turbulent underground river, a large fish demon beast. Although this demon beast was only in the First Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, weaker than both of them, it was impossible for them to fight it, as it could move around freely in the river unlike them.

Because of this, they ended up spending the next two days desperately trying to fight off the constant attacks of the fish that would attack the moment they let their guard down before escaping the moment they tried attacking it.

In the end, Qing Yi managed to fool the fish demon beast by pretending to have run out of energy to fight back. Killing it the moment it tried to go in for the final attack. However, this did not come without cost, as Qing Yi ended up getting injured in the process.

After this, they ended up attracting more fish demon beast and with no end in sight, it looked like they wouldn't be able to escape the turbulent underground river alive, that was, until that thing appeared…

A large snake-like creature half the size of the massive underground river that they were trapped inside of!

Feeling a shiver run down his spine as he thought about the giant snake-like creature, Chu Yang could not help feeling thankful for the talismans that their master had given to them before they made their way inside the mystic realm. If he hadn't managed to activate one of the talismans when the snake was about to swallow them along with the different fish demon beasts attack them, he was certain that he and his senior sister wouldn't have been able to make it out of the underground river alive…

"But… I wonder just how strong master is…" Whispering this to himself as he glanced down at his interspatial ring where the last talisman given by his master was stored, Chu Yang remembered the large sword that appeared in front of them the moment he activated the talisman and how the snake-like creature fearfully tried escaping to no avail as the giant sword slashed down towards it, killing any of the smaller fish demon beast that had yet to get swallowed before slashing it in half.

Not only that, but the sword had even slashed apart the large underground river. Opening up a path to several different underground cave systems running along the side of the river that they had been unable to find out about before due to the constant attacks from the different fish demon beasts.

Having no time to even think about how the large snake-like demon beast that should have reached the Later Stages of the Domain Lord Realm had been killed with such ease back then, they both used all of their remaining energy to escape from the turbulent underground river as fast as possible. Not daring to risk staying inside the underground river for even a second longer now that they finally had a path out of it.

Even if there should be far more demon beasts present inside the underground cave systems, they would at the very least be able to fight back against them. Far better compared to the constant harassment of the different fish demon beasts inside the turbulent river.

At least, this was what both of them had thought at first…

In the end, both of them ended up locked in a constant state of battle over the next five days, as they used up all of the talismans their master had left them except one to fight their way back up to the surface again.

The intense and constant pressure that both of them had been under during these five days was what caused their cultivation to improve rapidly, Qing Yi being the one who improved the most, as she was far less experienced when it came to the constant battle. Resulting in her current cultivation being on the cusp of reaching the Third Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Compared to their first time underground and their encounter with the mole demon beast, it was only now that both of them managed to understand just how dangerous the underground world of the mystic realm was.

In a sense, their first journey into the underground world of the mystic realm could be considered a walk in the park without any real threat to their life. The complete opposite of their second time, where they both realized that there was a very real chance that the talismans of their master would run out and they would end up dying inside the mystic realm…!

Shaking his head as he thought about how they had just barely managed to escape alive, Chu Yang sat on the ground before starting to meditate with the purpose of recovering from his current exhausted state as fast as possible. Understanding very well how dangerous it was for both of them now that they had no energy left to defend themselves against the different demon beast lurking around the surface of the mystic realm.

At the very least, they had been lucky enough to end up on a location that didn't have any powerful demon beasts nearby, while they could use their Nascent Soul Realm cultivation base to intimidate some of the weaker demon beasts.

Well… Considering Qing Yi's current state, it looked like he would be the only person capable of doing anything in case they ended up encountering a demon beast-

Roar!

And to make matters worse, it hadn't even been a few minutes before the first demon beast appeared. Although only at the Seventh Stage of the Core Formation Realm, it still ended up forcing Chu Yang out of his meditation to deal with it.

Roar!

"This is going to become annoying…" Hearing another demon beast roar not too far away after he finished dealing with the first, Chu Yang could not stop a silent sigh filled with exhaustion from escaping his lips. Even if the demon beasts attacking them weren't stronger than the Core Formation Realm so far, if they continued attacking before he had a chance to recover, he might end up becoming too exhausted to even use his aura to intimidate them!

Boom!

At least that time was still a bit off, as Chu Yang used his aura to cover the area around him-

R-Roar…

Scaring away any of the nearby demon beasts who had been approaching them in the process. Buying himself some precious time to recover without having to worry about being ambushed by some random Core Formation Realm or Foundation Establishment Realm demon beast in the process.

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Chapter 985 Crystal Fish

Not aware of the fact that Chu Yang and Qing Yi had almost used all of the talismans he had given them and would soon only have the last protective measure that he had secretly left on them before they entered the mystic realm, Xuan Hao arrived in front of the final body of water between himself and the mountain range surrounding the terraced pools of water and the remnant of the pagoda, a large ring shaped lake.

Having become aware of the spatial anomaly that seemed to affect the crystal-clear water, Xuan Hao did try his best to figure out a way to reduce the effect of the spatial anomaly without using up all of his energy in the process.

Not taking too long to find out that although it was simple to undo the effect of the spatial anomaly trapping him in some kind of spatial tunnel through a simple brute force release of his dao domain, the energy used to do this would at most allow him to cross a distance of a few hundred meters. Far from enough to reach the other side of the large ring-shaped lake in front of him.

If he wanted to reach the other side, he at first thought that he might be able to find some way to make use of his Dao of Space comprehension to undo or at least reduce the effect of the spatial anomaly without using the same level of energy as he had used through a simple brute force release of his dao domain, but… This proved to be wrong.

His comprehension of the Dao of Space was far too insignificant at the moment to even begin to grasp the workings of the spatial anomaly covering the terraced pools and the seemingly random spatial tunnel that it would trap him inside of the moment he entered the water.

On the other hand, he ended up using far more energy only using his Dao of Space to deal with the spatial anomaly than if he had just used the full power of his dao domain. Forcing him to try and figure out some other way that he might be able to reach the mountain range.

In the end, this allowed him to find out that the simple solution of just teleporting to the other side was not an option either due to the spatial anomaly affecting the space and causing him to end up in random locations as a result.

Although he might end up at the base of the mountains because of this, there was also a chance that he could end up getting teleported to the middle of the widest part of the ring-shaped lake. Not only placing him five kilometers away from any safe place in the middle of the ring-shaped lake that drained his qi, but also trapping him inside a spatial tunnel that would make it close to impossible for him to escape.

Instead of doing something this dangerous, Xuan Hao preferred to try and figure out another way he could reach the mountain range without having to rely on luck to not end up in a deadly situation. Not to mention, the spatial anomaly might end causing him to end up somewhere under the crystal-clear water.

From the single time that he had tried to go under the water to test out if it was better than staying above the water, Xuan Hao didn't dare to do this again, as even with his strength, he felt his energy being drawn out at a speed that would end up reducing him to a lifeless husk in less than a half a minute….

Because of this, Xuan Hao wanted to avoid any situation that could cause him to end up beneath the crystal-clear water. Meaning that teleportation was out of the question if he couldn't find some way to ensure that he wouldn't end up finding himself beneath the water or the more dangerous locations on the ring-shaped lake.

Rustle~

Squeak?

Poking its small head out of his sleeve at this moment, the rabbit demon beast had just finished absorbing all of the qi stored inside the spiritual stones that Xuan Hao had given it and had now come out to ask for more… Or at least that was what Xuan Hao believed from the way that the rabbit demon beast was looking at him.

"Do you want more spirit stones?"

Squeak!

Jumping up in excitement the moment it heard Xuan Hao mention spirit stones, the rabbit demon beast momentarily forgot the fact that it was standing at the edge of one of the terraced pools of water-

Squeak!?

And before it landed back on the ground again, it suddenly realized that it had accidentally ended up jumping off the edge of the terraced pool of water and now found itself in the air above the crystal-clear water of the ring-shaped lake that surrounded the terraced pools and the remnants of the pagoda. Soon finding itself plummeting into the water below.

Splash!

"…"

Not knowing how to react to the rabbit demon beast seemingly jumping into the water on its own volition, Xuan Hao could only watch as it hit the water and sank beneath the surface before rapidly swimming back up-

"Hm?"

However, as the rabbit demon beast was about to try and swim its way back to the surface again, a large crystal fish the size of a small house appeared behind the rabbit demon beast as it opened its large mouth to swallow the rabbit demon beast.

Bang!

Of course, this did not work out as the large crystal fish was planned, as the rabbit demon beast abruptly turned around in the water before unleashing a deadly blow that instantly sent the large crystal fish flying into the distance. Not too surprising when considering that the large crystal fish had the strength compared to the earlier stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, while the rabbit demon beast had already reached the Soul Ascension Realm.

On the other hand, it could be considered a miracle that the crystal large fish had even managed to get knocked flying with an intact body. Even if the blow from the rabbit demon beast had long since destroyed the soul inside the body…

How can it fly? Is it perhaps because it's already dead? But more important than that, how come a mere Nascent Soul Realm fish can survive inside the water that constantly drains the energy of anyone entering? Even if it might be able to survive for a few minutes, there should be no way that it could live inside the water, unless… The water doesn't affect anyone below a certain cultivation realm!?

Squeak!

Lost in his own thoughts about what he had just witnessed, Xuan Hao failed to realize that the rabbit demon beast had still not left the water before he heard its panicked squeaking from below, causing him to turn his attention away from the direction that the body of large crystal fish had been sent flying in.

"What in the- Where did all these weird crystal fish come from!?"

Looking back down at the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao could not help exclaiming in surprise after spotting the close to a thousand large crystal fish gathered in front of the rabbit demon beast now backed up against the edge of the terraced pool where Xuan Hao was standing.

The reason why the rabbit demon beast didn't just escape back up to him, was that a dozen or so of the stronger crystal fish in front of it, created long sea grass tendrils that grabbed hold of the rabbit demon beast's body. Preventing it from escaping, as even if it destroyed the sea grass, the sea grass would almost instantly grow back again. Wasting the rabbit demon beast's energy as a result.

SQUEAK! Ñøvl-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

As a result of this, the rabbit demon beast could only desperately call out to him, as it had no other path to escape from the large number of crystal fish slowly approaching it. After all, although these crystal fish weren't much stronger than the Nascent Soul Realm and Domain Lord Realm, their numbers more than made up for this.

Not to mention, the rabbit demon beast also had to deal with the constant drain on its energy from the surrounding water, something that didn't seem to affect these large crystal fish in the slightest.

Swish-!

Not having any time to figure out where these fish had suddenly popped up from, Xuan Hao jumped down to the rabbit demon beast and cut it free before jumping back to the edge of the terraced pool before any of the stronger crystal fish had the chance to catch him and bring him into the water. Understanding very well that he wouldn't fare much better than the rabbit demon beast if he ended up getting caught and was forced under water.

Of course, Xuan Hao didn't forget to catch a few of the crystal fish in the process of getting the saving the rabbit demon beast. Intending full well to study them and see if there might be something other than a lower cultivation realm that might be the reason these fish could live inside the crystal-clear water without any problems…

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Chapter 986 Strange Organ

Squeak!

Not wasting a single second after it was rescued, the rabbit demon beast dashed inside Xuan Hao's sleeve before hiding away inside the hidden pocket. Forgetting to get the spirit stones that it had come out for in the process. In the back of the rabbit demon beast's mind, it had already decided that it wouldn't leave the small hidden pocket inside Xuan hao's robe before they reached the mountains on the other side of the large ring-shaped lake.

Ignoring the rabbit demon beast as it moved around inside the hidden pocket trying to make itself more comfortable, Xuan Hao turned his attention towards the crystal fish that he captured when rescuing the rabbit demon beast.

Different from any other fish demon beast that he had seen so far, the crystal fish were completely transparent outside of a few vital organs that were still somewhat visible through their skin. Making them extremely hard to spot inside the crystal-clear water that already made it hard to use divine sense over a large area due to its absorption of anything that touched it.

"No wonder I didn't see any of them before, they are practically invisible in the water if one doesn't know about their presence. Good thing I didn't end up entering the water just now…" Muttering this to himself as he looked over the crystal-clear ring-shaped lake, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine when he realized how close he was to ending up in a life and death situation.

Even if the crystal fish were far weaker than him, their numbers more than made up for this. Not to mention, the crystal fish were not affected by the spatial anomaly or the absorption of qi. Meaning that they could just draw things out and wait for him to exhaust himself to death.

However, the presence of the crystal fish hinted at there being some way to avoid the effect of the crystal-clear water and the spatial anomaly…

Turning his attention back towards the crystal fish now on the ground in front of him, Xuan Hao smiled slightly as his divine sense and dao domain spread out and began to examine every single part of the crystal fish who could do nothing but flap around in a panic after being forced out of the water.

Demon beasts or not, they had never thought about leaving the water before and as a result hadn't adapted to being outside of the water. Although they could survive for a far longer time due to their cultivation base, they couldn't exert more than a small fraction of their power and under Xuan Hao's powerful divine sense and dao domain, they couldn't even continue flapping around the ground anymore. Forcing them to give up on their futile attempt to get back into the water again.

Whoosh~

Not able to resist in the slightest, Xuan Hao's divine sense slowly seeped into their transparent bodies and began analyzing every single part of them, while the dao domain kept them in place and prevented them from moving or trying to escape.

"Hm?"

Searching through the bodies of the crystal fish for anything interesting, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes as he noticed a special kind of organ inside one of the crystal fish that seemed to radiate some kind of strange aura. Looking closer, Xuan Hao realized that all of the crystal fish had this special organ inside of them, radiating the same strange aura that seemed to serve no purpose other than radiating the strange aura that seemed to create a thin barrier of sorts that covered the entire body of the crystal fish.

Ptsh-!

Extracting the special organ from one of the crystal fish to inspect it more closely, Xuan Hao realized that it didn't stop producing the strange aura after being extracted, but instead began covering him in the strange yet harmless aura that now no longer covered the crystal fish whose organ had just been cut out.

Is this perhaps what is allowing the crystal fish to live inside the crystal-clear water without being affected by the absorption or the spatial anomaly? What will happen to it if I throw it back into the water like this?

Thinking about this, Xuan Hao glanced back down on the crystal fish that seemed perfectly fine after having one of its organs cut out-

Whoosh~

And deciding to test out his hypothesis, Xuan Hao threw the crystal fish who had just barely managed to close the wound back into the water.

Splash!

Watching as the crystal fish landed in the water and soon became almost completely invisible beneath the crystal-clear water, Xuan Hao saw the crystal fish happily swimming around for a few seconds before suddenly freezing on the spot before violently wiggling around in the water for another few minutes before slowly loosing power and sinking to the bottom without any signs of life left.

Confirming the fact that the special organ was indeed responsible for the crystal fish being able to live inside of the crystal-clear water without dying. Not because their cultivation realm was lower than the Soul Ascension Realm like he had first suspected after not seeing any crystal fish above the Domain Lord Realm.

Now the only question left on Xuan Hao's mind, was whether or not he would be able to use the strange aura covering his body from the strange crystal fish organ.

If he really could, the difficulty of crossing the ring-shaped lake would be close to negligible, as a distance of two kilometers would take no more than a few seconds to travel with his current strength. Even if he couldn't use any of his movement techniques or abilities.

Well… There is only one way to find out…

Splash!

Deciding to jump into the water just next to the edge of the terraced pool that he was standing on top of so he could escape in case he was wrong; Xuan Hao felt the crystal-clear water surround his entire body as he firmly held the strange crystal fish organ in one of his hands.

However, even after a few seconds passed, nothing happened.

The spatial anomaly that would trap him inside some kind of spatial tunnel was nowhere to be seen and the crystal-clear water didn't absorb as much as a single bit of his qi.

All things considered, the crystal-clear water that could kill him if he stayed inside of it for too long, was now nothing more than ordinary water that didn't have any kind of danger inside of it. Outside of the few crystal fish, but with their strength, Xuan Hao didn't have to worry about them now that he was no longer affected by the crystal-clear water and the spatial anomaly. Only the restriction on the space itself that prevented teleporting and his movement technique was still around.

"Looks like it does work…" Muttering this to himself as he looked at the strange organ in his hand, Xuan Hao was just about to cross the ring-shaped lake, when-

Bang!

Splash~

The strange organ of the crystal fish exploded in his face, covering the thin barrier created by his dao domain around his body. Following which, the familiar sensation of space around him twisting and his qi being forcefully drawn out of his body returned. Not only that, but the crystal fish who had been observing him from afar also began cautiously making their way towards him.

Although they didn't dare to attack him as fast as they did with the rabbit demon beast due to how he had captured two of them and saved the rabbit demon beast not too long ago, it would only be a matter of time before they worked up enough courage to start attacking him.

Swish-!

Understanding this and how dangerous his situation was now that the strange organ had blown up all of a sudden, Xuan Hao didn't waste a second before rushing out of the water and back up to safety at the edge of the terraced pool of water. Not daring to stay in the water and having to deal with the attack of the crystal fish like what had happened to the rabbit demon beast. Different from the rabbit demon beast, he didn't really have anyone who would show up to save him.

So, the strange organs can't exist outside the body of the crystal fish for an extended period of time…

Standing back up on the edge of the terraced pool of water, safe from the crystal fish and crystal-clear water below, Xuan Hao went over the things he had just learnt about the strange crystal fish organ.

In the end, he decided to test things out in more detail with the remaining two crystal fish and ended up concluding that the strange organ could only protect him for a little over two seconds after he entered the water. Ñøvl-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

To cross the distance of two kilometers without any movement technique or abilities assisting him, he would at least need ten or more seconds… And that was considering nothing unexpected happened…

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Chapter 987 Hidden Below

Knowing how to cross the water now, Xuan Hao ended up spending the next few minutes trying to catch more of the crystal fish, but ultimately failed, as they had now become far harder to catch because none of them dared to go anywhere near the edge of the terraced pool after seeing him catch a few of them from the water earlier.

The fact that they had also witnessed what happened to the crystal fish who had been thrown into the water after having been caught by Xuan Hao, only served to make them no longer dare approach the edge of the terraced pool. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

So far, the only way to get them to approach him would be for him to enter the water again and wait for them to regain their courage and try to attack him after he was weakened by the spatial anomaly and the water.

Crack-!

Splash!

Thinking about whether or not to jump into the water to try and catch more of the crystal fish, the edge of the terraced pool that he was standing on top of suddenly started trembling as a large part of it broke off and fell into the water below.

"This…." Seeing that the edge of the terraced pool he was standing on top of had somehow started breaking. Allowing a large amount of water to rush out of the terraced pool and into the large ring-shaped lake, Xuan Hao noticed that the same had started happening for the terraced pools behind him.

Rumble-!

Watching as the terraced pools broke one by one and merged together into a single large pool of water behind him, Xuan Hao did not take long to realize that it would not be long before all of the terraced pools of water broke apart and flowed together with the ring-shaped lake surrounding the terraced pools of water.

At that point in time, he would no longer have anywhere to escape from the constant drain of the water and would inevitably end up running out of energy and get overwhelmed by the countless crystal fish hiding inside the crystal-clear water…

Swish-!

Splash~

Knowing that he didn't have any time left to try and figure out a way that he could bait the crystal fish to approach him without putting himself in danger, Xuan Hao jumped into the water before using all of his power catch a large number of unsuspecting crystal fish who had no time to react before their special organ was extracted by Xuan Hao.

"Haaa…"

Feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him as he felt close to 80% of his energy had been drained in the short time, he had used his full power inside the water to catch a little over a dozen of the crystal fish, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a wave of fear wash over him as he realized just how close to death he was at that moment.

If not for the fact that some of the crystal fish had grown curious and approached after seeing part of the edge of the terraced pool he was standing on top of break off, Xuan Hao doubted that he would have been able to reach the other crystal fish who had remained far away from him due to fear of him catching them like he had done to the crystal fish from earlier.

