Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Recognizing the scroll on top of the pedestal almost immediately, Xuan Hao dived straight into the clearing beneath him before grabbing the scroll neatly placed on top of the small rather unassuming pedestal that seemed entirely out of place in the middle of the large clearing. Not that he really cared much about how the pedestal was out of place, as he only really cared about the scroll on top of the pedestal.

Even if it was different from past celestial trials and he couldn’t spot any ruins or fragments of ancient buildings around the clearing, who cared? All that mattered was the scroll on top of the pedestal was real and would help him finally figure out the goal of the rather confusing celestial trial he found himself in.

With that in mind, Xuan Hao didn’t waste any time after he got his hand on the scroll and directly began reading through it filled with anticipation-

”Huh? This is…”

However, only a few seconds later, he froze on the spot with an expression of disbelief plastered all over his face as his eyes narrowed before reading through the scroll in his hand again to make sure he hadn’t read wrong just now.

”Trial of the kingdoms in the sky… Convince the demon beast kingdoms living above the clouds to join forces and resist the malevolent being sealed beneath them before it consumes them… How am I supposed to convince the demon beasts to fight some malevolent being sealed underground when they had already been controlled by the artifact hidden inside the underground lake pavilion?

Or… Perhaps the artifact inside the underground lake pavilion is the malevolent being mentioned in the scroll of trials, but, if that is the case, hasn’t it already won? Did the celestial trial perhaps malfunction and end up sending me into a trial space that was considered failed long in the past?”

Thinking out loud to himself as he looked through the scroll of trials for a third time to ensure that he didn’t miss anything hidden in between the words, Xuan Hao was forced to accept that the celestial trial had already failed before he even entered it.

Unfair as this was, there was nothing he could do about it.

But… If the trial was already considered to have failed as the demon beasts already fell to the command of the malevolent being that now likely lingered in the underground lake pavilion in some kind of dormant state. How come he was still stuck inside the celestial trial? Was the trial perhaps not considered failed as the demon beasts were still alive?

Not just that, but the demon beasts living the way they were above the clouds were already highly unusual and would have been impossible under normal circumstances. Meaning there was a chance that the malevolent being mentioned in scroll of trials wasn’t the underground lake pavilion, but instead something different.

As for the underground lake pavilion… It could be serving as part of the trial itself. Ensuring that the demon beasts behaved in certain ways that aligned with the overall goal of the trial itself.

Thinking about it in this way, Xuan Hao felt that it made more sense, as there was simply no way that he could imagine anyone in the Early Stage of the Sea Formation Realm breaking the formations guarding the underground lake pavilion.

In a way, him discovering the underground lake pavilion might not have been something that had ever been intended in the first place. On the other hand, he was likely supposed to have learnt about the malevolent being threatening the demon beasts living in the treetops above the sea of clouds after flying up to explore his surroundings.

From there, it would have been simple enough to guess the conditions for clearing the celestial trial and he would in turn never have spent long enough to bother investigating the demon beast kingdoms like he had ended up doing.

”Hm? But… Outside of the trial already having failed and started malfunctioning after a long time or the underground lake pavilion hiding the malevolent being, there is also a chance that the trial has not failed and started like normal when I entered the trial space.

Only, the trial was still damaged in the past and ended up malfunctioning. Not adding in the malevolent being that should have been trying to devour the demon beasts above the clouds…?” Muttering this to himself with a still confused expression on his face as he looked up towards the clouds above, he really couldn’t figure out what the problem with the celestial trial was, let alone figure out what to do to complete the celestial trial.

Not only did the scroll of trials not help him in figuring out how to complete the celestial trial, it only ended up making him even more confused than before, as he now had no path to follow.

At least before reading the scroll of trials, he felt like he had a path to completing the celestial trial by cutting off the spiritual roots connected to the underground lake pavilion.

But now… He understood clearly that doing this wouldn’t do anything to help him complete the celestial trial.

”No… There might still be a way for me to complete the celestial trial before the trial space is consumed by the spatial storm…” Muttering this to himself as he suddenly focused his attention on a specific section of the scroll of trials, Xuan Hao narrowed his eyes ever so slightly before he put it away and flew into the sky.

The section in question was regarding the completion conditions of the trial and it read out-

[… The Celestial Immortal Realm demon beasts in charge of the different major demon beast kingdoms will be able to sense the death of the malevolent being. Only upon defeating the malevolent being and its presence no longer plaguing the minds of the kings will the trial be considered to have been completed…]

The section might not be that special under normal circumstances and just served as a casual reminder to ensure that the enemy was taken care of properly, but to Xuan Hao, this single sentence was an opportunity.

If the malevolent being that had been mentioned as the main enemy of the celestial trial wasn’t around, all he would have to do was find a Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast before having it acknowledge that the malevolent being was gone. After which the celestial trial would be considered to have been completed according to the scroll of trials.

Of course, this was easier said than done, as he would not only have to cut off the connection between the underground lake pavilion and the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast but would also have to convince it that the malevolent being was gone.

Cutting off the connection would be rather simple to accomplish, as the spiritual roots were still ultimately only spiritual roots of different Dao Seed Realm spiritual trees.

The main worrying part would be convincing the demon beast that the malevolent being was gone and everything was fine. After all, it would normally have been under the influence of the underground lake pavilion and wouldn’t have free will like it would after he cut off the connection.

Not to mention, he had no idea what kind of side effects it might suffer after its soul had been transformed by the mist.

For all he knew, it might end up going crazy the moment it lost the connection, or it might just end up dying on the spot after the connection disappeared… And that was not even considering that there might be some kind of response from the underground lake pavilion if he started cutting off the different connections attached to it.

One connection might remain undiscovered due to the sheer scale that the underground lake pavilion operated on, but to cut off a demon beast in the Celestial Immortal Realm, he would ultimately have to cut off the main root connecting an entire kingdom to the underground lake pavilion.

The number of connections alone would be at least five million if not more… And that was not even considering the snowballing effect it might have to other spiritual roots tightly entwined with the one he was cutting off.

From a rough estimate, it might affect twenty to fifty million connections in total.

No matter how dormant the underground lake pavilion might be, it should be able to notice that kind of massive cut in connections feeding back to it.

For this reason, he had to be careful in how he went about it and ensure that he was ready to convince the demon beast in record time. Hopefully completing the celestial trial before the underground pavilion had time to respond to what was happening. Allowing him to escape from the trial space without suffering any consequences for his actions.

As for the fate of the demon beast he chose to awaken… Well… It would at least get to enjoy its last moments in freedom before either being devoured by the spatial storm or killed off by a potential response from the underground lake pavilion…