?
Moving along the massive body of the construct in search of a way inside of it, Xuan Hao was left speechless over just how little it had been damaged. Even the inevitable decay caused by the passage of time had not done much to the colossal construct, a testament to the powerful materials that had been used in its construction.
As he continued moving along the side of the massive construct and got closer to the place where the head was located, Xuan Hao soon noticed that the ground beneath him had changed to a familiar purplish colour. Indicating that there was something related to the Dao of Corruption nearby.
Knowing this, Xuan Hao became more cautious than before, as he approached the place where the head of the construct was located. Making sure to also keep an eye on the ground beneath him to track if he was getting closer or further away from the thing that had caused the ground to become corrupted.
Reaching the place where the head of the construct was located walking like this for a little over 10 minutes, Xuan Hao could not help being taken aback by what he saw.
Not only was there a massive hole in the head of the construct, but the Dao of Corruption had affected the area around the hole in the head to such a degree that some kind of weird tentacle like plants had started growing around the hole itself. Almost instantly reminding him of the ones he had seen during the time he had comprehended the Dao of Corruption.
"Hm? My strength is getting weaker the closer I am to the hole in the head of the construct?!" As he was inspecting the massive hole in the head of the construct while unconsciously moving closer to it at the same time, Xuan Hao suddenly noticed that the strength he could use had begun to rapidly decrease. Even using the Dao of Corruption became harder, let alone the rest of the things he had comprehended…
Understanding that his strength would soon be reduced to a level similar to a Nascent Soul Realm Expert due to the restrictive power, Xuan hao stopped approaching the hole in the head of the construct. Instead deciding to observe it from a distance to avoid any dangers he might encounter if he ended up getting attacked by a phantom demon beast while his strength was only at the level of a Nascent Soul Realm Expert.
Hm… From the looks of it, if I want to complete the main quest given by the system and find out what the origin of the restrictive power is, I will have to enter the construct… But given the power of the restrictive power, I won't be able to protect myself if I end up encountering any danger inside. Even escaping would be close to impossible and I would only be able to rely on the feather imprint saving me.
Then again, even if I had my full strength, I doubt I would be able to do much if I really ended up encountering a phantom demon beast inside the construct…
Lost in thought as he thought about whether to enter the construct or leave it be for the future, Xuan Hao realized that the feather imprint, was only thing he would be able to rely on for safety. Even if he did not get weakened by the restrictive power, he would stand no chance against the powerful phantom demon beasts in a fight.
Standing silently in front of the head of the construct the size of a mountain for what felt like hours, Xuan Hao finally narrowed his eyes looking into the hole in the head of the construct and the weird plants of the Dao of Corruption that covered everything inside. Making it hard for him to see more than a dozen meters inside the hole itself.
…
At the same time Xuan Hao had just reached the construct located in the middle of the giant crater at the center of the ancient battlefield, Chu Yang and Qing Yi were both running through a dense forest, a large demon beast in the shape of an oversized chicken chasing after them from behind.
The demon beast in question was a powerful demon beast that had reached the Eighth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and even if it just looked like an oversized chicken, it was terrifying enough to even contend against Ninth Stage Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts. The only demerit it had being its speed only being slightly better than that of a normal Nascent Soul Realm Expert in the earlier stages of the realm.
In turn, this was what had allowed Chu Yang and Qing Yi to escape from the demon beast so far.
As for how they had ended up being chased by such a powerful demon beast in the first place-
"I told you not to randomly attack demon beasts without knowing how strong they are! Why did you have to go and attack that chicken when its clearly far stronger than you!?"
"Wha- There is no way I'm weaker than that oversized chicken!"
The reason was none other than Chu Yang, who had mistakenly challenged the oversized chicken demon beast. Having believed it would be weak and easy to deal with. In the end, he had beaten up by it without a chance to fight back and had only barely managed to escape with his life before finding Qing Yi, who had been searching for spiritual herbs not too far away… Thus, resulting in their current situation of escaping through the forest with an oversized chicken chasing after them from behind.
"If you didn't lose to that chicken that is really the case, why don't you turn around and face it?!" Rolling her eyes after hearing Chu Yang's response, Qing Yi pointed back towards the chicken as she said this. Given him every opportunity in the world to prove that he was not weaker than the oversized chicken.
"This- I happen to have had an accident during the fight earlier and can't fight it at the moment!" Unable to answer for a short moment as a hint of fear appeared on his face after recalling how he had been beaten up just a few minutes earlier, Chu Yang quickly came up with an excuse as to why fighting with the chicken at the moment was impossible.
"You- Haaa… Let's just get out of here before it catches up to us…" Knowing very well that Chu Yang didn't want to admit defeat to the oversized chicken, Qing Yi decided to not pursue the matter any longer and instead focusing on trying to find a way to escape the oversized chicken.
All things considered, she understood that Chu Yang did not mean to provoke a demon beast much stronger than himself and in turn cause it to chase after both of them.
"Indeed, we should look for a way to escape for now. After that, we should look for an opportunity to kill off this oversized chicken!"
"…"
Not even bothering to say anything upon hearing what Chu Yang said, Qing Yi just let out a silent sigh as she lamented over the fact that she was not strong enough to explore the mystic realm by herself.
Over the past few days, other than the few times Chu Yang had caused trouble by accidently attacking a powerful demon beast that they had no ability to deal with, like now, she had learnt just how good it was to adventure together with someone that could help in finding spiritual herbs, fight demon beast that would be too strong for her to deal with on her own and most importantly, guard her when she was recovering from a battle!
If she truly had to explore the mystic realm by herself, she doubted she would be able to last for more than a day or two inside of it. Making her understand why their master had told them to explore the mystic realm together instead of letting them explore it by themselves.
Like Qing Yi, Chu Yang was also grateful that he had Qing Yi around while exploring the mystic realm. Although the reason why he was happy about her presence differed from Qing Yi.
The main difference being the sheer wealth of knowledge regarding spiritual herbs she had. If not for her being around, Chu Yang didn't doubt that he would have ended up walking past several precious spiritual herbs that would be hard to come by outside of the mystic realm.
Outside of this, the most important reason why he was happy to have Qing Yi around, was that she helped him escape whenever he ended up accidently offending a demon beast that was too powerful for him to fight with his current strength-
"Follow me, we will hide in here, the chicken is far too large to follow after us!"
Just like now, where she found a small opening in a cliff appearing in front of them.
Cluck Cluck!
Allowing both of them to squeeze inside and escape from the oversized chicken demon beast.