Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Feeling a sense of relief washing over him upon seeing the miniature celestial gate, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time as he used his strength to burst forth. Momentarily increasing his speed beyond the ferocious beasts chasing after him. Allowing him to smoothly cross the last bit of distance between himself and the massive floating stone platform that the miniature celestial gate was located on top of… And, soon enough, found himself standing directly in front of the miniature celestial gate that served as the core of the sea of lightning and the goal of the celestial trial.

Hm? This… The gate isn't open…?

However, as he found himself standing in front of the miniature celestial gate barely a few heads taller than himself, he was shocked to discover that the miniature celestial gate was closed shut.

Even when he tried pushing it open on his own, he found himself unable to move the gate.

What… Am I supposed to do now? Did I perhaps miss something reading through the scroll of trials earlier? No, it clearly mentioned that reaching the core of the sea of lightning was the goal of the celestial trial and this miniature celestial gate is clearly the core of the sea of lightning…

Narrowing both his eyes as his mind rapidly analyzed his current situation, Xuan Hao could not help observing the smaller celestial gate in front of him more closely.

Outside of being smaller, there was no difference in appearance compared to the celestial gate he had entered a few hours earlier.

From the intricate carvings of celestial creatures covered in lightning, to the profound presence of the Dao of Lightning that seemed to be infused into every section of the gate, everything about the celestial gate remained the same as the one he had entered, albeit a bit smaller in size.

Although part of him did want to investigate the small celestial gate in more detail, he didn't really have the time for it-

Roooar-!

RAWR!

Screeeeeech!

Roar!

The ferocious beasts that had been chasing after him had finally caught up with him and were in the process of surrounding him to prevent him from escaping, he really needed the small celestial gate to open.

ROOOOOOOOOAAAAARRRR-!

Even worse, the Peak Celestial Immortal Realm ferocious beast in the shape of a towering eagle with a wingspan of more than a thousand meters had also caught up to him and was looking like it was about to attack him at any second now-

RUUUUMBLE-!

No, it had already launched an attack, flapping its massive pair of wings to cause countless blades made of wind and lightning to surge forth towards him with a momentum that seemed to shake the entire sea of lightning as even the stable space of the trial space shattered wherever the blades of wind and lightning passed.

Even worse, the blades didn't just come from a single direction but instead spread out to form and inescapable net that came bearing down on him from all directions. Leaving no place for him to avoid.

"Even if the Dao of Space wasn't suppressed, it wouldn't be simple to escape from this kind of attack by simply moving out of the way…" Muttering this to himself as he felt how the space around him being sealed by a seemingly invisible power as the blades of wind and lightning surrounded him, Xuan Hao understood that the attack he was facing was far stronger than anything he had faced so far. Even having the ability to restrict space itself to prevent anyone skilled in the Dao of Space from dodging.

Not that there was much need for this given the current state of the environment around him, but still, it allowed him to gain some insight into the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm and potentially the realms beyond that having the ability to restrict space to some extent when attack.

In simple terms, it made him aware that he should be far more cautious when dealing with anyone at the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm or in the Sea Formation Realm in the future, as they might have techniques capable of rendering his Drifting Cloud Steps useless… Or not really, given his profound comprehension of the Dao of Space, it was more likely that they would decrease its strength to some extent instead of rendering it useless.

After all, the main reason why the Peak Celestial Immortal Relam ferocious beast could so completely seal off his escape path more so had to do with the environment he found himself in.

Whoosh~

While all these thoughts swirled through his head, analyzing the current situation and what kind of implications it had for the future, his body had already started moving in response to the incoming attack.

Although he couldn't dodge the attack, it didn't mean he couldn't defend himself against it, as he had already conjured up a first layer of defense in the form of a massive ice dome that blocked out everything outside the floating platform before his spiritual sea swept out to bolster the strength of the ice dome. Forming an intricate barrier between himself and the approaching blades of wind and lightning.

Not just that, but he also used his understanding of the Dao of Formations to draw up a simple defensive formation into the ice dome to further strengthen it.

Considering that he was already using a Dao that he had comprehended to the Perfection Realm and strengthened it with both his spiritual sea and his Dao of Formations, it wasn't wrong to say that this was the strongest defense he had ever come up with.

BOOOOM-!

Crack-!

Even then, as the blades began slamming into the ice dome, it didn't take long before cracks began forming throughout the massive dome. Showing just how powerful the blades unleashed by the ferocious beast at the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm was, as even his strongest defense after having reached the Early Stage of the Sea Formation Realm could only barely hold up.

Rooaaar-!

Roar!

Screech!

Roooaaaaarr!

However, the ferocious beast at the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm was never his true worry. Instead, it was the fact that he wasn't just dealing with a single ferocious beast in the Celestial Immortal Realm, but hundreds-

Boom-boom-boom!

CRACK! BOOOM-!

And as they began joining in to attack the ice dome, it didn't even take a second before it shattered under the combined might of over a hundred ferocious beasts in the Celestial Immortal Realm, causing ice shards to rain down on the stone platform along with the shattered remains of ancient formation symbols that had been hastily infused into the ice dome to strengthen it.

No matter how strong he was, there was simply no way for him to resist in the face of that many Celestial Immortal Realm ferocious beasts. All he could do was look back at the smaller celestial gate now behind him. Hoping for it to open, as it really was his only way out of his current situation-

Creak~

And as if to answer his prayers, the small gate that had remained shut since he stepped onto the massive floating stone platform creaked open.

Swish-!

BOOOOOOOOOM-!

Not even caring about how this had happened or why the small celestial gate had opened now of all times, Xuan Hao threw himself inside the small opening just in time to avoid the combined attack of the ferocious beasts. Leaving their combined attack to slam into the area directly in front of the small celestial gate he had been standing earlier.

In the end, the powerful attack hit nothing and just dispersed upon contact with either the stone platform or the small celestial gate…

ROOOOAR-!

Knowing that Xuan Hao had managed to escape, the massive bird ferocious beast at the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm was filled with unwillingness as it roared loudly into the sky. Sounding nothing like a bird demon beast, as it charged directly at the small celestial gate with its massive form. Intent on following Xuan Hao to finish him off-

Crackle~

However, upon touching the small celestial gate, a faint crackling sound echoed out in the ears of the massive bird ferocious beast… No… Not just the massive bird, but all the ferocious beasts throughout the sea of lightning heard the faint crackling sound… And when the ferocious beasts around the stone platform looked towards the small celestial gate again, they discovered that the massive bird ferocious beast at the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm and an impressive wingspan of over a thousand meters was no more.

Instead, all they saw was a few specks of dust that landed gently in front of the small celestial gate… And… Instinctively, they understood that these small bits of dust belonged to none other than the powerful ferocious beast at the Peak of the Celestial Immortal Realm.

Or, in more simple terms, it was all that was left of the powerful ferocious beast…