Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Unaware of the fact that someone else other than Chu Li and himself had managed to find his way into the special space where the Sea of Mist, Ephemeral Forest and the Valley of Illusory Beasts was located, Xuan Hao continued staying inside the small, secluded forest without moving around for another few days.

Only after a little over a week had passed since his encounter with Chu Li, did he start to make his way out of the small forest in search of more Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beats to kill. Making sure to properly scan his surroundings with his divine sense before using his Drifting Cloud Steps. Ensuring that he didn't accidentally end up appearing directly in front of Chu Li again.

Although he had been successful in convincing him this time around, there was no saying if he would be able to continue keeping up the act when he began asking more detailed questions about the Dao of Illusions or the Earth Immortal Realm.

After all, when everything was said and done, he didn't really have any clue about the Earth Immortal Realm outside of the fact that it was the realm that came after the Soul Ascension Realm. 

If Chu Li began asking him for help in breaking through to the Earth Immortal Realm and how to best face the last tribulation of the Immortal Soul Tribulation, his act would almost certainly be exposed the moment he displayed his lack of information regarding the Earth Immortal Realm and experience when it came to the Immortal Soul Tribulation.

"Well… I do have information on the Immortal Soul Tribulation from the elder of the Mirage Sect, so I should be able to offer some advice on how to best face the last tribulation of the Immortal Soul Tribulation." Muttering this to himself as he remembered the information that the elder from the Mirage Sect had transferred to him about the Immortal Soul Tribulation before his passing, Xuan Hao could not help cheering up a bit.

Even if he ended up encountering Chu Li again, he should at least be able to use this knowledge to avoid the topic of the Earth Immortal Realm and his far weaker Dao of Illusions. Although, this might also backlash and result in Chu Li asking more questions…

Haaa… No matter what, it's best to just avoid running into him again…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao became extra cautious when moving around the Valley of Illusory Beasts to hunt down illusory best to improve his Dao of Illusions. Making sure that Chu Li was nowhere close to the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast he was targeting before taking action to kill it.

As a result, the speed at which he was progressing over the next few months did end up taking a hit.

But…

Even though his speed slowed down, the help provided by Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts still ended up losing their effect… And three months after his encounter with Chu Li, illusory beasts in the Soul Ascension Realm no longer provided any help when it came to improving his Dao of Illusions.

If he wanted to continue his rapid progress in the Dao of Illusions, he would either have to kill an Earth Immortal Realm illusory beast or get the guidance of a senior in the Dao of Illusions who had already broken through to the Large Success Realm, neither of which were realistic considering that he was far too weak to contend against an Earth Immortal Realm illusory beast and the only senior in the Dao of Illusions he had encountered had only reached the Peak of the Small Success Realm.

The worst part was that he had not even managed to reach the Peak of the Small Success Realm and had only managed to reach the Late Stage of the Small Success Realm, still quite a distance from being able to think about breaking through to the Large Success Realm any time soon.

Maybe killing a single Earth Immortal Realm illusory beast wouldn't even be enough to break through and he would need to kill two of them, something that was even less realistic than killing a single one through some kind of incredibly fortunate opportunity.

As for breaking through to the Large Success Realm on his own… Xuan Hao had a feeling that it would at least take five years with his current sensitivity towards the Dao of Illusions and that was only if he stayed inside the Ephemeral Forest to cultivate. 

If he didn't have the ability to stay inside the Ephemeral Forest, he might be able to break through the Large Success Realm with the Dao of Space faster than the Dao of Illusions, something that would at least take 10 years to accomplish. Far too late for him to break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple appeared to cause trouble back in the Star Shattering Sect…

Maybe I can try to take advantage of the emergence of the Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts to try and find one weak enough to try my luck at. Even if I'm not strong enough to kill it, I might be able to increase my understanding of the Dao of Illusions by fighting one…

Feeling himself growing a bit desperate as he realized that he might not break through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm before the Earth Immortal Realm Expert from the Heavenly Dragon Temple appeared, Xuan Hao could not help thinking about some more dangerous ways to increase his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions.

Although his current strength might be far from strong enough to fight against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm, his comprehension of the Dao of Space and profound movement technique should be able to allow him to escape from someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.

Even if the soul attacks of an Earth Immortal Realm illusory beast were far more powerful than a Peak Soul Ascension Realm one, Xuan Hao felt confident in the strength of his soul being able to resist for a short period of time.