Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Lost in his own thoughts as he travelled through the spatial passage, Xuan Hao soon found himself landing in front of a small temple located just below a snow-covered mountain peak. Around which other mountains could be seen in the distance together with a large forest and a wide open plain right next to it.

However, outside of the small temple that was already covered in cracks showing clear signs of decay from having been left alone for an untold number of years, he couldn’t find any traces of other structures.

As for living beings… He only managed to sense a few demon beasts ranging between the Earlier to Middle Stages of the Qi Condensation Realm with only three demon beasts within the range of his divine sense surpassing the Sixth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, though, not by much, as the strongest still barely reached the Eighth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

Instead of demon beasts, normal wild animals were far more common throughout the mountain range, forest and plain.

Did I perhaps end up in the wrong trial? Perhaps a trial for someone in the First or Second Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm?

Not able to stop himself from thinking this as his divine sense swept over the three strongest demon beasts, Xuan Hao slowly shook his head before focusing his attention back on the small temple after he had finished inspecting his surroundings.

Although part of him had been convinced that he had ended up inside a trial designed for someone in the Qi Condensation Ream, he also understood that it was unlikely for there to even be a trial for someone in the Qi Condensation Realm present inside the celestial gates. After all, the celestial gates had, from what he had managed to learn about them so far, been designed for the most talented members of the younger generation and the weakest trial should be for the Soul Ascension Realm as far as he was aware, though there might be some weaker ones for the Domain Lord Realm.

A trial for the Qi Condensation Realm on the other hand felt like it should be impossible.

The strength of the surrounding demon beasts and the countless normal wild animals likely meant that the trial wouldn’t be as simple as finding a guardian and killing them to complete the trial. Instead, it seemed to suggest that the trial was something… unique.

”Please, not another trial like the ninth celestial gate…” Muttering this to himself as he realized that he would be in for another unique celestial trial, Xuan Hao couldn’t help silently praying that it wouldn’t be another celestial trial like the one he had just gone through in the ninth celestial gate.

Not just because the celestial trial in question had taken a long time, but also because the celestial trial in question had been broken.

He sincerely hoped that the tenth and final celestial trial he had to complete wasn’t broken and would present him with a clear goal he had to accomplish. Not having to kill a guardian was fine, he just didn’t want to deal with some convoluted mess caused by a broken celestial gate.

”This… The scroll of trials is here!?”

However, as he stepped inside the small temple and began looking around, it didn’t take long for him to find the scroll of trials placed in the center of the temple’s lecture hall next to the meditation chambers. Not only solving the problem of figuring out what the celestial trial was about but also making him relax a bit.

Even if the celestial trial was a bit out of the ordinary, he should at least be able to complete it now that he had managed to get his hands on the scroll of trials-

”Huh?”

At least that was what he believed until he grabbed the scroll of trials no different from how he had done in the past. Only this time, he had to watch in shock as it crumbled to dust in his hand before he had a chance to look at the information stored inside.

Given that the scroll of trials was also invisible to divine sense, he could only barely catch a glimpse of the first few words of the scroll before it was reduced to a pile of dust that was soon picked up and blown away by a gentle wind.

”Trial of the Quiet Temple…”

As he said the simple title of the trial that he had managed to read before the scroll had been reduced to dust, it inevitably made him connect the temple mentioned in the scroll to the temple that he was inside.

So… Is the trial this time focused on this small temple? But if that is the case, what am I supposed to do? Meditate in the meditation chambers? Read the long-decayed scrolls in the hall of knowledge?

Even then, he was completely lost on what he was supposed to do, as it looked like he was going to have to deal with a celestial trial that would potentially be far more time consuming than the ninth celestial trial. After all, different from the ninth celestial trial, there was nothing broken about the tenth celestial trial outside of the scroll of trials that had been reduced to dust the second he touched it.

Then again, the reason for the scroll of trials being reduced to dust likely had to do with the protective mechanism that had allowed the other scrolls to survive for as long as they had, failing.

Unfortunate as this was, there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

For now, his best option would be to look through the small temple for any clues he might have missed when his divine sense had first swept through it following his arrival at the trial space a few seconds earlier.

At least, he hoped that he might be able to find other things like the scroll of trials that couldn’t be seen through his divine sense that he had ended up missing. Hoping for any clues that would help him complete the celestial trial.