After Qing Shan broke through, he immediately decided to spend at least a week inside his pocket dimension getting used to his new level of cultivation. The changes that had come over him from this breakthrough were truly mindboggling to him. He could actually feel the difference between his comprehension speed within his mind, and he felt as though he would be able to learn much more complex types of martial skills. Where he had once been the top physical ability of his cultivation level, he now had so much room to grow that he was akin to an obese man who had never been to the gym. His body had obviously not gotten any larger, it was just that his body's limits had been expanded so much that this analogy actually fit.
Above all changes, was Qing Shan's Qi. He had so much more that it was like he had graduated from a drop of water to a river. His Qi had also become noticeable thicker, and much more powerful. He could tell that there was really no way to compare the boost in power he got from feeding his new Qi into his Qi loops in comparison to before; the difference was just too large!
Qing Shan quickly began acclimating himself to his new strength. While his fighting abilities had not really had a large change after the breakthroughs of his body and mind, his Soul breakthrough was really hard to get used to. Whenever he activated his Qi loops, the enhancement would be so much strong stronger that he was unable to control himself. Also, due to the fact that he had much more Qi moving around in his body, it took him much longer to switch between Qi loops.
While Qing Shan's breakthrough of his Life Core had only increased his body's potential, his Third Eye breakthrough also took some time to get used to. As his thoughts were already inhumanely fast, the boost to his comprehension actually increased his reaction time of both his body and mind. This was strange, considering Qing Shan's speed of thought usually did not reflect his body's speed. However, after this breakthrough, Qing Shan noticed that it took much less time for his body to respond to his commands. When he slowed down his thoughts, Qing Shan noticed that his body actually moved almost before he willed it to; his reaction was just that fast.
Qing Shan spent the next week focusing primarily on switching between his Qi loops, and trying to increase that speed. Although it was the largest change, his new comprehension ability had helped him grow accustomed to his new strength provided by the breakthrough of his Dantian. Unfortunately, Qing Shan still felt that he was quite slow in switching between loops. But he figured that this was a fair trade off for now. After all, he had gained much more strength, and his speed in switching between loops would increase over time. He was surprised to find that he wished for another training opportunity to like the five hundred battles to present itself to him.
Thinking about this got Qing Shan to wonder the same thing he had questioned the past week.
'If I am no longer in the trial, then where am I? did I somehow exit the range of the challenge?'
Alas, the answer would not come to him if he just sat here. Now that Qing Shan had grown relatively used to the abilities of Peak Formation Soul, it was about time he went back into that fiery hellscape that had dropped a rock on his head.
Qing Shan grabbed his locket, sending himself out of his pocket dimension. Once out, he kept hold of the chain of his locket, making sure that he would be able to reenter the pocket dimension at a moment's notice.
As Qing Shan looked at the fiery hellscape around him, he realized a few things. One, was that he was underground, but that should have been obvious. The biggest thing that Qing Shan realized was that this place was hot. He had not really realized it because his body was used to it, but the heat in this place was at least equal to the heat seven meters towards the Primal Flame.
Being as cautious as possible, Qing Shan tentatively took a step forward. He let out a sigh of relief when the temperature stayed the same. For some reason, he had thought this place would be like the Primal Fire, with the heat increasing by manifolds after each step.
Qing Shan kept walking, still keeping a hand poised to grab his locket. Soon, Qing Shan saw a few figures on the horizon. These figures made him shake in fear.
Although Qing Shan could just barely make out the figures on the horizon, he couldn't even tell how powerful they were. When he looked with his Third Eye, Qing Shan found out that he could not even see them. Qing Shan knew exactly why. Apparently, a cultivator would not be able to see the cultivation of anyone more than one full realm above them, unless that cultivator purposely showcased their power. Since the Third Eye viewed the Qi in the world, he could not see the beings on the horizon because their Qi was too powerful for him to comprehend.
He needed to escape.
Qing Shan knew that nothing good would come from being here, but he was too curious to leave yet. He moved closer, slowly crossing half the distance between him and the powerful beings. He knew logically that these beings were nowhere near as powerful as Master Liu, even if he was just an apparition. However, this was his first time being so scared. Although he was not being attacked, and the beings had not released their power, Qing Shan still felt a heavy weight pressing down upon him.
