Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Walking through the empty corridors of the small mountain temple, Xuan Hao could not help feeling an odd sense of familiarity as he walked around the quiet temple.

Not because the interior of the temple was familiar or reminded him of something he had seen before, but instead because of the feeling of being watched while walking through the empty corridors by himself reminding him of how he had felt inside the cavern of the tenth celestial gate before he had been jointly attacked by four demon beasts in the Early Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm.

Because of this, he didn’t dare let his guard down, as he realized that there might very well be a group of demon beasts watching him from the shadows. Ready to pounce on him, the second he let his guard down.

Not just that, but the reminder that there could be demon beasts able to hide from his divine sense present inside the small temple also made him realize that the situation outside the small temple might be far more dangerous than he had first imagined.

Although he did not find any demon beasts above the Eighth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm when he had scanned his surroundings with his divine sense earlier, the reason for this might be that the other demon beasts had hidden themselves. Making it impossible for him to sense them through his divine sense.

But… Even if they could hide from his divine sense and couldn’t be seen normally, he could still use other ways to find the demon beasts that might be hidden throughout the small temple.

From watching the way, the light rays filtered through cracked walls and illuminated the interior of the temple to the movements of small rocks and other debris on the ground. Everything around him changed with the slightest movement and would prove useful in finding out whether he was truly alone inside the small temple…

Rustle~

And much to his reluctance, he soon noticed a rock a few meters to his left being moved in an unnatural way that should have been impossible without anyone stepping down next to the small rock.

Looks like there really is someone else hidden inside the temple…

Closing his eyes for a brief moment as he took a deep breath at this realization, Xuan Hao couldn’t help feeling uneasy at the thought of someone or something being able to get so close to him without him noticing anything.

Luckily, after the ambush he experienced just before entering the tenth celestial gate, he had made sure to always keep a constant protective barrier active around himself using his domain. Ensuring that he would be able to respond immediately in case he was attacked again.

In turn, the area three meters around him had essentially turned into a death zone, as his domain would indiscriminately attack everything within that short area around him.

Maybe because of this small death zone around him being rather obvious, the demon beasts hidden inside the temple decided to avoid attacking him. Allowing him to continue wandering through the small temple searching for clues on the celestial trial without encountering a single attack.

However, as time passed, the lack of attacks also gave him an idea about the strength of the demon beasts hidden throughout the small temple, even if none of them had revealed themselves to him yet.

First, the demon beasts were clearly not afraid of following him around. Indicating that their strength wasn’t weak, while their reluctance to attack so far indicated that they were likely below the Sea Formation Realm in terms of strength and lacked confidence in fighting him even with numbers on their side.

With that in mind, he guessed that the strength of the demon beasts hidden throughout the small temple should be between the Dao Seed Realm and the Early Stage Celestial Immortal Realm. The number of demon beasts being between ten and fifteen.

But at the end of the day, none of this really mattered, as the most important thing of finding a clue to completing the celestial trial was completely unsuccessful even after he went through every single room inside the small temple. Leaving him without any idea of what to do now that he had meticulously searched through the quiet temple mentioned on the scroll of trials without finding anything.

Unless… The trial is for me to kill off the demon beasts hidden throughout the small temple? Or worse… Finding a completely different temple…

Narrowing both his eyes as he thought about these two possibilities, Xuan Hao felt extremely reluctant to explore any of the possibilities.

The first was risky and would almost certainly end up with the temple- No, the entire mountain it was situated on being destroyed. Ruining any chance of finding any clues he might have missed if killing the demon beasts inside the temple wasn’t the original goal of the trial.

On the other hand, the second possibility seemed safer on the surface, but was in fact far more dangerous, as he had no idea just how many demon beasts might be hidden out in the world.

For all he knew, the peaceful forest just a short distance away from the mountain range that the small temple was in could be brimming with Celestial Immortal Realm demon beasts ready to pounce on him the second he appeared.

Even if the strength of the demon beasts was limited to the Early Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm, the fact that they could remain hidden from his divine sense and sneak attack him at will was more than enough for him to give up any thoughts of trying to explore the trial space, let alone set out in search of another temple that might not even exist in the first place.

Instead of doing anything else, it seemed far better for him to just remain inside the small temple for a bit longer and try to see if he had missed anything-

”Huh…?”

Rumble~

And, indeed, he soon found out that he had missed something… And that something ended up dragging him into a completely different realm…