Chapter 358: The Pig-Dolphin Beast Offers a Stone

A distance of a hundred li was nothing for a late-Nascent Soul stage Pig-Dolphin Beast, and it soon arrived near the island.

It did its best to conceal its aura, swimming along the edge of the island toward the cave dwelling of that human cultivator.

After a moment, the Pig-Dolphin Beast reached the vicinity of the cave dwelling and looked over.

What met its eyes was a dense forest. As the sea breeze blew, the trees rustled loudly, branches swaying and leaves stirring, with no sign of anything unusual.

The beast stared at that forest for a long time, then opened its mouth.

A faint blue light shot out, striking the dense woods.

As soon as the blue light touched the forest, it sank in like a stone dropped into the sea, without any reaction.

Joy flickered in the Pig-Dolphin Beast's eyes. The restrictions here were still in place, meaning that human cultivator hadn't left.

Relieved, it was about to turn and leave.

Just then, a soft laugh came from beside it without warning.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast shuddered, turning its head, and was nearly scared out of its wits.

There, on the shore not far away, stood a man in a blue robe, smiling. It was the same human cultivator it had seen from afar many years ago.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast let out a loud cry, twisted its body, and tried to dart into the sea.

The blue-robed man chuckled lightly and reached out with one hand, grasping at the air.

Splash!

The seawater within a radius of a li surged upward, flying into the air, enveloping the Pig-Dolphin Beast's body, leaving it completely unable to move.

"A late-Nascent Soul stage Pig-Dolphin Beast? That's rare," the blue-robed man said calmly, looking at the demon beast in the water.

This man was none other than Han Li, but at this moment his brows were furrowed, as if troubled by something.

Over the years, he had continued to seclude himself in his cave dwelling, trying to open the thirty-sixth immortal aperture.

However, things turned out differently than he had expected. In the past few decades, though he had continuously taken Wheel-Turning Pills and even sought solutions through the Myriad Changes Alliance, that last immortal aperture showed no sign of movement.

On this day, feeling restless, he planned to leave his cave dwelling for a walk, and unexpectedly encountered this demon beast.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast was terrified, roaring repeatedly, its six short legs struggling desperately, but to no avail.

Its voice was shrill, and as it struggled and roared, it sounded like a fat pig's death throes, looking quite comical.

Han Li was amused by the sight, letting out a couple of light laughs, which somewhat dispelled his restlessness.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you," he said with a faint smile, flicking his finger.

A fiery red pill shot out, disappearing in a flash into the Pig-Dolphin Beast's wide-open mouth.

Startled again, its cries ceased abruptly. Then, on the surface of its round body, a brilliant red light flared and flickered wildly. The aura it emitted also churned violently, rapidly increasing.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast was about to cry out again, but seeing this, a look of confusion appeared on its face, and its struggling gradually stopped.

The changes on its body continued. The red light grew stronger and stronger, and soon it finally broke through a bottleneck. The churning aura stabilized, and it had unexpectedly broken through to the Deity Transformation stage.

At the same time, after a burst of intense flashing, the red color on its skin completely faded, turning pure white all over.

The muscles beneath its belly writhed, and two short protrusions emerged, as if it were about to grow two more pig legs.

"Growing two more legs so quickly—your talent is not bad," Han Li remarked, raising an eyebrow slightly, muttering to himself, then lowering his hand.

With a splash!

The seawater that had enveloped the Pig-Dolphin Beast lost its power and fell back into the sea.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast regained its freedom, but instead of flying away, it stood in midair, staring blankly at Han Li.

"Little one, I've already helped you break through the Deity Transformation bottleneck. Are you still not satisfied?" Han Li said with a light laugh.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast blinked, stared at Han Li for a while longer, then suddenly turned and swiftly flew into the sea, disappearing into the vast waves.

Han Li smiled faintly, his gaze drifting toward the distant sea.

Though he felt restless, he was not anxious.

It was only natural that breaking through to the Golden Immortal realm was difficult; otherwise, Golden Immortal cultivators wouldn't be so rare. But for now, he had no good way to overcome this bottleneck.

The sky soon darkened. The setting sun descended, night fell, and stars began to dot the sky.

Han Li looked up at the starry sky, suddenly froze, and then his eyes brightened.

He flipped his hand and took out an object—a bluish-gray stone slab, both sides densely carved with small ancient seal script. It was the Great Heavenly Cycle Star Origin Art he had obtained from Cold Flame Ancestor back then.

Shortly after obtaining this technique, a myriad of tangled events had occurred, causing Han Li to completely forget about the Great Heavenly Cycle Star Origin Art, and the stone slab had been left deep in his storage pouch.

He looked at the stone slab in his hand, his eyes flickering.

Back when he had obtained the Lesser Dipper Star Origin Art in the Spirit Realm, he had cultivated seven mysterious apertures. Later, when he cultivated and opened the first seven immortal apertures, it had taken almost no effort.

If his guess was correct, there should be some connection between mysterious apertures and immortal apertures. Perhaps if he first opened the thirty-sixth mysterious aperture, then opening the thirty-sixth immortal aperture might become much easier.

With this thought, Han Li did not return to his cave dwelling. Instead, holding the stone slab, he sat down cross-legged on the spot.

