Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Taking a few seconds to fully comprehend what had just happened, Xuan Hao could not help silently breathing out a sigh of relief after understanding that he had managed to make it out alive. After all, faced with the titan in the colosseum, he was certain that the other party would be able to kill him easily if they so wished. Even if the titan had claimed to only be a ”lingering spirit” before throwing him out of the trial, the sheer difference in strength between them made him doubt that would have changed anything.

At least I managed to get out of the trial safely, that is all that matters…

Smiling wryly to himself as he thought about this, Xuan Hao decided to not think any more about the titan.

Even if part of him felt curious about the titan and what he might be up to, he also understood that there was no way for him to investigate this matter with his current strength. Reaching the Profound Immortal Realm likely wouldn’t change this situation, as the titan should be an existence surpassing the Profound Immortal Realm.

No matter how confident he might be in his own strength after breaking through to the Profound Immortal Realm, he wasn’t planning on getting involved with an existence above the Profound Immortal Realm. Especially so when he still had no clue about the realm that came after the Profound Immortal Realm.

The only real clue he had regarding any realms above the Profound Immortal Realm was the realm of great power, that he had now encountered twice in a relatively short period of time.

First from the reincarnated individual now part of one of the sect’s branch sects, while the second mention had come from the titan before it had thrown him out of the trial space.

Although… The way the realm of great power had been mentioned, it sounded more like a title given to someone for reaching a certain level of power instead of being the name of the cultivation realm that came after the Profound Immortal Realm.

For all he knew, the realm of great power could be one or maybe even two major realms above the realm that came after the Profound Immortal Realm, or it could be the title given to those who reached the peak of the realm that came after the Profound Immortal Realm… Or… Something different altogether, like a title rewarded to someone for completing a celestial trial or a similar trial…

Realizing that he wouldn’t get anywhere no matter how hard he tried to deduce the difference between himself a someone referred to as a Great Power, Xuan Hao decided to give up trying to think anymore about and instead decided to check out the progress of his main quest. Curious to see if the recently completed celestial trial had counted towards its completion.

After all, he hadn’t really completed any celestial trial and had instead just been given a free pass that required no effort on his part, outside of the stress and anxiety that came with facing an existence far above himself…

[Main Quest: The Ten Celestial Trials]

[Description: Having gained the celestial compass, you can now track down the remaining celestial trials inside the mystic realm. Complete all the celestial trials.]

[Celestial Trials Completed: 5/10]

[Reward: Increase comprehension of the Dao of Space, ???]

Luckily, as he scanned through the progress of the quest, he was relieved to discover that it had counted towards the completion of the quest.

The only question left in his mind now was how many celestial coins he had managed to earn through completing the celestial trial in this kind of manner.

However, given that he didn’t need to spend any time recovering from an exhausting battle, he didn’t bother thinking too long about this and directly pulled out the celestial compass before making his way in the direction of the next celestial trial. Planning to use the next two days going through as many celestial trials as possible before rushing back to the Tower of Secrets and hopefully having enough celestial coins on hand to exchange for the information on how to break through from the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm to the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

…

Following the celestial compass, Xuan Hao soon found himself in front of a new celestial gate.

This one, different from the first broken-down celestial gate he had encountered, was of a far better quality. The only problem was that the celestial gate was half submerged in water and seemed to be slowly drawing the water inside of it… And sure enough, the moment he stepped inside the celestial gate and found himself in the trial space, he found himself a magical forest that was completely submerged underwater.

Not just that, but the demon beasts that would likely have roamed the forest and proved some difficulty to him seemed to have adapted to their new living environment. Having evolved into a kind of underwater version of what they should have been in the past.

From a wolf demon beast that had grown fins to a bear demon beast that had turned into some kind of floating ballooned version of itself floating aimlessly through the underwater forest.

Of course, the most important change wasn’t these normal demon beasts whose strength mostly ranged between the Nascent Soul Realm and the Soul Ascension Realm with only a few having reached the Dao Seed Realm. Instead, it was the massive underwater serpent stretching for more than 10 kilometers swimming dominantly above the underwater magical forest with no care in the world.

Even if he had not found the scroll of trials, it wasn’t that difficult to guess that the massive serpent was the guardian of the trial. Especially so when it was the only demon beast at the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm.

In the end, because of this, Xuan Hao didn’t spend much time in the second celestial trial either, as he quickly took care of the giant serpent.

Although it had reached the Peak of the Dao Seed Realm and would normally be considered a difficult opponent for someone in the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm to deal with, his current strength had already surpassed the Dao Seed Realm. Even more so now that the layers around his dao seed had surpassed the original limit of 36 and reached a terrifying number of 38.

Even a tiny difference in strength could change the outcome of a battle between powerful cultivators, let alone a difference of 8 layers.

Not to mention, he had comprehended a powerful dao like the Dao of Space to the Perfection Realm that was then combined with an offensive dao in the form of the Dao of the Sword.

The poor serpent simply didn’t stand a chance and had only managed to last for a little more than two minutes before being killed and that was only because its massive body had given it a life force surpassing that of the Dao Seed Realm. Making it incredibly difficult to kill even with his current strength.

And so, in a relatively short time that might have even been shorter than his first celestial trial, he had managed to complete two trials.

Not to mention him not having enough time to collect celestial coins before being forced to break through to the Profound Immortal Realm, he felt like he might complete the remaining four trials in less than a day at his current speed. After all, the thing that took the longest time was recovering his strength and that didn’t take too long.

At least… That was until he stepped inside the seventh celestial gate and faced the third celestial trial since entering the mystic realm.

Not to mention completing it in a short time, Xuan Hao began feeling worried that he might not be able to complete it before being forced to break through.

The main reason for this was that the seventh celestial trial he faced had nothing to do with a battle against a powerful opponent. Instead, it was fully focused on finding his way through a giant maze.

Even worse, his cultivation realm had been suppressed and his ability to fly stripped away. Forcing him to make his way through the maze with the strength of a mortal.

Well… Not entirely a mortal, as his physical strength remained relatively unaffected, but still… His mobility was severely limited. Especially so when it came to the Dao of Space, as even a short distance teleportation through utilizing the Drifting Cloud Steps was completely impossible.

In the end, he could only wander aimlessly through the giant maze. Looking for any clues as to what direction the exit might be in, as time slowly flew by along with the dao seed inside of his dantian growing increasingly unstable with each passing hour.

By the time he finally managed to successfully pass through the seventh celestial trial, it had already been four days since he had stepped inside the mystic realm and the dao seed inside of his dantian had already reached the point where it was doubtful whether he would be able to hold on for more than a few hours.

After all, his estimate of three to seven days was just an estimate based on his state back then.

By new estimates and the changing situation inside his dantian, he could now narrow the margin of error and estimate that he had anywhere between three hours to twelve hours before he would be forced to make a breakthrough to the Profound Immortal Realm.

Not long, but it was more than enough time for him to get back to the Tower of Secrets and get his hands on the information on how to break through to the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm from the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

The only worry was that he might not have enough celestial coins to exchange for the information, as he had no clue how much it would cost him even with a so-called discount…

”No need to worry about that for now… I should get to the tower of secrets first.” Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself, Xuan Hao didn’t waste any more time lingering around the seventh celestial gate before flying off in the direction of the Tower of Secrets.

All he could do now was pray that he had managed to gather the required celestial coins to exchange for the information on breaking through to the Peak of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

As for how many celestial coins he had after completing three celestial trials in a row… he had absolutely no clue, as he hadn’t been fortunate enough to encounter any preservation golems who could tell during the three trials…