Chapter 1285 Back at the Third Celestial Gate
Reaching the third gate leading to the third celestial trial where he had encountered the elder from the Mirage Sect, Xuan Hao didn't directly enter the celestial gate. Instead stopping to observe it from a few meters away with a somewhat surprised expression on his face.
Different from the other two celestial gates that were completely stable even though they had been attacked, the third celestial gate had some unstable elements to it.
Although it was far too small for him to have noticed when he had first passed through the third celestial gate. Now that his strength had increased, he could sense that the damage done to the third celestial gate during the battle that had happened in the past was far more severe than the other two celestial gates.
Not just that, but it was clear that most of this damage had affected the spatial structure of the celestial gate.
It was only by sheer luck that his strength hadn't been at level that would take him through one of these damaged spatial passages, or he might very well have ended up dead before he even had the chance to reach the third celestial trial and meet the elder from the Mirage Sect…
The reason why he remained stationary in front of the third celestial gate was that he had no idea if the spatial passage leading to the location of the exchange hall inside the third celestial gate was among the spatial passages that had been damaged.
Something that wasn't hard to imagine considering that the exchange hall shouldn't originally have been inside the trial space he ended up inside of, but instead inside a space similar to the ones of first and second celestial trials.
So… Should I give up on trying to enter the third celestial gate?
Thinking this to himself as he stared at the celestial gate in front of him with a hint of hesitation on his face, Xuan Hao tried to use his divine sense to try and investigate the spatial passages on the other side of the gate.
However, even if the celestial gate didn't seem to stop him from trying to investigate the spatial passages connected to it, his current understanding of the Dao of Space was far too shallow.
In the end, the only thing he ended up learning, was that although a lot of the spatial passages had been damaged to some extent, it didn't mean that they would end up killing him, as the passages themselves were still in place.
Given his current comprehension of the Dao of Space, he should be more than capable of ensuring that he didn't end up falling out of any of these damaged parts along the way.
The only real danger was the spatial passages that had been fully torn apart at one point and were slowly being chipped away at by spatial storms at an incredibly slow pace due to the durability of these spatial passages.
In total, less than a single percent of the spatial passages had ended up in such a situation, but from the power he could sense through them, he understood that his current strength was far from enough to survive the spatial storms on the other side of these spatial passages.
No matter how low the chance of encountering one of these spatial channels might be, Xuan Hao had no plans of taking an unnecessary risk that might cost him his life just to try and figure out how the exchange hall might have ended up inside one of the trial spaces. Especially considering that he could always come back in the future after his comprehension of the Dao of Space increased and investigate the situation when he didn't need to risk his life.
At least that was what Xuan Hao planned to do after he investigated the different spatial passages connected to the celestial gate…
Rumble~
Unfortunately, he didn't realize that forcibly using his divine sense to investigate the inner workings of the celestial gate had ended up triggering a security mechanism inside the celestial gate, causing a terrifying to lock on to him before dragging him inside the third celestial gate. Not giving him any chance to resist as he soon found himself travelling through one of the spatial passages.
Although the celestial gate didn't stop his divine sense earlier, it shouldn't have been because it allowed him to investigate it, but more so that the celestial gate's inner workings had been damaged to the point that its response had been delayed and only acted a few seconds after he had used his divine sense.
On the bright side, the spatial passage in question hadn't sustained any damage and allowed him to safely move through it without having to fear being pushed into a spatial storm and ripped apart…
Bang!
Being thrown to the ground the next second, Xuan Hao was once again reminded that it wasn't the time to be happy about his circumstances, as he jumped up to take in his new surroundings.
A grand hall comparable to the size of a single exchange hall- Or that was at least what it should have been, as what Xuan Hao saw was just a pile of spiritual rocks and other metals that had long since broken down.
All located on a similar piece of floating land as the exchange hall, with the only difference from the exchange halls being that the battle that had taken place at the grand hall had clearly been far more damaging, with space itself having been torn apart. Leaving mile long holes in the ruins that had an even more terrifying aura lingering around it compared to the one he encountered in the first celestial trail's exchange hall.
However, out of all of this, the main thing Xuan Hao focused his attention on was a familiar looking golem that slowly dragged its barely functioning body towards him amidst the ruins.
"A preservation golem?"
Indeed, this golem was none other than one of the preservation golems he had seen for the first time inside the exchange hall of the third celestial trial.
From what he knew about these golems, they served the simple purpose of ensuring that the celestial trial kept functioning, while also preventing any trial participants from moving somewhere they shouldn't, an example being the preservation golem he had met stopping him from entering the exchange hall and triggering the protective formation there.
"Does it perhaps have any idea why I ended up here?" Muttering this to himself as he watched the preservation golem slowly getting closer to him, Xuan Hao began to cautiously approach it while making sure to keep as wide a distance as possible to any of the places where space had been directly torn apart by some kind of terrifying power.
Soon enough, finding himself standing in front of the preservation golem that stopped moving after seeing that he was directly in front of it.
"Greetings tier three trial participant, you have been found in breach of the rules regarding interference of celestial gate spatial passages. Normal punishment, 500 years solitude cultivation in the trial space, Empty Peak. Punishment invalid. Reason, tier three trial participant has been granted temporary elder status. The case has been forwarded to Grand Elder Li Meng.
Grand Elder Li Meng will oversee the case and meet out proper punishment, as automatic punishment cannot be met out against a temporary elder. Tier three trial participant. Please proceed forward and await judgement from Grand Elder Li Meng."
Not wasting any time as it began speaking in a similar fashion as the first preservation golem he had encountered, Xuan Hao quietly listened as it soon finished talking and did its best to point towards somewhere behind it.
Likely the place where the Grand Elder Li Meng that it had just mentioned should have been located under normal circumstances before this place had been destroyed.
In the end, the place that the preservation golem was pointing had no Grand Elder Li Meng. Instead, the entire space of the place where it pointed had been violently torn apart, as a horrifying aura permeated the place.
Even looking directly towards it for a split second caused a terrifying pain to erupt in the depth of his soul.
Just looking at the remnants of what should have undoubtedly been the starting location of a battle between terrifying existences beyond the Profound Immortal Realm caused him to recoil in pain, as part of the remnant will almost ended up damaging his soul just now.
If he really proceeded forward like the preservation golem told him to do, he feared that he wouldn't be judged by some Grand Elder Li Meng but would instead end up being torn apart by what remained from the ancient battle that should have started inside the ruined grand hall that he now found himself inside of.
With this in mind, Xuan Hao focused his attention back on the preservation golem again, curious and fearful about what might happen if he didn't follow along with what it said, as he knew that it might be capable of triggering some formation that would force him to cooperate…
