This formation is far more complicated than expected...
Looking over the wall in front of him covered in ancient symbols that glowed dimly beneath the thin miasma floating around the room, Xuan Hao could only give up trying to take control of the greater teleportation formation with his current understanding of formations.
At the moment, the only thing he could barely do with his current understanding of the greater teleportation formation, was sacrifice close to half of the qi that he had stored up inside his dantian to get the greater teleportation formation to activate and teleport them somewhere outside the ancient sect ruins.
Although this method was not preferred due to it placing him and the young boy in a random location outside the ancient sect ruins that was connected to the greater teleportation formation, Xuan Hao preferred this over staying inside the ancient sect ruins and risk getting caught by the terrifying creature he had already encountered once.
As for the matter of sacrificing half the qi stored up inside his dantian... It was not something Xuan Hao thought too much about, as it would only take a short time for Xuan Hao to recover this qi with his current cultivation realm.
ROOOOAR-!
"Looks like its time to get going..."
Hearing an all too familiar roar echo out across the ancient sect ruins followed by a terrifying aura washing over him, Xuan Hao didn't hesitate any longer and directly injected his qi into the greater teleportation formation-
Whoosh-!
Instantly causing all the ancient symbols covering the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room to light up with a dark yellow light. Momentarily blinding the young boy who had been looking straight at one of the ancient symbols when they suddenly lit up.
"Ahhh-!"
Ignoring the scream of the young boy, who might have become the first Core Formation Realm Expert to get blinded by formation symbol, Xuan Hao focused on guiding the ancient symbols to form a small gate in the centre of the room.
Swish-!
Knowing that time was limited after the small gate had formed, Xuan Hao didn't bother saying anything to the young boy, as he grabbed hold of him and dragged him into the small gate before it had time to close.
ROOOOAR--!
Only a second after the gate had disappeared together with Xuan Hao and the young boy, did a loud roar echo out just outside the small house. Followed by the sound of something massive descending from above towards the small house-
BOOOM-!
Before the sound of the roar ended, a large claw broke through the thick miasma outside and land on the small house with the greater teleportation formation inside of it. Instantly destroying both the small house and the greater teleportation formation!
...
That was close...
Letting out a sigh of relief as he looked back towards the gate that had been formed by the greater teleportation formation quickly disappearing behind, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine after remembering the terrifying aura he had felt engulfing him just before he passed through the gate created by the greater teleportation formation.
Even if he had no idea what happened after he left, Xuan Hao was almost certain that he would have ended up dead if he had stayed for even a second longer!
"But the miasma is still around... Did we really leave the ancient sect ruins?" Muttering this as he slowly started inspecting his surroundings, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit worried after seeing the miasma all around him.
Even if the miasma was not only inside the ancient sect ruins and could also be found inside the Great Poison Swamp, Xuan Hao was not a hundred percent certain that the greater teleportation formation had worked like he had thought it would. After all, the greater teleportation formation was an ancient formation that was far above his current understanding of formations, the fact that he could even get it to send him to a random location could be considered an accomplishment far beyond his skill level...
Ah! Can't I just check and see if the side quest was completed?
[Side Quest: Escape (Complete)]
[Description: Explore the ruins of the long-forgotten sect in front of you and look for a way to escape before dying. The ancient teleportation artifact that was used to enter the ancient sect ruins was anchored to a greater teleportation formation. Using the greater teleportation formation will allow you to connect with other teleportation artifacts outside the sect and use them to escape.]
[Reward: Staying alive, Great Poison Scripture]
Having remembered the side quest he had gotten, Xuan Hao quickly pulled up the system interface and was happy to see that the side quest had indeed been completed. Meaning that he had indeed been teleported to somewhere outside the ancient sect ruins!
[Redeem reward: Y/N]
Yes!
Not thinking too much about the reward as he just planned to put away the Great Poison Scripture before making his way out of the Great Poison Swamp as quickly as possible, Xuan Hao was surprised to suddenly feel a small dark vortex of qi appearing inside his dantian
"This-!?"
Fwoosh-!
Before even having a chance to react to what was happening inside his dantian, a small wisp of pure qi manifested inside his dantian before exterminating the small dark vortex of qi that had suddenly appeared.
Whoosh~
Not even having the time to react to what was happening inside his dantian before everything was over, Xuan Hao could only sit down on the ground with a surprised expression on his face as a small book with the words [Great Poison Scripture] written on top of it manifested in front of him.
"What was that...?"
Almost whispering this to himself as he went over what had just happened, Xuan Hao could not help looking towards the book floating in the air in front of him.
This... Was the staying alive reward mentioned by the system perhaps not related to the ancient sect ruins, but instead the small dark vortex of qi hidden inside my dantian? Now that I think about, since when did that dark vortex of qi appear inside my dantian? Is it from the terrifying creature in the ancient sect ruins... Or maybe even earlier than that...
Feeling a shiver run down his spine as he thought about the small dark vortex of qi having been hidden inside his dantian, Xuan Hao understood full well how dangerous such a thing was.
Even if the power of the small dark vortex of qi was not too strong compared to the massive vortex that had formed at the centre of his dantian after his two domains had merged together, the small dark vortex of qi could still end up costing him his life if it suddenly exploded while he was breaking through or during a life and death battle with someone equal to himself in strength!
Whoosh~
Putting the [Great Poison Scripture] into his interspatial ring before slowly standing up again, Xuan Hao tried his best to recall any circumstances that could have resulted in the small dark vortex of qi appearing inside his dantian. Among which, he felt that his visit to the ancient seal below the ruins of the Raging Flame Sect when he had first reached the Domain Lord Realm also had a very high probability for being the reason why the small dark vortex appeared inside his dantian.
At the very least, given the strength of the being sealed away by the ancient seal, Xuan Hao did not find it unlikely for it to be able to implant the small vortex inside his dantian. The only question left to be answered if that was really the case would be why? Did the small dark vortex perhaps have some other use after it grew stronger?
But... If it really is related to my visit to the ancient seal back then, it is possible that the ancient seal has already started breaking. The reason I couldn't see anything wrong with the ancient seal is possibly due to the fact that my cultivation is still far too weak to see the true essence of the ancient seal!
"Haaa..."
After reaching the Soul Ascension Realm in the future, I will go back to investigate the ancient seal and see if I can find out more...
Feeling like things were slowly starting to get complicated, Xuan Hao could not help letting out a sigh before shaking his head and deciding to throw the matter to the back of his mind for now.
All things considered; he was still far too weak to begin investigating the matter of the ancient seal...
"S-senior... W-where is this? Did we leave the ancient sect ruins!?"
Just at this moment, Xuan Hao heard the voice of the young boy who had remained frozen in shock for the past few second after he had dragged him through the gate formed by the greater teleportation formation.
"We have- Hm?"
Looking towards the young boy, Xuan Hao was just about to answer him when he suddenly felt a familiar presence appearing at the edge of his divine sense!