Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Chapter 2182: Final Sprint

Not daring to move faster than the group of Void Integration Realm cultivators who were now in the process of sacrificing their belongings to a giant belt out of fear he would end up drawing the attention of the skeleton before it clashed with them, Xuan Hao had found himself watching the ongoing struggle of the group from afar with growing interest following their decision to step forward with the giant belt to face off against the giant skeleton. Curious just how powerful this still unknown artifact was and if it truly did have the ability to deal with or at least slow down this powerful skeleton.

If it truly did possess the strength to hold it back for even a second or two, it would give him more than enough time to take advantage of the situation to rush towards the smaller hallway that had opened behind the towering skeleton.

For this reason alone, he didn’t mind having to stop and wait for the group of weaker Void Integration Realm cultivators to power up the giant belt that they were so obviously far too weak to use under normal circumstances. Even working together, it was still somewhat dubious whether they would even be able to activate that giant belt before the skeleton reached them.

After all, though the skeleton didn’t directly make use of the Dao of Space to close the distance, it was far from slow and would at most need another few seconds to reach the group of desperate Void Integration Realm cultivators that had by now burned through most of the spirit stones and other precious spiritual resources that they had gathered over the years for cultivation.

Rumble~

Luckily for them, as the skeleton was about to reach down towards them, the giant belt finally seemed satisfied with the spiritual qi it had absorbed and began floating off the ground with the Early Stage Void Integration Realm cultivator who had originally activated and lifted it into the air hanging on to it as it ascended to face the approaching skeleton.

By this point, the presence around the belt had completely shifted away from the greedy almost demonic presence it had a few seconds earlier when greedily absorbing spiritual qi. Changing into a divine one filled with an overwhelming power that directly suppressed the terrifying presence of the skeleton. Forcing the skeleton to pause to examine this new enemy more closely as it was clear this floating belt posed a far greater threat than it had originally anticipated.

Even Xuan Hao, observing the giant belt from afar, couldn’t help frowning as he began contemplating escaping through the wall of the hall before these two powerful forces began clashing with one another-

BOOOOM-!

But before he had the chance to make a choice, the giant belt exploded with a violent all-encompassing golden light that extended outwards and directly formed a giant golden cage around the skeleton. Imprisoning it on the spot.

”Let’s go! Quick!”

”You don’t have to say that twice!”

”Haha, to think that belt was an artifact capable on entrapping enemies. How wonderful.”

Unsurprisingly, with the giant skeleton imprisoned by the golden light of the giant belt, the group of Void Integration Realm cultivators didn’t hesitate for a second before rushing straight past the now imprisoned giant skeleton towards the hallway opening behind it, something Xuan Hao decided to copy while keeping himself hidden after noticing how the skeleton was unable to break through the golden prison that now trapped it.

”Guys?! Don’t leave me behind!”

The only unfortunate person in this entire situation was none other than the owner of the giant belt now floating before the giant skeleton holding onto the giant belt.

A simple glance was all it took for everyone present to understand that this person wasn’t able to detach himself from the giant belt any longer and would likely be kept hanging by the giant belt until it ran out of strength or the giant skeleton successfully broke through the golden prison that now imprisoned it.

In either case, there was no way out for this giant belt holder, as the second he found himself able to move away from the giant belt or carry the belt with him, the skeleton would undoubtedly take out its anger of being imprisoned on him.

In other words, this Void Integration Realm cultivator was already seen as dead in the eyes of his companions the second they realized both he and the giant belt would remain stuck in place as long as the golden prison was around.

Even if some of them wanted to lend a hand to this unfortunate companion of theirs who had ended up sacrificing his life for their safety, there was simply nothing that could be done with the towering skeleton still around. If they didn’t escape now, it was very likely that they would end up suffering from the same fate that awaited this unfortunate companion of theirs.

And no matter how much they wanted to help out a companion who had risked his life for them, there was no way they wanted to risk their own life doing something that was almost certain to end up with them dying. After all, activating the artifacts they had obtained from the skeleton before it had awakened wasn’t exactly an option now that they knew about the terrifying cost involved.

Not to mention, even if they wanted to, everyone had already poured out most of their savings to power up the giant belt and simply didn’t have the resources to activate another of the artifacts to gamble that it wasn’t one that would end up killing them after being activated.

Because of this, no matter how much the giant belt owner cursed after realizing he was being left behind, no one turned around to help him as they instead rushed towards the small hallway in the distance. Taking full advantage of the fact that the giant belt owner had no way to control the giant belt to target them as well.

Watching all of this, Xuan Hao did feel a bit bad for the unfortunate belt owner stuck hanging midair confronting the skeleton that had started to slam against the golden prison with increasing ferocity.

But pitiful as the belt owner was, he knew that he couldn’t linger around for too long, as he had already caught sight of something the Void Integration Realm cultivators hadn’t, the golden prison had already started breaking apart under the ferocious attack of the skeleton.

In fact, running a few fast calculations while silently moving towards the small hallway situated behind the giant skeleton, he realized that the skeleton would successfully break the golden prison by the time he got within a thousand meters of the small hallway.

Extremely close for someone like himself, but ultimately not close enough to ensure successful escape from the giant hall, as the skeleton’s mastery of the Dao of Space would allow it to almost instantaneously shift backwards to block the path the second the golden prison formed by the giant belt broke.

The cursing owner of the giant belt should already be aware of this fact as the one in control of the giant belt to some extent, but it was also clear that this person had no intention of sharing this news with the rest after realizing he had essentially been left behind to die.

In fact, the fast undoing of the golden prison that kept the skeleton in place might have something to do with the subtle influence of the doomed owner of the giant belt exerting what little control he had over the giant belt to undo the golden prison he had already created in an attempt to take everyone else down with him.

Of course, though the group of Void Integration Realm cultivators wouldn’t be able to reach the small hallway in time, the same couldn’t be said for him, as he had already been moving slower to not draw any unwanted attention from the skeleton so far. All he needed to do was utilize the Illusory Light Steps when he got a bit closer. Reaching the hallway a bit faster than if he kept himself hidden the entire time.

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-

But as he prepared himself for the final dash, a loud sound wind breaking erupted from the ceiling above, as two figures covered in blood flew down through the opening from earlier and rushed towards the small hallway filled with fear-

CRAAAAACK-!

The sudden change catching everyone, Xuan Hao included, completely off guard, as they barely had time to comprehend what was happening before a loud cracking sound echoed out from the ceiling above as something massive crashed into it and directly caused the entire hall to start collapsing in on itself.

Clearly, whatever these two had ended up encountering outside the hall after having fled from the skeleton had come chasing them and had ultimately forced them back into the hall again to once again just barely avoid getting swallowed up by whatever it was that was trying to crash through the ceiling.