"When can we found something new outside just trees and caves?" It had been a day since Xuan Hao and Chi Hu set off from the pagoda located close to the entrance of the secret realm and over that time, they had not seen any other cultivators or ruins.
The only thing they met along their path was the wildlife of the ancient forest and the demon beasts that attacked them from time to time. Not that the demon beast proved to be any challenge, as the strongest was only half a step into the Nascent Soul Realm, there had yet to be any demon beasts in the Nascent Soul Realm.
By this point Xuan Hao suspected that there was some sort of formation in place around the ancient forest, that made sure no demon beast above the Core Formation Realm appeared at the area close to the entrance.
The reason for this was simple, as they had already encountered more and more demon beasts at half a step into the Nascent Soul Realm the further away from the entrance to the secret realm that they got and if he was not wrong, Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts would start to appear soon.
Like the demon beast forest of the Flying Sword Sect where the demon beasts grew stronger and stronger the further the new disciples went in…
"I have no- hm?" Just as Xuan Hao was about to answer back to Chi Hu, a clearing in the forest appeared as both of them stopped and surveyed their surroundings in case other cultivators were present or had already been there before them.
"Looks like there is nobody nearby!" Sensing around with his divine sense like Xuan Hao, Chi Hu followed the direction Xuan Hao was looking in and saw the clearing ahead of them.
Walking up to the clearing in the ancient forest, Xuan Hao and Chi Hu were both shocked by the sight that appeared in front of them.
At the centre of the clearing was a giant pillar planted firmly in the ground stretching up into the sky for several miles. The size of the pillar alone was more than enough to shock both of them, but the countless formations and runic symbols flowing around on the surface of the pillar was what truly shook both of them to the core.
"W-what is this…" Not able to help himself, Chi Hu could not help but ask even though he already knew the answer.
"Hm… It looks like a part of a giant formation, but if this is just a single part…" Realizing something as he began talking, Xuan Hao immediately made his way above the nearby ancient trees and looked around himself and sure enough, another two pillars just like the one in front of them could barely be seen in the distance as the endless sea of trees stretched on for as longs as the eye could see.
Only the giant pillars broke through this endless sea of trees as they pierced through the sky above, forming what could only be considered to be the largest formation Xuan Hao had ever seen.
The formation might even have something to do with the secret realm itself. Maybe the formation kept the secret realm functioning and constructing such a formation could be one of the reasons why creating a secret realm was so expensive in the first place?
Xuan Hao truly had no clue and could only guess as he jumped down from the tree top he was standing on and walked over to the giant pillar to inspect it up close.
"A formation this large, how much time and effort would it take to construct!? And how do they even move these giant pillars in the first place?" As Xuan Hao was beginning to inspect the pillar in front of them, Chi Hu could not help but sigh in amazement as he looked up at the giant pillar looking like it was holding up the sky itself.
"Haha, definitely not something we would be able to do any time soon." Laughing a bit upon hearing Chi Hu, Xuan Hao touched the pillar as he allowed his divine sense to roam around the surface of the pillar and observe the different formations flowing beneath the surface.
The countless formations seemed to have merged together into a single perfect entity with the body of the pillar itself acting as an anchor to connect the different formations together. The connection between the other pillars spread throughout the secret realm could barely be observed as Xuan Hao was far too weak to observe the entire formation and could only settle to observe a single corner of it.
But even that single corner was more than enough to deepen his understanding towards both formations and the sheer power that a formation could hold when reaching a certain level.
If it was brought outside, the formation that the pillar was a part of could probably cover the entire Heavenly Sky Kingdom!
"Should we stay here for a bit and try to comprehend the pilar before moving on?" Staring up at the pillar, Chi Hu had made his way over to Xuan Hao as he also began to inspect the pillar.
"Yeah, let's stay here for a day, comprehending the formations that make up this pillar is quite beneficial to both of us as they contain a power far beyond the Nascent Soul Realm…" Nodding his head in agreement with Chi Hu, Xuan Hao also wanted to spend a bit more time inspecting the giant pillar as he found out that it was not only helpful to his understanding of formations, but also helped him deepen his understanding of a domain as the creator of the formation infused the power of his domain into the pillar itself upon creating the formation in the past.
But for some reason, the power of the domain left behind in the pillar seemed to be weaker than the bone chilling power left behind in the book that he managed to find the giant pagoda close to the entrance of the secret realm.
The creator of the [Journey of the Snow Phoenix] seemed to be stronger than the creator of the giant formation inside the secret realm, or maybe the power inside the pillar had just weakened more over the years as the pillars were constantly keeping the giant formation running.
Xuan Hao did not know the answer to this and only felt more interested in the creator of the [Journey of the Snow Phoenix].