The meetup point for the investigation team was at the south side of the Fire Rock Mountain and was a relatively calm place without too much danger and a relatively more normal temperature compared to the rest of the Fire Rock Mountain.
When Xuan Hao arrived at the meetup location, nobody else had arrived yet and Xuan Hao decided to just sit down and wait for them to arrive, at most it would take another hour or two.
After all, with two people at the Core Formation Realm and a dozen peak Foundation Establishment cultivators. Finding out what happened at the north west side of the Fire Rock Mountain would not take a long time.
Gui Hu and Chen Yang should be able to solve the puzzle of the dead body filled with bite marks and a potential nearby Core Formation demon beast, if not, Xuan Hao would be surprised at how they even managed to reach their current cultivation realm without getting stabbed in the back by someone.
Even more so when they were obviously rogue cultivators without a sect backing them up before becoming pathfinders of the Explorer Union!
So, with nothing better to do, Xuan Hao sat down and took out the Infernal Heart Grass from the small bag he stored it in earlier.
The Infernal Heart Grass looked just like normal grass, albeit slightly longer and denser. The most obvious difference from normal grass was the bright red colour and the pure qi radiating off it.
Just holding it, Xuan Hao felt the qi between heaven and earth around him slightly increase. The benefit of consuming it would be obvious and it might even be useful to some Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. The pure Qi inside the Infernal Heart Grass was more than enough for a Core Formation cultivator to breakthrough a small realm!
This benefit, however, palled in comparison to what a cultivator who cultivated purely in fire qi would gain.
Even a Nascent Soul cultivator might be able to breakthrough a small realm if they were cultivating fire qi.
"Looks like it will be hard to hide it from the Nascent Soul cultivator from the Raging Flame Sect guarding the entrance…"
Xuan Hao was both happy and sad that he got the Infernal Heart Grass.
Happy because he now had what Qing Yi needed to awaken her divine physique, sad because he was certain that sneaking by the outpost of the Raging Flame Sect was impossible.
The Raging Flame Sect was after all, a sect that cultivated purely in the fire qi between heaven and earth. Their sensitivity in regard to fire qi was unmatched in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.
Sneaking a spirit grade herb of the fire attribute past one of their Nascent Soul experts? He would have a better chance sneaking into the bedroom of the Raging Flame Sects Sect Master…
Not that he would ever try something like that…
Taking a last look at the Infernal Heart Grass, Xuan Hao put it back into the small bag and put it away.
Changing his sitting position into a meditative one, Xuan Hao started absorbing the qi between heaven and earth as he slowly circulated the qi through his entire body.
The cultivation method that he used was also found on the fifth floor of the Pagoda of Enlightenment and was a Heaven Rank Cultivation Mantra as well.
The cultivation mantra was called Untold Swords Mantra. The cultivation Mantra allowed one to build up a foundation as a sword cultivator and only truly started to show its might at the Nascent Soul Realm.
Here the Untold Swords Mantra started to allow the cultivator to start constructing his own domain. At the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, this would allow one to have a Pseudo Domain! Normally, a Pseudo Domain was only something people at the half-step Domain Lord Realm had, but the Untold Sword Mantra would allow him to acquire it before that!
This feat, however, was not without difficulties. Constructing a pseudo domain was hard and took half-step Domain Lords hundreds of years to achieve.𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
The reason for this, was that it required the cultivator to have an initial understanding of a Dao. Be it the Dao of Fire or the Dao of Clouds, an initial understanding of the Dao was needed to construct a Pseudo Domain. Taking it a step further and transforming the Pseudo domain into a real domain would allow a Nascent Soul cultivator to become a Domain Lord!
The Untold Sword Mantra however, solely focused on the Dao of the Sword and all one needed was to comprehend True Sword Intent before being able to cultivate it at the Nascent Soul Realm.
From this, one would be able to construct a Pseudo Sword Domain!
The next step was for the True Sword Intent to transform into a Sword Domain, allowing the sword cultivator to step into the realm of Domain Lords.
The step after the Sword Domain was mostly blurred, but the Untold Sword Mantra did mention the name of the realm.
Sword Soul!
Any way to reach it was foggy and blurred, as Xuan Hao struggled to understand the things written in the Untold Sword Mantra.
He understood that he was way too weak at the moment to understand anything about what came after the Sword Domain. At least for now, he quietly cultivated his sword intent, trying to strengthen it with the help of the qi between heaven and earth.
The moment his Sword Intent was able to engulf the area a few meters around him, he would have reached the Pseudo Sword Domain Realm. Only one step away from the Domain Lord Realm!
For now all his Sword Intent could do was engulf his sword, increasing its strength and allowing him to fly on it.
"Ah, Bright Sword, you are here already! Did you perhaps find what you were looking for?" A voice sounded a little behind him and Xuan Hao turned around and saw Qui Hu and Chen Yang, along with a few dozen peak Foundation Establishment cultivators appear.
"Yes, I was lucky enough to find it. Did you manage to find the reason for the disappearances?"
"Ah, great for you and yes we managed to find it… Was just a stray Core Formation demon beast, feller was already dead when we arrived. Probably a passing Core Formation cultivator who found it before us… Well, at least we can head back now, are you ready to go as well?" Gui Hu looked slightly bored as he explained what they found, before waiting for Xuan Hao's answer.
"Sure, I found what I was looking for already."
"Great, then let's head back immediately! I heard that the inn got some great ale recently, Chen Yang, want to join me later?"
"Sure… Just don't drink too much like last time!"
"Sure, sure, I promise I won't! hehe."
Hearing Xuan Hao agreeing, the group headed back towards the city as Gui Hu, and Chen Yang chatted along the way. Xuan Hao decided to just ignore the two as he quietly spread his divine sense a few hundred meters around them, so as to not be ambushed along the way.