Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Chapter 2165: Ancient Holy Guardian

The state of the few juniors below and the price they had to pay for the sudden increase in strength aside, Xuan Hao found himself face to face with yet another holy guardian. Only different from the ones he had faced off against so far. The one standing before him this time around hadn’t attacked him the second he appeared before it. Instead, it seemed to be slowly observing his every movement ever since he arrived and didn’t seem keen on making the first move. Showing that it had already sensed he was different from those locals who improved through the Dao of Space alone. After all, had he reached this floor as a local, he would have been someone powerful in the Void Integration Realm and might even have reached the Peak of the Void Integration Realm, but it was clear from a glance that he hadn’t begun the process of merging with the surrounding space.

This kind of intelligence and ability to analyze the situation instead of the mindless assault he had faced earlier on was troublesome considering the presence of this holy guardian was in no way inferior to someone in the Star Creation Realm. If anything, it wasn’t at the Early Stage of the Star Creation Realm like he had expected following the one minor realm down but one major realm up he had experienced facing the last few holy guardians. Instead, it was very clear that the strength of this guardian had reached the absolute limits of the Star Creation Realm and even seemed to be teetering on the edge of the Venerable Realm.

In other words, this was in no way an enemy he could deal with at his current cultivation realm. Even if he might be at an advantage without utilizing the Dao of Space, there was no way for him to overcome this kind of terrifying difference in strength. If anything, he had already prepared himself to give a final struggle and find out just how far he could go against this kind of powerful enemy before inevitably being overwhelmed by the other party. After all, the divine void eyes that might have served him well in the face of the demigod from the twenty seventh floor of the tower but faced with a golem that had essentially been designed to deal with people proficient in the Dao of Space, it was useless.

The best he might be able to hope for was that using the divine void eyes to shatter space could create an opening of some kind that he might be able to use to forcibly escape from the central spire before he ended up getting stomped by the holy guardian before him.

As for why the holy guardian was still just observing him even as a few minutes turned into a few hours and the group of excited juniors from down below began excitedly climbing up the spire towards him and the ancient holy guardian, he had no idea and could only follow along and wait. Curious to see if waiting for those newly promoted Void Monarch Realm juniors might present him with an opportunity to either break the ancient holy guardian or sneak past the other party without defeating it...

"Haha, I wonder what kind of treasures are waiting for us on the next part of this spire."

"Me too, I can’t wait to find out. Maybe it will be a chance for use to breakthrough and reach the Void Integration Realm in a single step."

"Hehe, if that is really the case, I can’t wait to see what kind of expression my old man will have when I return and show him how much my strength has increased. At that point, it won’t be me calling that old fossil in the back mountain ancestor, but the other way around!"

"Only the Void Integration Realm? Just you four wait, your big brother here is going to become a Void God in a single step!"

"Huh? Look! We are here!"

Listening to the voices of the exited juniors who had just broken through to the Void Monarch Realm growing closer, Xuan Hao decided to watch for now by utilizing his domain to discreetly hide himself from the group of five as they emerged from the stairs behind him.

"..."

Of course, while he might have been able to hide himself from this group of inexperienced juniors, the ancient holy guardian wasn’t fooled by him. Merely tilting its head in confusion as its gaze remained firmly focused on him even as the group of five officially stepped into this new section that blocked the final path to the very top of the central spire of the ancient cathedral.

In a way, it felt like the five Void Monarch Realm cultivators didn’t even register in the eyes of the ancient holy guardian, as it didn’t even bother to spare the group a single glance.

"Look! There is still a guardian around here!"

"Eeek!? Wait... It isn’t moving? Could it have broken down as well?"

"Probably, though this one didn’t seem to suffer any external damage in the process. Maybe only the core powering it broke down and caused it to appear as if nothing happened to it?"

And even as the group of curious and foolish youths approached the ancient holy guardian showing little to no fear after seemingly confirming that the ancient guardian before them had already broken down and no longer worked. The ancient holy guardian didn’t to anything and kept its gaze locked on him.

The entire sequence of events was bewildering to say the least, as it even made Xuan Hao think that the holy guardian might have suffered some kind of catastrophic damage over the long years that reduced it to a state where it couldn’t move freely any longer-

Ptsh~!

"B-brother!?"

"Nooo-!"

"Ugh... I can’t... Too much..."

"Run!"

Or that was at least what he thought until he watched one of the overly curious juniors start poking the holy guardian. Only for it to grab his head and squeeze it gently, causing it to pop like a water ballon. Coating his companions with his blood in the process. Killing him before any of the junior and even Xuan Hao had the chance to fully grasp what had just happened.

The juniors not noticing it was understandable, but for Xuan Hao whose divine sense already rivaled that of someone in the Star Creation Realm, it was a bit bewildering.

He caught the motion of the ancient holy guardian and saw how it squeezed the head of the little junior who got a bit too curious and did something he shouldn’t have, but he didn’t manage to catch how the holy guardian had seemingly instantly destroyed the soul of the junior in the process. Only catching a faint spatial ripple left behind as it used the Dao of Space in some manner he couldn’t comprehend even with his comprehension of the Dao of Space at the Peak of the Perfection Realm to erase the soul of the junior who had just reached the Void Monarch Realm.

At the very least, the action of the holy guardian did give him some insight into just how powerful this enemy he found himself facing off against truly was, as the other party’s usage of the Dao of Space had already exceeded the Perfection Realm and stepped into the Origin Realm.

If he wasn’t wrong, he guessed that the originally intended strength required to beat this kind of holy guardian might be those Void God Realm cultivators of the fragmented continent that he hadn’t yet had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of.

But... If the designed enemy for this kind of holy guardian was someone who had reached a realm that at the very least was somewhat comparable to the Venerable Realm, there was no way he stood a chance in facing the other party with his current strength at the Late Stage of the Land Creation Realm.

Heck, even with him reaching the Star Creation Realm might not be enough to face off against this kind of powerful enemy. Leaving him with an obvious question... Why hadn’t the ancient holy guardian who clearly far surpassed him in terms of strength attacked him? After all, it was clear it likely possessed the ability to almost instantly wipe him from existence.

Wait... There is one thing that might have given the holy guardian the wrong impression of my strength...

But as he tuned out the panicked screams of the four remaining juniors around him flailing around helplessly following the death of one of them, he suddenly remembered a very obvious flaw in the cultivation path unique to the fragmented continent that might have caused the ancient holy guardian to mistake him for someone far stronger than he already was... Divine sense.

Divine sense and the soul strength of the locals were far weaker than those comparable following the traditional immortal cultivation path... And with his already strong divine sense, it made sense that this ancient holy guardian might have thought him to some kind of terrifying being...