Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

”Huh... Well... This is to be expected...” Having turned around to leave moving in the opposite direction of the creepy forest that had swallowed up the two Void Integration Realm cultivators and was about to fully devour their souls, Xuan Hao couldn’t help smiling somewhat wryly as he looked out over the seemingly endless spatial currents before him that threatened to swallow him even standing far from the cliff that they crashed up against like the churning waves of water that they had seemingly replaced.

Although he had expected to encounter some kind of problem by turning the other way instead of entering the creepy forest like the two void Integration Realm cultivators had ended up doing, he hadn’t expected to run into the terrifying river filled with deadly spatial currents after leaving the outer perimeter of the creepy forest.

Even worse, he had already attempted to follow the edge of the cliff before him thinking he might have ended up on the other side of the river filled with deadly spatial currents from outside the fragmented continent that Desolate River City was placed next to, but ended up finding himself back on the same spot after a few minutes of using his Illusory Light Steps to circle what he now knew was an island placed in the middle of the terrifying river of spatial currents originating from the ocean of spatial currents that had swallowed up the fragmented continent.

In other words, he didn’t really have any way to escape with his current strength, as even using all his strength and relying on his inherently powerful body would at most allow him to survive a few minutes within those terrifying spatial currents before being torn apart by them. Not exactly something he was planning on experiencing, as exploring the creepy forest that seemed capable of targeting one’s soul seemed far more attractive.

At the same time, his little journey around the island with nothing but a creepy forest in the middle of it had yielded some information about what awaited at the center of the island in the depths of the creepy forest, as from a mountain located on the edge of the island that split the violent spatial currents above that weren’t visible from inside the creepy forest, he saw what looked like some kind of massive altar or temple at the core of the creepy forest. Giving him a goal to head towards now that he had confirmed avoiding the creepy forest wasn’t an option.

As for the two Void Integration Realm cultivators who had already been struggling on the ground to hold on when he had arrived... He had a feeling their situation had worsened significantly compared to when he had first seen them and they had just recently passed out without having suffered any real lasting damage...

”Indeed... Almost dead...” And as he arrived back at the place he had first landed on this strange island, he found the two still in the same location sprawled out on the ground with no care for their surroundings. Their souls obviously weakened compared to a few minutes earlier when he had first seen them.

Now the question was... To save them and have them help him explore the creepy forest or leave them to have their souls slowly devoured by the forest...

Whoosh~

And in the end, he chose to save the two by using his far stronger soul to invade their defenseless bodies before using his divine sense to forcibly shake their souls awake in rather crude but effective manner after dragging them out of the creepy forest to the edge of the forest where he was standing.

”Aaaah! I’m alive!”

”Waaah!? My soul!? So... So weak... What happened...?”

Understandably panicked and confused, the two looked around confused before spotting Xuan Hao standing a few meters away from them-

”Thank you for saving us, senior!”

”T-Thank you...”

And although they didn’t understand what had just happened, it was clear Xuan Hao had saved them just now. No matter what they might have thought earlier, they understood from this simple action alone that he had no intention of killing them, as doing so while they were knocked out was far easier than helping them wake up from their dazed state.

”No need, we are all in this together now. From how you fainted, it looks like you didn’t investigate the situation outside this forest before heading inside?”

”That... Indeed... We thought- ehm, thought... Senior... Might be trying to ambush us and decided to go in and check out the situation first to ensure our safety... Who knew, the second we stepped inside, that one went crazy and tried to run away before collapsing over there while we suddenly found ourselves overwhelmed by some kind of strange force that knocked us out on the spot.” Twitching in a somewhat awkward manner, mentioning the first part, the city lord of Desolate River City took the lead in explaining what happened to them to Xuan Hao.

”I understand, cautiousness is understandable in this kind of situation, but if you took a look at what waits outside this forest, you would understand it might be best for us to team up if we want to get out of this alive.” Nodding his head in understanding as he said this, Xuan Hao silently motioned for them to follow as he soon enough led the two outside the creepy forest to edge of the island where the chaotic spatial currents were fully visible all around the island.

”This!?”

”Indeed, we aren’t inside the ancient city center any longer. Not just that, but I already made my way along the edge of the forest and found out we aren’t on the other side of the river. Instead, we are stuck on an island in the middle of river...”

”That... Is there no way out...?” Feeling the weight of the situation starting to set in, the one at the Peak of the Void Integration Realm who had remained mostly silent so far couldn’t help speaking up with a clear look of despair starting to take shape on his face.

”I don’t know, all I saw was an altar or temple of some kind in the middle of the island and the depths of the forest that might have a way out hidden within it. Outside of that, I don’t know about any other way for us that might lead away from this island.”

”That... I see... You helped us up to increase the chances of reaching this temple or altar?”

”Of course, reaching it on my own after seeing how you two ended up after just stepping inside the forest was... Highly discouraging...”

””...””

As the two felt silent looking at each other for a few short seconds, they soon enough sighed heavily to themselves. Knowing whatever they were about to go through would undoubtedly be another life and death situation not any less dangerous than what had happened only a few minutes earlier when they had been forced out of the hall by the giant skeleton and ended up running into an even deadlier bird demon beast that they had only just managed to escape from.

Truly, since they stepped inside the main palace back at the palace complex of the ancient city center, they hadn’t had a second of rest and were locked in a constant struggle for survival. A struggle that looked like it had only just started.

”Don’t worry about ending up like that again, I can help guard your souls to some extent and prevent you from being affected by the influence of the forest using my divine sense.” Thinking that the two were worried about entering the creepy forest again only to have their soul overwhelmed and ending up back on the ground slowly having their souls devoured by the forest, Xuan Hao stepped forward and assured them. Having understood from the brief contact he had with the soul eroding force of the forest that he could negate it to some extent relying on his powerful soul and divine sense.

”Ha? Ah! Great!” Taken aback for a brief second upon hearing what Xuan Hao said, the two quickly realized he had misunderstood their helpless expressions from earlier, though with their experience, they quickly covered it up and decided to go along with whatever misunderstanding Xuan Hao had created on his own upon hearing how he would help alleviate the soul eroding force using his own divine sense.

Unknown to Xuan Hao, they did have the ability to resist this soul eroding force to some extent and had just been caught completely off guard earlier and had no time to fight back before being knocked out.

But... Now that someone else was willing to bear this pressure for them, they were more than happy to follow along. Knowing that this would also give them some means to fight back in case Xuan Hao decided to betray them later by lifting the protective force and allowing the soul eroding force of the forest to attack them.