Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Using the drifting cloud steps to the limit as he made his way back towards the giant mushroom he had first landed on when arriving at the mushroom forest, Xuan Hao did happen to run into one of the other immortal mushrooms along the way that was similarly making its way in the direction of the gate leading out of the celestial trial.

Luckily for him, the immortal mushroom had not grown fast enough to catch up with him. Allowing him to easily move past it while avoiding the area where space was sealed around it.

However, the encounter did allow him to confirm that the immortal mushrooms were becoming stronger with time as they rolled through the mushroom forest, with the one he just encountered already reaching a speed comparable to someone in the Early Stage of the Dao Seed Realm. Far above the first one of them he had seen moving that only had a speed around the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm to the absolute slowest among those in the Dao Seed Realm.

If he was unlucky enough to encounter another immortal mushroom close to the gate out of the celestial trial, he might not be able to move past it that easily.

But… Considering he knew the general location of all four of the immortal mushrooms, he knew that this shouldn't happen unless one of them decided to try and run for him instead of the gate that they were supposed to move towards according to what was written in the scroll of trials.

Unfortunately, given that the speed of the immortal mushrooms seemed to be growing far faster than he had first expected, he might end up having to deal with two immortal mushrooms when he reached the gate leading out of the celestial trial.

With that in mind, he wouldn't be that sad if he ended up encountering a third immortal mushroom along the way, as it would at least mean that he would only have to deal with a single immortal mushroom when he ended up reaching the gate out of the celestial trial…

Whoosh~

Arriving back at the location where he had first entered the mushroom forest after a little over 8 hours of travel without encountering another one of the immortal mushrooms, Xuan Hao could not help freezing on the spot as he stared off into the distance where the gate leading out of the celestial trial was located.

At that location, two giant mushrooms had taken root, as countless small tendrils wiggled around a large gate in a pit that had been forcibly dug up by them.

Even without knowing anything about what the gate out of the mushroom forest looked like, it was obvious that it should be the one that was now fully covered by the tendrils and roots of the immortal mushrooms that had shot up from underground. Making escaping through the gate without a fight impossible, as he would first have to cut through the barrier that had been created around the gate.

"I guess it had to be like this…" Sighing to himself as he looked at the two immortal mushrooms towering above the gate out of the mushroom forest, Xuan Hao felt a hint of nervousness as he understood that the situation would only continue to get worse the longer, he delayed.

Not only would the immortal mushrooms continue to get stronger with each passing second, but there was also a chance that the two remaining immortal mushrooms would show up and join them in blocking his way out of the mushroom forest.

Whoosh-!

With that in mind, Xuan Hao decided to take his chance and try to forcibly break through the barrier created by the two immortal mushrooms before they got too strong for him to deal with.

Sneaking up on them wouldn't work as the space around them was sealed and made it impossible for him to approach without being noticed due to his speed slowing down significantly without the ability to use the Dao of Space.

Not that it would mean that much considering that the roots and tendrils blocking the gate were still there. Making it impossible to just slip past them without first cutting through them.

Of course, there was one thing he would have been able to avoid if he could teleport right next to the roots blocking the gate… And that was the attack he would be facing from the two immortal mushrooms before reaching the sealed off gate.

Rumble-!

Something that came in the form of both the immortal mushrooms shaking violently, as countless spores emerged from them before beginning to float towards him with a terrifying momentum. Far surpassing the numbers of the single immortal mushroom that he had to deal with.

In numbers alone, the spores in the air easily numbered in the tens of billions, while the ground around the immortal mushrooms was torn open as countless roots and tendrils sprung up from the ground and turned the landscape into a living forest of mushroom roots and tendrils.

Even if he had ben somewhat aware of what he was going to face, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine as he saw the combined power of the two immortal mushrooms who were still only around the Middle Stage of the Dao Seed Realm in terms of strength.

If they really managed to reach a realm comparable to the Late Stage of the Dao Seed Realm before he had the chance to escape from the mushroom forest, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to escape given just how terrifying these immortal mushrooms were. Especially considering that he didn't have the ability to harm them in the slightest and could only do his best to fend off against their attacks while trying to reach the gate out of the mushroom forest.

Swish-!

With this in mind, Xuan Hao didn't hesitate as he coated the silver sword given to him by Yi Min in his sword intent before starting to cut away at the first few of the roots and tendrils that came for him.

Not wasting any time as he continued moving through the temporary tendril and root forest that had been created. Heading straight towards the gate without any hesitation. Knowing that any time wasted would only result in the immortal mushrooms becoming stronger and more difficult to break through.

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

Whoosh-!

It was just at this moment that the first few spores descended towards him from above with a speed and power that seemed to have surpassed the first few spores he had dealt with-

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Luckily, the spores had not yet managed to gather together in large enough numbers that it would result in him being forced to a stop, as he could still use his dao domain to force his way through them.

Although… Doing this was far more exhausting compared to dealing with them while standing still, he couldn't afford to stand still, as it would only result in him being overwhelmed by the combined might of the two immortal mushrooms who could produce more than enough spores to overwhelm him in a short period of time.

As a result from this, even though it exhausted a large portion of his strength, Xuan Hao managed to successfully reach the gate that had been blocked off by the two immortal mushrooms before they had the chance to force him to a standstill.

A chance that Xuan Hao didn't intend to waste, as he gathered most of his remaining strength together and executed a single sword strike towards the roots and tendrils sealing up the gate out of the mushroom forest. Using his sword intent to fully unleash the power of the sword soul realm. Merging his sword soul together with the sword for the first time in actual combat-

Swish~

As a result, a terrifying sword slash swept towards the tendrils and roots blocking the gate leading out of the mushroom forest-

BOOOOOOM-!

Soon enough colliding with them and causing a terrifying shockwave to spread through the surrounding landscape, as the terrifying power of the sword slash and the power of the two immortal mushrooms collided violently with each other.

Unexpectedly, the roots and tendrils created by the two immortal mushrooms were far more powerful than the ones that had sprung up from thew ground to attack him as he got closer to the gate-

Crack~

Bang!

But even then, they didn't manage to hold on for more than a few seconds under the terrifying sword slash that essentially contained all of Xuan Hao's remaining strength, a gamble to try and forcibly break through the two immortal mushrooms before they had the chance to grow too strong for him to even resist.

Whoosh-!

In the end, the gamble worked out, as Xuan Hao took the opportunity while the roots and tendrils around the gate had been destroyed to slip through the gate before the two immortal mushrooms had a chance to seal it up again.

After all, he had no strength left to continue his fight against the immortal mushrooms…