989 Wasteland
Making his way inside what was left of the forest, Xuan Hao did not take long to discover that the formation that had covered the massive forest before was no longer present. Meaning that even when entering the small part of the massive forest that was still left, he didn't end up trapping himself inside the formation again.
On the other hand, he also discovered that the spatial anomaly was still present after he made his way inside the forest. Meaning that the formation that had covered the forest before, had most likely also been responsible for keeping the spatial anomaly from affecting the forest. Now that the formation was gone, there was nothing left to stop the spatial anomaly from spreading into the forest.
I wonder just how much of the fog covered mountain range the spatial anomaly covers… Is it only this small part left of the forest, or has it also spread to the area outside the mountain range?
Turning to look back towards the crystal fish who were rapidly approaching him, Xuan Hao could not help thinking about this as he inevitably started getting a little nervous.
If the spatial anomaly had really spread and covered the entire fog covered mountain range and beyond it, he doubted that he would be able to escape from the crystal fish before he ended up running out of qi. Not to mention, on second thought, he also realized that his earlier plan of escaping into one of the celestial gates wasn't that bright of an idea, as he would inevitably have to face a powerful opponent if he did this.
Facing an opponent like Aria, the guardian of the first celestial gate, in his current condition, was nothing short of a death sentence. Not to mention the endless number of emerald snakes present inside the second trial.
As for the third… He doubted that it had managed to survive the collapse of the Exchange Hall's formation. Even if it did, it might be in a far more dangerous state than the first and second celestial gate. Especially when considering that the damage caused by the collapse of the Exchange Hall's protective formation, might have caused a malfunction to the part of the celestial gate that determined the difficulty of the challenge he would face after entering the celestial gate.
Even if he had no idea how likely any of this was, he still didn't dare think about entering the third celestial gate after realizing that he might end up being judged the same as someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…
In the end, Xuan Hao decided to try and see if he could leave the area influenced by the spatial anomaly for now and only escape into one of the celestial gates after determining that he wouldn't be able to escape from the influence of the spatial anomaly before he ran out of qi or the colossal crystal fish managed to catch up to him.
Squeak!
Unaware of the dangerous situation and chaotic thoughts racing through Xuan Hao's head as he tried finding other ways that he might be able to escape from the crystal fish chasing after him, the rabbit demon beast who had ended up becoming a new target for the crystal fish in question escaped from Xuan Hao's sleeve as it began complaining about the fact that Xuan Hao had stolen the large shiny object it had just extracted from the crystal fish who had been closest to them.
However, more important than all of this, it was furious about the fact that Xuan Hao had dared to stuff it inside of his sleeve after stealing what it thought to be a large spirit stone.
"…"
Hearing the angry complaints of the rabbit demon beast who seemed to have completely forgotten about the presence of the dozens of Soul Ascension Realm crystal fish chasing after them, Xuan Hao didn't bother saying anything as he instead just too the small creature out of his sleeve before showing it the large number of crystal fish rushing towards them-
Shocking the angry rabbit demon beast who was suddenly met with the terrifying killing intent of over a dozen Soul Ascension Realm crystal fish.
Squeak!?
However, this shock was not due to fear at seeing the large number of Soul Ascension Realm crystal fish chasing after them but was instead due to the fact that it noticed that several similar shiny objects could be seen inside the body of the other crystal fish as well.
"Hah… "
Only able to let out a somewhat exhausted sigh as he watched the rabbit demon beast excited expression while looking towards the large number of powerful crystal fish approaching them, Xuan Hao decided against trying to make the rabbit demon beast understand their current dangerous situation and instead just stuffed the rabbit demon beast back into his sleeve again.
Squeak! Squeaaaak!
Not caring about the constant complaints and protests coming from the rabbit demon beast inside. Instead staying far more focused on making sure that he didn't end up getting ambushed while travelling through the small part of the forest that was between him and the wasteland that was the rest of what had once been a massive forest.
At the same time, he also made sure to keep an extra eye out for any of the Peak Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts that might have managed to survive the clash between the cloud demon beast and the guardian formation of the mystic realm.
Rumble~!
Roaar!
Roar!
Not too far behind him, the colossal crystal fish finally managed to reach the small part still left of the forest, as they ripped apart any tree whose roots ended up getting in the way of them as they swam through the forest with far more ease and speed than compared to the mountain that was nothing more than large rocks and boulders everywhere.
"This- They are faster!?" Noticing that the crystal fish all began increasing in speed the moment they left the rocky base of the mountain and entered the far less dense dirt of the forest, Xuan Hao unconsciously turned towards the large wasteland that was left behind where the massive forest had once been.
Without saying anything, a frown visibly made its way onto his face, as he realized that the wasteland in front of him was filled with all kinds of molten rocks and different liquid metals. Although the temperature would require the crystal fish to use part of their energy to protect themselves, their speed would inevitably end up reaching a level far exceeding their current one.
Although this speed was not really that fast when compared to his own, this was only the case if he could use his movement technique… And now that he was unable to use it, the crystal fish would be able to easily catch up to him and prevent him from escaping after entering the wasteland-
Swish!
Crack~
"Huh!?"
Losing his focus for a short moment as he was thought about the upcoming problem that was the large wasteland, one of the long-distance attacks from the crystal fish ended up piercing through the protective layer of his dao domain before hitting him-
BOOOM-!
Only able to put up a last second ice barrier against the attack that had pierced through his dao domain, he was soon sent flying by the powerful attack.
Bang! Bang!
Resulting in crashing through a large number of towering trees before ultimately smashing into one of the older and thicker trees that had managed to hold on when he hit it.
Swish-!
Only glancing down at his shoulder where the attack hit him and making sure that his arm hadn't been destroyed or cut off, Xuan Hao didn't waste a second embed in the old tree before getting back up and escaping in the opposite direction of the approaching crystal fish. Not daring to use the limited qi left inside his dantian to repair the damage that had been done to his arm for now.
Although the crystal fish were all weaker than him, they were ultimately still in the Soul Ascension Realm, and he couldn't let his guard down against them and let his thoughts wander too much.
Rumble~
Unfortunately for Xuan Hao, having sensed that the now leading crystal fish had managed to injurie him, the rest of the colossal crystal fish all began to excitedly launch their own long-distance towards Xuan Hao in an attempt to take advantage of his now injured state.
Swoosh~
Not deterred by the large number of long-distance attacks that the crystal fish launched toward him, Xuan Hao didn't let his mind wander this time around, as he gracefully dodged them before increasing the distance between himself and the crystal fish who had all momentarily come to a stop to launch their own long-distance attacks towards him.
In the end resulting in the leading crystal fish being far ahead of the rest of the crystal fish-
Squeak…
Something that the rabbit demon beast suppressed inside his sleeve seemed to have noticed, as it took advantage of Xuan Hao's injured arm to poke its head back up from his sleeve before greedily turning to looks towards the leading crystal fish…
