Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

At the same time Xuan Hao made his way below ground to get closer to the trapping formation, the one Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator who had managed to avoid ending up trapped like everyone else and managed to remain safe thanks to the protection of the small temple. Found himself looking out at the endless vines outside the golden barrier trying to break through to reach him with an expression that was more confused than anything else.

"Where in the world did this formation come from? I should have scanned this place before the auction began… Unless this formation was set up during the auction!?

But… Something like that should have created some kind of disturbance that would have been noticeable. Especially considering that this formation seems to have been set up in a rather flawed manner, causing it to lose most of its strength."

As his confusion only deepened the more he observed the trapping formation trying to break through the barrier in front of him and drag him below ground like he had seen happening to the people who had been wandering around just outside the small temple a few seconds earlier, the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple wasn't too worried about the current situation.

Even after he learnt from his companion who had been at the auction that he had been captured, he wasn't worried. Understanding that the formation he was dealing with wasn't a killing formation, but instead a trapping formation purely focused on keeping those inside from leaving.

Of course, there was still a certain danger involved when it came to being caught by those vines, but it wasn't anything life threatening from what he had managed to learn from his companion. At most it would seal him up and start draining his qi top strengthen itself.

For this reason, he had also decided to take things slow and decided to wait for reinforcements from the main temple before doing anything.

Although… With the way the small temple worked, he couldn't really do much to stop it after it was activated, as he could only watch how the golden barrier began to push back the vines before starting to expand out in all directions to try and cover the entire city as had been the original intention behind this golden barrier.

In a sense, he had been forced to face off against the trapping formation against his will…

"Haaa… I don't want to do this…" Shaking his head as he muttered this while looking at the endless number of vines crashing into the golden barrier, the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple could only reluctantly step forward to help fend off the vines. Allowing the golden barrier to expand even faster than before.

He could have stayed behind in safety and waited for rescue like the ones who had ended up being dragged underground had resigned themselves after realizing there was no other way out of their current situation.

But doing this would potentially cause the collapse of the small temple because of the simple reason that it needed to fully expand to its intended size before its strength reached a certain realm or it would be overwhelmed and end up collapsing under the pressure.

Considering that he was among the Heavenly Dragon Temple's upper echelon, he just so happened to know just how expensive these small temples were for the Heavenly Dragon Temple to construct, but maybe more importantly, how they were tied to the overall safety of the main temple.

Not that different from how the main temple at the Heavenly Dragon Temple's main base could assist the smaller temples scattered throughout the Heavenly Dragon Temple's territory, the smaller temples could also assist the main temple. Allowing it to draw power from the countless smaller temples below it.

Though one or two might not make much of a difference, a qualitive change would occur with enough smaller temples lending their power to the main temple, becoming one of the main reasons behind why the Heavenly Dragon Temple had been able to establish itself in the Western Central Region as one of the strongest major powers along with the likes of the Golden Nirvana Temple.

RUMBLE-!

And so, with no other choice, the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple decided to just go all in on fighting back against the vines from the trapping formation. Intending to leverage the strength of the small temple and the countless obvious weakness present in the trapping formation to get rid of it as fast as possible. Hoping silently that he would be able to take care of it before the seniors from the main temple appeared, as it would help make a good impression.

That and the fact that the Stardusk Essence that had been the original goal of his visit to this small city was still in the hands of the Dao Seed Realm cultivator who had ended up winning it during the auction.

If he could get rid of the trapping formation and make use of the small temple in its strengthened state to locate that little Dao Seed Realm cultivator, he would essentially be able to get his hands on the Stardusk Essence for free!

Whoosh~!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With that kind of motivation and realization, he didn't just begin to fight back against the vines, but went all in. Using some of his saved-up trump cards to speed up the situation a bit, as he wanted nothing more than to find Huo Fen and get his hands on the Stardusk Essence before the seniors appeared, as he understood very well that his chances of getting the Stardusk Essence when these powerful people became involved would essentially be impossible.

…

"Huh? Why is the golden barrier suddenly starting to expand faster!?"

At the same time below the city, Xuan Hao was shocked, as he suddenly sensed the expansion speed of the golden barrier increasing a terrifying rate far beyond what he had expected. Giving him far less time to comprehend the trapping formation before he would have to leave to avoid being caught up in the expanding golden barrier.