Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Realizing that he might be able to shrink others in a similar way as he had been shrunk in the future when his understanding of the Dao of Space deepened, it didn’t take long for him to think of different ways this kind of ability might become useful. From the construction of secret realms to punishing a certain disciple that always seemed to be causing trouble inside the sect. Although… The troublemaker in question might end up enjoying the experience of being shrunk, so that last part might have to be reevaluated when that time came.

Shaking his head as he thought about this to himself, Xuan Hao focused his attention back on the task at hand. Finding a path through the large number of demon beasts without being discovered.

This task might seem rather simple to accomplish considering his smaller size and profound comprehension of the Dao of Space, but keeping himself hidden from Celestial Immortal Realm demon beasts for an extended period of time was difficult to accomplish. Especially when some of those demon beasts had reached the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm. Making them slightly stronger than himself, essentially forcing him to take the long way around them if he wanted to remain hidden.

All things considered, it was indeed a difficulty trial he found himself facing this time around, as he was almost certain that he wouldn’t be able to remain hidden all the way to the location that the strange pull came from.

The main reason for this being that he could tell a general distance between himself and that thing… And that distance would at least take him a few hours to cover with his current strength. Not to mention, he had to do it while remaining hidden. Meaning that the journey would take far longer than just a few hours. Potentially becoming a journey that would take over a day to complete depending on how lucky he ended up being with the territories of Peak Celestial Immortal Realm demon beasts along the way.

But…

Outside of all that, there was one striking problem that he had not yet addressed-

Roooar-!

Rawr~!

Rooar!

And that was the fact that the demon beasts in the small temple behind him had already started causing quite a commotion after they realized one of them had been killed. Inevitably drawing the attention of surrounding demon beasts who were all curious about what had happened.

If he continued waiting around outside the small temple, he wouldn’t have a chance to remain hidden and would be forced to try and charge ahead, a clear death sentence with the sheer number and strength of the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beasts present.

Whoosh-!

So, with that in mind, Xuan Hao decided to stop lingering around the small temple. Taking his chance while the demon beasts inside the small temple were still busy rampaging through the small temple searching for him and had yet to emerge to slowly blend in with the rocky terrain before heading off in the direction that the strange pull came from. Avoiding any demon beast along the way.

Unfortunately, his speed was relatively limited compared to normal travel, as using either the Drifting Cloud Steps or the Illusory Light Steps would reveal his presence to the surrounding demon beasts.

One created subtle spatial fluctuation when used, while the latter turned him into a bright light that would be difficult to miss.

For this reason, he had to settle with the most ordinary kind of flight for travelling.

Although not slow considering his current cultivation realm, it was still slower compared to him using one of his two movement techniques.

On another note, his slow speed did give him some more time to observe the state of the trial space as he travelled. Not that there was much to gain from this, as he quickly realized that the trial space was only made up of three repeating environments that seemed to have been badly stitched together the further away from the small temple he got, a mountain range, a forest or a barren grass plain.

This did make him feel a bit uneasy, as he believed that the degrading state of the trial space might have to do with some kind of error with the formation in charge of operating the trial space he was currently inside. However, there wasn’t much he could do about it, as whatever formation kept the trial space was far beyond his current level as a formation master. All he could do was hope that there wouldn’t be any other problems that might seriously impact the celestial trial.

After all, a bit of a problem with the terrain of the trial space wasn’t that meaningful, but if it affected the celestial trial like what had happened back in the ninth celestial gate, he would be in for a serious problem.

And as he continued getting closer to the location that the strange pull was coming from; the terrain began becoming broken to the point where it looked like some bad terrain generation program.

From a mountain being upside down balanced on top of a small sapling to a lake that appeared to be floating midair under some unknown force, Xuan Hao’s worry for the state of the trial space only continued to grow.

But more importantly than that, the demon beast that inhabited this now increasingly strange land had also started going along with the flow, as they began becoming increasingly odd looking as well.

Starting from a strange octopus demon beast whose tentacle had turned into massive tree roots extending out from a floating lake into a forest below to a wolf demon beast made of stone the size of a mountain. Turning it into a moving mountain in the shape of a massive wolf.

If that was it, it would have been fine, but… The strength of these strange looking demon beasts was far stronger than the normal demon beasts he had encountered so far, with the strength of the mountain sized stone wolf demon beast clearly surpassing the Celestial Immortal Realm even though its cultivation was still at the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm.

In turn, this made it far more difficult for him to remain hidden while travelling, while at the same time also making it far more dangerous in case he was discovered.

One positive note was that he found that it was far less energy draining to conceal himself than he had first expected it to be. Buying him more time to reach the location that the strange pull was coming from.

And so, hours flew by as he travelled through several strange environments and witnessed countless impossible looking demon beasts along the way before he could finally see where the strange pull was coming from.

”That is… Another small temple…?”

Another small temple that looked no different from the one he had explored when first arriving at the trial space a little over 18 hours ago by now.

One major difference being that the temple in question was located on top of a mountain that was floating a few thousand meters off the ground while piercing through a floating lake whose edges hugged the bottom few steps leading up to the entrance of the small temple.

”At least it’s not like that mountain…” Muttering this to himself as he looked towards the floating mountain, Xuan Hao could not help recalling another mountain he had encountered on his journey.

Different from most mountains that remained stationary and in one location, that mountain had been spinning wildly, as he even witnessed an unlucky flying demon beast being swatted like a fly by the massive spinning mountain after getting too close.

If the temple had been located on that kind of mountain, he would almost certainly be in for an interesting time trying to search through the temple. After all, stopping the mountain wouldn’t have been an option, as doing so would almost certainly have drawn the attention of the surrounding monsters.

Smiling a bit wryly as he thought about this, Xuan Hao meticulously began to survey the area around the small temple for any powerful demon beasts before getting any closer.

Although he was almost certain that he would be able to complete the celestial trial after finding the thing inside the small temple that called out to him, he didn’t dare to gamble with his own life by recklessly rushing inside the small temple without knowing about the potential dangers lurking around the small temple.

Luckily, a sweep of his divine sense ensured him that there weren’t any especially powerful demon beasts around the temple that he would have to worry about.

The stronger Peak Celestial Immortal Realm demon beasts he discovered were close to the edge of his divine sense. Far away from the small temple, while those close to the temple were mostly at the Early Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm or weaker. Not enough to pose any real threat to him, while at the same time not being able to easily discover him.

All things considered and adjusted for, he soon began a cautious approach towards the temple…