This is not the time to relax, the fish I caught will only barely be enough for me to reach the other side of the lake…

Swoosh-!

Not wasting any time after feeling the strange aura from the strange crystal fish organ protect him from the absorption of the crystal-clear water and the spatial anomaly, Xuan Hao used all of his remaining energy to rapidly swim through the water at a speed far exceeding that of the crystal fish who had been watching the entire scene from afar and were trying their best to escape in the opposite direction of Xuan Hao.

Unfortunately for some of these crystal fish, the path that they chose to escape in happened to be the same one Xuan Hao was travelling towards the base of the mountains on the other side of the ring-shaped lake-

Splash~ Splash~

And Xuan Hao was more than happy to catch a few of these crystal fish in case he happened to run into any unexpected situation that would extend the time he needed to reach the other side of the lake.

RUMBLE-!

As if to answer his worries, a loud rumbling sound echoed out from the center of the ring-shaped lake before a crystal fish several hundreds of meters long emerged from the depths of the crystal-clear water, its size alone only barely fitting inside the two-kilometer-wide part of the ring-shaped lake.

At the same time, this also made it impossible for Xuan Hao to avoid it, as the colossal crystal fish had appeared directly in front of him. Especially considering the fact that he still couldn't fly due to the spatial anomaly still preventing or disrupting anything that had to do with spatial movement or manipulation.

"So, there is indeed a crystal fish in the Soul Ascension Realm…" Freezing for a moment as he saw the colossal creature that had appeared in front of him, Xuan Hao could not help muttering this to himself as he felt a sense of urgency.

Although the massive crystal fish in front of him had only reached the Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm like the rabbit demon beast and was weaker than him, his current condition didn't really allow him to fight with the enormous crystal fish. Not to mention, the number of smaller crystal fish still left on him would only allow him to stay inside the water for a little over 15 seconds. Far from enough, even if he was at full strength.

ROOOOOAR-!

Not at all carrying about the thoughts going through Xuan Hao's head as he was thinking about how to avoid the colossal crystal fish that had suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked his path, the crystal fish in question didn't intend to let him wait, as it opened its large maw before biting down towards Xuan Hao in an attempt to swallow him whole.

"Not again…"

Seeing the massive maw of the crystal fish about to close around him, Xuan Hao inevitably ended up getting a flashback to the time when the sandworm and Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beast from the forest had also swallowed him.

Swish-!

Not thinking too much about how this was already the third time that a demon beast was attempting to swallow him since he entered the mystic realm, Xuan Hao dived underwater and moved to the side-

Bang!

Just barely avoiding getting swallowed by a giant demon beast again.

Roar!?

However, the colossal crystal fish was not done with just this, as it turned around and tried to swallow him again-

Rumble!

But unfortunately for the colossal crystal fish, Xuan Hao didn't plan on giving it a chance to swallow him again, as he gathered the power of his dao domain before smashing it into the head of the crystal fish-

BOOOOOM-!

Showing it just how large the distance in strength between someone in the Third Tribulation of Soul Ascension Realm and someone in the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm was.

R-Roar!

Only able to let out a painful roar as part of its head was blown to bits by the powerful attack-

Swoosh~!

Giving Xuan Hao a much-needed opportunity to slip past the colossal crystal fish before it had any time to realize that its opponent had already escaped.

ROOOOAR!

By the time that it realized Xuan Hao was missing, it could only let out a roar filled with killing intent before charging towards Xuan Hao who had already managed to reach the base of the mountain range.

"Hehe, you want to fight me now that I'm out of the water?"

However, it was already too late for the colossal crystal fish to do anything to Xuan Hao, as he was now no longer limited by the few seconds bought to him by holding the strange organs of the crystal fish. Even if he only had a little below 20% of his qi left inside his dantian at this point in time, the crystal fish was no longer his opponent.

ROOOOOAR!

In the end, the crystal fish didn't seem to care about this, as it let out a terrifying roar that caused the rest of the ring-shaped lake to start trembling violently-

ROOOAR!

ROAAAR!

ROOAR!

And before Xuan Hao had any time to react, dozens of similarly large crystal fish began emerging from the depths of the crystal-clear water before also charging towards him.

"This…"

Seeing the large number of colossal crystal fish emerge from the water before rushing towards him, Xuan Hao lost his confident expression before turning around to rush up the mountain range in the opposite direction of the large number of Soul Ascension Realm crystal fish who had suddenly emerged from the water.

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Chapter 988 Brutal Rabbit~

Squeak!?

Having felt the dozens of terrifying auras no weaker than itself that suddenly appeared, the rabbit demon beast who had hidden away inside of the hidden pocket in his robe, poked its head out as it looked back towards the dozens of crystal fish emerging from the water as they dived into the rocky ground like it was the same as the water in the lake behind them.

Although slower than in the water, they did not lack speed when compared to the current Xuan Hao who couldn't use his movement technique.

However, compared to Xuan Hao, the crystal fish had one very clear advantage over him… And that was the fact that the qi left inside of Xuan Hao's dantian was far too low for him to continue escaping like this over an extended period of time with the spatial anomaly still present.

The only real chance he had to escape from the crystal fish who seemed bent on catching up to him, was to get out of the area covered by the spatial anomaly and start using his movement technique again. If he could do that, there would be no way for the colossal crystal fish to catch up with him. On the other hand, they would have to worry about him, as he would be able to easily attack them without them being able to do anything about it.

Squeak…?

Not understanding any of this, the rabbit demon beast calmed down after realizing that the crystal fish weren't able to catch them and instead began to curiously observe the strange almost completely transparent fish chasing after them.

Squeak…

After observing the approaching crystal fish, the rabbit demon beast could not stop its mouth from watering when it noticed a particular large shiny thing inside the body of the first colossal crystal fish to appear and also the one Xuan Hao had knocked away before escaping to the mountain range.

For some reason, in the eyes of the rabbit demon beast, the large shiny thing inside the body of the colossal crystal fish closest to them, seemed awfully a lot like one of the spirit stones that Xuan Hao had given to it in the past.

SQUEAK!

Not able to control itself when faced with such a large meal waiting to be eaten, the rabbit demon beast jumped out of Xuan Hao's robe before the latter had any time to react and flew towards the colossal crystal fish in the Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension realm just behind them-

Ptsh!

And before the crystal fish had any time to notice the existence of the small rabbit demon beast whose cultivation base was rather hard to spot due to it having done its best to hide it, a loud sound of something sharp cutting through flesh echoed out, as the small rabbit demon beast easily pierced through the crystal fish's skin and entered its body.

R-Roar!?

Feeling something suddenly enter its body before starting to cause havoc as it began digging its way towards its vital organs and the place where its dantian was located, the colossal crystal fish stated panicking, as it came to a stop and tried using all of its strength to deal with the rabbit demon beast that was now inside of its body.

Unfortunately for the crystal fish, even though they were both at the Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, the rabbit demon beast was already inside of its body and there was no way for the crystal fish to use its full strength to deal with it, as doing this might end up destroying its own body. Inevitably killing itself in the process of trying to get rid of the rabbit demon beast inside of its body.

Squeak!

crystal fish freeze for a moment with terror in their eyes as they watched the small rabbit demon beast emerge from the body of the Ignorant to the fear that the crystal fish was feeling as it tried everything it could to deal with the rabbit demon beast now inside of its body, the rabbit demon beast in question let out an elated squeaking sound as it found what it was looking for.

Crack~!

Not wasting a single second to break it free and happily start making its way back out the colossal body of the crystal fish.

ROOOOOOOOOAR!

At the same time that the rabbit demon beast broke the thing free, the colossal crystal fish let out a terrifying roar filled with pain, as it collapsed unconscious on the ground. Making the approaching crystal fish freeze for a moment with terror in their eyes as they watched the small rabbit demon beast emerge from the body of the crystal fish covered in the blood of the crystal fish.

ROOOAR!

ROAR!

However, this only lasted for a short moment, as they instantly began roaring filled with anger and killing intent. No longer moving towards Xuan Hao who was staring at the odd scene taking place, but instead moving towards the rabbit demon beast who was happily carrying some sort of strange object as it happily bounced back towards where Xuan Hao was standing. Either ignoring the dozens of colossal crystal fish filled with killing intent rushing towards it, or simply not caring about them.

Squeak~

"This…"

Seeing the small rabbit demon beast stopping in front of him with a proud expression plastered all over its small face before starting to show off the strange object that it had dug out from the body of the crystal fish, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say.

Rumble~

However, the sound of the large number of crystal fish swimming through the rocky ground in his direction soon woke him up, as he grabbed the rabbit demon beast and continued to run away. Not daring to stay around and face all of the crystal fish. Especially now that all of them had been enraged even further by the rabbit demon beast's sudden strange action of digging into the body of one of them and extracting some kind of strange object the size of a small apple.

Swish!

No matter what it was, Xuan Hao decided to store it inside one of his interspatial rings for now-

Squeak!?

Much to the dismay of the rabbit demon beast who had been planning to eat the strange object after safely returning to the hidden pocket inside Xuan Hao's robe. Only able to complain for a short moment before being stuffed inside Xuan Hao's sleeve.

Swish!

Over the next few seconds, Xuan Hao did his best to avoid the long distance of the crystal fish chasing after him, as he finally managed to reach the peak of the first mountain of the mountain range. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

"Huh!? This… the fog covered mountain range!?"

However, after reaching the peak of the first mountain, he discovered that he was still inside the fog covered mountain range with the massive forest that he had found himself trapped inside of before entering the Third Celestial Gate.

To be more precise, he was located in the opposite direction of where he had first entered the fog covered mountain range, with the massive forest filled with Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beast now directly in front of him, or what remained of the massive forest after the terrifying clash between the cloud demon beast and the guardian formation of the mystic realm came to an end.

In the end, it looked like only a small part of the once massive forest had managed to survive, with a few of the mountain peaks having directly melted into molten rock that now filled up a large part of the burnt down forest. No signs of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beast or the cloud demon beast was present in the eerily quiet path of forest still left directly below him.

ROOOAR!

Hearing the loud roars of the crystal fish behind him, Xuan Hao didn't bother to think too much about what had ended up happening to the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts or the cloud demon beast, as he rapidly descended down towards the small part of the forest that had been left intact. Hoping that he would be able to escape that range of the spatial anomaly after reaching the forest, as he had never felt any kind of spatial anomaly preventing him from using his movement technique inside the massive forest.

Even if the formation surrounding the forest itself kept him from escaping, it didn't restrict his use of the Dao of Space inside of the formation itself. Not to mention, Xuan Hao doubted that the formation had managed to survive the clash between the guardian formation and the cloud demon beast, as the formation would have been standing in the way of the guardian formation and prevented its attack from easily reaching the cloud demon beast.

Although he felt like this should be the case, he had no way to be sure and had to risk possibly ending up trapped inside the formation again to be able to properly use his movement technique again.

In the worst case scenario, he would always be able to try and find the celestial gates again and use them to hide inside of until the crystal fish left.

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Chapter 989 Wasteland

Making his way inside what was left of the forest, Xuan Hao did not take long to discover that the formation that had covered the massive forest before was no longer present. Meaning that even when entering the small part of the massive forest that was still left, he didn't end up trapping himself inside the formation again.

On the other hand, he also discovered that the spatial anomaly was still present after he made his way inside the forest. Meaning that the formation that had covered the forest before, had most likely also been responsible for keeping the spatial anomaly from affecting the forest. Now that the formation was gone, there was nothing left to stop the spatial anomaly from spreading into the forest.

I wonder just how much of the fog covered mountain range the spatial anomaly covers… Is it only this small part left of the forest, or has it also spread to the area outside the mountain range?

Turning to look back towards the crystal fish who were rapidly approaching him, Xuan Hao could not help thinking about this as he inevitably started getting a little nervous.

If the spatial anomaly had really spread and covered the entire fog covered mountain range and beyond it, he doubted that he would be able to escape from the crystal fish before he ended up running out of qi. Not to mention, on second thought, he also realized that his earlier plan of escaping into one of the celestial gates wasn't that bright of an idea, as he would inevitably have to face a powerful opponent if he did this.

Facing an opponent like Aria, the guardian of the first celestial gate, in his current condition, was nothing short of a death sentence. Not to mention the endless number of emerald snakes present inside the second trial.

As for the third… He doubted that it had managed to survive the collapse of the Exchange Hall's formation. Even if it did, it might be in a far more dangerous state than the first and second celestial gate. Especially when considering that the damage caused by the collapse of the Exchange Hall's protective formation, might have caused a malfunction to the part of the celestial gate that determined the difficulty of the challenge he would face after entering the celestial gate.

Even if he had no idea how likely any of this was, he still didn't dare think about entering the third celestial gate after realizing that he might end up being judged the same as someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…

In the end, Xuan Hao decided to try and see if he could leave the area influenced by the spatial anomaly for now and only escape into one of the celestial gates after determining that he wouldn't be able to escape from the influence of the spatial anomaly before he ran out of qi or the colossal crystal fish managed to catch up to him.

Squeak!

Unaware of the dangerous situation and chaotic thoughts racing through Xuan Hao's head as he tried finding other ways that he might be able to escape from the crystal fish chasing after him, the rabbit demon beast who had ended up becoming a new target for the crystal fish in question escaped from Xuan Hao's sleeve as it began complaining about the fact that Xuan Hao had stolen the large shiny object it had just extracted from the crystal fish who had been closest to them.

However, more important than all of this, it was furious about the fact that Xuan Hao had dared to stuff it inside of his sleeve after stealing what it thought to be a large spirit stone.

"…"

Hearing the angry complaints of the rabbit demon beast who seemed to have completely forgotten about the presence of the dozens of Soul Ascension Realm crystal fish chasing after them, Xuan Hao didn't bother saying anything as he instead just too the small creature out of his sleeve before showing it the large number of crystal fish rushing towards them-

Shocking the angry rabbit demon beast who was suddenly met with the terrifying killing intent of over a dozen Soul Ascension Realm crystal fish.

Squeak!?

However, this shock was not due to fear at seeing the large number of Soul Ascension Realm crystal fish chasing after them but was instead due to the fact that it noticed that several similar shiny objects could be seen inside the body of the other crystal fish as well.

"Hah… "

Only able to let out a somewhat exhausted sigh as he watched the rabbit demon beast excited expression while looking towards the large number of powerful crystal fish approaching them, Xuan Hao decided against trying to make the rabbit demon beast understand their current dangerous situation and instead just stuffed the rabbit demon beast back into his sleeve again.

Squeak! Squeaaaak!

Not caring about the constant complaints and protests coming from the rabbit demon beast inside. Instead staying far more focused on making sure that he didn't end up getting ambushed while travelling through the small part of the forest that was between him and the wasteland that was the rest of what had once been a massive forest.

At the same time, he also made sure to keep an extra eye out for any of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts that might have managed to survive the clash between the cloud demon beast and the guardian formation of the mystic realm.

Rumble~!

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Roar!

Not too far behind him, the colossal crystal fish finally managed to reach the small part still left of the forest, as they ripped apart any tree whose roots ended up getting in the way of them as they swam through the forest with far more ease and speed than compared to the mountain that was nothing more than large rocks and boulders everywhere.

"This- They are faster!?" Noticing that the crystal fish all began increasing in speed the moment they left the rocky base of the mountain and entered the far less dense dirt of the forest, Xuan Hao unconsciously turned towards the large wasteland that was left behind where the massive forest had once been.

Without saying anything, a frown visibly made its way onto his face, as he realized that the wasteland in front of him was filled with all kinds of molten rocks and different liquid metals. Although the temperature would require the crystal fish to use part of their energy to protect themselves, their speed would inevitably end up reaching a level far exceeding their current one.

Although this speed was not really that fast when compared to his own, this was only the case if he could use his movement technique… And now that he was unable to use it, the crystal fish would be able to easily catch up to him and prevent him from escaping after entering the wasteland-

Swish!

Crack~

"Huh!?"

Losing his focus for a short moment as he was thought about the upcoming problem that was the large wasteland, one of the long-distance attacks from the crystal fish ended up piercing through the protective layer of his dao domain before hitting him-

BOOOM-!

Only able to put up a last second ice barrier against the attack that had pierced through his dao domain, he was soon sent flying by the powerful attack.

Bang! Bang!

Resulting in crashing through a large number of towering trees before ultimately smashing into one of the older and thicker trees that had managed to hold on when he hit it.

Swish-!

Only glancing down at his shoulder where the attack hit him and making sure that his arm hadn't been destroyed or cut off, Xuan Hao didn't waste a second embed in the old tree before getting back up and escaping in the opposite direction of the approaching crystal fish. Not daring to use the limited qi left inside his dantian to repair the damage that had been done to his arm for now.

Although the crystal fish were all weaker than him, they were ultimately still in the Soul Ascension Realm, and he couldn't let his guard down against them and let his thoughts wander too much.

Rumble~

Unfortunately for Xuan Hao, having sensed that the now leading crystal fish had managed to injurie him, the rest of the colossal crystal fish all began to excitedly launch their own long-distance towards Xuan Hao in an attempt to take advantage of his now injured state.

Swoosh~

Not deterred by the large number of long-distance attacks that the crystal fish launched toward him, Xuan Hao didn't let his mind wander this time around, as he gracefully dodged them before increasing the distance between himself and the crystal fish who had all momentarily come to a stop to launch their own long-distance attacks towards him.

In the end resulting in the leading crystal fish being far ahead of the rest of the crystal fish-

Squeak…

Something that the rabbit demon beast suppressed inside his sleeve seemed to have noticed, as it took advantage of Xuan Hao's injured arm to poke its head back up from his sleeve before greedily turning to looks towards the leading crystal fish…

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Chapter 990 Terrifying Rabbit!

Squeak!

Swish!

The moment Xuan Hao noticed the small head of the rabbit demon beast poking out from his sleeve once again, the rabbit demon beast already finished determining its target, as it shot out from his sleeve and flew in the direction of the crystal fish who had managed to get ahead of the rest of the crystal fish.

Roar?

Not expecting for the rabbit demon beast to suddenly emerge from Xuan Hao's sleeve before rushing directly towards it, the crystal fish could not help showing a surprised expression on its face before it was replaced by one filled with fear. Remembering just what had happened to the crystal fish who had faced the rabbit demon beast only a short time earlier.

Even if the strength shown by the rabbit demon beast was at the same level as its own, it didn't believe it in the slightest, as it had personally seen how easily the rabbit demon beast had managed to enter the body of the crystal fish before fatally wounding it. Not aware of the fact that the crystal fish in question had decided to completely ignore the rabbit demon beast as it chased after Xuan Hao. Allowing it to enter its body while its defenses were lowered.

Whoosh~

Squeak!?

Seeing the crystal fish with what it thought to be a large spirit stone inside of it starting to escape, the rabbit demon beast let out a surprised sound before increasing its speed even further as it chased after the escaping crystal fish.

R-Roar!

Growing increasingly panicked as it watched the rabbit demon beast approaching it with a dangerous look in its eyes that resembled a starving animal hunting for anything edible, the crystal fish let out a roar filled with terror. Trying to warn the other crystal fish and have them help it escape from the terrifying rabbit demon beast chasing after it.

Rumble~

Responding to the call of their friend, the dozens of Soul Ascension Realm crystal fish all focused their long-distance attacks on the rabbit demon beast in an attempt to slow it down and but enough time for their friend to escape.

Squeak?

Seeing the countless attacks heading towards it, the rabbit demon beast didn't panic, as it used its terrifying speed far above that of a normal Third Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm demon beast to easily dodge the different attacks-

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Resulting in all of the attacks hitting the ground just beside the rabbit demon beast without doing any harm to it in the process.

R-R-Roar…!

