Chapter 275: The Price of Stealing the Dao

As time passed, clusters of time Dao patterns on the treasure wheel dimmed and faded, the light flickering on the crystalline wall gradually slowed, and the scenes presented on it gradually stabilized.

To Han Li's delight, as the crystalline wall stabilized, some faint sounds could be heard from it, though they were intermittent and very indistinct, impossible to make out clearly.

During this time, the big-eared strange monk said something more, and from his mouth flew out five-colored runes, which turned into five-colored streams of light that spiraled upward, sometimes transforming into all kinds of strange flowers, grasses, and trees, and other times into bizarre beasts Han Li had never seen before—in short, a succession of strange phenomena, varied and diverse.

These naturally caused the five strange figures around the stone platform to rise and ask questions from time to time, and after a few words from the monk, they would sit back down with an expression of sudden enlightenment.

Though Han Li itched with curiosity, he had to force himself to calm down. His earlier worry about the dimming of the Dao patterns on the true wheel diminished somewhat, and he began to hope that those Dao patterns would dim more quickly.

After a few more breaths, the scenes on the crystalline wall finally stabilized completely and stopped flickering.

The sounds from the crystalline wall grew a bit louder, and though still somewhat blurry, some words and phrases could now be distinguished.

A blur of movement—Han Li, unable to contain his impatience, flew to a spot less than a foot from the crystalline wall, sat down cross-legged, formed hand seals, and infused all the immortal spiritual power in his body into his ears, activating a listening divine ability he had learned by chance in the past, and listened with full concentration.

With the divine ability's enhancement, the sounds from the crystalline wall suddenly became clear.

The voice was deep and gentle, ethereal beyond compare, giving a sense of vastness and solemnity, yet it spoke in a strangely unfamiliar language.

Han Li listened for a moment, and his eyes suddenly sparkled with strange light.

Though he did not understand the meaning of the words, the sound entering his ears gave him an indescribably profound feeling, shaking his mind and making him feel as if he had suddenly comprehended something.

But what exactly it was, he still could not tell.

Even so, a look of great joy appeared on his face. As if hearing the wondrous sound of the Dao, he silently memorized it in his heart.

After finishing one sentence, golden light, green light, silver light, and various other colors emerged in turn on Han Li's body—the various techniques and divine abilities within him were stirred by the monk's wondrous voice and began to circulate on their own.

This scene startled Han Li, and he listened even more intently.

After only seven sentences, though he was still somewhat confused and did not understand the meaning, his face took on an expression of infatuation, just like the strange figures on the crystalline wall.

At this moment, the various lights on Han Li's body grew brighter and brighter. Silver arcs of lightning appeared, and a phantom of a Roc emerged within them.

Green light surged and hummed as it spun, and a phantom of a green giant bird appeared.

Golden light flickered, and a giant golden ape beat its chest with both fists and roared at the sky.

One after another, phantoms of true spirits emerged, and in the blink of an eye, all the true spirit phantoms Han Li had cultivated appeared, circling around his body.

The same happened with his other techniques.

The immortal spiritual power in his body circulated faster and faster, growing increasingly vast and unstoppable.

Just as the big-eared monk spoke the eighth sentence, a strange thing happened that Han Li could never have dreamed of!

He felt his body tremble first, then a tingling numbness spread through his limbs and bones, while his dantian suddenly became scorching hot. This sensation gave him a warm, indescribably comfortable feeling.

But the next moment, a "bang" sounded clearly from within his body.

Han Li was slightly startled, then a hint of joy seemed to flash in his eyes, but before he could react,

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

Seven more explosive sounds rang out clearly from within his body.

The next moment, eight light points appeared on his body, identical to the original twelve, shining in mutual radiance.

He had actually opened eight immortal apertures in one breath!

Then, he felt the immortal spiritual power between heaven and earth surge toward him like a thousand rivers returning to the sea, forming a massive vortex of spiritual energy centered on him, and the immortal spiritual power in his dantian rose rapidly!

Han Li suddenly snapped awake. Seeing the situation on his body, he was overjoyed and glanced at the True Word Treasure Wheel in midair.

But more than half of the one hundred and eight clusters of time Dao patterns on it had already gone out.

He let out a light breath. Since things had come this far and there was still some time left, he naturally was unwilling to give up midway. So he continued to focus and listen to the ninth sentence.

After all, just by listening to eight sentences, he had been able to open eight immortal apertures—this cultivation speed gave him a dreamlike feeling.

He wondered what special things might happen when he heard the ninth or even the tenth sentence?

At this thought, Han Li's heart grew somewhat feverish.

But this time, he was not as fortunate as before.

Just as the ninth sentence was half spoken, and Han Li felt the ninth immortal aperture in his body beginning to stir, the fat, big-eared monk suddenly stopped speaking, uttered a sound of surprise, and looked up in Han Li's direction.

