Chapter 458: 500 Years
Night fell, and countless stars appeared in the pitch black sky up above.
Han Li was seated at the center of the white stone plaza with his legs crossed, looking up at the sky, and his eyes were like a pair of mirrors that could reflect the starlight shining down from above.
It would take a year for each of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis to recover, so a full recovery was going to take a very long time.
Seeing as he was unable to find any alternative ways out of this predicament, he had no choice but to bide his time, and during this time, he was planning to continue his cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts. In doing so, he would be able to open more profound acupoints, which should assist him in a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage.
With a casual toss, a burst of blue light flew out of his hand, then split up into several dozen streaks of light, each of which fell into the one of the 81 star points around the array with unerring accuracy.
As soon as these Starheaven Stones fell into place, they immediately began to radiate dazzling starlight that illuminated the entire plaza.
At the same time, Han Li opened his mouth to release his Seven Bright Star Rings, and they circled around in the air before spreading out across the night sky.
These Seven Bright Star Rings weren't a part of the array, but they were also quite beneficial when it came to gathering starpower, so Han Li naturally wasn't going to neglect them.
He began to make a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and the entire array began to glow with radiant starlight, which gradually expanded to encompass the entire plaza bit by bit.
Han Li continued to look up at the night sky, and he felt as if the distance between himself and the night sky were rapidly shrinking. The stars that had appeared incredibly tiny to him in the past were becoming larger and larger, and they were also glowing brighter and brighter.
Every single star resembled a miniature sun that was blinding to behold, and if an outside observer were present, they would be stunned to discover that the black pupils in Han Li's eyes had disappeared, and the entirety of his eyes were filled with radiant white starlight.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and a vast expanse of starlight converged in the sky, forming over 100 pillars of white light that shone down onto the entire secret area from the night sky above.
The seven pillars of light passing down through the Seven Bright Star Rings appeared particularly thick and substantial.
The plaza that the Great Universe Star Gathering Array was situated on trembled violently as each of the Starheaven Stones released a pillar of white light that hurtled directly toward Han Li at the center of the array.
The 81 pillars of starlight collectively struck Han Li with a resounding boom, and a muffled groan immediately escaped his lips, which a string of cracks and pops rang out incessantly from all of the joints in his body.
His 18 profound acupoints also lit up in unison, immediately following which each of them formed a miniature vortex that sucked in the vast expanse of starlight converging toward him.
The enormous influx of starpower instantly struck Han Li with a bloated sensation in his profound acupoints, as if he had already had a hearty meal, yet was being forced to eat more, and it was not a good feeling.
A pained look flashed through his eyes as he gritted his teeth tightly, enduring the pain as his profound acupoints continued to devour starlight.
Right at this moment, the array beneath him suddenly shuddered violently, and a spatial vortex emerged under him. A burst of suction force instantly surged out of the vortex, sucking in the white starlight all over the entire plaza and drawing it toward Han Li.
All of the pillars of white light shining down from the heavens were sucked in by the vortex, causing them to veer off their original trajectories and descend toward Han Li instead.
Just a moment ago, the Great Universe Star Gathering Array resembled a vast sea formed by over 100 cascading waterfalls, while Han Li was like a small raft drifting over the sea in relative safety and comfort, but the situation was completely different now.
With all of the pillars of starlight shining down upon him at once, the influx of starpower was countless times more immense than before, and a burst of unbearably tremendous force crashed down upon him, causing him to bend forward involuntarily, to the point that he was almost flattened against the ground.
Strands of translucent starlight were piercing into every single one of his pores, and his robes were instantly soaked with blood.
However, the blood would only flow for an instant before it was evaporated into nothingness by the starlight.
Han Li's teeth were gritted tightly as a guttural snarl rang out deep within his throat. His hands were pressed firmly into knees, and veins were bulging on his arms as he struggled to push himself back into an upright posture.
His skin had already become completely translucent thanks to the starlight flowing into his body, and even through his robe, one could see all of his bones and meridians.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of light, which instantly transformed into a massive screen that positioned itself above his head.
The screen was a transparent black color with a series of glittering and translucent blue beads embedded onto its surface, giving it the appearance of a miniature night sky. This was the very same screen that he had taken from the palace in which the Great Universe Origin Arts had been hidden.
With all of the pillars of starlight shining down upon it, the blue beads on the screen began to radiate dazzling starlight, projecting a miniature starry sky.
