"A teleportation formation and a quite complicated one at that..." Observing the formation, it did not take long before Xuan Hao realized what the purpose of the formation.
However, this conclusion left him with the question of where this teleportation was connected to. At the same time also making him more interested in finding out just what the owner of the eyeball hovering just on the other side of the hall was up to. After all, from what he saw so far, it was rather obvious that the other party was trying their best to not leave any traces behind after taking his disciple and the rest of the disciples from the sect.
Thinking about it, it would not be too surprising if the formation would self-destruct after having teleported them away. Having the cave collapse to leave even less clues behind as to what had happened inside.
"But... I guess the other party didn't expect for someone proficient in the Dao of Space to show up before the formation even had time to activate.
Although the formation itself is far too complicated for me to understand, the Dao of Space contained inside of it is at best rudimentary and should be the work of someone who hasn't comprehended the Dao of Space and is instead just channeling its power through the formation." Shaking his head as he muttered this while hidden from the eyeball hovering at the entrance to the hall, Xuan Hao slowly descended before stopping a few inches above the ground where the formation began.
Given the obvious difference between his own comprehension of the Dao of Space and the creator of the formation, it would be a simple task for him to track the spatial nodes that the formation was anchored on and follow the path to where the formation ended.
The only problem was that doing this would undoubtedly alert the person controlling the eyeball, but at this point in time, Xuan Hao didn't really care too much about this, as it had become obvious how lacking that person's comprehension of the Dao of Space was.
"Even if the other party has some kind of powerful formation or is someone at the peak of the Soul Ascension Realm, it should still be relatively easy for me to escape... Why not take this chance and find out who this person targeting the Star Shattering Sect is?" Narrowing both of his eyes as he said this, Xuan Hao was just about to force his divine sense into the teleportation-
Roar-!
Boom!
However, a loud roar followed by a loud explosion interrupted him, as he turned around and realized that the bear demon beast had managed to forcefully break through to the Nascent Soul Realm under the pressure of fighting the older disciple at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm. Resulting in the rest of the Core Formation Realm Experts present jumping into action to help out, Bai Ning included.
"Haaa..." Watching the sudden turn of events outside the cave, Xuan Hao could not help letting out an annoyed sigh as he full well understood there was no way for them to defeat the bear demon beast, as it had not only reached the Nascent Soul Realm, but also seemed to have awakened some kind of hidden bloodline that was constantly increasing its strength with each passing second.
Even in the short time it had taken him to lament over the sudden turn of events outside the cave, the hidden bloodline in the bear demon beast's body had already suppressed the cloud tribulation before it could cause any problems and elevated its strength to the Second Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
Not only that but given the dormant power in the hidden bloodline currently in the process of awakening, it looked like the bear demon beast's strength would continue to increase until it reached the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Maybe there was even some kind of inherent domain inside the hidden bloodline that would allow it to go all the way to the Domain Lord Realm!
Without his help, it was obvious that his disciple and the rest stood no chance against this kind of cheating demon beast that seemed intent on ascending to the heavens in a single step.
Whoosh~!
However, before he had a chance to do anything, the eyeball that had remained stationary above the entrance to the hall moved. Flying out of the cave before a thick poisonous mist seeped out of it and entered the bear demon beast-
ROOOOAR!?
Instantly resulting in the strength of the bear demon beast forcefully dropping back down to the Peak of the Core Formation Realm.
"It failed to break through!" Not at all aware of what had caused the strength of the demon beast to drop back down to the Core Formation Realm, the older disciple just thought it had failed to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm-
Swish!
Ptsh-!
And taking full advantage of the bear demon beast's confusion over its sudden drop in strength, he successfully cut through its thick fur and pierced through its vital organs. Fatally wounding it to the degree that it had no way to continue fighting any longer and could only helplessly struggle for a few seconds before ultimately dying at the hands of the older disciple.
Whoosh~
Only after seeing the death of the bear demon beast and the fact that Bai Ning and the rest were preparing to enter the cave did the eyeball turn around and made its way back inside the cave again. Having successfully removed the threat of the bear demon beast without being discovered by Bai Ning or the others.
Unfortunately, the moment it made its way back inside the cave again, a silver sword suddenly appeared in front of it-
Boom!
Giving the controller of the eyeball no time to react before it was destroyed by the silver sword.
"Well... Now the other party definitely knows about my presence..." Emerging from the shadows of the cave as he glanced over the place where the eyeball had been hovering just a short moment earlier, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time as he turned around and took a step forward. Appearing directly in front of the teleportation formation.
Whoosh~
Knowing that he did not have a lot of time after having destroyed the eyeball, his divine sense swept out and covered the entire teleportation formation before forcefully extracting the spatial coordinates of the different spatial nodes connected to it.
"Got it!"
Only a few seconds later, he successfully managed to deduce the location that the teleportation formation led to. Unfortunately, after examining the location in detail, he quickly realized that it was somewhere inside the Frozen Wasteland.
Not only that, but it was somewhere far away from the Sky Empire's side of the Frozen Wasteland and could be considered to be on the other side of the Frozen Wasteland. Facing an empire that he didn't even know the name of...
What in the world would someone from all the way over there want with disciples from my sect? Not to mention, how come there is a teleportation formation like this inside the Azure Sky Kingdom...
Feeling a sense of unease at the sudden realization that the teleportation formation actually led to somewhere so far away, Xuan Hao didn't dare to activate the formation to try and find out more about the person targeting the Star Shattering Sect.
Even if he could use the formation to teleport to the location on the other side of the Frozen Wasteland, his current comprehension of the Dao of Space was far from enough to teleport him back to the Azure Sky Kingdom. Not to mention, he had a feeling that the person who constructed the formation was not the same person who was behind the floating eyeball.
Rustle~
As he was lost in thought about what to do about the formation and the potential enemy on the other side of the Frozen Wasteland, the sound of footsteps and complaining voices could be heard coming from the entrance to the cave as his disciple and the rest had finished resting and had entered the cave only to find it empty.
"Haaa... I should just destroy this place for now and think about it later..." Having come to a decision on what to do about the place, Xuan Hao gently waved his hand-
Rumble!
Soon enough, resulting in his dao domain erupting to destroy the teleportation formation and the hall.
"What is that!?"
"Something is happening up ahead! Is it perhaps where the treasures are located?!"
"Huh? Ah! Yes! The treasures are all up ahead!"
Hearing the sound of people growing closer as all of them began rushing over upon hearing the sound of the underground hall and teleportation formation collapsing and being reduced to nothing but dust, Xuan Hao retracted his dao domain before hiding himself.
Whoosh~!
However, before he did this, he threw out a few spirit stones, spiritual metal, and spiritual herbs around the now large empty cave for the disciples and members of the Explorer Union. Including a few blacksmithing notes, he had found but hadn't yet given to Elder Song to enter into the sect's library.
Given how hard they had worked for it, he felt that they should at least get something for their troubles. At least he wanted to ensure that Bai Ning got what he came looking for, as he hoped it would make him more excited and interested in leaving the sect for other adventures in future where he could in turn also increase his combat experience.