After days of meditation and observation on the partial spatial collapse caused by the stone pedestal, Xuan Hao found himself at the precipice of a breakthrough. Only a single step away from comprehending the Dao of space and officially reaching the Elementary Realm in the Dao of space.
But this single step was far harder to overcome than he had first expected and slowly, days turned into weeks as he remained completely absorbed in trying to comprehend the Dao of Space.
Shut off to the outside world, as he delved into the mystery of the Dao of space, seeking to find the thing he was missing to realize his breakthrough. The concept of time had completely disappeared.
As he delved into the Dao of Space through the help of the stone pedestal, Xuan Hao felt his consciousness expanding, transcending the boundaries of the material world for a short moment. Allowing him to perceive the intricate web of spatial energies interwoven throughout the world around him and far beyond, like ethereal threads connecting every corner of existence.
It was in this heightened state of awareness devoid of the concept of time, that he began to comprehend the essence of space.
Whoosh~
Soon the space began twisting around him, making his figure unrecognizable as it was twisted in millions of different ways. At the same time, also signaling that he had finally managed to find the missing piece to comprehending the Dao of Space… But Xuan Hao didn't intend to stop things here, as he made use of his current heightened state of awareness far above that of anything he had ever experienced before to further increase his understanding of the Dao of Space.
As the burning sun in the sky disappeared in the horizon and was replaced by the gentle moon, Xuan Hao slowly opened his eyes.
Within the depths of his eyes, stars flickered in and out of existence, nebulae burst forth with radiant colors, while galaxies spiraled around in a grand performance without any set destination. It was as If a microcosm of the universe resided in his eyes, a reflection of the vastness and complexity of the Dao of Space itself.
However, this only lasted for a short instant before disappearing again. After all, he had yet to fully comprehend the Dao of Space and had only just begun to scratch the surface. Even then… Just scratching the surface of the Dao of Space, was more than enough for him to understand just how hard it was to comprehend compared to any of the other Daos he had comprehended so far.
Even if he had only reached the Elementary Realm when it came to comprehension, the strength of the Dao of Space had already reached the same level as his other four Daos!
"Hm?"
Standing back up prepared to experiment with the new things he had managed to comprehend from the Dao of Space, Xuan Hao could not help freezing on the spot, as he looked towards the stone pedestal in the middle of the small opening in the forest.
Different from the empty clearing he had seen before, now that his comprehension of the Dao of Space had increased, he could see an endless number of small threads covering the small opening in the forest. All of which was connected to the stone pedestal.
Even without touching these threads or using an extended period of time to analyze them, it was not hard to guess that these threads were what had triggered the partial spatial collapse when they had come into contact with the stones he had thrown towards the pedestal.
I wonder if I will be able to gain any new insights into the Dao of Space by observing how the threads cause the partial spatial collapse to happen…
Feeling a sense of excitement rush through him as he thought about this, Xuan Hao did not waste a single second before picking up another small rock from the ground before throwing it towards the stone pedestal.
His divine sense and dao domain both focused on the small stone as it hit the threads that almost formed a completely impenetrable wall around the stone pedestal.
Whoosh~
However, as the stone was swallowed up by another partial spatial collapse, Xuan Hao could only watch in confusion as the threads seemed to do nothing when coming into contact with the stone. No fluctuations or transfer of energy back towards the stone pedestal, or maybe it was just because he was still too weak to detect the minute fluctuations that happened when something touched the threads around the stone pedestal.
"I was expecting too much…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself, Xuan Hao gave up on trying to learn more about how the stone pedestal and the weird threads all over the places functioned. Understanding that it was out of reach with his current comprehension of the Dao of Space.
The only useful thing he managed to gain from observing the threads around the stone pedestal was the fact that there seemed to be a small path devoid of threads leading directly up to the pedestal where the empty scroll was located.
I wonder if its really empty or just a spatial distortion that makes it impossible to read from a distance…
After seeing this small path leading up to the empty scroll, Xuan Hao didn't immediately rush forward to get it, but instead began to curiously explore the space around the empty scroll with his divine sense-
"Indeed, the space is distorted to some degree around the empty scroll. Making it impossible to read without removing it from the distorted space!"
Not taking too long to discover the small abnormalities in the space around the empty scroll.
Whoosh~
Feeling his curiosity about this strange scroll grow by the second after realizing that it was not empty, Xuan Hao began exploring the path leading through the threads and directly up to the stone pedestal. Making sure that it was safe and there weren't any traps along the path.
After all, even with his current strength and understanding of the Dao of Space, he would not be able to fight back against a partial spatial collapse and might even die if he was trapped in one. Not to mention, he had no idea if the stone pedestal had the ability to trigger a true spatial collapse and he didn't want to find out!
"Looks like everything is safe…" Finished checking the path leading up to the stone pedestal, Xuan Hao slowly began moving along the small passage that cut through the countless threads covering the entire opening. Preparing to escape the moment he sensed any changes in the threads around him or the stone pedestal in front of him.
No more than five minutes later, he arrived in front of the stone pedestal with the empty looking scroll on top of it.
"…"
However, instead of giving into his urges to grab the empty scroll and leave the opening in the forest as fast as possible, Xuan Hao silently began analyzing the stone pedestal in depth. Understanding that it should be some kind of formation created by a powerful formation master with a deep understanding of the Dao of Space.
If he could only grasp a little of the mystery contained inside the ordinary looking stone pedestal, he would be able to improve his understanding of formation by leaps and bounds!
Rumble~!
Lost in his own thoughts, a loud rumbling sound suddenly came from the stone pedestal before thousands of small intricate symbols covered it in its entirety.
Danger!
Not knowing what had triggered this change in the stone pedestal, Xuan Hao only felt a terrifying sense of danger overwhelm him as the threads covering the entire opening in the forest retracted back into the stone pedestal… And that was not even mentioning that fact that the space around the stone pedestal had started violently twisting to a degree that made it look like it was about to collapse at any moment!
Swish-!
Not wasting a single second after realizing how much danger he was in, Xuan Hao picked up the empty scroll before rushing back out of the opening. Not daring to stop before he was sure that he was at a safe distance from the stone pedestal.
RUUUUMBLE-!
Riiiiip-!
The moment he came to a stop at what he thought was a safe distance, the ground shook violently for a short second before a loud ripping sound replaced it. Almost like the very fabric that made up the world was being ripped apart.
Forcing him to the ground as he felt his eardrums rupture and the qi in his dantian going out of control inside his body.
Luckily, all of this lasted for no more than a few seconds before everything went silent again.
"Haaa… W-what was that!?"
Raising his head that was now filled with blood from both his ruptured eardrums and the qi going out of control, Xuan Hao turned to look back towards the opening of the forest with a fearful expression on his face.
Only to be met with an empty void of nothing where the stone pedestal had once stood.
"True spatial collapse…"
Allowing him to understand what he was looking at, was the scar left behind by a true spatial collapse…