Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Keeping an eye out for a potential ambush at any moment, Xuan Hao began to slowly approach the formations that had been set up around the spiral staircase. Knowing that they wouldn’t be too difficult to deal with now that he had noticed them. The main worry was the one who had set up the formations in the first place, as that being remained a tangible threat.

The problem was, even as he moved closer to the edge of the formations hidden around the spiral staircase, he couldn’t sense any traces of the opponent that should be waiting around to ambush him the second he stepped inside those formations. Indicating that the other party had either hidden far enough away that he couldn’t sense them through his divine sense or possessed the ability to hide from his divine sense.

No matter what, given that the other party decided to ambush me instead of fighting me head on, I shouldn’t be facing someone beyond the Sea Formation Realm.

Silently thinking this to himself as he moved forward, Xuan Hao didn’t feel too bothered about the current situation, as the simple fact that the other party decided to ambush him clearly indicated that the one he was facing wasn’t too much stronger than himself- or at the very least, the demon beast didn’t feel confident in fighting him head on. Ultimately leading to the current situation where the other party was trying to ambush him.

Now all he needed to do was wait for this demon beast to enter the range of his dao domain and he would be able to instantly react…

Craacck~ Bang!

But even as he began dismantling the formations guarding the spiral staircase, the enemy he had expected to ambush him didn’t appear, as he soon enough tore down the final formation that was blocking him from stepping onto the spiral staircase and leaving the twenty-fifth floor of the tower.

”Did it give up after realizing I noticed the formations?” Muttering his thoughts out loud as no one appeared to attack him like he had been expecting, Xuan Hao could not help glancing around with a hint of disappointment in his eyes. Part of him knowing that this might have been the best chance for him to test his strength before the demon beasts and creatures he ended up facing inside the tower reached the Land Creation Realm.

In a sense, it was also because of this that he didn’t immediately step forward and leave through the spiral staircase after having cleared away the formations that had been blocking his path earlier. Part of him hoping that the demon beast behind those formations would attack him…

Rumble~!

A wish that ended up coming true in the most unexpected way, as he soon enough watched in a state of shock as the spiral staircase, he had originally been about to step onto transform in front of his eyes into a towering tree standing more than a thousand meters tall, its large frame obscuring the sun, as withered branches without the slightest sign of vitality that would normally exist inside such a majestic spiritual tree swung down towards him at a terrifying speed. Forcing him into utilizing the Drifting Cloud Steps to rapidly retreat, but not with ease he had imagined, as the branches swinging down towards him conjured up a formation that sealed the space around him.

Still, though the withering tree was powerful when it came to the Dao of Formations and was even capable of utilizing formations capable of solidifying and sealing space itself. Making it close to impossible to utilize the Dao of Space under normal conditions, Xuan Hao’s comprehension of the Dao of Space far surpassed what was normal for someone at the Sea Formation Realm. Allowing him to forcibly tear through the restrictions that had been placed on him and retreat in time before the withered branches had a chance to reach him-

BAANG!

Causing the branches in question to slam into the ground violently, causing the sand around the impact zone to spray into the air. Momentarily creating a small dust cloud that obscured the base of the withered tree.

Of course, it didn’t affect one’s divine sense, as Xuan Hao used the opportunity after retreating to execute the Void Sword Art to send a sword strike directly towards the now exposed branches of the withered tree-

Chiiing~!

”Huh? No damage…?”

However different from what he had imagined would happen when the sword slash perfectly merged with the Dao of Space to create a power capable of easily tearing apart space wherever it passed through, the sword slash didn’t manage to cut through the withered branches. Bouncing off without doing any damage to the withered branches. A fact that was more than enough to make Xuan Hao second guess the strength of this withered tree, as though he could clearly sense it had indeed reached the Peak of the Sea Formation Realm like he had originally suspected the one attempting to ambush him had reached, the sheer durability of the branches had even surpassed that of the Land Creation Realm demon beast that he had ended up making part of the Star Shattering Sect.

This kind of durability… Even if he went all out, he saw little chance of doing any real damage to the withered tree with his current strength.

However, this kind of durability was a little too terrifying for a spiritual tree that had only reached the Peak of the Sea Formation Realm, so he guessed that there might be some unknown cost involved in it blocking the attack just now. The problem was, he had no idea how to figure out if this was really the case outside of continuing to attack and seeing if anything changed over time.

But…

Rumble~

The withered tree wouldn’t just sit there and allow him to continue attacking it without doing anything, as the withered branches that had just been hit by his attack surged forth once again…