Chapter 358: A Gift from the Pig Dolphin Beast
For a late-Nascent Soul Stage Pig Dolphin Beast, a distance of several dozen kilometers could be easily covered, and before long, it had already swam to the island.
It was doing its best to conceal its own aura as it swam along the edge of the island toward the cave abode of the human cultivator.
Shortly thereafter, it arrived near the cave abode before casting its gaze in taht direction.
It was greeted by the sight of a lush forest that didn't appear to have been any different from the forestry around it.
The beast stared at that area of the forest for a long time before opening its mouth to release a streak of faint blue light, which flew into that area.
As soon as the blue light came into contact with the forest, it immediately vanished without a trace.
The Pig Dolphin Beast was quite elated to see this. The restriction was still standing, which meant that the human cultivator still hadn't left.
The Pig Dolphin Beast was quite relieved to see this, and it was just about to leave when an amused chuckle suddenly rang out nearby.
The Pig Dolphin Beast shuddered before turning in that direction, upon which it was so frightened that its soul almost left its body.
Standing on the shore not far away was an amused azure-robed young man, and it was none other than the human cultivator it had once seen from afar many years ago.
The Pig Dolphin Beast let loose an alarmed oink as it hurriedly tried to flee back into the sea, but the azure-robed young man made a grabbing motion, and all of the seawater in a radius of roughly half a kilometers swept back before rising up into the air.
The Pig Dolphin Beast was trapped within the seawater, completely unable to move.
"A late-Nascent Soul Stage Pig Dolphin Beast? That's quite rare," the azure-robed young man remarked.
The man was none other than Han Li, and his expression at the moment suggested that something was troubling him.
During the past few decades, he had continued to cultivate in seclusion in his cave abode, attempting to open up his 36th immortal acupoint, but even though he had continued to take Myriad Axis Pills without pause during this time, the final immortal acupoint remained completely unmoved.
On this day, he was feeling rather frustrated and was taking a stroll to take his mind off things, and he certainly wasn't expecting to encounter such a demon beast.
The Pig Dolphin Beast oinked panic and alarm as it struggled with its six stubby legs with all its might, but to no avail.
Its voice was extremely shrill, resembling the bloodcurdling howls of a fat pig that was about to be slaughtered, and it was putting on quite an amusing display that had put Han Li in a much better mood.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you," he said with a faint smile, then flicked a finger through the air to send a fiery red pill flying into the Pig Dolphin Beast's wide open mouth.
Its alarmed oinking instantly ceased, immediately following which red light flashed erratically over its rotund body, and its aura began to rapidly elevate.
A dazed look appeared on its face upon sensing this, and its struggles also gradually subsided.
Meanwhile, the red light radiating from its body continued to grow brighter and brighter, and it quickly broke through a bottleneck to reach the Deity Transformation Stage.
At the same time, the red coloration of its skin and fur completely faded, leaving it as white as snow.
The muscles on its lower abdomen squirmed momentarily, and a pair of short stubs appeared, as if two more legs were about to emerge.
"You must have decent aptitude if you're about to grow two more legs so quickly," Han Li murmured to himself before lowering his hand, and the seawater that was enveloping the Pig Dolphin Beast instantly fell back into the sea with a loud splash.
The Pig Dolphin Beast was freed, but instead of flying away, it remained standing in mid-air, staring at Han Li with a dazed expression.
"I've already helped you break through your Deity Transformation Stage bottleneck, are you still not satisfied?" Han Li asked with a faint smile.
The Pig Dolphin Beast stared at Han Li for a moment longer, then suddenly flew back into the sea and disappeared into the waves.
Meanwhile, Han Li cast his gaze toward the distant horizon with a faint smile.
He was feeling a little frustrated, but certainly not disheartened or agitated.
It was only to be expected that a Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough would be difficult to make. Otherwise, Golden Immortal cultivators wouldn't have been so rare. However, he hadn't been able to find any way to resolve this problem.
Day quickly transitioned into night, and stars appeared in the night sky.
Han Li looked up at the starry night sky, and his eyes suddenly lit up as a thought occurred to him.
He flipped a hand over to produce a gray stone slab that was covered in tiny antiquated text, and it was none other than the Great Universe Origin Arts that he had obtained from Patriarch Cold Flame.
Not long after obtaining this cultivation art, Han Li had been swept up in a string of chaotic events. As a result, he had forgotten all about it, and this stone slab had been sitting in his storage pouch this entire time.
The Big Dipper Origin Arts that he had come across in the Spirit Domain Realm had allowed him to open up seven profound acupoints, and after that, it hadn't taken him much effort at all to open up his first seven immortal acupoints.
If he wasn't mistaken, there seemed to have been some type of connection between profound acupoints and immortal acupoints. Perhaps it would become a lot easier for him to open his 36th immortal acupoint if he could first open 36 profound acupoints.
