Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Fully set on figuring out anything that might be able to point him in the direction of the celestial trial’s goal or at the very least give him some idea where the scroll of trials was hidden, Xuan Hao didn’t spend any longer than necessary investigating the formation guarding the underground lake pavilion. Understanding that it would be useless for him to continue doing so with his current strength, as the massive spatial storm barely being restrained somewhere outside the trial space was likely to engulf him far faster than he could unravel the formation guarding the underground lake pavilion.

Because of this, Xuan Hao wasted no time in starting his search for the scroll of trials after he reached the surface again. After all, it was the only thing that could help him to grasp the goal of the celestial trial that had turned out to be far more complicated than any of the other celestial trials he had faced so far.

At the very least, there wasn’t a simple goal for him to accomplish, like slaying a guardian, nor was the scroll of trials easy to find. Having already kept his eye out for it since his first arrival at the trial space.

Although, the main reason why it was so difficult for him to find the scroll of trials was because his divine sense was severely limited by the presence of the mist that affected not just the souls of the demon beasts, but also his divine sense.

Divine sense might not be capable of sensing the scroll of trials, but from past experiences, it was clear that the scroll of trials would always be in some kind of ancient ruins or building left behind by the Mirage Sect to make it easier for trial participants to find. If not just directly placed in front of the trial participant when they reached the trial space.

Not just that, but the area he had to search through was not just limited to the ground but also included the demon beast kingdoms located above the sea of clouds and underground spaces like the underground lake pavilion below.

The area he had to search through was significantly larger compared to past celestial trials, while at the same time also being far more difficult due to his limited divine sense.

In the end, because of this, Xuan Hao found himself wandering through the forest that covered most of the trial space for the next three days. Taking the opportunity to look underground whenever he found a cave entrance leading underground.

However, after all of this, he had still not managed to find the scroll of trials and still had no clue about how to complete the celestial trial.

Even worse, the spatial storm that hadn’t affected the celestial trial at the beginning had moved close enough for him to sense it tearing through the defensive formations guarding the celestial trial space, causing a few spatial rifts to emerge at the far west side of the trail space.

He might not have any idea just how long he had left before the defensive formations of the celestial trial space broke under the pressure of the spatial storm outside, but it was clear that he was running out of time.

If he didn’t end up finding the scroll of trials soon and complete the celestial trial, he might end up getting swallowed by the spatial storm as it devoured the celestial trial space.

”A trial for the Early Stage of the Sea Formation…” Muttering this to himself in a somewhat sarcastic tone as he gazed up at a newly torn spatial rift expanding in the sky a few thousand meters away from him, Xuan Hao turned around and moved in the opposite direction.

The spatial storm might not have broken through the celestial trial’s defensive formations yet, but the spatial rifts that it caused inside the trial were by no means weak and carried a fraction of the spatial storm’s power along with them.

A fraction of the spatial storm’s power might not sound like a lot, but this was a spatial storm capable of tearing apart a celestial gate. Carrying with it power far greater than the Profound Immortal Realm.

Even a tiny fragment of this power would be more than enough to heavily injure him or potentially even kill him if he was unlucky enough.

For this reason, Xuan Hao decided that it would be for the better if he avoided the spatial rifts entirely and the danger they presented altogether.

”But… Avoiding them forever isn’t possible, if I don’t find out how to complete this god forsaken celestial trial, I will still end up being swallowed up by that spatial storm.” Frowning to himself as he said this while moving away from the recently formed spatial rift that had begun to slowly expand in all directions around itself, Xuan Hao understood that only by completing the celestial trial would he be able to escape from his current situation.

But… The celestial trial was a complete failure, as he had no idea how to complete it…

The underground lake pavilion seemed like a good option but given the strength of the formations there and the fact that the trial was for someone in the Early Stage of the Sea Formation Realm, it was unrealistic to expect them to break the formations guarding the pavilion.

Cutting the roots of the spiritual trees and undoing the connection between whatever artifact controlled the demon beast was a potential solution to the celestial trial, but it could also be something different altogether that required the demon beasts to still be under the control of the artifact hidden away inside the underground lake pavilion…

”That... That is!?”

However, just as he was feeling hopeless about his current situation and planned to just go for it and cut off the spiritual roots connecting the artifact hidden in the underground lake pavilion to the demon beasts above the sea of clouds while praying that this was the goal of the celestial trial, he spotted something familiar appearing in the middle of a large clearing beneath him.

A pedestal.

One with an all too familiar scroll on top of it…