1116 Dao Lotus?

Using the next half month to stabilize his cultivation base at the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, Xuan Hao ended up discovering that there were far more Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts roaming around the outer region close the wooden gates than he had first expected.

Just over the past half month, he had managed to spot more than a dozen different Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts passing by inside the range of his divine sense. The number alone was more than enough to make him fearful of what might be hidden inside the deeper parts of the valley that had managed to restrain so many illusory beasts in the Earth Immortal Realm.

The more time passed, the more he came to understand just how scary the Valley of Illusory Beasts was. At the same time, he also began to understand why a power with experts above the Earth Immortal Realm had decided to give up on trying to take control of it.

The reason why they didn't keep the place and just sent in the younger geniuses of the Blue Sea Empire while the Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts were restrained in the deeper parts of the valley, was likely because they already had some kind of idea about the path potentially being blocked without showing any signs of opening after a long time, like what he was experiencing at the moment.

Even if the chance of the young geniuses not making it out in time was small, there was always a chance, a risk that the experts from the Blue Sea Empire had deemed necessary considering the fact that the Blue Sea Empire should control a lot of precious location similar to the Valley of Illusory Beasts that would be far safer than the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

After all, there was also the possibility of the thing restricting the Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts failing before any signs appeared, something that would result in the unfortunate death of the geniuses who found themselves inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

But… If that is the case, why did someone like Chu Li not know about this? Considering the fact that he is part of the Blue Sea Empire and someone close to reaching the Earth Immortal Realm, he should have been informed about something important like that…

Thinking this to himself as he observed a group of three Earth Immortal Realm illusory beasts in the shape of different large bird demon beasts, Xuan Hao could not help frowning to himself.

The more he thought about the weird state of the Valley of Illusory Beasts and how it had been abandoned by the Blue Sea Empire, the more he felt confused over the appearance of Chu Li inside the Valley of Illusory Beasts.

All things considered, someone like Chu Li should have never entered the Valley of Illusory Beasts under normal circumstance, let alone without first learning about all the dangers involved in entering the Valley of Illusory Beasts-

"Unless… Someone deliberately leaked the information about the place to him without including all the information about the place and its dangers…" Narrowing both his eyes as a frown made its way to his face, Xuan Hao suddenly realized that the situation inside the Blue Sea Empire was also troublesome in its own way.

Different from the united and powerful empire he had imagined when first entering the Blue Sea Empire and ran into the border guard and other people from the Blue Sea Empire, it looked like the situation inside the Blue Sea Empire was far more complicated.

Not only that, but from the fact that the imperial family of the Blue Sea Empire had complete control over the empire and there weren't any other powers like a powerful religion, sect or noble family influencing it, the fighting and different factions should be within the imperial family itself. 

But…

No matter how much he tried to think about it, he would ultimately not be able to make a lot of accurate guesses considering how little he had interacted with the Blue Sea Empire so far. Only ever really having seen a single city and a single branch of their government in said city. 

"Haaa… How troublesome… If we have to interact with the Blue Sea Empire when sect starts to border their territory in the future, I have to make sure Elder Song knows about this and avoids accidentally aligning with one of these factions…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while making sure to remind himself to inform Elder Song about this at some point after returning to the sect, Xuan Hao decided to not think too much about the current political situation of the Blue Sea Empire.

Well, I should check the situation inside my dantian now that my cultivation stabilized…

Whoosh~

Deciding to focus his attention on his cultivation and how the situation inside his dantian had changed since he broke through to the Late Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, Xuan Hao soon saw the situation inside his dantian.

Floating in the middle of his dantian, the closed lotus flower that had now become part of his soul was gently nurturing his soul inside. Even without doing anything, Xuan Hao could clearly feel his strength increasing.

Not only that, but he discovered that the lotus flower was divided into 6 distinct layers, each representing one of the six Daos he had comprehended, with the most prominent being the Dao of Illusions closely followed by the Dao of Space.

The reason he had not realized this back when he had broken through was simply due to the fact that the layers of the lotus flower had still been in the process of developing and had been all mixed together. Only after stabilizing his cultivation base did everything settle into place.

Outside of the closed lotus flower floating at the center of his dantian, the qi inside his dantian had also undergone a significant change, as it was forcefully condensed into a far more powerful state than before.

Even if the overall quantity of qi present didn't change much, the strength had increased several times over.

However, out of everything that happened following his breakthrough, the most surprising one was the effect all of this had on his nascent sword soul. Allowing its strength to rapidly improve alongside his soul, while at the same time unexpectedly deepening his understanding of the Dao of the Sword in the process.

Although it didn't directly allow him to break through to the Large Success Realm in the Dao of the sword, it brought him infinitely close to the realm. 

With all of these changes, Xuan Hao couldn't help pulling up his status to see just what had changed and if he could get any clue on how he would compare against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.

Name: Xuan Hao

Dao Domain: Dao of Ice (Small Success), Dao of the Sword (Small Success), Dao of Corruption (Small Success), Dao of Fire (Small Success), Dao of Space (Small Success), Dao of Illusions (Large Success Realm) 

Dao Lotus: 6 layers

Sword Intent: Peak Nascent Sword Soul Realm

Talent: ???? 

Bloodline: Three Immortals Bloodline (Half-Awakened) 

Physique: ??? (99% Awakened)

Realm: Late Stage Dao Domain Lord (Comparable to the Earth Immortal Realm, Third Layer Lotus) 

Professions: Alchemist (Artisan), Formation Master (Expert), Blacksmithing (Expert) 

Sect: Star Shattering Sect 

Status: Grand Elder of the Star Shattering Sect 

Disciples: Qing Yi, Chu Yang, Bai Ning, Mui 

Pet: Lazy Winged Lion (Peak Ninth Stage Domain Lord Realm), Rabbit Demon Beast (Fourth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm)

Dao Lotus? 6 Layers? Third Layer Lotus?

Looking through his status, outside of his Nascent Sword Soul Realm changing to the Peak Nascent Sword Soul Realm and the clear improvement in his physique that had allowed it to reach a staggering ninety-nine percent. Only a single step away from fully awakening, Xuan Hao was much more focused on the new information that had appeared in his status.

Dao Lotus and layers of a lotus… From what little information he had available, it was clear that these things were related to the Earth Immortal Realm, the only problem was that he had no idea about any of it.

For now, the most important thing he managed to pick up on from his status was the fact that he was indeed comparable to someone in the Earth Immortal Realm, someone with a third layer lotus… Whatever that meant…

"Oh well… At least I should have the strength comparable to someone in the Earth Immortal Realm now, as for the details, I should be able to ask Chu Li about it after finding a way to leave this place…" Shaking his head as he said this, Xuan Hao turned his attention away from his rather impressive status and focused his attention on the important matter at hand that had yet to be properly addressed- Finding a way out of the Valley of Illusory Beasts…