951 Third Celestial Gate... Below?!



Feeling Xuan Hao's gaze, the rabbit demo beast woke up and jumped down from the tree before waltzing over with a proud expression plastered all over its small cute, furry, and cuddly face. Almost like a child looking for praise after it had done a good job.

"You did well…" Not knowing what else to say when faced with this kind of behavior, Xuan Hao took out a few spirit stones and threw it to the rabbit demon beast who happily jumped up and swallowed them before closing its eyes to absorb the spiritual energy inside the spirit stones and turn it into its own qi.

Asleep again… Oh well, it at least deserves some rest after watching over me for the past week.

Shaking his head as the rabbit demon beast once again went into a state of cultivation, Xuan Hao instead turned his attention towards the system or more specifically the side quest relating to the three celestial gates. Curious about what had changed after he passed the trial of the second celestial gate, while a small part of him was hoping that it would give him some clues as to the location of the third and final celestial gate, so he didn't have to search through the massive forest again. 

Even more so than before, as he had now ended up offending most of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts inside the forest…

[Side Quest: The Three Celestial Gates, Part 2] 

[Description: You have reached the mysterious mountain range hidden behind the mist. To uncover the secrets hidden inside the mountain range, you must find three ancient celestial gates and pass through them. So far, you have successfully passed through the First Celestial Gate, the Gate of the Eternal City and the Second Celestial Gate, the Gate of the Serpent Plains. Only the third and final Celestial Gate remains. Luckily, you happened to be teleported right on top of it after leaving the trial of the Second Celestial Gate.] 

[Objective: Seek out the Three Celestial Gates and defeat the guardians within.] 

[First Trial: Trial of the Eternal City (Complete)] 

[Second Trial: Trial of the Emerald Serpent (Complete)]

[Third Trial: ???]

[Reward: Starlight Essence] 

Reading through the description of the side quest once again after having confirmed that he had indeed successfully passed through the second trial, Xuan Hao was overjoyed to discover that there was indeed a clue about the location to the third Celestial Gate inside the description.

The only problem was that he had no idea where the Celestial Gate that he was apparently on top of was. From what he could see, the only thing beneath him was the familiar soil and foliage of the forest. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Unless the third celestial gate is located inside some kind of underground cave…

Realizing this, Xuan Hao didn't waste a second before using his divine sense to pierce into the ground beneath him in search of the cave that the third celestial gate should be located inside of.

"Huh?" 

However, after only a few dozen meters, Xuan Hao was left baffled as he discovered that there was nothing beneath him. No dirt, no stones, no cave, just a large sea of clouds that seemed never ending with similar islands like the one he was on top of appearing every now and then in this sea.

"I ended up on top of one of the mountains!?" Taking a few seconds to comprehend just what had happened, Xuan Hao could not help feeling shocked at where he had ended up after leaving the trial of the second celestial gate. 

For some reason, he now understood why none of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts had come to find him during the past week.

Even if they wanted to find him, it was unlikely that they would think of climbing up one of the terrifyingly tall mountains to do this. Even if they intended to do something like this, it would not be an easy feat to accomplish as they might end up running into a unique race similar to the weird tree race, he had encountered after leaving the trial of the first celestial gate.

Even if the demon beasts had also reached the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm, they were still far weaker when compared to the terrifying tree he had encountered back then!

But… Now I at least know why the description said that the third celestial gate was directly below me. The only problem left to solve is how to get down to the forest again…

Although he only needed to get down and not climb up the mountain, Xuan Hao still felt that doing this wouldn't be much safer than climbing up the mountain.

As for just jumping off the mountain and flying down through the sea of clouds to reach the forest below…. Xuan Hao did think about this, but quickly changed his mind after seeing a demon beast falling off the side of one of the mountain peaks into the sea of clouds before getting devoured by some kind of strange creature living inside the sea of clouds.

From the short glance he had managed to get of the creature, he understood that its strength was no less than the large tree from the weird tree race. Making the act of jumping off the mountain peak and descending down through the sea of clouds a far less appealing way of getting back down to the forest below again.

At least for now, it looked like slowly climbing his way down the mountain would be the safest way for him down.

Swoosh~

Having come to this conclusion, Xuan Hao grabbed the rabbit demon beast before starting to make his way down the tall mountain. Making sure to remember the location that was directly below the place where he had ended up after leaving the trial of the second celestial gate. 

Not bothering to question the weird shape of the mountain peak that he had ended up on during the entire process…