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 1071 Dao of Space, Small Success Realm - Read Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough Chapter 1071 Dao of Space, Small Success Realm Online - All Page - Novel Bin

Chapter 1071 Dao of Space, Small Success Realm

"Wha-!?" Not knowing how to react upon witnessing the demon beast that had been chasing him for the past week getting killed in an instant, Xu Bao could only open his mouth in disbelief as he looked towards Xuan Hao who had appeared beside him. Although he expected Xuan Hao to be strong, he had never imagined it would be to this degree!

"Xu Bao, I never expected to see you here. Especially with such a large demon beast chasing after you."

"Ah! Senior, I- Thank you for saving me." "No problem, so, why are you here? As far as I know, your sect should be quite far away from this place…"

"This… I'm here on behalf of the rest of the independent sects to ask the Star Shattering Sect for something…" Feeling the curious gaze mixed in with a bit of suspicion from Xuan Hao, Xu Bao didn't dare hide the fact that he had come to ask something from the Star Shattering Sect. Not only for himself, but on behalf of all of the independent sects as well.

"Hm? Here on behalf of the independent sects? As far as I know, you and the rest of the independent sects shouldn't be involved in the current struggle taking place in the Sky Empire. Unless you decided to join the Sky Empire in fighting back against the invading empires and want my sects help in the matter…?" Seeing Xuan Hao narrow both of his eyes as he said this, Xu Bao instantly felt a shiver run down his spine.

"N-No! That is not it, we haven't joined in on the current fight, it's just that our current situation isn't looking too good at the moment. Even if we remain neutral, we fear that the invading empires might still destroy us.

Because of this, we thought about the possibility of moving our sects to your sect's territory during this period of time to ensure our safety…. And now I'm here to ask your sect for permission to do this. After all, we don't want to enter the territory of your sect before first getting approval."

Clarifying to the best of his ability that he was not here to drag the Star Shattering Sect into the conflict between the Sky Empire and the surrounding empires, Xu Bao nervously looked up at Xuan Hao. Only feeling relieved after discovering that his expression had softened.

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"I see, but this is not something you should discuss with me. Even though I'm an elder of the Star Shattering Sect, I'm not the person in charge of these kind of things. With that in mind, I will make sure to get you in touch with someone who can."

"Thank you!" Hearing that Xuan Hao didn't outright deny his request after hearing about it, Xu Bao could not help letting out a sigh of relief as he gently bowed his head in thanks. Understanding that it would be much easier to convince the Star Shattering Sect about him and the rest of the independent sects setting up a place of their own inside the territory of the Star Shattering Sect with Xuan Hao's help.

Although it was only a referral, it would at least allow him to talk with someone who could allow him and the rest of the independent sects to settle down in the territory of the Star Shattering Sect… And considering that he and the rest of the independent sects were only looking to stay temporarily, it shouldn't be that hard to accomplish if they just settled down around the borders of the Star Shattering Sect's territory and gave them some of their resources as compensation.

In more simple terms, it could be considered them paying the Star Shattering Sect protection fees to keep them safe during the turmoil in the Sky Empire.

…

Looks like Elder Song will be even busier in the upcoming days… Looking at the excited Xu Bao who was flying beside him as they made their way towards the Star Shattering Sect together, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense guilt welling up inside him as he thought about Elder Song.

Although there were other people who could handle the matter of the independent sects settling down inside the territory of the Star Shattering Sect during the current turmoil that the Sky Empire is going through, Elder Song was by far the most experienced when it came to handling these sorts of things.

Not to mention, with the strength of the independent sects, it was only natural that only the best would handle this. Even if it came at the expense of Elder Song being overworked once again… This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Maybe I should try and encourage Feng Chen to assign more elders to the management of the sect.

Thinking this to himself as he arrived at the base of the Ninth Star Peak together with Xu Bao, Xuan Hao contacted Elder Song and had him come over to take Xu Bao into the sect and go over the matter with the independent sects.

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Even if it was a risk to have them enter the territory of the Star Shattering Sect given that they should still have some spies left from the different major kingdoms inside of them, it would be a significant boost to the Star Shattering Sect's strength if Elder Song could manage to turn them into subordinate sects.

After all, when everything was said and done, the independent sects did have several Domain Lord Realm Experts and a lot of Nascent Soul Realm Experts that would help increase the Star Shattering Sect's strength. Allowing them to make up for the current lack of experts to manage the increasingly large territory under the Star Shattering Sect.

Of course, all of that would be for the future. For now, the independent sects first had to be settled down inside the territory of the Star Shattering Sect before any decisions on taking them in permanently could be made. Not to mention, the spies still lurking inside of them also had to be dealt with before all of this.

At least with Elder Song on the case, Xuan Hao felt confident that everything would work out in the favor of the Star Shattering Sect. Even if it might take a few years of hard work from him and the rest of the sect's management elders.

…

Not long after Xu Bao and Elder Song entered the Star Shattering Sect together to discuss the matter of the independent sects, Xuan Hao returned to his cultivation room and focused his attention back on comprehending the Dao of Space.

Considering that he was already on the brink of breaking through to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Space, it did not take more than a few days before the first signs of reaching the Small Success Realm appeared.

Boom-!

And only week after having rescued Xu Bao from the large bird demon beast, he successfully managed to breakthrough to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Space. Officially taking him one step closer to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

Unfortunately, now he had to comprehend a brand-new Dao to the Small Success Realm and integrate it into his Dao Domain before he could officially begin thinking about the final step of having one of his Daos reach the Large Success Realm.

Only then would he be able to break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm and obtain the strength to face off against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.

Before that, he would have no way to face off against the powerful empires and other powers like the Heavenly Dragon Temple in the central part of the Ewaria Continent. At least for now, his strength within the Soul Ascension Realm should allow him to face off against someone in the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. After all, the Dao of Space could be considered special among the different Daos and would allow him far more versatility when it came to fighting. Even more so considering that the strength of the Divine Void Eyes increased alongside his comprehension of the Dao of Space and his movement technique also became stronger the higher his comprehension of the Dao of Space was.

Although he couldn't yet use the True Spatial Collapse with his Divine Void Eyes, he clearly felt that it was far easier to use the Partial Spatial Collapse after his comprehension of the Dao of Space reached the Small Success Realm. While before, he could only use it to practice and it wasn't that useful when it came to combat, he now felt like he could attach the Partial Spatial Collapse to his attacks and enhance their power, like a sword strike that would cause the space to start partially collapsing everything it hit. Although, he would still need to test out things before he could be certain about how it worked and how much stronger it made him.

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Chapter 1072 The Forgotten Quest...

So... What Dao should I try to comprehend?

Opening his eyes after breaking through to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Space, the first thing on his mind after examining his newfound power became what Dao he should try to comprehend now that he had finished comprehending the Dao of Space to the Small Success Realm.

Considering that he had managed to have some sort of encounter or had been helped by the system whenever he had comprehended the other five Daos, he had no idea where to begin when it came to trying to comprehend a new Dao from nothing. Especially considering that the system had entered what seemed like an inactive state for the past few months. Not giving him any new quests to complete.

Why the system had decided to do something like that was not something he had any idea about, but at least he could guess to some extent that it was because his disciples had not made any significant improvements after Chu Yang and Qing Yi reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

Maybe only after one of them reaches the Domain Lord Realm will start to show some life again…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao understood that he couldn't rely on the system to help him out with his Sixth Dao; he would have to comprehend it on his own.

Now the question became whether or not he should stay in the Star Shattering Sect and continue his secluded cultivation and try to comprehend a new Dao that way or leave the Star Shattering Sect and try to seek an opportunity to comprehend a new Dao.

Although staying in the Star Shattering Sect was by far the safest choice, it would also take a long time for him to comprehend a brand-new Dao without any form of external help. Leaving the Star start to show some life again…

Dao; he would have to comprehend it on his own.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao understood Now the question became whether or not he should stay in the Star that he couldn't rely on the system to help him out with his Sixth Shattering Sect and continue his secluded cultivation and try to Shattering Sect and searching for an opportunity should be faster but would also be far more dangerous.

The danger in question didn't come from the fact that he would leave the Star Shattering Sect and search for an opportunity, but instead came from the fact that an opportunity that could help him comprehend a new Dao would most likely be located in a dangerous location.

In the worst-case scenario, he might even have to leave the Sky Empire if he couldn't find anything in the dangerous locations in the central region. Having to move closer to the central part of the continent where more opportunities to comprehend the Dao could be found. Of course, this would also mean that the people he encountered would be stronger than those in the Sky Empire and the surrounding empires. Not counting the Blue Sea Empire.

Peak Soul Ascension Realm Experts might not exist in any of these empires, but the same could not be said for the empires located closer to the core of the continent. Maybe he might even end up being unlucky enough to encounter someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…

"Even if I can comprehend a new Dao on my own by staying in the Star Shattering Sect, I still have to comprehend it to the Small Success Realm. Not to mention, I also have to reach the Large Success Realm with at least one of my Daos to reach the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

And I have to do all of that before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple shows up…" Muttering this to himself as frown formed on his lips, Xuan Hao realized that he would at most have a few years to reach the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

Even if his current comprehension was far above that of anyone he had seen so far, be it his disciples or the other elders from the sect, he understood that this was far too short a time for him to comprehend a brand-new Dao to the Small Success Realm without any help, let alone have one of his Daos reach the Large Success Realm…

"Haaa… Even if I don't want to, it looks like I will have to seek out an opportunity…" Turning to look at his four disciples working hard on improving their cultivation through his divine sense, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if Bai Ning and Mui would be able to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm and possible trigger a change in the system.

But considering that Mui was still in the Foundation Establishment Realm, he felt that it was a bit too much to ask for.

As for the reward from the time limited quest that wanted him to scatter interspatial rings across the world…

[Limited Time Quest: You have found a brilliant way to recruit new potential disciples! Scatter 1000 interspatial rings around the world. The system will add a specific test to the ring that will test the potential future disciples. Interspatial Rings will only be counted towards the quest if they are scattered a certain distance away from each other.] [Time: 4.9 years] [5789/1000] [Reward: vary depending on the amount of successfully scattered interspatial rings]

There was still around five years left before the timer ran out… And with how many interspatial rings he had managed to get his hands on after reaching the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he didn't doubt that he would be able to scatter more than ten thousand interspatial rings by the time the timer ran out.

Even if he had no idea what the reward was, he hoped that his efforts would be rewarded fairly. After all, the worth of the thousands of interspatial rings that he had thrown away for the quest over the years were worth a fortune.

Originating from the large amount of special spiritual metal that he had used to create the interspatial rings. After all, the original spiritual metal he got from the system in the past had already run out and he had been forced to go after the sect's storage of spiritual metal used for creating interspatial rings.

At least, with his current identity, no one questioned him or asked why he needed so much spiritual metal for creating interspatial rings. Although, he could already feel Elder Song being less and less excited about the fact that he had essentially taken away over half of the special spiritual metal stored in the sect that could be used for the creation of interspatial rings.

Even if it didn't really affect the sect that much, it still slowed down the development of the sect to some extent, as the spiritual metal mine located beneath the old capital city of the Azure Sky Kingdom had yet to be fully operational.

Well… Enough about that, I shouldn't think too much about that damned quest… NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

Shaking his head as a wry smile made its way onto his face, Xuan Hao could not help remembering the time he had raided the sect's treasury because he had run out of spiritual metal for creating interspatial rings.

Back then, he had ended up running into Elder Song, who upon seeing him carry away over half of the sect's spiritual metal for the creation of interspatial rings, had given him a rather interesting look…

As for the reason why, he had suddenly managed to reach the staggering level of scattering over 5000 interspatial rings… That was mainly due to his improvements in the Dao of Space making it far easier for him to create interspatial rings.

At this point in time, the creation of interspatial rings had almost become second nature to him, and he could create them even when he was comprehending the Dao of Space.

Not only that, but because of the sheer number of interspatial rings he had created likely exceeding what most normal cultivators would ever create during their lifetime, the interspatial rings created by him were also far higher quality than normal.

For example, if a normal interspatial ring created with the lowest quality of spiritual metal had a space of 10 cubic meters, it would have close to double that!

Thinking about it, now that his Dao of Space had broken through to the Small Success Realm, it might even exceed that…

"Ah…" Realizing that he was just trying to avoid the topic of leaving the sect by thinking about interspatial rings and his rather pointless mastery in the art of creating interspatial rings, Xuan Hao could not help shaking his head as he slowly got up and made his way towards the door leading out of his cultivation room. Deciding to leave the sect before, he ended up finding some sort of excuse to delay his departure.

Although… I haven't been teaching my disciples for the past few weeks and I will be gone for quite some time this time around. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to first spend a few days teaching them before leaving.

Coming up with this excuse just as he was about to use his movement technique to leave, Xuan Hao began moving in the direction of the Combat Hall where Mui and Qing Yi were currently training together…

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Chapter 1073 Reluctantly Leaving

Over the next week, Xuan Hao spent most of his time teaching his disciples. Even using some of the time to complete the repeatable quest from the system and hold a lecture for some of the newer disciples of the sect that had entered the sect during the last recruitment period of the sect. Also giving the new disciples a chance to mingle with some of the older and more experienced disciples trying their best to join in on the lecture.

After all, even if the lecture was about the Qi Condensation Realm and didn't revolve around the Foundation Establishment Realm that most of them were in, it was still useful for them to get a better understanding of the Qi Condensation Realm. Not to mention, they were all curious about Xuan Hao after a certain rumor began spreading throughout the sect over the past few months.

Luckily for them, Xuan Hao didn't pay too much attention to what the disciples of the sect were talking about among themselves. In turn, he never found out about the fact that there was a rumor going around in the sect about him before the week he had set aside for teaching his disciples arrived.

…

Even if I used these scrolls, my talent in the Dao of Wind and the Dao of Wood is far from enough to reach the Elementary Realm in a few years, let alone the Small Success Realm…

Standing outside the entrance to his palace as he thought about the three scrolls that he had obtained from the temple of the Half Spirit Race that could to some extent help increase the comprehension of certain Daos, Xuan Hao could not help lamenting at the fact that his talent in the Dao of Wind and the Dao of Wood was abysmal when compared to any other Dao he had tried comprehending in the past. N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Even more unfortunate was the fact that the last scroll was for the Dao of Fire, that was useful in him comprehending a new Dao. Although, it might prove useful when he needed one of his Daos to reach the Large Success Realm in the future.

The only other thing he had on him that might be able to help him comprehend a new Dao without leaving the Star Shattering Sect was the mysterious stone tablet that he had obtained from the illusion of the mist covered mountain range inside the Mystic Realm of the Mirage Sect.

Unfortunately, when he had tried to take the mysterious stone tablet out of his interspatial ring to investigate it more closely after leaving the mystic realm, he discovered that the mysterious tablet had changed into some kind of illusory state that made it impossible for him to deduce the Dao carvings he had seen back when he had first grabbed it inside the illusion of the mist.

No matter what he tried to do, he had no way to return the mysterious stone tablet to the state he had first seen it in. Leaving him to keep it inside his interspatial ring for now. Hoping that he would be able to find a way to change it back from its current illusory state.

If he could do that and share it with the Star Shattering Sect, it would undoubtedly result in the sect undergoing a period of rapid growth. Not only would it help those in the Nascent Soul Realm looking to comprehend a domain of their own and step into the Domain Lord Realm, but it would also be helpful for those already in the Domain Lord Realm.

Of course, there was also the fact that it would also be useful to him. Not so much because of the increase in comprehension speed, but because he had a feeling that he would need to comprehend more Daos in the future if he wished to step into the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm…

"Well… That is a matter for the future. For now, I will still have to leave the Star Shattering Sect if I want to stand a chance at reaching the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm before that person from the Heavenly Dragon Temple decides to show up…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while glancing down towards his interspatial ring, Xuan Hao didn't draw out the matter any longer as he took a step forward-

Whoosh~!

Disappearing from the Star Shattering Sect the next moment. Heading in the direction of the core region of the Sky Empire to check out the different dangerous locations there.

Not caring too much about the war between the remaining Soul Ascension Realm powers and the surrounding empires that was about to unfold. After all, the strongest person in these empires would at most have reached the Fourth tribulation- Maybe the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Considering that his current strength should be enough to fight someone in the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm after his Dao of Space broke through to the Small Success Realm, he didn't really worry about them.

Not to mention a Peak Soul Ascension Realm Expert, with his current comprehension of the Dao of Space, he even felt confident in escaping someone in the Earth Immortal Realm!

…

"My cultivation has almost finished stabilizing, I should be able to fully stabilize my cultivation at the Soul Ascension Realm in another week or two…" At the same time Xuan Hao silently left the Star Shattering Sect, Yi Min was smiling happily to herself as she went over her recent progress.

Before arriving at the Star Shattering Sect, she had expected to need at least two months before she could stabilize her cultivation base. Maybe even longer than that depending on the environment of the Shattered Star Peaks.

However, after spending less than a month at the Star Shattering Sect, she could already feel that her cultivation base was about to fully stabilize. Even if she left the Star Shattering Sect now and returned to the Iron Sky Kingdom, she would still be able to display strength far above what she had before- Of course, she had no plans of doing this, as she planned to take full advantage of the great cultivation environment of the Shattered Star Peaks.

In the back of her mind, she even felt a sense of unease knowing that she would soon have to leave the Star Shattering Sect and return to the Iron Sky Kingdom again. After all, with the cultivation environment on the Shattered Star Peaks, she had long since realized that it would be far more beneficial for her to cultivate there compared to her own kingdom.

Even with her small qi gathering formation inside of her cultivation room, it was nowhere near comparable to the chaotic qi formation that extracted the chaotic qi above and refined it into pure spiritual qi of a far higher quality than anything her small qi gathering formation could ever accomplish.

"Maybe it won't hurt to stay for a few weeks longer… And Elder Song also needed my help to deal with the matter regarding the Explorer Union branch located in the city at the base of the Ninth Star Peak. Yes! Helping them deal with the Explorer Union can be considered repaying the favor of letting me stay at the Seventh Star Peak to recover!" Saying this to herself as both her eyes shone, Yi Min got up and made her way out of the room that Xuan Hao had given her inside his pavilion before she made her way in the direction of Elder Song's courtyard.

Considering that she had made up her mind to fully support the Star Shattering Sect in dealing with the Explorer Union branch, she decided to go over and inform Elder Song about it beforehand. After all, she had only helped a bit when it came to helping Elder Song and the other elders understand the Explorer Union more over the past few weeks. Not having assisted them in conversing with the Explorer Union as she had still focused most of her time on trying to stabilize her cultivation base over the past few weeks.

…

Not more than half an hour later, Elder Song could not help looking in the direction of Yi Min who made her way out of his courtyard with a curious expression on his face.

Hm… I wonder why she suddenly wanted to join in on our discussion with the Explorer Union… Could it be that she wants to repay Xuan Hao's favor of saving her and her kingdom? Or maybe she is unwilling to leave the Star Shattering Sect now that she personally experienced the benefits of cultivating here…

Thinking this to himself as he watched her figure disappearing in the direction of Xuan Hao's palace, Elder Song could not help secretly chuckling to himself. No matter what her reason was, he understood that it would be far easier to recruit her to join the Star Shattering Sect in the future.

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Chapter 1074 Two Months...

Following Xuan Hao leaving the Star Shattering Sect, it did not take long before he began searching through the first dangerous location in the core territory of the Sky Empire. However, after only a few days of searching through the place, he quickly discovered that there wasn't anything that would help his attempt to comprehend a new Dao inside.

In the end, the only thing he got out of it was a few precious spiritual herbs and an artifact suitable for someone in the Domain Lord Realm, something that would end up in the treasury of the Star Shattering Sect after he returned.

Thinking that it might just have been bad luck, he just shrugged it off and headed to the next dangerous location in the core territory of the Sky Empire, a place that had once been home to an ancient sect now filled with countless traps that had even claimed the life of someone in the Soul Ascension Realm according to what little information he could gather about the place.

Unfortunately, the place turned out to have long since decayed to a point where nothing inside the ancient sect ruins was working, outside of the killing arrays and trapping formation strong enough to kill someone in the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm that kept most ordinary people from exploring the place.

Knowing that he might just have gotten unlucky two times in a row, Xuan Hao didn't give up and chose another dangerous location in the core territory of the Sky Empire to explore…

A famed mountain range that was said to be filled to the brim with Domain Lord Realm demon beast and countless spiritual herbs that helped one comprehend the Dao…

A network of vast underground cavers that covered an area larger than the current Star Shattering Set, filled with all sorts of dangerous creatures and precious spiritual herbs, said to contain the tombs of ancient cultivators that had far surpassed the cultivators of the present…

A mystical flower meadow filled with rare and magical flowers. Each with their own special effect when used during alchemy or meditation. From allowing one to connect to the Dao to helping improve one's inherent talent. Hidden inside a large bamboo forest with countless powerful demon beast inside of it…

Over the next two months, Xuan Hao searched through every single one of the Sky Empire's dangerous locations. Only avoiding a few special places that he felt would be too dangerous to enter, like the ancient sect located beside the Great Poison Swamp.

"Nothing…"

However, even after all of this, he had not found a single thing that would help him comprehend a new Dao. The so-called dangerous locations of the Sky Empire were mostly filled with things that would be helpful for someone in the Domain Lord Realm or below. Nothing useful for someone trying to comprehend a new Dao.

Even worse, with the war between the Sky Empire and the surrounding empires starting to grow over the past two months, some of the more promising dangerous locations located close to the capital city of the Sky Empire that he had planned to explore, had been destroyed in clashes between the Soul Ascension Realm Experts from both sides as the surrounding empires began testing the strength of the Sky Empire's Soul Ascension Realm Experts.

Thinking about it, if he had known that the surrounding empires would make a move so quickly, he would have explored those places first. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do now that those places had already been destroyed-

"Hm? Someone in the Soul Ascension Realm?"

Or so he thought, a Soul Ascension Realm Expert from one of the empires who had taken part in destroying those dangerous locations just so happened to be flying past him at this moment…

BANG!

Whoosh-!

Not a second later, the poor Soul Ascension Realm Expert in the First Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm was knocked flying before he had any time to react-

"WAAAAaaaah…"

Only able to let out a scream as he disappeared into the distance with a few broken bones. Not knowing what had just happened or who had knocked him, flying back out of the Sky Empire after he had barely taken a single step inside the core territory.

Don't tell me… Did the ancestor of the imperial family return and knock me out of the Sky Empire as warning!? As his thoughts ran wild trying to come up with an explanation for what had just happened to him, the culprit was silently looking off in the direction he had disappeared in as his somewhat tensed expression visibly began relaxing.

"Haaa… I really needed that…" Muttering this to himself as he let out a sigh, Xuan Hao felt himself relaxing after knocking the Soul Ascension Realm Expert flying.

The past two months had really not been good for him, as he had essentially wasted two months of time gathering resources that could only be used by someone in the Domain Lord Realm or below. Nothing that would help him comprehend a new Dao.

As a result, it made him start reconsidering his decision to leave the sect instead of just continuing to cultivate in peace and hope he managed to break through before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple appeared.

At this point in time, he understood that if he wanted to continue searching for opportunities, he would have to leave the Sky Empire and head towards the more dangerous core of the continent where more opportunities existed.

Of course, with more opportunities, there would also be more dangers involved!

"…"

Turning to look in the direction of the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao hesitated for a short moment before disappearing…

Rumble-!

Only a short minute later, a terrifying aura appeared from the direction that he had knocked the Soul Ascension Realm Expert in-

Boom!

Not a second later, a muscular figure standing more than three meters tall appeared at the spot Xuan Hao had been standing only a minute earlier, both of his eyes narrowing as a frown appeared at the corner of his mouth.

If Xuan Hao had been there, he would have been shocked to discover that this person was not someone who had just reached the Fourth or Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm but was instead someone who had reached the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Only a single step away from reaching the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm!

"Hmph! This is definitely not that old turtle… To think someone this powerful appeared inside the Sky Empire..." Muttering this to himself as his frown deepened even further, the titan of a man turned to look in the direction Xuan Hao had left in, a hint of unease present in depth of his eyes.

"Looks like I will have to take a more passive stance when it comes to the Sky Empire for now. At least until I figure out if that person was just someone who happened to pass by…" Shaking his head after a few minutes of silence, the man turned around and left in the direction he had come from. Deciding not to chase after Xuan Hao.

Not only because he was uncertain whether or not Xuan Hao was an enemy or just a powerful expert passing through the Sky Empire that his subordinate had happened to accidentally offend, but also because he sensed some traces left behind by Xuan Hao when he left using his Drifting Cloud Steps.

The profoundness of the Dao of space used was more than enough to make him give up any hope of chasing down the other party, as people skilled in the Dao of Space were close to impossible to catch without any proper preparations or overwhelming difference in strength.

