Chapter 976.1: Fall of the Southern Spring Garden (Part 1)
Not caring about their new surroundings, the rabbit demon beast jumped out of the celestial robe the moment it felt Xuan Hao's dao domain no longer holding it in place-
Squeak!
Letting out a loud squeaking sound to show its dissatisfaction over what had just happened. Not only was it rudely woken up, but it was retrained without being able to move the moment it grabbed hold of the robe to prevent itself from falling to the ground.
"Huh? Oh, sorry about that earlier, I didn't really have time to explain." Seeing the angry rabbit demon beast that almost looked like a small stuffed toy, Xuan Hao did his best not to laugh at it as he said this. Trying not to anger the rabbit demon beast any further.
Squeak!
Puffing its small cheeks in anger after noticing the very clear smile on Xuan Hao face as he said this while trying his best not to laugh at the rabbit demon beasts current cute looking appearance, the rabbit demon beast decided that its pride had been injured, as it gave one last squeak filled with anger in Xuan Hao's direction before bouncing off the side of the foundation and into the crystal clear water below-
Splash!
Not showing the slightest bit of care as it landed in the water before paddling awkwardly for a few moments before reaching the side of the terraced pool of water where it then crawled up into a small thin tree hanging over the edge of the next pool of water.
Rustle~
Only after reaching a comfortable branch around the top of this small thin tree did the rabbit demon beast settle down before going to sleep again. Having decided to ignore Xuan Hao as it attempted to sleep away the embarrassment that it had just experienced.
"..."
Not knowing what to say after seeing this, Xuan Hao decided not to say anything and just ignore the rabbit demon beast. At least for now, he was far more interested in finding out where this southern spring garden was located and if he was still inside the mystic realm or had ended up being transported somewhere completely different. After all, considering that the gate would normally only be used by elders and had several different locations that it could access, it would not be odd if one of these locations ended up leading to somewhere outside the mystic realm.
The only thing that made him believe that this might actually not be the case and he should still be inside the mystic realm, was the fact that the elder from the Mirage Sect had decided against using the gate to leave and try to find a way to recover, but then again, this might be due to the fact that his situation was already far too serious to move without the help of the formation. Not to mention, there was also a chance that the enemies of the Mirage Sect might have been waiting for him on the other side.
Given the current state of the pagoda, whose foundation was the only thing left behind, he had a feeling that the southern spring garden should have encountered a similar attack back then. The only difference between this place and the Exchange Hall in the desert trial space, was the fact that the Exchange Hall had managed to hold on against the attack and avoid complete annihilation.
Although... Considering the state of the elder from the Mirage Sect, it could not really be said that the Exchange Hall had managed to survive, as the most important secret techniques stored inside the Exchange Hall had all gotten destroyed by the attack. The only techniques that had managed to survive were left in the core section of the Exchange Hall that was unassailable due to them being sealed away by the core formation.
Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao began to slowly examine the foundation and what was left of the pagoda that had once stood upon it. Even though he didn't expect to find anything useful in the ruins of the pagoda, he still wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything dangerous left behind and ensure the location was safe before he chose to redeem the reward from the system.
"Hm?"
Examining the foundation, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he noticed a few very distinct claw marks on the side of the foundation. In size alone, these claw marks stretched across the entire surface of the foundation that spanned for a few hundred meters. Giving a sense of just how big the demon beast who had left these claw marks was, while at the same time confirming his earlier suspicion about someone having attacked the pagoda and destroyed it in the past.
However, different from the Exchange Hall that had very clearly been blown open in several precise attacks by what should have been some sort of powerful qi technique. The one who had attacked the pagoda on the other hand, was very obviously a demon beast. Lacking the precision and skill of the person who had attacked the Exchange Hall.
So... the ones who attacked the Mirage Sect back then was a combination of different races?
Thinking this to himself as he arrived in front of the large claw mark spanning across the entire foundation, Xuan Hao gently touched the claw mark-
BOOOM-!
However, the instant his hand touched the harmless looking claw mark, a terrifying killing intent on par with the power released by the elder from the Mirage Sect suddenly exploded outwards before it engulfed him. Overwhelming him in an instant!
Whoosh~!
Before he had any time to pull his hand away from the large claw mark, he felt the scenery around him change before he suddenly found himself in front of majestic pagoda stretching hundreds- If not thousands of meters into the sky above him. Countless cultivators could be seen all around him as they went to and from the large pagoda through several large gates that seemed to act as teleportation points connecting to some larger network.