Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Hearing the loud roar followed by a terrifying aura that washed over them the next second, both Huo Fen and his disciple understood what kind of dangerous situation they found themselves in, as they were helpless to escape in the face of the terrifying demon beast rushing at them the second they landed inside the ancient forest.

BANG!

ROOOOAR!?

But just as Huo Fen was scrambling to get up on his feet with his disciple, a loud sound of something crashing into the demon beast echoed out from the depth of the ancient forest-

Whoosh-!

Giving Huo Fen the time needed to get up and escape in the opposite direction of the demon beast that had been rushing towards their location.

As for what had crashed into the demon beast? He didn't dare stay behind to try and find out, as he clearly understood something capable of knocking such a powerful demon beast away wasn't something he could handle.

Not to mention, considering their current location, it was highly likely that whatever had knocked the demon beast away was an even stronger demon beast that had decided to hunt the demon beast that had been targeting the two of them, something that was best avoided even if it had decided to ignore them due to their low strength.

"M-master… T-the bracelet… The bracelet doesn't work…!" Just as he was thinking about the demon beast that should have knocked the demon beast targeting the two of them away at the last second, Meng Jie called out to him in a somewhat fearful tone while lifting the spatial artifact around her wrist up for him to see.

"Huh? The… The bracelet doesn't work!?" Hearing this and seeing her lift the bracelet for him to see, Huo Fen could not help feeling a wave of panic rushing over him as he instantly used his divine sense to look through the spatial artifact. Soon enough, realizing that she was speaking the truth.

The spatial artifact that they had been relying on to keep themselves safe wasn't working, or maybe, it would be more accurate to say that there was something blocking it from constructing a new spatial passage for them to escape through.

Meaning… If they wanted to escape from the ancient forest, they now found themselves trapped inside of, they would have to do so in the old-fashioned way without the help of the spatial artifact that they had been relying on so far.

However, given that they had already encountered a demon beast that should at least have reached the Celestial Immortal Realm from what he could sense when it had targeted the two of them, the ancient forest was highly likely an extremely dangerous forbidden zone even for someone who had reached the Celestial Immortal Realm. For someone in the Dao Seed Realm and his disciple who had barely reached the Nascent Soul Realm to escape from that kind of place was nothing short of unrealistic.

For the first time since the escape from the auction had begun, Huo Fen could not help silently hoping that Xuan Hao would come and find the two of them like he had originally told him he would. After all, if he truly had no ill intentions, it might allow him and his disciple to escape the current deadly situation they found themselves in.

…

"This is… A sealed space that allows entry but not exit? And the strength of the spatial formations, even with my current comprehension of the Dao of Space, I won't be able to force my way out if I enter…" At the same time Huo Fen and Meng Jie found themselves crashing into the forest floor of the ancient forest, Xuan Hao found himself coming to a stop just before he passed through an intangible formation that spanned an unknown space far wider than his divine sense could capture.

Different from Huo Fen and Meng Jie who couldn't alter their speed or path after activating the spatial artifact, Xuan Hao wasn't using some artifact to archive long distance teleportation and was instead travelling with the help of his own comprehension of the Dao of Space. Giving him far greater control over not only his travel speed, but also the ability to sense spatial anomaly that might be in front of him ahead of time.

Of course, it wasn't perfect, and he couldn't always sense every anomaly that appeared on his path, but some larger ones like the massive formation that seemingly blocked the path forward as far as he could sense through his divine sense was rather easy to spot. Allowing him to slow down and stop before he ended up stepping inside it.

"But… Those two shouldn't be able to stop themselves from entering the formation and should have ended up inside of it…" Narrowing both his eyes as he quietly muttered this to himself, Xuan Hao briefly closed his eyes as he went over the path, he had been travelling along so far to determine his current location… And soon enough, he managed to calculate where he was in the Western Central Region and what kind of place the formations in front of him guarded through the information he had managed to buy from the Explorer Union before the auction began.

The Verdant Abyss…

Feeling a slight shiver running down his spine as he thought this to himself, he couldn't help recalling the little information he had managed to learn about the place, as although he didn't buy detailed information on the different forbidden zones located throughout the Western Central Region, he still learnt about the general danger level of the different forbidden zones.