…

"Looks like I won't be able to drag it on for much longer, the situation back home also seems to be growing out of control…" At the same time, back in the Star Shattering Sect, Yi Min was silently whispering this to herself as she sat inside her room with a sad expression on her face.

Over the past two month, she had managed to fully stabilize her strength at the Soul Ascension Realm while also helping the Star Shattering Sect convince the Explorer Union to move their branch to what could be considered a small town located outside of the main city at the base of the Ninth Star Peak. N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

The reason why the branch of the Explorer Union had only been moved, but all the way outside the rapidly developing city at the base of the Ninth Star Peak was in part due to her effort over the past two months. Managing to convince the far too inexperienced staff in charge of the branch before any of their superiors took notice of the rapidly expanding Star Shattering Sect and sent over someone more skilled to manage the branch.

In the end, this was the main reason why she had stayed at the Star Shattering Sect far longer than she first intended.

However, now that she had stabilized her cultivation base and helped out the Star Shattering Sect, it was time for her to return to the Iron Sky Kingdom…

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Chapter 1075 Confused Yi Min~

Mulling over the fact that she had to return to the Iron Sky Kingdom for the next few hours, Yi Min ended up deciding to stay for a little longer as she found out that her subordinate could still keep things stable back in the Iron Sky Kingdom for now.

Even if the different aristocratic families and cultivation clans inside her kingdom had indeed started to cause trouble, it was still within a manageable range for her subordinate. After all, when everything was said and done, he could still be considered the strongest person in the Iron Sky Kingdom after her.

Only when these different powers decided to join forces could the situation be considered to have escalated to a degree where her subordinate wouldn't be able to handle the situation, something she had calculated to at least take a few weeks.

Not knowing that she was just pushing back the time for her to leave after experiencing how beneficial it was for her to cultivate in the Shattered Star Peaks, Yi Min closed both of her eyes as she began meditating.

Oblivious to the fact that Elder Song and some of the other elders she had interacted with over the past two months were already planning on how to make her officially join the Star Shattering Sect and make the Iron Sky Kingdom part of the Star Shattering Sect.

…

"Hm? Where did Elder Song and the rest of the elders go?" Arriving at the spot where she would normally find Elder Song and the rest of the sect's management elders the next morning, Yi Min could not help showing a confused expression on her face.

Although she had only stayed at the Star Shattering Sect for a little over two months, she had long since become aware of Elder Song's reputation in the sect and how hard working he was. Never missing a single meeting and always there to assist the other elders in managing the sect.

For him to be missing together with the management elders… Yi Min had a feeling that something important should have happened. Important enough to not only draw the attention of Elder Song, but also all of the management elders.

"Elder Song!?"

However, just as she was about to turn around and find someone to ask if they knew where Elder Song and the rest of the management elders had gone, the person she had been about to search for appeared in front of her.

"Senior Yi? Is there something I can help with?" Hearing Yi Min calling out to him, Elder Song could not help asking as he made his way over to her. Even without her having said anything, it was rather obvious that she was looking for him from her reaction.

"Ah- It's nothing important, it's just that with the branch of the Explorer Union gone and my cultivation stabilized, I thought it would soon be time for me to return back to my kingdom and came to inform you about it as it seems Xuan Hao left the sect. After all, I can't continue staying here for too long or my kingdom might end up collapsing. Especially when considering the current situation of the Sky Empire…" Saying this with great difficulty, Yi Min felt a bit nervous as she looked towards Elder Song.

Although what she said was indeed the truth and she needed to return to her kingdom, she had wanted to drag things out for another two weeks and make full use of the great cultivation environment of the Shattered Star Peaks.

However, when she opened her eyes this morning and went to look for Xuan Hao to talk about this, she discovered that he had left the sect at some point in time without informing her or his disciples about it, causing her to feel like it wasn't a good idea to continue staying at the Star Shattering Sect now that the person who had first invited her had disappeared.

Even if she had managed to become friends with quite a few of the elders in the sect during this period of time, it was far from enough for her to continue living inside the Star Shattering Sect in her eyes. Especially considering that she began feeling like she was taking advantage of the kindness that these elders had shown her.

"Leave? I understand…" Hearing what Yi Min said, Elder Song frowned for a short moment before pausing for a second. "When are you planning to leave? If it's not within the next few days, could I ask you for some help with something?" "I'm not in a rush… I can stay for a few weeks longer if you need my help with something, it's the least I can do to repay Xuan Hao for saving me." Whispering the last part to herself as she answered Elder Song, Yi Min was more than happy to get an excuse to continue staying inside the Star Shattering Sect for a few weeks longer. This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Not to mention, she would also be able to help out the Star Shattering Sect in the process. Making her feel like she wasn't just leeching off the Star Shattering Sect during this time!

Indeed, compared to a certain someone who spent all of their time lazing around somewhere in the Shattered Star Peaks while being fed a large number of spirit stones by a group of far too enthusiastic disciples and elders, Yi Min's mindset was far better…

"Great! If you follow me, I can brief you on the situation and what I need your help with." Knowing very well that his chances of having Yi Min join the Star Shattering Sect would be far lower if she left, Elder Song smiled happily after hearing her agree before taking off in the direction of the Ninth Star Peak.

"Okay?"

Leaving behind a confused Yi Min, who soon followed after him, curious about just what Elder Song needed her help with. After all, she was still someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, for him to need her help… It was easy to see that it was not something simple.

…

Finding herself outside the Star Shattering Sect only a short time later together with Elder Song, Yi Min could not help curiously glancing at the group of people who were standing not too far away from the entrance to the city at the base of the Ninth Star Peak.

From what Elder Song had told her, the group of people were the representatives from the different independent sects of the Sky Empire who had come to seek come to seek the protection of the Star Shattering Sect during the current chaotic time that the Sky Empire was going through.

Although she spent most of her time inside her kingdom and didn't interact much with the different powers of the Sky Empire, outside of a few special trade agreements concerning the spiritual metal her kingdom produced, she had still heard about the independent sects before. Even if all she had heard was the fact that they existed and were at odds with the different major kingdoms.

At least from the lineup of at least three people in the Domain Lord Realm in front of her, she could tell that these independent sects weren't weak by any means. Not that she thought they were weak in the first place considering that they had managed to stay alive while being hostile towards the major kingdoms of the Sky Empire.

No matter how tolerant some of the major kingdoms might be, there was no way that they would spare the independent sects if they weren't strong enough.

Hm… But, with these independent sects possibly settling down inside the Star Shattering Sect, doesn't that mean the Star Shattering Sect is going to have to expand their territory to accommodate them?

As she looked at the different representatives, Yi Min suddenly thought about this as a shocked expression appeared on her face.

Indeed, the current territory of the Star Shattering, although big for an ordinary Domain Lord Realm force in the Sky Empire, the current Star Shattering Sect was still far too small to accommodate so many independent sects.

Meaning… The Star Shattering Sect would have to expand if they wanted to accommodate them!

As she realized this, Yi Min could not help looking towards Elder Song with a somewhat shocked expression on her face, could it be that the reason he wanted her help was to facilitate the expansion of the Star Shattering Sect more easily?

But as she thought about this, she also soon came to realize that if the Star Shattering Sect wanted to expand enough to accommodate so many independent sects, it would end up almost directly bordering her Iron Sky Kingdom. Is the reason why Elder Song asked for my help because he is worried about accidentally offending me in the future when the Star Shattering Sect ends up bordering my kingdom?

Feeling confused over just what plan Elder Song had in mind, Yi Min decided to just silently wait for him to explain it…

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Chapter 1076 Pest Control

As she quietly waited for Elder Song to explain, Yi Min was taken aback as she made her way over to the representatives of the different independent sects together with Elder Song and ended up spending the next few hours listening to Elder Song and the representatives discuss where they would settle and repay the Star Shattering Sect for protecting them.

During this time, she didn't have to do anything as Elder Song smoothly negotiated with the representatives from the different independent sects.

In the end, it was decided that the independent sects would take over a large number of kingdoms all the way to the border of her kingdom and the core territory of the Sky Empire. Making the territory of these kingdoms part of the Star Shattering Sect.

Not only did this give the independent sects more than enough space to settle down, but it also helped the Star Shattering Sect expand towards the core territory of the Sky Empire. Although it would undoubtedly take some time to reintegrate the territory after the situation in the Sky Empire calmed down and the independent sects left.

As she thought about this to herself, Yi Min could not help turning to look over at Elder Song standing no more than a few meters away from her.

"Hm…?"

Seeing the happy smile plastered all over his old face as he engaged in small talk with the different representatives of the independent sects after the discussion had finished, Yi Min couldn't shake the feeling that Elder Song wasn't planning to let the independent sects leave after joining under the banner of the Star Shattering Sect…

But… What is it that he wanted my help with? Subdue the independent sects?

Feeling even more confused as to what Elder Song wanted her help with as the negation between the independent sects and the Star Shattering Sect ended smoothly without any problems, Yi Min could not stop herself from giving Elder Song a confused look.

Unfortunately for her, she could only continue staring curiously at Elder Song for the next thirty minutes, as the old man continued chatting with no end in sight. Only when the last of the representatives left did her turn his attention back towards the rather confused Yi Min.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting like that… I'm sure you are curious as to what I needed your help with, but I couldn't really say it before I finished up the discussion and made sure that those independent sects were going to help my Star Shattering Sect expand." Showing a somewhat apologetic expression as he said this, Elder Song was only met with the curious expression of Yi Min waiting for him to explain.

Although she had been left hanging with nothing to do for the past few hours, she didn't feel mad about it. After all, she had agreed to help out Elder Song and understood that he should have had a reason for taking her along even though she did nothing more than stand around for the past few hours.

"First of all, the reason I wanted you here during the negotiations with the independent sects is due to your Soul Ascension Realm strength. Showing that the Star Shattering Sect is more than strong enough to protect them even if someone above the Domain Lord Realm appears. After all, Xuan Hao is not around at the moment… And even if he was, I doubt he would join me in standing around to intimidate some representatives from the independent sects…"

"…"

Did he really just have her stand around for the past few hours to intimidate the representatives from the different independent sects? Did those representatives even have the ability to sense that she had reached the Soul Ascension Realm in the first place?

Not knowing what to say as she heard this, Yi Min could only stare speechlessly at Elder Song with even more confusion present in her eyes.

"Ehm… Now, for the more important matter and the main reason why I need your help… The different independent sects are not exactly perfect and contain several spies deeply rooted inside of them belonging to the different major kingdoms and other forces of the Sky Empire.

Given that you are someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, I thought it would be easy for you to find these spies…" NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

So, you want me to act as pest control?

Understanding what Elder Song wanted to say, Yi Mi could not help rolling her eyes. Although it would indeed be easy for her to find the spies lurking inside the different independent sects, it would take her far longer than the few weeks that Elder Song had told her about earlier.

Not to mention weeks, given that all of these independent sects were located inside the core territory of the Sky Empire, it would be a miracle if she could finish looking through all of them in half a year… And that was not even considering the danger involved in entering the core territory of the Sky Empire at the moment.

Even though her strength had reached the Soul Ascension Realm, it might help her that much considering that she was quite well known among the Soul Ascension Realm Experts of the surrounding empires as the best blacksmith in the Sky Empire. The main problem didn't stem from this, but the fact that her relationship with the imperial family was also well known. Even if the imperial family had disappeared, the invading empires would undoubtedly consider her an enemy if they spotted her.

Thinking about it, the only reason why her kingdom had been left alone for now was because the surrounding empires still thought of her as someone in the Domain Lord Realm who didn't pose any threat to them.

If they found out about her reaching the Soul Ascension Realm, it was doubtful that her Iron Sky Kingdom would be able to survive for more than a few days…

Because of this, Yi Min could not help shaking her head in response to Elder Song's request. "Elder Song… This request is a bit much…"

Even if she wanted to repay the kindness shown by the Star Shattering Sect elders, she wouldn't go as far as to risk her life to investigate a group of independent sects that weren't even a part of the Star Shattering Sect.

Maybe if Xuan Hao had been the one to ask, things might be different, but there was no way she would risk her life for a bit of kindness.

"Senior Yi, you misunderstood me, I don't want you to go all the way to the core territory of the Sky Empire and search through these independent sects. Instead, I was hoping that you would be able to look through them when they cross through from the core territory of the Sky Empire and enter the border territory." Seeing the visible frown on Yi Min's face and hearing her outright rejection, Elder Song did his best to hurriedly explain himself in a calm manner.

"Hm? But why did you ask me if I was available for the next few weeks? As far as I know, even at their fastest speed, it would at least take another three years for the first independent sect to arrive at the borders of my kingdom and another half year to a year before reaching your sect's territory…"

"Ah, this… It's because I wanted to make sure everything was in order and the final parts of the independent sect's future arrival is in place."

"I see…" Not fully buying what Elder Song said, Yi Min decided to just nod her head and not think too much about it. Even if Elder Song was very clearly hiding something from her, she felt that it shouldn't be anything bad. "Hehe, let's not dwell on these matters any longer, why don't we head back to the sect for now and continue from where we left off during our last conversation about the internal management of power struggles between subordinate powers?"

"Sure, I have been quite curious as to how your Star Shattering Sect does manage the power struggles between your subordinate powers…"

Knowing that Elder Song was trying to change the conversation away from the independent sects and what he needed her help with, Yi Min happily responded as she was of the same mind. Soon resulting in both of them making their way back to the Star Shattering Sect while discussing how to ensure the continued growth of subordinate powers without compromising the overall strength of the forces that could be mobilized by the Star Shattering Sect.

Unknown to Yi Min who was happily enjoying this conversation, she would soon find out why Elder Song asked her to remain in the Star Shattering Sect for a few weeks longer.

However, that was a story for another time- Or at least until Xuan Hao returned to the sect and found out what had ended up happening…

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Chapter 1077 Back in the Blue Sea Empire

Returning back to the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao made sure that everything was in order before officially crossing the border and making his way inside the Blue Sea Empire. Not wanting to end up getting stopped by a border guard again. Especially so after learning about the current relationship between the Blue Sea Empire and the Explorer Union. Once again, making him regret identifying as someone from Explorer Union back then…

Squeak~! NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

After crossing the border between the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire, the rabbit demon beast that had remained in a state akin to hibernation inside his robe, emerged and made its way on top of his shoulder as it took in the view while lazily chomping down on a few spirit stones.

From what it had informed him about through their connection, it had grown bored of just staying inside his robe and had decided to come out to see what was happening. Although nothing much happened, it was at least a nice change of pace for Xuan Hao to have a travel companion.

Even if he did in a sense also have this travel companion for the past two months, it was different having the rabbit demon beast on top of his shoulder curiously looking around while enjoying a few spirit stone compared to it just silently staying inside his robe without showing any sign of existing.

"Hm? This is…"

However, just as he was lost in his own thoughts, a familiar yet powerful aura rushed over in his direction.

Whoosh~

Not a second later, an all too familiar female cultivator with a large heavy sword on her back appeared in front of him with a mild surprise present in her eyes.

"Fellow cultivator Bright Sword, I never expected to run into you again so fast… More importantly than that, is the demon beast on your shoulder your contracted demon beast?"

"Ah? Ah! Yes, it is my contracted demon beast." Taking a few seconds to respond as he remembered that the name he had used when registering with the border guard was Bright Sword, Xuan Hao awkwardly nodded his head. Already guessing that the reason why she had appeared must have been because she had picked up on the rabbit demon beast sitting on his shoulder.

Although… Last time I visited the Blue Sea Empire, she didn't notice the presence of the rabbit demon beast. Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao realized that the robe from the elder of the Mirage Sect should be far more powerful than he had first thought. Even having the ability to hide the rabbit demon beast from whatever detection method that the Blue Sea Empire was using to ensure no powerful expert snuck inside their territory without their knowledge.

Maybe I could also make use of the robe to hide myself from the detection method of the Blue Sea Empire…

"Haaa… And I take it that you aren't familiar with the Blue Sea Empire's laws regarding bringing demon beasts into the empire?" Not giving Xuan Hao any time to continue his train of thought regarding his growing curiosity towards the true abilities of the robe that the elder from the Mirage Sect had handed over to him before passing away, the border guard let out an audible sigh as she said this.

"Eh… Sorry…" Not knowing what else to say as a somewhat awkward smile made its way to his lips after seeing the annoyed expression on the border guard's face, Xuan Hao felt that he should really spend some time learning about the laws of the Blue Sea Empire.

Even if it ended up taking away some time from his cultivation, it would at least prevent him from getting stopped at the border for a third time in the future. At least he hoped that it would prevent something like that happening again when making his way back to the star Shattering Set in the future.

"No worries, you just have to make your demon beast do the same thing as you did last time when I registered you. After that, I will ensure that the demon beast is listed as your demon beast. Although… I have to warn you that if your demon beast does something troublesome inside the Blue Sea Empire, you will be held responsible for it."

Whoosh~

Wasting no time after finishing her short explanation, she took out the artifact that she had used to record his aura a few months earlier and signaled for him to get the rabbit demon beast to touch it so its aura could be recorded.

Squeak? Not knowing what was happening as it felt both Xuan Hao and the border guard staring at it, the rabbit demon beast lifted its head up with a spirit stone still half inside its small mouth.

""…""

In the end, Xuan Hao decided to just lift the rabbit off his shoulder and place its paw on top of the artifact as its aura was recorded before placing it back down on his shoulder. During which the rabbit demon beast just stared at him strangely with the spirt stone slowly disappearing inside its mouth during the process. Not understanding why Xuan Hao had suddenly lifted it up and placed its paw on the strange artifact.

Even if it wanted to question him after being placed back on the shoulder again, it was stopped when Xuan Hao handed over a small interspatial ring filled with spirit stones to it…

"Quite an interesting demon beast you have… I will have to get back to my duties, so I won't be staying any longer." Feeling a bit surprised by the odd behavior of the rabbit demon beast as she said this, the border guard didn't bother staying any longer now that she had finished recording the aura of the unfamiliar demon beast she had sensed-

Whoosh-!

Disappearing before Xuan Hao had a chance to respond to what she said.

Even if she would normally have to punish or fine Xuan Hao for bringing in a demon beast without first registering it, she didn't have any plans of starting a conflict with someone she perceived to have possibly reached the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm.

In her eyes, it was far better to not cause trouble and instead have a friendly relationship with someone like that. After all, even if she was someone from the blue Sea Empire, she also understood that it was best not to make any unnecessary enemies.

Not to mention, Xuan Hao hadn't really done anything hostile against the Blue Sea Empire and was just unfamiliar with the laws of the Blue Sea Empire…

Squeak~!

Breaking the silence that had emerged following the border guard abruptly leaving, the rabbit demon beast began to happily devour the spirit stones inside the interspatial ring. Not showing the slightest bit of care towards what was happening around it.

In the eyes of the rabbit demon beast, the most important thing at this moment was to test out the new spirt stones that Xuan Hao had given it.

"…"

Seeing this, Xuan Hao could not help shaking his head as he decided to continue deeper inside the Blue Sea Empire. Heading directly towards the massive city located not too far away from the border that he had visited in the past.

Even if a part of him was not too keen on visiting a place with someone in the Earth Immortal Realm present, he also understood that his best chance at getting information on possible locations that could help him comprehend his sixth Dao would be there.

Hopefully, the places he would have to go wasn't somewhere even deeper inside the Blue Sea Empire. In the best-case scenario, it would be one of the other empires bordering the Blue Sea Empire.

After all, even though the Blue Sea Empire held far better opportunities for him to improve his strength, he also understood that the danger would be far higher… And that was not even mentioning that he might end up unlucky and get caught in the middle of a battle between two Earth Immortal Realm Experts…

Given his past experience with the snake demon beast and the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Blue Sea Empire during his first unintentional visit to the Blue Sea Empire, he didn't feel like the chances of something like this happening was low.

On the other hand, considering that he now knew that the large river flowing out into the ocean from the inland sea at the core of the Blue Sea Empire contained ancient demon beast that had been hibernating for who knew how long, he had a feeling that the chance of encountering another Earth Immortal Realm level battle wasn't low!

As he thought about all of this along with how to deal with such a situation if it ended up happening, Xuan Hao managed to reach the massive city by the time the sun went down and the moon began ascending from the east.

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Chapter 1078 Branch of the Blue Sea Empire's Intelligence Department

Different from the first time he had visited the city, Xuan Hao clearly sensed that the Earth Immortal Realm Expert that should have been from the Explorer Union inside the city was nowhere. Not only that, but he also noticed that the Earth Immortal that the border guard had told him guarded the city and whom he had seen fighting the giant snake demon beast in the past was also nowhere to be seen.

From the looks of things, the Earth Immortal Realm Expert in charge of protecting the city should still be dealing with the snake demon beast. Making him curious about just how far away the Sky Empire was from the ocean.

After all, the snake demon beast's goal was to escape to the ocean… And given the speed of someone in the Earth Immortal Realm and the fact that over two months had passed since then, it was obvious that the ocean should be farther away from the Sky Empire than he had first thought.

Of course, there was also the possibility that the snake demon beast found it impossible to escape into the ocean and instead escaped somewhere else to hide away from the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts chasing after it.

On the other hand, he had no idea why the Earth Immortal Realm Expert that he guessed to be from the Explorer Union had left the city.

But… No matter what the case was, it at least meant that he didn't have to worry about any Earth Immortal Realm Experts during his time inside the city. Making him feel far more at ease compared to the first time he visited the city.

At least this time around, he felt that he could explore the city without fearing running into an Earth Immortal Realm cultivator or more realistically, offending someone related to one of the Earth Immortal Realm Experts inside the city.

Feeling far more relaxed than before, Xuan Hao wasted no time in asking a few of the locals about where it would be best to get information and to his shock, he found out that the best location for information was not the Explorer Union branch located inside the city. Instead, it was the city hall located at the center of the city.

Apparently, when it came to information inside and surrounding the Blue Sea Empire, the Explorer Union had no way to compare with the Blue Sea Empire.

Even if the Explorer Union had been better when it came to this sort of thing in the past, it was obvious that them being partly blocked from the Blue Sea Empire had weakened their influence in this part of the continent severely.

Not only that, but when trying to ask the locals about the Explorer Union, it was rather obvious that they weren't too keen on talking about them. Making it clear that the hostility towards the Explorer Union didn't just come from the imperial family of the Blue Sea Empire, but also the normal people below them.

I wonder what caused the ordinary citizen to not like the Explorer Union…

As he thought about this to himself while making his way towards the city hall at the center of the city, Xuan Hao could not help glancing towards the branch from the Explorer Union that was located not too far away from the center where he had sensed the Earth Immortal Realm Expert the last time, he had visited the city.

From a glance, it was not even a branch of the Explorer Union like he had been told before, but instead just a large treasure hall for exchanging and buying different artifacts and other useful things for cultivation.

Even if it had been called a branch of the Explorer Union by quite a few people he had talked to since entering the city, it was obvious that this was not the case.

Considering that the Explorer Union should still not be allowed to have any branch inside the Blue Sea Empire due to their past actions, Xuan Hao also felt a sense of relief after confirming that it was just a treasure hall. Not because he had anything against the Explorer Union, but because he was happy that the information Yi Min had given him seemed to match up with the current situation in the Blue Sea Empire.

That was… If one didn't mention the fact that the ordinary citizen also seemed to be hostile towards the Explorer Union.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao suppressed the curious part of himself that wanted to explore the treasure hall of the Explorer Union and instead made his way towards a large palace complex covering an area the size of a city on its own.

"Place your hand here."

Following the stream of people entering the palace complex that housed the governmental buildings of the city, Xuan Hao didn't think too much as he placed his hand on the all too familiar strange artifact after being asked to do so by one of the guards standing at the entrance to the palace complex.

"Hm?! Explorer Union!?"

"Is something wrong?" Hearing the sudden exclamation from the guard as he rummaged through his information, Xuan Hao could not help feeling like something bad was going to happen as he asked this.

Although he had expected his identity as someone from the Explorer Union would be bad inside the Blue Sea Empire, he had never expected such a reaction from the guard after looking through his information. Especially so after his relatively peaceful encounters with the border guard.NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

"You-"

Whoosh~!

Just as the guard was about to say something, his colleague grabbed him by the shoulder and pointed towards something on the strange device.

"Ah…"

Not a second later, the guard's face went pale as he began trembling fearfully. Not daring to say a single word as he glanced towards his colleague for help.

"Excuse my friend's behavior just now, you can continue inside."

"No problem…"

Not knowing what had happened, Xuan Hao just nodded his head and made his way inside the palace complex where several different buildings for the different departments in charge of managing the city were located.

"You idiot! Didn't I tell you that we can only turn away those from the Explorer Union at the Domain Lord Realm and below!? What in the world gave you the courage to try and turn away someone in the Soul Ascension. Not only that, but someone at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm!?"