Unaware of the fact that the rabbit demon beast had just dodged the attacks and thinking that it had taken it head on due to the massive cloud of dust being kicked into the air after the first attack landed, the leading crystal fish who had momentarily come to a stop could not help letting out a roar filled with terror as it watched the rabbit demon beast emerge completely unscathed from the large cloud of dust. Reinforcing its belief that the rabbit demon beast was far more powerful than the strength that it showed outwardly and had just been hiding its strength.

The reason for the rabbit demon beast hiding its strength also became clear when it remembered how it had extracted the crystal core of its friend earlier. The crystal core itself was the result of the crystal fishes' own unique cultivation path and was a symbol of reaching the Soul Ascension Realm, but more importantly than that, it was also the place where close to half of their qi cultivated by the crystal fish was stored.

Making it clear to the leading crystal fish that the objective of the rabbit demon beast was to lure them out of the water where they were weaker than normal and take the chance to steal their crystal cores.

R-Roar…!

R-R-Roar!

The rest of the crystal fish also started trembling in fear as they watched the rabbit demon beast emerge from the dust cloud without a single scratch present on its body. Unaware of the fact that the rabbit demon beast had just managed to dodge the slow and predictable long-distance attacks with its superior speed, they also seemed to have reached the same conclusion as the leading crystal fish-

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

And without waiting for the leading crystal fish who was still staring towards the rabbit demon beast who had just emerged from the cloud of dust in fear, they turned around and began escaping towards the ring-shaped lake where they would be able to hide or use their full strength if needed.

ROAR!?

Realizing that its friends had decided to abandon it to escape from the rabbit demon beast by itself, the leading crystal fish let out a both horrified and angry roar. Not able to believe that it had been left behind so easily.

Ptsh!

However, before it had time to calm down and escape as well, the rabbit demon beast caught up to it and easily pieced through its thin unprotected skin. Reaching the special crystal core that the rabbit demon beast still firmly believed to be a spirit stone.

Riiip~!

Not a second later, the rabbit demon beast cut the crystal core out and left the body of the now fatally wounded crystal fish before making its way back towards Xuan Hao who could only stare speechlessly at the escaping crystal fish and half dead leading crystal fish laying on the ground not too far away from him with a terrified look in its eyes.

From the looks of things, he no longer had to worry about escaping from the crystal fish…

Squeak~

Hearing the rabbit demon beast happily making all sorts of joyful sounds as it carried the strange object that looked like a spirit stone, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say.

Squeak!

Having misunderstood Xuan Hao's gaze as him also wanting to take away the crystal core, the rabbit demon beast protectively held it as it rapidly climbed up his robe before hiding away inside the hidden pocket where it slowly began to absorb the dense qi contained inside of the crystal core.

"Haaa… Whatever, at least I should be able to start recovering now…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while looking at the place where the hidden pocket with the rabbit demon beast inside of it was located, Xuan Hao decided not to think too much about it and instead found a secluded spot inside the forest where he sat down and began to recover from the escape. Dive into Stories, Embrace Enchantment: NvεlB¡n.

In the process of this, completely ignoring the presence of the two crystal fish who had been fatally wounded by the rabbit demon beast not too far away from where he was recovering. Not believing that they would be much of a threat in their current state. Even less so after he recovered his strength.

Like this, a day flew by before Xuan Hao opened his eyes again filled with renewed power as he had managed to fully recover the qi he had used up and fixed his arm.

The main reason for such a fast recovering being the fact that the dense qi from the massive forest had all gathered together in the managed to scan the entire area with his divine sense and discovered that the strongest demon beast still left alive had only small part of the forest that remained after the clash between the cloud demon beast and the guardian formation of the mystic realm.

Not only that, but after a day inside the small forest, Xuan Hao also managed to scan the entire area with his divine sense and discovered that the strongest demon beast still left alive had only managed to reach the Domain Lord Realm. None of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts were anywhere to be seen. Meaning that they might have perished during the terrifying clash.

Thinking about this, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of relief. After all, if he had to deal with a Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beast, it would be hard for him to escape given that the massive forest that had provided him cover in the past had been reduced to a small patch of trees that could easily be covered with his divine sense.

Rustle~

Standing back up again at this moment, Xuan Hao gazed out into the wasteland that seemed to go on for hundreds of kilometers in the place where the massive forest had once been.

Guess its best to leave this place now that the side quest has been completed, but… I wonder if the empty void created by the true spatial collapse is still around…

As he thought about this while observing the charred ground, Xuan Hao soon shook his head in disappointment after realizing that there wasn't anything in the direction where the empty void created by the true spatial collapse was located.

Swish~

In the end, Xuan Hao stood around for a few minutes to see if there was anything that had managed to survive the clash other than the small part of the forest where the qi had been funneled into before ultimately beginning to make his way back in the direction, he had entered the massive forest from.

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Chapter 991 Disappearance of the Strange Creatures in the Fog

Making his way through the empty wasteland with only a few charred remnants of the most powerful of the trees sticking up from the barren landscape, Xuan Hao discovered that other than the empty void created by the true spatial collapse, the celestial gates that should have been visible now that the forest had been burnt down had also disappeared. Leaving behind no traces of them being there in the first place.

However, given how powerful the celestial gates were, Xuan Hao doubted that they had been destroyed by the clash between the cloud demon beast and the guardian formation of the mystic realm like the rest of the forest. Instead, he felt that there should be some other reason for their sudden disappearance after the forest was burnt down.

The only problem was that he had no idea what the reason for their disappearance might be, nor did he plan to remain inside the mountain range and try to potentially find out where the celestial gates had disappeared to. After all, he had already entered all of them and wouldn't be able to gain anything from them even if he found them.

For this reason, it didn't take Xuan Hao more than a few hours before he reached the small valley nestled in between several large mountains located just next to the mist that shielded the mountain range from the rest of the mystic realm.

"Hm?"

However, different from the area behind him that had been destroyed by the powerful clash, the small forest and the demon beasts living inside the valley seemed to have been unaffected by it. Not even a single part of the valley had been affected and looked exactly the same as when he had wandered through it in the past.

Is it perhaps because the mountains shielded the area from the effects of the clash?

Turning to look up towards the towering mountains that encircled the entire valley, Xuan Hao felt that this was possible.

Of course, if he knew what kind of effect the battle between the guardian formation and the cloud demon beast had on the area outside the mountain range, he would have been able to realize that there was something else to the small valley than it just being protected by the towering mountains…

Unaware of this, Xuan Hao didn't think too much about how the valley had managed to survive, as he didn't plan to stay inside of it and just wanted to leave the fog covered mountain range and make his way back out of the mystic realm.

The main reason for this being that he feared that the winged lion might end up eating all of the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts before he had a chance to return.

Although, a part of him already felt might be too late considering the winged lion demon beast's sudden increase in strength…

In the end, Xuan Hao soon made his way to the fog that separated "Finally…"

Feeling the restrictions brought upon by the spatial anomaly that the mountain range from the rest of the mystic realm. Making him come to a sudden stop, as he discovered the effects of the spatial anomaly had finally stopped affecting him.

"Finally…"

Feeling the restrictions brought upon by the spatial anomaly that now covered most of the fog covered mountain range disappearing, Xuan Hao could not stop himself from smiling as he tested out his movement technique and made sure that he was really outside the range of the spatial anomaly.

Roar!

However, just as Xuan Hao was feeling elated at finally being able to use his movement technique and other space related techniques, a loud roar echoed out from the fog in front of him. Reminding him of the strange creatures lurking inside the fog in front of him.

Frowning visibly as he realized this, Xuan Hao was just about to begin figuring out how to sneak past the hostile strange creatures inside and make his way back out of the fog, when he realized that he didn't have to do any of this.

Without the spatial anomaly around and given the fact that he was no longer unaware of what was on the other side of the fog, like he had been when he had tried to pass through it and enter the mountain range to complete the quest given by the system, there was no reason for him to try and sneak past the hostile strange creatures.

Not wasting any time after realizing this, Xuan Hao directly used the Drifting Cloud Steps for the first time after absorbing the starlight essence to increase both his cultivation and comprehension of the Dao of Space-

Swish-!

Resulting in a single step taking him several thousand meters into the fog.

"This…" Feeling a sense of profound shock at just how far he had managed to travel with only a single step Xuan Hao froze for a short moment before examining the qi used to perform the single step.

"No difference, its actually the same as before!?"

Only to end up even more shocked after discovering that there was no difference in consumption when compared to when he had used the Drifting Cloud Steps in the past.

Roar!?

Roar?

During the process of Xuan Hao examining the impact of using the Drifting Cloud Steps with his newfound comprehension of the Dao of Space, a startled group of demon beasts who had been in the process of devouring the decomposing body of a much larger demon beast were all panicking at the sudden appearance of Xuan Hao, who had essentially appeared out of thin air and was now hovering directly above the decomposing body.

Rumble~

Fearing that Xuan Hao was a powerful demon beast, all of the scavenger demon beasts who had been munching away happily at the decomposing body rapidly began retreating far away from Xuan hao. Only coming to a stop after realizing that Xuan Hao did not chase after them and instead just remained hovering in the air above the decomposing body without moving.

Roar?

Having retreated away from Xuan Hao, one of the leading demon beasts, unaware of the that Xuan Hao was just in the process of comprehending his usage of the Drifting Cloud Steps, misunderstood Xuan Hao's silent appearance hovering above the body without moving, as him wanting to snatch away the body from them and take it for himself.

ROOOOOAR!

Feeling like it was being looked down upon and unable to let go of such a large prey to what it now perceived as a single scavenger like themselves, the leading demon beast let out a loud roar filled with killing intent. Informing the rest of the demon beasts about what it perceived to be the truth of the matter.

After all, if Xuan Hao was really a powerful demon beast like it had first thought, he should have already attacked them or begun devouring the large demon beast on the ground below him.

Roar!

Roooar!

Rooar!

Filled with a similar anger after hearing this, the rest of the scavenger demon beasts, who had run away in fear after the appearance of Xuan Hao, all turned around before charging back towards Xuan Hao filled with killing intent. Not willing to lose such a large and powerful demon beast body, as it would be extremely helpful in increasing their own strength.

Whoosh~

Having completely ignored the group of demon beasts when he first arrived above the decomposing body of what should be a Domain Lord Realm demon beast due to their strength only being around the Nascent Soul Realm, Xuan Hao finally used his divine sense to scan the approaching demon beasts.

Huh? Demon beasts? How come there are demon beasts here? Where are the strange creatures I encountered last time I went through the fog?

However, he was shocked to discover that the group of demon beasts charging towards him were not the strange creatures that he had encountered when first making his way through the mist.

Did they perhaps end up being forced to enter the fog during the clash between the cloud demon beast and the guardian formation of the mystic realm?

Feeling that this made sense, as even the weakest creature he encountered inside the fog back then had reached the Soul Ascension Realm, Xuan Hao began to wonder how this group of Nascent Soul Realm demon beast had even managed to survive inside the fog.

Given the noise they made and how they didn't attempt to conceal themselves in the slightest, it should have been easy for the hostile creatures living inside the fog to spot them and kill them, but none of this happened.

Did something perhaps happen to the creatures living inside the fog? Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

Only now realizing that he couldn't sense any of the strange creatures, hostile or not, nearby, Xuan Hao didn't bother glancing towards the approaching demon beasts as he merely waved his hand in their direction.

Whoosh-!

Sending a wave of cold air containing the power of the Dao of Ice towards them before increasing the area covered by his divine sense, curious to see if he could find any of the strange creatures that had seemingly disappeared into thin.

Roar?

Unaware of the danger approaching them, the leading demon beast only let out a somewhat confused roar upon seeing the cold air approaching them before being turned into an ice sculpture by the cold air the next second.

Roa-

The rest of the demon beasts who were following behind it didn't even have time to react before they met the same fate under the terrifying cold air that turned all of them into ice sculptures in less than a second.

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Chapter 992 Escape From the Fog

Hovering around for a few minutes after dealing with the group of demon beasts that had been turned into ice sculptures, Xuan Hao finished examining his surroundings for any signs of the strange creatures before giving up and continuing to make his way out of the fog.

In the end, he could not find a single sign of the strange creature or any clues as to where they might have disappeared to and just guessed that they should have hidden away or escaped from the fog when the clash between the cloud demon beast and the guardian formation of the mystic realm took place. No matter what, Xuan Hao didn't plan to spend any longer inside the mystic realm and just wanted to leave the place before the winged lion demon beast ended up eating all of the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts that he had ordered it to watch over.

Of course, this was considering that the winged lion demon beast hadn't eaten all of them in its attempt to breakthrough…

Swish-!

Rapidly moving through the fog with the now far more powerful Drifting Cloud Steps as he thought about this, Xuan Hao didn't notice a pair of eyes eerily following him from behind. Slowly, with each step he took in the direction out of the fog, it got closer and closer, until-

Whoosh~!

Xuan Hao broke through the fog and officially left the fog covered mountain range just before the owner of the pair of eerie eyes following behind him could catch up.

Thump~

Coming to a stop on top of a small hill a few thousand meters away from the fog covered mountain range, Xuan Hao narrowed both of his eyes fearfully as he turned to look back towards the fog that now hid most of the mountain range hidden inside of it.

Although he did not sense that he was being followed at first, he did notice it when he was about to leave the fog.

Originally, he wanted to stop and find out who or what was following him, but his survival instincts kicked in the moment he started to spread out his divine sense to find out what was behind him and made him continue forward until he was safely out of the fog before using his divine sense to prevent possibly alerting the creature following behind him.

Even if just for a split second, the moment he was about to use his divine sense to see what had been following him, a terrifying killing intent no weaker than the clod demon beast covered him before disappearing when he directed his divine sense down towards the ground. Doing his best to pretend that he was just looking out for any potential attacks from the ground. Not daring to make the creature aware of the fact that he had noticed it tailing behind him. Dive into Stories, Embrace Enchantment: NvεlB¡n.

In the end, he continued moving like this with the creature getting closer and closer to him until he used all of his strength to cross the distance that would normally take two steps in a single one. Successfully leaving the fog one step faster than he would with his normal speed.

As a result, the creature that was following behind him didn't have enough time to reach him before he left the fog and stopped following after him the moment, he left the fog.

What was that?

Looking back towards the fog that didn't show any signs of abnormality, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine as he wondered what kind of creature had been following behind him inside the fog.

Inevitably, he began to link the sudden strange and powerful creature that should have reached the Earth Immortal Realm together with the sudden disappearance of the strange creatures that he encountered when entering the fog in the past.

"I should probably find Qing Yi and Chu Yang and leave this place…" Muttering this to himself as his gaze remained locked on the fog covering the mountain range, Xuan Hao realized that if even he found himself in a dangerous situation, his two disciples would be in a far worse situation.

The only thing allowing him to remain calm was the fact that the part of his power that he had secretly hidden inside of their bodies had not yet activated. Meaning that no matter how dangerous their situation was, they were still safe.

However, as he made up his mind to find his two disciples before leaving the mystic realm, he quickly realized that he first had to find them, something that would be close to impossible given the sheer size of the mystic realm.

Outside of the power he had secretly hidden inside of them that would activate when their life was in danger, he had no way to locate them.

Not to mention, for the power hidden inside of them to activate and allow him to track its location, their life had to be in danger, something that would only end up happening when they ran out of the talismans, he had given them to keep themselves safe from the dangers that might be lurking in the mystic realm.

Even if he knew would know where they were after the power surged forth to protect them, it would also mean that they had run out of ways to protect themselves and would be in an extremely dangerous situation. Especially if they happened to encounter a powerful Soul Ascension Realm demon beast that wouldn't be killed by the power.

In such a situation, the power would only serve as a protective shield to buy him a short time to reach the location of his two disciples before the power would be unable to hold back the Soul Ascension Realm demon beast…

"Hah… I hope this- Huh!?"

Just as Xuan Hao was feeling a sense of unease at the prospect of his two disciples encountering a Soul Ascension Realm demon beast, he felt the power he had secretly hidden inside of Qing Yi activate-

Swish-!

And without wasting a single second, he turned into a blur before disappearing in the direction that he had felt his power activate to protect Qing Yi. Knowing that he didn't have a single second to waste as he soon felt the power hidden inside Chu Yang similarly activate in an attempt to strengthen the power that had burst forth from Qing Yi.

In an instant, Xuan Hao realized that his two disciples had encountered a powerful enemy that should at least have reached the Soul Ascension Realm, as he used what little control, he had over the power to form a protective barrier around his disciples. buying more time for himself to reach them in time.

Ignoring the burnt down landscape that stretched for thousands of kilometers in all directions around the fog covered mountain range.

…

"If I'm not wrong, we should have passed through this place in the past when we got chased by the horde of demon beast. From what I can see, we should be able to reach the place where the exit of the mystic realm is located in another day or two."

Having fully recovered and begun to make their way back towards the exit of the mystic realm, Chu Yang and Qing Yi were both filled with relief and happiness as Qing Yi recognized their current location as not too far away from the exit to the mystic realm.

"Great! Looks like we can finally leave this place! Even if it was enjoyable to fight a lot of strong demon beasts, I still feel like I need a break from the constant fighting…"

Even Chu Yang, who had been eager to fight with the demon beasts of the mystic realm when he first entered, just wanted to go back at this point in time. Having understood that it was far too dangerous for them to continue wandering around the mystic realm without the talismans of their master to protect them from the powerful Domain Lord Realm demon beasts that now seemed to be common inside of the mystic realm.

ROOOOOAR-!

Whoosh-!

However, before the two could even react, a loud roar came from behind them as a giant demon beast far larger than any demon beast they had ever seen before suddenly appeared in front of them before swiping its large claws down towards them-

BAAANG!

Just as the two thought they were going to die without having the chance to activate the last talisman left by their master still inside Chu Yang's storage ring, a powerful qi suddenly erupted from somewhere inside Qing Yi's body as it forcibly blocked the claws descending down towards them before knocking the large demon beast flying.

ROOOOAR!

Unfortunately, the demon beast didn't suffer any substantial injuries and quickly returned to continue its attack. The difference this time around, was that it was filled with far more killing intent compared to before-

Bang! Bang!

However, as the powerful qi that had emerged from Qing Yi's was about to collapse, the same powerful qi emerged from Chu Yang's body before merging together with what was left behind from Qing Yi to form a thick barrier that blocked the attacks of the large demon beast that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

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Chapter 993 Fire Sea Talisman

"Wha-?!"

Shocked at what had just happened, Chu Yang and Qing Yi could only stare in disbelief as the large demon beast that had suddenly appeared in front of them started violently clawing and biting at the barrier that was now protecting them-

Crack~

And as the barrier slowly started showing signs of breaking under the constant attack, they both realized that the demon beast would soon break through the barrier.

"W-what should we do…?" Feeling herself starting to panic at the thought of the barrier protecting them breaking at any moment, Qing Yi turned towards Chu Yang as she said this.

"This… I only have one of the talismans left by master. Maybe I can use the talisman the moment the barrier breaks, and we can use the opportunity to try and escape." Hearing what Qing Yi said, Chu Yang could only shake his head as he said this while looking down at the talisman that he had already pulled out and was ready to use the moment the barrier protecting them was broken by the demon beast outside.

Although he did not personally feel too confident that the talisman would be able to buy them a lot of time, as the power contained inside the barrier protecting them was far stronger than the power, he had seen being displayed by the talismans their master had given to them.

Even if it could buy them some time, he doubted that it would be enough for them to escape from the terrifying demon beast that had clearly surpassed the Domain Lord Realm demon beasts that they had encountered so far inside of the mystic realm. The strength of the demon beast was far too high for it to simply lose them after a few seconds.

Craaaack~!

As Chu Yang was preparing himself for the worst with the talisman firmly held in his hand, a crack far larger than any of the other cracks suddenly appeared on the left side of the barrier where the claws of the demon beast had just landed before starting to spread across the rest of the barrier at a speed visible to the naked eye.

