Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Chapter 2009  Ancient Secret Realm

Standing in the empty space that should once have been home to an ancient secret realm or mystic realm in the past, Xuan Hao wasn't that disappointed. Having already expected something like this when he set off in the first place.

However, though this situation was expected, he also hoped that the world he was searching for hadn't drifted too far from its original position over the years. After all, though a world might drift aimlessly once the anchor was cut, it didn't move fast and could take years to move even a few meters.

For him to not even see a single floating remnant from a destroyed world or traces of the world itself nearby was testament to just how long it had been since the world in question had its anchor cut.

Although he could still search the surroundings for any traces of the world, he also understood that aimlessly searching through the void with his current comprehension of the Dao of Space was nothing short of reckless and could result in him getting lost, unable to find his way back or stumbling into some deadly spatial storm.

Because of this, he limited the area of his search to the general area around the original spatial coordinates and didn't dare to recklessly spread his divine sense out of fear that he might end up causing instability to the surrounding spatial structure, as it was clear to him from a glance that the space around him was far less stable compared to the world he came from. Even a small disturbance having the potential to cause a spatial storm at a scale that even he would find difficult to survive.

One reason for this instability undoubtedly had to do with the world that had once been in this place, as its movement or destruction would have undoubtedly broken the space around it to the point where it would take a long time to recover.

In a way, he had planned to use this weakened spatial structure as a way to follow along the path that the ancient world might have traversed, but the sheer scale of the area affected was far beyond imagination and not something he could even get close to reaching the edge of without relying on his divine sense.

Worse, he couldn't stay indefinitely, as he clearly sensed that even his movement through this instable place caused the spatial structure to wobble as it showed signs of breaking.

The reason for this was the simple fact that moving through the void that existed outside normal space wasn't exactly something that could be done without exerting some degree of influence on the surroundings through the Dao of Space. Meaning that although he limited his divine sense and weakened any influence he had on the space around himself, the simple act of moving around meant he had to manipulate the space around himself, something that ultimately affected the already weak spatial structure.

The only positive about the current situation being that his mastery of the Dao of Space allowed him to limit the impact enough that he at least had some time to search through the incredibly unstable space before it reached a point of imminent collapse. After which he would be forced to leave unless he wanted to get caught up in the spatial collapse that would take place.

Returning later might be possible, but the sheer scale of the instable space meant that this spatial collapse or rather spatial storm that would form might last for hundreds if not thousands of years and might take even longer before returning to a stable enough state for him to traverse it like he was doing now.

Oh? That is…

But as he felt that the space around him was about to reach its limit and had already begun collapsing on a smaller scale behind him, Xuan Hao suddenly spotted what looked like a large shadow moving through the darkness of the void. Invisible to anyone without a certain mastery of the Dao of Space.

This shadow was from what little he knew about what secret realms and mystic realms looked like in the void, the imprint that these smaller worlds left on the void, through which one would be able to force their way into these smaller worlds with a high enough mastery of the Dao of Space.

Of course, that was under the assumption that these secret realms or mystic realms weren't protected by some formation that had made harder to detect, difficult to enter or directly carried offensive capabilities that would attack anyone daring to try and force their way inside.

And… Considering that he was almost certainly dealing with an ancient secret realm or a mystic realm that had once been under the control of an ancient cultivation clan, Xuan Hao didn't feel bold enough to try and force his way inside the world. Knowing that doing so might very well trigger whatever defensive measures that ancient cultivation clan had once left in place around that small world.

As for the defensive formation of that small world having decayed over the long years… he personally doubted it, as such a formation was of a far higher importance and quality compared to the ancient concealment formation he had faced earlier on. Not to mention, it could also draw on the resources of the entire world under its guardianship to sustain itself.

Formations at that scale were essentially immortal unless they suffered some kind of critical damage like the formation guarding the mystic realm that had once been under the Ancient Mirage Sect seemed to have suffered during an attack in the past that had ultimately ended up placing those celestial gates in a state that was barely operational compared to what they should have been capable of in the past.

But this didn't mean that he would just give up trying to enter that world. Instead, he decided to first test the situation from a distance to check if it was possible for him to force his way inside by sending out a small wisp of his divine sense to penetrate through the edge of the world shadow and into the world hiding on the other side.

Booom-!

However, almost the second this bit of his divine sense seeped into the world shadow, a violent reaction took place as Xuan Hao almost instantly felt the little bit of divine sense, he had allowed to sneak inside the world being cut down by an overwhelming power. Conforming to his dismay that there was indeed some kind of world guardian formation in place–and not weak one, as the strength he had sensed through his connection to the wisp of divine sense had far surpassed the Land Creation Realm. Not something he could deal with at his current cultivation realm.

Still, it wasn't entirely without any gains, as he had managed to get a glimpse of the world on the other side along with the actual spatial coordinates for the world that he had by now managed to confirm was a secret realm.

From the place where his divine sense had appeared, he saw countless ruins that should have belonged to the ancient cultivation clan that the Li Clan had once been part of, while surprisingly, off in the distance, he glimpsed what looked like a small city filled with humans.

Although… The strength of these humans was nowhere near as impressive as he had expected from such an ancient secret realm, as the strongest one had barely reached the Fourth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Making him somewhat guess the reason why the ancestors of the Li Clan might have left in the past, as the cultivation environment of that ancient secret realm was far from optimal where even reaching the Core Formation Realm would be difficult.

RUUUUUUMBLE-!

As he was somewhat lost in his own thoughts pondering what to do about this ancient secret realm and how to breach it, the surrounding space seemed to have reached its limits as it began rapidly collapsing around him. Signaling that it was time for him to leave if he didn't want to get swallowed by the rapidly expanding spatial storm starting to form.

Hm… How troublesome, but I guess I will have to leave it for later for now…

Shaking his head in disappointment as he stared off towards the shadow of the ancient secret realm projected into the void being covered and hidden beneath the expanding spatial storm, Xuan Hao decided not to test his luck any more than necessary now that he had already managed to get his hands on the spatial coordinates of the ancient secret realm-

Whoosh~!

Not lingering around long enough for the spatial storm to reach him, as he followed the path, he had originally travelled to reach his current location to avoid getting lost in the void. After all, he had travelled far from what could be considered safe and leaving the void at this point would almost certainly take him somewhere random on the endless ocean.