"I-I'm sorry senior! I just got used to-"

Smack!

"Hmph! Don't try and make excuses! Even if our Blue Sea Empire is at odds with the Explorer Union, it won't be good for us to directly offend a powerful existence from the Explorer Union. After all, even if we are at peace at the moment, someone like that would be able to easily get rid of two Domain Lords like us without anyone finding out!"

"Sorry…"

Not too long after Xuan Hao left, the slightly more experienced guard wasted no time in scolding his junior.

Even if they were guards of the town hall and belonged to the Blue Sea Empire, it didn't mean that they could just go around offending anyone they liked. Even more so when it came to experts in the Soul Ascension Realm and above.

After all, they might end up unlucky enough to encounter a solitary expert who didn't care about the Blue Sea Empire and decided to kill them before leaving and never return again.

Considering the strength of the border guards, someone who could do this would at least have to be in the Soul Ascension Realm, hence the reason why these guards would try their best to avoid offending anyone in the Soul Ascension Realm…

At the same time that the newer guard was in the process of being scolded by his senior, Xuan Hao arrived in front of a relatively small building located at the far north of the palace complex.

The reason why he had come to the palace complex was none other than this small and rather inconspicuous building.

"Blue Sea Empire, intelligence department." Reading the words on the sign above the entrance to the small building, Xuan Hao didn't hesitate as he made his way inside. Soon finding himself face to face with a rather exhausted looking woman who looked to be in her early twenties.

"Is there anything I can help with? If you are here from the central department, please inform them that we have already submitted the required-"

"Ehm… I'm not here for that, I'm here to buy information." Interrupting the woman who looked like she was about to turn around and leave after she finished talking, Xuan Hao felt her suddenly narrow her eyes as she scanned him from head to toe.

"You want to buy information? Haaa… And here I thought it was something from the central department coming to complain again… Follow me and we will talk about it in a private room…" Hearing her let out a sigh of relief as she said this before signaling for him to follow, Xuan Hao decided to just remain silent as he followed her into a private room located at the back of the building.

To his shock, he discovered that outside the exhausted looking woman, there were only a few dozen people inside the building. All of them buried in large stacks of paper as they used their divine sense to rapidly scan through all of them and note down anything of importance.

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Chapter 1079 Buying Information

"So, what is it that you want to know? For your information, we don't sell any information related to the imperial family or any of the Blue Sea Empire's Earth Immortal Realm Experts. If we did something like that, I doubt the imperial family would allow our information department to exist in the first place…

Ah, I also have to remind you that the minimum price we take is around a thousand spirit stones. Even if the thing you want to know about is the color of the carpet at the entrance to the main palace." Sitting down as she said this, the woman stretched out her hand with a small smile on her face. Showing very clearly that he would first have to pay the minimum price before they continued.

Rustle~

Not feeling that there was anything wrong with this, Xuan Hao casually took out a thousand spirit stones and handed them to her. Given his current level of wealth, it wasn't really a problem to take out a thousand spirit stone.

On the other hand, he had enough spirit stones on him to supply the entire Star Shattering Sect for a few years. Although it might not sound like too much, it should be known that the daily expenditure of the Star Shattering Sect when it came to spirit stones had already reached the tens of thousands and was only looking like it was going to get more expensive in the future.

If not for the fact that the Star Shattering Sect now controlled hundreds of spirit stones mines after their recent expansion, it would have been impossible to keep up with the current consumption speed of the sect…

"Thank you~"

Smiling happily as she pulled the spirit stones inside her interspatial ring, she seemed to recover some of her energy before she turned to look at Xuan Hao. Patiently waiting for him to tell her what information he wanted.

"I want to know about locations that have opportunities for comprehending a Dao inside of them. Preferably outside the Blue Sea Empire." Sitting down as well as he said this, Xuan Hao kept his eyes on the woman in front of him to observe her expression for any changes after he mentioned what he wanted to know about.

After all, locations that could help someone comprehend the Dao were not easy to come by. Even inside a large empire like the Blue Sea Empire, it would still be hard to find somewhere where one could comprehend the Dao without it already being under the control of the Blue Sea Empire.

This was also one of the main reasons why he asked for it to preferably be somewhere outside the Blue Sea Empire as he understood it would be hard for him to gain access to the places under the control of the Blue Sea Empire. Especially so considering his current identity being that of someone from the Explorer Union.

"Places to comprehend the Dao… Depending on his relationship with the Blue Sea Empire, he might be able to gain access to some of the locations where the children-." Muttering this to herself, the woman suddenly froze as she seemingly remembered Xuan Hao specify it to be somewhere outside the Blue Sea Empire if possible.

"Given that, he likely doesn't have the best relationship with the imperial family… As for locations outside the Blue Sea Empire… That is a bit difficult, and I will have to look through a few documents and see if I can find anything…"

Going quiet all of a sudden upon realizing that she would have to look through quite a few documents to find the relevant information, the woman let out quiet sigh before abruptly standing up from her chair. "Wait here for a moment, I will be back in a few minutes!"

Swish~

And before Xuan Hao had time to say anything, she disappeared out of the private room. Unaware of the fact that she had voiced her thoughts in her obviously still exhausted state.

"This…"

Being left alone, Xuan Hao could only smile wryly as he began wondering just what had caused her to be so exhausted that she voiced her thoughts without even realizing it.

All things considered; she was still someone in the Domain Lord Realm…

In the end, Xuan Hao ended up waiting around inside the private room for a little over an hour before the woman returned with a half-dead expression on her face and a large stack of documents under her arm. Almost looking like she would collapse at any moment.

"Sorry, it took a little longer than expected to find the information. Now, let's discuss the price. Depending on the level of the location, the price will increase. The lowest being around ten thousand low quality spirit stones, while the highest is a little over half a million top grade spirit stones. Other than that, you can also pay with source crystal. Of course, we will pay above the current standard price for source crystals if you have any."

"…"

Hearing what she said, Xuan Hao could not help feeling his heart drop. Even if his current wealth was quite good for someone of his strength, it was nowhere near the level of being capable of taking out half a million top grade spirit stones to pay for some information, let alone source crystals!

It had to be said that top grade spirit stones were essentially the tier of spirit stones above high-quality spirit stones and were normally used by those in the Soul Ascension Realm and above. Even a single top grade spirit stone was worth over a hundred high quality spirit stones.

Even after everything he had been through, the number of high-quality spirit stones that he had didn't number more than a few thousand. At most enough to exchange for a dozen or so top-grade spirit stones.

As for using source crystals… that was even more out of the question!

Having personally experienced how useful source crystals were for increasing comprehension during his breakthrough to the Domain Lord Realm, he could never imagine himself using something that precious to exchange for a bit of information…

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I want to exchange information for a location worth a thousand high-quality spirit stones." Seeing the slightly confused expression that had made its way onto the woman's face, Xuan Hao quickly shook his head and took out a thousand high-quality spirit stones.

Even if it was a large chunk of his current wealth, he didn't feel like it would be wasteful as it could in a sense be considered an investment in comprehending his sixth Dao. Of course, there was also the fact that high-quality spirit stones weren't really that useful for him after he broke through to the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

If he wanted to use spirit stones to increase his cultivation speed, he would have to use top-grade spirit stones, something that he had yet to encounter during his time in the Sky Empire.NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

"A thousand high-quality spirit stones… Hm… Ah! Found one." Rummaging through the large stack of documents that she had carried in with her after swiftly storing the spirit stones away inside her interspatial ring, she soon handed over a document to Xuan Hao.

"Hm?"

Seeing the document in front of him, Xuan Hao accepted it before curiously reading through it. Wondering what kind of location, a thousand high-quality spirit stones had managed to buy him.

"A location that contains both the Dao of Illusions, the Dao of Mist and the Dao of Mirages!?" not able to stop himself from exclaiming in surprise after seeing that the location in question not only contained one, but three different Daos, Xuan Hao could not help feeling that the thousand high-quality spirit stones were well spent.

Even if he had difficulty comprehending one of these Daos, he would always be able to try one of the other two. No matter what, Xuan Hao didn't believe that he would be unable to comprehend one of the three.

"Huh…?"

However, as he continued reading through the description of the location, his happy expression soured as he realized that the location was inside the Blue Sea Empire.

Although it was nowhere near the inland sea where the capital city of the Blue Sea Empire was located, it was still far further inside compared to where he was at the moment.

The only positive thing was that the description of the special location clearly described that the place had not yet been explored by anyone before and had only recently been registered with the intelligence department a few years ago without anyone having bought the information on it yet.

"Looks like you are satisfied with the information, with this, the transaction can be considered completed." Not caring about Xuan Hao's inner thoughts as he finished reading through the document, the woman just stood up with a happy smile after seeing he had finished reading through the document before signaling for him to leave.

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Chapter 1080 Chun Hua, Primveal Jungle and Old Teleportation Formation

Not knowing how to feel about being shooed away, Xuan Hao decided to just silently accept it and make his way out of the intelligence department.

For some reason, he had a feeling that the intelligence department of the Blue Sea Empire wouldn't refund him if the location they provided contained Daos that he had already comprehended. Thinking about it, it was his own fault for not first specifying that the locations shouldn't contain certain Daos…

Stepping back out of the intelligence department only a little over an hour since he had first entered it, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly as he looked back through the entrance and managed to catch a glimpse of the young woman who had given him the information happily jumping around the room with the interspatial ring filled with high-quality spirit stones inside of it.

"Haha! I struck it rich! According to official policy, I get to keep an entire 10% as a commission fee!"

"…"

Barely managing to catch what she was saying to herself as she jumped around happily, Xuan Hao could only roll his eyes as he began making his way out of the palace complex.

Considering just how precious one hundred high-quality spirit stones was to someone in the Domain Lord Realm, Xuan Hao didn't feel the slightest bit surprised over the happy exclamations of the young woman from the Blue Sea Empire's intelligence department. On the other hand, it made him feel that she was more normal compared to the exhausted state he had first seen her in.

Although it wasn't out of the ordinary for normal people to be that exhausted after a day of hard work managing mountains of paperwork, the same could not be said for a cultivator. Especially someone who had reached the Domain Lord Realm.

The only way someone like that could get that exhausted from just paperwork was if they used their divine sense for days without rest… And so far, the only person Xuan Hao had seen do something like that before today was Elder Song!

For the Blue Sea Empire to also have people like Elder Song, it was easy to see why the Blue Sea Empire was considered one of the pinnacle powers on the continent.

Although…

He had a feeling that the people he had seen inside the intelligence department were driven by something different than the continued growth of the Blue Sea Empire…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao made his way out of the palace complex.

However before leaving, he could not help taking a few glances at the main impressive palace located at the center where the Earth Immortal Realm Expert, he had seen fighting the snake demon beast in the past, should be staying in the process.

Even if the Earth Immortal Realm Expert in question was nowhere to be seen, his presence still lingered around the palace itself. Scaring off anyone daring enough to approach.

If not for the fact that his current strength had reached the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he felt that even looking at the palace would be enough to cause a shiver to run down his spine.

At least at his current cultivation realm, the Earth Immortal Realm Expert needed to be present for something like that to happen...

Leaving the palace complex, Xuan Hao didn't stay inside the city for long before officially beginning his journey towards the special location that contained a chance for him to comprehend a new Dao. Not wanting to stay too long as the Earth Immortal Realm Experts currently missing from the city might end up returning at any time.

Unfortunately, although the special location was not located close to the inland sea where the Blue Sea Empire's core of power was located, it was still far away from the border between the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire. Even with his current strength, it would at least take him a month to reach… And that was if nothing happened along the way.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Compared to the border part of the Blue Sea Empire that he was in at the moment; the special location could be considered to be at the inner section of the Blue Sea Empire according to the information recorded in the document that the woman from the intelligence department had given him.

Although not the core of the Blue Sea Empire, it could still be considered to be part of the continent's central region.

With this in mind, this would be his first time entering the core of the continent. If one didn't count the time that he had accidentally ended up inside the primeval jungle.

The place he ended up inside the primeval jungle might not be a true part of the central region, but it shouldn't be anywhere less dangerous given what he had ended up encountering back then.

"Hm? Now that I think about it, I wonder what ended up happening to Chun Hua." Remembering the young girl that he had considered taking as his third disciple back then, Xuan Hao could not help wondering what had ended up happening to her.

Given the sheer size of the primeval jungle, it should take her years to cross it and reach the core region of the continent. Even with her strength at the Nascent Soul Realm, she might still not have managed to reach the core region of the continent to this day.

If not for the fact that he could sense that she was still alive through the part of his domain that he had left inside her soul back then, he might have thought that she would have ended up dead inside the primeval jungle long ago.

After all, even when he had been in the Domain Lord Realm back then, he couldn't move around for long before being forced to run for his life.

"Now that I think about it, from what I remember, her race should be related to nature in some way. Maybe she could use this to her advantage inside the primeval jungle…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while flying alongside the massive river leading him deeper inside the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao felt even more curious than he had in the past about Chun Hua's race.

In the future, if he had a chance to take her in as his disciple, he would make sure to find out just what race she belonged to. Not only to satisfy his own curiosity, but also to help his future disciple gain a better understanding of her own abilities and heritage.

At the same time, it might also shed some light over the reason why she had to hide her special race in fear of others hunting her down.

Asking around for information about the Chun Family during his time in the core region of the continent might not be a bad idea either. Maybe he would even be able to find out where it was that his future disciple was worried about and help her out.

The only problem was… Even after hearing about the Blue Sea Empire and the surrounding empires and powers from Yi Min, he had never heard about the primeval jungle. Making him realize that the primeval jungle that his future disciple was trying to cross through to reach the central region was nowhere near the Blue Sea Empire.

With that in mind, Xuan Hao felt like he would have to reevaluate the teleportation formation back at the Half Spirit Race's old home again. After all, there was no way the teleportation formation he had examined back then had the strength to move someone over such a massive distance.

It might have barely been acceptable if the primeval jungle was located somewhere close to the Blue Sea Empire and not too far away from the Star Shattering Sect, but any further than that would be unrealistic with what he had seen from his short examination of the teleportation formation back then.

Now that he had comprehended the Dao of Space and even reached the Small Success Realm in it, he was even more clear of just how difficult it would be to teleport someone over such a great distance in such a short period of time.

Even if he personally reached the Large Success in the Dao of Space and his cultivation reached the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he doubted that he would be able to do the same as the rundown teleportation formation that had looked like it was about to break apart at any moment…

"Well… One more thing to do after I return to the sect…" Shaking his head as he realized this, Xuan Hao decided to throw it to the back of his mind for now as he continued following the river upstream. Part of him wondering if he should take some time to visit the intelligence department of the Blue Sea Empire again on his way back.

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Chapter 1081 Wave From Upstream

Following the river upstream for the next few weeks, Xuan Hao encountered several different towns and cities along the way. Although smaller than the city he had visited close to the border and the absence of anyone in the Earth Immortal Realms, these cities and towns were by no means small and weak.

On the other hand, even the weakest town had someone in the Soul Ascension Realm watching over it. The stronger cities on the other hand at least had a dozen Soul Ascension Realm Experts present inside them with one expert at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm from the Blue Sea Empire watching over the city.

Just the Soul Ascension Realm Experts present in a single city of the Blue Sea Empire's border region was more than powerful enough to flatten the current Sky Empire!

Even if the ancestor of the Sky Empire's imperial family was still around with his guardian formation and all the Soul Ascension Realm Experts in the Sky Empire worked together, they would still not be able to stand against the dozen or so Soul Ascension Realm Experts.

After all, outside of there being a lot of them, their average strength was far above the Soul Ascension Realm Experts in the Sky Empire, who were mostly between the First and Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Not to mention, there was still a Peak Soul Ascension Realm Expert, who was more than strong enough to destroy the Sky Empire by himself!

All of this was more than enough to solidify just how strong the blue Sea Empire was… And the worst part was that this was only the outer region of the empire. Still far away from the Blue Sea Empire's core of power.

"I wonder if I will start to encounter Earth Immortal Realm Experts after reaching the cities in the inner region…" Muttering this to himself as he glanced down towards a relatively large town by the side of the massive river, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of unease.

After all, he had not even entered the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire and had already encountered so many Soul Ascension Realm Experts.

If things continued like that, it would only make sense for him to encounter Earth Immortal Realm Experts after reaching the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire, something that he wanted to avoid given his current strength being nowhere near strong enough to contend against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.

At the moment, the best he could do was take advantage of his Dao of Space to run away before the other party had the time to attack.

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao continued his journey upstream. According to what he knew, he should be reaching the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire soon-

Rumble-!

Having only just turned his attention away from the small town below him, a loud rumbling sound suddenly echoed out upstream.

RUMBLE-!

Not even a few seconds later, an even more terrifying sound could be heard as what could only be described as a wave of water the height of a small mountain appeared in the distance before rapidly approaching his current location at a speed that even someone in the Soul Ascension Realm would find it hard to match.

Even standing more than a thousand meters above the ground, it was only barely enough to stay above the top of the enormous wave of water… And that was not mentioning the fact that the wave of water seemed to be strengthened by the Dao of Water.

Even with his current strength, he had a feeling that it would be difficult to face the wave of water head on.

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

Given how loud the rumbling sounds earlier were and the fact that it was quite hard to miss the wave the size of a mountain range moving towards them, it did not take long before the people in the town below him realized that danger was approaching…

"A mountain range- Huh? I-is that mountain range moving closer or is it just me?"

"That is-!? I-I-I don't want to die like this!"

"Me too! Let's run away while we still have time!"

"Hmph! Given the speed of that wave, only someone in the Soul Ascension Realm would be able to do something like that…"

"T-then… Maybe we can hide underground and try to keep the water out with a formation instead of facing it head on…"

As everyone in the city below began panicking upon realizing that the enormous wave of water was approaching them, the town lord in charge of protecting the town had other plans-

"What a terrifying use of the Dao of Water, I can't deal with something like that with my strength! I have to get out of here!"

Whoosh-!

And before any of the other people in the town had the time to fully comprehend the danger of the current situation, the town lord who had been put in charge of the town by the Blue Sea Empire to ensure the town's continued survival and growth. Disappeared without a trace.

"…"

Seeing this, Xuan Hao felt a sense of admiration for the town lord. Not because he had abandoned his town and the people inside of it, but because he had been able to accurately perceive that the wave had been strengthened by the Dao of Water.

Even for him, it was quite hard to pick up on this, let alone for someone who was only in the earlier stages of the Soul Ascension Realm.

Of course, after understanding that the wave of water had been strengthened by the Dao of Water, the town lord also understood that he would only end up dying if he decided to continue staying inside the town and try to protect it.

"Hm… I wonder where this wave of water came from. Given the strength behind it, it should have either been created by a Peak Soul Ascension Realm Expert specializing in the Dao of Water or…" Stopping midsentence as he thought about the second possibility, Xuan Hao could not help feeling an urge to turn around and escape in the direction he had come from.

BOOOOOOOM-!N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Swish-!

However, before he had a chance to decide on what to do, a terrifying explosion echoed out from upstream. Followed by something passing through the wave and flying over the town at a speed that even made it difficult for him to perceive what it was-

BANG!

Smashing into the ground only a few thousand meters away from the town filled with terrified people.

"This is…"

Seeing "what" had smashed into the ground in front of the town, Xuan Hao froze for a second as he realized that the second possibility had come true!

Whoosh-!

Wasting no time after realizing this, Xuan Hao directly used the Dao of Space to escape in the direction leading away from the river. After all, the thing that had landed on the other side of the town just so happened to be blocking his escape path downstream…

"Ahhh! How dare you attack me inside the Blue Sea Empire!?"

Not even a second after Xuan Hao escaped from the town with the help of the Dao of Space, a terrifying roar filled with killing intent echoed out from the place that the "thing" had landed. Making it clear that it wasn't a thing, but instead a person who had been knocked through the wave of water.

Swish-!

Wasting no time following the loud roar, the person who had landed just outside the town jumped into the air before rushing back in the direction he had come from. In the process of doing this, he passed through the wave again-

WHOOSH-!

The only difference was that this time around, his terrifying qi tore apart the wave of water the size of a mountain range, causing it to collapse in on itself. Losing any of the power it had before.

"We are saved!"

"Thank you senior!"

"Ah! The great immortals blessed us!"

Although a large amount of water was still heading towards the town at this moment, it was far from strong enough to pose any threat to the city without being strengthened by the Dao of Water. Resulting in the people of the town began happily celebrating as they thanked the senior who had destroyed the wave of water and saved them.

Indeed, it was as I feared… A battle between Earth Immortal Realm cultivators! The wave should just have been created during their fight inside or around the river…

Having already created a rather large distance between himself and the town at this point in time, Xuan Hao looked back at the wave of water that was still in the process of collapsing.

Although he had expected to encounter someone at the Earth Immortal Realm after entering the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire, he had never expected to run into a battle between two Earth Immortal Realm cultivators!

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Chapter 1082 Crazy Earth Immortal Realm Experts, a True Fight to the Death!

Boom!

Hearing the sound of the battle between what he assumed to be the Earth Immortal who had crashed into the ground a short distance away from the town and the Earth Immortal Realm Expert who should have been responsible for knocking him into the ground, Xuan Hao decided to take the long way around the place where the battle was taking place.

Although he could not see the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts in question, he didn't want to, as it would mean that they would also be able to notice him… And such a situation might end up causing him to get involved in their fight.NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

Not so much because they would want to involve him, but because one of the two people had blatantly attacked someone from the Blue Sea Empire inside of their territory and undoubtedly wanted no one to spread the news. At least that was what he could conclude about the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts from the loud roar that the person who had landed beside the town had made before rushing back to continue the battle.

Escaping from the Blue Sea Empire the way he had come from was also an option, but after thinking it through, he realized that he would never reach his location if he ended up running away every time, he encountered someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.

After all, just from the fact that he had already encountered two at the border between the inner region and the outer region of the Blue Sea Empire, it was obvious that he would encounter far more of them in the future.

With this in mind, he instead came to the decision of just keeping his distance whenever encountering someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.

Of course, that didn't mean rapidly escaping whenever he saw someone in the Earth Immortal Realm as that might end up drawing unwanted attention instead of helping him stay out of view of these experts.

The only reason he had done so this time around was because the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts in question were already busy fighting with each other and didn't have time to pay attention to anyone trying to run away from their battle.

Even if he had used the Dao of Space and escaped at a speed far greater than what was possible by someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, it was clear that none of the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts had noticed this due having their full attention focused on each other. Different from what would happen in case he ended up running into an Earth Immortal Realm Expert inside a city or just someone who weren't putting their life on the line for a battle to the death like the one that was taking place not too far away from him…

Thinking about it as he moved around the place that the battle was taking place, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit curious as to what had ended up causing these two Earth Immortals to enter a life and death battle.

All things considered, one of them was after all from the Blue Sea Empire and should be able to just run away and wait for reinforcements, there was no need for him to stay around and continue fighting to the death… And although he had no idea about the identity of the second Earth Immortal Realm Expert, he understood that the best course of action for this person would be to escape from the Blue Sea Empire as fast as possible.

After all, even if he did end up victorious at the end of the battle, he would undoubtedly end up in a weakened state. Giving the reinforcements from the Blue Sea Empire more than enough time to catch up with him and kill him before he had a chance to escape from the Blue Sea Empire.

The only way he could safely escape in this kind of situation, would be through the use of a teleportation talisman… And even then, he might still not be safe depending on whether or not someone skilled in the Dao of Space was among the reinforcements and decided to chase after him through the spatial traces left behind by using a teleportation talisman. Similar to how he had ended up at the Blue Sea Empire when chasing after the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

"No matter what, it seems like a bad option for both of them to continue fighting like this…"

Concluding that it was indeed a battle without any value to continue, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if there was something he was not thinking about, like a personal grudge or a precious ancient relic of some kind that might be the reason behind the fight continuing.

"DIIIIE!"

BOOOOOOM-!

Just at this moment, a loud roar filled with killing intent echoed out from the direction of the battle between the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts. Followed by an even large explosion compared to before, causing even Xuan Hao standing far away from the battle to stop and use his domain to protect himself from the residual energy from the powerful attack.

If not for the fact that the battle itself had moved further in the direction of the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire over the past few minutes, the residual energy from the attack just now would undoubtedly have flattened the town that had just managed to escape death not too long ago.

Although, considering the strength of the residual energy, some of it should still have reached the town… And considering that the Soul Ascension Realm Expert who was tasked with guarding the town had already run away, it was doubtful whether or not the Domain Lord Realm Experts still left in the city would be able to resist the small bit of residual energy that reached them…

Shaking his head as he thought about the fate of the town that had encountered one disaster after the other, Xuan Hao turned his attention back on the place where the fight between the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts was taking place.

