"One of the Three Celestial Gates...?" Even without knowing if it was true or not, Xuan Hao automatically associated the divine gate in front of him with the three celestial gates that had been mentioned by the system quest.
Wait… If this is one of the Three Celestial Gates, doesn't that mean I might be able to use it to leave the trapping formation after going through it!?
Realizing this, Xuan Hao could not help excitedly looking towards the divine gate in front of him. Even if there was some kind of guardian on the other side of the gate according to the quest from the system, he felt that it would be better than staying inside the massive forest. After all, by staying in the forest, he would risk encountering the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts.
Even if the powerful demon beasts were all busy with the fight for control over the empty void, they would inevitably start leaving to roam around the forest again after the battle came to an end. In there would never be a chance for all of the demon beasts to peacefully absorb the spatial energy leaking out from the empty void together, there simply wasn't enough spatial energy to go around for a single demon beast, let alone all of them…
With this in mind, Xuan Hao cautiously began approaching what he assumed to be one of the Three Celestial Gate before finding himself directly in front of the already wide-open gate. The scene on the other side in a somewhat blurry state that made it impossible to see just what was hiding on the other side of the gate. Even then, Xuan Hao had a feeling that he already knew what was behind the thin ethereal veil that covered the opening.
Whoosh~
Deciding to first use his divine sense to try and explore the other side of the gate in more detail, Xuan Hao was not too surprised to discover that his divine sense could not pass through the thin ethereal veil enveloping the gate.
"Guess I can only explore the other side of the gate by going through it…" Knowing that it was no use to try and get a glimpse of what was on the other side of the gate before passing through it, Xuan Hao slowly took a step forward into the ethereal veil that covered the area a few meters around the gate.
Soon, the feeling of getting dragged forward by a powerful force enveloped his entire body, as he felt himself getting closer to the gate with each passing second.
Even if the force that dragged him towards the gate was not really that strong in the first place and should have been created by the hint of sentience that the celestial gate had given birth to over the many years, Xuan Hao decided to not resist the force and allowed it to drag him through the gate. In the first place, he had already decided to enter the gate, so there was no reason to resist it.
WHOOSH-!
As he passed through the gate, the space around him twisted and turned in all sorts of weird manners that were incomprehensible even with his current understanding of the Dao of Space before finally coming to a stop after an unknown period of time.
By the time that he opened his eyes and took in his new surroundings, he found himself in the middle of a large plaza the size of a smaller mountain range like the Shattered Star Peaks. If not for the fact that he could sense the countless buildings that surrounded the plaza, he would have thought he had been transported on top of some kind of large platform in the middle of nowhere.
The main reason why he would have thought this was because the plaza itself was completely empty without a single sign of life. Even the buildings in the distance did not show any signs of life and only gave off a terrifying aura that made him feel a deep sense of terror that he had never felt before. Especially the large pagoda the size of a small mountain located at the center of this enormous ancient city that he now found himself inside of.
Rumble~
As he was still trying to figure out just where he had now ended up, the ground in front of him suddenly slit open to reveal a small pedestal that soon ascended up through the small hole in the plaza. Looking closer, Xuan Hao discovered that there was a small scroll placed on top of the pedestal that had suddenly emerged from the ground in front of him.
"Scroll of Trials, Trial of the Eternal City?" Reading the words at the top of the scroll, Xuan Hao could not help showing a somewhat confused expression on his face before realizing that the scroll was an introduction to a trial that he had apparently already started the moment he stepped through the celestial gate.
From what he had read from the quest, he thought he would just have to defeat some kind of guardian that resided inside the different celestial gates, but from the looks of things, he would also have to go through a trial of some kind inside the celestial gates.
The scroll of trials at the very least mentioned that the difficulty of the trial would be based on the strength of the one taking the trial. Making him at the very least feel a sense of security knowing that he would not end up facing some kind of powerful guardian that had already long since surpassed the Soul Ascension Realm.
After all, if it really turned out that the guardian had surpassed the Soul Ascension Realm, he would have been far better staying inside the jungle and use his time searching for another way to escape from the formation. At the very least this way, he would have a better chance of coming out of his current situation alive…
Rumble-!
Just at this moment, as he finished reading through the scroll of trials, the quiet plaza beneath his feet suddenly lit up in all sorts of colors before a complicated array of ancient symbols merged together into a large formation that covered the entire plaza in a thin mist that made it harder for him to use his divine sense. Even if he could still use it to cover the entire plaza, the energy and effort required to do this was not something that was sustainable for more than a few minutes.
Having already read about this scenario in the scroll of trials, Xuan Hao did not panic, but instead turned his attention towards the large pagoda the size of a small mountain. According to the scroll of trials, the guardian, Aria, was currently residing inside the pagoda and would be emerging shortly after the activation of the formation that covered the entire plaza in the thin mist and isolated it from the rest of the enormous city that was now barely visible through the mist.
Swish~
Creaaaak~
Only a few seconds later, the sound of a gentle wind reached his ears before the large gates of the pagoda slowly opened before an otherworldly stillness descended on the plaza, as the formerly active formation seemed to quiet down for a moment. Allowing the soft light passing through the mist to illuminate the surroundings, casting an ethereal shimmer across the empty plaza.
It was within this mystical ambiance that the guardian, Aria, emerged from the pagoda. Her ethereal beauty transcending mortal understanding, while her very form seemed to merge seamlessly with the surrounding mist, as if she was an embodiment of the ethereal realm that now enveloped the plaza. Her figure radiating a soft, gentle luminescence that seemed to come from within.
Opening her eyes before turning to face him, Xuan Hao felt a shiver run down his spine, as he felt the ancient power slumbering deep within those eyes. Even if he understood that her strength should not be too far above his own according to the scroll of trial, he still felt insignificant when faced with those eyes that seemed to contain ancient wisdom far beyond the confines of anything he had ever encountered before.
Whoosh~
As she slowly took a step forward before gliding towards him in a fluid and effortless manner, Xuan Hao discovered that he couldn't move.
Something is wrong!
It was only at this moment that he woke up from the strange trance that he had found himself in. Even when trying to move away to dodge the incoming Aria, he could not move a single muscle. The mist around him seemingly pressing down on his body from all sides with a steadily increasing strength, as if it wanted to crush him to death.
At this point, he was only able to remain frozen in place, staring directly towards Aria, who was slowly getting closer and closer to him with each passing second…