Remembering the reminder from the system, Xuan Hao didn't dare waste too much time and quickly began following the narrow path up the mountain once again. Not daring to let his guard down in case he ended up trapped in the weird illusion of the mist again. Not feeling the slightest bit interested in finding out whether or not he would really end up starting to lose his life essence if he stayed inside the mist for long enough.
…
Moving along the narrow path without seeing any end in sight even after walking for close to a day, Xuan Hao could not help starting to get worried that the path he was walking on was not leading him out of the mist and was instead just going in circles around the mountain range. After all, with his current speed, he should have long since made his way through the mist and reached the interior of the mountain range.
Although the path was safe to some degree, considering he had not encountered any problems other problems since escaping from the illusion earlier, it was also obvious that he would not be able to pass through the mist by just following the path.
If he wanted to get out of the mist and reach the mountain range, he would most likely have to leave the path and venture through the treacherous cliffs and other obstacles present outside the narrow path.
In normal circumstances this would not have been a problem considering that he would just be able to fly over everything, but inside the mist, he had to be careful and not attract any unwanted attention to himself.
The earlier encounter with the strange holy creature comparable to a cultivator who had reached the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, was more than enough proof of just how dangerous the area outside the narrow path was. Even if the appearance of the creature might have been altered by the illusion, its strength was not, and neither was the stone tablet securely placed inside his interspatial ring.
Feeling that he had no other choice than to leave the narrow path if he wanted to find out what was hiding inside the mountain range, Xuan Hao looked over the edge of the path and into the ravine right next to it with a hint of hesitation flashing through his eyes. The bottom of the ravine was impossible to see due to the thick mist that was everywhere and there was a chance that a powerful creature similar to the one he had encountered in the illusion was lurking around at the bottom of the ravine.
"I won't make any progress if I just continue to stand around worrying about what might and might not be hiding in the mist." Muttering this to himself as he understood that he could always come up with excuses for not venturing off the narrow path and into the unknown with nothing to guide him through the mist, Xuan Hao stepped forward and slowly began floating over the ravine.
Whilst he did not intend to fly due to risks of exposing himself to possible enemies lurking around inside the mist when using his domain, he did not intend to climb down the ravines and other holes blocking his path. Even if using his domain to gently glide across these ravines and other obstacles might end up risking some of the strange creatures inside the mist attacking him, he felt that it should be far safer than entering those ravines and other things blocking his path.
More importantly, it would also end up saving him a lot of time.
Although he still had no real idea when the mist would start to affect his life essence like the system had told him, he felt that it would be best if he could leave the mist as fast as possible and hopefully not find out how long it would take the mist to kill him.
…
Wandering through the rough and difficult to traverse terrain of the mountain slope, Xuan Hao did not have to walk for more than a few minutes before encountering another strange creature living inside the mist.
Observing the strange creature that did not seem to have noticed him, Xuan Hao managed to get a good look of the strange creature that looked like the combination of a giant rat and a lion with three different tails and two heads as it mindlessly wandered around the edge of a large cave located at tall part of the slope.
The cave itself was nothing special and there seemed to be no reason for the mindless movement of the strange rat lion creature, almost like it had lost its spirit and could only wander around aimlessly.
Even after making eye contact with him on several occasions, the strange rat lion creature did not seem to care about him and just continued its aimless journey around the cave entrance.
Could it be that the strange creatures living in the mist are not going to attack me?
Thinking back to the strange creature in the grand temple that didn't attack him and instead seemed to have helped him discover that he had been trapped in some sort of illusion, Xuan Hao felt that this made sense.
Maybe I should test it out…
Roughly gauging the strength of the creature to be far weaker than his own, Xuan Hao decided to test out his theory and find out if the creatures in the mist were really harmless.
Rustle~
Slowly beginning to make his way towards the rat lion creature that continued to move around like he didn't exist, Xuan Hao gently placed his hand on top of the weird mane on one of the big rat heads.
"Looks like it's really harmless- Hm?"
Suddenly noticing something moving around the jagged stones located around the entrance to the cave as he was touching the mane of the rat lion creature, Xuan Hao felt a shiver run down his spine as he felt something bad was about to happen-
Swish-!
And without caring about the rat lion creature or any other strange creature around discovering him, Xuan Hao jumped backwards before moving in the opposite direction of the rat lion creature and the cave.
RUMBLE-!
Not a second later, a loud rumbling sound echoed out across the silent mountain slope as the large cave that the rat lion creature had been wandering around turned into a giant mouth filled with razor sharp teeth that lunged forward.
Roa-
Not even able to let out more than a half-finished roar, the rat lion creature had no way to fight back before it was swallowed by the giant mouth covering an area a few hundred meters in diameter. More than enough to cover the place that Xuan Hao had been standing just a short time earlier.
Bang!
Rumble~
As the rat lion creature and anything that happened to be within the area covered by the giant mouth was swallowed, Xuan Hao could only watch in shock, as the rest of the body that the mouth belonged to appeared for a short time before it dug back into the ground. Creating a brand-new hole in the process.
"It swallowed a creature comparable to a Second Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm Expert with ease… Good thing that I didn't venture down any of the holes and instead chose to fly over them…" Having managed to discern the strength of the rat lion creature during its last hopeless struggle against the giant mouth that swallowed it without a care, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine.
The memory of his encounter with the giant worm during his time in the core region of the Sky Empire inevitably reappeared as he compared it with the giant worm he had just seen.
Although the worm in the core region of the Sky Empire had been far larger, it should not have been stronger than the worm he had just seen. After all, given its ability to easily devour a creature comparable to the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, it was clear that its strength should have reached the later stages of the Soul Ascension Realm. Maybe it had even reached a realm comparable to the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, putting it at the same level as the creature he had encountered in the grand temple.
The only difference between the two being the fact that he had no idea if the worm would appear again to attack him. For this reason, Xuan Hao decided to not linger around and test his luck-
Swish-!
Leaving the area before the worm finished consuming the creature it had just swallowed.
Only after travelling for over half an hour did, he feel safe enough to slow down and resume travelling in a safer manner. Now feeling even more worried than before about possibly alerting any of the nearby strange creatures and at the same time reevaluating his earlier idea of the strange creatures being harmless…