Back when he had obtained this technique, he had only skimmed through it, not examined it carefully.

Han Li carefully examined the technique on the stone slab, and the joy on his face gradually faded.

After a long while, he looked up, revealing a bitter smile.

As he had expected, the Great Heavenly Cycle Star Origin Art was indeed a continuation of the Lesser Dipper Star Origin Art, and even more profound, containing methods for opening mysterious apertures.

However, Cold Flame Ancestor had also said that the technique recorded on this stone slab was only half of the complete technique, allowing the opening of only eighteen mysterious apertures. That meant to open all thirty-six, he would need the second half.

This half of the Great Heavenly Cycle Star Origin Art had been obtained by Cold Flame Ancestor from a ruin. To get the second half, he would probably have to start with that man.

He couldn't help feeling somewhat annoyed. If he had known earlier, he should have asked for Cold Flame Ancestor's true identity back then.

Now, finding Cold Flame Ancestor again would not be easy.

From the battle at the Sacred Puppet Sect back then, it seemed that Cold Flame Ancestor had secretly joined the Ten Directions Tower. But finding someone in such a large organization as the Ten Directions Tower was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Moreover, he knew little about the Ten Directions Tower, and the identities of its members were probably as opaque as those of the Myriad Changes Alliance.

He stood still for a moment, then shook his head and put away the bluish-gray stone slab.

This matter was something that could only be encountered by chance; he would deal with it later.

Han Li turned and walked toward his cave dwelling, but after only two steps, he stopped and turned to look toward the sea.

Accompanied by a somewhat anxious cry, with a splash, the sea parted, and the Pig-Dolphin Beast emerged, flying to Han Li's side.

It opened its mouth, and a black object fell out, landing at Han Li's feet, rolling a few times before stopping.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast's mouth made a hissing sound, and on it were several black marks, oozing some blackish-red blood, as if corroded by something.

Han Li raised an eyebrow slightly, waved his hand, and sent a stream of green light into the Pig-Dolphin Beast's body.

The wounds on the beast's mouth healed at a visible rate.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast was startled, then joy appeared in its eyes. It made a hoarse sound, which seemed somewhat ingratiating, and its tail wagged from side to side.

Han Li paid no further attention to the beast, bending down to pick up the black object on the ground.

It was a black stone, the size of a fist, pitch-black and shiny all over, emitting a jet-black light.

Though it was night, the black light emitted by the object was still very conspicuous, as if it could swallow all light.

Han Li's brow suddenly furrowed. A sharp pain shot through his fingers holding the stone, and then a faint silver light flashed on the surface of his fingers, forming a translucent film.

The black light from the stone seemed to carry a strange corrosive force. Even with his current physical body, direct contact was somewhat unbearable.

After a moment's thought, Han Li released his divine sense into the black stone, examining it carefully.

After a while, he withdrew his divine sense, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

This black stone contained a very special kind of power, not law power, but also very profound. With his knowledge, he couldn't identify what it was.

"Are you giving this to me?" Han Li asked, looking at the Pig-Dolphin Beast.

The beast immediately nodded.

"This object is quite peculiar. I can't identify it either. Where did you get it?" Han Li asked again.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast turned and looked into the distance, its mouth opening and closing as if trying to speak, but only hoarse sounds came out, and a look of anxiety appeared in its eyes.

Han Li smiled faintly, pointed a finger, and a beam of green light shot from his fingertip into the Pig-Dolphin Beast's throat.

For a demon beast to speak, it had to refine a certain throat bone.

Although the Pig-Dolphin Beast's cultivation was decent, it hadn't yet refined that bone.

The green light flashed in the beast's throat and then dissipated.

"Senior... uh..." Joy filled the Pig-Dolphin Beast's eyes, and it produced a stiff voice.

"Alright, now you can tell me the origin of this object," Han Li said.

"It... this object... many years ago, I... uh... followed my parents when we migrated here from elsewhere... uh... and found it near an island," the Pig-Dolphin Beast said haltingly.

"Oh, do you still remember which island?" Han Li's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked.

"This... it's been too long... I... my spiritual intelligence wasn't fully developed back then... I don't remember clearly," the Pig-Dolphin Beast said, its speech gradually becoming smoother.

Hearing this, Han Li waved his hand, and a stream of seawater rose from the surface, condensing into a water screen on which a detailed map appeared. It was a map of the Black Wind Sea region.

"Look at this map. Can you roughly recall where it was?" he said.

The Pig-Dolphin Beast looked at the water screen for a long time, then its gaze settled on one spot, and it said somewhat uncertainly, "It should be around here."

Han Li followed the Pig-Dolphin Beast's gaze and was slightly taken aback.

The place the Pig-Dolphin Beast was looking at was one he had visited before—Red Moon Island, where he had gone during his first mission for the Myriad Changes Alliance.

"Found it here..." Han Li muttered to himself. Could it be a coincidence?

"I'm not sure... it should be around here," the Pig-Dolphin Beast said, a bit nervously, seeing Han Li's serious expression.

"It's fine, I was just asking. By the way, do you have any more of this black stone?" Han Li waved his hand and asked again.