Chapter 458: Five Hundred Years

As night fell, countless stars emerged in the pitch-black sky, shining brightly.

Han Li sat cross-legged in the center of the white stone square, looking up at the sky. His eyes were like mirrors, reflecting the starlight.

The time patterns on the True Word Wheel could only recover one cluster per year, which took an extremely long time.

Unable to find a way to escape, Han Li had no choice but to wait patiently. During this time, he planned to continue cultivating the Great Cycle Star Element Technique to open more acupoints and attempt to break through to the Golden Immortal level.

He casually tossed his hand, and a blue crystalline light flew out from his palm, turning into dozens of streaks of light that scattered like heavenly maidens scattering flowers onto eighty-one star positions.

As soon as these Heavenly Star Stones fell into the formation, their surfaces flashed with crystalline light, spreading patches of starlight that illuminated the entire square brightly.

At the same time, Han Li opened his mouth and spat out seven blue star rings, which flew out in succession, spun in mid-air, and dispersed, hovering in the night sky.

Although the Seven Luminaries Star Rings were not part of the formation, as star treasures, they were still greatly beneficial for gathering starlight power, so Han Li naturally did not leave them unused.

As he formed hand seals and chanted incantations, the starlight shining on the entire formation gradually expanded, covering the entire square bit by bit.

Han Li gazed into the deep night sky, feeling as if the distance between him and the sky was rapidly closing. The stars, which had once seemed tiny, grew larger and larger, and their light became increasingly brilliant.

Each star looked like a miniature sun, dazzling to the extreme.

If an outsider had been present, they would have been horrified to find that Han Li's pupils were no longer visible; his entire eyeballs had turned white, as if filled with brilliant starlight.

With a thunderous roar!

The stars in the sky suddenly blazed brightly, and countless white starlight condensed from the heavens, forming over a hundred white beams that shot down from the night sky, instantly covering the entire ruined city.

Among them, the seven beams that passed through the Seven Luminaries Star Rings were particularly thick and solid.

In the center of the city, the square where the All-Heavens Star-Gathering Formation was located trembled violently. All the Heavenly Star Stones lit up with white beams, converging toward Han Li in the center.

Eighty-one beams of starlight struck Han Li's body simultaneously, producing a sound like drumbeats.

Han Li let out a suppressed groan, and his bones crackled like popping beans, emitting a series of snapping sounds.

On his body surface, the eighteen acupoints he had previously condensed simultaneously shone with bright light, each forming a small vortex that attracted the starlight from the sky to gather within.

Waves of powerful star force filled them, and Han Li's acupoints immediately felt swollen and full, as if a person who had already eaten their fill was forced to consume another feast of meat and fish—an unpleasant sensation.

A trace of pain flashed in his eyes, but he clenched his teeth and allowed the formed acupoints to continue devouring the starlight.

Just then, the formation beneath him suddenly trembled violently. A void vortex emerged from under him, and an invisible pulling force roared out, drawing the white starlight covering the entire square toward Han Li.

The over a hundred white beams falling from the sky were torn by this force, twisting and all projecting directly onto Han Li.

Previously, the All-Heavens Star-Gathering Formation was like a vast ocean formed by over a hundred waterfalls, and Han Li was like a small boat floating on it, able to draw from it unhurriedly. But now it was different.

A hundred starlight waterfalls poured down simultaneously, containing star force many times stronger than before. An unbearable immense force pressed down on Han Li.

Crushed by this overwhelming force, Han Li's body leaned forward, almost prostrating himself.

Fine threads of starlight crystals pierced into every pore of his body, and blood instantly soaked through his clothes.

However, moments later, the seeping blood was evaporated by the starlight and disappeared without a trace.

Han Li clenched his teeth, letting out a low roar from deep in his throat. He pressed his hands on his knees, veins bulging on his arms, and tremblingly slowly straightened his body.

The skin on his body had become translucent from the starlight entering it, almost semi-transparent. Even through his clothes, one could see the vessels and bones inside.

At that moment, Han Li suddenly raised his hand and waved it. A beam of light shot out, instantly transforming into a huge screen that flew up with a whoosh and hovered above his head.

