Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Coiled around the staircase leading up towards the twenty seventh floor of the tower, the snaked demon beast didn’t attack immediately but instead silently gazed down towards the newly arrived human cautiously. Having sensed the invisible pressure that seemed to emanate from him, causing even a demon beast without anything but primal instincts to understand that the existence below wasn’t someone to be messed with lightly.

Ssssss~

But even with all this, the demon beast still felt a sense of inborn duty within itself that propelled it towards feeling a sense of hostility towards this being who made its instincts scream danger. The unknown force winning over any kind of primal reason that might have originally existed. Replacing it with a hatred akin to that of a child who lost their parents.

All this happening within a split second, as all Xuan Hao saw from the snake demon beast was it looking at him cautiously one second before diving down towards him filled with killing intent the next, a poisonous miasma already forming around it. Billowing outwards to cover the entire stone platform before spilling over the side. Cascading down into the desolate landscape below that turned into a noxious hellscape the second the miasma washed over the already desolate terrain.

During which, Xuan Hao found himself barely holding back the poisonous miasma with his own domain. Finding out that the poisonous miasma also seemed to have a corrosive effect when colliding with his domain, as the faint sizzling sound of his domain being pushed back echoed out just as the enormous snake reached him-

BANG-!

Giving him little to no time to react in the face of the well-coordinated attack outside of meeting the snake demon beast head-on in a direct collision that caused the floating stone platform beneath his feet to crack and break apart under the resulting explosion of spiritual power that split off and smashed into it. Not that either of the two cared about the integrity of the floating stone platform, as both had long since reached a realm where fighting in the air or on the ground had no difference for anyone outside of those like the mountain sized demon beast who focused on the Dao of Earth.

If anything, being in the air gave them more of a chance to display their abilities in full, as the snake demon beast used the poisonous miasma like an extension of its body to form a towering heaven swallowing snake that seemed to fill out the entire sky as it descended towards Xuan Hao with a maw seemingly capable of swallowing heaven and earth.

Not one to be outdone, Xuan Hao unleashed the strongest Sky Splitting Sword he had used to date, forming an image of a lone figure about to be swallowed by a heaven spanning serpent slashing upwards towards the sky that seemed to be entirely made up of this inconceivably enormous serpent.

RUUUUMBLE-!

Miasma and sword intent churned violently as the two forces clashed with each other like water meeting fire, causing the sky consumed by the poisonous miasma to shrink visibly as the miasma was forced to gather in the face of the seemingly unstable sword pushing forward to reach the snake hidden within the terrifying image formed from the poisonous miasma.

From originally having been a simple test of strength, the snake demon beast that had intended to finish off the battle fast found itself locked in a clash that showed no sign of ending any time soon. The sword was filled with a seemingly unstoppable momentum, while the poisonous miasma that had started to shrink began expanding once again under the snake demon beasts forced injection of more power.

But in the realm of the unseen, without the snake demon beast noticing anything, a faint and almost untraceable shimmer passed through the miasma.

Fwoosh-!

Followed by a sea of fire that ignited using the miasma itself as fuel to spread rapidly and turn the protective miasma that the snake demon beast had used to protect itself into a burning hellscape that rapidly consumed the newly released miasma and forced the spreading miasma back once again. Allowing the sword that had been forcibly held back to once again continue its path forward.

Sssss-!

A sight that the snake demon beast was less than pleased with, as the heaven swallowing serpent image, it had formed through its miasma, angrily shifted alongside the miasma filled sky before a heavenly river formed from poisonous water formed around the heaven swallowing serpent. Suppressing the sea of flames before it could do any more damage, as the snake demon beast went on the offensive once again, causing a section of the heavenly river filled with poisonous water to split off and cascade down towards him with a terrifying momentum that would have been more than enough to reduce a normal Land Creation Realm cultivator shivering in fear-

Splash~! Splash~! Splash~!

Unfortunately for the snake demon beast, he wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with the Dao of Water and though poisonous, it was ultimately still water. Allowing him to make use of his own Dao of Water that had barely reached the Small Success Realm to counter the descending poisonous heavenly river. Relying on the support of his internal world along with the Dao of Rain to form a small heavenly river of his own to clash with the one descending towards him.

Something that he was certain the snake demon beast hadn’t expected, as it recoiled in surprise upon seeing the section of the poisonous heavenly river it had split off being countered. Allowing him to push the sword already close to reaching the snake demon beast’s true body even closer.

Fwooosh~!

But even with this, the snake demon beast showed no intention of escaping and instead seemed intent on continuing the deadly battle, as it flicked its tail and caused a small blue flame to manifest before descending towards him. Transforming from a small flame into countless small blue flames that each took the form of small snakes before surging towards.

Even with the battle now being split into three different areas at the same time, the snake demon beast still had the ability to focus part of its attention on a new fourth direction of attack. Showing just how powerful this demon beast that should have only been at the Middle Stage of the Celestial Lord Realm truly was, exceeding anything Xuan Hao had expected when he had first realized his opponent was at the Middle Stage of the Celestial Lord Realm.

If anything, he wouldn’t have been surprised if someone told him this demon beast had reached the Peak of the Celestial Lord Realm, as it was truly pushing him to the limit with its downright terrifying strength that seemed to be slumbering within its ancient bloodline.

However, contrary to the reaction that the snake demon beast expected from Xuan Hao when the countless flame snakes descended. From panicking to calm, it hadn’t expected him to suddenly smile upon seeing the descending flame snakes. Realizing something was wrong.

”Too late…” But as his words indicated upon seeing the look of realization on the face of his opponent, it was already far too late for it to do anything, as the world around it shimmered faintly before the sword that should have been farther away arrived directly in front of it

Ptsh-!

Giving it no time to mount a proper defense as the sword cut through its body and unleashed a terrifying sword intent that directly swept through its body and tore it apart from the inside out.

Only at the very last did it realize that it had fallen into a partial illusion that skewed its perception of the approaching sword. Making it believe that it was farther away than it was.

What made the illusion undetectable was the fact that it hadn’t been entirely trapped within an illusion nor did it have any idea that its opponent was proficient in the Dao of Illusions. Allowing Xuan Hao to subtly twist its perception just enough for it to not realize that the sword it had been trying to hold back was getting closer and the miasma it dedicated to holding it back had been far too little.

If it had been given the opportunity again and knew about Xuan Hao’s ability to use the Dao of Illusion, the battle might have panned out differently, but… There was no cure for regret, as the snake demon beast could only helplessly watch its body being torn apart before the sword intent sweeping through its body reached its dantian and wiped out its soul in a single sweep. Killing it.

Leaving behind Xuan Hao, who now looked up towards the floating staircase leading to the twenty seventh floor of the tower with a sense of growing cation. Knowing that clearing the section of the tower for the Land Creation Realm was going to be far more difficult than he had originally anticipated after already finding himself struggling dealing with a floor boss at the Middle Stage of the Celestial Lord Realm…