Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Chapter 1644: Ninth Celestial Gate, A Broken Gate (1)

As Chu Yang was rapidly improving his Dao of the Spear through constant battles in the Eastern Central Region, back in the mystic realm, Xuan Hao arrived in front of the ninth celestial gate.

However, different from the eighth celestial gate that looked intact on the outside and didn’t seem to have suffered any damage, the ninth celestial gate looked the worst of all the celestial gates he had encountered so far.

Not only had the celestial gate collapsed backwards and was now facing the sky, but a large chunk of the celestial gate had also been blown off.

If not for the fact that the gate itself remained open and he could sense the familiar spatial fluctuations, he would have thought that the celestial gate had already been destroyed completely and was no longer working.

Of course, even if it might still be functioning to some extent, it was clear that entering the ninth celestial gate was going to be incredibly dangerous even with his current strength. After all, with how badly damaged the celestial gate was, it was clear that the spatial passages that would take him to the celestial trial inside were likely to have been damaged as well. Increasing the likelihood of him running into a spatial anomaly or a spatial storm along the way.

Even if his strength and comprehension was strong enough to ensure his own safety even inside a minor spatial storm, he would end up dead if he ran into a large-scale spatial storm. The reason being that it would not only be far stronger, but more importantly, it would be far more difficult for him to find his way out with his current comprehension of the Dao of Space.

Last time around, he had mostly been lucky that the spatial storm he had encountered was a small one that allowed him to find his way out before he had to face the full might of said spatial storm.

From back then, while his strength had increased, his comprehension of the Dao of Space remained the same. Even if he might have the strength to survive longer inside a spatial storm, it ultimately wouldn’t matter if he was unable to find his way out…

"I really hope the spatial passage to the celestial trial for the Early Stage of the Sea Formation Realm is still intact." Muttering this to himself as he flew down before stopping directly above the celestial gate, Xuan Hao extended his divine sense down towards the celestial gate to get a better idea of the spatial passages connected to the gate through the spatial fluctuations without forcibly entering the celestial gate with his divine sense.

Although this was flawed and would only really give him an idea as to any spatial storms had formed inside the celestial gate, it did allow him to gauge the general situation, as more spatial storms would mean that more of the spatial passages had collapsed or been cut off partially.

"Indeed… The internal situation isn’t much better than the outside situation. From the strong spatial fluctuations, it even seems like a large-scale spatial storm has formed somewhere inside…" Narrowing both his eyes as he got a general idea of the situation, Xuan Hao could not help feeling frowning to himself. Understanding that entering the ninth celestial gate would indeed run the risk of him falling into a larger spatial storm.

Given that he wasn’t really pressed for time now that he had managed to break through to the Sea Formation Realm, he should just give up on entering the ninth celestial gate for now and wait until he became stronger to ensure that he wouldn’t end up throwing away his life.

But…

The situation inside the ninth celestial gate didn’t allow this, as he could clearly sense that the larger spatial storm inside the ninth celestial gate was growing with each passing second at an accelerated speed.

If things continued like they were now, it wouldn’t be long before the spatial storm grew large enough to directly destroy the ninth celestial gate from the inside. At which point, there wouldn’t really be a way for him to complete the celestial trial inside, as it would have been destroyed alongside the celestial gate.

"So… If I don’t complete the celestial trial now, I will miss the opportunity to do so. At which point the main quest will be considered to have failed…" Muttering this to himself, Xuan Hao decided to bring up the system to take a closer look at the quest. After all, as far as he was aware there wasn’t any time limit on the quest, but with the situation in front of him, it was clear that there was a time limit to completing the ninth celestial trial, one that was about to run out.

[Main Quest: The Ten Celestial Trials]

[Description: Having gained the celestial compass, you can now track down the remaining celestial trials inside the mystic realm. Complete all the celestial trials.]

[Celestial Trials Completed: 8/10]

[Reward: Increase comprehension of the Dao of Space, ???]

[Note: If celestial trials are destroyed before completion, other celestial trials outside the mystic realm can be completed.]

"…"

Reading through the new note that had appeared at the end of the quest, Xuan Hao could not help taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

Looking for another celestial gate outside the mystic realm? How long would that take? Not to mention, he didn’t have any clue where to even look in the first place nor whether those other celestial gates would even be intact when he found them!

From the looks of things, if he didn’t plan to have the main quest remain uncompleted potentially forever, he would have to enter the ninth celestial gate and complete the celestial trial inside before the celestial gate was destroyed by the growing spatial storm.

At the very least, when sensing the situation inside the celestial gate, he had clearly noticed that the spatial storm wasn’t close to the starting point of the spatial passages. Meaning that he would be able to sense it ahead of time and have the chance to react before ending up inside the spatial storm.

Whoosh~

With that in mind, Xuan Hao didn’t hesitate any longer, as he allowed himself to fall into the celestial gate below. Soon enough feeling the spatial energies of the gate warping around him before sending him through one of the countless spatial passages that the celestial gate was connected to.

However, different from past times he had entered a celestial gate, he clearly felt himself being scanned by the celestial gate before being sent off. Showing just how damaged the celestial gate was, as he could now sense its presence when it evaluated his strength and where to send him.

The process even lasted long enough for him to clearly sense the situation of the spatial passage he was being sent through. Allowing him to understand that the spatial passage was safe and fully intact, a rather surprising and unexpected outcome considering the current state of the celestial gate.

Although, outside of allowing him to sense the perfect state of the spatial passage he was now moving through, he had also been able to briefly see the spatial storm that he had sensed from the outside… And only one word could describe it, terrifying.

Even being far away from the spatial storm, he could easily feel its terrifying spatial powers that expanded at a visible speed and ripped through everything in its path.

Comparing the spatial storm inside the ninth celestial gate to the one he had encountered earlier on and managed to find his way out of was simply like comparing a mortal to a Profound Immortal Realm cultivator. Completely incomparable.

Even with his strength in the Sea Formation Realm and his comprehension of the Dao of Space reaching the Perfection Realm, Xuan Hao understood instinctively that entering that kind of spatial storm would only result in death.

However, even with this terrifying spatial storm that seemed to swallow everything in its path, Xuan Hao also sensed that it was being forcibly restrained by the power of the celestial gate, limiting the speed at which it could grow. Making him even more aware of just how powerful a celestial gate was.

But… At the same time, it also made him fear the massive spatial storm more, as he understood that it would most likely soon break free these restraints and destroy the celestial gate in the process.

Not just that, but from the glimpse he got of the current situation, it was clear that this wasn’t something far off in the future, but something that was about to happen at any moment. Meaning that it would be for the best to complete the celestial trial as fast as possible and get out of the celestial gate before the spatial storm overwhelmed it.

After all, outside of the spatial passages inside the celestial gate, there were also countless trial spaces that were similarly at risk of being consumed by the expanding spatial storm…