Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Faced with the possibility that a trap might be waiting for him on the other side of the invisible door, his gaze unknowingly shifted towards the group of three cautiously following behind him. Noticing how they had already come to a stop the second he had frozen before the invisible door. Not showing the slightest intention of using the opportunity to close the distance between them as they instead seemed far more interested in having him lead the way after having personally sensed the different deadly traps, he had helped them avoid within the hallway so far.

Within less than a second, he quickly came up with a plan on how to safely assess the danger of what might be lurking on the other side of the invisible door without placing himself in harms way-

Whoosh~

Making full use of his mastery over the Dao of Illusion and the distance that still existed between himself and the group of three cautiously following behind him to conjure up an illusion of him entering the invisible door. Obscuring the scene on the other side of the door as he himself vanished into thin air after passing through the door that had suddenly appeared before disappearing a second later after he passed through it.

Understandably, though the group of three wanted to follow him upon seeing how he had vanished, they were still experienced senior figures at the Void Integration Realm and didn’t dare to carelessly rush forward to try and chase after him. Spending a good five minutes slowly moving closer while checking everything along the way before finally reaching the invisible door that was easy enough to sense even with their far weaker divine sense.

Still, though they had managed to reach the invisible door and were essentially standing right next to where he was hiding using a combination of the Dao of Illusion and the Dao of Formations, they couldn’t sense his presence and were completely oblivious to the fact that he hadn’t actually entered the invisible door but was instead lurking right next to them.

Although, one of the reasons why he was able to avoid detection also had to do with the fact that these three were worried about a potential ambush once they crossed through the invisible door and weren’t really aware that he hadn’t left in the first place. Resulting in them paying little to no attention to their surroundings as all their attention was focused on the invisible door before them.

”You go first.” In the end, as another minute flew by with the group of three staring aimlessly at the invisible door, yet failing to learn anything about what lurked behind it, the city lord of Desolate River City at the Late Stage of the Void Integration Realm became a bit impatient and directly pushed the weaker Void Integration Realm cultivator forward.

An action that the Peak Void Integration Realm cultivator he had been in a deadly battle with not long ago fully agreed with as they truly did need someone to scout the way forward for them... And this Early Stage Void Integration Realm cultivator just so happened to be the weakest of them. Serving as the perfect scout for them to test if there was an ambush waiting for them on the other side.

”...”

As the person being made to take the risk, the cultivator at the Early Stage of the Void Integration Realm who had just barely managed to escape alive from the skeleton and equally massive flying demon beast that decided to join the party not long ago, didn’t feel the slightest bit excited about risking his life again.

Unfortunately, faced with the old city lord at the Late Stage of the Void Integration Realm and an unknown senior at the Peak of the Void Integration Realm, he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter and could only silently curse these two seniors for taking advantage of a junior before cautiously stepping forward to push open the invisible door-

Thud~!

”Huh?”

Something that was harder than he had originally thought, as he found himself falling right through the door and faceplanting the carpet below a second later.

Only after awkwardly getting back up and testing the door a bit did he realize he had to push open the invisible door only visible through divine sense with his divine sense, something obvious once he thought about it, but far from anything he had ever encountered in the past given how weak the divine sense of the fragmented continents locals was.

Under normal circumstances, divine sense was relegated to the back and wasn’t really something that was used under normal circumstances beyond assessing danger- but even that wasn’t a given, as accidentally having one’s divine sense touch a spatial anomaly could result in said divine sense being forcibly torn from one’s body alongside the soul it was attached to. Making it far more common to assess the situation through sensing the surrounding spatial environment even for someone who had reached the Void Integration Realm and whose divine sense had at least reached a level strong enough to not fear that kind of extreme situation.

”Ehm... I-I will get going now...” Still feeling rather embarrassed over what had just happened, the weaker Void Integration Realm cultivator didn’t dare waste another second after he got back up on his feet and subtly guided his weak divine sense to push open the invisible door. Feeling as the door itself seemed to exert a unique pulling force on him-

Whoosh~!

And before he even had time to react to the strange force tugging at him, he was dragged into the invisible door before it closed behind him without giving the two outside any time to react nor see what was lurking on the other side of the door.

Strangely enough, the only one who saw the Void Integration Realm cultivator being pulled into the blank void on the other side of the door was Xuan Hao, as to the other two observing the situation, it looked like the Void Integration Realm cultivator had willingly stepped forward and entered the blank void on the other side of the invisible door before disappearing from sight with the door closing back up again.

From a simple glance, it was clear that the door itself wasn’t simple and incorporated some mysteries related to the Dao of Illusion. Enough to fool these two inexperienced Void Integration Realm cultivators who weren’t used to dealing with the Dao of Illusions, but far from enough to fool someone experienced like Xuan Hao who had also comprehended the Dao of Illusions.

Still, though he managed to see how the weaker Void Integration Realm cultivator was essentially dragged into the blank void on the other side of the invisible door before vanishing, he didn’t really obtain that much information about what awaited him on the other side. If anything, it only made him aware of the fact that whatever lurked on the other side was bound to not be anything good-

Rumble~

Buit as he began silently contemplating whether it would be worth it to take the risk to figure out what awaited him on the other side of the blank void hidden behind the invisible door, a loud rumbling sound behind him instantly caused his ears to perk up as he glanced back in the direction he had come.

”HOW!? That damnable bird is actually following us!?”

And the loud exclamation of the city lord of Desolate River City was more than enough to showcase his shock at what unfolded behind them, as a large beak easily enough to fill up the relatively smaller hallway that was still over a dozen meters tall, poked through the entrance behind them and had started to slowly break apart the hallway as it began forcing its way deeper inside towards where they were standing.

Understandably, the two remaining Void Integration Realm cultivators showed not the slightest bit of hesitation upon spotting that massive beak trying to reach them and directly used their divine sense to force the invisible door open again. Not even getting the chance to feel the strange tugging force that their weaker companion had been dragged in by as they both rushed forth without the slightest bit of hesitation. Confusing the original operating logic of the invisible door that had no idea how to react to this kind of situation-

”Huh?”

And seemingly malfunctioning as a result of the strange action of the two Void Integration Realm cultivators, the force that would normally have dragged the two Void Integration Realm cultivator in was instead directed towards a very confused Xuan Hao, who had little to no time to react before he found himself being dragged through the invisible door alongside the two Void Integration Realm cultivators. Not even getting the chance to push open the invisible door on his own, as it seemed like his intention of making use of others had been seen through and the sudden malfunction of the invisible door made sure he couldn’t run away.