Returning back to their master's palace, Chu Yang was more than happy to help out Qing Yi with strengthening her foundation and helping her get ready to undergo the Cloud Tribulation that one would have to pass through before reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.
"Now all you have to do is further strengthen your core this way and-"
Although she was still a bit hesitant when receiving Chu Yang's help at the start, it did not take long before Qing Yi began to seriously listening to Chu Yang as she began to follow his guidance.
"Hm!? This is… My foundation is actually getting stronger again!"
Not even a few minutes after she had first started following Chu Yang's guidance, did Qing Yi realize that her foundation that had stagnated over the past few days finally showed signs of improving again.
Even if part of her might still be a bit hesitant deep down, after feeling her foundation growing stronger, this deep-seated hesitation completely disappeared as she began to wholeheartedly follow Chu Yang's guidance.
Like this, Qing Yi sealed herself off as she once again began focusing all of her attention on improving her foundation to its limit with the guidance from Chu Yang.
The next time she would leave secluded cultivation, would be when she was ready to attempt breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm!
…
At the same time Qing Yi was doing her best trying to improve her foundation to the limit before trying to reach the Nascent Soul Realm, Xuan Hao arrived at a small mountain before looking into the distance where a large city that seemed to stretch on forever was barely visible.
"The Capital City of the Sky Empire…"
Narrowing both his eyes as he quietly said this, Xuan Hao could not help remembering what he had gone through over the past few weeks.
Not to mention that he had to pass through several dangerous locations similar to the Great Poison Swamp and the Thousand Wind Mountains where he had to do his best to avoid ending up in any dangerous situation that might end up kill him or trapping him for an unknown period of time, he also had to deal with the numerous different demon beast that inhabited most of the Sky Empire's territory.
Although most of the demon beast that had come to attack him along the journey were only in the Nascent Soul Realm, they grew stronger the closer he got to the capital city of the Sky Empire, some even reaching the Domain Lord Realm!
To be honest, Xuan Hao had ended up encountering far more demon beast compared to humans on his journey towards the capital city of the Sky Empire so far. Allowing him to understand why most of the cities and kingdoms he had seen along the way were all guarded by some kind of formation that would keep out the demon beasts that were present outside the small territories that had fallen under human control.
In a sense, without anyone in the Domain Lord Realm, it was pretty much impossible for a kingdom or sect to grow in the core region of the Sky Empire. Even with the support of a Domain Lord Realm Expert, it would still be difficult to expand beyond a certain size without having to constantly deal with demon beasts trying to invade one's territory.
The abundance of resources in the core region of the Sky Empire was also something Xuan Hao witnessed first-hand… The only downside was that one would need the strength to claim these resources without dying to the countless demon beasts roaming around inside the core region of the Sky Empire!
All of this was completely different from the outer region of the Sky Empire, where things were far safer and land was hard to come by and would often have to be fought over with adjacent kingdoms.
Whoosh~!
Standing on top of the small mountain as he was lost in thought for a short moment, Xuan Hao suddenly saw a small flying ship landing not too far away from him before a group of armoured people got out and began killing off a group of demon beasts that were moving towards the capital city in the distance.
"Hm?"
Looking closer at the group of people that had left the small flying ship to deal with the group of demon beasts that were in the process of getting one-sidedly beaten up, Xuan Hao could not help showing a surprised expression on his face after realizing that the weakest person among the soldiers killing the demon beasts had actually reached the Seventh Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm while the strongest among them had already reached the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Inside the flying ship, the presence of a First Stage Domain Lord could also be felt!
The strength of this small hit squad in charge of dealing with a group of demon beasts that were only around the Core Formation Realm with the strongest only barely having reached the First Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, was more than enough for Xuan Hao to understand just how strong the Sky Empire was compared to any of the kingdoms or sects he had been to so far.
If a small hit squad like this already had a Domain Lord in it, how strong would the overall strength of the Sky Empire be?
Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit sceptical about the number of Domain Lord Realm Experts inside the Sky Empire that was listed inside the book Yi Min had given him.
According to that book, there should only be around 200 Domain Lords inside the Sky Empire… But given that even someone like himself was still not listed inside the book as a Domain Lord Realm Expert, Xuan Hao felt that the number of Domain Lord Realm Experts inside the Sky Empire should already have exceeded the two or so hundred that were listed inside the book!
Whoosh~!
Watching as the Nascent Soul Realm Experts dealt with the demon beasts below before gathering the corpses and putting them away inside an interspatial ring before they returned to the flying ship and left in the direction of the capital city, Xuan Hao felt amazed at the speed at which they had dealt with the demon beasts and left without leaving anything behind.
Even if their strength had far surpassed the demon beasts they were dealing with, their coordination and speed was not something Xuan Hao had ever seen before and was testament to the discipline among the soldiers of the Sky Empire.
"I should also get going…"
Glancing in the direction that the flying Ship had left, Xuan Hao stepped off the peak of the small mountain before flying in the direction of the capital city that only seemed to grow larger the closer he got to it.
…
Thump~!
Landing on the ground a short distance away from the massive wall covered in all sorts of ancient divine symbols that glowed gently under the sunlight, Xuan Hao took some time to take in the sight of the massive wall that was essentially a part of a giant formation that covered the entire capital city of the Sky Empire.
"This formation… I will most likely end up dead if I get trapped by it…" Muttering this to himself with a wry smile on his face as he investigated the divine looking ancient symbols that connected the massive wall of the city together with thousands of different formations that connected together to form one single formation.
Even when compared to the realm destruction formation he had encountered back in the secret realm, it was not too far behind when it came to complexity.
As for the power of the formation itself, Xuan Hao would had no idea with his current understanding of formations. Maybe if the formation was activated, he would have a chance to get an idea on just how powerful it was.
In the end, no matter what, he still understood that he stood no chance against the powerful formation covering the capital of the Sky Empire…
Well… Not that I plan to face off against that formation…
Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao slowly made his way towards the massive gate that served as the entrance to the capital city before stopping at the end of a long line of people slowly moving in through the gate after a quick inspection by the guards standing at the gate.
Given his current strength, Xuan Hao didn't doubt that he would be able to enter the capital city without having to go through this process by simply showing his strength and informing the guards about his identity… But for now, he decided against giving away against that, as he still had a little under a week before the meeting for the Sect Alliance officially began.
During this period of time leading up to the meeting, he wanted to look through the capital city of the Sky Empire and get a little more familiar with the different powers standing at the top of the Sky Empire without getting involved in anything with the Sky Empire's imperial family that would almost certainly send someone to look for him after he announced his identity at the gate…