In spite of the fact that he couldn't observe the battle due to being too far away, he could still sense the state of the battle to some extent through terrifying energy fluctuations that happened whenever they clashed with each other.

It was through this that he was able to clearly sense the strength of both Earth Immortals rapidly decreasing following the big clash just now. Showing that they had both exhausted a rather large part of their strength in the terrifying clash earlier.

"Huh?"

As he slowly continued to make his way around the battlefield between the two, Xuan Hao could not help freezing on the spot when he suddenly sensed the strength used by the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts decreasing all the way down to the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm.

What in the world are those two thinking… For their strength to decrease to such a degree, did they perhaps use a forbidden technique to burn their lifespan and enhance their strength earlier and are currently suffering from the side effects?

Feeling a sense of bewilderment over the situation as he thought about this, Xuan Hao continued looking in the direction of the two Earth Immortals whose strength was now in the process of dropping from the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm to that of a normal Sixth Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm Expert.

Even if they were fighting to the death for some kind of precious artifact or opportunity to increase their strength, it shouldn't be to the degree that they would sacrifice their own lifespan and cultivation base.

No matter how great the opportunity might be, doing this would give some of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts who had drawn over and were observing the fight a chance to go for this opportunity as well.

"If that's the case, the only reason I can think about behind all of this is a personal grudge. Nothing else would justify this kind of self-destructive behavior…" Muttering this to himself as he concluded the reason behind the fight between the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts, Xuan Hao felt far more at ease compared to before.

Not only because the two were clearly not interested in anything other than killing each other, but also because their strength was no longer at a level where it posed a threat to him. On the other hand, if they continued like this, he might become strong enough to kill both of them by himself…

Of course, he didn't dare to do something like that. Even if the treasures and wealth of an Earth Immortal Realm Expert might be tempting, one of them was still from the Blue Sea Empire.

Not to mention, a large number of Soul Ascension Realm Experts had already started to appear around the place where the battle was taking place, some who were almost certainly here for that exact reason and wouldn't allow anyone to succeed before them…

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Chapter 1083 Death of An Earth Immortal

Seeing a few of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts who had begun to appear also start eying him up, Xuan Hao increased his speed as he continued moving around the edge of the battle. Doing his best to avoid any of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts along the way, while also making sure to keep an eye on the situation taking place between the two Earth Immortal Realm cultivators.

Although the battle had not ended, it was obvious that the presence of the Earth Immortal, who should be from the Blue Sea Empire, weakened at a far faster speed compared to his opponent.

Even worse for him, it looked like none of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts present had any intention of jumping in to help. Having judged it to not be worth it to risk their lives to join the battle at this point in time.

After all, when everything was said and done, the two people fighting were still Earth Immortal Realm Experts. Even if their current strength was nowhere near that level at the moment, they had no idea if the person attacking the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Blue Sea Empire still had some trump cards left that would allow him to recover his strength…

However, as the strength of the two people grew weaker with each passing second, the Soul Ascension Realm Experts who had been observing the fight from far away began to slowly move closer.

Whoosh~

Knowing that things were about to get chaotic and other Earth Immortal Realm Experts were bound to show up at any point in time, Xuan Hao didn't care about all of this as he focused his attention on using his movement technique to weave in between the now close to a fifty Soul Ascension Realm Experts gathered around the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts.

Soon managing to safely reach the other side of the battle. Officially stepping into the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire.

Even then, Xuan Hao didn't slow down as he followed the river deeper into the inner region. Not daring to stop for a second before he was certain that he was outside the area that would be affected by the upcoming brawl, that was bound to happen when the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts grew weak enough for the surrounding Soul Ascension Realm Experts to build up the courage needed to join the battle.

At that point in time, it wouldn't matter if he wanted to join the battle or not, he would likely still end up being drawn in by someone viewing him as a threat.

"Aaaaahhh!!"

For this reason, Xuan Hao could not help feeling his heart drop as he heard a painful scream echo out behind him as the presence belonging to the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Blue Sea Empire disappeared without a trace.

The Earth Immortal from the Blue Sea Empire died…

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine. Not because it was the first time, he had seen someone in the Earth Immortal Realm die, but because it gave all of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts surrounding the place where the two Earth Immortals had been fighting a good reason to attack.

No longer would they worry about a possible retaliation from the Blue Sea Empire from killing one of their Earth Immortal Realm Experts. Instead, they were now jumping in to avenge the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Blue Sea Empire.

Even if the treasure belonging to both Earth Immortals ended up going missing, the Blue Sea Empire might not investigate the matter and just let it go as a form of repayment for avenging their Earth Immortal...

"How dare you kill an honored Earth Immortal of our Blue Sea Empire! I Yung No Mo will personally kill you!"

As expected, one of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts who had been waiting for just this moment jumped forward and tried to announce how he would avenge the now dead Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Blue Sea Empire.

"No! I, as a city guardian under the Blue Sea Empire will be the one to enact justice on behalf of my senior!"

"Wait! You should not risk your life like that as a precious city guardian, allow me, a wandering cultivator to risk my life in dealing with this person!"

"No! It's my duty as-"

"No, no, no, let me-"

"No, I will-"

Not a second after the first Soul Ascension Realm Expert stepped forward and announced that he would take revenge on behalf of the now dead Earth Immortal, it didn't take long before the rest of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts jumped forward as well. All of them trying to outdo each other as they all began moving closer to the exhausted Earth Immortal Realm Expert.

Even if he had managed to leave the place and was continuing to get further away without any of the Soul Ascension Realm Expert stopping him, Xuan Hao could still not help feeling a sense of unease as the last of these greedy Soul Ascension Realm Experts were outside the range of his divine sense.

Only travelling for a little over half an hour with the speed rivaling someone in the Earth Immortal Realm and seeing a city appear in the distance, did he feel himself calm down.

No matter how much the battle between the Soul Ascension Realm Experts ended up escalating, he doubted it would reach all the way to his current location. Not to mention, the city he had spotted in the distance also had the presence of someone in the Earth Immortal Realm watching over it… And for once, he wasn't feeling the slightest bit uneasy about the presence of the Earth Immortal Realm Expert.

At the very least, if the fight between the Soul Ascension Realm Experts did end up reaching all the way here, there would be an Earth Immortal to deal with the matter.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Whoosh~

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao slowed down to a normal speed for someone in the Soul Ascension Realm before making his way into the city to get a proper sense of where in the inner region he needed to go to reach the special location he had paid quite a few spirit stones to know about.

Although he didn't feel uneasy about the presence of the Earth Immortal Realm Expert, he still didn't plan to show off his strength and potentially catch the attention of this expert. Even if Soul Ascension Realm Expert were still top experts in the Blue Sea Empire, they were far more abundant compared to a small empire like the Sky Empire.

…

Boom-boom-boom!

At the same time Xuan Hao entered the first city he had encountered since entering the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire, the Soul Ascension Realm Experts back at the battlefield between the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts had already begun a massive brawl with countless attacks flying all over the place.

Be it the weaker or stronger Soul Ascension Realm Experts, all of them seemed to have gone crazy as they fought with all of their might to get closer to the dead body in the middle of the now expanding battlefield. Ignoring the shriveled up old man who was sitting next to the dead body with a blank expression on his face.

"To think things would end like this… I got my revenge and survived, but in the end, I'm still going to join you…" Muttering this to himself as he continued to stare down blankly at the dead body in front of him, the old man who looked like he was about to fall over at any moment turned to glance at the Soul Ascension Realm Experts fighting all around.

"Hehe, the Blue Sea Empire is just like I remember it. Nothing more than a bunch of greedy vultures watching their senior die. Ready to pick at his corpse for anything of value the next second." Chuckling to himself as he said this, the old man bent down and picked up the interspatial ring on the dead body before putting it on his own finger.

Boom-boom-boom!

Even with this happening, the surrounding Soul Ascension Realm Experts didn't show any signs of stopping their fighting. None of them caring about what the old man did, as his cultivation had already been destroyed and he would end up dying in another few minutes anyway.

"Hm…? These young ones really think I'm just going to lay here and die? Haaa… Guess they are still inexperienced when it comes to dealing with someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…" Seeing that no one reacted to him picking up the interspatial ring, the old man could not help shaking his head as he muttered this to himself.

"Well, I guess its my duty as a senior to teach them!" Saying this, an evil smile made its way onto the old man's face as he retrieved a small pill from his interspatial ring before popping it into his mouth-

BOOOOOOOM-!

And before any of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts had the time to react, his strength seemingly recovered as he jumped into the air and escaped into the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire. Knowing very well that there would be no way for him to cross the border in his current state.

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Chapter 1084 Search for the Special Location

"Huh..? He, he still has strength left!?"

"A-after him!"

Not knowing how to react when the person, whom they had regarded as already dead, got up and escaped, the Soul Ascension Realm Experts fighting to death with each other momentarily froze on the spot before chasing after him.

Although they had no idea how the old man had suddenly managed to recover enough strength to run away, they also understood that it shouldn't last for long.

If he had really managed to recover his fully strength, he would have chosen to kill them instead of just running away… And that was not mentioning the fact that he didn't escape in the direction of the border but instead chose to escape into the inner region. Making these Soul Ascension Realm Experts even more certain that the sudden recovery of the old man was only temporary and wouldn't last for long.

But…

The fact that he had entered the inner region was still problematic for them. Especially considering that their original goal of seizing the treasures of the two Earth Immortal Realm Experts had now become far harder.

Not only did they have to chase after the old man and find him, but they would now also have to worry about information spreading to some of the larger cities in the inner region. Potentially attracting the attention of an Earth Immortal in the process.

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Unfortunately for them, there was nothing they could do about this. Only capable of using all of their strength to chase after the escaping old man. Hoping that he wouldn't be able to escape too far away and find somewhere to hide before they had a chance to catch up.

…

Unaware of what had taken place back at the battlefield created by the two Earth Immortals, Xuan Hao had his full attention focused on a large map hanging on the wall inside a relatively small shop selling different kinds of maps for the different places in the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire.

"So, I still have a few days of travel left before reaching that place…" Muttering this to himself as his gaze remained locked on a specific place on the large map, Xuan Hao took out a few spirit stones and handed it over to the shopkeeper standing a short distance behind him.

"Thank you, I hope the grand map was of use to you senior!" Smiling happily as he grabbed the spirit stones that were sent his way, the shopkeeper waited for a few seconds before stepping forward to pack away the large map on the wall.

Given that Xuan Hao had already paid him and looked like he was about to leave, he wanted to pack away the map again before any new customer entered the shop and ended up seeing the map before having paid him anything… Or were at least a senior figure in the Soul Ascension Realm like Xuan Hao.

After all, seniors like that wouldn't care about a few spirit stones. In most cases, they would even end up overpaying for a simple thing such as viewing a map if they were satisfied, something that had ended up happening just now, as Xuan Hao had thrown out far more than the dozen or so spirit stones required to view the large map.

Whoosh~

Not caring about what was going through the head of the shopkeeper, Xuan Hao turned around and left the small shop after getting a proper idea about where in the inner region he was supposed to go. Soon arriving outside the city before taking off in the direction of the special location.

However, different from how he had travelled in the past, he could no longer use the river as an anchor point for knowing where he was as he now had to hope the information on the large map was at least somewhat accurate.

In a sense, no longer travelling beside the river ended up making him feel far more at ease.

Not so much because he liked the idea of possibly getting lost in the massive Blue Sea Empire, but because the river contained all sorts of dangers. From possible Earth Immortal Realm demon beast to the countless towns and cities that seemed to be located alongside it.

Even if he had yet to encounter anything dangerous outside of the two Earth Immortals fighting with each other, he had a feeling that this would no longer be the case after entering the inner region. Not to mention, following the river would only end up leading him closer to the inland sea where the Blue Sea Empire's capital and most powerful experts were located.

Given his current strength still being somewhere around the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, he really wanted to avoid a place that possibly contained experts above the Earth Immortal Realm for now.

Not to mention, he was still seen as someone from the Explorer Union in the eyes of the Blue Sea Empire and might end up in trouble if he ended up in the capital of the Blue Sea Empire. Possibly invoking the memories of a certain past emperor…

Lost in his own thoughts as he continued journeying deeper and deeper into the inner region of the Blue Sea Empire, Xuan Hao ended up spending the next few days peacefully travelling without encountering any problems.

The most dangerous thing he ran into during this time was a demon beast, who had just recently broken through to the Soul Ascension Realm and decided to challenge him.

In the end, the rabbit demon beast had been the one to step up and kill the arrogant demon beast before it had the chance to beg for mercy or surrender. Wasting no time digging out its core and consuming it before retreating back into his robe again to digest it.

After that, Xuan Hao no longer saw the elusive rabbit demon beast as he arrived at a small town not far away from where the special location should be hidden.

The only problem left for him to solve at this point in time being finding the special location.

At least the information that he had bought from the intelligence department contained a general location of where it was, and it shouldn't be too hard to find by searching through the place. At most it would take a few months or weeks. Depending on how lucky he was.

Of course, there was another far more effective way to find out where the special location was… And that was asking the locals in the area for directions, something that Xuan Hao planned to do. Not feeling too excited about the possibility of spending the next few weeks or months searching for the special location.

Although this might end up giving away the special location in the process, Xuan Hao didn't care too much about this as the speed at which information would spread about a possible treasure or ruin in the area would take years. Maybe even decades before it caught the attention of someone in the Soul Ascension Realm.

Instead, it was far more likely that the intelligence department of the Blue Sea Empire would end up selling the information on the special location to another person before it had time to spread out.

No matter what ended up happening, Xuan Hao hoped that he would at least be able to monopolize the place for a few years. Long enough for him to hopefully comprehend one of the three Daos present in the place to the Large Success Realm.NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

Shaking his head as he thought about all of this, Xuan Hao descended down towards the small town-

"Huh?! Who is- Flying!? A-a Domain Lord Realm senior!"

Instantly catching the attention of the singular guard standing at the entrance to the small town.

Considering that the town itself was small and only had someone in the Domain Lord Realm guarding it, Xuan Hao was not shocked at the guard's surprised exclamation upon seeing him.

This was also the reason why he had chosen to come to this town to search for a guide that could help him find the area where the special location was hidden. Given that it was a small town, information would also travel out of the place at a far slower pace compared to a large city with an Earth Immortal Realm Expert watching over it.

"Can you help me find someone knowledgeable about the surroundings?" Throwing out a few high-quality spirit stones after saying this, the guard obediently nodded his head.

"Y-yes! Follow me senior!"

Not long after, Xuan Hao was guided to a Nascent Soul Realm elder in the town, who in turn referred him to an old woman that could help him find the area he was looking for… And in only a few short hours, Xuan Hao managed to pinpoint the area where the special location was hidden with the help of the old woman. Handing over a few spirit stones and random artifacts he had no use for as payment.

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Chapter 1085 Sea of Mist, Ephemeral Forest, Valley of Illusory Beasts

"Hm… According to the information from the intelligence department, the cave should be located next to a forest and in front of a lake…"

Following the person who had guided him leaving, Xuan Hao remembered the description of the entrance that was contained in the information he had bought from the Blue Sea Empire's intelligence depart before starting to scan his surroundings with his divine sense. Searching for the cave acting as the entrance of the special place where the three different Daos were present.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Although he still had no idea which of the Daos, he would end up attempting to comprehend first, he figured that he would just try the one that seemed to be the simplest to reach the Small Success Realm in.

Whoosh~

Spotting the cave after only a few seconds, Xuan Hao dashed forward and made his way into the cave after ensuring that there wasn't any kind of trap in place at the entrance of the cave. Soon finding himself passing through a wooden gate of some sort that moved him into a different space filled with an illusory mist as far as he could see.

Outside of the wooden gate behind him, there was nothing other than the seemingly endless sea of mist in all directions around him…

If not for the fact that the information from the intelligence department had described just this kind of environment, he would have thought that he had been trapped in some kind of illusion after passing through the wooden gate.

"This should be the Sea of Mist where the Dao of Mist is the easiest to comprehend…" Muttering this to himself as he closed his eyes for a short moment to feel the Dao of Mist, Xuan Hao soon opened them with a hint of shock on his face.

Although it had only been for a short moment, he had clearly felt his comprehension of the Dao of Mist deepen at a speed that was incomparable with his comprehension speed back in the Star Shattering Sect.

If it would normally take him two years to comprehend the Dao of Mist to the Elementary Realm back in the Star Shattering Sect, it would only take a little over two months inside the Sea of Mist!

Of course, after reaching the Elementary Realm in the Dao of Mist, his speed would undoubtedly start to slow down, but still… He didn't think it would take him more than a year to comprehend the Dao of Mist to the Small Success Realm inside the Sea of Mist.

Feeling excited as he realized this, Xuan Hao could not help wondering about the two other areas connected to the Sea of Mist as he looked towards the two wooden gates barely visible deeper inside the Sea of Mist.

According to the information he had about the place, the two wooden gates hidden in the Sea of Mist connected the other remaining sections of the place, the Ephemeral Forest, and the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Among the two, the Ephemeral Forest was a peaceful forest affected by the Dao of Mirages, causing the trees inside to shift in and out of existence, allowing one to comprehend the Dao of Mirages more easily by observing the trees.

Similar to the Sea of Mist, the Ephemeral Forest didn't contain any dangers, something that couldn't be said for the Valley of Illusory Beasts…

As the name suggests, the Valley of Illusory Beasts had all sorts of different beasts roaming the place. Not only that, but all of the beasts were at least in the Domain Lord Realm, with the information from the intelligence department specifically warning that there might be illusory beasts strong enough to contend against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm deeper inside the valley.

Out of all three areas, the Valley of Illusory Beasts was by far the most dangerous, but… This did not come without its fair share of rewards, as according to the information, fighting the illusory beasts would be a perfect way to comprehend the Dao of Illusions in action.

Even without visiting the place himself, it was obvious that the Valley of Illusory Beasts was the best place to comprehend a Dao, the only problem was the fact that it was also the only place that was dangerous.

In the end, Xuan Hao sat down on the ground as he began thinking about which of the three Daos he wanted to comprehend.

The reason for only comprehending one of them to the Small Success Realm being the simple fact that he still had to comprehend a Dao to the Large Success Realm and break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple caught wind of what had happened in the Sky Empire and decided to make a move to resolve the problem personally.

Although he didn't know how long he had left before this, he doubted it would be more than five years. Far from enough time for him to comprehend the Dao of Mist, the Dao of Mirages, the Dao of Illusions, and break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm…

"Hm… The Dao of Mist can be considered the safest choice as it seems easy for me to grasp and won't take too long. The Dao of Mirages on the other hand, can be considered to be a part of the Dao of Illusions in the same way that the Dao of Ice can be considered a part of the Dao of Water. Comprehending it will give me a far easier time grasping the larger and more difficult Dao of Illusions in the future.

As for entering the Valley of Illusory Beasts to comprehend the Dao of Illusions… This might not be a bad idea. Especially considering that the time required to comprehend it should be far lower than the other two. Maybe there will also be a chance for me to raise it to the Large Success Realm! The only danger is the fact that there might be illusory beasts far stronger than myself present inside the valley…"

In deep thought as he said this to himself while staring towards the two wooden gates in the distance, Xuan Hao's slowly focused in on the wooden gates furthest away from him. The gate leading to the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Dangerous or not, he understood that the thing he lacked the most was time.

Even if he expected for the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple to take at least five years before he appeared, he had no actual clue if this was really the case. For all he knew, the Earth Immortal Realm Expert might already have left the Heavenly Dragon Temple and be on his way towards the Shattered Star Peaks to find out what had happened to his disciple and subordinates.

Whoosh~

Having made the decision, Xuan Hao no longer wasted any time and rushed into the wooden gate leading him to the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

"Huh?"

The next moment, Xuan Hao was shocked to discover that he was surrounded by tall mountains on all sides as a valley that seemed to go on forever appeared in front of him in a similar fashion to the Sea of Mist previously.

ROOOOAR!

ROOAR-!

The only difference this time around being the loud animal roars echoing out in the distance as a group of illusory beasts appeared beneath a large tree not too far away from him before laying down on the ground to sleep. Not having sensed his presence.

Whoosh~

Taking this chance, Xuan Hao descended upon the unsuspecting beasts and instantly killed the only Soul Ascension Realm Expert among them before getting rid of the rest before they had the chance to cause a commotion that might end up forcing him to leave the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

It was only after killing them that Xuan Hao discovered that other than having somewhat transparent bodies, the illusory beasts were no different from the demon beasts he encountered out in the wild or back at the Star Shattering Sect.

Other than this, he also discovered that killing the illusory beasts gave him a chance to observe how the Dao of Illusions worked as their bodies began dissipating.

Although it was only for a few short minutes, the insight he managed to gain in the Dao of Illusions from observing the process of the illusory beasts dissipating was equal to spending a full two weeks fully focused on comprehending the Dao of Illusions outside the Valley of Illusory Beast!

Despite the fact that he could clearly sense that his comprehension speed of the Dao of Illusions had decreased with time, he didn't get any less excited.

After all, what he needed now was not a long term way to improve his comprehension of a certain Dao, but instead a short term one that would be able to help him reach the requirement for breaking through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm as fast as possible!

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Chapter 1086 First Battle in the Valley of Illusory Beasts

Rumble~

At the same time Xuan Hao had his first encounter with the illusory beasts inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts, the old man who had managed to escape from the encirclement of over fifty Soul Ascension Realm Experts with the help of a special pill arrived above the small town he had been inside of only half a day earlier.

"This should be far enough for now. Even if those juniors want to catch up to me, it will at least take them a few days." Muttering this to himself as he glanced at the small town below him, the old man's face relaxed slightly after seeing that the strongest person present was only in the Domain Lord Realm.

Even if he couldn't keep up his current state for long and his strength had already started decreasing at a speed visible to the naked eye, it would still be impossible for someone in the Domain Lord Realm to discover him.

Whoosh~

Knowing this, the old man lowered his guard a bit as he began using his divine sense to search for somewhere to hide and recover from the terrifying injuries, he had received during the battle earlier.

Although he understood that it would be impossible to fully recover his strength without some kind of heavenly treasure, it wouldn't be impossible for him to recover his strength back up to the lowest level of the Earth Immortal Realm. At least that would be enough for him to safely leave the Blue Sea Empire.

Unfortunately, he also understood that it was unlikely for him to find a place where he could spend the next few years recovering without any disturbances. The fifty or so Soul Ascension Realm Experts were bound to find him if he didn't find some kind of abandoned secret realm or special space to hide inside of…

"Hm?"

Just at this moment, a slight fluctuation appeared at the edge of his divine sense. Not an ordinary fluctuation from two cultivators fighting with each other. Instead, it was an all too familiar spatial fluctuation from a spatial gate of sorts being activated!

"This, an abandoned secret realm!?" Feeling a sense of excitement as he looked in the direction that the fluctuation had come from, the old man who was about to revert back to his half dead state wasted no time in rushing towards the direction that the spatial fluctuation had come-

Swish-!

Soon arriving directly in front of the wooden gate that Xuan Hao had passed through only half a day earlier.

"Indeed… It looks like it's an abandoned secret realm." Smiling happily to himself as he said this, the old man quickly used most of his remaining strength to put down a few simple formations to hide the appearance of the wooden gate and prevent any of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts chasing after him from noticing it.

Although the formations wouldn't work if any of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts entered the cave that the wooden gate was located inside of, it would at least make it harder for them to discover the cave, while at the same time preventing any random animals from wandering inside the gate and possibly alerting any nearby Soul Ascension Realm cultivators to its existence.

Whoosh~

Having done everything he could to ensure his safety, the old man stepped through the wooden gate and made his way inside what he assumed to be an abandoned secret realm-

"Huh? Th-this is… Special space abundant in the Dao of Mist!?"

Only after stepping through the wooden gate did, he realize that it was not a secret realm and was instead a special space that was abundant in the Dao of Mist, a heaven on earth for anyone adapt in the Dao of Mist to cultivate in.

After calming down a bit, the old man quickly began to scan his surroundings while he still had some strength left. After all, places where a certain dao was abundant would always have some kind of danger present inside of it.

Whoosh~

As his divine sense swept through the Sea of Mist, the old man could not help letting out a sigh of relief to himself upon realizing that there weren't any dangerous creatures hidden inside of the mist. The only thing inside the mist were the two wooden gates similar to the one he had just passed through.

Looks like everything is safe, outside of those two wooden gates further inside the sea of mist. For now, I should avoid those two places before I recover my strength…

Thinking this to himself, the old man sat down on the ground and focused all of his attention on recovering his strength.

Ignoring the small squirrel that was sitting confused on the ground not too far away from him. Having already concluded that it must have been the culprit behind the spatial fluctuation he had felt earlier.