""…""

At this moment, both Chu Yang and Qing Yi understood that the barrier was about to break apart as they both began looking around themselves for any possible escape path that might give them a chance to escape alive from the terrifying demon beast in front of them.

Roar~!

Different from Chu Yang and Qing Yi, who were panicking at the sight of the large crack, the demon beast let out a joyful roar upon seeing the large crack that was starting to spread across the surface of the barrier before attacking the barrier even more violently in an attempt to break it faster now that it knew the barrier had already reached a breaking point.

CRACK-!

BANG!

No more than a few seconds later, the barrier finally gave in and broke apart under the constant barrage of attacks from the demon beast-

Swish!

However, Chu Yang and Qing Yi had both been prepared for this moment, as they rapidly began escaping in the opposite direction of the demon beast who was about to attack them now that the barrier wasn't protecting them.

Roar!

Seeing the two escaping, the demon beast let out a somewhat playful roar. Understanding very well that the two had no way to escape from it with their current strength.

Swoosh~

However, just as it was about to charge forward and put an end to their escape, Chu Yang threw out a talisman in the direction of the demon beast.

Roar?

FWOOOOSH-!

Caught by surprise at the sudden appearance of the talisman that seemed completely harmless, the demon beast had no time to react before the talisman seemingly ignited in front of it before turning into a sea of fire that soon engulfed it.

ROAR!?

Feeling the terrifying sea of fire engulf its entire body before starting to forcibly try to enter its body and burn it from the inside, the demon beast started panicking, as it understood that it would have to use all of its strength to resist the sea of fire.

As for escaping the sea of fire? The demon beast didn't even think about this, as it clearly felt that the power of the sea of fire was far above its own. If it really did attempt to escape from the sea of fire, it didn't doubt that the sea of fire would take this opportunity to forcibly invade its body and kill it.

Because of this, the demon beast chose to remain stationary inside the sea of fire as it did its best to protect itself from the sea of fire. Understanding that it would inevitably run out of qi to keep itself burning-

FWOOOOSH!

Unfortunately for the demon beast, the sea of fire talisman that contained an attack that used Xuan Hao's comprehension of the Dao of Fire also had the ability to forcibly draw in qi from the air around it. Allowing it to burn for far longer than the qi stored inside the talisman would normally allow it to burn. Even if this would only buy a few extra seconds, a few seconds were extremely precious to the current Chu Yang and Qing Yi.

ROOOOOAR-!

Also realizing that the sea of fire was burning for far longer than it had first thought it would burn given the qi it had sensed when the talisman activated, the demon beast inside the sea of fire could not help panicking as it finally discovered that the sea of fire had the ability to absorb the qi from the outside world to fuel itself and burn for a longer period of time.

BOOOM-!

Knowing that it could not just stand around and hope for the sea of fire to run out of qi after realizing this, the demon beast, who had no idea how much qi the sea of fire was actually absorbing from the outside world, could only use all of its strength in an attempt to break out of the sea of fire before it used up all of its own qi to protect itself inside the sea of fire.

Bang!

As the demon beast used all of its strength to break through the sea of fire and escape from it, it landed on the ground next to the fire filled with exhaustion. Understanding that if the sea of fire could continuously burn with the constant supply of qi from the outside world, it would end up exhausting itself to death by staying inside the sea of fire and trying to wait things out.

Rumble~

However, just as the demon beast thought that it had managed to escape from the sea of fire and was about to chase after Chu Yang and Qing Yi who were using all of their strength to escape from it, a loud rumbling sound echoed out behind it.

Roar?

And turning around, the demon beast discovered that the motionless sea of fire that had engulfed it after the talisman was activated, had condensed together into a single large flaming spear that was aiming directly at it-

Roar…

Letting out a somewhat helpless roar upon seeing the large flaming spear that had condensed from the raging sea of fire, the demon beast understood that there was no way for it to escape the power of the talisman that had locked on to it.

RUMBLE-!

Wasting no time, the demon beast tried to put up a defense against the fire spear, but the spear in question didn't give it any time, as it flew towards the demon beast the moment it had finished condensing all of the remaining qi left inside the sea of fire.

ROOOAR!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM-!

As the powerful demon beast and the spear of fire condensed from the sea of fire collided with each other, a powerful shockwave swept across the surrounding landscape-

"Ah?!"

"Wha-!?"

Catching both Chu Yang and Qing Yi by surprise, as they found themselves getting swept up by the powerful shockwave before both of them found themselves flying through the air. Only barely managing to hold each other's hands at the last moment so as to not get separated because of this. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via N0v3l.B11n.

Roar!?

Roar?

Roar!

Not too far away, a large group of demon beasts who had been attracted by the fight that had been taking place between the Roar!?

Even a Domain Lord Realm demon beast who had been hiding powerful demon beast and the barrier protecting both of them, were similarly swept away by the powerful shockwave.

Roar!?

Even a Domain Lord Realm demon beast who had been hiding somewhere nearby, did not have any power to resist the shockwave, as it was similarly swept away and flung far into the distance. Having been unfortunate enough to stand closest to the place where the fire spear and powerful demon beast clashed with each other. Taking the full power of the shockwave as a result.

On another note, the Domain Lord Realm demon beast taking the full power of the shockwave did weaken it to some degree and made it far more bearable for Chu Yang, Qing Yi and the nearby demon beasts…

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Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough #Chapter 994 A Single Swift Motion - Read Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough Chapter 994 A Single Swift Motion Online - All Page - Novel Bin

Chapter 994 A Single Swift Motion

Did it die?

Not able to stop this thought from running through their heads as they ignored their injured bodies to stand up and look back in the direction of the demon beast, Chu Yang and Qing Yi both waited in anticipation for any signs of the demon beast. Understanding that they were in no condition to escape after being injured by the shockwave just now.

Even if they decided to try and run away, they would at most be able to cover a distance of a few hundred meters before being forced to sit back down to prevent their injuries from killing them.

Rumble~

As Chu Yang and Qing Yi were nervously waiting to find out if the demon beast had survived or not a little over ten thousand meters away from where the clash between the demon beast and the fire spear had taken place, the sound of large rocks being knocked away echoed out across the large part of the forest that had been turned into a wasteland by the shockwave that had just swept through it.

However, more important than this, it signaled the fact that the demon beast had survived the clash just now and was in the process of removing the countless rocks that had ended up on top of it as a result of being buried underground by the powerful force of the fire spear.

"It's still alive…" Muttering this to herself as she just stared in the direction of the demon beast as it slowly made its way out from beneath the rocks and dirt that now buried it underground, Qing Yi felt an overwhelming sense of helpless wash over her body. Comprehending the simple fact that there was no way for them to escape from this powerful demon beast that had clearly far surpassed any of the Domain Lord Realm demon beasts that they had encountered so far.

"…" Discover, Devour, Delight: NvεlB¡n.

Not saying anything, Chu Yang subconsciously tightened the grip around his spear before narrowing both of his eyes in the direction of the demon beast that had now become visible.

Although it had clearly been injured from the countless burns and long bloody wound going across its entire body, it was also clear that it didn't suffer any fatal injuries.

The most obvious sign of this was the fact that its aura didn't seem to weaken in the slightest. Instead, it had grown even more terrifying than before- At least it felt like it had grown stronger as he felt the terrifying killing intent of the demon beast locking on to him…

I can't give up like this!

Fighting the primordial sense of fear that he felt from the very depths of his soul when confronted with the terrifying killing intent of the demon beast, Chu Yang felt himself enter a trance as he managed to resist the killing intent through sheer willpower alone.

Rustle~

Not doing as well as Chu Yang, the sound of Qing Yi's robe rustling as she trembled in fear under the terrifying killing intent was the only thing that entered Chu Yang's ears.

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Hm?

But when he was about to try and calm down his senior sister, he realized that even though she was trembling in fear, she didn't let go of her sword and remained fully focused on the demon beast that was taking its time digging itself back out of the ground.

Rumble!

Having returned his gaze back towards the location of the demon beast, Chu Yang was just in time to see the demon beast dragging the last bit of its body out from underground. Even though it had not been fatally injured, it was still injured to the point that it had affected its strength to some degree.

Maybe we can defeat it if-

ROOOOOOOOAR!

Just as Chu Yang began to think about whether or not they would be able to fight back against the weakened demon beast, the loud roar that emerged from it quickly brought him back to reality again.

No matter what the two of them did, there was no way for them to resist the demon beast no matter how injured it was…

Whoosh-!

Not caring about the different thoughts going through the head of Chu Yang and Qing Yi at this moment, the demon beast stood up before rushing towards both of them. Crossing the distance of tens of thousands of meters in an instant.

Roar?

Opening its large mouth, the demon beast was just about to bite down and swallow up Chu Yang and Qing Yi who had not even managed to react yet, when a shiver suddenly ran down its spine as it felt like a terrifying presence appeared in the air not too far away from it-

Swish-!

And without thinking, it turned around and escaped in the opposite direction, using all of its remaining strength to go as fast as possible. The primal survival instinct buried deep in its soul kicking in at this moment to keep itself safe.

"Where do you think you are going?"

However, just as the demon beast thought it would be able to escape, a thunderous voice echoed out behind it, as a figure had appeared at the edge of its divine sense above the two humans it had been about to swallow just a few seconds earlier.

Roar!

Understanding that this figure was the reason for the primordial sense of fear that it felt, the demon beast didn't hesitate as it began forcibly using its lifespan in an attempt to increase its speed, something that was less than effective considering that the demon beast was not burning its lifespan through some kind of secret technique, but was instead just burning its lifespan to keep its already empty dantian from drying up.

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The two earlier attacks of the fire sea talisman having completely used up almost all of the qi inside of its dantian. In a sense, what it had used when attacking Chu Yang and Qing Yi just now was just its physical body… And although it was more than enough to deal with two Nascent Soul Realm Experts, it was far from enough to escape from its current life and death situation…

…

Arriving above both of his disciples just before they were swallowed by a demon beast who had crossed a single tribulation and had somehow ended up wandering all the way to the edge of the mystic realm, Xuan Hao ignored the escaping demon beast who ran away the moment it sensed his presence as he instead began to examine his two disciples with his divine sense.

Hm… Although both of them suffered quite a few serious injuries, it looks like both of them should be able to recover in a few weeks.

Feeling a sense of relief after discovering that none of his disciples were in any kind of life-threatening condition, Xuan Hao narrowed both of his eyes as he turned his attention towards the Soul Ascension Realm demon beast who was trying its best to run away.

Although it had not been able to escape too far away given its current bad condition after having faced off against the power he had hidden inside both of his disciples and the fire sea talisman that he had sensed Chu Yang activating only a short time earlier, Xuan Hao still understood that it would be hard for him to find this demon beast if it managed to escape the area covered by his divine sense and chose to hide underground-

"Where do you think you are going?"

For this reason, Xuan Hao fully released his strength at the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm as he said this. Forcibly using his superior cultivation base to suppress the Soul Ascension Realm demon beast who was trying everything it could to escape.

R-Roar!

Feeling the terrifying aura belonging to the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm pressing down on it, the demon beast who had just thought that it was about to safely escape, let out a pitiful roar filled with fear as it felt its speed slow down under the terrifying pressure.

Swish~!

In the next second, something that made the demon beast feel even more helpless happened, as Xuan Hao took a single step forward and appeared directly behind it. Even though Xuan Hao hadn't made a move yet, the demon beast understood that it had lost its chance to escape at this moment.

ROAR!

Rumble!

Understanding this, the demon beast did not intend to just give up without a fight. Gathering all of its power and burning most of its remaining lifespan to gather power for a single powerful attack.

Hm? It actually managed to gather enough power to be comparable to someone at the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm by burning what's left of its lifespan…

Not at all faced by the last-ditch attempt of the demon beast, Xuan Hao just showed a hint of curiosity that lasted for no more than an instant after realizing that the demon beast had managed to raise its strength by a minor realm by burning what was left of its lifespan.

Ching~

And before the demon beast even had time to launch its attack, Xuan Hao unsheathed the small silver sword before gently slashing the air in front of the demon beast-

Swish-!

Cutting it in half before it even had time to register what had just happened. Killing it in a single swift motion.

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Bang!

As the body of the demon beast was cut in half and crashed into the ground below, Chu Yang and Qing Yi were both frozen solid as they tried to comprehend what had just happened.

One moment, the demon beast had appeared directly in front of them and was about to swallow them whole, while the next moment, it had been cut in half and crashed into the ground thousands of meters away from them.

Everything had happened at a speed far surpassing the Nascent Soul Realm. Making both of them freeze on the spot as they hadn't even comprehended the fact that their master had appeared in front of them-

"Chu Yang, Qing Yi, are both of you there?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Yes!"

Only when he called out to them did both of them recover from their dazed state as they almost jumped in surprise while answering. Not having expected their master to show up inside of the mystic realm. After all, they had managed to learn about the fact that there was a cultivation restriction on entering the mystic realm and didn't expect him to suddenly show up and save them.

However, now that he had appeared, they felt themselves relax-

Thump~

And before Xuan Hao could react, both of them collapsed on the ground. The exhaustion and injuries that they had been suppressing finally made them fall unconscious after realizing that their master was there to protect them.

In the end, they fainted because they relaxed themselves too much.

Although there wouldn't be any side effects from this, it would end up taking them far longer to recover depending on how fast they woke up…

"These two…" Seeing both of his disciples laying on the ground, Xuan Hao could not help rolling his eyes. Not having to use his divine sense to figure out what happened to them.

Roar!

Roooar!

At this time, the sound of some of the demon beasts, who had been lucky enough to survive the shockwave from earlier, echoed out across the wasteland that had been left behind by the shockwave, as they tried their best to intimidate any of the nearby demon beasts lurking nearby from taking advantage of their weakened state to attack them.

Rustle~

Unfortunately, this attempt was met with little success, as a large number of demon beasts slowly began emerging from the forest surrounding the large wasteland-

Ptsh-!

Roar!

And not a second later, the painful roar of one of the weakened demon beasts that had landed right next to the tree line where the wasteland began echoed out, as a large boar demon beast had emerged from the forest and attacked it the moment it. Biting down on it before starting to drag the still struggling demon beast back into the forest where several other boar demon beasts could be seen waiting in anticipation.

What happened after the weakened demon beast was dragged into the forest was not hard to imagine, as its pitiful and painful roars soon stopped. Announcing its departure from the world, but at the same time also serving as a go ahead for the other demon beasts hiding around at the edge of the wasteland, as the large number of demon beasts began surging in from all directions. Searching for any weakened demon beast to devour.

Roar-!

Filled with confidence and being far too weak to have seen how Xuan Hao had killed the Soul Ascension Realm demon beast, one of the demon beasts rushing into the wasteland inevitably saw Xuan Hao standing beside his two fainted disciples and rushed towards him without a second thought. Believing that it had been lucky and managed to find three weakened demon beasts all by itself and although it couldn't sense Xuan Hao's cultivation base, it could still sense Chu Yang and Qing Yi's cultivation base at the earlier stages of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Thinking that Xuan Hao should be somewhere around the same level of strength as them, the demon beast was filled with even more confidence as it used its powerful cultivation base at the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm in an attempt to intimidate Xuan Hao-

"Hm?"

However, contrary to what the demon beast filled with confidence had expected to happen after it showed off its Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivation base, Xuan Hao just turned around and glared towards it. Instantly resulting in the confident demon beast freezing on the spot as it felt an overwhelming sense of fear welling up inside of it.

Whoosh~

Not even having any time to react or escape, the demon beast could only fearfully look in Xuan Hao's direction as it felt its body and soul being frozen. Killing it in an instant.

"Looks like its time to leave before any more powerful demon beasts end up showing up." Glancing over at the now frozen demon beast, Xuan Hao picked up both of his unconscious disciples with his domain before heading in the direction out of the mystic realm.

Not caring about the fearful and shocked looks he got from the rest of the demon beast in the wasteland who had just witnessed how a Peak Nascent Soul Realm demon beast had been frozen to death in an instant without any ability to resist.

ROOOAR!

However, the silence that had fallen on the wasteland only lasted for a few seconds after Xuan Hao had disappeared, as one of the demon beasts finally found the dead body of the Soul Ascension Realm demon beast. Inevitably causing a massive battle to erupt among the demon beasts, as all of them understood just how precious the dead body of a Soul Ascension Realm demon beast was.

Even if they couldn't directly reach the Soul Ascension Realm after devouring the dead body, they should at the very least be able to reach the Domain Lord Realm.

Rooar!

For this reason, the demon beasts already targeting some of the weakened demon beasts in the wasteland dropped their battle as they also focused their attention on getting their hands on the body of the Soul Ascension Realm demon beast.Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

In the end, this gave the weakened demon beasts an opportunity to slowly slip away without being noticed. Silently hoping they would be able to recover fast enough to join in on the battle for the dead body of the Soul Ascension Realm demon beast.

…

How am I going to leave the mystic realm?

Arriving in front of the cave system that would ultimately lead to the place where the mystic realm was connected to his old pavilion at the Flying Sword Sect, Xuan Hao could not help coming to a stop as he thought about the problem that he had thrown to the back of his mind ever since making his way inside the mystic realm.

Swish~

Given that the formation guarding the mystic realm didn't allow anyone above the Nascent Soul Realm to pass through it and he didn't know if he could gather a large enough number of Nascent Soul Realm demon beast to throw through the exit in hope of weakening the formation enough for him to pass through again, Xuan Hao decided to make his way to the exit for now and see if he could leave.

If he really couldn't leave, he could go back to the wasteland where a large number of Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts were currently gathered and try his luck at catching as many as possible before trying to leave the mystic realm the same way he entered it in the past…

"Hm?"

However, when he arrived in front of the cliff that should lead back up towards his pavilion, Xuan Hao was surprised to discover that the exit was not at all hidden like it had been when he had first passed through it and entered the mystic realm.

Wait… That is not it, the exit is still hidden, but I can see it…

After a quick scan with his divine sense, it did not take long for Xuan Hao to realize that the exit of the mystic realm was still hidden, as it looked no different from a normal cave ceiling through his divine sense.

"Is it perhaps because I'm not originally from the mystic realm?" Muttering this to himself as he remembered how his disciples had been able to easily find their way back out of the mystic realm after first entering it by accident, Xuan Hao felt this made sense.

Maybe the exit was only hidden to the demon beast living inside of the mystic realm…

Feeling a sense of renewed confidence in being able to leave the mystic realm after realizing this, Xuan Hao began to slowly float up towards the exit-

Whoosh~

And without any problems, he smoothly made his way through the thin barrier covering the exit together with his two disciples Leaving the mystic realm without any problems.

"Hm? The robe…"

However, during the process of passing through the guardian formation of the mystic realm, Xuan Hao noticed several ancient patterns flashing across the surface of the robe that the elder from the mystic realm had given to him…

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Not paying any attention to the large number of Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts who were still alive and currently looking towards him filled with happiness at his return, Xuan Hao placed his two disciples back on the ground before turning around and going back through the thin barrier separating his old pavilion from the mystic realm.

Whoosh~

And soon, he found himself back inside of the mystic realm. The guardian formation that had blocked him before was now doing nothing to stop him from entering the mystic realm.

"The robe that the elder from the Mirage Sect gave me actually allows me to enter the mystic realm even with a cultivation base above the normal level allowed by the formation!" As a surprised expression flashed across his face as he muttered this to himself back inside the mystic realm, Xuan Hao could not help wondering what else the robe could do.

Given that it was the robe of an elder from the mystic realm who had far surpassed the Soul Ascension Realm, it wouldn't be surprising if the robe also had some defensive properties that would help ensure it didn't easily get destroyed.

