Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Back in the mystic realm, Xuan Hao soon arrived in front of one of the remaining three celestial gates.

However, the celestial gate in question was currently floating a few hundred meters above the ground, engulfed in what could only be described as a world ending thunderstorm. Carrying with it a might that was more than powerful enough to make even someone like himself hesitate on whether to try and enter or not.

After all, even if his comprehension of the Dao of Lightning wasn’t that deep and could at most be considered superficial, he could still clearly sense the terrifying might of the thunderstorm in front of him.

If not for the fact that he had broken through to the Profound Immortal Realm and reached the Sea Formation Realm, he would likely already have given up on even trying to enter the celestial gate hidden inside the thunderstorm, but… Now that he had broken through and his strength had increased compared to when he had still been in the Dao Domain Lord Realm, he didn’t feel like his current situation was completely hopeless.

That or his past experience of successfully making it through a spatial storm filled him with confidence.

After all, a spatial storm was far more terrifying than a thunderstorm. Even if the thunderstorm in front of him gave him a feeling no less terrifying than that of the heavenly tribulation he had faced when breaking through to the Profound Immortal Realm.

But then again, he had already managed to successfully pass through that heavenly tribulation, so the fear that a thunderstorm with the same level of power invoked wasn’t that great.

If anything, the reason he hadn’t attempted to breakthrough the thunderstorm and enter the celestial gate more so had to do with the fact that he could faintly sense something moving around inside of the thunderstorm. Making him inevitably think of the cloud demon beast that had managed to hide its true cultivation base from the formation guarding the mystic realm by staying in a special environment.

Although the cloud demon beast had ended up accidentally revealing itself while chasing him back then, it made it clear that there were demon beasts capable of hiding themselves inside the mystic realm and thereby exceed the cultivation limitations placed by the guardian formation of the mystic realm.

Even if it was doubtful how far demon beasts could improve by doing something like that, it was clear to him that if there really was a demon beast hidden in the thunderstorm in front of him, its strength would undoubtedly exceed that of someone in the Middle Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm and likely reached a realm comparable to the Sea Formation Realm.

With all of that in mind, recklessly stepping inside the thunderstorm in front of him was not an option, thus resulting in his current state of examining the thunderstorm from the outside while trying his best to spot any clues regarding the demon beast that might be lurking inside.

At the very least, given that the overall size of the thunderstorm only covered the area around the celestial gate, it wasn’t that large and could easily be covered by his divine sense.

The only problem was that his divine sense couldn’t enter the thunderstorm, as it would be torn apart by the lightning swirling around inside.

After all, though he himself was confident in resisting the lightning inside, it still carried with it a power no less powerful than the heavenly tribulation he had endured not long ago. More than powerful to tear apart his divine sense with ease.

In turn, it should also be this that the demon beast potentially hiding inside the thunderstorm was relying on to avoid detection from the guardian formation of the mystic realm. After all, it was clear that the guardian formation wasn’t exactly in peak condition, something that was clear from how he had managed to bypass it and enter the mystic realm the first time around.

If it had really been working in perfect order, it would have almost certainly prevented him from ever entering the mystic realm in the first place, or, at the very least killed him the second he stepped inside the mystic realm.

Thinking back about his decision to enter the mystic realm back then, it was a rather reckless decision, as it could have backfired in case the guardian formation marked him as an enemy.

At the very least, he now didn’t have to worry too much about the guardian formation of the mystic realm, as his current identity as a trial participant and someone with a temporary elder status allowed him to move around as he pleased.

Well… Almost move around as he pleased, as there were clearly still a few locations that he couldn’t enter or interact with. Most prominently being the inner workings of the celestial gates, as interacting with them in the past had almost ended up getting him killed…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao’s gaze focused back on the thunderstorm in front of him. During his brief distraction from the matter at hand, he noticed several new anomalies throughout the thunderstorm in response to the probing of his divine sense.

By now, he was almost certain that there was some kind of demon beast hidden inside the thunderstorm. The only question that remained was how strong the demon beast was and what kind of demon beast it was.

If he was lucky, it could be a demon beast that was far weaker than he had expected and its reason for staying alive inside the thunderstorm was due to it being born with a special affinity for the Dao of Lightning that allowed it to survive in the thunderstorm.

In a worst-case scenario, it was a demon beast that had already far exceeded the Sea Formation Realm in terms of strength and reached a realm comparable to the Land Creation Realm or above and the only reason it didn’t attack him yet was because it feared retaliation from the guardian formation of the mystic realm.

No matter which of the two it was or something in between, Xuan Hao felt that it wouldn’t take too long before he managed to figure out how strong the demon beast hidden in the thunderstorm was.

After all, even though it had managed to avoid his probing so far, the thunderstorm was only so large and it would inevitably be discovered by him… And if it continued to avoid detection, it would only solidify the fact that it was far stronger than him, something that would force him to give up on the celestial gate at the center of the thunderstorm before he got stronger…

”Hm? This… What in the world is this…” However, before his thoughts could wander any further, he finally managed to catch a glimpse of the demon beast hidden inside of the thunderstorm, causing him to unconsciously freeze on the spot as an expression of disbelief slowly made its way onto his face.

The reason for this was that the demon beast hidden inside the thunderstorm wasn’t a massive terrifying lightning beast, but instead a small serpent no more than a meter in length.

However, the most shocking thing wasn’t the appearance of the small serpent, but instead the fact that its strength had clearly reached the Sea Formation Realm. No… Not just the Sea Formation Realm, but the Late Stage of the Sea Formation Realm.

In other words, the somewhat cute little lightning serpent inside the thunderstorm was stronger than him!

”No… Even if it’s cultivation realm is above mine, I should still be stronger…” Narrowing both his eyes as he muttered this to himself while examining the lightning serpent for a few more seconds before his divine sense inside the thunderstorm was annihilated by a passing thunder bolt, Xuan Hao realized that the strength of the lightning serpent’s spiritual sea was weaker than his own.

Whether this was due to him having a strong foundation that allowed his spiritual sea to be far stronger than others at the Early Stage of the Sea Formation Realm or if it was just because the lightning serpent was naturally on the weaker side, he had no clue.

Although… Looking at the harmless and even cute appearance of the small lightning serpent, he leaned towards it being because it was weaker than others in the Late Stage of the Sea Formation Realm.

No matter what, it was good news for him, as it meant that he didn’t have to avoid the eighth celestial gate and look for another celestial gate.

Not just that, but the lightning serpent would also be a perfect sparring partner for him to test out his new strength before entering the celestial gate.

The only worry he really had was the guardian formation discovering the presence of the lightning serpent and activating to kill it off, as that would undoubtedly also get him caught up in the crossfire, something he doubted he could survive…