Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Feeling the last remaining half of his qi being rapidly drained, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if this was the correct solution. After all, even if his recovery speed was fast, he still needed to have some strength left in case something unexpected ended up happening.

But...

Craaack-!

Just as he began worrying about running out of strength before the spatial collapse overwhelmed the formation guarding the treasury below, the formation finally seemed to have reached its limit. Starting to break apart under the stress of the spatial collapse that had already expanded enough to swallow up one of the formation nodes that had helped keep the formation stable so far... And even though the formation was far from truly breaking apart and had the ability to adapt, the damaged caused by the spatial collapse rendered it momentarily disabled.

Presenting Xuan Hao, the perfect opportunity to slip inside and get his hands on the Stardusk Essence while the formation itself was fully focused on trying to preserve itself in the face of the spatial collapse.

After all, even though he stopped pouring qi into widening the area affected by the spatial collapse, the space had already collapsed and wouldn’t recover, what had been lost by the formation couldn’t be recovered and for it to survive, it would have to adapt to this sudden change in environment alongside the loss of an important foundational pillar...

Roooar-!

The only one still paying any attention to Xuan Hao as he began his approach was the Land Creation realm demon beast that had observed everything playing out inside the treasury. Unable to step forward and lend a hand in resisting against the spatial collapse that had already swallowed up a large part of the formation guarding the treasury.

Unfortunately for the shadowy demon beast, even though it wanted to stop Xuan Hao, there was simply no way for it to catch him with the spatial restrictions normally in place inside the treasury gone-

Whoosh~

Allowing him to swoop in and take away the Stardusk Essence inside without ever having to face off against the shadowy demon beast at the Land Creation Realm before leaving just as easily. The entire situation made him feel rather relieved, as he truly couldn’t afford to face off against a Land Creation Realm demon beast with the large number of powerful cultivators currently making their way towards the ancient alchemy sect ruins.

Although the Stardusk Essence was extremely important to his own future progress through the Sea Formation Realm and to repay Huo Fen for the Stardusk Essence he had taken from him to break through to the Late Stage of the Sea Formation Realm, it wasn’t nearly as important as ensuring that he would be able to get his disciple out of the ancient alchemy sect ruins before the place turned into a battlefield that even someone like himself would have to be cautious moving around. Especially considering the information that should have been passed over by some of the escaping Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators would undoubtedly make him enemy number one in the face of these powerful cultivators.

Roooaaar-!

”Hm? Don’t look at me like that, I’m not going fight with you.” Hearing the somewhat helpless roar from the demon beast as he made his way back out of the treasury with the Stardusk Essence in hand, Xuan Hao could not help smiling somewhat wryly as he looked back at the shadowy demon beast now looking pitiful as it roared at him from a distance.

This powerful demon beast that should have been placed inside the treasury as some kind of guardian had been rendered almost entirely useless because of his mastery of the Dao of Space. The only real use it had was scaring off the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator who had entered the treasury ahead of him. In terms of effectiveness, the formation proved far more difficult to handle, as it at least required him to utilize his divine void eyes special ability to cause a spatial collapse.

The demon beast itself... Didn’t really pose any challenge to Xuan Hao himself, as it didn’t have any way to deal with someone proficient in the Dao of Space. Having relied entirely on the formation guarding the treasury for this. The only thing it seemed to be skilled at was the Dao of Shadows. Terrifying to deal with in combat, but rather useless in this kind of situation.

Rooar...!

And as it continued roaring helplessly from what now looked like a prison, Xuan Hao couldn’t help feeling bad for the demon beast. Wondering about what it had been doing all its life, how long it had been stuck inside the treasury and if it truly was a guardian that had been put in place inside the treasury or just some unfortunate demon beast that had wandered inside by accident and ended up stuck through some problem with the formation guarding the treasury.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized how unlikely it was for this to be a guardian demon beast that had been placed inside the treasury by the ancient alchemy sect in the past.

The reason? It was far too weak.

If the shadowy demon beast had truly been placed as a guardian demon beast in the past when the ancient alchemy sect had still been around, it made no sense for it to have only reached the Land Creation realm, as the formation guarding the treasury alongside still retained strength far above that and was in a sense still suppressing this Land Creation Realm demon beast inside it.

Not to mention, during the brief time he had rushed inside the treasury to get his hands on the Stardusk Essence, he clearly noticed that the interior of the treasury was almost completely empty with large parts of the treasury having clearly been broken recently by what he could only guess to be the shadowy demon beast now roaring pitifully in his direction from the other side of the formation.

With that in mind, he guessed that the Land Creation Realm demon beast wasn’t a guardian, but instead just some random demon beast that had somehow ended up stumbling into the treasury through some unknown means and ended up stuck inside. Likely consuming what had been stored inside the treasury over a long period of time before ultimately managing to go all the way to the Land Creation Realm.

As for the Stardusk Essence and a few other things that had been left alone by the shadowy demon beast? That was most likely just because it was saving it for later to have something to eat when it became bored. Clearly unaware of just how precious the Stardusk Essence was.

If it had truly ended up consuming all the Stardusk Essence... Xuan Hao had a feeling that this Land Creation Realm demon beast might have been able to surpass the Land Creation Realm and reach the Star Creation Realm. At which point, it should have had enough strength to break itself out of the formation that kept it locked up.

BANG-! Craaack~

”Hm?”

As he was feeling a sense of pity for the demon beast stuck inside the treasury for who knows how long, a sudden loud sound of something heavy smashing into something hard followed by a loud cracking sound instantly caught his attention, as he turned towards the source-

Roooar-!

Only to see the Land Creation Realm demon beast that should have been stuck inside the formation guarding the treasury taking advantage of the formation being weakened to forcibly break through a weak point in the formation. Successfully escaping from its prison thanks to the damage caused by the spatial collapse only meters away from where it had successfully managed to break through the formation and escape.

This... Is bad...

Great as this might be for the demon beast, it was far from positive for Xuan Hao, who now found himself being eyed up by a Land Creation Realm demon beast that hadn’t had the opportunity to get a proper meal for who knew how long inside that formation.

Swish~!

And so, without the slightest bit of hesitation, he directly decided to pour in a bit more of his qi into the spatial collapse right next to shadowy demon beast-

Roar!?

Catching it completely off guard, as the region where space had collapsed suddenly expanded another few meters, just barely enough to swallow it up and drag it inside.

Although this was far from a permanent solution, as a Land Creation Realm demon beast could still resist for a bit and safe itself from being swallowed, it gave him more than enough time to turn around, grab Chu Yang and his friends, and then start making his way out of the ancient alchemy sect ruins following the path he had seen countless weaker cultivators escape in when he had first started engaging in battle with the group of Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators.

In fact, the battle itself hadn’t lasted for long and those weaker cultivators were still in the process of escaping. Giving him a clear path to follow as he made his way out of the ancient alchemy sect ruins with relative ease without suddenly running into a group of powerful cultivators like a part of him had been expecting to happen the second he stepped out of the ancient alchemy sect ruins.