1103 One Year

"Everything is going well so far, the only problem is the fact that the city is far too small to accommodate such a large influx of people."

Watching the large number of young people walking around the city talking among each other with excited expressions on their faces, Elder Song could not help letting out a sigh of regret as he glanced over towards the overcrowded inns and hotels. 

Even with him ordering a large protein of the sect's elders and disciples to go out and build up some temporary places for these young people to stay in while waiting for the first tests to begin, there was still a large number of them who had nowhere to stay and were forced to camp outside the city on their own.

All of this was an oversight on his part, as he had at most expected around a hundred thousand to show up. Nowhere near the two hundred thousand currently present in the city. Not to mention that the number of young people entering the city was still increasing, to the extent that it wouldn't be surprising if there ended up being a quarter million young people by the time the tests officially began.

Because of this, Elder Song had even gone as far as recalling some of the more experienced elders currently not in the main sect to ensure that the assessments of the large number of young people went smoothly, while also being ready to take some of the less talented people to populate the different branch sects.

In the end, Elder Song was prepared to recruit a total of 2000 people for the main sect, while another ten thousand would have the opportunity to join one of the branch sects. This way, the Star Shattering Sect should avoid losing too many talented young people, who just happened to not cross the mark and be ranked within the top two thousand.

"Now that I think about it, today marks a year since Xuan Hao left the sect, I wonder when he will return again and how much stronger he will have grown…" Suddenly remembering Xuan Hao as he gazed down at the large number of young people excited at the possibility of joining the Star Shattering Sect, Elder Song could not help saying this out loud.

Although it had already been a year since Xuan Hao left and his disciples had started to get worried about their master, Elder Song didn't feel too worried about anything happening to Xuan Hao. After all, he was already someone in the Soul Ascension Realm and was more than strong enough to keep himself safe.

Instead of that, he was looking forward to what kind of surprise he might bring back with him. Part of him hoped that it would be something that could help improve the strength of the entire sect, like the Codex of the First Four Mortal Realms that he had brought back in the past.

Even though only a simplified version of the codex had been made available to most of the sect's elders, the change it had brought to the Star Shattering Sect had still been astronomical, causing the strength of all the disciples to increase, while also increasing the number and strength of the Nascent Soul Realm Elders in the sect.

"Haaa… Shouldn't hope for too much, he already brought back the Domain Lord Realm version of that codex, so the sect should be fine until Peak Domain Lord Realm Experts start appearing…" Shaking his head as he dispelled his somewhat greedy thoughts, Elder Song returned to observing the flow of young people in the city below while contemplating how to best conduct the upcoming tests and trials.

…

At the same time that Elder Song was busy preparing for the recruitment of new disciples, Xuan Hao opened his eyes inside a small hidden cave inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts as his gaze landed on the body of a dead illusory beast in the process of dispersing on the ground beside him-

Whoosh~

Disappearing the next second. Leaving no traces other than the small motes of light containing the last bit of power that had drifted off the body of the illusory beast before it had disappeared.

"How curious…" Whispering this to himself as he observed the small motes of light from the now gone illusory beasts slowly drifting away before similarly disappearing, Xuan Hao slowly began stretching his body before standing up after over two weeks immersed in the Dao of Illusions.

The past two weeks allowed his Dao of Illusions the chance to take another step forward towards the Large Success Realm, but at the same time also worsening the effects of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts.

If he wanted to reach the Large Success Realm of the Dao of Illusions, he had a feeling that he would eventually be forced to first take down an illusory beast in the Earth Immortal Realm, something that he didn't think was anywhere near possible with his current strength.

After all, even if the Dao of Illusions provided him with an advantage when it came to fighting against the illusory beasts, it was far from enough to allow him to fight against an illusory beast in the Earth Immortal Realm, let alone kill one! 

"Hm… I might try and search for more powerful illusory beasts for now and see if they make any difference. If they really don't work, I will have to either find a way to kill an illusory beast in the Earth Immortal Realm or find another way to increase my comprehension of the Dao of Illusions to the Large Success Realm." Muttering this to himself as he turned to look at the few illusory beasts in the Domain Lord Realm that had surrounded him after feeling the presence of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast disappear, Xuan Hao casually waved his hand and used his dao domain to send them flying before they had a chance to attack him.

Roooaaaar-!

As the small group of Domain Lord Realm illusory beasts were knocked flying, it did not take long before a loud roar echoed out from the distance before Xuan Hao felt several Soul Ascension Realm illusory beasts rapidly approaching his location.

"Looks like its time for me to leave before I end up getting swarmed…" Narrowing both his eyes as he remembered how Chu Li had been surrounded in the past after his battle with a Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time before using his Drifting Cloud Steps to teleport away.

…

Whoosh~

"Huh? Senior! I have been searching all over for you!"

As he appeared out of thin air far away from the place where he had been absorbing the insights of the dead illusory beast after five minutes, Xuan Hao was just about to take another step forward in the direction of place with a powerful Peak Soul Ascension Realm illusory beast when a certain someone appeared in front of him…

"Chu Li… Is there a problem?" Knowing that it wouldn't be too good to just up and run away the moment he encountered him, Xuan Hao decided to turn around and face Chu Li with a questioning expression on his face.

"Ah… Actually… This junior has a somewhat selfish request and was wondering if senior would be able to share some of his insights into the Dao of Illusions. If senior is willing, this junior will never forget the favor and will make sure to return it in the future!" 

Hesitating for a short moment when faced with the questioning look, Chu Li ultimately built up enough courage to ask him about the thing he had wanted to ask him since their last conversation. Understanding that he had nothing to really give a senior in the Earth Immortal realm outside of a promise to return the favor in the future.

"…"

Different from the hesitation of Chu Li who was filled with anticipation at the answer from the person he perceived as a senior in the Dao of Illusions, the senior in question was left feeling like he had been caught between a rock and a hard place.

Although he could refuse Chu Li's request with the excuse that he had other things to attend to, he also understood that doing this might result in the other party growing suspicious of him. 

After all, handing out a few pointers normally didn't take more than a few minutes, so most seniors would be more than happy to spend a few minutes guiding a junior. Especially if the junior was someone talented on the brink of reaching the Earth Immortal Realm…

 "Sure, show me what you got, and I will give you a few pointers."

For this reason, Xuan Hao reluctantly agreed with Chu Li's request. Praying to himself that his powerful talent had allowed his comprehension of the Dao of Illusions to surpass Chu Li enough that he could at least give him a few suggestions on where to improve. 

Even if these suggestions might not help Chu Li a lot with his Dao of Illusions, they would still be helpful and could thus keep up the façade of him being a senior…