Whoosh~!
Entering the already crumbling ancient formation, Xuan Hao instantly felt the massive formation cantered around the gate trying to influence him to move towards the gate in question. Not that it really even mattered in the first place as Xuan Hao was already moving towards the gate to escape the terrifying creature heading in his direction…
"Hm? Something is weird about the gate…"
Getting closer to the gate located at the centre of the crumbling formation, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he suddenly came to stop just in front of the gate before the frown slowly disappear from his face before being replaced by a shocked expression.
"The Dao of Corruption…?"
Almost whispering this to himself as his eyes remained focused on the gate now directly in front of him, Xuan Hao easily managed to grasp the faint presence of the Dao of Corruption that lingered around the gate itself.
Rumble~!
Just as Xuan Hao was about to investigate the gate more closely, the terrifying creature he had felt from earlier suddenly increased its speed.
Swish-!
Not daring to waste anytime to inspect the gate and find out where the familiar presence of the Dao of Corruption had come from, Xuan Hao directly passed through the portal that the gate had been constructed around before feeling space around him twisting like when he had used the ancient teleportation formation. Soon transporting him to a completely different location.
The only thing he could be sure of, was the fact that he should still be somewhere inside the ancient sect. After all, his quest was not completed after he passed through the portal and still showed that he had not yet escaped from the ancient sect…
"This place is indeed rather weird… But first I have to destroy the portal and prevent that creature from following me!"
Knowing that just passing through the portal would not be able to ensure his safety, Xuan Hao only glanced around his weird surroundings before turning his attention back towards the gate built around the portal that had led him to his current location.
BANG!
Not holding back in the slightest, Xuan Hao directly attacked the gate that had been covered in thousands upon thousands of demonic looking eyes at some point in time after he had walked through it.
Using the full power of his domain to forcibly crush the gate and mess up the space around it that kept the portal at its centre stable, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine after all the eyes covering the gate suddenly turned to look at him filled with killing intent-
Screech!
Not able to understand what was happening, a loud screeching sound suddenly echoed out from somewhere deeper inside the place he had just been transported to as the gate with the portal inside of it slowly started cracking apart under the constant attack of his domain from all sides.
However, a small screeching sound was far from enough to stop Xuan Hao in destroying the portal!
CRACK!
BOOOOOM-!
As the portal and gate filled with demonic eyes was directly crushed by his domain, Xuan Hao could not help letting out a sigh of relief. Understanding that he should have escaped from the terrifying creature on the other side of the portal.
SCREEEEEEEECH-!
Listening to the screeching that was far louder and now also carried a clear killing intent with it, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly as he had a feeling that he had just escaped one dangerous situation to end up in another…
At the very least, it seemed that the creature making the screeching sound was not as powerful as the creature on the other side of the portal and had not yet decided to attack him. That or the creature making the screeching sound was restricted by something and could not attack him at the moment…
Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao decided to ignore the screeching in the distance for now as he instead began looking around himself to see where he had ended up.
"A flower field… No… Its just an illusion…" Muttering this to himself as he narrowed both his eyes, Xuan Hao slowly witnessed as the flowers all around him turned into weird tentacle like plants that stretched dozens of meters into the sky.
As for the ground beneath his feet, Xuan Hao slowly saw it turning into a purplish blue colour that looked eerily similar to the corrupted ground he had seen during his time inside the enlightenment space!
At least I know where the fait aura belonging to the Dao of Corruption came from…
Turning his attention towards the tall tentacle like plants stretching far into the air just a short distance away from him as he thought this, Xuan Hao focused his attention on the miasma that they slowly produced and released into the air around them.
So, this is where the miasma covering both the ancient sect and the Great Poison Swamp is coming from! To think the miasma was actually produced by a weird tentacle plant… But where does the restricting present inside the miasma come from if the miasma is produced here?
Finding out how the miasma itself was being produced, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he realized that the strange restrictive force that had been inside the miasma both in the ancient sect and the Great Poison Swamp was actually not present inside the miasma currently floating around him!
On one side, he could now fly without having to worry about getting smashed into the ground, while on the other side, he now had to worry about how the strange restrictive force was merged together with the miasma before it was spread through out the ancient sect ruins and the Great Poison Swamp.
In the best case scenario, this was done by some sort of ancient formation that had been able to survive until this day with minimal damage having been done to it.
In the worst-case scenario… The restrictive force was a small part of an ancient cultivator's intent that had been manually added to the miasma by the cultivator! If that was really the case, then it was almost guaranteed that the ancient cultivator in question should be someone who had surpassed the Soul Ascension Realm.
As for why such an expert would stay inside the ruins of an ancient sect… Xuan Hao had no idea, his best guess was that it was for some sort of artifact or to recover in secret without being disturbed by anyone. If that was the case, the miasma, and the defensive mechanisms still active in the ancient sect ruins were more than capable of dealing with any of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts in the Sky Empire and the surrounding empires without standing out and attracting more powerful cultivators…
Feeling a shiver run down his spine as he let his thoughts wander while looking at the surrounding corrupted ground, Xuan Hao could not help wondering how all of this was connected to the Dao of Corruption.
If it truly was an ancient cultivator, was that cultivator someone who practiced the Dao of Corruption? Given what he had seen from the battle shown by the ancient book in the Thousand Wind Palace, Xuan Hao had a feeling that encountering an ancient cultivator proficient in the Dao of Corruption would not be that good of an experience…
"Hm? Someone actually came here before me… And it was actually someone who just recently broke through to the Core Formation Realm!?"
Constantly scanning his surroundings as he was deep in thought thinking about what to do next, Xuan Hao could not help opening both his eyes in surprise after suddenly noticing the faint remnant aura belonging to someone in the Core Formation Realm leading further inside the corrupted zone he found himself inside of.
Is this a trap?
Not able to believe that someone in the Core Formation Realm had actually been able to enter the ancient sect ruins and survive, Xuan Hao was filled with doubt as he approached the faint remnant aura before beginning to inspect it more in-depth.
However, even after closely inspecting the faint remnant aura, Xuan Hao could not discover anything off about it. All pointing towards the fact that a Core Formation Realm Expert had truly managed to enter ahead of him!
"This… Did a Core Formation Realm Expert really enter this place before me? Ah… Did that person perhaps use the ancient teleportation artifact that I used before it was messed with, or perhaps there is more than just one ancient teleportation artifact leading to the ancient sect ruins…"
Filled with disbelief at this realization, Xuan Hao quickly linked the appearance of the Core Formation Realm Expert so deep inside the ancient sect ruins together with the ancient teleportation artifact.
Indeed, if he could enter the ancient sect through an ancient teleportation artifact, so could others ahead of him!
Whoosh~!
Not wasting any time after determining that a Core Formation Realm Expert had indeed entered ahead of him, Xuan Hao jumped into the air and flew in the direction that the Core Formation Realm Expert had moved in.
Now that he no longer had to worry about the strange restrictive force in the miasma, he could once again use the Drifting Cloud Steps!