Although these defensive properties might not be that useful to an elder of the Mirage Sect who might even have surpassed the Earth Immortal Realm, they would be extremely useful for someone like himself who had not yet reached the Earth Immortal Realm.

"I should test out the robe and see if I can find out more about it after returning to the sect…" Muttering this to himself as he scanned the area around where the exit of the mystic realm was located, Xuan Hao left behind a small part of his power to inform him in case any powerful demon beast appeared and attempted to break out of the mystic realm before making his way back to his pavilion where his two disciples and the large number of Nascent Soul Realm demon beast he had caught close to a month earlier were located.

Although, when he had glanced across the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts present on his old mountain peak, it was rather obvious that a large number of them were missing. Making a certain winged lion demon beast in charge of watching over these demon beasts the main suspect of this missing demon beast case.

Whoosh~

Landing back on his old mountain peak in front of his old pavilion where he had put down his two unconscious disciples just a few seconds earlier, Xuan Hao turned his attention towards a certain large, winged lion sleeping on a large stone with the sun shinning down on it from above.NvεlB¡n: Transforming Moments into Memories.

Even after having returned, it seemed like the winged lion demon beast hadn't noticed him yet and was still sleeping peacefully in the sun.

As for the remaining Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts, none of them dared to take this chance to try and escape from the mountain peak, likely due to the winged lion demon beast having done this before to try and get as many of them try to escape…

So… This is how it ended up eating so many of the Nascent Soul Realm demon beast… Haaa… What an oversight on my part…

Understanding that the winged lion demon beast had not broken any of the rules he had put down for it before hastily entering the mystic realm, Xuan Hao could not help shaking his head in defeat.

Although the winged lion demon beast looked rather dumb, it didn't seem to be that dumb when it came to figuring out how to get its claws on more food…

Rustle~

Waking up at this moment, the winged lion demon beast lazily stretched its body as it scanned across the different Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts before letting out a disappointed sound after discovering that none of them had tried to escape.

Roar?

However, just as the winged lion demon beast was about to lay down and sleep again, it discovered Xuan Hao standing not too far away from it with a somewhat annoyed expression on his face.

Roar…

Having somewhat understood the reason for the annoyed expression that had made its way to its master's face, the winged lion demon beast began to slowly retreat down from its sunbathing stone before beginning to descend the mountain peak-

"Wait right there! Didn't you forget your reward for watching over these Nascent Soul Realm demon beast for the past month?"

However, before the winged lion demon beast could leave, it felt its entire body being grabbed by some unknown force as it felt itself being dragged back up the mountain peak.

Roar! Roar, roar! Roooar!

During the process of being dragged back up the mountain, it tried its best to communicate that it didn't need any kind of reward for its job, but all of this was useless as it soon found itself face to face with its master again.

However, different from the annoyed expression from before, he now had an ominous smile that made the winged lion feel a shiver run down its spine, as it began to regret tempting so many of the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts into escaping...

"Now, I should repay you properly for keeping so many of the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts alive." Narrowing his eyes dangerously at the winged lion demon beast as he said this, Xuan Hao decided to punish it and make sure that it wouldn't do something like this again.

Even if around half of the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts were still alive, the winged lion demon beast had still ended up eating more than thirty of them.

Although it might not be worth anything to him personally, it was not the same for the Star Shattering Sect!

After all, demon beasts were not only useful for transportation and fighting but were also extremely useful when it came to helping the disciples of the sect train and prepare themselves for when they would encounter demon beasts while out adventuring. Not to mention, the current Star Shattering Sect was in a period of rapid growth and was in dire need of things like powerful demon beasts that would help in the training of not only the disciples, but also the Nascent Soul Realm elders.

R-Roar….

Knowing that there was no way for it to escape punishment, the winged lion demon beast could only let out a pitiful roar as Xuan Hao took a step forward and began giving it a lesson it would not forget…

Roooooaaaaar!

Soon, only the painful roar of the winged lion demon beast echoed out from Xuan Hao's old mountain peak.

At the same time, the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts still left on the mountain were enjoying the sight of the winged lion demon beast finally getting what it deserved.

From the way it had tortured them over the past weeks in trying to constantly tempt them with freedom, even trying to bait them out with different precious spiritual hers from time to time, some of the Nascent Soul Realm demon beast watching the show felt that Xuan Hao was being far too gentle and silently prayed that he would cook and eat the winged lion demon beast the same way that the winged lion demon beast had done to some of the unfortunate demon beasts who had caved in and tried escaping from the mountain…

Of course, these prayers were left unanswered, as Xuan Hao had no intention of eating the winged lion demon beast.

…

Roooooaaaaar!

"What is that sound?"

"I don't know… Hm… Maybe it's the mating call of some demon beast from the demon beast forest?"

"That makes sense, but… We shouldn't be able to hear it all the way back in the sect. Right?"

"That is true… Maybe the mating call of a demon beast from the beast tamers place?"

As the painful roars of the winged lion demon beast continued until the sun was replaced by the moon in the sky, the disciples and elders present in the Flying Sword Sect all began discussing the matter with each other.

"Haaa… No matter what it is, I hope they get it under control soon, I really can't sleep with all of this roaring…"

In the end, a large number of disciples and elders ended up gathering at the base of the mountain where Xuan Hao was in the process of teaching the winged lion demon beast a lesson. All in an attempt to try and put an end to the loud sounds that made them unable to cultivate properly or get a good night's sleep.

"This… Guess this should be enough for now…"

Upon seeing the large number of disciples and elders gathered at the base of his mountain peak, Xuan Hao decided to let go of the winged lion demon beast.

Roar…

Swish-!

Not wasting a second after it was let go, the winged lion demon beast let out a pitiful roar before flapping its large wings and escaping in the direction of the Star Shattering Sect…

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Looking down at the large number of elders and disciples that had gathered together at the base of his mountain, Xuan Hao did not feel like explaining what had happened and instead decided to leave together with his two disciples and the around thirty Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts who had managed to survive.

Whoosh~

Using his powerful domain to make himself and the large number of demon beasts he was carrying invisible to these elders and disciples before flying in the direction of the Star Shattering Sect. Not at all worried about anyone finding the entrance to the mystic realm, as he had already made sure to seal the entrance with his power.

Although his lack of skill when it came to formations made it far worse than what would be normal given his cultivation base, it should at the very least prevent anyone beneath the Soul Ascension Realm from entering the mystic realm. Even if someone in the Soul Ascension Realm passed by the mystic realm entrance and found a way to forcibly enter like he had done, he would at least be alerted about this through the seal.

As for the strange rumors that would emerge in the future after some of the elders decided to go up the mountain to find the origin of the strange roaring sound, Xuan Hao didn't really think about any of this and even if he did, he wouldn't really care about a few rumors about his old mountain peak.

…

Returning to the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao handed over the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts to the excited elders and disciples from the beast taming hall.

However, before leaving, Xuan Hao decided to ask about the happenings in the sect over the past month. Soon Learning about the few important things that had taken place inside the sect over the past month, like the emergence of a new group of powerful disciples who were close to reaching the Nascent Soul Realm and the newest elders who had broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

However, other than all of this, the beast taming elder was far more excited about the brand-new hall for the beast tamers that had been constructed at the base of the Seventh Star Peak facing the direction of the Sixth Star Peak.

Transforming the relatively large valley located between the Seventh Star Peak and the Sixth Star Peak to the new living space for the growing number of demon beasts living inside the sect. Giving the beast tamers a far larger space to take care of their demon beasts without having to be worried about the inherent problems that would emerge from keeping a group of powerful demon beasts close together in the small space inside the main sect located at the Seventh Star Peak.

In the end, the elder from the beast taming hall excitedly told him about how Elder Song had been the one to spearhead the construction of the new hall for the beast tamers. Making it rather obvious just how much these beast tamers had begun to worship Elder Song, even though he should have also taken a rather large portion of the spirit stones they would normally get from the sect away from them over the past month.

Elder Song… That old man really knows how to do things, even after losing most of the spirit stones and other resources they had grown used to getting, the beast tamers are still praising him to the high heavens…

Shaking his head as he thought about this to himself while looking at the elder in charge of the new Hall of Beast Tamers almost getting down on his knees to worship Elder Song, Xuan Hao decided to leave after making sure that the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts wouldn't cause any problems and made his way in the direction of where Elder Song was after leaving his two disciples back in their own rooms to recover.

Other than the clear improvement that the sect's elders and disciples had experienced over the past month that he had been gone, he was even more curious as to how the expansion of the sect had been progressing… And although he could ask the beast taming elder about it, he felt that Elder Song would be a far better person to ask about something like this.

After all, he was the person in charge of the expansion of the sect and would know far more than a Nascent Soul Realm elder who spent most of his time taking care of demon beasts inside the sect.

Whoosh~

With this in mind, Xuan Hao soon arrived above a large lecture hall where Elder Song was currently in the process of teaching a group of Foundation Establishment Realm disciples about how to best prepare themselves for the Core Formation Realm.

Even with all the things he finds himself busy with, he still finds time to teach…

Thinking about this as he observed Elder Song teaching the large number of attentive disciples, Xuan Hao could not help feeling that Elder Song was once again overworking himself. However, this was also what caused his reputation in the sect to surpass that of all other elders.

Even Feng Chen as the sect master was less known by these disciples compared to Elder Song who did his best to teach them whenever he had any free time.NvεlB¡n: Transforming Moments into Memories.

…

"-And that will be all for today's lesson. If any of you have any questions regarding the Core Formation Realm, you can always ask the other elders or your seniors in the Core Formation Realm."

As the lesson came to an end over the next few minutes, Elder Song watched the disciples reluctantly get up and leave before turning around himself and making his way out of the lecture hall in the direction of his courtyard-

"Huh? Xuan Hao!?"

However, before he left the now empty lecture hall, Xuan Hao, who had been waiting for the lecture to end from above, slowly descended from above and landed in front of him.

"Good to see you again Elder Song, I hope you have some time to talk about what took place in the sect over the month that I was gone."

"It's great to see that you are back again as well and of course I have time, let's go to my courtyard for now and I will explain what has happened over the past month." Hearing what Xuan Hao said and the fact that he had returned to the sect again, Elder Song was happily saying this and before long, both of them made their way back to his courtyard to talk about what had been happening both inside and outside the sect over the past month.

Even though not much had taken place in the first two weeks since he was gone, the same could not be said for the final two weeks that he was gone, as Xuan Hao was shocked to learn that the Flame Sky Kingdom and other large kingdoms that the sect was in the process of expanding into had joined forces and formed an alliance to fight against the Star Shattering Sect.

Although the strength of a few kingdoms with at most someone at the Half-Step Domain Lord Realm was not really anything to worry about given the current Star Shattering Sect's strength, the same could not be said after a large number of these peak experts from the different large kingdoms used a forbidden technique to forcibly break through the barrier separating the Domain Lord Realm from the Nascent Soul Realm.

Even if someone who had forcibly broken through to the Domain Lord Realm was far weaker than someone who had broken through to the Domain Lord Realm normally, it would still not be easy for the Star Shattering Sect to deal with the over 10 Domain Lord Realm Experts that had suddenly appeared because of this.

At least, that was what Xuan Hao had thought when he had first learnt about it from Elder Song…

In the end, things had not gone the way that the peak experts from the different large kingdoms had planned and one of the important elders from the Flame Sky Kingdom had apparently informed Elder Song about this over a week before it happened.

As a result, the different peak experts who had forcibly broken through to the Domain Lord Realm and were planning to destroy the different branch sects of the Star Shattering Sect that were located inside their kingdom or around it was met with nothing but empty buildings.

In the end, before the side effects of forcibly breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm ended up setting in, these peak experts could only desperately rush to the core territory of the Star Shattering Sect where Feng Chen and Shu Yao were both waiting for them to show up.

Even if there were more than 10 Domain Lord Realm Experts, they had all forcibly broken through to the Domain Lord Realm and wasn't anywhere near the real strength of a Domain Lord Realm Expert. Meaning that it was no problem for Feng Chen and Shu Yao to deal with them by working together. Especially considering that Feng Chen had also just managed to break through to the Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm a few days earlier…

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Hearing about how the different large kingdoms had actually banded together in an attempt to fight back against the expansion of the Star Shattering Sect. Even going as far as to have the Peak Experts of these kingdoms use a secret technique to forcibly increase their own strength for a short duration of time at the cost of their future, Xuan Hao could not help feeling confused.

Why would those people already close to reaching the Domain Lord Realm do something like this all of a sudden? Is it just because they want to stop the expansion of the Star Shattering Sect and ensure control over their own kingdom? But… If that is really the goal, they would only end up crippling themselves by having their Peak Experts use a forbidden technique that will undoubtedly kill or cripple them after a few days…

Unable to think of a reason for the Peak Experts of the large kingdoms to take such a drastic and unnecessary action, Xuan Hao could only turn towards Elder Song. Hoping that he would be able to shed some light on the purpose behind the seemingly suicidal actions taken by the Peak Experts of the large kingdoms.

"Haaa… I know that you want to know why the Peak Experts of these kingdoms decided to do something like this. Unfortunately, the only information I managed to gather about this was that someone seemed to have met with the ancestors of the Flame Sky Kingdom before they decided to use the secret technique to forcibly increase their strength and attack our sect.

The information came from the same elder of the Flame Sky Kingdom who informed me about this possible attack beforehand, I think her name was Sheng Mei, she is currently trying to take control of the Flame Sky Kingdom with our support following the death of their ancestors. If you are interested in finding out more, you can try to visit the Flame Sky Kingdom and ask her."

Throwing over a small jade that had the appearance and basic information on Sheng Mei recorded on it, Elder Song began rummaging through a few papers on his desk looking for something. Giving Xuan Hao a chance to go over the information recorded in the jade.

Sheng Mei… Her position in the Flame Sky Kingdom is rather high given the fact that she knew about the attack. Not only that, but it also looks like she has a good relationship with a large number of elders from the Flame Sky Kingdom. Even forming a faction that wants to peacefully join us- Huh? This is…

Reading through the information stored inside the jade containing a basic introduction of Sheng Mei and her status as an important elder at the Eighth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, Xuan Hao suddenly froze on the spot as he reached the last part of the jade that contained some information about her earlier life- or to be more specific, he noticed a familiar name that he hadn't heard about or seen for years.

"Lord Kubera… To think I would see this name again… Hm… From the information in the jade, it seems like this Lord Kubera is the same as the Lord Kubera, whose notebook I obtained in the past…"

Still feeling a bit shocked at suddenly seeing the name of the familiar name of the former city lord of the now destroyed City of Kubera that he had suspected to at the very least have reached the Domain Lord Realm and at the same time be a Master Alchemist, Xuan Hao could not help blurting this out…

"Is there something wrong with this Lord Kubera? From what I could gather about him, it just seems like he had picked up the young Sheng Mei in the past and helped take care of her until she reached the Core Formation Realm before disappearing. If you want to find out more about him, I can try and look into it for you and see if I can find any more information about this Lord Kubera."

As a result of hearing Xuan Hao's sudden surprised voice, Elder Song quickly looked up from his stack of papers as he said this, while at the same time also starting to grow curious about Lord Kubera, who could cause such a huge reaction from Xuan Hao.

After all, Lord Kubera, although mysterious and powerful from the little information he had gathered about him from his time in the Flame Sky Kingdom, he should have been nowhere near the level where his name could shock someone like Xuan Hao. Especially considering that Elder Song didn't have any idea about the notebook of Kubera that Xuan Hao had found in the past and handed over to Feng Chen after having read through it before it had ultimately ended up in the hands of the Alchemists of the Sect.

"No need, I will go and pay a visit to this Sheng Mei myself and ask about this after Chu Yang and Qing Yi wakes up." Shaking his head as he said this in an attempt to not end up overworking Elder Song even more than he already was with trying to find out more about Lord Kubera, Xuan Hao was just about to excuses himself when he noticed the worried expression that had appeared on the old man's face-

"Chu Yang and Qing Yi wakes up!? Did something happen to those two?!"

And before he had time to ask what was wrong, Elder Song sprung up from behind his desk with a worried expression plastered all over his old face.

"Ah- No need to worry about those two, they just sustained a few injuries during their time in the mystic realm and ended up falling unconscious as a result. From what I could tell through my divine sense, they just need a few weeks before they are fully recovered."

"That's good, that's good… Haaa… Looks at this old man worrying for nothing, its great that those two young ones are fine. After all, they can be considered the future pillars of the sect when us old- Ehm… When I and the rest of the elders decide to retire and focus all our energy on cultivating in seclusion Hehe…" Awkwardly laughing towards the end, Elder Song let out a sigh as he turned his attention down towards the mess he had created when jumping over his desk earlier.

"It's understandable, but you have to remember that you are in the Nascent Soul Realm now. The lifespan of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm is normally around a thousand years. By that standard, you can still be considered to be young when compared to most other Nascent Soul Realm Experts."

"Young… Huh…" Hearing what Xuan Hao said, Elder Song momentarily turned his gaze away from the mess on the ground and towards the window behind his desk where a few disciples could be seen eagerly making their way towards a nearby lecture hall not too far away. "I guess I do have longer to live now that I broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm, but I wouldn't really considered someone who just recently became 200 years old young…"

"…"

Not saying anything as Elder Song continued to just gaze out at the disciples passing by with a look befitting of an old man reminiscing about his past, Xuan Hao decided to slowly take his leave without disturbing Elder Song who was lost in his own thoughts.

At the same time, he also realized that the courtyard he was currently in, was not the original one that Elder Song had been given close to the Qi Spring Lake where the qi was denser. Instead, it was located at one of the busiest places in the sect.This essence is securely nested within the heart of Nøvlß¡n

Although the place didn't really have any specific name due to it just being a gathering of different buildings that were used for the simple purpose of teaching the younger and older disciples of the sects the basics or more complicated things about cultivation, it was still one of the most important places in the sect.

"Maybe he couldn't get used to the tranquility and lack of disciples running around at the edge of the Qi Spring Lake…" Muttering this to himself as he made his own conclusions as to why Elder Song had decided to move to this noisy and busy place instead of staying at his tranquil courtyard next to the Qi Spring Lake, Xuan Hao jumped into the air before making his way back to check up on his two unconscious disciples.

At the same time, he also began to think about how to improve his different professions. After all, he had at least a few weeks before he planned to leave the sect again to find out more about this Lord Kubera that he suspected to have at least reached the Domain Lord Realm and also having at least reached the Master Realm in Alchemy.

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Returning back to his palace again where Chu Yang and Qing Yi were still recovering while still lost in thought thinking about how to improve his profession, Xuan Hao could only come up with going to the Grand Library and look through the books and scrolls there for something that would help him-

"Master!"

However, before he even had a chance to do any of this, his youngest disciples, Mui, suddenly appeared at the path leading up to the entrance of the place before happily rushing towards him. Clearly overjoyed that her master was back again.

"Mui, it's great to see you- Hm? I see that you have also managed to reach the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm during this time, looks like you didn't slack off over the past month." Noticing the fact that Mui had managed to break through to the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm during the month he had been gone, Xuan Hao didn't hold back as he showered the young girl in praise.

Even though, with the girl's talent, it would have been obvious that she would have broken through a minor realm over the past month, it wouldn't even have been surprising if she had ended up breaking through more than just a single minor realm during this period of time…

"Hehe~"

Unaware of the thoughts going through her master's head, Mui just smiled embarrassedly at her master's praise before looking down on the ground to avoid his gaze.

Although she had managed to adjust to life in the Star Shattering Sect and had started to open up more compared to how cautious she was at first, she was still feeling far too shy to look up at her master after the sudden praise.

"By the way, where is your senior brother?" Knowing that the little girl was embarrassed, Xuan Hao decided to give her a way out as he asked about Bai Ning's whereabouts.

