Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Whoosh~

Arriving at the other side of the wooden gate, Xuan Hao found himself directly in front of a large forest that seemed to constantly change with each passing seconds as different trees appeared out of seemingly nowhere, while other trees seemingly faded out of existence in a random and unpredictable manner.

Even with his current comprehension of the Dao of Illusions, he could not help freezing for a few seconds at the mystical sight that unfolded before him. Feeling a sense of wonder at the odd forest in front of him.

"So… This is the Ephemeral Forest…" Almost whispering this to himself as he recovered from his shocked state, Xuan Hao could not help feeling curious about the Dao of Mirages behind the weird state of the forest in front of him.

It might just be a branch of the much larger Dao of Illusions, but it was still amazing in its own way and would undoubtedly be good at confusing opponents when fighting.

"Hm?" Just at this moment, Xuan Hao noticed something jumping around from tree to tree inside the forest- 

Rumble-!

Instantly causing him to instantly take on a defensive stance with his dao domain while his divine sense rapidly spread out in the direction of the small creature he had seen jumping around inside the forest.

No matter how safe the information he had bought from the Blue Sea Empire's intelligence department said the Ephemeral Forest was, he didn't plan to let his guard down just because of this and mindlessly enter a potential death tra-

"Huh?" 

However, after his divine sense managed to catch up to the creature inside the forest, Xuan Hao could not help freezing at the spot as a weird expression made its way to his face.

"A squirrel…?"

Yes… The small creature was nothing more than a normal squirrel. Not only that, but its strength seemed to have only barely broken through to the Qi Condensation Realm a few hours earlier.

With this in mind, it should just be an ordinary squirrel that accidentally ended up stumbling its way inside the Sea of Mist before making its way to the Ephemeral Forest where it had officially broken through to the Qi Condensation Realm and become a demon beast. Taking its first step on the path of cultivation.

Although… Looking at the squirrel, it might not even have realized that it had broken through to the Qi Condensation Realm as it was far too busy jumping from tree to tree before the tree it landed on disappeared.

From the looks of it, the squirrel could sense when the trees disappeared to some extent. Showing that it had an inherent talent when it came to comprehending the Dao of Mirages, something Xuan Hao had not expected to see from a normal squirrel… 

At the very least, he could relax a bit more knowing that it was just a squirrel and not some powerful demon beast proficient in the Dao of Mirages hiding inside the forest.

Whoosh~!

Retracting his divine sense after having made sure that the squirrel was indeed the only other living thing other than himself inside the Ephemeral Forest, Xuan Hao found a good location to sit down and observe the forest before entering a state of cultivation. Ignoring everything around himself as he put his full attention towards comprehending the Dao of Illusions through the Dao of Mirages present in the Ephemeral Forest.

Even if the squirrel somehow managed to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm during his attempt to reach the Small Succes Realm in the Dao of Illusions, it wouldn't be able to do anything to him as his dao domain would still kill anything below the Soul Ascension Realm that approached him during this period of time.

As long as the squirrel didn't approach him and the rabbit demon beast didn't decide to leave his robe to hunt it down, it should be fine and might even be able to turn into a powerful demon beast in the future by staying inside the Ephemeral Forest.

Rustle~

Unfortunately for the squirrel, who was now observing Xuan Hao cautiously from a distance on top a fading tree, the rabbit demon beast just happened to run out of spirit stones and had decided to come out to ask Xuan Hao for more-

""…""

As a result, it instantly locked eyes with the terrified squirrel that was already on edge after having spotted Xuan Hao appearing inside the Ephemeral Forest.

Squeak?

Tilting its head in confusion as it saw the terrified squirrel looking at it, the rabbit demon beast could not help wondering if something was wrong with the squirrel. Not because it was looking at it, but because the tree branch it had been standing on was fading away-

SQUEAK!?

And after two long seconds passed, the branch completely disappeared beneath the squirrel, causing it to let out a surprised cry as it found itself rapidly descending down towards the ground below. Even worse, given that it was only in the Qi Condensation Realm and the forest floor was filled with all sorts of thorny plants more than sharp enough to kill it, the squirrel understood that it had to think fast if it didn't want to turn into a fresh serving of skewered squirrel.

Whoosh~

Summoning what little qi it had unknowingly managed to gather inside its body in this desperate life and death situation, the squirrel unconsciously made a small branch grow from the slowly fading tree that it had been on top of just a short moment earlier. Allowing it to grab hold of the branch and jump to safety just before the newly created branch disappeared into thin air.

Squeak…?

Watching this scene unfold from afar, the rabbit demon beast could not help narrowing both of its eyes curiously at the unique ability displayed by the squirrel. 

Even without seeing anything more, it understood that the squirrel was special compared to other demon beasts.

Squeak!

It was because of this realization that the rabbit demon beast suddenly had a brilliant idea pop into its small head-

Swish-!

Wasting no time as it rushed into the Ephemeral Forest before appearing directly in front of the squirrel without it even noticing the fact that a rabbit around twice its size had suddenly appeared beside it.

Thump~

Squeak!?

Only when it felt something grabbing hold of it and dragging it somewhere did it realize this, but at that point in time, it was already too late. Not that it could escape from the rabbit demon beast in the first place.

In the end, it could only silently resign itself to its fate as it was dragged in the direction of the terrifying creature it perceived Xuan Hao to be. Not having enough space left in its little head to wonder why it had not been killed yet.

…

Unaware of the situation that was taking place around him as he had only dedicated a minimum level of attention to keep an eye out for any enemies that might try to ambush him, Xuan Hao was fully immersed in comprehending the Dao of illusions through the Dao of Mirages. Using the presence of the Dao of Mirages in the forest to deepen his understanding of the Dao of Illusions.

Hoping that it would be enough to help him break through the barrier separating the Elementary Realm and the Small Success Realm.

After all, even if the Dao of Mirages could be considered a branch of the Dao of Illusions, it was still an independent Dao on its own. Comprehending it and applying it to the Dao of Illusions came with its own difficulties.

If not for the fact that he could clearly feel his understanding of the Dao of Illusions deepening as he began to comprehend the weird trees of the Ephemeral Forest, Xuan Hao would have doubted that he would be able to make use of the Dao of Mirages to break through to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions…

Like this, two weeks passed inside the Ephemeral Forest without any incidents taking place-

BOOOOOOM-!

Allowing Xuan Hao to smoothly pass through to the Small Success Realm in the Dao of Illusions. Officially fulfilling one condition to break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm.

Now, the only thing he needed to accomplish before he could break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm was to make one of his six Daos reach the Large Success Realm and fully integrate all of them into his dao domain.

"Hm?"

Lost in his own thoughts after his breakthrough, Xuan Hao suddenly realized that other than the rabbit demon beast there was another presence close to him.

"…"

Opening his eyes to see who or what it was, Xuan Hao was shocked to discover that the unfamiliar presence was none other than the squirrel he had spotted upon first entering the Ephemeral Forest. 

Not only that, but it seemed like it was following the rabbit demon beast for some reason…