With that in mind, Han Li sat down onto the ground while holding the stone slab instead of returning to his cave abode.
Back when he had first obtained this cultivation art, he had only inspected it briefly, and now that he was carefully examining it, the excitement on his face quickly faded, slowly replaced by a wry smile.
Sure enough, both the Great Universe Origin Arts and the Big Dipper Origin Arts were similar in nature, and the former was even more profound.
However, just as Patriarch Cold Flame said, this stone slab was holding half of the cultivation art, which would only allow one to open up 18 profound acupoints. That meant that he would have to find the second half of the cultivation art in order to open 36 profound acupoints.
Patriarch Cold Flame had obtained the first half of these Great Universe Origin Arts from a set of ruins, so Han Li would most likely have to go to the same place to obtain the second half.
With that in mind, Han Li couldn't help but internally reprimand himself for not asking Patriarch Cold Flame more questions about those ruins.
It most likely wasn't going to be easy for him to find Patriarch Cold Flame again.
It appeared that Patriarch Cold Flame had most likely joined the Ubiquitous Pavilion, but trying to find someone from such an enormous organization was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack. Additionally, he didn't know much about the Ubiquitous Pavilion to begin with, and just like in the Transient Guild, the identities of its members were most likely kept secret from one another.
After contemplating the matter a moment further, he shook his head before stowing the stone slab away.
There was simply nothing that he could do about this for now.
With that in mind, Han Li turned and made his way back toward his cave abode, only to suddenly stop in his tracks before turning back to look out at the sea.
A burst of urgent oinking rang out, following which the surface of the sea parted with a loud splash, and the Pig Dolphin Beast flew out before landing beside Han Li.
It then opened its mouth, and a black object dropped out before rolling over to Han Li.
A sizzling sound could be heard coming from the Pig Dolphin Beast's mouth, and there were some black marks there, out of which some dark red blood was seeping out, as if that area had been corroded by something.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he swept a sleeve through the air to send a burst of azure light flying into the Pig Dolphin Beast's body, and the injuries on its mouth quickly began to heal.
An elated look appeared in the Pig Dolphin Beast's eyes, and it oinked at Han Li while wagging its tail from side to side, as if it were trying to suck up to him.
Han Li paid no further heed to the beast as he bent down to pick up the black object on the ground.
It was a fist-sized black rock that was giving off faint black light, and even though it was already nighttime, the black light emanating from the object was still very much visible, seemingly able to devour all of the light around it.
Han Li's brows suddenly furrowed slightly as a burst of sharp pain shot through the fingers of his hand that were in contact with the rock. Immediately thereafter, a semi-transparent membrane appeared over his hand.
The black light emanating from the rock seemed to possess some type of corrosive power that was too much even for his current physical body to bear.
After inspecting the rock for a moment, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into it, upon which a hint of surprise quickly flashed through his eyes.
The rock contained a very special type of power that wasn't any law power, but it was also very profound, and he couldn't tell exactly what it was.
"Are you giving this to me?" Han Li asked.
The Pig Dolphin Beast immediately nodded in response.
"This is a very interesting rock. Where did you get it from?" Han Li asked.
The Pig Dolphin Beast turned to the distance and opened its mouth to say something, but all it could do was oink, and an agitated look instantly appeared in its eyes.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he released a burst of azure light from his fingertip into the Pig Dolphin Beast's throat.
In order for demon beasts to speak, they first had to refine a certain throat bone.
This Pig Dolphin Beast possessed a decent cultivation base, but it was still yet to refine that throat bone.
The azure light flashed through the beast's throat for a moment before quickly dissipating, and an ecstatic look appeared in the Pig Dolphin Beast's eyes as it began to speak in a very inarticulate fashion.
"Senior... Er..."
"Alright, can you tell me where you got this rock from now?" Han Li asked.
"Yes... This rock... Many years ago... I... Er... With my parents from elsewhere... While moving here... Er... Obtained from near an island..." the Pig Dolphin Beast stuttered in response.
Han Li's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "Do you still recall which island it was?"
"It's been too long... I was too young at the time... So I don't remember..." the Pig Dolphin Beast replied, and its speech was gradually becoming more fluent.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon hearing this, and a ball of seawater instantly rose up before forming a screen of water that depicted a detailed map of the Black Wind Sea.
"Can you recall roughly where it was on this map?" he asked.
The Pig Dolphin Beast stared at the map for a long time, then pointed its snout on a certain spot as it said in an uncertain voice, "I think it may have been here."
Han Li cast his gaze toward that spot on the map, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
As it turned out, this was a place that he had once been to. It was none other than Red Moon Island, the island on which he had carried out his first Transient Guild mission.
"So that's where you found it," Han Li murmured to himself.
"Maybe, I'm not sure," the Pig Dolphin Beast said with an uneasy expression.
"It's alright, I know it might be hard for you to remember. By the way, do you have any more of these rocks?" Han Li asked.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l