As he walked deeper into the temple, Xuan Hao was soon met with a massive stone tablet, adorned with engravings of mythical creatures, celestial figures and profound symbols that seemed to have been left behind by powerful cultivators with a deep understanding of different Daos.
Just observing the profound symbols on the massive stone tablet from a distance was more than enough for him to feel his comprehension increase by substantial margin.
An artifact able to increase one's comprehension by staying close to it!?
Realizing just how precious the massive tablet in front of him was, Xuan Hao could not help feeling tempted to take it away. Not only would such an artifact be useful when it came to increasing the strength of his Daos, but it would also be able to help the Nascent Soul Realm Elders of the sect in comprehending their own domain.
If he could return to the sect with the tablet in front of him, it would, without a doubt, result in more Domain Lord Realm Experts appearing in the Star Shattering Sect. Not only this, but it would also make the path to the Domain Lord Realm smoother for anyone who happened to reach the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm in the future!
Eager to get his hand on the precious artifact that had appeared in front of him, Xuan Hao did a simple scan of his surroundings before making his way towards the massive stone tablet after having made sure that there wasn't anything dangerous hidden around it.
Approaching the massive stone tablet, Xuan Hao could not help feeling his gaze shift towards a symbol located at the corner of the stone tablet.
"Hm? This symbol… It should have been carved by a powerful cultivator in the Dao of the Sword in the past!" Feeling a sense of awe as he looked at the symbol that radiated a powerful sword intent far surpassing the level of his own. It was a masterpiece displaying the power and grace of the sword cultivator who had carved it in the past.
In a sense, the symbol embodied the essence of the Dao of the Sword!
"How amazing, I wonder what realm the person who carved this symbol had reached… Unfortunately, only a fraction of the original sword intent is still left, and I won't be able to gain much from it in its current incomplete state" Spending the next few minutes observing the sword symbol, Xuan Hao could not help regretfully shaking his head.
Although the sword intent that had been used to carve the symbol on the tablet was still present to some degree, its current state was far from complete. Making it close to impossible for him to try and use it to gain an understanding of what came next after he condensed the nascent sword soul in his dantian.
Looking at the rest of the symbols and engravings present on the stone tablet, Xuan Hao discovered that they were in a similar or worse state than the sword symbol. Meaning that none of them would be able to provide any directions on the different Daos that they represented.
Realizing this, Xuan Hao could not help looking at the massive stone tablet in front of him with a thoughtful expression.
The increase in comprehension provided by the massive stone tablet was most likely the result of all the different symbols carved into it by powerful cultivators in the past merging together to form a unique dao aura around the stone tablet itself that then increased the comprehension of anyone close to the tablet itself.
Thinking along this line, the dao aura created by the ancient engravings and symbols carved into the tablet should be significantly weaker than it was when the tablet had first been created. If it had been before these symbols had decayed to their current state, Xuan Hao did not think that the effect brought by the dao aura of the tablet would only slightly impact his comprehension!
"If I'm not wrong, the tablet should have been used to train the younger generation of these ancient cultivators in the past, the dao aura serving to increase their cultivation while they would comprehend the dao from one of the many symbols and engravings…" Muttering this to himself as he gently touched the sword symbol, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a sense of confusion.
What had happened to the power that had once been in control of this place? Given the power needed to create the stone tablet and the fact that so many different Daos of varying uniqueness had been used in its creation, it was obvious just how strong the power back then had been. Even if he had no clue just how strong the people who left behind an engraving of symbol of their own were, he was certain that they should at least have surpassed the Soul Ascension Realm!
Letting out a quiet sigh as he thought about this mysterious power that had just seemingly evaporated into thin air at some point in time, Xuan Hao picked up the massive tablet easily a dozen meters tall with his domain before putting it into one of his interspatial rings.
Bang! Bang!
Having taken away the stone tablet and stuffed it into one of his interspatial rings, Xuan Hao was taken aback, as a loud banging sound suddenly echoed across the entire temple.
Thumb! Thumb! Thumb!
Only a short time after the loud banging sound, the eerie sound of something large moving soon replaced it.
"This…"
Hearing the loud banging followed by the loud footsteps that seemed to be moving in his direction, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine-
Swish-!
Not wasting a single second before turning around and making his way out of the grand temple.
No matter how dumb he might be from time to time, there was no way he was planning to stay behind inside the temple to figure out how strong the large creature moving in his direction was. Considering the power that should have built this grand temple in the past, it was not hard for him to imagine that the strength of the large creature might far exceed his own.
Other than this, he already got his hands on the tablet that could increase the comprehension of those around it, so he did not really have that much interest in exploring the deeper areas further inside the grand temple.
Even more so now that a creature of some sort was wandering around the completely dark halls buried deep inside the mountain…
Whoosh~
"That was close."
Having escaped the moment, he had realized there was something else with him inside the grand temple, Xuan Hao soon came to a stop in the air a short distance away from the gates of the grand temple. Not daring to take his eyes off the entrance in case the creature inside decided to chase him outside.
In his hurry, the doors of the grand temple had been swung wide open. Allowing him a full view into the vast hall on the other side of the gate. Although his vision was somewhat limited by the fact that the light did not reach the farthest part of the hall where he had picked up the tablet. Not daring to directly use his divine sense, as he feared that he might end up drawing the attention of the creature inside the grand temple… And if it was really far stronger than him, he didn't want to get discovered.
Thumb! Thumb! Thumb!
Just at this point, he could once again hear the loud footsteps that he had heard from deeper inside the grand temple after he had taken away the tablet. The only difference this time around was that the creature it belonged to had arrived inside the vast hall!
"…"
Observing the barely visible figure that had appeared at the edge of where the light from outside the grand temple reached, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine when he found out what the creature was.
Standing more five meters tall, the creature looked humanoid in shape, but after a quick inspection it became rather obvious that it was not a human. After all, as far as he knew, humans could not grow over five meters in size. The only people who could do this kind of thing would be those cultivating special techniques that would temporarily increase their size while they were fighting.
Of course, in the case of people like that, they would only be bigger for a short period of time and couldn't last long.
All of this was not even mentioning the weird eyeball connected to some sort of tentacle like arm that had poked out of the darkness at the end of the vast hall and was staring directly at him-
Wait! It's looking directly at me!?
Realizing that the creature lurking in the darkness had actually spotted him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine. Preparing to leave the moment the creature showed the slightest sign of chasing after him.