Even if the squirrel wanted to leave, it was impossible after the old man had finished laying down the different formations on the wooden gate earlier… And in the end, the squirrel ended up stumbling through the mist for a few days before stumbling into the Ephemeral Forest. The abundant qi present in the space keeping it from starving to death.

…

At the same time that the old man in the Earth Immortal Realm settled down in the Sea of Mist, Xuan Hao was busy fighting an illusory beast in the Soul Ascension Realm- Or to be more specific, an illusory beast in Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm.

Even if he had not originally intended to try and fight any of the stronger illusory beasts before ensuring that they were alone, and a battle wouldn't end up attracting even more powerful illusory beasts… The illusory beast in front of him happened to spot him just as he had finished going over his gains from killing the small group of illusory beasts. Giving him no time to react before it angrily pounced on him without a second thought…

Boom-boom-boom!

As the illusory beast used all kinds of soul attacks that sought to destroy his soul and deadly illusory constructs seeking to kill him, Xuan Hao had a revelation.

Observing the different attacks used by the illusory beast allowed him to increase his understanding of the Dao of Illusions. Not just increasing his comprehension, but also giving him insights as to how to utilize the Dao of Illusions in combat.

In a sense, the illusory beasts were truly the best tool for anyone who wanted to increase both their understanding and utilization of the Dao of Illusions, a pity that the place was so far away from the Star Shattering Sect, and he couldn't take it back with him and use it to train his disciples and the rest of the people from the sect…

Roooar!

Having realized that it couldn't land a single attack on him and that its soul attacks were rendered useless due to Xuan Hao's soul being far stronger than a normal Fifth Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm cultivator, the illusory beast let out a roar filled with anger before starting to rapidly absorb the white and almost cloudlike qi that permeated the entire valley.

Rumble-!

"Looks like I won't be able to make use of it any longer…" Noticing what the illusory beast was doing and feeling how its strength was starting to increase at a speed visible to the naked eye, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of regret as he understood that he wouldn't be able to make use of the illusory beast any longer.

But this feeling didn't last for long as he remembered that there were still countless other illusory beasts present in the valley.

"Haaa…"

Taking a deep breath, Xuan Hao gathered his qi-

Swish!

And with a swift motion, he drew his sword and lunged towards the illusory beast!

Roar!

Having already expected this, the illusory beast stopped absorbing the white qi and changed its original cloud-like lion shape into that of a large illusory serpent. Moving with an otherworldly grace to dodge Xuan Hao's sudden attack. Bang!

However, Xuan Hao continued to press onwards and ultimately ended up landing a series of precise strikes on the illusory serpent-

Rooar! This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

In turn, the illusory serpent stopped dodging and instead met Xuan Hao head on.

Ching~!

Even though it had been interrupted and didn't get a lot of time to absorb the white qi, its strength had still increased to a certain degree. Putting its current strength infinitely close to the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Giving it more than enough strength to meet Xuan Hao's sword head on.

Boom-boom-boom!

As a result, the clash between Xuan Hao and the illusory beast became more intense as neither party had the upper hand. The illusory serpent beast constantly using everything it had, while Xuan Hao's sword unleashed waves of terrifying sword qi that cut through its illusions and dispelled its illusory constructs before they had a chance to do anything.

Of course, at this point in time, Xuan Hao had only been using his Sword Dao to fight against the illusory beast…

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Chapter 1087 Dao of Illusions, Elementary Realm

As the fight continued for more than a minute with no definite winner in sight, Xuan Hao could not help glancing deeper inside the valley with a hint of hesitation on his face.

Although the fight so far was useful for him in both comprehension of the Dao of Illusions and the way to use it in combat, he also understood that there was a limit to how long he could fight with the illusory beast in front of him before some of the more powerful illusory beasts nearby managed to pick up on what was happening and decided to come over to investigate what was happening.

To make matters worse, he and the illusory beast had slowly begun moving deeper and deeper inside the valley as their fight continued.

If he didn't end the battle soon, the chances of alerting another powerful illusory beast would just be a matter of time…

Boom!

Because of this, Xuan Hao decided to use his dao domain instead of just relying on his Sword Dao to fight against the illusory beast.

Roar!?

Taken aback by the sudden eruption of Xuan Hao's dao domain, the illusory beast was momentarily caught off guard by Xuan Hao's sudden increase in strength, causing it to get caught up in his dao domain before it even had the chance to try and resist it.

Boom-boom-boom! This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Following the illusory beast getting caught up inside Xuan Hao's dao domain, it did not take long before it used all of its strength to try and defend against the constant attacks from both Xuan Hao's sword and his dao domain-

Roooar-!

In the end, the illusory beast couldn't hold on for long before it was overwhelmed by the constant onslaught, being cut down before it had a chance to escape from his dao domain.

Whoosh~

Doing the same as he had done after witnessing the death of the first illusory beast, Xuan Hao began to observe the process of the illusory beast dissipating. Focusing all of his attention on trying to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions as much as possible before the body of the illusory beast disappeared.

In the end, the body of the illusory beast managed to last for a little over five minutes before disappearing. Longer compared to the first batch of illusory beast who had at most lasted a little over two minutes.

Not only that, but after he finished observing the now gone illusory beast's body dissipate, he also realized that the insights he managed to gain in the Dao of Illusions far surpassed that of the weaker illusory beasts. If the first group of illusory beasts allowed him to skip through two weeks of progress in only a few minutes, the more powerful illusory beast had managed to help him skip through close to a month worth of progress!

Given his current understanding of the Dao of Illusions, after what should have been no more than half an hour inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts, Xuan Hao already felt like he was close to reaching the Elementary Realm in the Dao of Illusions.

With this kind of progress, he began feeling like he might be able to reach the Large Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions if he stayed inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts for a few months.

Of course, he also understood that this kind of progress could not last forever, as he would undoubtedly begin to slow down the higher his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions became.

Even then, his current progress made him positive that he might be able to break through to the Elementary Realm in the Dao of Illusions before the day was over. Showing just how beneficial it was to hunt down illusory beasts.

The stronger the illusory beast, the more he would gain. If he wanted to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions as fast as possible, he understood that he would have to make his way deeper inside the valley and hunt down more illusory beasts.

The risks that came from the possibility of encountering an illusory beast in the Earth Immortal Realm was well worth it considering how much killing the illusory beast helped increase his strength. Other than that, he also felt confident that he would be able to escape from an Earth Immortal Realm illusory beast with the help of his Drifting Cloud Steps and Dao of Space in case he ended up encountering one.

Swish-!

Having made up his mind, Xuan Hao directly made his way deeper into the valley after having finished getting everything he could from the now dead illusory beast.

…

Over the next month, Xuan Hao used all of his time inside the valley hunting down any illusory beasts in the earlier stages of the Soul Ascension Realm or below that he found. Making sure to keep his distance from the more powerful illusory beasts who were at the Fourth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm or above.

The reason for this was not that he wasn't confident in killing them, but because he understood that he had no way to kill them in a short period of time and had to use at least a minute or longer to deal with them… And although this would normally not have been a problem, it just so happened that he was currently inside the territory of a powerful illusory beast at the Pinnacle of the Soul Ascension Realm.

As for how he knew about this powerful illusory beast… That was because he had ended up encountering it almost the moment, he had decided to venture into the valley in search of illusory beasts to help increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions.

Back then, he had only barely managed to escape because of his swift reaction and speed. Escaping before the illusory beast even had the chance to attack him.

In the end, this encounter had resulted in him investigating his environment more thoroughly, causing him to realize that there would always be a Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast in charge of any territory of the valley that he ventured inside of. No matter where he went, before he had the strength to kill these Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts, he was forced to stay quiet and only go after the weaker illusory beasts that carried the lowest risk when it came to increasing his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions.

Even with all of this, he had still managed to promote his Dao of Illusions to the Elementary Realm over the past month. Not only that, but he was already around halfway through to the Small Success Realm at this point in time. In at most one or two months, he should be able to reach the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions.

Unfortunately, not all good things could continue… And just over the past few days, Xuan Hao had come to realize that killing the Domain Lord Realm illusory beasts no longer helped improve his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions. Even killing some weaker First Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts were the same and had lost their usefulness.

"If I want to continue comprehending the Dao of Illusions at my current speed, I will have to find a way to deal with Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast…" Muttering this to himself as he unconsciously turned to glance in the direction of a large hill located in the middle of the forest he was inside of at the moment, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit hesitant.

No matter how strong he was when compared to ordinary Fifth Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm Expert, he could at most fight against someone in the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm with his current strength. Far from enough to compare with Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts whose strength was beyond that of a normal Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beast due to their unique and terrifying soul attacks.

Although the soul attacks of from the illusory beast at the Peak of the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm was too weak to threaten him, the same could not be said for the soul attacks of the Peak Soul Ascension Ream illusory beasts.

Even if his encounter with one of them had only been for a brief moment before he had run away, he could clearly feel the terrifying soul energy that almost seemed to have surpassed the Soul Ascension Realm washing towards him back then.

His dao domain and the many different Daos he had comprehended helped increase the soul of his strength, but… It was far from enough to defend him against a soul attack that might have reached the Earth Immortal Realm! If he could really resist against such a powerful soul attack, he might as well already have broken through to the Large Success Realm in one of his Daos and further strengthened his soul in the process- Or maybe even reached Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm…

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Chapter 1088 Fooling the Illusory Beast

Having come to the decision that he needed to find a way to deal with the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast that was in control of the current area of the valley he found himself inside of at the moment, Xuan Hao began to try and look for any weakness that he might be able to exploit in the illusory beasts. Using the countless weaker Domain Lord Realm illusory beasts present in the valley to find these weaknesses.

During this process, he also realized that the illusory beasts he had killed over the past month would reappear after a set amount of time had passed. The weaker the illusory beasts were, the faster they would reappear.

Although, during this time, only illusory beasts below the Soul Ascension Realm had appeared again. Maybe this was case he hadn't discovered this happening earlier, as he mostly focused his attention on the Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts who helped him comprehend the Dao of Illusions.

Not to mention, he still didn't get the opportunity to witness just how these illusory beasts came into existence.

Even then… He had a few guesses as to how this happened, the most logical one being that they were an amalgamation created by the white qi everywhere in the valley and something else that seemed to give them a consciousness comparable to a demon beast that had yet to reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

Not only that, but he also began suspecting that this thing that helped the illusory beast gain a certain level of consciousness was what allowed him to comprehend the Dao of Illusions more easily after killing the illusory beasts…

As he focused his full attention on finding a weakness in the illusory beasts that he could exploit in a fight against the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast over the next month, Xuan Hao finally managed to understand the illusory beasts to the degree that he felt confident in fighting against the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts.

Not so much because he had managed to find a critical weakness that he would be able to exploit, but because he came to realize that the illusory beasts were dumb, dumb to the point where he felt confident in being able to trick the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beast to let down its guard and allow him to get close enough to fatally wound it without it getting the chance to defend.

The only thing he needed to do was reduce his cultivation base to the Domain Lord Realm and make it believe that he was just in the Domain Lord Realm.

From experimenting with other illusory beasts, he had realized that they would not use too much strength when dealing with a much weaker opponent.

The main difficulty in doing this lay in the fact that the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast's soul strength was far beyond that of an ordinary Peak Soul Ascension Realm cultivator. Making tricking it into believing that he was weaker than he actually was quite a difficult thing to accomplish.

But even then, Xuan Hao felt it was worth an attempt. Even if he ended up being discovered, he was more than confident in being able to run away and leave the Valley of Illusory Beasts. Not to mention, he felt quite curious about just how strong he was compared to the illusory beast if he went all out.

Whoosh~

With this in mind, Xuan Hao slowly began approaching the hill where the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast was located. Keeping a distance from any illusory beasts along the way, as fighting them might end up alerting the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast, something that was easier said than done considering that the illusory beasts surrounding the hill with the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast on top of it had all reached the Soul Ascension Realm.

The one positive thing was their strength didn't exceed the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Even if it took some extra time and effort on his part, he eventually managed to sneak past them.

"I hope this works…" Standing no more than a few thousand meters away from the large hill that the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast was located, Xuan Hao lowered his cultivation base to the Domain Lord Realm before beginning to move towards the hill.

Roar-!

Not even a second after doing this, a loud roar echoed out from the top of the hill as a large illusory beast appeared at the top of the hill staring directly down towards him. Just from its presence alone, it was obvious that it was far stronger than any of the illusory beasts that he had encountered so far.

Whoosh~

However, even with the illusory beast appearing, Xuan Hao didn't hesitate in continuing to move towards the hill.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

The main reason for this was simple, the illusory beast had not managed to see through his disguise!

If it had really seen through the fact that he was concealing his true strength and was not someone at the Domain Lord Realm, it wouldn't have just casually appeared at the top of the hill and roared at him. Instead, it would have attacked him without giving him a chance to get any closer.

After all, even if the illusory beasts weren't especially weak when it came to close combat, they still preferred to fight at a distance where they would have more than enough time to utilize the Dao of Illusions.

Roar?

Seeing Xuan Hao still approaching even after it had appeared, the illusory beast could not help tilting its head in confusion. Not understanding why, a weak creature in the Domain Lord Realm still dared to approach it after it had flaunted its strength.

Considering the obvious difference in strength between them, it had expected him to either freeze in fear or just outright run away.

This difference between what was happening and what it expected to happen momentarily caused it to stare down at Xuan Hao in confusion.

The main reason why something like this could even happen was due to the simple fact that the illusory beast didn't really view Xuan Hao as a possible threat due to only perceiving him as someone in the Domain Lord Realm

By the time it decided to take action to kill him, it only used a simple soul attack that was only strong enough to kill someone in the earlier stages of the Soul Ascension Realm. Although strong enough to kill someone in the Domain Lord Realm, it was far from enough to do anything to Xuan Hao.

Roar!?

For this reason, Xuan Hao managed to make it halfway up the hill before the illusory beast figured out that something was wrong… Of course, it was already too late at that point in time, as Xuan Hao was more than close enough to instantly close the distance between them-

Swish-!

And doing just that, Xuan Hao appeared directly in front of the still confused illusory beast. Wasting no time to in using his Dao of Ice to slow down the illusory beast to slow down any response from the illusory beast, while also using his dao domain to strengthen his sword as he cut into the confused illusory beast before it had any time to muster a proper defense.

ROOOOAR!

A split second after the sword managed to pierce into the somewhat soft and cloudlike body of the illusory beast, the illusory beast finally realized what had happened as it rapidly retreated before Xuan Hao's sword could do any more damage-

Whoosh-!

Of course, Xuan Hao had already expected this as he chased after the retreating illusory beast without slowing down his attack in the slightest. Knowing very well that he would lose his initiative if he gave the illusory beast the chance to retreat and attack from a distance using the Dao of Illusions.

The injurie he had managed to inflict on the illusory beast so far was far from enough to give him any real advantage in a fight if the illusory beast could keep him at a distance and prevent any new injures, something Xuan Hao was doing his absolute best at trying to stop from happening as he relentlessly attacked the retreating illusory beast.

Ptsh-!

Due to this, it did not take long before Xuan Hao managed to properly wound the retreating illusory beast, causing its strength to decrease as it did its best to put a stop to the rampaging energies that infiltrated its body through the wound and were causing no small amount of damage.

In turn, this caused the illusory beast to no longer have the ability to properly fight back against Xuan Hao. Resulting in even more injuries that weakened it even further.

By the time that the fight had been going on for a minute and the illusory beast finally managed to fight back against Xuan Hao's constant onslaught, its strength had already been reduced down to a level that was comparable to the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension…

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Chapter 1089 Dao of Illusions, Peak Elementary Realm

Having its strength reduced down to the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, even if the illusory beast had managed to stabilize its situation and fight back against Xuan Hao it had no way to gain an advantage and was even losing out in its fight against Xuan Hao.

If things continued at its current pace, it was obvious that it was going to get overwhelmed and killed by Xuan Hao over the next few minutes. Maybe not even lasting that long considering that Xuan Hao's strength with the help of his dao domain bordered on the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Roar!

Realizing just this, the illusory beast began to grow more desperate-

Boom-boom-boom!

However, no matter what it tried to throw at Xuan Hao, it didn't work. Instead, it just caused its situation to grow even worse. Especially so after it gathered a large part of its remaining strength into trying to destroy his soul through different soul attacks which ended up being destroyed by the nascent sword soul present inside his dantian. Not even needing the assistance of the dao domain to fend off against the soul attack.

ROOOAR!

Not wanting to go down just like that, the illusory beast something Xuan Hao had never seen an illusory beast do since he had entered the Valley of Illusory Beasts, it escaped- Or at least tried to do so, his dao domain didn't really give it much of a chance to escape after it had first been engulfed by it.

The only way that the illusory beast would be able to escape in the current situation was if it somehow managed to first break through his dao domain, something that was close to impossible for it to accomplish in its current state. Not to mention, there was no way Xuan Hao was willing to give it a chance to run away after he had used so much energy trying to kill it.

Other than that, there was also the fact that the illusory beast escaping might end up attracting the attention of another nearby Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast. Even if it didn't, it would undoubtedly draw more attention to the place they were fighting.

Although there shouldn't be any Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts too close to the hill, there was quite a few Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast with no lack of those in the Fourth and Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm!

Whoosh-!

Catching up to the illusory beast, Xuan Hao directly used the Dao of Ice to create a small vortex of sword qi around the illusory beast-

BOOOOM!

Not a second after its creation, the vortex exploded violently, causing the sword qi inside of it to pierce into the illusory beast before it could put up a proper defense-

Swish-!

Ptsh!

Giving Xuan Hao the time needed to land a fatal blow on the illusory beast. Killing it before it had the time to recover and try to escape again. Not even giving it the chance to let out a single sound as its body fell to the ground as it began the process of disappearing.

The main difference between the body of this illusory beast and other illusory beasts being that it took far longer to disappear. Even when compared to the illusory beast in the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm that he had killed in the past, there was a clear difference between the time and process between the two.

Whoosh~!

Knowing that this was an opportunity to potentially have his Dao of Illusions reach the peak of the Elementary Realm and possibly break through to the Small Success Realm, Xuan Hao wasted no time in sitting down beside the body of the illusory beast and focus his full attention on comprehending the Dao of Illusions.

Rooar!

Roar!

Even with the occasional roars from illusory beasts close to the hill that had picked up on the commotion, Xuan Hao didn't plan to pay any attention to them unless they decided to attack him. After all, the body of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast would only be around for so long and any time wasted on fighting other illusory beasts would reduce the time he could use to improve his Dao of Illusions.

…

As time passed, Xuan Hao found himself being fully immersed in the Dao of Illusions beside the slowly disappearing body of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast.

Luckily for him, most of the powerful illusory beasts didn't dare to approach the hill. The main cause of this being the terrifying energy from the battle between him and the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast that still lingered in the air around the hill.

Even if the illusory beasts could be considered less smart that ordinary demon beast, they at the very least still had a survival instinct that told them approaching the hill was a bad idea…

Roar!

Of course, not all of illusory beast were intimidated and some still made their way to the base of the hill where the body of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast and Xuan Hao were located-

Ptsh-!

Unfortunately for them, they were at most in the Domain Lord Realm and ended up being almost instantaneously killed by Xuan Hao's dao domain.

Although his dao domain was only passively defending without him doing anything, it was more than enough to kill anyone below the Soul Ascension Realm… And in case some of the illusory beasts in the Soul Ascension Realm decided to show up, it would at least provide him with a few extra seconds to leave his current state of comprehension and prepare to face off against them.

However, the few illusory beasts in the Soul Ascension that had cautiously followed after the Domain Lord Realm illusory beasts were almost instantly scared off after witnessing the quick death of the Domain Lord Realm illusory beast. Not daring to make a move on Xuan Hao. Giving him all the time, he needed to fully focus on comprehending the Dao of Illusions.

…

After spending close to half an hour beside the slowly dispersing body of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast, Xuan Hao opened both of his eyes with a hint of regret.

"Almost there… Haaa… To think the illusory beast decides to fully disperse now of all times…" Muttering this to himself as he looked at the last motes of light that had once been a part of the illusory beast disappearing, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a hint of sadness over his current situation.

Even though the body of the illusory beast had been around for half an hour before disappearing, he had only managed to reach the Peak of the Elementary Realm in the Dao of Illusions, a single step away from breaking through to the Small Success Realm.

The worst part of the entire thing was that he could clearly sense that breaking through to the Small Success Realm would at least require him to find another Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast or comprehending the realm on his own. The weaker illusory beasts simply wouldn't provide the last bit of insight required to break through the barrier between the Elementary Realm and the Small Success Realm.

How long that would take to do it on his own was not something he had any idea about; it might take a few days, or it might end up taking months to break through to the Small Success Realm.

As for killing another Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast… That was not really something he thought would be as easy. Mainly because the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast that he had chosen was by far the weakest among the ones he had sensed inside the valley so far.

If he tried to ambush another Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast, he might not end up succeeding. Not to mention, escaping would be harder the further inside the valley he went.

The reason for this was not just because the illusory beasts grew stronger the deeper, he went, but also because he had sensed that the space inside the valley became tougher and harder to manipulate the deeper inside the valley he went.

Although this was not enough to affect him during his fight with the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast, he doubted things would stay like that if he went further inside the valley.

All things considered, the safest option for him was to break through to the Small Success Realm on his own.

Now came another problem… The Valley of Illusory beasts, although perfect for increasing comprehension of the Dao of Illusions when killing illusory beasts, it didn't provide any other benefits now that he was stuck at the Peak of the Elementary Realm and killing weaker illusory beasts didn't help his breakthrough.

"Maybe I should try the Ephemeral Forest… The Dao of Mirages is after all connected to the Dao of Illusions…" Muttering this to himself as he remembered the only part of the secret location he hadn't been to, Xuan Hao could not help glancing towards the wooden gate he had come out from- Or to be more specific, a similar wooden gate located no more than a few meters away from the one he had entered the valley from.

The gate in question led directly to the Ephemeral Forest, connecting the valley and the forest without him needing to go back through the Sea of Mist. Not that it mattered that much any way considering there wasn't really anything dangerous in the Sea of Mist…

Swish-!

Not thinking too much about it, Xuan Hao got up and made his way back to the wooden gates before heading into the one connected to the Ephemeral Forest. Not bothering to head back into the Sea of Mist just to make his journey longer for no reason.

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Chapter 1090 Dao of Illusions, Small Success Realm

Whoosh~This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Arriving at the other side of the wooden gate, Xuan Hao found himself directly in front of a large forest that seemed to constantly change with each passing seconds as different trees appeared out of seemingly nowhere, while other trees seemingly faded out of existence in a random and unpredictable manner.

Even with his current comprehension of the Dao of Illusions, he could not help freezing for a few seconds at the mystical sight that unfolded before him. Feeling a sense of wonder at the odd forest in front of him.

"So… This is the Ephemeral Forest…" Almost whispering this to himself as he recovered from his shocked state, Xuan Hao could not help feeling curious about the Dao of Mirages behind the weird state of the forest in front of him.

It might just be a branch of the much larger Dao of Illusions, but it was still amazing in its own way and would undoubtedly be good at confusing opponents when fighting.

"Hm?" Just at this moment, Xuan Hao noticed something jumping around from tree to tree inside the forest-

Rumble-!

Instantly causing him to instantly take on a defensive stance with his dao domain while his divine sense rapidly spread out in the direction of the small creature he had seen jumping around inside the forest.

No matter how safe the information he had bought from the Blue Sea Empire's intelligence department said the Ephemeral Forest was, he didn't plan to let his guard down just because of this and mindlessly enter a potential death tra-

"Huh?"

However, after his divine sense managed to catch up to the creature inside the forest, Xuan Hao could not help freezing at the spot as a weird expression made its way to his face.

"A squirrel…?"

Yes… The small creature was nothing more than a normal squirrel. Not only that, but its strength seemed to have only barely broken through to the Qi Condensation Realm a few hours earlier.

With this in mind, it should just be an ordinary squirrel that accidentally ended up stumbling its way inside the Sea of Mist before making its way to the Ephemeral Forest where it had officially broken through to the Qi Condensation Realm and become a demon beast. Taking its first step on the path of cultivation.

Although… Looking at the squirrel, it might not even have realized that it had broken through to the Qi Condensation Realm as it was far too busy jumping from tree to tree before the tree it landed on disappeared.

From the looks of it, the squirrel could sense when the trees disappeared to some extent. Showing that it had an inherent talent when it came to comprehending the Dao of Mirages, something Xuan Hao had not expected to see from a normal squirrel…

At the very least, he could relax a bit more knowing that it was just a squirrel and not some powerful demon beast proficient in the Dao of Mirages hiding inside the forest.

Whoosh~!

