Having defeated the guardian of the desert and with the rabbit demon beast guarding him, time slowly passed as Xuan Hao was focused on recovering his strength. Outside of a small part of his divine sense that he was using to keep an eye out for any potential enemies approaching, he was blind to his surroundings and what the rabbit demon beast was up to during this time.
Unknown to Xuan Hao, after the first day passed, the rabbit demon beast had begun to look towards the large dead body of the sandworm filled with hunger. For a demon beast like itself, the body of a demon beast whose physical body was already a step into the Earth Immortal Realm was something incredibly tempting.
Even if it understood that Xuan Hao was the one who had killed the sandworm and it would essentially be stealing from him, the rabbit demon beast felt its reason disappear with each passing second as it started focus more of its attention on how great the sandworm would taste than on keeping an eye out for any approaching demon beast who might try to cause trouble.
Squeak…
Finally reaching a breaking point on the third day, the rabbit demon beast cautiously approached the dead body of the sandworm before slowly starting to nibble away at the frozen body.
Chomp~ Chomp~
At first it only intended to take a few bites of the giant sandworm without Xuan Hao noticing, but it soon lost control over its body after feeling the clear and distinct increase in power brought along by consuming the body of a more powerful demon beast. Even with its Second Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm cultivation base, it still clearly felt its cultivation increasing as it consumed the body of the sandworm and absorbed the inherent power inside the flesh.
BOOOOM-!
Before the rabbit demon beast could get itself under control again, its cultivation base directly broke through to the limit of the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm!
Squeak!?
Recovering its senses, the moment it accidentally broke through the limits of the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, the rabbit demon beast let out a surprised squeaking sound before looking up into the air above it where a small and almost invisible tribulation cloud had started forming.
Whoosh~
Following the tribulation clouds forming, an illusory bolt of lighting flashed through the sky before descending towards the unprepared rabbit demon beast. From the surprised and panicked expression of the rabbit demon beast, it became rather obvious that it didn't know that breaking through the limit of the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm would instantly result in the third tribulation of the Immortal Soul Tribulation descending.
If it had known this beforehand, it was almost certain that it would not have continued mindlessly consuming the body of the dead sandworm. After all, each and every single tribulation of the Immortal Soul Tribulation was a life and death matter. Unless absolutely necessary, demon beasts and humans alike would prepare beforehand undergoing the tribulation to increase their chances of survival… And given how the rabbit demon beast was still feeling stuffed from eating so much sandworm meat, it could be said that it was far from prepared to deal with this tribulation…
Bang!
SQUEAAAK!
As the illusory lightning bolt flew through the air before smashing into the panicked rabbit demon beast, the rabbit demon beast could only let out one final panicked squeak before its eyes went blank and it collapsed on the ground without showing any signs of movement.
"Huh?" Opening his eyes and looking over due to the rather large commotion that had been caused by the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao could not help letting out a surprised sound as he managed to catch a glimpse of the illusory lightning bolt before it smashed into the body of the rabbit demon beast.
Although only for a short moment, the terrifying power contained inside the small illusory lightning bolt was more than enough to cause a shiver to run down his spine as an almost primordial feeling of fear appeared in the depths of his soul.
This is… The Third Tribulation of the Immortal Soul Tribulation…?
Taking a few seconds to calm down and examine the situation, Xuan Hao could not help opening both of his eyes in surprise after realizing just what had happened. Although he was not familiar with the Immortal Soul Tribulation, he could still put two and two together after noticing the obvious increase in strength of the rabbit demon beast.
Not to mention the obvious tribulation clouds hanging in the sky above the rabbit demon beast…
But how did it manage to reach the Peak of the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm so quickly and even challenged the third tribulation? As far as I know, it should not have been too long ago that it passed the second tribulation from what I could tell-
Lost in his own thoughts as he looked over the rabbit demon beast wondering how it could have improved so fast, Xuan Hao suddenly noticed that a large part of the dead sandworm seemed to be missing.
Ah… So that is what happened…
Putting two and two together, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say for a short moment before a somewhat helpless expression appeared on his face. "This little thing, so gluttonous. Maybe this will be a good lesson for it if it manages to survive the tribulation."
At this point in time, there was nothing he could do but hope that the rabbit demon beast managed to overcome the tribulation and successfully reach the Third Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm. Only then would it have a chance to learn from its mistake.
"It looks like I won't be able to return to recovering for now…" Muttering this to himself as he looked over the motionless rabbit demon beast that seemed to be locked in some kind of internal struggle, Xuan Hao sat down not too far away as his divine sense spread out to cover his surroundings in full force.
Even if the rabbit demon beast had ended up in a dangerous situation due to its gluttony and might end up dying because of it, Xuan Hao had no plans of giving up on the rabbit demon beast. Intending to give it his all in protecting the rabbit demon beast while it was going through the third tribulation.
Although his strength had not fully recovered yet, it should be fine as long as he didn't end up encountering another guardian of the desert.
Hm… Maybe I should check out the side quest while I'm waiting. At least it should have been completed now that I killed the guardian of the desert.
Knowing that he wouldn't have too much to do in the foreseeable future, Xuan Hao decided to check on his side quest and see what had changed now that he had killed the guardian of the desert…
[Side Quest: The Three Celestial Gates, Part 2 (Complete)]
[Description: You have reached the mysterious mountain range hidden behind the mist. To uncover the secrets hidden inside the mountain range, you must find three ancient celestial gates and pass through them. So far, you have successfully passed through the First Celestial Gate, the Gate of the Eternal City and the Second Celestial Gate, the Gate of the Serpent Plains. Only the third and final Celestial Gate remains. Luckily, you happened to be teleported right on top of it after leaving the trial of the Second Celestial Gate and soon made your way into the third and final celestial gate. Soon overcoming this final trial.]
[Objective: Seek out the Three Celestial Gates and defeat the guardians within.]
[First Trial: Trial of the Eternal City (Complete)]
[Second Trial: Trial of the Emerald Serpent (Complete)]
[Third Trial: Trial of the Great Sandworm (Complete)]
[Reward: Starlight Essence]
Reading through the side quest, it had indeed already been noted down as complete after he killed the guardian of the desert without him needing to leave the trial space first. Outside of being noted down as complete, only a few things had changed in the description.
However, he decided against redeeming the reward for completing the side quest for now. Not only because he had no idea what the Starlight Essence was, but also because he feared that redeeming the reward might end up rendering him unable to move or do anything for a period of time… And considering that he was currently watching over the rabbit demon beast, this would have to wait until later.
At the very least, it seemed like there wasn't any kind of time limit as to when he would need to redeem it like with the cultivation increase. If there had been something like this, he would have thought that the system might be trying to get him into trouble, but then again, the system didn't really keep him out of trouble in the first place…