After all, given that he would have been the main person to watch over Mui when Elder Song or some of the other elders who should have taken turn watching over her during his absence was not there, it was quite confusing when he realized that Bai Ning was nowhere near the palace- or to be more precise, he no longer sensed Bai Ning's presence anywhere in the Shattered Star Peaks like he had done when he first returned to the sect and met up with Elder Song after handing over the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts.

Meaning that he should have left the sect somewhere in between me arriving at the sect and finishing up my conversation with Elder Song…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao turned his attention back towards Mui, who by this point, had started fidgeting nervously with her hands without saying anything.

"Is there something wrong? Did something perhaps happen to your senior brother?" Sensing that something was off from the sudden weird behavior, Xuan Hao asked in a slightly sterner tone compared to before.

"This- Well… Senior brother told me not to tell master…"

"…"

Hearing what Mui said, Xuan Hao could not help pausing for a moment before looking towards the increasingly nervous Mui who was staring straight into the ground without daring to lift her gaze to meet his. Looking like a young child who had been caught doing something they shouldn't.

"Mui…"

"Ah! I- I will talk but promise you won't tell senior brother!"

"Okay…"

Not knowing what had suddenly happened to Bai Ning during the short period of time he had ended up talking with Elder Song, Xuan Hao just nodded his head in agreement, curious as to why his third disciple had decided to run away all of a sudden.

"Then… It started a few minutes earlier when senior brother learnt about master's return to the sect…" Following her master agreeing to not tell on her to Bai Ning, she began to talk about what had happened that ended up causing Bai Ning to leave the sect.

At first, the two had been making their way towards the Combat Hall where Bai Ning was planning to help train Mui, but before they had managed to reach the Combat Hall, they got news about their master returning to the sect from a beast tamer disciple of the sect who had seen him when he handed over the Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts to the elder from the Hall of Beast Tamers.

Apparently, when Bai Ning heard about his master returning to the sect, he was overjoyed and about to make his way back to the palace and wait for his master, but just at this moment, he seemed to have thought about something and quickly instructed her to head back on her own as he went to sort out something important outside of the sect.

Having been extremely confused over the sudden weird behavior of her senior brother, Mui had questioned him, but in the end, he just told her that it was important, and he would at most be gone for a few days and made her promise not to tell their master about him leaving the sect. Instead, if their master asked, she should just inform him that he was not at the sect and had gone out to complete a mission a few days earlier and would be back again soon.

Of course, when it came time for her to tell her master what her senior brother had told her to tell him, she had forgotten about it, the moment her master had praised her and only when he had asked about where he was did, she remember it.

However, at that point in time, she had been far too nervous to actually lie to her master and didn't go through with it. Only able to nervously fidget around with her hands as she looked down at the ground without daring to meet her master's gaze.

Hearing Mui's explanation of what had happened, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he tried to ask for any more information that might help him figure out what had caused the sudden weird behavior of his third disciples… And in the end, he did manage to figure out that he had momentarily taken out a communication talisman before his face had gone ashen.

What in the world happened? And for him to not inform me about it when he knows I'm back in the sect…

Feeling even more worried than before after hearing how Bai Ning had been informed about something through his communication talisman before leaving the sect in a hurry without informing him- No, not only not informing him, but actively trying to make sure he knew nothing about it…

"Mui, how about we go to visit your big sister Song Jia?"

"Huh? Why do we have to visit big sister?"

Not understanding why her master suddenly asked her this, Mui didn't get an answer before she found herself in front of Elder Song's courtyard located close to the Qi Spring Lake. Although Elder Song didn't use the courtyard and would spend most of his time in the courtyard located close to the lecture halls, the same could not be said for Song Jia, who spent most of her time cultivating in this place.

Creak~

"Mui- Elder Xuan!?NvεlB¡n: Transforming Moments into Memories.

Opening the door and making his way inside with the confused Mui, Xuan Hao, and Mui both soon arrived in front of Song Jia who opened both of her eyes in surprise upon sensing the two entering the courtyard all of a sudden. Feeling especially surprised at the sudden appearance of Xuan Hao, whom she hadn't seen in over a month and had no idea was back in the sect again.

"Hello Song Jia, I have to check up on a rather worrisome disciple of mine, so I will be leaving Mui here in your care for the time being if that is fine with you."

"Huh? Ah! No problem at all, little sister Mui is always welcome here!" Nodding her head as she said this in a still confused voice, Song Jia didn't hesitate to take care of Mui.

Although she had no idea what had happened, she understood that it should be something serious given that Xuan Hao had decided to leave Mui in her care. At the same time also understanding that it might not be something that would be solved in a few minutes.

"Thank you, Mui, take care, I should be back in a few days as well. After all, I have to figure out what that troublesome child is up to…" Shaking his head as he said this, Xuan Hao gave a slight smile as he jumped into the air and left in the direction of the Ninth Star Peak where the exit to the Shattered Star Peak was located. Hoping that he would be able to catch Bai Ning with his divine sense before he ended up going too far away from the entrance to the Shattered Star Peaks.

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Chapter 1000 Sneaking Out

Leaving the Shattered Star Peaks, it did not take long before he found traces of Bai Ning who had already rushed out of the city located at the base of the Ninth Star Peak. Even more worrisome was the fact that it was rather obvious that he had not left the city alone, but instead together with a group of people numbering at least a few hundred.

What in the world is that disciple of mine up to…

Feeling even more than before that something was wrong, Xuan Hao took a step forward as the space around him twisted before he disappeared in the direction that Bai Ning had left in.

…

A short time earlier, Bai Ning had come to a stop just outside the sect as he nervously looked around himself. "To think that would happen now of all times…" Muttering this to himself at this time, he suddenly remembered the short conversation he had earlier over the communication talisman before spotting a petite figure approaching him rapidly.

"Hui Ying…" Seeing the person approaching him, Bai Ning muttered the young girl's name as he instantly recognized her as none other than the same person who had ended up stuck inside what he believed to be a secret realm in the past.

However, similar to himself, she was also slightly nervous as she quickly made her way over towards him while glancing around at the people constantly moving in and out of the entrance to the sect located at the base of the Ninth star Peak where he was currently standing.

"Bai Ning… Let's go, or they will leave without us!"

"…"

Hearing what Hui Ying said, Bai Ning just nodded his head before following her as both of them soon made their way outside the city where a large caravan filled with both people and demon beasts were getting ready to leave the city at any moment.

If not for the fact that most of the people in the caravan consisted of disciples from the Star Shattering Sect and other young people who had all at least reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, it would have been no different from the countless similar sized caravans that would constantly enter and exit the city located at the base of the Ninth Star Peak every single day… And of course, this oddity did catch the attention of the few nearby people, who were all left wondering if the Star Shattering Sect was preparing some sort of training excursion to help the younger disciples get some real-life experience.

But… If this was the case, there would almost certainly have been a group of Nascent Soul Realm elder present to guide them and ensure their safety, something that was clearly missing from this mixture of Star Shattering Sect disciples and younger cultivators who had most likely come from the branch sect or the Explorer Union.

"Good, looks like everyone is here now, let's set out before any of the elders notices us…" Seeing Bai Ning and Hui Ying appearing, one of the older disciples in the Core Formation Realm nodded at both of them before informing the rest that it was time for them to leave-

Rumble~

And no more than a minute later, the caravan set off from the city and headed in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom at a speed far faster than that of a usual caravan of this size.

"Haaa… We managed to make it in time…" Slumping down inside one of the carriages attached to a demon beast, Hui Ying let out a sigh of relief as she muttered this to herself before turning to look back at the Shattering Star Peaks growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

"Indeed, my master just came back, and I thought I wouldn't be able to get here in time because of it…" Nodding his head as he said this, Bai Ning could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine when he remembered how he had just decided to run away before greeting his master. Hopefully his junior sister would convince their master that he had always been out adventuring and would return in a few days.

Although, at the back of his head, he had a feeling that there would be no way that Mui would be able to deceive their master…

"Huh…? Your master returned to the sect!? But isn't that Grand Elder Xuan!?"

"Yes? Why?" Hearing Hui Ying suddenly call out to him with a shocked expression plastered all over her face, Bai Ning could not help tilting his head in confusion as he said this. Not understanding why she had suddenly gotten so worked up.

"Nothing… Just… You are really brave, to run away just when your master returns after a month away from the sect. Not to mention, this is Grand Elder Xuan we are talking about, he probably used his powerful divine sense to scan the entire sect the moment he returned. Meaning that he should already know that you suddenly decided to run away…"

"Huh… This…"

Suddenly realizing just how flawed his attempted cover up by using his junior sister was after hearing this, Bai Ning could not help freezing on the spot before nervously looking back in the direction of the Shattered Star Peaks that was growing smaller and smaller. Part of him was already expecting his master to show up at any moment to scold him for suddenly running away like that.

Only when the Shattered Star Peaks had completely disappeared beyond the horizon did he let out a sigh of relief before slumping back into his seat again.

If his master had noticed him leaving, he should have caught up by now. Meaning that he should have been lucky that his master hadn't used his divine sense after returning to the sect and his junior sister had managed to convince him that he had already gone out adventuring before he returned to the sect.

"Hehe, look at you, so scared of your own master."

"Hmph! You are one to talk? Don't forget how you acted after entering the carriage just a few minutes earlier!" Hearing the teasing voice coming from Hui Ying laying on a row of seats opposite of him, Bai Ning rolled his eyes as he said this.

"Ah…" Freezing on the spot after hearing what Bai Ning said, Hui Ying decided not to try and tease him anymore. After all, all of the people present in the caravan were the same as him, as they had all gathered together and essentially run away without informing the elders of their sect. The only people who were not like this was the ones from the Explorer Union.

Compared to them, they had all the time in the world and didn't have to inform any elders when they were leaving the city. On the other hand, they didn't really have much of a backing either, as the Explorer Union normally wouldn't meddle in the affairs of their outer members and would only care about those who were part of the core of the Explorer Union…

"I hope the thing mentioned by senior brother Yang is really as useful as he said. If it really is, this will be a good opportunity for us to increase our strength- Ah, but I guess you are more interested in the spiritual metals that can be found around that place.

After all, without something that could help improve your blacksmithing, there would have been no way someone like you would have ever left the sect willingly, hehe~"

"Not only spiritual metal, but also the notes left by an ancient blacksmithing prodigy from the past era in that place! If there really is something like that, I might be able to surpass the Expert Blacksmithing Realm faster than I expected and step into Artisan Realm!"

Not feeling offended at all by the slightly teasing tone in Hui Ying's voice as she mentioned the place they were going to and the spiritual metal that was rumored to be around that place, Bai Ning instead corrected her and also mentioned the notes of an ancient blacksmith that one of their seniors in the sect had mentioned when describing the place, they were going. Discover, Devour, Delight: NvεlB¡n.

As for the reason why, they had all decided to leave the sect without informing any of the elders about it, it was due to the fact that the person who knew about the location of the spiritual metal, ancient blacksmith notes and the rest of the things that should be useful for increasing their cultivation base, was someone from the Explorer Union.

Due to not having the ability to enter the place on his own, he decided to ask a group of disciples from the Star Shattering Sect, but… Given just how powerful the Star Shattering Sect was, he did not feel that he would be able to get anything if he involved the elders of the sect given that he was only in the Core Formation Realm himself.

For this reason, he had specifically asked some disciples of the sect for help and required them to not inform any of their elders about it or he wouldn't take them to the place… And in the end, word had gotten to Hui Ying, who then asked Bai Ning if he wanted to join…

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Chapter 1001 Hidden Tunnel

Whoosh~

As Bai Ning felt himself calm down again and began chatting with Hui Ying about the special cave that they were going to, Xuan Hao arrived directly above the large caravan that was heading in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom before listening in on what the two were talking about. Not taking long before he got a general understanding of what was happening.

"So… He just wanted to take part in this adventure and was scared of being turned away if he informed me about it… Haaa… Considering the fact that there is some ancient blacksmithing notes on the line, I understand why he wouldn't thin twice about doing something this dumb, but what about the rest of the disciples, did none of them inform any of the elders secretly?" Muttering this to himself as he glanced around at the rest of the disciples from the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao could not help shaking his head after discovering that there weren't any elders of the Star Shattering Sect hidden among them.

Given that a few of the disciples present were older and had a lot of experience in the outside world compared to Bai Ning and Hui Ying who were still relatively young when compared to most inner sect disciples, Xuan Hao honestly felt quite surprised that none of them had informed the elders about this excursion outside the sect.

To be honest, what are they all thinking? Didn't a single one among them think that this might be some kind of trap to lure them out of the sect? Especially so when considering the place, they are heading towards is located right next to the Frozen Wastelands filled to the brim with demonic cultivators…

Not knowing what to say as he thought about this to himself while looking over the close to thirty inner sect disciples who were present inside of the large caravan heading towards the Azure Sky Kingdom, Xuan Hao could only shake his head in disappointment before deciding to follow the caravan in case something happened.

After all, if someone had truly tried to lure out the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect, demonic cultivator or not, they were simply asking for a beating!

…

"Looks like we are going to pass through the border of the Azure Sky Kingdom soon. Although there isn't any kind of border patrol, when I talked to Elder Song, he mentioned that there would be an elder at the Nascent Soul Realm wandering around the area to ensure that no demonic cultivators snuck through and entered the core territory of the sect."

"Really!? If that is the case, I doubt we will be able to enter the Azure Sky Kingdom without the elders finding out about it…!"

Unaware of the fact that his master was already present above them, Bai Ning and Hui Ying were chatting with each other inside one of the carriages when a few loud voices could be heard coming from outside the carriage. Not to mention, they also realized that shortly after the loud voices echoed out, the large caravan came to a sudden stop.

"Do you think we should go out and see what is happening? From what was said earlier, it seems like we will have to find a way to avoid the elder patrolling the border with Azure Sky Kingdom."

"Indeed, it looks like that is the case, let's go outside and take a look."

As both Hui Ying and Bai Ning wanted to find out what was going to happen now that some of the people in the caravan wanted to try and sneak through the border now that they had found out about the fact that there was actually a Nascent Soul Realm elder of the sect patrolling the border from time to time, they soon got up before making their way out of the carriage-

""Huh!?""

However, the scene that met them after leaving the carriage was nothing like what they had expected, as they watched the group of twenty or so people from the Explorer Union gathered together to use their power to dig into the ground before revealing a large underground passage leading a few dozen meters below the ground before going straight in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom.

Not only that, but the passage was also very well maintained, with several magical stones illuminating the dark tunnel that was just big enough to fit a carriage inside of it.

"What in the world is this!? No, more importantly, why do any of you know that there is such a large underground tunnel here of all places!?" Feeling taken aback by the sudden appearance of such a large underground tunnel that seemed to stretch on for several dozens of kilometers in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom, one of the older disciples close to the Peak of the Core Formation Realm narrowed both of his before turning to question the person in charge of the group of people from the Explorer Union.

"This is a passage that was used in the past by merchants during the battle between the Azure Sky Kingdom and the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. Even after the war ended and both kingdoms ended up getting destroyed and ultimately replaced by your Star Shattering Sect, it was abandoned and mostly forgotten about, outside of a few bandits using it from time to time to escape through.

As members of the Explorer Union, we know about this passage because the Explorer Union also used it to transport goods and other things to a branch inside the Azure Sky Kingdom during the war."

Not missing a single beat after hearing the clear suspicion in the voice of the older disciple from the Star Shattering Sect, the person in charge of the group of people from the Explorer Union quickly explained the history of the underground tunnel and where he had learnt about. Understanding very well that it wouldn't benefit him in the slightest to not do this.

"Hm… I see but given the length of the tunnel and the fact that there is no connection to the ground above, the air quality inside of it will definitely not be something that a normal mortal could survive inside of. Especially if both entrances are sealed like this."

"That is true, which is why the weakest person here is at least in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Even if there is no air to breath, we can use the qi from the world around us to breath instead."

"Indeed… And given that this is a few dozen meters underground, unless the elder from our sect actively searches for us, there will be no way for him to notice us underground… Okay, everyone, we are going underground to avoid the detection of the elder!" Nodding his head in agreement with what the person from the Explorer Union said as he couldn't find anything wrong with it, the older disciple from the Star Shattering Sect, who had taken a leading role due to him being one of the strongest disciples present, signaled for everyone to move underground.

At least, given the size of the tunnel, it was more than big enough for the carriages and other things to fit inside of the tunnel when going in a single line. Although it would slow them down to some extent, it would not be anything significant-

Rumble~! Discover, Devour, Delight: NvεlB¡n.

And soon enough, the carriages and supplies being pulled by demon beasts formed a single line before moving into the tunnel going straight in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom.

""…""

Having moved back into their carriage after seeing the conversation take place and the tunnel they were slowly moving towards, Bai Ning and Hui Ying didn't say anything, but a part of them felt uncomfortable with entering this hidden tunnel.

The only thing that made them not think too much about this, was the fact that the tunnel was located close enough to the ground that they would be able to dig their way up to the surface and escape in case anything ended up happening to them inside the tunnel.

…

"There is actually a tunnel here?"

Just as surprised as his two disciples about the sudden appearance of a tunnel in such a weird location that went below the border separating the Azure Sky Kingdom and what could be considered the core territory of the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao decided to use his divine sense to scan ahead of his disciple and the rest of the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect to figure out if this was a trap of some kind-

"Nothing?"

But after reaching the end of the tunnel at the other side of the border, Xuan Hao found that there weren't any traps inside the tunnel. Instead, it only contained a small bandit group with a few Foundation Establishment Realm bandits and a single Peak Foundation Establishment Realm Expert in the lead, that would soon be unlucky enough to run into the group his disciple was a part of.

Not really anything that would be considered dangerous given that Bai Ning would be able to beat this group of bandits up by himself, let alone now that there were more than sixty fellow disciples who had at least reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, a few even having reached the Peak of the Core Formation Realm…

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Chapter 1002 Bandit Encounter

"There is someone up ahead! Everyone, get ready!"

As Bai Ning and Hui Ying traveled through the tunnel for a little over five minutes while being on edge, a loud shout suddenly echoed out from the front of the caravan, as the person leading the way through the tunnel had stopped another group making their way through the tunnel from the other side… And considering the fact that the tunnel was apparently only used by bandits since the end of the war between the Azure Sky Kingdom and the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, it made sense that he called out for everyone to get ready in case it really was a group of bandits.

In a sense, everyone hoped that the group approaching them were bandits, as none of them wanted to attempt to turn around inside the tunnel that was only barely big enough to fit their carriages and demon beasts inside of. If it really was bandits, at least they would be able to destroy their carriages or other things that might block their path after dealing with them.

"Let's get out and see what-"

Clang~ Clang~

Ching-!

"Aaaaah-!"

As Bai Ning was about to make his way out of the carriage to see if the group of people blocking their path were bandits or possibly other members of the Explorer Union who also happened to be using the underground tunnel, the sound of weapons clashing with each other followed by the painful cries of what he and Hui Ying could only assume to be the bandits echoed out towards the front of the caravan.

"Everyone, it was just a small group of bandits in the Foundation Establishment Realm, no need for everyone to come over. After clearing out the tunnel, we will continue forward."

Not even a second after the battle had begun, the same voice that had called out and informed them about the group approaching them, called out once again and informed them that everything had been dealt with.

"Well… That was easy…" Not knowing what else to say after hearing that the supposed bandit group that had blocked their path had been dealt with in a few seconds after their arrival, Bai Ning could only sit back down again and try to look out the window of the carriage to see if he could catch a glance of the bandits that had ended up unfortunate enough to run into their group.

Creak~

Not having to wait for too long, as the carriage soon began moving again before the sad outcome of the bandit group appeared outside the window.