This weight was not the aura of power that radiates off of powerful beings. The pressure Qing Shan was feeling was fear. His whole self was trying to force him to run away, but he actually tried to move closer! The beings were not radiating any sort of aura that Qing Shan could feel. To him, they appeared to possess the aura of normal humans; non-cultivators. However, normal humans would definitely not be able to resist the heat of this place. Thus, there was no doubt in Qing Shan's mind that these figures were unfathomably powerful.
Once Qing Shan crept close enough, he was astonished by what he saw. There were figures that were not even human! Qing Shan saw three human males, all dressed in ornate red robes with 'Huo' written across their breasts. Those three humans were talking to another human-sized figure. Except this figure clearly was not human. Its skin was a deep red, bordering on purple. Its eyes were darker than the night, reminding Qing Shan of the abyss inside his trial. It had large, bat-like wings upon its back, and a long tail with a hooked spike on the end. The tail was coated in flames.
At least, that is what Qing Shan saw of the non-human figure at first glance. When he looked again, he saw the creature bathed in flames, before its appearance changed once more. Now, it looked like a creature made from different horrors, too disgusting and visceral to describe its features in detail. Qing Shan tried to look away, realizing he was still in shock that such a being could exist.
Qing Shan watched as the creature was consumed by flames once more. This time, it kept its horror-like appearance, but it radiated a distinct aura of flames. Actually, its body became flames, flickering just like the roaring fire around it.
Qing Shan finally managed to pull his eyes away from the creature only after watching it cycle through over thirty different forms, each of them radiating an aura of fiery evil that could destroy him with a single glance.
Once he managed to pull his eyes away, Qing Shan realized exactly who these human were. If he was not wrong, and he did not think he was, the people in front of him were from the Huo Clan!
Qing Shan's rational thought began to recede as red tinted the corner of his vision. His killing intent soared, revealing his location.
With the help of Qing Shan's Third Eye breakthrough, he could now descend out of the berserker rage. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. The demonic creature opened its terrifying mouth, letting out an intelligible string of guttural noises.
Qing Shan felt the air around him grow heavy from density of Qi, and he noticed that there were now two beasts created from rock. And flame chasing him. They were golems! While Qing Shan had never heard about whatever being was in front of him at the moment, he did know a bit about golems. They were created through complex techniques that fuse objects together with one's innate Qi attribute. High level golems would even have the ability to think and act independently.
Seeing that he was discovered, he gripped his locket, escaping from the dangerous situation unharmed.
Qing Shan appeared in the primal pocket dimension, his pulse still racing. Just as he was about to go lay down in the Primal Water, waiting for those beings to leave, he saw a strange sight. The Primal Wind fluctuated, and a figure stepped out of it. Qing Shan knew this figure well, after all, who would forget the appearance of their Master?
Well, it was actually only the shape of Master Liu. The man's shape had somehow separated from the Primal Wind. Master Liu had somehow appeared inside of the pocket dimension.
While Qing Shan still stood stunned, his master walked over to him.
'This is quite a situation you have gotten yourself into, eh boy?'
Qing Shan realized that his Master was talking telepathically, but he knew that this was because Master Liu did not have a mouth at the moment. So, he just nodded numbly. This was by far the most dangerous situation he had ever been in.
'I am willing to resolve this situation for you, but I will not kill anyone. You may have to kill those enemies yourself later on. Now go! The next time you leave this pocket dimension, you will find yourself back in that hallway at the end of the trial inside of the false Gate of Blindness. Or, as you know it, the Gate of Death.'
Qing Shan's words were caught in his throat. His master had somehow become a part of the Primal Wind, taken care of his enemies, and now he was leaving.
As Qing Shan watched his master's form start to return to the Primal Wind, he could not force any words out of his mouth. However, he did manage to catch Master Liu's final words before his departure.
'Stay away from the demons… You are in no way ready to face them. Yet. Keep growing stronger. Oh, and come visit me before you descend to the third layer.'
Once he finally regained control of his jumbled thoughts, Qing Shan was left with even more questions. However, two of them were far more prominent than the others.
"That was a demon…?"
'Why the hell is the Huo Clan talking to demons?'
Realizing that these questions were futile, Qing Shan stored them in his mind and touched his hand to his locket. While he trusted his master, he wanted to be able to escape just in case.