The Verdant Abyss, though not the most dangerous forbidden zone, was one of the more well-known ones given that it had been rather difficult to miss due to the unique formation that prevented travel through the area with teleportation formations or other transport methods connected to the Dao of Space.

That and the forbidden zone itself was the second largest forbidden zone in the Western Central Region. Only behind the most famous and most dangerous forbidden zone in the Western Central Region, The Golden Kingdom.

Although he didn't know much when it came to the most dangerous forbidden zone, outside its location spanning almost a tenth of the Western Central Region and how entire major powers had been lost in there in the past, he did know a bit more when it came to the Verdant Abyss.

For one, the shape of the Verdant Abyss was a bottomless forest chasm filled with towering ancient trees where powerful demon beasts roamed freely. The deeper one went, the stronger the demon beasts.

Second, the entire place was sealed by a powerful formation that was rumored to have been created by an ancient clan in the ancient past to seal a powerful demonic spirit at the bottom of the abyss.

Outside of that, he didn't know much about the place, but its danger wasn't to be underestimated, as the second largest forbidden zone in the entire Western Central Region, it posed a deadly threat even to those in the Celestial Immortal Realm if one went too deep into the Verdant Abyss… And from what he could sense through the spatial traces he had been chasing from Huo Fen and Meng Jie; they should have ended up entering some location deep inside the abyss.

This was one of the more dangerous parts of the Verdant Abyss, as entering it when travelling through space would not take one to the outer edge of the forbidden zone, but often, somewhere deep inside the Verdant Abyss.

For this reason, those entering the Verdant Abyss would normally do so on foot, even if they had mastered the Dao of Space to the Small Success Realm and could make use of short distance teleportation.

But… The Stardusk Essence is too important to give up… And, if it's not somewhere too deep, I should be able to handle it…

Weighing the potential benefits and risks of continuing to chase after the master disciple pair, Xuan Hao ultimately decided that it was worth the risk, as there wasn't much for him to fear with his current strength.

Whoosh~!

And so, the internal conversation he had with himself that had lasted no more than an instant on the outside concluded with him taking a step forward into the massive formation. Soon enough, finding himself losing control of his surroundings before being hurled through space at a terrifying speed-

Swish~

However, different from Huo Fen and Meng Jie, he managed to stabilize himself before crashing into the ground, as he found himself hovering a little over a hundred meters above the majestic canopy of a vast ancient forest.

Looks like those two are just below me…

Sensing his surroundings, he didn't take long to notice that Huo Fen and Meng Jie had landed directly below him. However, different from him, they hadn't been able to stop themselves and had ended up crashing directly into the ground. Painful as this might have been, it wasn't deadly and the two of them had already recovered from their initial dazed state as they were inspecting their new surroundings.

ROOOOAR-!

Just as the two below were inspecting their surroundings and Xuan Hao was about to descend and greet the two of them, he suddenly sensed a terrifying will locking onto him and the two below followed by a terrifying roar.

"Late Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm demon beast…"

Sensing the strength of the demon beast that had begun to recklessly charge towards him, Xuan Hao could not help frowning with a hint of irritation at being interrupted when he was just about to go down and proceed with his original goal of peacefully getting his hands on the Stardusk Essence while also finding out just what a Dao Seed Realm cultivator like Huo Fen intended to use something like that for.

Swish-!

But knowing that clashing with the demon beast this powerful so close to the two below would not only kill them, but potentially also destroy the Stardusk Essence in the process, Xuan Hao didn't hesitate as he used the Illusory Light Steps to charge forward-

Roar?

BANG!

Appearing right next to the charging demon beast before it could even register what was happening before, he used a simple kick infused with the strength of his spiritual sea to kick it far into the distance where he would be able to fight it comfortably without implicating Huo Fen and Meng Jie in the process… Or more importantly, the Stardusk Essence…

After all, he might be stronger than a demon beast at the Late Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm, but with their overwhelming vitality surpassing those of the same realm, it was difficult for him to finish it in the short term, even if he had broken through to the Middle Stage of the Sea Formation Realm…