Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

"Hm… According to the information from the intelligence department, the cave should be located next to a forest and in front of a lake…"

Following the person who had guided him leaving, Xuan Hao remembered the description of the entrance that was contained in the information he had bought from the Blue Sea Empire's intelligence depart before starting to scan his surroundings with his divine sense. Searching for the cave acting as the entrance of the special place where the three different Daos were present.

Although he still had no idea which of the Daos, he would end up attempting to comprehend first, he figured that he would just try the one that seemed to be the simplest to reach the Small Success Realm in.

Whoosh~

Spotting the cave after only a few seconds, Xuan Hao dashed forward and made his way into the cave after ensuring that there wasn't any kind of trap in place at the entrance of the cave. Soon finding himself passing through a wooden gate of some sort that moved him into a different space filled with an illusory mist as far as he could see.

Outside of the wooden gate behind him, there was nothing other than the seemingly endless sea of mist in all directions around him…

If not for the fact that the information from the intelligence department had described just this kind of environment, he would have thought that he had been trapped in some kind of illusion after passing through the wooden gate.

"This should be the Sea of Mist where the Dao of Mist is the easiest to comprehend…" Muttering this to himself as he closed his eyes for a short moment to feel the Dao of Mist, Xuan Hao soon opened them with a hint of shock on his face.

Although it had only been for a short moment, he had clearly felt his comprehension of the Dao of Mist deepen at a speed that was incomparable with his comprehension speed back in the Star Shattering Sect.

If it would normally take him two years to comprehend the Dao of Mist to the Elementary Realm back in the Star Shattering Sect, it would only take a little over two months inside the Sea of Mist!

Of course, after reaching the Elementary Realm in the Dao of Mist, his speed would undoubtedly start to slow down, but still… He didn't think it would take him more than a year to comprehend the Dao of Mist to the Small Success Realm inside the Sea of Mist.

Feeling excited as he realized this, Xuan Hao could not help wondering about the two other areas connected to the Sea of Mist as he looked towards the two wooden gates barely visible deeper inside the Sea of Mist.

According to the information he had about the place, the two wooden gates hidden in the Sea of Mist connected the other remaining sections of the place, the Ephemeral Forest, and the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Among the two, the Ephemeral Forest was a peaceful forest affected by the Dao of Mirages, causing the trees inside to shift in and out of existence, allowing one to comprehend the Dao of Mirages more easily by observing the trees.

Similar to the Sea of Mist, the Ephemeral Forest didn't contain any dangers, something that couldn't be said for the Valley of Illusory Beasts…

As the name suggests, the Valley of Illusory Beasts had all sorts of different beasts roaming the place. Not only that, but all of the beasts were at least in the Domain Lord Realm, with the information from the intelligence department specifically warning that there might be illusory beasts strong enough to contend against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm deeper inside the valley.

Out of all three areas, the Valley of Illusory Beasts was by far the most dangerous, but… This did not come without its fair share of rewards, as according to the information, fighting the illusory beasts would be a perfect way to comprehend the Dao of Illusions in action.

Even without visiting the place himself, it was obvious that the Valley of Illusory Beasts was the best place to comprehend a Dao, the only problem was the fact that it was also the only place that was dangerous.

In the end, Xuan Hao sat down on the ground as he began thinking about which of the three Daos he wanted to comprehend. 

The reason for only comprehending one of them to the Small Success Realm being the simple fact that he still had to comprehend a Dao to the Large Success Realm and break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple caught wind of what had happened in the Sky Empire and decided to make a move to resolve the problem personally.

Although he didn't know how long he had left before this, he doubted it would be more than five years. Far from enough time for him to comprehend the Dao of Mist, the Dao of Mirages, the Dao of Illusions, and break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm…

"Hm… The Dao of Mist can be considered the safest choice as it seems easy for me to grasp and won't take too long. The Dao of Mirages on the other hand, can be considered to be a part of the Dao of Illusions in the same way that the Dao of Ice can be considered a part of the Dao of Water. Comprehending it will give me a far easier time grasping the larger and more difficult Dao of Illusions in the future.

As for entering the Valley of Illusory Beasts to comprehend the Dao of Illusions… This might not be a bad idea. Especially considering that the time required to comprehend it should be far lower than the other two. Maybe there will also be a chance for me to raise it to the Large Success Realm! The only danger is the fact that there might be illusory beasts far stronger than myself present inside the valley…"

In deep thought as he said this to himself while staring towards the two wooden gates in the distance, Xuan Hao's slowly focused in on the wooden gates furthest away from him. The gate leading to the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

Dangerous or not, he understood that the thing he lacked the most was time. 

Even if he expected for the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple to take at least five years before he appeared, he had no actual clue if this was really the case. For all he knew, the Earth Immortal Realm Expert might already have left the Heavenly Dragon Temple and be on his way towards the Shattered Star Peaks to find out what had happened to his disciple and subordinates.

Whoosh~

Having made the decision, Xuan Hao no longer wasted any time and rushed into the wooden gate leading him to the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

"Huh?"

The next moment, Xuan Hao was shocked to discover that he was surrounded by tall mountains on all sides as a valley that seemed to go on forever appeared in front of him in a similar fashion to the Sea of Mist previously.

ROOOOAR!

ROOAR-!

The only difference this time around being the loud animal roars echoing out in the distance as a group of illusory beasts appeared beneath a large tree not too far away from him before laying down on the ground to sleep. Not having sensed his presence.

Whoosh~

Taking this chance, Xuan Hao descended upon the unsuspecting beasts and instantly killed the only Soul Ascension Realm Expert among them before getting rid of the rest before they had the chance to cause a commotion that might end up forcing him to leave the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

It was only after killing them that Xuan Hao discovered that other than having somewhat transparent bodies, the illusory beasts were no different from the demon beasts he encountered out in the wild or back at the Star Shattering Sect.

Other than this, he also discovered that killing the illusory beasts gave him a chance to observe how the Dao of Illusions worked as their bodies began dissipating.

Although it was only for a few short minutes, the insight he managed to gain in the Dao of Illusions from observing the process of the illusory beasts dissipating was equal to spending a full two weeks fully focused on comprehending the Dao of Illusions outside the Valley of Illusory Beast!

Despite the fact that he could clearly sense that his comprehension speed of the Dao of Illusions had decreased with time, he didn't get any less excited.

After all, what he needed now was not a long term way to improve his comprehension of a certain Dao, but instead a short term one that would be able to help him reach the requirement for breaking through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm as fast as possible!