Retracting his divine sense after having made sure that the squirrel was indeed the only other living thing other than himself inside the Ephemeral Forest, Xuan Hao found a good location to sit down and observe the forest before entering a state of cultivation. Ignoring everything around himself as he put his full attention towards comprehending the Dao of Illusions through the Dao of Mirages present in the Ephemeral Forest.

Even if the squirrel somehow managed to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm during his attempt to reach the Small Succes Realm in the Dao of Illusions, it wouldn't be able to do anything to him as his dao domain would still kill anything below the Soul Ascension Realm that approached him during this period of time.

As long as the squirrel didn't approach him and the rabbit demon beast didn't decide to leave his robe to hunt it down, it should be fine and might even be able to turn into a powerful demon beast in the future by staying inside the Ephemeral Forest.

Rustle~

Unfortunately for the squirrel, who was now observing Xuan Hao cautiously from a distance on top a fading tree, the rabbit demon beast just happened to run out of spirit stones and had decided to come out to ask Xuan Hao for more-

""…""

As a result, it instantly locked eyes with the terrified squirrel that was already on edge after having spotted Xuan Hao appearing inside the Ephemeral Forest.

Squeak?

Tilting its head in confusion as it saw the terrified squirrel looking at it, the rabbit demon beast could not help wondering if something was wrong with the squirrel. Not because it was looking at it, but because the tree branch it had been standing on was fading away-

SQUEAK!?

And after two long seconds passed, the branch completely disappeared beneath the squirrel, causing it to let out a surprised cry as it found itself rapidly descending down towards the ground below. Even worse, given that it was only in the Qi Condensation Realm and the forest floor was filled with all sorts of thorny plants more than sharp enough to kill it, the squirrel understood that it had to think fast if it didn't want to turn into a fresh serving of skewered squirrel.

Whoosh~

Summoning what little qi it had unknowingly managed to gather inside its body in this desperate life and death situation, the squirrel unconsciously made a small branch grow from the slowly fading tree that it had been on top of just a short moment earlier. Allowing it to grab hold of the branch and jump to safety just before the newly created branch disappeared into thin air.

Squeak…?

Watching this scene unfold from afar, the rabbit demon beast could not help narrowing both of its eyes curiously at the unique ability displayed by the squirrel.

Even without seeing anything more, it understood that the squirrel was special compared to other demon beasts.

Squeak!

It was because of this realization that the rabbit demon beast suddenly had a brilliant idea pop into its small head-

Swish-!

Wasting no time as it rushed into the Ephemeral Forest before appearing directly in front of the squirrel without it even noticing the fact that a rabbit around twice its size had suddenly appeared beside it.

Thump~

Squeak!?

Only when it felt something grabbing hold of it and dragging it somewhere did it realize this, but at that point in time, it was already too late. Not that it could escape from the rabbit demon beast in the first place.

In the end, it could only silently resign itself to its fate as it was dragged in the direction of the terrifying creature it perceived Xuan Hao to be. Not having enough space left in its little head to wonder why it had not been killed yet.

…

Unaware of the situation that was taking place around him as he had only dedicated a minimum level of attention to keep an eye out for any enemies that might try to ambush him, Xuan Hao was fully immersed in comprehending the Dao of illusions through the Dao of Mirages. Using the presence of the Dao of Mirages in the forest to deepen his understanding of the Dao of Illusions.

Hoping that it would be enough to help him break through the barrier separating the Elementary Realm and the Small Success Realm.

After all, even if the Dao of Mirages could be considered a branch of the Dao of Illusions, it was still an independent Dao on its own. Comprehending it and applying it to the Dao of Illusions came with its own difficulties.

If not for the fact that he could clearly feel his understanding of the Dao of Illusions deepening as he began to comprehend the weird trees of the Ephemeral Forest, Xuan Hao would have doubted that he would be able to make use of the Dao of Mirages to break through to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions…

Like this, two weeks passed inside the Ephemeral Forest without any incidents taking place-

BOOOOOOM-!

Allowing Xuan Hao to smoothly pass through to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions. Officially fulfilling one condition to break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

Now, the only thing he needed to accomplish before he could break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm was to make one of his six Daos reach the Large Success Realm and fully integrate all of them into his dao domain.

"Hm?"

Lost in his own thoughts after his breakthrough, Xuan Hao suddenly realized that other than the rabbit demon beast there was another presence close to him.

"…"

Opening his eyes to see who or what it was, Xuan Hao was shocked to discover that the unfamiliar presence was none other than the squirrel he had spotted upon first entering the Ephemeral Forest.

Not only that, but it seemed like it was following the rabbit demon beast for some reason…

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Chapter 1091 Possible Danger...

Squeak!

Not having noticed Xuan Hao opening his eyes and staring at it filled with confusion over just what had happened during his cultivation session, the rabbit demon beast let out a commanding squeak as it looked down at the squirrel, who in turn nodded its head and began gathering the qi present in the air inside the Ephemeral Forest with a look of concentration on its face.

From an outside perspective, it looked like the rabbit demon beast was teaching the squirrel how to cultivate by gathering the qi present in the air around it into its body, where instead of forming a qi cycle, it used the qi to strengthen its body.

"…"

Not knowing what to say after seeing this, Xuan Hao decided to remain silent for now as he went over what he had gained from reaching the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions.

From the fact that he now had the ability to use the Dao of Illusions in combat to either confuse the opponent with different illusions or conjure different illusory construct that could be used to attack the soul, the most important change was that he could clearly feel the strength of his soul had increased after he had broken through to the Small Success Realm.

The increase in power his soul had experienced was almost the same as when he had broken through to the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm. Far from being comparable to the increase in strength his soul had experienced when comprehending any of his other Daos to the Small Success Realm.

Thinking about it, this was most likely related to the fact that the Dao of Illusions was related to the soul and in broader sense, it could even be considered a branch of the Dao of Creation, a Dao that was far more difficult to comprehend than anything he had comprehended so far.

If not for the fact that he had been lucky enough to find a place that was perfectly suitable for comprehending the Dao of Illusions and given that his talent was far above average, he doubted that he would have ever had the chance to comprehend the Dao of Illusions on his own.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Hm… Now that I think about it, it's rather odd for the Blue Sea Empire to willingly give out the information on a place like this for only a few thousand high-quality spirit stones. Just the benefits I managed to gain after a little over two months are more than enough to justify using this amount of spirit stones, let alone if I continue staying here for a longer period of time…

Realizing just how odd it was for the Blue Sea Empire's intelligence department to sell him the information on such a great location for comprehending the Dao of Illusions instead of monopolizing it for themselves and using it to train their younger generation, Xuan Hao could not hep frowning to himself as he glanced over in the direction of the wooden gate leading back to the Sea of Mist where the exit to the special space was located.

Even if he had already visited all of the places inside the space and hadn't found anything that stood out from the information that he had been provided, he had a feeling that there had to be some reason why the Blue Sea Empire had decided to give up on the place and not monopolize it for their own use.

Out of everything, the only thing he could think about was the Valley of Illusory Beasts. Maybe the illusory beasts located in the depths of the valley were far more terrifying than the information given by the intelligence department had said… Well, the information did already state that there should be Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts present, so he had never planned to approach the depths of the valley in the first place...

Wait…

The illusory beasts reappear after they are killed… Does this perhaps also hold true for the illusory beasts in the Earth Immortal Realm? And if that is the case, what in the world is it that makes this possible in the first place…?

Feeling a shiver run down his spine as he thought about what kind of creature or artifact had the power to create illusory beasts in the Earth Immortal Realm, Xuan Hao had a feeling that he had some idea why the Blue Sea Empire had decided to give up on the place.

Perhaps the reason was not because they didn't see any use in monopolizing the place, but was instead because they couldn't take control of the place and deemed it far too dangerous for their juniors to train in. Instead deciding to hand it over to the intelligence department as a way for them to at least earn something from selling information on the place to anyone looking for a place to comprehend the Dao of Illusions…

Thinking that this was a reasonable explanation, Xuan Hao could not help feeling himself grow more curious about what it was in the deeper regions of the valley that had scared the seniors of the Blue Sea Empire away.

After all, the Blue Sea Empire had no lack of Earth Immortal Realm Experts and should even have experts exceeding the Earth Immortal Realm.

For them to decide that the Valley of Illusory Beasts was not worth dealing with, the danger existing in the deeper regions of the valley should be enough to threaten someone above the Earth Immortal Realm- Far more dangerous than the potential presence of an Earth Immortal Realm illusory beast that had been included in the information he had bought from the intelligence department.

No matter what the case was, he also understood that the Valley of Illusory Beasts was incredibly helpful when it came to comprehending the Dao of Illusions.

Even after he had broken through to the Small Success Realm and essentially managed to get what he wanted from the place, he also felt that he should be able to break through to the Large Success Realm far faster in the Dao of Illusions compared to any of his other Daos with the help of the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Although there would undoubtably be a risk to him doing this, he also understood that nothing in this world ever came without risks and if he wanted to reach the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple appeared, he would have to take some risks.

Considering that he had been fine even after two months of killing illusory beasts, Xuan Hao felt that it would be reasonable for him to continue increasing his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts, as long as he didn't venture too far into the valley.

The only problem with this was the fact that he had no idea if there was some powerful existence deep inside the valley that already knew about his presence and just decided to not do anything to him due to the fact that he had only lingered around the outer edges of the valley and hadn't really killed any powerful illusory beasts before the one two weeks earlier where he had left almost immediately afterwards…

Squeak!

Lost in his own thoughts on whether or not to return to the valley and continue killing the illusory beasts to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions, Xuan Hao was suddenly brought back to reality by the loud squeaking sound coming from the rabbit demon beast not too far away from where he was sitting.

"…"

Turning his head to look at just what was happening, Xuan Hao was left speechless as he saw the rabbit demon beast using its paw to press down at the squirrel with a proud expression on its face.

Looking closer, it did not take long to realize that the two had just finished a short fight with the rabbit demon beast emerging victorious. Not at all surprising considering the difference in strength between the two.

If there was anything, Xuan Hao was far more surprised to discover that the squirrel had actually managed to reach the First Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm during the two weeks he had been focused on breaking through to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions.

Even if demon beasts progressed differently from humans and the current location seemed perfect for the squirrel's cultivation, it was still surprising for it to have improved so much over such a short period of time without any kind of external help in the form of special medicine or spiritual herbs.

Is it perhaps because of the rabbit demon beast? Did it do something to help the squirrel's strength increase?

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao could not help staring towards the rabbit demon beast as he wondered just what had happened during the past two weeks.

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Chapter 1092 The odd Squirrel and the Talented Rabbit

Squeak!

Still unaware of the fact that its master was staring at wondering what it was up to, the rabbit demon beast continued training the squirrel. Not giving it any time to rest as it used all of its power to teach the squirrel the best way to absorb the qi between heaven and earth and use it to strengthen its body.

At the very least, considering that the squirrel had already managed to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm in only two short weeks, it was obvious that the rabbit demon beast knew what it was doing and also understood just how to properly train the squirrel.

Squeaaaak…!

Having only started cultivating for real after being guided by the rabbit demon beast, the squirrel let out a painful sound as it forcefully began to absorb the surrounding qi between heaven and earth to strengthen its body according to the rabbit demon beast's instructions.

Maybe because it was scared of the rabbit demon beast or because it had felt just how much its strength had improved during the past two weeks, the squirrel didn't dare to voice any complaints under the grueling and painful training. Doing everything the squirrel commanded it to do.

At some point in time, it had even forgotten about the existence of Xuan Hao and could only think about whatever the rabbit demon beast ordered it to do.

"What in the world is this torturous training…?" Seeing all of this firsthand, Xuan Hao could not help quietly whispering this to himself as he watched the squirrel go beyond its own limits and forcibly train its body far beyond what should be possible for a normal demon beast in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

It was to the point that Xuan Hao even began to secretly investigate the squirrel with his divine sense to figure out if it had some kind of hidden bloodline that might be the reason why it was able to strengthen its body far beyond what should be archivable for a normal demon beast.

In the end, it even caused him to try and use the system's inspection ability on a demon beast for the first time-

[A random squirrel that can be found almost everywhere where the climate and environment is suitable for its survival]

[Talent: 26]

And the result was quite shocking in itself. Although, he still didn't find any traces of a special bloodline in the squirrel, he at least managed to find out that the talent of the squirrel was quite high, even getting close to that of his disciples…

The only odd thing about the details from the description was the long paragraph that had replaced what would normally just be a name. Instead turning into a short description of the squirrel and where it could be found in the wild.

Other than the fact that this might be useful in the future if it could also be used on other demon beasts or animals, Xuan Hao didn't really manage to figure out how the squirrel had seemingly broken through its natural limits. After all, a high talent didn't just mean that it would be able to ignore its natural limits and improve its strength beyond what normal demon beast could.

Maybe the reason for it does not lie with the squirrel, but instead the weird training methods of the rabbit demon beast…

Thinking about this to himself as he glanced over towards the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao felt himself growing curious about the identity of the rabbit demon beast as he once again decided to try and use the inspection ability of the system.

[Royal Rabbit, Prince]

[Talent: 47]

[Bloodline: Royal Emperor Rabbit (In the process of awakening)]

"…"

Reading through the information displayed about the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao could not help freezing on the spot for a moment as he stared speechlessly at the small rabbit training the squirrel with all of its strength.

Although he had expected the rabbit demon beast to be talented considering the fact that it had reached the Soul Ascension Realm and even had the ability to escape from a group of Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts, he had never expected for the rabbit demon beast to be this powerful.

Not only did its talent exceed both Qing Yi and Bai Ning, but it even had a special bloodline that was still in the process of awakening. Meaning that its current talent was most likely not its full potential. In the future, it might even exceed his two other disciples by the time that it managed to fully awaken its bloodline.

"Haaa… I really have to find a way to help my disciples in the future, I can't have them lose out to this little one…" Muttering this to himself as he shook his head, Xuan Hao waved his hand and grabbed the two surprised demon beasts in the middle of training before putting them away inside his sleeve.

Considering the fact that both of them were now stuck inside of the small pocket in his sleeve, he made sure to expand the space inside the pocket by a few meters. Not daring to expand the small space anymore, as he feared that it might begin to negatively affect the defensive capabilities of the robe.

Although it was not much, it was still far better compared to before. At least the two demon beasts wouldn't have to lay on top of each other to fit inside of his sleeve, while at the same time giving the rabbit demon beast more than enough space to continue training the squirrel.

Whoosh~

Following that, Xuan Hao headed directly for the wooden gate leading back to the Valley of Illusory Beasts. Having decided to try and increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions through slaughtering the illusory beasts.

Even if this would end up being dangerous and might even end up with him escaping from an Earth Immortal Realm illusory beast in the soon to be future, the prospect of being able to rapidly increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions and potentially break through to the Large Success Realm was far too hard to resist.

…

"Where in the world did the half dead old man go!? How come he suddenly disappeared from the world all of a sudden!?"

"It's odd indeed, he should not have been able to go on for more than a few hours in his state back then. Even with the help of some kind of medicine, he would at most have held on for half a day before being forced to enter seclusion to recover from his injuries."

"That's the weird part! Even after over two months of searching around the place where his aura disappeared, none of us have managed to find a single clue as to where he is hiding!"

At the same time Xuan Hao returned to Valley of Illusory Beasts, not too far away from the entrance to the Sea of Mist, a large group of Soul Ascension Realm Experts had gathered together in the sky as they talked with each other in loud and angry voices.

If Xuan Hao or the old man hidden inside the Sea of Mist saw these people, they would instantly recognize them as none other than the group of Soul Ascension Realm Experts who had been prepared to ambush and kill the old man after his battle finished and his strength had disappeared.

However, from the number present in the air, it was obvious that a few of the people had decided to leave. Not wanting to chase down the injured Earth Immortal Realm Expert. First because they had no idea how long it would take them or if they could even succeed and second, because they feared the possible trump cards that the old man might still be hiding.

"He can't be hiding too far away, maybe we should just destroy this entire place and force him out of hiding!"

Rumble-!

Interrupting the large number of Soul Ascension Realm Experts discussing with each other over how they were going to find the injured Earth Immortal Realm cultivator, one of them lost his patience as his aura exploded with terrifying momentum. N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

"DON'T! If we cause such large-scale destruction, it will inevitably attract the attention of the Earth Immortals of the Blue Sea Empire. At that point in time, there will be no way for any of us to gain anything!"

"Yeah, let's think about it, we can't make any hasty decisions."

"That's right, let's try and search for a bit longer before taking any drastic measures."

Seeing this, the rest of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts quickly jumped in to calm him down and stop him before he had a chance to destroy the mountain range below them.

"Fine…"

Relenting, the Soul Ascension Realm Expert retracted his aura before joining in on the discussion.

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

In the end, they decided to continue searching through the surrounding environment with their divine sense and look for any signs of the injured Earth Immortal Realm cultivator. Unaware of the fact that one of the mountains in the mountain range they were floating above was the place where the cave leading to the Sea of Mist was located…

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Chapter 1093 Unfamiliar Aura In the Depths of the Valley

Emerging from the wooden gate back inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts, Xuan Hao didn't immediately rush forward and start killing the illusory beast to try and increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions. Instead, he decided to observe the situation inside the valley over the next few days to make sure that there wasn't some powerful illusory beast that had emerged during his two-week absence following the death of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast.

Luckily, after observing the valley closely, he didn't find any signs of a powerful illusory beast hiding anywhere. The only thing he found during the few days spent observing the valley was that a few of the Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts that he had killed earlier had reappeared inside the valley. Giving him an official confirmation that Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts could indeed reappear like the Domain Lord Realm illusory beasts if given time.

I should start with clearing out the Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast that has returned before making my way deeper inside the valley. Not only that, but I should properly also start to check up on the other Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast deeper inside the valley…

Thinking this to himself as he glanced in the direction of the closest Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast's territory, Xuan Hao could not help wondering how he would fare against the more powerful Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts now that he had reached the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions.

At the very least, considering that the strength of his soul had experienced a substantial increase in strength following the breakthrough to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions, he should in theory be far more resistant to the different attacks of the illusory beasts and have a far easier time dealing with them compared to before.

Although he hadn't personally tested it yet, he felt more eager than ever to challenge the other Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts in the valley, that is… If he didn't fear potentially provoking a more powerful existence lurking deeper inside the valley…

For now, he decided to go with safest option and kill the weaker illusory beasts until they no longer proved useful for increasing his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions. Only then would he think about targeting the rest of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts in the valley.

Whoosh~

Ptsh-!

"Hm? The effect reduced by so much compared to before…"

Unfortunately for Xuan Hao, after killing his first Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast after returning from the Ephemeral Forest did, he discover that the increase in comprehension had decreased to a point where it was almost negligible.

Even from his best estimates, he doubted he would be able to go on for more than three months before anything below the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm ended up becoming completely useless in increasing his comprehension of the Dao of illusions.

Whoosh-!

However, even knowing this, Xuan Hao didn't let it affect him as he began focusing all of his attention on killing the illusory beast to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions. At the same time making sure not to kill off all of the illusory beast he encountered. Fearing that killing all of them might end up catching the attention of the more powerful existences that might be hidden deeper inside the valley.

That was of course if they had not already become aware of his presence.

…

A few minutes earlier when Xuan Hao had suddenly pulled the rabbit demon beast and the squirrel into the small space inside his sleeve, the squirrel could not help letting out a panicked squeak as it began looking around itself filled with confusion.

Squeak? Squeak!

However, this confusion soon turned into greed as it spotted that large pile of spirit stones in a corner of the space. Even if the squirrel had no idea about what spirit stones were, it could still inherently feel that eating them would prove beneficial for increasing its strength-

Whoosh-!N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Wasting no time, the squirrel completely forgot about the existence of the rabbit demon beast as it rushed towards the pile of spirit stones. Ready to devour all of them-

SQUEAK!

BANG!

Unfortunately, before the squirrel had the chance to reach the spirit stones, the rabbit demon beast flew into action and knocked some sense into the greedy squirrel.

No matter how kind it was to the squirrel, there was no way that the rabbit demon beast would ever give it any of its spirit stones.

The only reason why the squirrel had even managed to approach the spirit stones just now was because the rabbit demon beast had been shocked at the sudden growth of the space that it had already begun to think of as its own home.

Other than that, there was also the fact that the pile of spirit stones had been placed there by Xuan Hao when he had expanded the space inside the pocket and the rabbit demon beast had no idea about their presence before the squirrel had begun rushing towards them with an expression of greed plastered all over its face.

S-squeak…

Having understood that the spirit stones were not something that it could touch, the squirrel slowly got up from the ground as it bowed its head in apology towards the rabbit demon beast.

Squeak!

Showing a very cute looking frown in response, the rabbit demon beast wasted no time as it resumed the training of the squirrel. Making full use of the now much larger space.

S-s-sq-squeak!

Soon enough, the painful squeaks of the squirrel echoed out across the small space, while the rabbit demon beast was instructing it from atop the large pile of spirit stones. Enjoying a few spirit stones every now and then as it taught the squirrel.

…

As the days came and went inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts, Xuan Hao began grow increasingly worried as he felt the effectiveness of the illusory beasts when it came to his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions reducing at a speed exceeding his first estimate.

After no more than a month since returning to the valley, the only illusory beasts brining him any form of benefits were the ones at the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm and above… And continuing at his current pace, it would not be long before only those in the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm and above would be of any use to improving his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions.

The worst part was that he had no idea how far away from the Large Success Realm he was. In a sense, he still felt like he had barely scratched the surface and was far away from reaching the halfway point, let alone the Peak of the Small Success Realm.

It was only at this moment that Xuan Hao realized just how difficult it would be to comprehend a dao to the Large Success Realm.

Even with the assistance of the illusory beasts and his rather high talent, he still felt that it would at least take another year or two… And that was only considering that he could continue to find illusory beasts that helped increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions.

If he was on his own and didn't have the boost in comprehension that came along with killing the illusory beasts, he feared that it might take a dozen years or longer to reach the Large Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions. At which point it might be better for him to focus on a dao he was more familiar with and had a better way to ensure stable progress.

In the end, the only reason why he was focusing on the Dao of Illusions was because of the presence of the illusory beasts…

ROOOOAR-!

Just as Xuan Hao was thinking about what to do in case wouldn't be able to use the illusory beasts to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions, a loud roar echoed out from deep within the valley.

"This is…"

Turning to look in the direction that the loud roar had come from, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing both his eyes as he clearly felt two powerful auras clashing with each other the next moment.

"Someone is fighting an illusory beast…?" Noticing the distinct aura belonging to an illusory beast and one belonging to a normal cultivator, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing both of his eyes in surprise.

Given how he had not met anyone during the four or so months he had spent inside the valley so far, he had expected to have been the only person inside the valley, but… From the looks of things, that was not the case!

Then again, he bought the information about the place from the intelligence department of the Blue Sea Empire, it was not odd that they had already sold information about the place to others before him.

The only worrying part was that the strength of the person deeper inside the valley had clearly reached the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm and even felt like it was infinitely close to the Earth Immortal Realm.

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Chapter 1094 Illusory Beast vs Unknown Cultivator

Boom!

As the battle taking place deeper inside the valley grew more intense as the illusory beast and unknown cultivator began fighting with each other, Xuan Hao felt himself growing curious about whether or not his earlier thoughts about possibly alerting the more powerful illusory beast deeper inside the valley had been wrong.

After all, when compared to his own short battle back then, the current battle taking place was far more intense and it was only a matter of time before the surrounding Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast would notice or maybe they already had noticed the battle.

"…"

However, as five minutes passed with the battle only growing more intense and none of the surrounding Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts showing up to join in on the fight, Xuan Hao could not help feeling himself growing confused.

Did he perhaps get something wrong about the illusory beasts and how they behaved? Perhaps after reaching a certain level, they would no longer pay attention to anything happening outside of their territory…

Staring towards the place where the battle was taking place as he thought about this, Xuan Hao felt like he had to reevaluate his current view of how the illusory beasts behaved- Or at the very least reevaluate the behavior of illusory beasts at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm.

"Hm… Maybe I should take the chance and try to ask the cultivator if he managed to learn anything during his time inside the valley. Of course, after he finished up his current fight with the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast…" Muttering this to himself as he kept his attention focus on the battle that seemed to show no signs of any of the two being stronger than the other, Xuan Hao began to slowly make his way towards the place where the battle was taking place.

Making absolute sure to hide himself with his dao domain. Following which he used the Dao of Illusions for the first time since he had comprehended to hide himself from any prying eyes. Appearing to look like a small illusory beast that only barely seemed to have reached the Domain Lord Realm.

Not only did he appear to look like a normal and weak illusory beast to the outside, but Xuan Hao also soon managed to discover that none of the illusory beasts that he had passed by attacked him. Showing just how much both his Dao of Illusions had improved, while also showing just how strong his current hiding ability was.

