Following the bulky man reciting something in some kind of ancient language, the blood that had formed a small pool around the statue of the bird like creature slowly started absorbing the blood before a human sized portal opened up in the air just above the small statue of the bird like creature.
"The path leading to the Thousand Wind Palace is open!"
Listening to what the bulky man was muttering to himself while he absentmindedly stared at the portal that had opened up in front of him, Xuan Hao's entire body tensed up as he prepared for what was about to happen.
Given that a portal had already been opened up, Xuan Hao understood that there was no more value in the mastermind keeping the bulky man alive for any longer-
Crack~
Not even a second after this thought occurred to Xuan Hao, the almost transparent barrier protecting the bulky man started cracking apart at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Wha-!?"
Not expecting for the barrier that had been protecting him all this time to suddenly start cracking apart all of a sudden, the bulky man could not help panicking as he looked at the terrifying wind outside. Even without having touched the wind outside first hand, he understood very well that doing so with his current strength would instantly kill him…
At the end of the day, the only reason why he had been able to survive so deep inside the Thousand Wind Mountains was due to the protection of the Windbloom Flower, without it, he would undoubtably die!
Swish-!
Understanding this very well, the bulky man did not try and infuse his qi into the Windbloom Flower like last time in hopes of it evolving again and growing even stronger than before, but instead rushed towards the portal that he had just opened above the small statue of the bird like creature.
Even if it might end up costing him his life, he didn't hesitate in the slightest as he jumped towards the portal with all his strength-
"Hmph!"
Thump-!
However, just as he was about to pass through the portal, a loud contemptuous snicker echoed out from above as a terrifying aura descended towards the bulky man who was just about to enter through the portal. Forcibly pinning him to the ground before he could pass through the portal and escape.
"…"
Not able to make a single sound as he suddenly felt himself pinned to the ground, the bulky man could do nothing but watch as the almost transparent barrier protecting him grew weaker and weaker with each passing second. Not having any idea about who the person pinning him to the ground and making him unable to move wa.
However, different from the bulky man who could only stare blankly around himself as the barrier created by the Windbloom Flower was disappearing around him, Xuan Hao could clearly see the person who was supressing the bulky man and preventing him from escaping through the portal he had just opened.
From the first glance, Xuan Hao could not help sucking in a cold breath of air as he carefully examined the man who had appeared in the air a short distance away from the hill where the bulky man was helplessly pinned to the ground as the barrier around him was disappearing at an increasingly fast speed.
Even if he could not examine the other party's features due a blood red mist hiding most of the party's features, Xuan Hao could at the very least tell that the other person was a man from his body figure and tone of voice.
Well… He could always be wrong… But Xuan Hao highly doubted that the other party would go through such effort to disguise his gender. Especially considering that the other party still seemed to have no idea about his presence and only thought it was himself and the bulky man who was about to die…
Examining the man more closely without using his divine sense, Xuan Hao discovered that the strength of the other party was indeed above the Domain Lord Realm like he had guessed. Not only that, but Xuan Hao could clearly feel the qualitive difference in strength between himself and the man currently floating in the air above the bulky man.
Is this the Soul Ascension Realm? How strong is this person compared to other Soul Ascension Realm Experts? Is he at the earlier stages of the realm or the later stages of it…?
Thinking this to himself as he continued examining the man, Xuan Hao could not help feeling excited as he quietly waited without making any sudden movements that might end up alerting the other party.
Even if he was confident in being able to fight the other party with the help of his domain, Xuan Hao didn't want to risk it if he didn't have to… On the other hand, he was far more interested in finding out about what might be hidden on the other side of the portal that the bulky man had created.
Especially considering that it had caused an expert at the Soul Ascension Realm Expert work so hard to make sure that the portal was created in the first place.
Even without having to see the thing that was on the other side, Xuan Hao understood that it should be something incredibly precious. Maybe even something that would be able to help him when it came to breaking through to the Soul Ascension Realm in the future!
CRACK-!
Not aware of Xuan Hao watching from the side and only able to barely move his eyes around to see the barrier protecting him about to fully crack apart, the bulky man barely managed to muster enough strength to turn his head towards the statue of the bird like creature by breaking his own neck in the process.
Although he had reached the Nascent Soul Realm and could heal from such an injurie as long as his nascent soul was still intact, the pain brought along by breaking his own neck was by no means something that a normal person could easily endure… Yet, the bulky man barely said a sound as gazed directly into the small eyes of the small statue.
Fwoosh-!
Before long a gentle blood red aura suddenly appeared around small statue of the bird like creature before it extended out and covered the body of the bulky man-
"HOW DARE YOU! DIE!"
Thinking that the bulky man was just trying to kill himself to end things quickly instead of getting torn apart by the winds outside, the man floating in the air above did not have any time to react when he realized that this was not the case-
Swish-!
And just before he managed to land an attack on where the bulky man had been laying, the gentle blood red aura engulfing the bulky man forcibly dragged his body into the small portal above the small statue.
BOOOOOM-!
In the end, the Soul Ascension Realm Expert could do nothing but watch as his attack landed on top of the small hill without meeting its target.
"Hm?"
However, different from his expectations of the hill getting obliterated by his attack, the small statue and the hill remained completely intact after the attack had landed-
WHOOOOSH-!
WHOOOOSH-!
WHOOOOSH-!
Not only that, but the winds all over the Thousand Wind Mountains started gathering towards the small hill with the statue on top of it before merging together to attack the Soul Ascension Realm Expert along with anything in the vicinity.
"…"
Being one of those things in the vicinity, Xuan Hao did not know whether to laugh or cry as he felt his domain being put under tremendous pressure from the winds that were gathering from all over the Thousand Wind Mountains.
Not even a few seconds had passed, but the pressure he was under was already about to break his domain!
If the winds from all over the Thousand Wind Mountains really ended up gathering together in a single location, let alone someone in the Domain Lord Realm. Even someone in the Soul Ascension Realm would get torn apart and killed on the spot!
"Ah-! WHY IS THE WIND OF THIS DAMNED PLACE GATHERING TOWARDS ME!?"
Just looking up at how the man who was the focus point of the wind all over the Thousand Wind Mountains was doing, was more than enough to understand this…
Swish-!
Not wanting to end up dead by standing around and waiting for all the wind of the Thousand Wind Mountains to truly gather together in one place, Xuan Hao decided to rush towards the human sized portal that was still present on top of the small hill with the statue of the bird like creature on top of it.
Even if he had no idea where it might lead him, he understood very well that his chances of leaving the Thousand Wind Mountains with all the winds gathering towards his current location, was close to impossible.
Especially considering the fact that the winds themselves had begun to affect the stability of the space inside the Thousand Wind Mountains. Making it far harder to use his movement technique to move around…