630 Restriction
Whoosh~
Knowing that he was in danger, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time using the Drifting Clouds Steps to moved away from the small temple he was just about to enter.
Boom-!
Not a second later, a familiar golden palm smashed into the small temple. Instantly destroying it along with everything inside of it.
…
Escaping to a safe distance away from the ancient temple, Xuan Hao glanced up towards the top of the ancient temple with a doubtful expression on his face.
The golden palm that had been sent down from the top of the ancient temple was not hard to dodge and the power had also been far lower than when he had first exchanged blows with the existence on top of the ancient temple.
The terrifying sensation that had caused him to escape thinking that it was a powerful attack heading towards him, had very clearly not originated from the golden palm, but had come from something different…
No matter what, the current situation was clear to Xuan Hao. The golden palm attack was not aimed at him, but the small temple he was just about to enter.
Obviously, a certain someone did not want him to take away the things inside the small temple… But if that was the case, why had he not been stopped when going through the other small temples around the ancient temple?
Perhaps… There was something important present inside the small temple…
Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao used his divine sense to search through what remained of the small temple after having been violently destroyed by the golden palm just a few seconds earlier.
"Hm? One of the ancient scrolls actually survived…?" Scanning through the ruins of what had once been a small temple, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes upon spotting a small, still intact ancient scroll buried beneath the rubble.
Even if the golden palm attack that destroyed the temple was weaker than the two other attacks, he had experienced from that person so far, it was still more than enough to kill an ordinary Domain Lord, let alone a few ancient scrolls and texts that had existed for thousands of years.
The fact that rubble still remained from the small temple was amazing enough, yet now one of the ancient scrolls inside the temple had also ended up surviving the golden palm attack…
No matter what, Xuan Hao did not take long to realize that this scroll was most likely the reason why that person had destroyed the small temple.
However, if that was the case… Why not use a stronger attack to destroy the ancient scroll? Or perhaps, that person could not destroy the ancient scroll and wanted to try and hide it away under the rubble of the small temple. Hoping that he would not find it?
As all sorts of different thoughts ran through his mind, Xuan Hao soon spotted a small tentacle like hand slowly extending out from the ancient temple towards the small temple with the ancient scroll hidden below the rubble.
"…"
Not showing any reaction to this, Xuan Hao could not help marvelling over the small hand sneakily extending towards the ancient scroll buried below the rubble of the small temple.
The main reason why he was so amazed by this small hand was not due to it showing that the ancient scroll hidden below the rubble was indeed something precious, but the fact that the small hand was completely invisible to his divine sense!
The more he learned about the existence on top of the ancient temple, the more cautious he felt towards this unknown existence who seemed to have all sorts of unique and wonderous techniques at hand. From a way to subtly influence his mind, to the small hand invisible to his divine sense.
For some odd reason, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the existence hidden away inside the ancient temple was far more dangerous than he had first thought. The different unique techniques displayed only strengthened this belief further…
Watching as the hand extending out from the ancient temple was getting closer and closer to the ancient scroll hidden away beneath the rubble of the small temple, Xuan Hao smiled to himself before utilizing the Drifting Cloud Steps at its highest capacity without randomly teleporting around.
Whoosh-!
Seeing Xuan Hao suddenly rush forth, the hand sneakily making its way towards the rubble seemed to have realized that it had been discovered, as it similarly rushed towards the ancient scroll hidden beneath the small temple without hiding its presence.
Given that it was far closer than Xuan Hao, it would be the first to reach the rubble and get the ancient scroll hidden beneath.
Swish~
Ptsh!
At the very least, this would have been the case if Xuan Hao didn't pull out his sword and slashed down at the long snake like arm that the hand was attached to.
Screech~!
Not knowing how the hand like thing made such a sound as his sword cleanly cut through it, Xuan Hao quickly overtook the hand and grabbed hold of the ancient scroll while the cut part of the snake like arm reconnected before retreating back into the ancient temple after Xuan Hao got his hand on the ancient scroll.
"That was easier than I expected…" Muttering this to himself as he put the ancient scroll into his interspatial ring, Xuan Hao was just about to make some distance between himself and the ancient temple before checking out the ancient scroll, when a chill suddenly ran down his spine for some unknown reason.
RUMBLE-!
Feeling the terrifying sensation from earlier together with a much more violent tremors spreading across the canyon with the ancient temple at the centre, Xuan Hao was just about to escape when he suddenly felt like the space around him had been restricted by some sort of unknown power. Preventing him from escaping with the Drifting Cloud Steps
Even the random teleportation that he had started unconsciously counting on when it came to getting himself out of a dangerous situation, was not usable after the space around him had been restricted.
If he was stronger or had a better understanding of the dao of space, he would have been able to escape the restrictions.
However, the current him had no way to escape the space restrictions. Escaping could only be done by running normally. Although this was still fast, it was still far slower compared to his speed when using the Drifting Cloud Steps.
Whoosh~
Looking up into the air above him, Xuan Hao also understood that he would not have time to escape like this, as not one, but three golden palms far stronger than the ones he had encountered before was heading towards him with a speed that made it impossible for him to dodge without the help of the Drifting Cloud Steps random teleportation feature!
I will have to fight it… Won't I…?
As this realization dawned upon him, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes as he focused on the three golden palm attacks heading towards him.
Even if he could resist the three golden palm attacks, Xuan Hao was certain that it would not come without a price!
A fraction of a second after having decided to resist the attack, the three golden palms simultaneously smashed down on Xuan Hao-
Boom-boom-boom!
Meeting the power of the three golden palms head on with both his domains seemingly merging together as one to defend against the terrifying attack, Xuan Hao knew very well that his domains would not be able to defend against such a powerful attack.
The only reason he used his domains, was to buy himself enough time to put up a proper defence against the attack.
Crack~
Not even lasting for more than a few seconds, the sword domain was the first to bend under the combined might of the three golden palms, quickly followed by his ice domain that barely lasted half a second longer.
Earth Splitting!
Swish~!
Knowing the attack was just about to reach him, Xuan Hao barely managed to execute the Earth Splitting Sword from the Heaven Splitting Sword Art!
BOOOOOOOOM-!
Swoosh~!
As the power of the three golden palms and the Earth Splitting Sword collided, a shockwave was formed with them at the centre, as it spread out, sweeping through, and destroying anything and everything that was not the ancient temple!
Soon enough. Reducing what had once been a relatively intact ancient city situated around the ancient temple to rubble!
However, things did not end there, as the power contained in the shockwave created by the two attacks colliding swept into the canyon located right beside the ancient temple.
RUMBLE-!
This in turn caused the walls of the canyon to start collapsing, as tons upon tons of stones were turned to dust by the power, while even more fell into the calm river below.
Splash!
Splash!
Splash!
Before long, the river that had once been running through the canyon disappeared completely, as layers upon layers of stones and rocks covered it up.
As things slowly started calming down, the canyon had transformed into what now looked more like a valley compared to a canyon… If one could look away from the fact that rigged stones and massive holes were presents all across the bottom of this newly created 'valley'.