At the same time, the entire screen became more and more transparent until it transformed into a black veil-like light barrier that encompassed Han Li's entire body.
The light barrier was rippling incessantly under the vast volume of starlight shining down upon it, but it was able to afford Han Li some protection and alleviate some of hte pressure weighing down upon him.
As a result, he was able to catch his breath, and he made a hand seal as he closed his eyes to focus entirely on the absorption of starpower.
......
The days passed by one after another in a blur.
At night, Han Li would draw starpower into his body from the night sky, while during the day, he would continue to cultivate the Great Universe Origin Arts using the Starheaven Stones, and he did this without pause every single day.
During the first few years, Han Li would recover an additional Time Dao Rune every single year, following which he would take a break from his cultivation and travel to that garden to examine the dream concealment restriction on the stone platform, but he was unable to make any progress.
After that, he knew that the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor had to have already closed a long time ago, but nothing had changed in this secret realm. This instilled within him a sense of reassurance, allowing him to focus fully on his cultivation, and it didn't take long before he opened his 19th profound acupoint.
His cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts wasn't exactly all smooth sailing from there, but there were no major obstacles, either, and he slowly became immersed in the process, forgetting the passage of time.
500 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this night, pillars of starlight were shining down from the heavens as usual, illuminating the entire ruined city with their resplendent white radiance.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed at the center of the plaza, completely enveloped by starlight, and his entire body looked as translucent as if it had been carved out of jade.
His long hair trailed down his back, and it had already turned from its former black color to a glittering and translucent silver color.
At this moment, there were strands of starlight gathering at a certain point on his back, and a brand new profound acupoint was taking shape.
With that, the 36th profound acupoint was formed, and his cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts was complete!
A faint crack rang out as the black screen that had been hanging above Han Li this entire time suddenly disintegrated. At the same time, the pillars of starlight shining down from above also slowly dimmed before fading away altogether.
With that, the entire secret area was also plunged into darkness.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes as he rose to his feet, and his entire body was encompassed within his True Extreme Film, which was looking denser and more resilient than ever.
He raised a hand before gently clenching his fist, and a burst of light appeared in the palm of his hand, seemingly containing some type of peculiar power.
He knew that this was a sign that the starpower in his body still hadn't completely stabilized in the wake of a newly formed profound acupoint, and that his body would soon return to normal.
Despite his latest breakthrough, Han Li couldn't help but heave a forlorn sigh.
He had anticipated that it would definitely take a very long time to complete his cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts, but he wasn't expecting it to take this long.
All of a sudden, he raised his head to look up at the night sky, then took a step back before throwing a punch up at the heavens.
A burst of extremely formidable force was instantly released, forming a gust of white astral wind that was visible even to the naked eye as it erupted directly upward.
A resounding boom rang out, and it was as if the entire night sky were about to be torn apart by this burst of tremendous force. This was immediately followed by a loud whooshing sound as the surrounding air surged into the area vacuum left in the wake of the force released by Han Li's fist.
The gust of white wind surged upward for several thousand feet, and only after that did it begin to gradually dissipate.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he slowly withdrew his fist.
Even though that hadn't been an all-out punch, the power unleashed was already not inferior to that of a full-force blow from back when he had only cultivated half of the Great Universe Origin Arts.
By his estimates, if he were to return to that stone platform now, he would perhaps be able to destroy it even without progressing to the Golden Immortal Stage, but if he were to do that, then this entire secret area would most likely be destroyed along with the stone platform.
The blue light radiating from Han Li's body slowly faded, and his True Extreme Film also disappeared at his behest.
At this point, he had already reached the pinnacle of the True Immortal, so the only thing that was keeping him from reaching the Golden Immortal Stage was that 36th immortal acupoint.
However, seeing as he had already attained 36 profound acupoints, opening this final immortal acupoint wasn't going to be a difficult task, so the only concern currently on his mind was the final one of the three decays, acupoint decay.
This was an unavoidable tribulation that he would have to transcend in order to reach the Golden Immortal Stage. It was said that cultivating profound acupoints and mastering law powers would help one endure this decay, but he had never witnessed or experienced this process, so he was still feeling a little uneasy.
Han Li took a deep breath, then looked up at the moon in the sky.
He wasn't planning to continue cultivating tonight, and he sprang up into the air before landing on the rooftop of a half-collapsed building.
From there, he looked up at the moon once again, and a hint of mixed emotions flashed through his eyes as he laid down onto the rooftop, then closed his eyes to rest.
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