As the strength of both his dao domain and soul was rapidly increasing after breaking through the bottleneck, Xuan Hao felt the scorching energy inside his body being redirected towards his dao domain. Acting as fuel for it to continue expanding even when he had already used up all the energy that had been stored inside his dantian. Allowing his dao domain to reach a size around 5 times what it had been previously before the constant flow of scorching energy slowed down and disappeared a short time later.
"Haaa… I wish there was more of the scorching energy…" Muttering this to himself as he felt a hint of sadness over the disappearance of the scorching energy that had been close to killing him just a short time earlier, Xuan Hao started stabilizing his cultivation base after the sudden increase in strength. Understanding very well that not doing so, could result in his foundation growing unstable and lead to problems the next time he tried to break through a bottleneck or worse, it could come back to fight him during a fight.
As for how much his strength had increased, he would inspect that after he had finished stabilizing his cultivation base. After all, he was still inside an ancient battleground, and he didn't dare risk moving around while his foundation was still unstable. Already able to imagine how his movement technique would end up failing while trying to escape from one of the many phantoms roaming the ancient battlefield.
Even if it was still not safe for him to stay around the construct, as the black heart should not have been killed yet, it was still far safer than trying to make it through the ancient battlefield in his current state. Not to mention, the black heart had already been reduced to a state where it could barely move, so Xuan Hao didn't think that it would be able to recover before he finished stabilizing his foundation and left the ancient battlefield and destroyed the spatial corridor leading to the ancient battlefield to prevent it from possibly finding its way to the Shattered Star Peaks.
…
Unbeknownst to Xuan Hao, the moment the tiny flame had entered the feather imprint between his brows, and he escaped from the body of the construct, the black heart rolled back to its original location in the middle of the constructs body before large veins filled with purple colored liquid spread out towards all the limbs of the construct.
Now, without the tiny flame to hold it back, the inside of the construct started rapidly transforming at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Outside of the fact that its size was now smaller compared to before, the black heart seemed to have been completely unaffected by the attack of the tiny flame.
Rumble~
In a short period of time, the construct that had fallen to the ground once again showed signs of moving again. The main difference this time around being that it didn't look like it was just going to stand up without moving around. No, it looked like the black heart had finally managed to gain full control over the construct now that the tiny flame was gone.
…
"Finally stabilized my foundation…" Standing up with a satisfied smile on his lips after a little over a week, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of satisfaction after having successfully managed to stabilize his foundation in such a short time. Especially considering how he had expected it to take at least a month or longer with just how much his strength had managed to increase.
The reason why he had managed to stabilize his foundation so quickly was because the Dao of Fire not only increased the strength of his dao domain but had also made its foundation stronger. Making the stabilization of his strength far easier than it would have originally been if he had broken through the bottleneck without the help of the Dao of Fire that he had comprehended.
Hm… I wonder how much my status has changed after this…
As he was about to leave and make his way back towards the spatial corridor leading back to the Main Star Peak, Xuan Hao could not help wondering about this, as he soon used the system interface to view his status. Curious about what had changed following his recent breakthrough.
Name: Xuan Hao
Dao Domain: Dao of Ice (Small Success), Dao of the Sword (Small Success), Dao of Corruption (Small Success), Dao of Fire (Small Success)
Sword Intent: Nascent Sword Soul Realm
Talent: ???
Physique: ??? (40% Awakened)
Realm: Intermediate Stage Dao Domain Lord
Professions: Alchemist (Artisan), Formation Master (Expert), Blacksmithing (Expert)
Sect: Star Shattering Sect
Status: Grand Elder of the Star Shattering Sect
Disciples: Qing Yi, Chu Yang, Bai Ning, Mui
Pet: Lazy Winged Lion (Eighth Stage Domain Lord Realm)
"My comprehension of the Dao of Fire directly skipped past the elementary realm and directly reached the level of small success!? Not to mention, I actually managed to break through to the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm!" Muttering this to himself with a sense of disbelief on his face, Xuan Hao could not believe that he had actually managed to improve by so much-
Wait! My physique also improved! Going from 25 percent awakened to 40 percent!
Even taking a few seconds to calm down before discovering that the awakening progress of his physic had also taken a massive leap forward. Most likely due to the fact that the scorching energy had refined his entire body and improved it far beyond what it had been before.
The scorching energy could be said to have been a blessing in disguise. The only problem was that he still did not have a clear idea about what had happened to the tiny flame after it disappeared into the space where the blue divine energy was stored. Even more worrying, the feather imprint had changed into a small flame with a tiny phoenix inside it.
Although it did not do anything different from before, he could clearly feel that the space used to accommodate the blue divine energy had grown in size compared to before.
However, even if he wanted to find out more about what was going on inside the space of the blue divine energy, he had no way to do so with his current strength. Even the divine sense of an Intermediate Dao Domain Lord, was instantly destroyed by the blue divine energy the moment he came into contact with it. No different from the last time he had tried to use his divine sense to investigate the space that the blue divine energy was stored inside, he didn't even last longer…
Rumble-!
"Hm? What was that?" Just as Xuan Hao retracted his divine sense before the blue divine energy had a chance to cause any more damage, a loud rumbling sound could be heard echoing across the entire ancient battlefield.
Wait… Didn't that come from behind me…?
Suddenly realizing where the loud sound had come from, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine as a terrifying premonition appeared in his head.
I think its about time for me to leave this pla-
BANG-!
About to jump into the air and run away, Xuan Hao suddenly froze on the spot as the giant hand of the construct smashed into the ground just a few meters beside him.
RUUUUUMBLE-!
Not a second later, Xuan Hao watched as the colossal construct on the ground behind him slowly used its hands to push itself up from the ground before finally standing up. Towering thousands of meters into the sky, it's head now covered in the familiar tentacle like plants that were related to the Dao of Corruption. Making it obvious that the black heart was the one currently in control of the colossal construct.
"This- The black heart managed to recover faster than I expected… And it even managed to restore and improve its control over the construct!" Filled with fear as he looked up at the colossal construct, Xuan Hao could not help regretting the fact that he had not taken the risk and tried to leave the ancient battleground earlier.
Even if he might have to risk some damage to his foundation. At least he would not have to be faced with something like the construct currently standing in front of him!
Swish-!
Having regained movement over his body again, Xuan Hao didn't bother staying around to observe what the construct was going to do, as he made his way back towards the location of the spatial corridor that he had entered the ancient battlefield through.
Boom-!
However, just as he was about to leave the crater and once again enter the rest of the battlefield where the different phantoms could be seen fighting with each other, the colossal construct suddenly took a step forward. Instantly crossing a distance of several thousand meters… And it just so happened that the direction of the construct was the same as him!