Taking advantage of this new ability to control the tentacle plants that he had ended up creating by accident when the Dao of Corruption came into contact with the tall grass, Xuan Hao used all the power that he could squeeze out of the tentacle plants to keep the two unfortunate emerald serpents from escaping the tentacle plant forest that they had ended up entering. Even if he knew that the tentacle plants were far too weak to kill any of them, his goal was to exhaust them enough that he could swoop down and kill one of them before the other emerald serpents came to help them.
As long as he killed one of them, he would have completed the trial of the second celestial gate and an exit would hopefully appear before he ran out of energy to keep himself up in the air and out of danger.
At the same time, below Xuan Hao, the two emerald serpents were struggling to break free from the seemingly countless number of tentacle plants that had suddenly grabbed hold of them.
Rumble~!
As they thrashed around on the ground in an attempt break free from the tentacle plants, the two emerald serpents began growing increasingly desperate after realizing that the grip of the tentacle plants didn't weaken in the slightest. On the contrary, it seemed like their strength was starting to weaken, as the tentacle plants were slowly sapping away their life force.
Hissss!
Knowing that their time was running out, the two emerald serpents gathered their remaining strength in a last-ditch effort before violently attacking everything around them-
BOOM-!
Crack!
As one of the two emerald serpents had reached the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm while the other had passed the Fifth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, the power that the two emerald serpents exploded with when going all out was far above the limit of what the tentacle plants could endure, as they shattered under the powerful attack. Giving the two emerald serpents a chance to escape from the tentacle plant forest trapping them.
"What a perfect opportunity to strike!"
However, it was just at this moment, when the two emerald serpents had gone all out to escape, that Xuan Hao had been waiting for-
Swish-!
And in an instant, Xuan Hao dived down towards the weaker of the two emerald serpents, covering the distance between himself and the emerald serpent in the blink of an eye, while his sword shone in a sharp silver light before he swung it down towards the emerald serpent with all his might. Using almost all the remaining qi left in his dantian for the simple yet powerful sword attack.
Ching~!
Soon, the clash of metal against scales resonated through the tentacle plant forest, and for a moment, Xuan Hao felt a shiver run down his spine. The sword had indeed reached its target, but the emerald serpent's strength had surpassed his expectations and had actually managed to block the attack with its tough scales.
Squeak!
Swoosh~
Realizing the seriousness of the current situation, the rabbit demon beast who had remained inactive during the last two attacks jumped into action and used its qi to help amplify the strength of Xuan Hao's sword attack. Helping increase its strength just enough for Xuan Hao's sword to slash through the tough scale and bury itself deep inside the head of the emerald serpent before the sword energy contained inside violently spread throughout the body of the emerald serpent.
Hisss-
BOOOM-!
Not having the energy left to fight against the violent sword energy wreaking havoc inside of its body, the emerald serpent directly exploded.
Swish-!
Having successfully killed the final emerald serpent with the timely help of the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao let out a sigh of relief before escaping back into the sky before the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beast had time to exact revenge for its dead comrade.
"That was the final one, the exit should appear now that I completed the trial." Though exhausted to the point where his entire body was in pain, Xuan Hao knew that he wasn't safe yet and kept looking around the grass plain. Searching for the gate that would hopefully be appearing before the last bit of energy inside his body ran out and he ended up falling into the rather large number of emerald serpents who wanted nothing more than to kill him.
Rumble-!
Not disappointing him, the ground beneath began violently shaking before it split open directly below where the five demon beasts and emerald serpents were fighting with each other-
ROAR!?
HISSS!?
As a result of the ground beneath them suddenly opening up, the emerald serpents and demon beast ended up falling straight into the opening in the ground. Instantly putting a stop to the fighting, as the remaining demon beasts and emerald serpents who had been lucky enough to stand at the edge where the hole in the ground opened up observed the weird change with cautious expressions on their faces. None of them understood what had happened and if the demon beasts and emerald serpents who had fallen down into the hole were dead or alive.
Rumble~
However, it did not take long before the emerald serpents and demon beasts who had disappeared into the hole appeared again. The only difference was that instead of being on top of the ground, this time around, they were all on top of a massive stone platform that slowly ascended from the hole before reaching the same level as the surrounding terrain. In the middle of the enormous stone platform, a gate similar to the second celestial gate could be seen opening up the moment the stone platform had settled in place.
"It's here!"
Swish!
Observing this from above and seeing the second celestial gate, Xuan Hao used all of his remaining strength to rapidly descend from the sky before rushing through the celestial gate before any of the demon beasts or emerald serpents had any time to react to what was happening-
Whoosh~!
Disappearing from the trial space the next moment.