Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Having found a potential path to completing the celestial trial and escaping the ninth celestial trial before it was consumed by the spatial storm outside, Xuan Hao wasted no time as he burst through the sea of clouds above before reaching the massive treetops in search of a suitable demon beast to convince.

Luckily, it wasn’t that difficult to find a suitable demon beast, as there was no lack of Celestial Immortal Realm demon beasts present throughout the demon beast kingdoms. The main problem would be the convincing part that would come after he severed the demon beast’s connection to the underground lake pavilion.

In the worst-case scenario where he failed to convince the demon beast after cutting the connection, he would not just have to face a Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast, but potentially also a retaliation from the underground lake pavilion.

Although he still had a way to get out of his current situation in the form of the random teleportation talisman that he still had on him, he didn’t really want to waste it like this, as it would not only mean one less lifesaving item but would also mean that the ninth celestial trial would end up being considered failed.

Given how he had no idea if there even were any more celestial gates present on the Ewaria Continent, this would mean that the main quest that had already been there to accompany him for the last few years would stay with him even longer. Potentially even surpassing the staying time of a certain interspatial ring related quest…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao decided that it would be for the best to conduct a few tests before he moved forward with his plan to complete the celestial trial. Starting with cutting the connections of a few of the weaker demon beasts to see what would happen. Not feeling too worried about a potential retaliation, as a weaker demon beast’s connection could easily be isolated and cut off without affecting anyone other connections…

In the end, through a few tests over a few hours, he quickly discovered that although the demon beasts managed to regain their freedom and reverted back to normal demon beasts after the connection was cut off, there was a brief moment before they returned to being normal demon beasts where they were in a muddled state of mind and could communicate to some extent.

This muddled state of mind was constant throughout all the demon beasts he tested on, be they in the Domain Lord Realm, Soul Ascension Realm or Dao Seed Realm.

At the same time, the muddled state of mind lasted the same as well no matter what their cultivation realm was, a grand total of nine seconds.

Although nine seconds wasn’t that long and it would be difficult to convince a Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast in such a short time, Xuan Hao felt confident that he could do it.

Even if he wasn’t confident, this was still the only path to completing the celestial trial and potentially escaping from the collapsing celestial gate, so he would have to try no matter what…

Whoosh~

With that in mind, Xuan Hao didn’t linger around the treetops for long, as he soon picked out a Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast before tracing its connection back to the underground lake pavilion. Not daring to be the slightest bit careless as he laid down several smaller formations around the spiritual tree root housing the connection to the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast. Ensuring that he would be able to cut it off completely from a distance.

After all, he would only have nine seconds after cutting the connection and that time couldn’t be wasted on him rushing back up to the demon beast kingdom that the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast, he had chosen to convince was staying in.

Even if his comprehension of the Dao of Space would allow him to cross that distance almost instantly, he would ultimately still waste some time, time that he was already short on.

Instead of that, using a few formations that he could activate from a distance to do the job was a much better option. Even if the Dao of Formations wasn’t exactly his strong suit, he was more than capable of sealing a bit of his power inside a remote formation and activating it remotely.

The formations might not be able to contain his strength for more than a few minutes before breaking down with how hastily he had set them up, but it didn’t really matter as he only needed a few seconds to get back to the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast after setting them up.

And so… With everything in place-

Boom-boom-boom!

Xuan Hao remotely activated the formations. Allowing the power sealed inside them to explode out with the terrifying might of the Sea Formation Realm. Instantly destroying the spiritual root, they were placed next to before also destroying dozens of similar spiritual roots that happened to be too close…

However, none of this mattered to Xuan Hao, as he was instead focused on the demon beast that had suddenly frozen on the spot in front of him with a dazed expression on its face before it began looking around itself with a confused look in its eyes, a familiar expression to Xuan Hao, as the rest of the demon beasts whose connection he had cut off reacted in a similar way.

All he had to do now was convince the demon beast in front of him before it managed to recover from this dazed state!

”Huh? What is-”

”Great king! The malevolent being that plagued the demon beast kingdoms has been dealt with by me! There is no longer any reason to fear it devouring everyone! Just look around at everyone now returning to their normal way of life following the fall of the malevolent being!” Showing a respectful expression on his face as he interrupted the confused Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast before rapidly stating the few lines, he had practiced to convince the demon beast in its confused state, Xuan Hao slightly bowed his head as he waited for the demon beast’s response.

Even though he felt confident in his own success, he also understood that there was no way for him to fully ensure that everything would go off without any mistakes. For one, if the demon beast turned around right about now, it would see that a large root had emerged from the sea of clouds and was heading towards them.

”Huh? The malevolent being- Ah! The malevolent being! That great demon was defeated!? Hm… Indeed, I sense that it is gone! Haha, thank you for your assistance in taking down the great demon, friend! I will personally-”

BOOOOOOOM-!

Before the demon beast even had the chance to finish what it was saying or recover from the confused state that it found itself in, Xuan Hao watched the giant root that had emerged from the sea of clouds piercing through the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast. Instantly killing before rushing directly towards him.

Whoosh-!

However, before the tree root had the chance to reach him, Xuan Hao felt himself being pulled into the sky before being sucked into a newly created spatial passage. Taking him out of the trial space. Confirming that his plan had been successful, he had managed to convince the broken trial space that he had successfully completed the celestial trial.

As for the terrifying root that had emerged at the end and instantly killed the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast, Xuan Hao guessed that it should have been the retaliation from the underground lake pavilion after he cut off spiritual roots below ground.

But… Part of him still felt a little fear remembering the power he had felt emitting from those roots.

If not for the trial itself protecting him and shuttle him away just in time, he didn’t doubt that he would have ended up with the same fate as the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast. After all, the attack had simply been too fast after it locked on to him and the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast.

Even if he had wanted to use the random teleportation talisman to escape, he would likely have been unable to do so due to the sheer speed of the root reaching the point where it almost looked like teleportation.

”That root… Its power should at least have reached the Star Creation Realm. Potentially even surpassing the Profound Immortal Realm…” Muttering this to himself as he felt the space shifting around him, Xuan Hao could not help extending his senses beyond the spatial passage he was travelling through to see the current situation of the celestial gate’s interior.

Considering the current state of the celestial gate being locked in a last struggle against the expanding spatial storm, he didn’t really fear a potential retaliation from the celestial gate for doing something like this, as the countless malfunctions he had encountered so far was more than enough to ensure him that the celestial gate was no longer capable of operating normally…