In one word, their condition was pitiful, as they hadn't even been capable of putting up the slightest bit of resistance before the Core Formation Realm disciple sitting at the front of the caravan had singlehandedly dealt with all of them before having moved everything to the side so the caravan could push through the underground tunnel.

At least it looked like some of the older disciples had stepped out of their carriage to bury the dead bodies of the bandits. After all, it would not be that nice to encounter the decomposing bodies of these bandits when they made their way back through the tunnel again in the future…

Although both of them had already experienced a lot after hunting down demonic cultivators, they still decided to sink back inside their carriage after seeing the outcome of the group of bandits.

…

At the same time above ground, Xuan Hao could not help glancing towards the figure rapidly moving in the direction of where the caravan was currently located underground.

"Looks like the elder patrolling this place noticed the fight underground." Shaking his head as he said this, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly as he flew down in front of the Nascent Soul Realm Elder who was about to forcibly blow open a hole into the underground tunnel to find out what was happening below ground.

Whoosh~

"Hm!? G-Grand Elder Xuan!?" Seeing Xuan Hao suddenly appearing in front of him, the elder froze on the spot just before he forced his way inside the underground tunnel.

"Indeed, you don't have to worry about the people below ground, it's just a few of our disciples who ran away for an adventure without informing anyone and a group of younger people from the Explorer Union and as you can see, I'm here to make sure nothing ends up happening to them. Mainly because one of the disciples who happened to run away is one of my disciples…"

"This- I understand, Grand Elder Xuan. But might I ask about the underground tunnel they are using? As far as I know, there shouldn't be any kind of tunnel in this place." Showing a somewhat confused expression at first after hearing who was below ground, the Nascent Soul Realm soon nodded his head before asking about the underground tunnel they were using. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

"Ah, the tunnel is-"

Given that the Nascent Soul Realm elder was in charge of guarding the border and the fact that the underground tunnel was indeed something that would allow people to sneak through without being noticed, Xuan Hao understood what the elder wanted to know and quickly explained the origin of the tunnel before giving him the two points of entry into the tunnel.

"Thank you for the information, Grand Elder Xuan." Giving a sincere bow as thanks for informing him about the possible blind spot he didn't know about before now, the elder quickly turned around to leave. Understanding that there was no reason for him to stay around with Xuan Hao around. Especially considering that the people who had been fighting below ground were their disciples.

As for the reason why these disciples had decided to sneak out of the sect together with a group of young people from the Explorer Union? The elder didn't bother to think too much about this, as he felt that nothing would go wrong with Xuan Hao watching over the group.

Even if the group of people from the Explorer Union had malicious intentions, the fate of messing with someone as powerful as Xuan Hao was obvious with how he was even stronger than the Sect Master who had reached the Domain Lord Realm.

…

"Haaa… Finally, back outside again…" As a few hours went by traveling underground without any incidents, Bai Ning could not help taking in a deep breath of fresh air as the sun once again shone down from above.

Even if nothing more than the bandit encounter happened underground, he couldn't get used to having to use his qi for breathing. Especially considering that he wasn't able to recover his qi faster than he consumed it while underground due to the presence of yin qi that he was forced to expel from his body whenever he absorbed any qi from the surrounding environment.

Although he would have been able to hold on in such a situation for days and he could always break the ceiling above and go back to the surface, the feeling of slowly running out of qi that he used to sustain himself was not something he had ever felt before.

Looking at Hui Ying who was sitting beside him, she was in a similar situation, as an elated and happy smile was plastered all over her face after leaving the underground tunnel. Different from him, she had not yet managed to reach the Core Formation Realm and was still in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Meaning that the experience for her was far worse than his own.

However, the people who fared the worst were the group of disciples who were still in the earlier stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Even though they had not done anything other than sitting inside their carriages to try and negate the yin qi and breath through their qi, they ended up almost running out of qi after passing through the tunnel and had already jumped out of their carriage to sit down to absorb the qi now devoid of any yin qi to recover.

"Everyone, we will take a break and continue in another two hours." Understanding how exhausted these weaker disciples were and the fact that it would be harder for them to recover inside a moving carriage, the older disciple who had taken the lead of the caravan yelled for everyone to stop.

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Not a second later, a group of slightly stronger disciples also rushed out of their carriage as they sat down among the weaker disciples to recover. Even though they hadn't reached the same level of exhaustion as the ones in the earlier stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm, they weren't in that good of a state either.

Not to mention, it was a great opportunity for them to recover outside together with the rest of the disciples.

"Guess we should go as well…" Muttering this to himself as he glanced over at Hui Ying, both of them soon left their carriage and joined the rest of the disciples outside.

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Chaper 1003 Unknown Observer

Given that he would be able to fully recover what little qi he had by simply walking around normally for a few minutes, Bai Ning decided to take a look around the place where they had ended up after leaving the underground tunnel, while the rest of the people in the caravan were focused on recovering from the trip through the tunnel.

"A village?" Spotting a small village, no more than a few minutes away from where they were staying, Bai Ning decided to go over and take a look before the two hours were up. Feeling quite curious about how different the territory of the now gone Azure Sky Kingdom would be from the first time he visited.

Back then, the Azure Sky Kingdom had been overrun with demonic cultivators who were wreaking havoc everywhere and he had also been there together with a group of elders from the sect and other disciples to hunt for these demonic cultivators.

However, after entering the small village and exploring it for himself, Bai Ning realized just how different the place was compared to the demon infested mess it had been back then.

At the same time, it also made him realize just how quickly the place had managed to recover from the almost completely destroyed state most of the villages and cities of the Azure Sky Kingdom had been left in after the arrival of the demonic cultivators.

Although the Star Shattering Sect did have a hand in this quick recovery, Bai Ning did hear that the Ascendant Frost Hall, who had decided to become a sect under the Star shattering Sect, was the main reason that the territory had managed to recover so quickly.

Even if he didn't know too much about the Ascendant Frost Hall who was now essential in control of the territory of the now gone Azure Sky Kingdom, he still felt a sense of respect for them after witnessing firsthand how fast the place had recovered from the demonic cultivator invasion only a few years earlier.

Part of him also wanted to visit the sect, as it had been around for a long time and was bound to have gathered some unique blacksmithing blueprints!

"Oh? Looks like it's about time to return back to the caravan." Having been lost in his own thoughts while wandering around the village, Bai Ning suddenly realized that the two-hour break was about to end-

Swish~

So, without wasting a single second, he left the village and returned to the caravan with a few minutes to spare.

…

Having watched the entire scene of Bai Ning entering the small village and staying there for a little over an hour, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing both of his eyes as he turned his attention back towards the caravan.

Someone is observing the caravan from far away through some kind of technique…

Narrowing both of his eyes even further as he looked towards an empty point in the sky above the caravan that was getting ready to leave again, Xuan Hao managed to spot a small eyeball hidden by dozens of different concealment formations and other means to hide it from any prying eyes.

The power contained inside some of the concealment formations placed around the eyeball were strong enough to hide from the divine sense of someone at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm and required at least someone in the Domain Lord Realm to construct it! This essence is securely nested within the heart of Nøvlß¡n

If not for the fact that he had reached the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he doubted that he would have been able to find it back when he had been in the Domain Lord Realm. Meaning that whoever was behind this eyeball hovering in the air above the caravan was not someone that his disciple or the rest of the disciples from the sect had any way to deal with.

Even when combining their strength, the most they could do, would be to fight a weaker Nascent Soul Realm Expert. Far from enough to deal with a Formation Master who had reached the Domain Lord Realm...

But… Why would such a person target Bai Ning and the rest like this? Is it perhaps because he has something against the Star Shattering Sect? Maybe even an enemy I ended up making without knowing about it?

Feeling his thoughts starting to wander as his curiosity towards the owner of the eyeball floating in the air above his disciple and the rest of the caravan, Xuan Hao began to slowly probe the eyeball with his divine sense. Trying his best to find the connection between the eyeball and its owner, so he could follow it back and find out where the owner in question was located, while at the same time making sure to not accidentally alert the person behind the eyeball in the process.

However, after close to half an hour of trying to find the connection between the eyeball and the person using it to observe the caravan that was moving deeper into the Azure Sky Kingdom, Xuan Hao could only give up. Unable to find out where the person controlling it was located.

In the end, he could still forcefully locate the owner of the eyeball. The only problem was that this would inevitably alert the other party into escaping… And given that he had no idea how far away the other party was and if he could reach the place in time, there was a very real chance that the other party could escape.

Not something he wanted to see happen, as a powerful Domain Lord Realm Expert secretly targeting the Star Shattering Sect was not something that he wanted to see happen. Especially considering that Feng Chen and Shu Yao were still far too weak to deal with something like this.

Whoosh~

For this reason, Xuan Hao decided to silently retract his divine sense from the floating eyeball before spreading it out into the area around where the caravan was travelling. Deciding to use them in a bid to lure out the potential enemy.

Even if the other party was in the Domain Lord Realm and was skilled in the art of formation, Xuan Hao didn't really feel any sense of threat from the other party. After all, when all was said and done, his strength had already far surpassed the Domain Lord Realm. Making him more than confident in both protecting the disciples from his sect, while also dealing with the unknown person observing them.

…

"Huh!?"

At the same time Xuan Hao retracted his divine sense from the eyeball floating in the air above the caravan, an old man sitting cross legged in front of an artifact that looked like a bigger and far more complicated metal version of the eyeball in the air above the caravan, opened both of his eyes in surprise.

Around him were dozens of other similar artifacts that were each watched over by other people of different ages and cultivation realms. The weakest having reached the Nascent Soul Realm, while the strongest had reached the Fifth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm… And the old man just so happened to be this Fifth Stage Domain Lord Realm Expert.

"What was that…?" Narrowing both of his eyes as he muttered this to himself, the old man began to thoroughly examine the artifact in front of him. However, after finding nothing unusual he could only shake his head and give up.

"Oh? Did something happen?"

Just as he sat back down again and was about to get back to his job of keeping an eye on the caravan that the eyeball was hovering above, a voice echoed out behind him before a middle-aged man walked over.

"This humble servant greets Lord White Soul, I felt something odd about the ethereal eye and decided to investigate it. However, I didn't end up finding anything…"

"Hm? Something odd about the ethereal eye?" Hearing what the old man said, the middle-aged man who had been referred to as Lord White Soul narrowed both of his eyes as he walked up to the artifact before examining it with his own divine sense.

Whoosh-!

As the powerful divine sense spread out, some of the Nascent Soul Realm Experts present fainted on the spot when coming into contact with it, while the rest were left shivering at the terrifying divine sense. Even though the divine sense was far from powerful enough to cause someone in the Domain Lord Realm to faint, they all understood that it wouldn't be that difficult for the owner of said divine sense to kill them.

"""…"""

For this reason, everyone inside the large hall filled with different ethereal eyes, stopped what they were doing and nervously waited for Lord White Soul to finish his inspection.

"Hm… This is odd, I don't find anything off about the artifact and nothing out of the ordinary on the other side. This group of people, where do they come from? Did you perhaps end up targeting some powerful sect?"

"N-No! I didn't, the people in that caravan are all from the Explorer Union or some recently established sect that is supported by three people in the Domain Lord Realm!" Answering the question with a terrified expression on his face, the old man also began going over the information of the people in the caravan inside his head.

He was absolutely certain that the people inside the caravan didn't have any powerful backing. Especially considering that the sect disciples were all from a recently established sect at the border of some weak empire.

Even if the sect had three Domain Lord Realm Experts and could be considered a bit special from the information he could gather, it was far from enough to be considered a powerful backing in the eyes of someone like Lord White Soul!

"I see, keep an eye on the progress of the caravan and inform me if anything out of the ordinary happens."

Not wasting any time after saying this, the middle-aged man turned around and made his way out of the hall. Giving the old man a chance to breath a sigh of relief before he quickly turned his attention back towards the eyeball shaped artifact. Not daring to look away for even a second, as he completely locked on to the scene of the caravan making its way deeper into the former Azure Sky Kingdom, that it displayed.

Rustle~

Noticing that the middle-aged man had left, and his divine sense had similarly disappeared, the rest of the people inside the hall also got back to what they were doing.

From looking at the different eyeball shaped artifacts hovering slightly above the ground in front of all of them, it became obvious that every single one of them were observing different things- or to be more specific, they were observing different groups of people…

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1003 Unknown ObserverNvεlB¡n: Transforming Moments into Memories.

Given that he would be able to fully recover what little qi he had by simply walking around normally for a few minutes, Bai Ning decided to take a look around the place where they had ended up after leaving the underground tunnel, while the rest of the people in the caravan were focused on recovering from the trip through the tunnel.

"A village?" Spotting a small village, no more than a few minutes away from where they were staying, Bai Ning decided to go over and take a look before the two hours were up. Feeling quite curious about how different the territory of the now gone Azure Sky Kingdom would be from the first time he visited.

Back then, the Azure Sky Kingdom had been overrun with demonic cultivators who were wreaking havoc everywhere and he had also been there together with a group of elders from the sect and other disciples to hunt for these demonic cultivators.

However, after entering the small village and exploring it for himself, Bai Ning realized just how different the place was compared to the demon infested mess it had been back then.

At the same time, it also made him realize just how quickly the place had managed to recover from the almost completely destroyed state most of the villages and cities of the Azure Sky Kingdom had been left in after the arrival of the demonic cultivators.

Although the Star Shattering Sect did have a hand in this quick recovery, Bai Ning did hear that the Ascendant Frost Hall, who had decided to become a sect under the Star shattering Sect, was the main reason that the territory had managed to recover so quickly.

Even if he didn't know too much about the Ascendant Frost Hall who was now essential in control of the territory of the now gone Azure Sky Kingdom, he still felt a sense of respect for them after witnessing firsthand how fast the place had recovered from the demonic cultivator invasion only a few years earlier.

Part of him also wanted to visit the sect, as it had been around for a long time and was bound to have gathered some unique blacksmithing blueprints!

"Oh? Looks like it's about time to return back to the caravan." Having been lost in his own thoughts while wandering around the village, Bai Ning suddenly realized that the two-hour break was about to end-

Swish~

So, without wasting a single second, he left the village and returned to the caravan with a few minutes to spare.

…

Having watched the entire scene of Bai Ning entering the small village and staying there for a little over an hour, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing both of his eyes as he turned his attention back towards the caravan.

Someone is observing the caravan from far away through some kind of technique…

Narrowing both of his eyes even further as he looked towards an empty point in the sky above the caravan that was getting ready to leave again, Xuan Hao managed to spot a small eyeball hidden by dozens of different concealment formations and other means to hide it from any prying eyes.

The power contained inside some of the concealment formations placed around the eyeball were strong enough to hide from the divine sense of someone at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm and required at least someone in the Domain Lord Realm to construct it!

If not for the fact that he had reached the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he doubted that he would have been able to find it back when he had been in the Domain Lord Realm. Meaning that whoever was behind this eyeball hovering in the air above the caravan was not someone that his disciple or the rest of the disciples from the sect had any way to deal with.

Even when combining their strength, the most they could do, would be to fight a weaker Nascent Soul Realm Expert. Far from enough to deal with a Formation Master who had reached the Domain Lord Realm...

But… Why would such a person target Bai Ning and the rest like this? Is it perhaps because he has something against the Star Shattering Sect? Maybe even an enemy I ended up making without knowing about it?

Feeling his thoughts starting to wander as his curiosity towards the owner of the eyeball floating in the air above his disciple and the rest of the caravan, Xuan Hao began to slowly probe the eyeball with his divine sense. Trying his best to find the connection between the eyeball and its owner, so he could follow it back and find out where the owner in question was located, while at the same time making sure to not accidentally alert the person behind the eyeball in the process.

However, after close to half an hour of trying to find the connection between the eyeball and the person using it to observe the caravan that was moving deeper into the Azure Sky Kingdom, Xuan Hao could only give up. Unable to find out where the person controlling it was located.

In the end, he could still forcefully locate the owner of the eyeball. The only problem was that this would inevitably alert the other party into escaping… And given that he had no idea how far away the other party was and if he could reach the place in time, there was a very real chance that the other party could escape.

Not something he wanted to see happen, as a powerful Domain Lord Realm Expert secretly targeting the Star Shattering Sect was not something that he wanted to see happen. Especially considering that Feng Chen and Shu Yao were still far too weak to deal with something like this.

Whoosh~

For this reason, Xuan Hao decided to silently retract his divine sense from the floating eyeball before spreading it out into the area around where the caravan was travelling. Deciding to use them in a bid to lure out the potential enemy.

Even if the other party was in the Domain Lord Realm and was skilled in the art of formation, Xuan Hao didn't really feel any sense of threat from the other party. After all, when all was said and done, his strength had already far surpassed the Domain Lord Realm. Making him more than confident in both protecting the disciples from his sect, while also dealing with the unknown person observing them.

…

"Huh!?"

At the same time Xuan Hao retracted his divine sense from the eyeball floating in the air above the caravan, an old man sitting cross legged in front of an artifact that looked like a bigger and far more complicated metal version of the eyeball in the air above the caravan, opened both of his eyes in surprise.

Around him were dozens of other similar artifacts that were each watched over by other people of different ages and cultivation realms. The weakest having reached the Nascent Soul Realm, while the strongest had reached the Fifth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm… And the old man just so happened to be this Fifth Stage Domain Lord Realm Expert.

"What was that…?" Narrowing both of his eyes as he muttered this to himself, the old man began to thoroughly examine the artifact in front of him. However, after finding nothing unusual he could only shake his head and give up.

"Oh? Did something happen?"

Just as he sat back down again and was about to get back to his job of keeping an eye on the caravan that the eyeball was hovering above, a voice echoed out behind him before a middle-aged man walked over.

"This humble servant greets Lord White Soul, I felt something odd about the ethereal eye and decided to investigate it. However, I didn't end up finding anything…"

"Hm? Something odd about the ethereal eye?" Hearing what the old man said, the middle-aged man who had been referred to as Lord White Soul narrowed both of his eyes as he walked up to the artifact before examining it with his own divine sense.

Whoosh-!

As the powerful divine sense spread out, some of the Nascent Soul Realm Experts present fainted on the spot when coming into contact with it, while the rest were left shivering at the terrifying divine sense. Even though the divine sense was far from powerful enough to cause someone in the Domain Lord Realm to faint, they all understood that it wouldn't be that difficult for the owner of said divine sense to kill them.

"""…"""

For this reason, everyone inside the large hall filled with different ethereal eyes, stopped what they were doing and nervously waited for Lord White Soul to finish his inspection.

"Hm… This is odd, I don't find anything off about the artifact and nothing out of the ordinary on the other side. This group of people, where do they come from? Did you perhaps end up targeting some powerful sect?"

"N-No! I didn't, the people in that caravan are all from the Explorer Union or some recently established sect that is supported by three people in the Domain Lord Realm!" Answering the question with a terrified expression on his face, the old man also began going over the information of the people in the caravan inside his head.

He was absolutely certain that the people inside the caravan didn't have any powerful backing. Especially considering that the sect disciples were all from a recently established sect at the border of some weak empire.

Even if the sect had three Domain Lord Realm Experts and could be considered a bit special from the information he could gather, it was far from enough to be considered a powerful backing in the eyes of someone like Lord White Soul!

"I see, keep an eye on the progress of the caravan and inform me if anything out of the ordinary happens."

Not wasting any time after saying this, the middle-aged man turned around and made his way out of the hall. Giving the old man a chance to breath a sigh of relief before he quickly turned his attention back towards the eyeball shaped artifact. Not daring to look away for even a second, as he completely locked on to the scene of the caravan making its way deeper into the former Azure Sky Kingdom, that it displayed.

Rustle~

Noticing that the middle-aged man had left, and his divine sense had similarly disappeared, the rest of the people inside the hall also got back to what they were doing.

