Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Continuing to test out the different Daos he had comprehended on the inside of the guardian demon beast’s mouth, Xuan Hao ended up discovering one Dao that the guardian demon beast was weak against. On the negative side, this Dao just so happened to be the Dao of Alchemy. Not really a Dao used for fighting nor one he had ever used for fighting. At most he might have tested it out for fun once or twice when he was bored, but never to the point of developing techniques or researching ways to use the Dao of Alchemy in battle.

After all, he had so many other Daos that were far more suitable for combat, why would he choose to use the Dao of Alchemy for fighting?

For this reason, even as he had managed to find a Dao that the guardian demon beast was weak against, there wasn’t really much he could do about it, as he had no clue on how to fight using the Dao of Alchemy and didn’t plan to test how fast he could learn to use the Dao of Alchemy for combat in battle against the guardian demon beast…

Crack~

But even if he didn’t want to test out his combat prowess with the Dao of Alchemy, he still had to figure out a way to deal with the guardian demon beast, as the final layer of the ice lotus had already started cracking under the pressure of the guardian demon beast’s powerful jaws.

Perhaps I could enter the body of the guardian and try to destroy it from the inside?

Narrowing both his eyes as he thought about this, he inevitably glanced in the opposite direction of the outside world visible through the guardian demon beast’s open mouth.

Absolute darkness appeared in his view… Followed by a certain feeling of dread welling up inside him a second later.

Although he had no idea what kind of internal defensive measures the guardian demon beast might have, he had a feeling that it would be far more difficult to deal with the guardian from the inside compared to the outside.

At the end of the day, it was not a mortal being and only by destroying its divine soul would he kill it. Instead, if he did decide to try and kill it from the inside, it might make his situation far worse than outside its body…

Craaaack~

Along with yet another loud cracking sound from the ice lotus protecting him from ending up being chomped to death, Xuan Hao’s train of thoughts shifted away from trying to kill the guardian demon beast from the inside and instead began focusing on trying to figure out another way to kill the guardian demon beast that didn’t involve the Dao of Alchemy or entering its body.

But as he continued thinking of different ways, it always ended up in failure due to the difference in strength between himself and the guardian demon beast.

Only if he found another weakness he could take advantage of could he stand a realistic chance at taking down the guardian demon beast-

”Wait… There is one Dao I haven’t tested yet…” Frowning to himself as a purplish dark energy manifested around on of his hands along with these words, Xuan Hao realized that he had completely neglected the Dao of Corruption when testing the guardian demon beast’s weaknesses earlier.

The reason for this was not that he had forgotten to do so, but more so because he felt reluctant to use the Dao of Corruption after having witnessed what it could do to those who used it.

Be it the dead mountain sized octopus creature he had encountered at the ancient ruins next to the great poison swamp of the now fallen Sky Empire or the corrupted golem he had encountered on the ancient battlefield, it was clear to him that the Dao of Corruption was extremely dangerous and, as the name indicated, had the ability to corrupt.

If possible, he wanted to first learn more about the Dao of Corruption and its history before he began to use it recklessly, as there had to be some kind of reason why he had never heard about anyone other than himself comprehending the Dao of Corruption on the Ewaria Continent.

Even the demonic cultivators who seemed fitting for this kind of Dao didn’t have anyone who had comprehended the Dao of Corruption. Making it clear to him that the Dao of Corruption had either been forgotten or those capable of encountering it refused to comprehend it.

But… Given how he had managed to encounter remnants of the Dao of Corruption in the Sky Empire, he felt that the latter was a far more likely situation. The only question was, why?

Did they know something he didn’t? Or did they sense how dangerous the Dao of Corruption was and decided against using their time trying to comprehend it?

Maybe the Dao of Corruption wasn’t as easy to comprehend as he thought it to be and there were certain dangers involved when it came to comprehending it?

Shaking his head as he threw these questions to the back of his mind, Xuan Hao focused his attention on the small purplish dark energy coiling around his hand. Even if he was in full control of this corrupting power, it still gave him a creeping sense of unease as he slowly directed it out of the ice lotus like he had done when testing his other Daos on the guardian demon beast-

RUUUUMLE-!

However, he had just barely directed this purplish dark energy out of the ice lotus and towards the ceiling of the guardian demon beast’s mouth before he found it violently shaking its head back and forth while putting more strength in its jaws to try and crush him faster.

Even without the purplish dark energy of the Dao of Corruption touching the ceiling of the guardian demon beast’s mouth, it was clear that the Dao of Corruption was a weak point for the guardian demon beast, one that caused a far greater reaction compared to the Dao of Alchemy.

”Looks like using the Dao of Corruption will be the way to deal with this guardian…” Seeing just how great of a reaction the guardian demon beast had to the Dao of Corruption, Xuan Hao understood that there would be no way around using the Dao of Corruption this time around.

But then again, even though he was reluctant to use the Dao of Corruption, he wasn’t planning on not using the Dao of Corruption because of something like that. Especially when it seemed to be the only way for him to get out of his current situation safely.

Not to mention, compared to the Dao of Alchemy which he had no combat experience with, he did have some combat experience with the Dao of Corruption and had even used it in tandem with the Dao of the Sword in the past.

For this reason, he didn’t feel that nervous about fighting using the Dao of Corruption, as he could just combine it together with the Dao of the Sword like he had done in the past.

Craaack~!

Feeling as the final layer of the ice lotus was finally about to crack under the constant pressure of the guardian demon beast’s powerful jaws, Xuan Hao decided to make a move before he ended up being swallowed by the guardian demon beast. Directly shattering the ice lotus and using the last bit of strength left in the ice lotus to create a storm of ice shards that tore into the soft inside of the guardian demon beast’s mouth.

Whoosh-!

Using the little time he had bought himself by doing this to slip out of the guardian demon beast’s mouth before it could close shut around him, while at the same time also using the brief window between him leaving the still open mouth of the guardian demon beast to form a small sword covered in the Dao of Corruption before sending it flying into one of the guardian demon beast’s massive eyes-

Swish~

Ptsh-!

Caught off guard by this sudden move, the guardian demon beast could not react in time, as the sword covered in the purplish dark energy of the Dao of Corruption pierced its left eye.

Ssssssss-!

All it could do was let out a loud hissing sound before starting to thrash around wildly. Giving Xuan Hao some extra time to further widen the distance between himself and the guardian demon beast.

At the same time also giving him a chance to observe just how useful the Dao of Corruption was against the guardian demon beast… And what he saw was simply terrifying, as the Dao of Corruption that had come from a single sword strike had already managed to spread and cover the entire left eye. Forcing the guardian demon beast to use its tail to forcibly pull it out and destroy it to avoid the corruption spreading any further.

From just this alone, it was clear that the guardian demon beast was not just weak when it came to facing the Dao of Corruption.

No… It was completely unable to stop the spread of the Dao of Corruption once it was infected…