971 Elder of the Mirage Sect...?



Creaaaak~!

Following the change in the sandstone door, the golem pushed open the door to reveal a dark and empty hallway before walking over to stand in front of the now far more awe-inspiring sandstone doors like a solemn guard.

"The elder is waiting on the other side, please remain respectful to avoid possible penalties." Saying this, the golem motioned for him to enter the dark hallway before falling silent.

  Looks like I will have to go the rest of the way myself…

Seeing how the golem was motioning him to continue inside the eerie and dark hallway that had been revealed on the other side of the sandstone door, Xuan Hao could not help hesitating for a moment as he felt a sense of unease upon seeing the dark hallway.

Different from the rest of the underground structure that had remained lit up by some sort of magical crystals placed along the sides and ceiling of the structure, the dark and eerie hallway had none of these. Not only that, but there seemed to be some sort of dark mist oozing out from the side of the hallway. Making it even more creepy and eerie than it already was.

Whoosh~

However, after a quick scan of the dark mist and hallway, he soon realized that there was nothing dangerous about the dark mist that shrouded the hallway.

Maybe it's an aesthetic choice of the elder in charge of this place? After all, he might be someone who found it fun to show off his might to the trial participants who come to ask him for guidance…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao stepped into the dark and eerie hallway before making his way towards the barely visible pair of doors at the end of the hallway-

BANG! 

However, the moment he stepped inside the dark hallway, the large pair of sandstone doors slammed shut behind him. Plunging the entire hallway into darkness. 

"This…"

Taken by surprise, Xuan Hao froze for a short moment before calming down, it was most likely that the preservation golem had closed the door behind him due to the fact that it was still operating as if nothing had happened to the Exchange Hall.

At least given that everything still worked like normal with other trial participants present in the trial space, it only made sense for the golem to close the door behind him as other trial participants might need to use the rest of the Exchange Hall where the secret techniques were located.

Although he understood this logic and would not have a problem navigating in complete darkness with his current cultivation realm, it was still not a nice feeling to have the sandstone doors slam shut behind him.

"Hopefully I will be able to leave this place without the help of an elder…" Not bothering to try and push up the large pair of sandstone doors now covered in all sorts of ancient symbols, Xuan Hao began making his way deeper inside the dark hallway. 

Swish~

Taking only a short time to reach the pair of doors located at the end of the hallway.

"Hm?"

However, the moment he was about to open the pair of doors, a shiver ran down his spine as he felt a terrifying aura lock on to him from the other side of the doors. Even with his strength at the Intermediate Stage of the Dao Domain Lord Realm, the terrifying aura instantly rendered him unable to take a single step.

The elder in charge of the trial space is not dead?!

Feeling the terrifying aura rendering him unable to move at all, a terrifying thought appeared in his head as he looked towards the pair of doors in front of him filled with fear. Although the owner of the terrifying aura had not said anything yet, Xuan Hao already felt his imagination run wild as he shivered in fear in front of the closed pair of doors.

Even his encounter with the cloud demon beast in the Earth Immortal Realm had been nowhere near as terrifying as running into an elder from an ancient sect that had possibly surpassed the Earth Immortal Realm!

"…"

However, as a few minutes turned into hours in front of the closed pair of doors and nothing ended up happening, Xuan Hao slowly regained some sense of control over his body and mind under the terrifying pressure.

Using all of his strength, he slowly made his way out of the small area in front of the door, that was within the range of the terrifying aura-

Thump!

And two long hours of taking a meager three steps backwards did Xuan Hao manage to escape the range of the terrifying aura, as he directly collapsed on the ground covered in sweat with a fearful expression still plastered all over his face.

Why isn't the elder appearing…?

Only after somewhat recovering from what he had just gone through, did he realize that the elder who should have been responsible for the terrifying aura was nowhere to be seen. 

Given that he had now spent a little under six hours in front of the pair of doors, this was a rather odd situation. After all, the elder should have long since known about his presence even before he had made his way inside the sandstone tower and down into the Exchange Hall…

How odd…

Feeling that something was wrong, Xuan Hao could not help curiously looking towards the pair of doors that the elder should be located behind. 

Maybe the terrifying aura is not from the elder in charge of the trial, but instead something different like the core of the formation, with the strength of the formation, it would very likely have a terrifying aura far stronger than that of the cloud demon beast!

Thinking about this, Xuan Hao felt that this made far more sense than the elder of the Mirage Sect still being alive on the other side of the door. The only problem with this, was that he now had to find a way through the terrifying aura that rendered him almost completely unable to move…