The five figures around also followed his gaze and looked at Han Li. The yellow-robed tree man suddenly stood up, his face filled with anger, and roared something in the same language as before, but this time it gave Han Li no sense of profundity.

The other four exchanged glances, their expressions varied, but none spoke, though none seemed pleased.

"Not good... I've been discovered!"

Han Li's heart tightened, but before he could react, the big-eared monk suddenly moved his lips slightly, saying something unknown.

Bang!

The crystalline wall instantly shattered into pieces, exploding in all directions, turning into countless scattered crystalline lights that quickly dissipated and vanished.

The spatial rift that had been torn open also hummed and closed instantly.

The True Word Treasure Wheel suspended in midair flashed with wild golden light, and the remaining time Dao patterns emitted a series of cracking sounds. In the span of a single breath, they all dimmed and then vanished with a flash.

Pfft!

Han Li's body shook, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His face instantly turned deathly pale. The immortal spiritual power in his body was in chaos, madly surging through his meridians, and he was on the verge of a qi deviation.

Greatly alarmed, he waved his hand and took out a white medicine bottle containing pure white pills. Without caring how many there were, he poured them all into his mouth and swallowed them, then immediately closed his eyes to catalyze the medicinal power.

A series of dull thuds came from within his body. Various colored lights flashed wildly on him, colliding and conflicting with each other.

At one moment, green light suppressed the other lights; the next, golden light suppressed the green light; then silver lightning light suddenly rose and blazed brightly.

Han Li's face alternated between green and white, looking extremely terrifying.

But as time passed, the rolling lights on his body gradually dimmed, and his complexion slowly returned to normal.

It took a full half day before he slowly opened his eyes. Though his face was still pale, his aura had stabilized.

He looked relieved. Fortunately, he had reacted quickly and taken the pills to stabilize his meridians in time; otherwise, he would have truly suffered a qi deviation by now.

Han Li let out a light breath. Feeling the eight immortal apertures he had just opened, joy welled up in his heart again.

Though this experience had been dangerous, it had also brought him a tremendous stroke of luck. Simply by listening to the big-eared monk's sermon through the light wall, he had opened a full eight immortal apertures.

Though the ninth immortal aperture had not been fully opened, it had already loosened; with some time, he would surely be able to break through it.

In the previous ten years of bitter cultivation, because most of his attention had been on condensing time Dao patterns, he had not opened any new immortal apertures. This time, he had opened eight in an instant!

Since it was not through cultivating the True Word Wheel Transformation Sutra, and perhaps also because the true wheel already had one hundred and eight clusters of time Dao patterns, opening these immortal apertures did not add any extra time Dao patterns.

Though the significant increase in cultivation was gratifying, what excited Han Li most was the eight and a half sentences of the sermon from the big-eared monk.

Now, as he savored them carefully, he felt more and more that these eight and a half sentences were profound and mysterious, seemingly some kind of technique formula.

"Just by speaking a few sentences, this monk could allow a True Immortal realm cultivator to directly open immortal apertures. Could it be... that this person is a Dao Ancestor?"

Han Li sat down cross-legged, muttering to himself, but then his expression suddenly shifted as if he remembered something.

Golden light flashed on his body, and the True Word Treasure Wheel appeared behind him.

The one hundred and eight time Dao patterns on it were now all in a dim state, gray and dull, without any of their former agility and mystery.

"This time, fortune and misfortune are intertwined. To eavesdrop on those true words, all these Dao patterns on the true wheel have now gone dim." Han Li sighed lightly, took out a healing pill, swallowed it, and closed his eyes.

Three days and three nights later.

He opened his eyes. The injuries in his body had fully recovered, but...

Han Li looked at the True Word Treasure Wheel. The one hundred and eight clusters of time Dao patterns on it were still gray and dark, with no sign of recovery.

"How can this be?" A possibility suddenly occurred to him—could it be that the big-eared monk's final glance had damaged the foundation of the time Dao patterns on the wheel?

At this thought, he quickly tried to activate the Slowing divine ability.

But the Dao patterns on the wheel showed no reaction at all, let alone releasing the golden ripple domain.

Unwilling to give up, Han Li tried to reverse the Water Wheel's divine ability, but it still could not be performed. His expression turned grim.

The True Word Wheel Transformation Sutra was his main cultivation technique. If the time Dao patterns on the True Word Treasure Wheel were damaged, this technique would be ruined.

He shook his head, calmed his mind, closed his eyes, and circulated the True Word Wheel Transformation Sutra to sense the time Dao patterns on the True Word Treasure Wheel.

After a moment, Han Li suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of joy in them.

Though very faint, he could still sense some time power from the time Dao patterns, and his mental connection with them had not been completely severed.

He breathed a silent sigh of relief. Since the connection was still there, the time Dao patterns on the wheel might still be recoverable.

Han Li settled his mind and continued to circulate the True Word Wheel Transformation Sutra, attempting to restore the time Dao patterns while quietly contemplating the eight and a half sentences of true words he had overheard.