Having only one path forward in front of him, Xuan Hao brought the two Void Integration Realm cultivators along with him as he began making his way deeper into the creepy forest in the direction of the altar or temple he had seen earlier in the core area of the creepy forest. Making sure to move a bit slower to first check out how well his divine sense and soul would be able to fight back against the soul eroding power of the creepy forest before slowly speeding up his movement speed alongside the two Void Integration Realm cultivators after realizing that the soul eroding force that seemed omnipresent within the creepy forest and was in turn unavoidable, wasn’t strong enough to pose any real threat to him.
Even while keeping the two Void Integration Realm cultivators protected, the soul eroding force didn’t place much pressure nor strain on his soul.
The only somewhat worrying aspect was the fact that the strength of the soul eroding force seemed to be slowly increasing over time.
And not the kind that increased the deeper into the creepy forest he went.
Instead, the soul eroding power seemed to be growing based on how long he had spent inside the creepy forest itself.
Maybe because of this, the soul eroding force he had to guard the two Void Integration Realm cultivators against was far more powerful than what he found himself facing off against.
If things developed naturally according to the growth of the soul eroding force that the two Void Integration Realm cultivators faced, he would at least have another ten or so minutes before it reached their level and even then, it wouldn’t have reached the point of posing any real threat to him.
In a way, he could make full use of these two Void Integration Realm cultivators to test out the upper limits of the soul eroding power of the creepy forest and see if it was something he could handle or not. Giving him a general idea about how long he had left within the creepy forest before the soul eroding power overwhelmed him.
As for the fate of the two Void Integration Realm cultivators, he had ended up teaming up with... Well... He didn’t care that much about whether they lived or not and had mainly brought them along to increase his own safety. If that safety came in the form of them testing out the strength of the soul eroding force for him, then there was not much he could do about it but hope that they had come up with some way to resist the soul eroding force by the time he ended up unable to resist the soul eroding pressure for the two of them through his divine sense.
After all, if they could resist it on their own even without his assistance from the side, they would give him precious insight into the inner workings of the soul eroding force, as resisting through normal means by relying on a powerful soul like he was doing was impossible for Void Integration Realm cultivators like themselves whose soul was far weaker than even someone at the Dao Seed Realm.
Unaware of Xuan Hao’s silent encouragement for them to find a way to survive the soul eroding power that was slowly becoming stronger with each passing second on their own, the two Void Integration Realm cultivators cautiously followed Xuan Hao as he made his way deeper inside the creepy forest.
For obvious reasons, both were nervous knowing the deadly situation they found themselves in, but at the same time, they also felt a sense of growing excitement thinking that they might have somehow entered the true inheritance grounds of the old creator of Desolate River City. After all, the odd location in the middle of the deadly river of spatial current along with the different deadly challenges they had encountered along the way made them guess this might be the final challenge before they got to the inheritance.
The only one who didn’t think this way was Xuan Hao, who was convinced that the old master of that palace and in turn also the creator of Desolate River City, the ancient city center and the palace complex, was still very much alive.
Instead, his thoughts turned more towards this small island in the middle of the chaotic river of spatial currents from outside the fragmented continent being some kind of primary anchor for the formation that had created and stabilized the river of spatial currents and allowed them to flow freely through the fragmented continent without harming it.
The reason behind this didn’t just have to do with his belief that there wasn’t some kind of ancient inheritance waiting for them inside the palace complex, but also because he had long since realized that the formation that guided the chaotic spatial currents outside was connected to the island in some way.
Not that surprising given how without such a connection, there was no way the island in the middle of the chaotic spatial currents would have survived, let alone given birth to a forest of creepy trees that was very much alive from what he could sense even without there being a single leaf on their branches.
Speaking of those creepy trees, though his first guess upon seeing them and learning about the soul eroding power was that these trees were the culprits behind it, he now had the opportunity to observe them up close for some time and understood that the soul eroding power shouldn’t have come from these trees but instead came from something deep inside the forest.
Something he had a feeling was somehow related to the altar or temple he had seen earlier.
For the trees themselves, outside of looking creepy, there wasn’t anything special about them outside of their unique ability to absorb faint traces of spiritual qi from the chaotic spatial currents floating by above. Using their branches to absorb this faint spiritual qi from the air to sustain themselves.
In fact, the leafless appearance of these trees didn’t have much to do with it being their natural appearance, but more so the fact that they had been forced to adapt to an environment without any spiritual qi for them to absorb. Forcing them to turn into their current naked, leafless selves.
Whoosh~
Feeling a bit curious about what these trees would look like in a spiritually rich environment, he decided to grab a few of them after having confirmed they were safe. Much to the confusion of the two Void Integration Realm cultivators who had no clue what he was doing. Not that he gave a damn what they thought about him taking a few trees.
Still, grabbing those few trees made him feel a bit sad about his current situation. Understanding that the only real way for him to bring those trees out with him along with the other stuff he had picked up throughout the fragmented continent would be for him to get back to the entrance of the twenty ninth floor where he had originally entered this floor of the tower, something that was looking increasingly unlikely now that he had thrown into the middle of this vast river of chaotic spatial currents that he had no way to cross with his own strength.
His only hope in getting out was that the altar or temple at the core of this leafless forest had a teleportation formation that connected back to Desolate River City, though... He felt that was unlikely. Especially because the soul eroding power that the two Void Integration Realm cultivators faced seemed to have ushered in an explosive growth and had by now reached the point where he was starting to find it difficult to resist.
The only positive was the fact that the soul eroding power he faced didn’t explosively increase and grew at a normal pace. Signaling to him that this explosive growth was something natural he would likely also end up facing if he was exposed to the soul eroding power for long enough.
"This... How did it grow so powerful!?"
"..."
Of course, though Xuan Hao helped isolate them from the soul eroding pressure by bearing it himself, the two Void Integration Realm cultivators could still sense the strength of the soul eroding power trying to break past the divine sense engulfing them. Noticing immediately when the soul eroding power suddenly decided to rapidly increase in strength before glancing towards Xuan Hao nervously.
"It’s fine, I can still handle it, we should be at that temple or altar in another few minutes and the source of this soul eroding power should come from there. Giving us a chance to potentially destroy it." Knowing just what these two were thinking about, Xuan Hao calmly spoke out and reassured the two before refocusing their attention back towards the matter at hand as the core of the leafless forest soon entered their view.
Allowing everyone to get a clear look of what Xuan Hao had only seen from afar for the first time up close.
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