Making his way through the valley nestled between a few of the large mountains of the mist covered mountain range, Xuan Hao searched through the entire valley within only a few days. Having first made sure that there weren't any powerful demon beasts around before sweeping through the entire place with his divine sense later.
Although he did not end up finding the Three Celestial Gates that he was looking for, he still managed to find out more about the mountain range from searching through the entire valley. The most shocking being that the demon beasts inside the mountain range were far weaker than the ones hiding inside the mist surrounding the mountain range.
From what he knew about mountain ranges with demon beasts present in them, the strongest demon beasts would always reside at the center of the mountain range where the qi would be thicker, and the spiritual herbs would be more abundant.
But from what he had seen of the mist covered mountain range so far, the strongest demon beast in the valley had only barely reached the Nascent Soul Realm, while the reaming demon beasts roaming around the forest were in the Foundation Establishment or Core Formation Realm. None of them anywhere near the Soul Ascension Realm that all the demon beasts and strange creatures inside the mist had reached!
"The Three Celestial Gates should be somewhere deeper inside the mountain range…" Muttering this to himself as he arrived on the small path leading out of the valley and deeper into the next forest of the mountain range, Xuan Hao gazed back towards the tall trees covering the valley behind him before continuing along the small path leading away from the outer edge of the mountain range and towards the inner parts of the mountain range where he had seen the larger mountains and forests being located from the top of the mountain not too long ago.
Whoosh~!
As Xuan Hao followed the path and stepped into the inner parts of the mountain range, the air grew dense with spiritual energy and the landscape around him transformed. The mountains that had been no taller than the mountains of the Burning Mountain Range next to where the Raging Flame Sect had been in the past, became towering peaks stretching towards the heavens above, their majestic size casting long shadow over the sprawling forests that adorned the slopes and valleys below. The forests themselves also seemingly blending together into one massive forest.
This- Did I perhaps get trapped in an illusion again!?
Seeing the sudden transformation of his surroundings, the first thing Xuan Hao thought about was the fact that he had been trapped in an illusion again. After all, each and every single one of the towering mountain peaks had surpassed the height of the Main Star Peak back in the Star Shattering Sect!
Not wasting a second as he began observing the mountain right next to where he was standing, it did not take long before he discovered something wrong with the mountain and its sudden drastic increase in size.
"It's not an illusion, but… Something different…" Frowning visibly as he muttered this to himself while trying his best to understand just what had happened to cause all of the mountain to suddenly shoot upwards and turn into towering mountains far larger than anything he had ever seen before, Xuan Hao did notice that something was off about the mountains.
The only problem was that he couldn't tell what it was, the only thing he was certain of, was the fact that he had not been trapped in an illusion. Instead, something had happened to the mountains and the surrounding environment…
Using the next few hours earnestly trying his best to inspect and analyze the mountain and forest not too far away, Xuan Hao could only let out a defeated sigh before deciding to turn around and leave the enlarged mountain range in front of him. Understanding that his current strength was far too low for him to understand what had happened and he had spotted a group consisting of at least a dozen Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts lurking around the edges of the massive forest that now looked like they had swallowed up most of the mountain range.
Even if he was confident in his current strength, there was no way he had the ability to face off against a dozen demon beasts in the Soul Ascension Realm!
However, upon turning around and trying to make his way back to the small valley filled with large trees he had searched through earlier-
Bang!
"Ouch!?"
He ended up walking headfirst into an invisible wall that now blocked the path back.
"This… Did I perhaps end up walking into a trap?" Not having even thought about this possibility before now, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine. After all, for him to not even sense the fact that he had entered some kind of trapping formation, the creator of said formation had to at the very least be a skilled formation master at the pinnacle of the Soul Ascension Realm, or someone above the Soul Ascension Realm…
Given that he could understand nothing about what had happened and the fact that a lot of Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts had ended up similarly trapped with him, he could easily conclude the creator of the formation to be someone above the Soul Ascension Realm!
BOOOM-!
Attacking the invisible barrier blocking his path, Xuan Hao could only helplessly watch as his absorb was absorbed without causing a single ripple on the invisible barrier. Even using all of his strength, he could not affect the invisible barrier in the slightest!
"…"
As this realization set in, Xuan Hao could not help silently cursing himself for being careless, it should have been rather obvious that something was not right with the mountain range with how the strongest demon beast he encountered had only reached the Nascent Soul Realm. Especially considering how dense the spiritual qi inside was. Even a demon beast without any talent would be able to reach the Domain Lord Realm if they were to spend long enough inside such an environment.
Although their comprehension would be severely lacking, the strength of their physical bodies would still be at the Domain Lord Realm. Far above that of the Nascent Soul Realm demon beast he had seen before finding himself in his current situation!
…"
Knowing that there would be no way to brute force his way through the invisible barrier, Xuan Hao could only go with the next best option. Searching for weak points in the formation.
Even if said weak points would still have been far too strong for him to make use of with his current strength, the accumulated damage to these weak points over time might give him a chance to break through and escape from the formation.
"Looks like I have no choice but to explore this place…" Muttering this to himself as he gazed in the direction of the Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts roaming around the edges of the massive forest in front of him, Xuan Hao slowly began descending from the mountain pass.
At least the demon beasts he had spotted were hanging around in the vicinity of several large trees. Making it hard for them to spot him while he descended from the mountain pass a few dozen meters above the valley where the forest started.
Of course, this would only be the case if the demon beasts' divine sense hadn't developed to the level of a Soul Ascension Realm Expert and only their physical body had managed to reach this realm.
Thumb~
"Haaa… Looks like they their divine sense isn't on par with their physical bodies…" letting out a relieved sigh the next moment as he managed to bypass the demon beasts without any of them noticing his presence, it became obvious that the demon beasts had only managed to reach the Soul Ascension Realm because of the dense spiritual qi gathered in the mountain range.
Without this spiritual energy, they would most likely not even have reached the Domain Lord Realm. Even now that they had reached the Soul Ascension Realm, their strength should be far worse than normal demon beasts who had reached the Soul Ascension Realm through constant fighting for spiritual herbs that would increase their strength. In this regard, the demon beasts in the mist should be far stronger than these demon beasts!
Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao didn't dare to linger around the same place for too long, as he soon began moving deeper into the forest that seemed to cover the entire mountain range.
After all, he had no idea if there were any stronger demon beasts lurking around the core of this massive forest that seemed to go on forever. For all he knew, he could encounter another demon beast at the Sixth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm again. Maybe even something stronger!