Compared to other Soul Ascension Realm cultivators, Xuan Hao felt that his hiding ability should far surpass that of ordinary Peak Soul Ascension Realm cultivators now that he also had the help of his Dao of Illusions to assist him when it came to hiding.

As a result, the only demon beasts that seemed like they could still sense his presence to some extent, were the ones who had at least reached the Peak of the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm.

The illusory beasts who had yet to reach this cultivation realm thus had no idea about his presence, thus allowing him to safely reach the edge of the battlefield between the unknown Peak Soul Ascension Realm cultivator and the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast.

Boom-boom-boom!

Coming in such close proximity to the battle, he also began to feel the terrifying energy fluctuations from the two clashing with each other. Forcing him to dedicate some of his dao domain's power towards defending against the powerful fluctuations that had more than enough strength to kill someone in the Domain Lord Realm.

Even then, he remained completely hidden and out of sight of the two powerful entities busy fighting with each other due to the presence of his Dao of Illusions.

Though he did not yet get a chance to test out the dao in combat, it was already proving to be rather useful when it came to situations like his current one…

"Hmph! You annoying beast! Can't you just die already!?"

At this moment, a loud roar echoed out from the battlefield happening not too far away from him. Followed by both the cultivator and the illusory beast coming to a stop for a split second before resuming their fight once again.

However, this time around, Xuan Hao had his full attention focused on the fight taking place, as he began to examine the different methods the two used. Not only to learn more about a potential enemy in case the cultivator turned out to be hostile, but also to learn more about the fighting style of Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts, as his first battle with one didn't really last long enough for him to understand or witness the different powerful abilities that an illusory beast might have mastered.

"Hm? Dao of Illusions… No wonder that person is staying in this place to cultivate. Maybe he might be looking for the final step needed to reach the Earth Immortal Realm…" Muttering this to himself as he glanced towards the cultivator holding his own against the terrifying soul attacks and weird constructs created by the illusory beast, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of amazement after realizing he might get a chance to witness the process of someone breaking through to the Earth Immortal Realm in the soon to be future.

Even if something like that would not be useful to him at the moment, as he still has a long way to go before being able to leave the Dao Domain Lord Realm, it never hurt to be prepared. Not to mention, witnessing the process personally would always hold more value than learning about it in a book.

"Aaaah!"

Bang!

As he was somewhat lost in thought thinking about witnessing the possible last part of the Immortal Soul Tribulation of the unknown cultivator, the person in question let out a pain filled scream as he was knocked into the ground by one of the powerful constructs created by the illusory beast-

Swish-!

Giving him no time to recover after being smashed into the ground, the illusory beast unleashed all of its power to create 6 towering constructs in the shape of 6 giant arrows that rapidly began descending down towards the injured cultivator.

Rumble-!

Realizing that his situation was not so good at the moment, the cultivator no longer had an irritated or angry expression on his face, as he used his own power to create 6 similar constructs to match the illusory beast.

BOOOOOM-!

As a result of the two powerful attacks colliding with each other, Xuan Hao was forced to take a few steps back when met by the sudden and terrifying energy fluctuations that had appeared because of this-

Roaaar!

Roar! N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Rooaaaar!

In the end, his situation was still far better than some of the nearby illusory beasts who had no time to escape or defend themselves against the sudden and terrifying energy fluctuation. In the end resulting in death of countless Domain Lord Realm illusory beasts. Even being strong enough to kill an illusory beast who had reached the First Tribulation of the soul Ascension Realm.

If he had some thoughts in the back of his mind that the surrounding Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts might not have noticed the fight taking place yet, he was now undoubtably certain that the surrounding Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts had deliberately chosen to ignore the battle and not get involved.

Something that couldn't be said about the illusory beasts below the Peak of the Soul Ascension, who had already begun to turn their attention towards the location of the battle, some of the stronger illusory beasts had even begun to appear around Xuan Hao as they observed the fight taking place.

Given the sheer number of illusory beasts in the later stages of the Soul Ascension Realm that had begun gathering, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit uneasy.

Even if the unknown cultivator ended up emerging victorious in his battle again the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast, he now also had to deal with the large horde of illusory beasts that had gathered around the battlefield.

Boom-boom-boom!

However, even with this, the scale and destruction caused by the battle didn't slow down in the slightest and instead only seemed to increase with each passing second, to the point that it looked like the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast had begun to run out of steam.

Not so much because it was weak in any way, but because the constant use of powerful techniques and abilities was extremely taxing on both its body and soul-

Ptsh!

And just like that, the unknown cultivator managed to pierce through the defense of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast and land a fatal attack. Killing the powerful illusory beast before it had the chance to recover and fight back against the unknown cultivator-

Rustle~

At the same time, also causing the surrounding illusory beasts to grow restless as they all began getting ready to attack the unknown cultivator.

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Chapter 1095 Hidden Quest... Completed?

Roooar!

Taking the lead, one of the illusory beasts at the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm took the lead as it charged forward. Soon causing the rest of the impatient illusory beasts to similarly charge forward.

Boom-!

However, before the first illusory beasts had a chance to reach the unknown cultivator, a loud explosion could be heard as the area around the unknown cultivator blew up. Following which the unknown cultivator disappeared together with the dead body of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast.

Roar!?

Causing the illusory beasts about to attack to enter a state of confusion as they stared at the place the unknown cultivator had been standing just a short second earlier. Not knowing where he had suddenly disappeared to.

Out of everyone present, the only one who managed to pick up on what had just happened to the unknown cultivator was Xuan Hao, who barely managed to see that the unknown cultivator had actually used the Dao of Illusions to hide himself the moment he had destroyed the surroundings. Following which he used the momentary confusion caused by the large explosion to sneak away before any of the illusory beasts had time to realize what had just happened.

Even knowing what had just happened, Xuan Hao still ended up losing sight of the unknown cultivator as he disappeared deeper inside the valley together with the dead body of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast.

"I Should properly get out of here for now before those illusory beasts end up finding me…" Muttering this to himself as he noticed that some of the illusory beasts had begun to search the surroundings for any signs of the missing cultivator, Xuan Hao decided to leave the place before he ended up getting discovered by any of the illusory beats.

After all, even if he was more than strong enough to deal with some of them and was more than confident in being able to escape when things got dangerous, he also understood that there were simply far too many illusory beasts present for him to be capable of fighting back for more than a few minutes before being overwhelmed by them.

Outside of that, there was also the fact that he didn't want to reveal his existence to the unknown cultivator without first making sure that he was not someone hostile, who might want to try and kill him to ensure that he could monopolize the Valley of Illusory Beasts for himself before more people started to show up. If not that, he might also want to kill him just to ensure that he wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed during a battle in the future…

Whoosh~

Not thinking too much about this as he left the place after glancing over in the direction that the unknown cultivator had disappeared in, Xuan Hao left the deeper part of the valley that he found himself inside of. Soon arriving back in the relatively safer outer part of the valley where the wooden gate leading back to the Sea of Mist was located together with the wooden gate to the Ephemeral Forest.

For now, he decided to continue hunting the illusory beasts in the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm until they were of no use to him. Deciding to hold out on going any deeper inside the valley in search of Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts before it became the only way for him to continue his current speed of improvement.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

…

As half a month went by like this, the illusory beasts at the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm also ended up becoming useless for improving his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions. Leaving only the ones that had reached the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm for him to hunt down in the outer part of the valley.

Unfortunately, the illusory beasts in the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm were far harder to find compared to the ones in the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Relam and he soon realized that the only way for him to continue increasing his strength was to go deeper inside the valley.

Well… That, or he could wait for the illusory beasts to reappear again… And considering that only a single illusory beast at the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm that he had killed before had reappeared after four months inside the valley, he had a feeling that he would be waiting around for a long time before the illusory beasts at the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm began to reappear.

In the end, the only way he could continue to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions at his current speed was to head deeper into the valley and risk running into the powerful unknown cultivator.

Haaa… I'm thinking far too much about this, even if that person is hostile and decides to attack me, I'm still more than strong enough to fight back. Not to mention, I should be able to escape with the help of the Dao of Space as long as I don't go too far into the valley where the space is too solid and rigid for me to use the Drifting Cloud Steps.

Shaking his head as he thought about this to himself, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time before he began to make his way deeper into the valley. Making sure to go at a rather slow pace so he could keep an eye on the state of the space around him and not end up going so far inside the valley that his movement technique would be rendered useless by the immovable and hard to manipulate spatial structures of the space that made up the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Even if it increased the time it took him to travel back to the spot where he had first witnessed the battle between the unknown cultivator and the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast by over seven hours. At least he was certain that the space along the way was easy enough for him to manipulate with his current understanding of the Dao of Space.

Of course, there was also the fact that he killed a few illusory beasts at the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm along the way…

[Hidden Main Quest: Have four disciples reach the core Formation Realm (Complete)]

"Huh?"

It was just at this moment that a screen from the system suddenly appeared in front of him. Ruining the rather tense feeling of returning back to the place where he had watched the unknown cultivator fighting with countless powerful illusory beasts ready to pounce the moment the fight ended.

To be honest, Xuan Hao was not expecting the system to do anything, yet it decided to show up now of all times. Alerting him to the fact that he now had four disciples in the Core Formation Realm… And considering that he only had a single disciple who had yet to reach the Core Formation Realm, it was rather obvious who had reached the Core Formation Realm.

The only problem was… Mui had only been at the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm when he had left the sect. For her to reach the Core Formation Realm in a short four months, her talent of 78 was not just for show, she had already far exceeded his other disciples in terms of cultivation speed.

Not to mention, he didn't really have to guide her much, outside of the basics, after he had given her the Myriad Water Arts for cultivation…

Outside of Mui, his three other disciples should also have improved by a lot during the time he had been gone. Especially Chu Yang, who focused most- If not all of his energy and time on improving his strength.

Not only his disciples, but the rest of the sect should also have seen significant changes over the past few months as the new territory of the different major kingdoms became more and more integrated into the Star Shattering Sect and allowed far more resources to flow back into the Star Shattering Sect and promote the strength of both the young and old…

Fighting back his curiosity over just what had happened during the four months he had been gone from the sect, Xuan Hao turned his attention back to the screen floating in the air in front of him before the entire quest appeared before him.

[Hidden Main Quest: Have four disciples reach the core Formation Realm (Complete)]

[Description: Have at least four disciples reach the Core Formation Realm below the age of 25.]

[Reward: Awakening of physique advanced by 10%]

[Bonus Reward Requirements: Have four disciples reach the Core Formation Realm within the first year of taking a disciple, all disciples below the age of 20. (Failed)]

[Bonus Reward: Fully Awaken physique.]

"…"

Looking at the quest and the rewards, Xuan Hao at first felt a sense of happiness when seeing the awakening percentage of his physique would increase before feeling a sense of disappointment after seeing the so-called bonus reward presented by the system.

Even if he failed getting the bonus reward in a hidden quest, there was no reason for the system to show him what he missed out on like this…

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Chapter 1096 Improvements and Unfortunate Encounter

Deciding not to think too much about what he had lost out on, Xuan Hao instead focused his attention back on the reward that he actually got from Mui breaking through to the Core Formation, becoming his fourth disciple to reach the Core formation Realm.

For now, I should redeem the reward from the system and get stronger before starting to search for any illusory beasts that might be able to help increase my comprehension of the Dao of Illusions…

Glancing around at his surroundings as he thought about this to himself, Xuan Hao soon spotted a small, secluded spot not too far away. A perfect place for him to enter a short seclusion while he redeemed the reward from the system to increase the strength of his physique and bring it one step closer to awakening.

[Redeem reward: Y/N]

Yes!

Whoosh~!

Not even a second after ensuring that the place was safe and he had ensured that he wouldn't end up getting found by any of the illusory beasts that might pass through the place, Xuan Hao redeemed the reward from the system. Soon feeling the familiar power of the system flowing through his body as the strength of his body began increasing rapidly, while at the same time strengthening his connection to the Dao of Space

However, the most obvious change taking place was not the clear increase in the strength of his physical body or the Dao of Space growing clearer and easier to comprehend. Instead, it was the special ability that came along with his physique's awakening, the Divine Void Eyes, which had changed from being able to cause a partial spatial collapse to being capable of causing a true spatial collapse!

Although he had no idea just how exhausting it would be for him to create a true spatial collapse with his current strength, he felt a sense of excitement as he remembered the true spatial collapse he had witnessed back in the mystic realm.

Back then, the true spatial collapse had left behind a scar on the world that didn't show any signs of healing even after a long period of time. Different from the partial spatial collapse that was almost instantly repaired.

Of course, it could also just be because the true spatial collapse had happened in a mystic realm that could in sense be considered outside the world itself even thought it was intimately connected to it through countless spatial passages and had in essence been created by the world over a long period of time.

But even if the true spatial collapse didn't last as long before being suppressed and erased by the forces that kept the spatial structure of the world intact, the true spatial collapse would still provide him a great opportunity for him to comprehend the Dao of Space.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Even if the speed of comprehension might be lower when it was compared to killing illusory beasts to improve his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions, it would provide him a stable path for reaching the Large Success Realm in the Dao of Space in the future… And if he couldn't continue killing the illusory beasts, he could also switch over to comprehending the Dao of Space instead.

The only problem with this was the fact that comprehending the Dao of Space was a far harder ordeal compared to the Dao of Illusions. Even with the assistance of the true spatial collapse ability of his Divine Void Eyes, he doubted that he would be able to reach the large Success Realm in it without at least five or ten years of time.

A terrifying speed when compared to other cultivators, but far too slow if he wanted to reach the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple appeared to investigate what was happening at the Shattered Star Peaks.

After all, outside of reaching the Large Success Realm in one of his Daos, he also had to fully integrate them into his dao domain, something that might take months- even more so when considering that he had yet to integrate his Dao of Illusions into his dao domain.

Smiling a bit wryly as he thought about this to himself, Xuan Hao decided to pull up his current status and see how much he had improved. Feeling curious about how far his physique was from awakening given that it would also slowly awaken on its own without the help of the system.

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 (Small Success)

Not integrated into Dao Domain: Dao of Illusions (Small Success Realm)

Sword Intent: Nascent Sword Soul Realm

Talent: ????

Bloodline: Three Immortals Bloodline (Half-Awakened)

Physique: ??? (76% Awakened)

Realm: Intermediate Stage Dao Domain Lord (Comparable to Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm)

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 (Peak Ninth Stage Domain Lord Realm), Rabbit Demon Beast (Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm)

Indeed, looking through his status, Xuan Hao realized that a few things other than his physique had changed since he had last seen his status.

First of all, the awakening progress of his physique had reached 76%, meaning that it had indeed improved a bit on its own without his cultivation realm improving. Next, the systems evaluation of his current strength had changed from the fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm to the Sixth tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, a clear sign that he was indeed getting closer to reaching the Peak of the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

However, the thing that surprised him the most was that the winged lion demon beast's strength had improved from just being in the Ninth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm to the Peak of the Ninth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm. Meaning that it should be in the process of getting ready to break through to the Soul Ascension Realm.

But… Considering how lazy the winged lion demon beast was, he highly doubted that its sudden increase in strength was due to it being diligent and cultivating hard on its own during his absence. Instead, it was far more likely that it had found something to eat that could help increase its strength.

Now, the main question became what it had eaten to increase its strength to a degree that it was about to reach the Soul Ascension Realm…

Deciding to not think too much about this for now as it would only make him worried about the state of the sect's demon beasts, Xuan Hao used his divine sense to check if there were any powerful illusory beasts nearby before leaving the small cave, he had hidden inside of to redeem the reward from the system.

Roooar!

However, just as he stepped outside the small cave, a loud roar could be heard not too far away from him as an illusory beast at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm appeared out of nowhere charging directly towards him.

"This…"

Not having expected to be met with such a sight after having made sure there was no powerful illusory beasts around just a second earlier, Xuan Hao could not help frowning to himself as he wasted no time in using his dao domain and Dao of Illusions together to hide himself from the approaching illusory beast.

Even if it had just appeared all of a sudden and was charging directly towards him, it was also obvious from the fact that it kept looking behind itself that it did not see him and just happened to be moving in his direction while roaring loudly.

"Come back! Don't you dare escape from me!"

Soon enough, it became clear what was happening as a loud yell echoed out from behind the illusory beast and an all too familiar figure appeared not too far behind the illusory beast filled with killing intent.

The cultivator from earlier…

Seeing this person, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes as he began moving away from the path of the escaping illusory beast.

Even if his strength was now comparable to someone in the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm according to the system, he also understood that there was a very clear difference between someone who had just reached the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm and someone who was just a single step away from the Earth Immortal Realm.

"Huh?"

However, just as he was about to successfully move out of the way and avoid a confrontation with the escaping illusory beast and the terrifying Soul Ascension Realm cultivator, the illusory beast changed direction and came straight towards him once again. Giving him no time react before it was only a few hundred meters away from, a distance that made it impossible for him to stay hidden from the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast…

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Chapter 1097 First Time Causing a True Spatial Collapse

Roar?

Seeing Xuan Hao suddenly appearing in front of it, the illusory beast let out a confused roar as it came to a stop before it collided with him. Stopping no more than a hundred meters away from him.

"Huh? This…"

At the same time, the unknown cultivator who had been chasing after the illusory beast also came to a sudden stop as he also discovered Xuan Hao who had suddenly appeared in front of him and the illusory beast without any warning.

Even if he was originally chasing after the illusory beast and had a perfect chance to attack it now that it had come to a stop, he also understood that doing so might open him up to being ambushed to the unfamiliar person that had just popped up in front of him.

No matter how confident he was in his current strength inside the Soul Ascension Realm, he had no intentions of possibly putting his life on the line when there was no reason to do so. Instead, it was far more reasonable to first assess the strength of the person that had suddenly appeared in front of both him and the illusory beast before deciding on what to do.

At the very least, he was certain that Xuan Hao was at least someone close to the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm. After all, without this level of strength, it would have been impossible for him to remain hidden from his and the illusory beast's senses!

"…"

Not aware of the thoughts going through the head of the unknown cultivator and the illusory beast as they both stared at him in surprise, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly to himself as he wondered how to get out of his current predicament.

Considering that neither of the two had attacked him yet, he might be able to use the opportunity to sneak away before they recovered from the shock of his sudden appearance-

Roar!

However, before he had the chance to sneak away, the illusory beast woke up from its surprised state as it let out a loud roar and lunged towards him. Intent on getting rid of the obstacle blocking its path and escape before the unknown cultivator behind it took the chance to attack it.

Whoosh~!

As the illusory beast lunged towards him filled with killing intent, Xuan Hao understood that he wouldn't be able to sneak away from the scene and decided to use his dao domain to forcibly push back against the illusory beast-

Bang!

Roar!?

Colliding with the dao domain, the illusory beast let out a surprised cry before finding itself unable to approach Xuan Hao. Making it painfully obvious that it wouldn't be able to push past Xuan Hao without a proper fight, something that it didn't want considering that there was still the unknown cultivator behind it, who would be more than happy to see it use up all of its remaining energy fighting Xuan Hao.

In the end, the illusory beast continued attacking Xuan Hao's dao domain with the hope that he wouldn't be able to continue resisting for long and had just momentarily increased his strength to fight back. Not using too much power in the process as it was still feeling fearful of the cultivator behind it.

Luckily for the illusory beast, the unknown cultivator had also decided to observe the situation for now and try to first determine Xuan Hao's strength before doing anything that might put him in danger. Giving the illusory beast ample time to attack Xuan Hao's dao domain-

Bang-bang-bang!

Unfortunately for the illusory beast, it did not take long for it to discover that Xuan Hao had not momentarily increased his strength to resist it. Instead, he was indeed strong enough to resist it with his own strength, a worst-case scenario for the illusory beast who was now left with no idea how to escape from its current situation.

Not only was a powerful cultivator watching it from behind, but its path forward had now also been blocked by a powerful opponent…

What in the world does this illusory beast want!?

At the same time that the illusory beast felt a sense of helplessness over its current situation, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he thought this to himself while looking at the illusory beast relentlessly attacking his dao domain.

Not understanding why, the illusory beast had decided to continue attacking his dao domain with only the bare minimum strength of someone in the Sixth Stage of the Soul Ascension Realm instead of just escaping in another direction.

After all, the left and right side of the illusory beast were wide open, and it should be able to escape in those directions and didn't have to try and make it straight through him.

Unless the illusory beast already thinks that it won't be able to escape by going around me and thinks it might cause the cultivator behind it to act. Resulting it having to deal with both my dao domain and that person at the same time…

Realizing this, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes as he looked towards the unknown cultivator a few thousand meters behind the illusory beast.

Up until this point, the unknown cultivator had yet to make a move and was just observing the situation from afar, likely trying to assess his strength and determine whether or not he would be able to kill him and the illusory beast.

How annoying…

Knowing this, Xuan Hao understood that he couldn't continue the stalemate with the illusory beast for too long nor could he fight back against the illusory beast, as both would end up revealing that his current strength was at most comparable to the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Far below the strength of the unknown cultivator-

Whoosh~

For this reason, Xuan Hao decided to take the opportunity to test out the true spatial collapse ability that he had recently acquired after his physique had improved. Instantly causing a small space the size of an apple in front of the illusory beast to start collapsing.

Roar?

Seeing the space in front of it starting to collapse, the illusory beast momentarily stopped its attack as it looked at the small collapsing space the size of an apple that had appeared in front of it filled with confusion. Not understanding what Xuan Hao was planning to do.

Rumble~

However, this confusion soon turned into fear as the small collapsing space rapidly expanded-

ROOOOAR?!

And before the illusory beast could react, it felt a terrifying force taking hold of its body before it found itself being dragged into the expanding void that now covered almost everything in its sight.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Roa-

Not a second later, the entirety of the illusory beast was swallowed up by the collapsing space. Erasing it from existence before it could muster a defense. Not that it would have made that much of a difference considering that it had no way to resist the spatial collapse with its Dao of Illusions.

RUUUMBLE-!

Following the illusory beast being swallowed, the spatial collapse continued to expand for a few seconds longer before the laws of the world seemed to kick into action and forcibly suppress it from expanding any further. Forcing it to shrink down to its original size of a small apple where it ended up in a state similar to the collapsed space he had seen back in the mystic realm, a small scar on the world that wouldn't heal for a long time without any outside interference.

"…"

Seeing the sheer power of the true spatial collapse, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine.

Although he had been the one to trigger the true spatial collapse just now, he had also clearly felt that he had no control over the collapse after he had first started it.

If not for the fact that the rules of the world had forcibly suppressed the spatial collapse from growing any larger, it might have ended up swallowing him as well, something he had not really thought about when he had first decided to test out the true spatial collapse on the illusory beast.

Not only that, but the energy consumed by triggering the true spatial collapse had almost completely dried up his dantian. Only leaving behind ten or so percent of his qi. Let alone fighting in his current state, even escaping would become a rather difficult thing if he had to escape for more than a few hours!

At the very least, from looking at the unknown cultivator's terrified expression, he felt that this shouldn't be a problem. Maybe he could even use the opportunity to obtain some more information about the Valley of Illusory Beasts from him.

On a side note, he would have to be extremely careful when using the true spatial collapse in the future. Not only because it used up almost of his qi, but also because it might end up killing him…

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Chapter 1098 Chu Li

"This is-?!"

Having just wanted to observe the situation from afar to see how strong Xuan Hao was and if he would be any threat to him, the unknown cultivator could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine as he witnessed the space around the illusory beast collapse. Erasing the illusory beast from existence in the process.

Although part of the reason why the illusory beast had been killed off so easily was due to it being caught off guard by the attack, the unknown cultivator also understood that the power of the collapsing space had far exceeded his comprehension. Reaching a point where it had even left a scar on the world itself. Showing just how powerful it was.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Is this person perhaps an Earth Immortal…?

Recalling that only someone in the Earth Immortal Realm would have the power to damage the fabrics of space to such a degree, the unknown cultivator could not help looking towards Xuan Hao with a somewhat fearful expression on his face. Understanding that even though his strength was close to the Earth Immortal Realm, there was no way for him to compete against a true Earth Immortal Realm cultivator.

Coupled with the fact that he could not sense Xuan Hao's true strength due to the existence of his dao domain making it difficult to grasp while also giving him a somewhat mysterious and unfathomable presence, the unknown cultivator became convinced that Xuan Hao was a senior in the Earth Immortal Realm.

"…"

Because of this, the unknown cultivator didn't know what to do as he decided to remain silent while nervously looking towards Xuan Hao. Not daring to do anything that might end up offending Xuan Hao.