From looking at the different eyeball shaped artifacts hovering slightly above the ground in front of all of them, it became obvious that every single one of them were observing different things- or to be more specific, they were observing different groups of people…

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Oh? It looks like someone used the eyeball to send over his own divine sense to investigate the situation by himself, did the owner of the eyeball perhaps notice me earlier when I was trying to find him?

Having clearly noticed the divine sense that was transferred through the eyeball before it started to thoroughly examine the area around the eyeball, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he thought he wondered if he had been noticed by the other party when he had used his divine sense to try and find the owner of the eyeball just now.

Even if it would have been difficult to perceive him given the fact that he had deliberately restrained himself to make it harder for him to get noticed, the power behind the divine sense had far surpassed the Domain Lord Realm and had clearly entered the Soul Ascension Realm.

Although he couldn't tell just how many tribulations this Soul Ascension Realm Expert had passed through, the divine sense alone was strong enough that he wouldn't have been able to hide from it and only through sheer luck was he already been outside the area that it covered when it emerged from the eyeball. If not for this, he would undoubtedly have been spotted by the other party earlier.

Haaa… When did the Star Shattering Sect make this kind of enemy? Even the ancestor of the Sky Empire shouldn't be this strong…

Thinking this to himself as he glanced in the direction of the mysterious eyeball hovering above the caravan, Xuan Hao felt far more uncomfortable compared to before now that he knew there was a powerful expert in the Soul Ascension Realm behind the floating eyeball observing his disciple and the disciples of his sect. Especially considering that he had no idea just how powerful this person was and the fact that his initial impression was pointing towards the other party being someone in the Later Stages of the Soul Ascension Realm.

He might have reached the Intermediate stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm and had the strength to fight someone who had reached the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, but he also understood that he was far from invincible in the Soul Ascension Realm. The encounters he had with the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts back in the mystic realm of the Mirage sect were more than enough to make him understand this.

Not to mention protecting Bai Ning and the rest of the disciples from his sect, he wouldn't even be able to protect himself if the person behind the eyeball turned out to be someone at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm…

"But… Do I take Bai Ning and the rest away before the other party can show up in person? If I really do this, it might end up leaving a hidden problem for the sect in the future. Not to mention, it isn't certain that the other party is at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm.

If that is the case, this might be a perfect opportunity to get rid of this hidden threat before it ends up causing problems for the rest of the sect and my other disciples…" Muttering this to himself as he kept his attention focused on the eyeball hovering above the caravan, Xuan Hao began to debate whether or not to allow his disciple and the rest of the disciples from his sect to continue moving forward to find out who this hidden threat was.

All things considered, he might be overreacting to the matter and his disciple, and his group just happened to enter the area where someone had decided to either cultivate or recover from a battle. In that case, the eyeball should just be a security measure of this expert, as he didn't want anyone to interrupt him…

Even if Xuan Hao felt that this was unlikely, there was indeed a chance of this being the case given how close the former Azure Sky Kingdom was to the Frozen Wasteland. Especially when considering that the Frozen Wasteland had grown more and more unstable since the demonic cultivator invasion.

The Star Shattering Sect might not have felt much after his personal interference in the matter, but the rest of the kingdoms bordering the Frozen Wastelands were not in the same situation, as they were stuck dealing with a constant influx of demonic cultivators.

The different empires behind these kingdoms had, according to Elder Song, also begun to send in their peak experts into the Frozen Wasteland to figure out what had caused this sudden exodus from the Frozen Wastelands.

The Empires sending in experts were not just the weaker empires like the Sky Empire who barely had a handful of Soul Ascension Realm Expert but was also the more powerful empires located close to the center of the continent. Meaning that it wouldn't be that odd if one of these experts who had entered the Frozen Wasteland happened to be recovering inside one of the small kingdoms bordering the Frozen Wasteland.

Although it would be inside the territory of another empire, it was far safer than recovering inside the Frozen Wasteland that was getting increasingly dangerous with each passing day. Even more so considering that the powerful True Demon Realm Experts had also begun wandering around the outer parts of the Frozen Wastelands.

"Guess I will just observe for now and see if the eyeball continues to follow after them…" Glancing in the direction of the Frozen Wastelands as he said this to himself, Xuan Hao decided to not do anything that might possibly alert the other party for now.

After all, given that they had not yet shown themselves, it was obvious that his divine sense hadn't been noticed. Instead, it should have been due to a sudden feeling of unease the other party might have felt when he began to secretly search the eyeball with his divine sense.

Whilst it might be a bit of out of the ordinary to do something like this while trying to hide inside an unfamiliar empire, it would not be too odd to do something like this if the owner of the eyeball was in an injured state and fearing someone had found him in this weakened state.

Thinking about this, Xuan Hao felt himself calm down as he looked at the eyeball fully focused on the caravan making its way deeper inside the former Azure Sky Kingdom. Given that they were the strongest people around, it made sense that the eyeball would keep an eye on them.

Even if Bai Ning and the rest were far from strong enough to threaten someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, it was still clear that they were part of a powerful sect or kingdom given their age and strength and given that the other party was not familiar with the Star Shattering Sect or possibly even the Sky Empire, he or she didn't want to take any chances and possibly offend a Soul Ascension Realm Expert…NvεlB¡n: Transforming Moments into Memories.

Whoosh~

Feeling like he had figured out the origin of the eyeball and the reason why it was observing his disciple and his group after thinking things through, Xuan Hao felt himself calm down even more as he no longer felt the same level of worry that he had before when looking at the eyeball hovering above the caravan.

Instead, he was filled with far more curiosity compared to before about the owner of the eyeball and what might have happened to cause a powerful Soul Ascension Realm Expert to hide away inside the Sky Empire to recover from what he thought to be an injure that should have been inflicted by one of the more powerful True Demon Realm Experts inside the Frozen Wastelands.

…

"Hm? Are we about to arrive at the location?" Unaware about what had happened in the sky above him a few hours earlier, Bai Ning curiously poked his head out of the carriage before turning to ask one of the people from the Explorer Union who happened to be just outside his and Hui Ying's carriage. Having clearly felt that they had slowed down significantly all of a sudden.

"Yes, we should be there in another hour or so, we are currently going a little slower as we are about to enter a rather dangerous part of the Azure Sky Kingdom. Well… Not really too dangerous considering that we have so many people in the Core Formation Relam with us."

Nodding his head as he said this, the person from the Explorer Union clearly didn't notice the fact that Bai Ning was one of these Core Formation Realm Experts, as his face was filled with awe while looking towards the older disciples of the sect.

"Indeed… Looks like we won't have to worry too much…" Not wanting to scare the person from the Explorer Union, Bai Ning decided to just nod his head as he said this before retreating back inside the carriage to wake up Hui Ying who had fallen asleep at some point during the journey through the Azure Sky Kingdom.

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Shortly after the conversation with the person from the Explorer Union, Bai Ning discovered that they had made their way inside a mountainous part of the Azure Sky Kingdom. Even without knowing anything about this place, it was still rather obvious that such a place would have a lot of demon beasts. Especially if there weren't any sects that had decided to make the place their home and keep the demon beasts in check.

However, from how desolate and rundown the road they were using was, it was clear that there wasn't any sect around keeping the demon beasts living on the mountains around them in check. Making it clear why the person from the Explorer Union had been so uneasy about entering the place.

Roar!

Not even a second after he thought about all of this, a demon beast in the earlier stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm jumped out from the bushes located near the place where his and Hui Ying's carriage was passing through-

Swish-!

And not a second later, someone in the Later Stage Foundation Establishment Realm Expert descended upon the demon beast and blocked its path before it had a chance to do any damage to the caravan-

Roa-

Ptsh!

Overpowering and killing it in a few short exchanges!

Roar!NvεlB¡n: Transforming Moments into Memories.

Rooooar!

Unfortunately, this was not the end, as dozens of loud roars soon echoed out from all around the caravan before a large number of demon beasts made their presence known as they soon descended down towards the caravan filled with killing intent. Among which, there was no lack of Core Formation Realm demon beasts.

"This- Everyone, get ready to fight!" Following the sudden ambush that was about to reach them, the older disciple at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm called out to everyone before jumping forward and into the approaching demon beast. Heading directly towards a large spider demon beast at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm that seemed to be the most powerful among the attacking demon beasts.

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Reacting to the loud yell of the oldest disciple, the Core Formation Realm Experts from both the Star Shattering Sect and the Explorer Union all rushed out to meet the approaching demon beasts. Making sure to each target the more powerful demon beasts in an attempt to prevent them from reaching the caravan and possibly damaging it as a result.

Soon enough, the sound of battle echoed throughout the mountains as the people in the Foundation Establishment Realm rushed out of their carriages to face the remaining demon beasts.

…

Watching the large battle taking place below as a sudden horde of demon beasts had descended upon Bai Ning and the rest of the caravan, Xuan Hao soon turned his attention back towards the eyeball hovering in the air above the caravan after making sure that Bai Ning and the rest were capable of dealing with the demon beasts by themselves.

The eyeball is still following after them…

Compared to when the eyeball had first shown up and he had suspected that it just belonged to some injured Soul Ascension Realm Expert secretly recovering nearby, he was now certain that this was not the case.

The main reason for this being the fact that his disciple and the rest had passed through several large towns with Nascent Soul Realm Experts inside of them, yet the eyeball had not even glanced in the direction of these Nascent Soul Realm Experts and had instead remained fully focused on them.

If the eyeball really did belong to an injured Soul Ascension Realm Expert who was just injured and recovering inside the Azure Sky Kingdom, there was no way he or she would feel Bai Ning and the rest were a bigger threat than someone in the Nascent Soul Realm…

"Haaa… Looks like it is indeed someone specifically targeting them, but where did this Soul Ascension Realm Expert pop up from all of a sudden? Be it the Sky Empire or the surrounding empires, someone this powerful is impossible to find outside of the most powerful people in said empires, like the ancestor of the Sky Empire…" Muttering this to himself as he kept his attention focused on the eyeball, Xuan Hao could not think of where this Soul Ascension Realm Expert had appeared from all of a sudden.

Even if there was a chance that he was one of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts from one of the more powerful empires who had gone to the Frozen Wasteland, it made no sense why someone like that would target the disciples of his sect.

Not only that, but there was also the fact that this Soul Ascension Realm Expert chose to keep an eye on them as they made their way through the Azure Sky Kingdom instead of just directly capturing them. After all, given the difference in strength between someone in the Soul Ascension Realm and the Core Formation Realm, doing this would be as simple as breathing.

Is there perhaps another reason for this that I'm unaware of?

Not knowing what the best thing would be to do in this kind of uncertain situation, Xuan Hao ultimately decided to continue observing the group below as they continued on with their adventure without doing anything.

In case they encountered a dangerous situation or the Soul Ascension Realm Expert behind the eyeball appeared with hostile intentions, he would escape with them before anything could happen. No matter what, his current strength was still comparable to someone who had passed through the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm and with his recent comprehension of the Dao of Space, he was confident in escaping in case the other party was stronger than him.

The only problem with this, was if the other party was really targeting the Star Shattering Sect. At that point in time, he would have to find a way to deal with a far more powerful opponent if he wanted the branch sects of the Star Shattering Sect located outside the Shattered Star Peaks to survive…

Well… If it really comes down to it, I could always try and bait the person into the Shattered Star Peak before using the formation there.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao unconsciously glanced away from floating eyeball and looked down at Bai Ning locked in a fight with a Second Stage Core Formation Realm demon beast.

Although he was holding his own against the demon beast that was one minor realm above him, it was clear that he had no way to defeat the demon beast and was instead slowly being pushed back by the stronger demon beast. Demonstrating that he was nowhere near the same level as Chu Yang and Qing Yi when it came to combat experience.

Then again, this was a given, as the only real combat experience he had was when he had hunted down demonic cultivators and entered what he believed to be a secret realm for a few days where he and Hui Ying spent most of their time hiding or escaping from different demon beasts.

When it came to actually fighting demon beasts, he had close to no experience. Especially after having reached the Core Formation Realm, as he had not left the sect after recovering from the injuries he had received back then. Focusing all of his time on either improving his blacksmithing or cultivating. Using as little time as possible on actual combat training.

"Maybe it would be a good idea if Bai Ning went out a bit more in the future…" Seeing the lack of combat experience of his third disciple on full display, Xuan Hao could not help muttering this to himself as he already began planning to inform Elder Song to have his disciple set out for some of the sects excursions outside the sect designed to help the disciple gain combat experience.

Although it was fine that Bai Ning was not as good at fighting as Chu Yang or Qing Yi, he felt that it was unacceptable that he wasn't capable of fighting equally with a demon beast only a single minor realm above himself.

…

Ching~

"Hehe, found it!"

At the same time Xuan Hao was planning on how to better train his disciple after returning to the sect, the older disciple facing off against the Peak Core Formation Realm demon beast successfully found a weak spot in the spider's exoskeleton-

"Haaa!"

Ptsh!

Taking advantage of the weakness, he didn't waste a single second as his sword pierced through the weakness with surgical precision. Instantly killing the large spider demon beast before it had a chance to defend itself.

Swish-!

Having killed off the spider demon beast, the older disciple didn't stand around doing nothing, as he turned around and began killing his way through the remaining demon beasts who were far weaker than the Peak Core Formation Realm spider he had just killed. Almost instantly causing the tide of the battle to swift heavily in their favor, even causing some of the smarter demon beasts to jump away and escape from the battlefield.

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Not long after the older disciple at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm joined in on the battle, did it come to an end. Only the smarter demon beasts who decided to escape after seeing the death of the spider demon beasts managing to run away in time before they got surrounded and killed, something that ended happening to the demon beasts who were still blindly attacking the caravan.

"Looks like everything is over…" Feeling a wave of exhaustion washing over him following the Second Stage Core Formation Realm demon beast in front of him getting killed by one of the more powerful older disciples, Bai Ning used the last bit of strength left in his body to drag himself back inside the carriage.

Although the battle itself shouldn't have been anything too difficult given the fact that the demon beast he faced was only a single minor realm above him, he ended up wasting a lot of his qi during the fight as he wasn't used to fighting at the Core Formation Realm. Having prioritized his blacksmithing and cultivating over combat training.

After returning to the sect, I should properly use a bit more time on combat training…L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Bai Ning glanced around the carriage and saw that Hui Ying was already sitting down cross legged. Busy recovering from the battle.

Whoosh~

Following her example and feeling the exhaustion that came from overexerting himself by fighting a more powerful opponent, Bai Ning similarly sat down and began to recover the qi he had used during the fight.

As for the rest of the disciples and people from the Explorer Union, they did the same as it was unanimously decided that they would recover before moving any deeper into the mountainous terrain. Understanding very well that they wouldn't be able to escape unscratched if they ended up encountering a similar ambush without having recovered.

Like this, the next few hours passed by without anything happening before the first few people got up and began to clear out a path through the dead demon beasts now stacked up around the caravan, while also protecting the rest of the caravan from any of the nearby demon beasts who had been attracted by the smell of blood.

Luckily, the strongest among these demon beasts had barely reached the Foundation Establishment, while most of the remaining demon beasts approaching the caravan were only in the Qi Condensation Realm. Not proving to be any problem for the few people who had gotten up to clear the path through the dead bodies of the demon beasts blocking their path deeper into the mountainous terrain.

In the end, by the time Bai Ning and Hui Ying opened their eyes again, having fully recovered from the earlier battle, the caravan had already begun heading deeper inside the mountains… And after asking around a bit with the disciples from the sect, they both found out that they would be reaching the hidden cave that the person from the Explorer Union had told everyone about beforehand.

Apparently, from the information that the rest of the disciples told them, the cave was located at the base of one of the mountains and was guarded by a powerful Core Formation Realm demon beast.

The main reason why this person from the Explorer Union had asked for help was because the Core Formation Realm demon beast was far stronger than he first expected. Not even with the help of everyone he knew in the Explorer Union could he defeat it.

All things considered; this was what ultimately ended up causing him to go to the Star Shattering Sect's disciples for help.

However, even if the Star Shattering Sect had a good reputation, he had still been cautious and didn't dare to get any elders of the sect involved, as he feared that they might take advantage of him given the fact that he was not a core member of the Explorer Unions and could only be considered someone random who had joined the Explorer Union as an adventurer to make a living… And more importantly than all of this, he had only reached the Core Formation Realm, a cultivation realm that could be considered insignificant in the eyes of a powerful sect like the Star Shattering Sect.

As for how he knew about the precious things hidden away inside the cave that the demon beast guarded, that was because he had managed to enter the cave on his own when he had found it.

Back then, the demon beast was nowhere near the entrance of the cave, and he entered it without a problem and found all of the precious metals, spiritual herbs, and other things inside, but… Just as he was overwhelmed with joy at the discovery, a loud roar had sounded from deeper inside the cave before the demon beast appeared and chased him out of the cave before he could take any of the precious things covering the ground inside the cave.

"Indeed, unfortunate, but this also gives us a chance to get our hands on some of the precious things inside the cave. Especially those high-quality spirit stones, with something like that to help out during cultivation, it won't take long for me to break through to the Core Formation Realm!" Muttering this to herself as they had just heard the entire story about how the person from the Explorer Union ended up asking the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect for help, Hui Ying could not stop herself from growing excited after mentioning the spirit stones.

Although the spirit stones would not be able to directly help someone increase their cultivation realm, they would undoubtably help increase one's cultivation speed. Especially so when one was below the Nascent Soul Realm.

In simple reductive terms, the main limiting factor for increasing one's cultivation base in the Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Realm was how fast one could absorb qi and secondly stabilize the new qi inside the dantian into either a qi vortex, pillars, or a core.

With the help of spirit stones, the time needed to be used on absorbing qi would be reduced depending on the quality of the spirit stone, leaving most of the time for stabilizing the new qi to break through a higher realm.

All I really care about are the spiritual metal and the blacksmithing notes that he mentioned seeing inside the cave, as long as I can get my hands on them, I won't care about the spirit stones. If I really need any spirit stones for my cultivation, I can always ask master for some…

Shaking his head as he thought about this after hearing what Hui Ying said, Bai Ning didn't realize just how lucky he was to be in such a position as he was looking forward to getting his hand on the spiritual metal and the blacksmithing notes.

Although, when all was said and done, the thing he was the most interested in by far, was the blacksmithing notes. After all, he had no idea how far this blacksmith had gone and what the notes contained. For all he knew, it might be notes belonging to an extremely powerful blacksmith that had far surpassed any blacksmith he had heard of or seen before.

Of course, this was just what Bai Ning hoped for deep down. In reality, he understood very well that the chances of this being the case was unlikely. Especially considering that it was inside the Azure Sky Kingdom, a place where the best blacksmith he knew about had at most reached the Expert Realm in blacksmithing, a realm that he himself was currently in.

Even if it isn't some precious blueprint by a powerful blacksmith far above the Expert Realm, I at the very least hope that it's something unique that will help me better master the Expert Realm of blacksmithing and help me more easily advance in the-

"Everyone! We are here! Those in the Core Formation Realm, come out and prepare, the demon beast in question is just up ahead!"

Just as Bai Ning was lost in his own thoughts about the blacksmithing notes and what might be contained inside of them, a loud roar outside interrupted his train of thought-

Rustle~

However, upon realizing what was said, Bai Ning quickly got up and left the carriage together with Hui Ying.

Even if he had only reached the First Stage of the Core Formation Realm and wouldn't be of that much help, he still understand that it would be better than nothing to have more Core Formation Realm Experts around to attack the powerful demon beast, something that the older disciple in the lead had also thought about when calling for all Core Formation Realm Experts earlier.

I wonder what kind of demon beast it is and how strong it is, it should at least have reached the Peak of the Core Formation Realm.

Thinking this to himself as he made his way towards the spot where everyone was gathering together with Hui Ying, Bai Ning could not stop himself from growing nervous as he thought about this.

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