Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Roooar!

Screeech!

Even then, they were still essentially wild beasts, as they wasted no time charging him after he reappeared. The lightning bird that had been knocked into the distance earlier on having managed to return and group up with the three to form a formidable charge consisting of three enormous lighting birds and a single massive, winged serpent.

”Indeed terrifying…” Whispering this to himself as his gaze locked onto the four ferocious beasts charging at him filled with killing intent, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine when confronted with their combined might.

The combined might of four ferocious beasts in the Celestial Immortal Realm, one of them even reaching the Middle Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm was far more terrifying than he had imagined and something that he was certain that he wouldn’t be able to face head on even with his strength having reached the Early Stage of the Sea Formation Realm.

Whoosh~!

For this reason, he didn’t hesitate to use the Drifting Cloud Steps to move out of the way before the combined attack of the four ferocious beasts had the chance to reach him-

BOOOOOM-!

Only barely managed to slip away before the attack came crashing down into the mountain range below him. Instantly reducing a dozen towering mountains to dust while at the same time carving out several large canyons straight through the mountains further away from the center of the impact. The canyons themselves being created by stray lightning bolts that had exploded out from the point of impact.

”This will be far more difficult than I initially expected…” Muttering this to himself as he watched the four ferocious beasts getting ready to launch another attack, Xuan Hao didn’t intend to wait for them to work together to launch another combined attack. Understanding very well that he wouldn’t be able to resist their combined might with his current strength.

Roaar-!?

Soon appearing directly beside one of the weaker bird ferocious beasts at the Early Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm. Catching the ferocious beast completely off guard as his sword intent formed a sword in his hand before cutting executing a simple slashing motion through the Void Sword Art. Using his profound comprehension of both the Dao of Space and the Dao of the Sword together with the support of his spiritual sea to form a terrifying sword strike that far exceeded any attack he had executed int the past.

In a sense, it could be considered the first serious attack he had executed since his breakthrough to the Early Stage of the Sea Formation Realm…

Riiiiip-!

And from how easily it tore through the space along its trajectory before cutting through one of the lightning bird’s wings just as easily, it could be seen how terrifying the sword was, as even a ferocious beast in the Early Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm had no way to resist as one of its wings were cut clean off.

SCREEEEEECH-!

What followed was arguably the loudest screeching Xuan Hao had heard in his life, as the lighting bird plummeted to ground at the unexpected loss of one of its wings. Crying out loudly enough for it to be classified as a kind of mental attack.

Of course, Xuan Hao didn’t originally intend to just cut off one of its wings but had been fully intent on cutting its entire body in half.

”It actually managed to dodge…” Unfortunately, at the last second, the lightning bird had sensed something off and managed to shift its body just enough to save its own life at the cost of one of its wings.

Given how he had closed the distance almost instantaneously through the short distance teleportation of the Drifting Cloud Steps and had attacked without holding anything back, it was a bit surprising to Xuan Hao that his attack had been dodged.

However, even if he was at a complete advantage, a ferocious beast in the Celestial Immortal Realm was nothing to scoff at, as their survival instinct would far surpass that of a human cultivator in the same realm. Allowing them, like the lightning beast, to avoid such a sudden attack.

Looks like there is no way for me to try and take them out one by one, the only way to win is by slowly chipping away at them while preventing them from teaming up to launch another combined attack…

Feeling both happy and saddened by these thoughts, Xuan Hao’s attention focused on the three remaining ferocious beasts now charging at him following the unfortunate fate of their companion smashing into the ground below.

He was happy that it would be a great opportunity to test his limits, but saddened by the realization that an extended battle would mean that completing the remaining celestial trials were going to take longer than initially anticipated…

Boom-boom-boom!

Even then, this brief sadness didn’t linger, as he soon found himself clashing directly with the three remaining ferocious beasts, who were soon joined by their companion with a missing wing.

On the other side of things, he really hoped that the celestial trial that he currently found himself inside of wasn’t a time based one.

As for the three headed turtle that had found itself crashing through a few mountains at random in its search of a missing enemy following the collapse of the ice wall, it finally seemed to notice what was happening behind it, as the person it had been searching for began clashing seriously with the other four ferocious beasts.

In the end, as the three headed turtle joined in on the battle, it escalated even further, as the pristine mountain range that had been peacefully existing beneath the sea of lightning above, was torn apart under the clash of five Celestial Immortal Realm ferocious beasts and one Sea Formation Realm cultivator.

The sheer power from their clash even began to affect the sea of lightning above, as the demon beasts and ferocious beasts hidden both in the sea of lightning and the mountain range below trembled in fear. Only able to gaze at the battle from afar while praying that the battle wouldn’t move in their direction. All of them understanding that even being close to someone that powerful fighting would mean certain death for almost anyone below the Celestial Immortal Realm…

PTSSSSH-!

SCREEEEEEECH-!

However, as the battle dragged on, Xuan Hao soon found an opportunity to cut down the already injured lightning bird that hadn’t managed to recover the wing that had been cut off earlier. This time around making sure that he managed to pierce its core and destroy its soul. Leaving no chance of escape like last time.

”One down, four left…” Muttering this to himself with a somewhat exhausted expression on his face, it was clear that it wasn’t easy for him to kill of one of the Celestial Immortal Realm ferocious beasts.

The main reason for this difficulty did not have anything to do with the fact that he was fighting one against five, but more so had to do with the three headed turtle…

ROOOOAR-!

Even now, it was recklessly charging at him without a single care for his own life. Forcing him to once again step aside to dodge before focusing on one of the other three ferocious beasts before resuming his attack without another word.

If the three headed turtle had been normal, the reckless charge would have been fine and he could even have taken advantage of it to kill off the three headed turtle, but… The three headed fire spewing turtle was blessed by the gods, as its defensive capabilities far surpassed the Middle Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm.

To be honest, from how useless his attacks against the three headed turtle felt, he guessed that its defense had at least reached the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm. Potentially even carrying some aspects of the Land Creation Realm that stood above the Celestial Immortal Realm.

The only positive was that this turtle was rather dumb. Only charging at him recklessly. Allowing him to easily move out of the way without much effort.

The only real contributing factor that the three headed turtle gave to the three remaining demon beasts, was its ability to disrupt him just when he was about to land a deadly attack on one of them.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it, as he could only move out of the way while slowly chipping away at the reaming Celestial Immortal Realm ferocious beasts, something that was at least becoming easier with the death of the first Celestial Immortal Realm ferocious beast.

The main problem was that sea of lightning above had started showing signs of becoming increasingly unstable with each passing minute. Making him start to believe that the celestial trial he currently found himself inside might actually be a time-based trial that could blow up in his face if he didn’t complete it in time.

Who knew, there might be something similar to the immortal mushrooms he had encountered during the fourth celestial trial lurking in the depths of the sea of lightning. Slowly becoming stronger and stronger with each passing second…