Whoosh~

Seeing the reaction of the unknown cultivator realizing that his plan had worked, Xuan Hao could not help letting out a silent breath of relief before he made his way over with a calm expression on his face. Not daring to show any signs of exhaustion after using the true spatial collapse ability, as it might end up making the unknown cultivator suspicious.

"Greetings senior, this junior's name is Chu Li and I serve under the East Sea General. Is there anything I can help with…?" Feeling even more nervous than before as Xuan Hao arrived in front of him, the unknown cultivator didn't hesitate for a second before introducing himself as someone serving under the East Sea General. Hoping that his identity of being under one of the Blue Sea Empire's four generals would be able to ensure his safety.

Unfortunately for Chu Li, who thought that his identity might help keep him safe, Xuan Hao had no idea who the East Sea General was and showed no reaction upon hearing about him.

Inevitably, this caused Chu Li to grow even more uneasy as he began wondering if the senior in front of him might be one of the terrifying experts who had surpassed the Earth Immortal Realm and stood at the pinnacle of power in the Blue Sea Empire.

"No need to be so nervous, I just wanted to ask you what you know about this place." Seeing the increasingly fearful expression on the face of Chu Li, Xuan Hao decided to jump in before things went out of control.

Although it was good for Chu Li to fear him, it would not be good he ended up becoming fearful to the point where he might end up doing something stupid in an attempt to get out of his current situation alive.

After all, his current strength was nowhere near a level where he would be able to suppress someone like Chu Li who was only a single step away from the Earth Immortal Realm. On the other hand, it might end up exposing that he was not a senior and cause Chu Li to attack him, something he wanted to avoid at all costs considering his current state was far from optimal after having used the true spatial collapse earlier.

"Information about the Valley of Illusory Beasts…? Sure! I have been here for the past five years, I'm sure I will be of assistance to senior!" Hearing what Xuan Hao said, Chu Li sprung back to life as he happily said this with a proud expression on his face.

Considering that Xuan Hao had just asked him for information, it was obvious that he shouldn't have any ill intentions towards him. After all, considering their difference in strength, he would have been able to easily kill him if he wanted to.

"So far, I have been able to explore the outer part of the valley and some of the deeper parts of the…"

With this in mind, Chu Li didn't hold back as he told Xuan Hao everything; he had managed to learn about the Valley of Illusory Beasts during the five years he had spent inside the valley. In the process, also telling Xuan Hao about the different dangerous locations that would be best to avoid due to the possible presence of Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts in those areas.

In the end, by the time he had finished talking and hurriedly took his leave after a quick farewell, Xuan Hao had managed to learn a lot more about the Valley of Illusory Beast and why the place had been abandoned by the Blue Sea Empire as a place that was open to anyone who found it or bought information about it from the intelligence department.

The reason why the Blue Sea Empire had decided to abandon the Valley of Illusory Beasts was that one of the seniors from the Blue Sea Empire had explored the place and discovered that there was an existence surpassing the Earth Immortal Realm within the deepest parts of the valley. Not only that, but that senior had, according to Chu Li, discovered more than one such existence.

Not only that, but these powerful existences deeper inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts seemed to wander out towards the outer edges of the valley from time to time. Making it far too dangerous to use for training the Blue Sea Empire's younger generation without getting rid of these powerful creatures.

Considering the fact that the Dao of Illusions was already rather rare to begin with, the Blue Sea Empire couldn't be bothered to waste so many resources and time on clearing out the place. Resulting in it being abandoned by them.

With this in mind, Xuan Hao had wondered why someone like Chu Li had decided to come to the Valley of Illusory Beasts even knowing about this danger and return, he had told him that he had found a way to tell when the powerful existences deep within the valley were about to emerge. The method in question was to observe the illusory beasts that normally roamed around the outer edges of the valley.

According to Chu Li, when these weaker illusory beasts in the Domain Lord Realm and earlier stages of the Soul Ascension Realm began hiding away, it meant that the terrifying existences deep inside the valley were about to emerge.

Unfortunately, he had no idea how long it would take for them to emerge. Only having experienced the weaker illusory beasts hiding away two times during his five years in the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

The way he knew it would be safe to return to the Valley of Illusory Beasts being when he could see the weaker illusory beasts roaming around the valley after poking his head out through the wooden gate.

As for seeing any of the terrifying existences normally hidden deep inside the valley… He didn't have the opportunity…

"There is really something wrong with this Chu Li…" Muttering this to himself as he thought about what Chu Li had told him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling that there was something wrong with Chu Li. After all, he had stayed inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts for such a long period of time. Even knowing the danger of the place and that was not mentioning his unique method of making sure that the terrifying existences from deep inside the valley had left…

Well… I guess it should also be because the valley is an opportunity for him to break through to the Earth Immortal Realm…

Shaking his head as he remembered the fact that Chu Li was only a single step away from the Earth Immortal Realm, Xuan Hao felt like he understood why he was willing to take such a huge risk to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions.

Not only would reaching the Earth Immortal Realm improve one's lifespan by leaps and bounds, but one would also be able to finish the Immortal Soul Tribulation.

After all, when reaching the Soul Ascension Realm and officially starting the Immortal Soul Tribulation, one would have a total of five thousand years to prepare between each tribulation, when the time came, the tribulation would descend no matter what.

Because of this, Soul Ascension Realm Experts who were about to run out of time and felt like they were far from capable of transcending the next tribulation would get increasingly anxious for ways to increase their strength. Especially so for Soul Ascension Realm cultivators in the later stages of the realm…

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Chapter 1099 Back to the Ephemeral Forest

As he found out just how dangerous the Valley of Illusory Beasts was, Xuan Hao was also left with a new problem… And that was whether or not he should continue staying inside the valley to continue improving his Dao of Illusions.

Even if Chu Li had told him about the signs that would show up before the emergence of the powerful creatures from deeper inside the valley, he had no idea how accurate this information was. Not to mention, he had no clue how long he would have to escape from the valley when the weaker illusory beasts began to hide away.

If he happened to be deeper inside the valley and was locked in a fight with a powerful illusory beast when the powerful creatures deeper inside the valley began to emerge, he might end up being too slow to leave the valley in time… And that was not counting the fact that there always was a chance that the powerful creatures from deep inside the valley might possess the ability to leave the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

"Haaa… Staying might end up becoming dangerous, but leaving will make breaking through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm take far longer…" Letting out a sigh as he muttered this to himself while gazing into the depths of the valley where his divine sense could not reach, Xuan Hao felt himself hesitating.

Although the smartest thing would be to leave the valley and not risk running into an Earth Immortal Realm illusory beast, he also understood that leaving the valley would make it close to impossible for him to reach the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm within the next five years.

At that point in time, he might be forced to find a way to deal with the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple while still being in the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, something he wanted to avoid if possible. Not only because he had no way to deal with someone at the Earth Immortal Realm with his current strength, but also because such a powerful cultivator would be more than strong enough to destroy every part of the Star Shattering Sect outside of the area guarded by the chaotic qi formation.

Even if the Star Shattering Sect would be able survive and he could take his time breaking through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm inside the chaotic qi formation, the loss of the sect's entire territory outside the Shattered Star Peaks and the branch sects that had been built up over the past few years across the sect's expanding territory would take a long time to recover… And that was not to mention the mental blow many of the sect's elders and disciples would experience from something like that happening. Especially when considering that most of the sect's disciples and elders had their relatives stay in the ever-expanding city at the base of the Ninth Star peak, a place that was outside the chaotic qi formation…

Thinking about all of this, Xuan Hao could not help shaking his head.

"Staying or not, I will have to face an Earth Immortal Realm Expert at some point while still in the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm anyway. At the very least inside the valley, I can still escape and don't have to worry about my sect being destroyed in the process." As he said this to himself, Xuan Hao decided to continue hunting down illusory beasts inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Dangerous as it might be, he felt confident in being able to escape from any of the Earth Immortal Realm creatures that might emerge from the deeper parts of the valley in the future due to his spatial movement technique, as long as he didn't end up wandering too far into the valley where the space became far too solid for him to manipulate with his current strength and understanding of the Dao of Space.

Whoosh~

Not wasting any time after having come to this decision, Xuan Hao left the place and headed towards a different part of the valley to recover the qi he had used earlier before he would even think of starting to search for search for a Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast to help improve his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions.

Only after he had fully recovered would he dare to try and target another illusory beast.

Of course, he also had to do his best to not use the true spatial collapse ability, if possible, as using it didn't leave a body behind. Meaning that he would not be able to make use of it to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions. Essentially making the death of the illusory beast meaningless.

…

"I wonder who that senior was, the power from that attack earlier was definitely in the Earth Immortal Realm. Maybe even beyond that…"

At the same time Xuan Hao was focused on finding somewhere safe where he could recover from using the true spatial collapse, Chu Li was left wondering to himself about Xuan Hao's identity as he continued searching for another Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast to hunt down.

"Ah! Come to think of it, the senior should also have come because of the illusory beasts' special ability to enhance one's comprehension of the Dao of Illusions and with that in mind, senior's dao should also be the Dao of Illusions!"

Realizing this, Chu Li could not help coming to a stop as a look of regret appeared on his face.

"To think I wasted a chance to ask for pointers from a senior in the Dao of Illusions!" Exclaiming this in a loud voice filled with endless regret, Chu Li could not help coming to a stop as he looked back in the direction he had just come from.

Part of him wanted to turn around and see if he could catch up with the senior again and ask him for guidance in the Dao of Illusions, while another part of him understood how rude it would be of him to do something like that. Understanding that it might even result in the senior becoming hostile to him.

Although the illusory beasts were able to help him with his breakthrough to the Earth Immortal Realm, it was nowhere near as useful as getting the guidance of a senior who had already gone through the final tribulation he was about to undergo.

Even if each tribulation would vary from individual to individual and the dao was the same, the experience and guidance would still be invaluable. Far more precious than anything else he might obtain inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

As for asking a senior from the Blue Sea Empire… That was impossible!

Not because the Blue Sea Empire lacked Earth Immortal Realm Experts or that he was unable to come in contact with them, but because the Blue Sea Empire didn't have a single Earth Immortal Realm Expert who comprehended the Dao of Illusions.

To this day, Chu Li was the strongest expert in the Dao of Illusions in the entire Blue Sea Empire. Having no seniors that he could ask for help whenever he encountered a problem in his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions.

As he remained in a state of struggle without moving for close to half an hour, Chu Li finally let out a small groan before turning around. "Ah! I will go! I can't give up such an opportunity, even if it means I end up accidentally offending the senior!"

Whoosh~!

Wasting no time after he came to a decision, Chu Li used all of his strength to rush in the direction he had come from earlier. Silently praying that Xuan Hao hadn't left the place or at least was somewhere nearby…

"Noooo! He's gone!"

Unfortunately for Chu Li, he soon came to realize that the senior had long since left without leaving a single trace behind-

"No, I can't give up like this! If I can't find the senior anywhere around here, I will just have to search for him. At least considering that he wanted to know more about the Valley of Illusory Beasts, he should still be somewhere inside the valley…"

However, Chu Li was not one to be easily discouraged as he soon calmed down and began the process of searching through the Valley of Illusory Beasts for any sign of Xuan Hao. Hoping that the senior was still somewhere inside the valley.

…

"This place should be perfect to recover without having to worry about any illusory beasts appearing."

At the same time Chu Li had begun the process of combing through the Valley of Illusory Beasts, Xuan Hao had made his way back to the wooden gates and returned to the Ephemeral Forest. Having concluded that it would be far safer for him to stay inside the Ephemeral Forest while recovering-This essence is securely nested within the heart of Nøvlß¡n

Squeak!?

Squeak?

While at the same time also letting the rabbit demon beast and squirrel out to train like they had done during his secluded cultivation to break through the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions.

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Chapter 1100 Hunting Illusory Beasts

After Xuan Hao began focusing on recovering and let out the rabbit demon beast and the squirrel, it did not take long before the rabbit demon beast took command of the situation and began the process of training the rabbit once again. Taking full advantage of the beneficial environment in the Ephemeral Forest to help increase the strength of the squirrel, while at the same time not forgetting to make sure that the squirrel didn't slack off-

Squeak!

Because of this, the squirrel ended up in a half-dead state as it was trained in a way that could only be described as tortuous for the next week. Even though its strength grew rapidly because of this, it wanted nothing more than to go back to training inside the small space of the pocket again. Not only because it was far more relaxing, but also because it would have some time to rest in between training sessions, something that it didn't have during the week inside the Ephemeral Forest.

The main reason why the rabbit demon beast went so hard on training the squirrel to the point of it almost fainting from exhaustion inside the Ephemeral Forest was not because it hated or had anything against the squirrel. Instead, it was because it had long since realized just how beneficial the Ephemeral Forest was for the squirrel and wanted to take full advantage of its time there before having to return to Xuan Hao's pocket again.

"Hm?"

Waking up to this scene, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of pity while looking at the half-dead squirrel being forced to continue training by the slave driver of a trainer in the form of a small cute looking rabbit.

Even if he didn't have any chance to interact with the squirrel, he still felt a little bad knowing that the reason why it was in its current state was because the rabbit demon beast wanted to make use of the short time that it had inside the Ephemeral Forest.This essence is securely nested within the heart of Nøvlß¡n

For this reason, Xuan Hao slowly got up before calling out to the two demon beasts. "You two, stop for a moment."

Squeak?

Squeak!?

As a result, he was soon met with the confused expression of the rabbit demon beast and the terrified expression of the squirrel who had no idea why Xuan Hao had suddenly called out to them.

"From now on, you two can continue staying here while I return to the Valley of Illusory Beasts. Before leaving this place, I will come back to pick you up again."

lightsnοvεl SQUEAK!?

Hearing what Xuan Hao said, the squirrel let out a loud scream filled with terror before rushing towards him with an almost begging expression on its face.

No matter what, it couldn't continue staying inside the Ephemeral Forest or the rabbit demon beasts training might really end up killing it!

As these thoughts passed through its head, it seemingly forgot the fact that Xuan Hao was far scarier than the rabbit demon beast as it looked up at him with tears in its eyes.

Squeak!

Bang!

However, before he had the chance to say anything, the rabbit demon beast arrived beside the squirrel and knocked it out. Not intending to sit back and watch it badmouth its training in front of its master.

Squeak~

Dragging away the unconscious body of the squirrel, the rabbit demon beast let out a small squeak of reassurance to him before disappearing inside the Ephemeral Forest.

In the end, Xuan Hao didn't have the chance to say anything before the rabbit demon beast and squirrel had disappeared and could only give one last stare in the direction that the two had disappeared in before turning around and making his way back through the wooden gate connected to the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

…

Returning back to the Valley of Illusory Beasts after having fully recovered the massive amount of qi he had used for the true spatial collapse; Xuan Hao didn't immediately begin to search for Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts to kill. Instead, he used the first few days after returning to the Valley of Illusory Beasts on finding out where he could go inside the valley before the spatial restrictions prevented him from using his Drifting Cloud Steps.

Making sure that he knew just where he could go and still have all of his escape abilities available in case a powerful creature in the Earth Immortal Realm appeared.

Only after having made sure of this, did Xuan Hao begin to search for a suitable Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast to target… And before long, he managed to successfully find a Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast inside the area where he could still use his Drifting Cloud Steps. Officially marking the start of actively hunting down the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts, something that was only possible due to the fact that their abilities had significantly weakened after he had broken through to the Small Succes Realm in the Dao of Illusions.

The only real problem was the fact that he still had to avoid the Chu Li and not end up in a fight with an illusory beast anywhere near where he was so as to avoid revealing the fact that he was not a senior and instead someone who was actually weaker than him.

At the very least, this was not too hard to accomplish given that his divine sense covered a larger area than that of a normal Peak Soul Ascension Realm cultivator due to his stronger soul. Giving him more than enough time to leave if he spotted Chu Li.

Other than that, given he was more than strong enough to fight the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts after his Dao of Illusions had reached the Small Success Realm, this resulted in his somewhat stagnant progress in the Dao of Illusions once again rapidly improving at pace similar to when he had first entered the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Like this, Xuan Hao ended up spending the next few months solely focused on hunting down the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts to improve his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions, while at the same time doing his best to avoid encountering Chu Li again.

…

At the same time Xuan Hao was dedicating all of his time towards trying to improve his Dao of Illusions to the Large Success Realm, the rabbit demon beast was making the squirrel go through hell back in the Ephemeral Forest.

Although it had decreased the intensity of the training to some extent after Xuan Hao had left and allowed them to continue staying inside the Ephemeral Forest, it was at most enough to give the squirrel a few hours of rest every so often…

Even then, the benefits of the spartan like training of the squirrel began to show itself a month after Xuan Hao had left for the Valley of Illusory Beasts, as the squirrel successfully managed to reach the Fourth Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Going from the First Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Fourth Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm in just a little over a month!

Even when compared to the geniuses of the Star Shattering Sect or outside the Star Shattering Sect for that matter, the squirrel's talent far surpassed most of them. Showing just how much potential it had, while at the same showcasing how effective the rabbit demon beast was when it came to training other demon beasts.

If Xuan Hao had witnessed all of this, he would undoubtedly have attributed it to the rabbit demon beast's special bloodline. Even though it hadn't fully awakened, it definitely did seem to have some effect on the rabbit demon beast, while at the same time also having an effect on the squirrel.

The main effect on the squirrel being the fact that it naturally began to follow the rabbit demon beast. Not in the same way it had done when the rabbit demon beast had first picked it up and forcibly taken it in, but instead in the sense that it felt subservient to the rabbit demon beast.

On the other hand, it also began to feel the benefits of the training more prominently compared to going from the Qi Condensation Realm to the Foundation Establishment realm, as the rabbit demon beast had now begun to teach it all sorts of different ways for it to utilize its qi, both in combat and outside of combat.

It might be a bit odd that this was what was needed for the squirrel to understand that its strength had improved and that it was different from before it had ended up wandering into the Sea of Mist a few months earlier, but that was ultimately what ended up making it realize it.

Much like Xuan Hao, the squirrel had also begun a process of rapid improvement and was showing no signs of stopping as it got closer and closer to the Core Formation Realm with each passing month…

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Chapter 1101 Problems and Solutions

As time passed inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts and Xuan Hao's comprehension of the Dao of Illusions increased with each passing day, the situation back in the Star Shattering Sect also began to change as the first independent sects began to arrive at the different kingdoms surrounding the Star Shattering Sect. Soon beginning the process of taking over these kingdoms according to their earlier agreement with the Star Shattering Sect before beginning the process of merging these territories together with the Star Shattering Sect.

In the process of this, Elder Song also made sure to dispatch a large number of Nascent Soul Realm Experts to facilitate this process, most of these Nascent Soul Realm Experts being from the different subordinate powers under the Star Shattering Sect. Among which, the most prominent one was the Ascendant Frost Hall, who dispatched three elders in the Nascent Soul Realm to help out.

Solidifying the fact that the Ascendant Frost Hall was by far the strongest subordinate power under the Star Shattering Sect. Not only because of their high number of Nascent Soul Realm Experts compared to most other forces below the Star Shattering Sect, but due to the fact that their sect master had managed to break through to the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm after a fortunate encounter and the support of the Star Shattering Sect's resources.

At this point in time, outside of some elders from the Star Shattering Sect like the grand elder of the half spirit race, the sect master of the Ascendant Frost Hall was the one with the highest hopes of reaching the Domain Lord Realm in the near future.

The only person who would be able to threaten the Ascendant Frost Hall's position as the number one subordinate power under the Star Shattering Sect would be Wan Linyun, the Domain Lord Realm Expert who had been taken in as a guest elder after during the Star Shattering Sect's expansion into his kingdom… And that was only if he decided to try and build up his family, something that didn't look like it was going to happen considering he had willingly become a guest elder and spent all of his time in the Star Shattering Sect.

Outside of the expansion of the Star Shattering Sect through the addition of the different independent sects from the core region of the Sky Empire seeking refuge with them, the number of rogue cultivators and refugees from the kingdoms closer to the core region passing through the borders of the Star Shattering Sect also increased.

The difference between these people and the ones from the independent sects being the fact that none of them entered the Star Shattering Sect for protection but had instead been pushed further away from the core region of the Sky Empire as the surrounding empires began to cause chaos all across the Sky Empire.

Although unintentional, the sudden influx of refugees and rogue cultivators looking for somewhere safe to settle down during the ongoing chaos in the Sky Empire inevitably ended up causing unrest across the border territory of the Star Shattering Sect.

However, before things could get out of hand, Elder Song took action to calm things down without needing to stoop down to things that wouldn't solve the root cause of the problem, like blocking their entry, expelling, or outright killing them.

Taking advantage of the large number of rogue cultivators who were mostly between the Foundation Establishment Realm and the Core Formation Realm, Elder Song recruited a large number of them and had them use their superior strength to help build out new cities to house the large number of refugees within a short span of a few months.

In the end, settling down the situation in the border region before it could grow out of control and potentially affect the core part of the Star Shattering Sect's territory.

At the same, the Star Shattering Sect also managed to get a large number of ordinary people who could help build up some of the different infrastructure projects that Elder Song and the rest of the management elders of the sect had thought about implementing but lacked the necessary manpower to accomplish at the moment.

As for food… That was no problem at all considering the fact that a single cultivator in the Core Formation Realm skilled in a farming related spiritual technique would be able to create food enough to feed millions of people with a few hours of work.

In a sense, the large number of refugees turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Star Shattering Sect as it helped filling out the current need for ordinary mortal manpower, while also covering the need for Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Realm manpower that the Star Shattering Sect needed to continue expanding at its current speed. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

…

Three months after the refugees settled down and began working on different infrastructure projects to better connect the territory of the Star Shattering Sect, the Star Shattering Sect encountered its first real challenge since the chaos in the Sky Empire began, as a Domain Lord Realm Expert from one of the surrounding empires had ended up finding his way inside the Star Shattering Sect's territory.

If he had just been passing through the place on his way to the core region of the Sky Empire, everything would have been fine, and the Star Shattering Sect could just ignore him and continue keeping their neutral position in the current conflict without getting involved in the chaotic situation.

However, this Domain Lord Realm Expert did not have this intention as he headed directly towards the core of the Star Shattering Sect's territory where the Shattered Star Peaks and the main sect was located. Having obviously come with a purpose in mind.

Learning about this the moment the Domain Lord Realm Expert had passed through the borders of the star Shattering Sect and asked one of the elders present at an outpost for directions to the Shattered Star Peaks, Elder Song decided to preemptively leave the sect together with Feng Chen to meet up with this Domain Lord Realm Expert before he had a chance to reach the Shattered Star Peaks. Doing so would not only prevent this Domain Lord Realm Expert from finding out just how powerful the Star Shattering Sect was but would also give him an illusion of subservience that might end up helping the Star Shattering Sect in staying out of the current war that was happening in the core region of the Sky Empire without offending one of the empires behind this war.

Even if doing something like this might damage to reputation and image of the Star Shattering Sect in the eyes of some people, both Elder Song and Feng Chen agreed that this was worth it if they could stay out of the war between the large powers of the Sky Empire and the surrounding empires.

…

Upon meeting the Domain Lord Realm Expert as he was making his way towards the Shattered Star Peaks, both Elder Song and Feng Chen could not help cursing inside themselves as they saw the arrogant grin plastered all over his face as he observed both of them.

"So, you are the sect master of the Star Shattering Sect?" Ignoring Elder Song, the Domain Lord Realm Expert focused all his attention on Feng Chen as he examined him from head to toe before sneering disdainfully at him. "I heard the Star Shattering Sect had someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, but from the looks of it, that was just a rumor. Tsch, as expected of the Sky Empire's border region. Mistaking someone in the Domain Lord Realm for someone in the Soul Ascension Realm." Shaking his head as he said this to himself the next moment, the Domain Lord Realm Expert belonging to one of the invading empires didn't bother saying anything more before turning around and leaving.

From start to finish, Elder Song and Feng Chen didn't even get to say a single word before the Domain Lord Realm Expert had turned around and left. ""…""

Left in a state of speechlessness due to the weird interaction that had just taken place, they had no idea whether to feel offended at the blatant disregard or feel happy over the fact that they had managed to avoid getting involved in the war between the Sky Empire and surrounding empires.

"Haaa… I think we should just go back for now, let's just pretend this never happened…" Not knowing what else to say as an audible sigh escaped his lips, Feng Chen decided to pretend like the Domain Lord Realm Expert had never appeared in the first place.

"Indeed… Let's do that…" Nodding his head in approval to Feng Chen's suggestion, Elder Song also felt like pretending the meeting just now had never happened would be for the best. Especially when considering the fact that they still had no idea what power this unknown Domain Lord Realm Expert was from.

Whoosh~!

Like this, Elder Song and Feng Chen soon left the spot and made their way back to the Star Shattering Sect in a quiet manner. Pretending like the Domain Lord Realm Expert they had met just now never appeared.

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