Chapter 760: Secret Passage

How did his cultivation base suddenly go from the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Core Formation Realm? Did he perhaps use an artifact similar to those two servant girls...?

Not understanding how the young master of the Hollow Thunder Family had suddenly managed to improve his cultivation base from the earlier stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm all the way up to the Core Formation Realm within the short period of a few minutes since he had entered the large estate, the only reason Xuan Hao could come up with was that the young master had used some sort of artifact to hide his cultivation base.

Even then, Xuan Hao could not help feeling that there was some other reason for the change in the young master's cultivation base. After all, the chances of the Hollow Thunder Family having an artifact that had the ability to fool someone who was in the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm should not be that high.

Even if the Hollow Thunder Family really did have such an artifact, there would not be any reason for a young master to be in possession of such a precious artifact!

I guess I should just wait and see what happens. Maybe this is related to the quest given by the system...

Feeling that everything around this young master was indeed suspicious like the system quest had said, Xuan Hao decided to wait and see if he could find out what was happening with this young master.

""We greet the noble Seventh Young Master and Elder!""

Luckily for Xuan Hao, the two spies he had followed to the inner garden showed up-

"Hm? Who is this?!"

"Servants... How come two servants showed up...?"

Catching the attention of both the young master and the elder in the Eighth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, who were both surprised at the sight of these two servants that had suddenly shown up out of nowhere to interrupt their conversation.

"Didn't I order for no one to enter this place!? Tell me, why did you two come here?"

"The head servant ordered us to come over and serve the seventh young master during his stay in the estate, we were not informed about not entering this place... If elder want us to, we can leave..."

Seeing that the elder was frowning and looking towards both of them with a suspicious expression on his face, one of the two servant girls acted quickly and didn't show any hesitation as she stepped forward and promptly answered the elder's question before starting to slowly leave while dragging the other servant girl along with her.

"No need for that, both of you can stay and serve the young master, we are already finished with our conversation. Hah, looks like I will have to pay a visit to those guards I placed in charge of stopping anyone from entering this place... I will see you later young master!"

Stopping the two servant girls before they had a chance to leave, the elder soon let out a sigh before disappearing from the inner garden.

"Hah.."

As the elder disappeared, the young master of the Hollow Thunder Family could not help showing an annoyed expression on his face as he looked towards the two servant girls that had been assigned to take care of him by the head servant.

"You two, don't bother me and leave! Tell the head servant I don't need anyone to serve me!"

Swish-!

Not bothering to say anything more than this, the young master directly used a movement technique to leave the inner garden without giving the two servant girls a chance to say anything to him before he had already left.

""...""

Standing all alone in the middle of the inner garden, the two servant girls looked at each other with a surprised expression on their faces. Clearly, they did not expect that they would be dismissed so easily the moment the elder had left. Especially considering that the seventh young master had a rather bad reputation when it came to women!

"This brat! How dare he! I think we sisters should teach him a lesson!"

"Sister... We can't give away our identity because of this..."

"But... We can't let this little brat get away with dismissing us like this! We have to-"

Swish~

Not bothering to stay around and listen to what the two spies disguised as servant girls were talking about after being dismissed so ruthlessly by the young master, Xuan Hao gave chase to the young master who had already left the inner garden.

"..."

Why does it always have to be somewhere underground...?

Watching as the young master he was following behind entered a hidden passageway concealed by a formation before making his way down a spiral staircase at the end of the hidden passageway leading to somewhere below the large estate, Xuan Hao could not help complaining that he always seemed to end up somewhere underground no matter where he went. Even the capital city of the Sky Empire was no different...

"Hah..."

Hesitating in front of the spiral staircase for a short moment, Xuan Hao made his way down the spiral staircase.

...

How annoying, how come so many things showed up to delay me ever since I returned to the capital- Don't tell me... Did one of my brothers figure out what I'm doing!?

Different from Xuan Hao who was lamenting over having to go somewhere underground once again, the young master he was following behind had something completely different on mind as he made his way down the secret staircase.

Rumble~!

Reaching the bottom of the spiral staircase, the young master's aura suddenly began fluctuating violently for a short moment before his cultivation base rapidly increased. Instantly going from the Core Formation Realm all the way up to the Nascent Soul Realm without a single bottleneck.

"Looks like my body is already reaching its limit..."

Contrary to his strong aura and cultivation base, several cracks had appeared all over the body of the young master following the sudden rapid increase in strength that defied logic.

Bang!

Collapsing on the ground as the cracks all over his body began increasing in both size and number, the young master desperately pulled out a pill bottle from his interspatial ring before swallowing more than half of the pills inside the bottle.

"Hah... My body should be able to hold on for another few minutes with this..."

Having swallowed the pills, the cracks that had started spreading across his body stopped expanding any further. Allowing the young master to muster enough strength to start walking along the small passage located at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

Whoosh~!

Just at this moment, a shadowy figure appeared in front of the young master before respectfully bowing down to him.

"Master, everything is ready for your transformation!"

Not showing any surprise at the sudden appearance of the shadowy figure, the young master just nodded his head before continuing making his way towards the underground room that had become visible at the end of the underground passage.

"Master, do you need any help? I can carry you if needed-"

"No, I will walk on my own. If you want to do anything, you can make sure that nothing is missing for my transformation and check if any of my brothers happen to be up to anything!"

Brushing the shadowy figure aside as it tried to get closer and help him, the young master clearly did not enjoy the other party's helpful attitude as he said this to get rid of the other party.

"I understand..."

Freezing for a short moment, the shadowy figure swayed gently under the dim light given off by the close to non-existent light from the few torches present in the underground passage before disappearing in the direction that the young master was moving in.

"Damnable abomination! If not for the fact that the great master sent you to keep me safe, I would have long gotten rid of you..." Muttering this to himself as the shadowy figure disappeared, the young master showed a hint of disgust in his eyes for a short moment before focusing back on the difficult task of dragging his already weak body into the room located at the end of the secret underground passage.

...

To think that the young master would suddenly break through to the Nascent Soul Realm... And that shadowy figure... If I'm not wrong, it should have been some kind of artificial creature!

Because of this it should not have any divine sense or domain. Even then it's strength should still have reached somewhere around the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm from what I can see. This really makes me curious as to just what is up with this young master...

How did he suddenly reach the Nascent Soul Realm without having to face the Cloud Tribulation, where did the artificial creature guarding him come from, what is the transformation mentioned that he is about to go through about?

More importantly than all of this, who is the great master that the young master mentioned? The head of the Hollow Thunder Family... Or perhaps someone different...