The screen was pitch-black and translucent, embedded with sparkling blue beads, looking like a night sky. It was the one he had taken from the hall where the Great Cycle Star Element Technique was stored.

As the screen hovered overhead, under the starlight beams, all the blue beads burst into brilliant light. A miniature star map emerged from within, twinkling with starlight.

At the same time, the entire screen became increasingly transparent, eventually completely virtualizing into a black gauze-like light curtain that enveloped Han Li.

The starlight falling onto it caused the light curtain to undulate like the sea. Protected by it, the pressure on Han Li eased slightly, becoming more bearable.

He slowly exhaled, formed a hand seal, closed his eyes, and began to absorb the star force wholeheartedly.

...

Time passed, years flowed by.

At night, Han Li drew starlight from the sky to infuse his body; during the day, he used the Heavenly Star Stones as a source, cultivating the Great Cycle Star Element Technique day and night without interruption.

In the first few years, every year Han Li would recover one cluster of time patterns, then interrupt his cultivation to go to the garden and try to decipher the Dream Seal patterns on the stone platform, but always with no success.

After that, knowing that the outside Cold Hell Immortal Mansion should have already closed, and since no changes occurred in this small secret realm, he settled down to cultivate with full effort. Before long, he condensed his nineteenth acupoint.

Afterward, although the cultivation of the Great Cycle Star Element Technique was not entirely smooth, there were no major setbacks. Han Li immersed himself in it, gradually forgetting the passage of time.

In the blink of an eye, five hundred years had passed.

One night, over a hundred starlight beams fell from the sky, their bright white light illuminating the entire ruined city as if it were daytime.

Han Li sat cross-legged in the center of the square, enveloped by white beams. His body was extremely bright, as if carved from jade, crystal clear and flawless.

His originally jet-black long hair, which fell behind him, had turned into a silvery white, crystalline and translucent.

At the waist position behind him, wisps of starlight gathered, emitting a striking blue light as a new acupoint opened.

Thus, all thirty-six acupoints were condensed, and the Great Cycle Star Element Technique had finally reached great completion!

With a soft crackling sound,

the black screen that had been hovering above Han Li's head as a buffer suddenly shattered. The gathered starlight pillars slowly dispersed, eventually turning into a thin mist of hazy light that dissipated.

The light in the entire ruined city dimmed, returning to its original state.

Han Li slowly opened his eyes and stood up. The True Extreme Membrane covering his body shimmered with flowing colors, becoming even more solid and thick.

He raised his hand and gently clenched his fist. In his ears, he seemed to hear a faint sound, and a glow gathered in his palm, as if filled with a strange power.

He knew this was because the acupoints had just formed and the star force in his body was not yet stable; it would soon return to normal.

"Although I expected this cultivation to take a long time, I didn't think it would be this long..." Han Li sighed and murmured to himself.

With that, he raised an eyebrow, looked up at the deep night sky, suddenly stepped back, and punched upward.

With a thunderous roar!

An extremely powerful fist wind howled out, condensing into a visible white gale that shot upward.

The void rumbled, as if the night sky was about to be shattered by the force. A hollow area seemed to form in the void from the punch, with air currents rushing in from all sides, creating a loud howling.

The white wind mass flew several hundred zhang before its power gradually weakened and finally dissipated.

Han Li looked up at the trembling void, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes, and slowly withdrew his hand.

That strike just now was not his full strength, but from the force's power, it was already comparable to his all-out strike when he had cultivated half of the Great Cycle Star Element Technique.

According to his estimation, if he were to strike the stone platform with full force now, he might not even need to advance to the Golden Immortal level to shatter it, but then the entire small secret realm would likely collapse.

Han Li withdrew his hand seals, the blue light on his body dissipated, and the True Extreme Membrane on his body surface also disappeared.

Now, his cultivation had reached the peak of the True Immortal stage, with only the thirty-sixth immortal acupoint left to open to achieve the Golden Immortal body.

However, since he had already cultivated thirty-six acupoints, condensing the last immortal acupoint before achieving Golden Immortal was naturally not difficult. The only thing that worried him was the last of the three declines, the 'acupoint decline.'

This calamity was unavoidable; it was a necessary hurdle for him to ascend to the Golden Immortal level. Although cultivating acupoints and mastering law power were beneficial, he had never seen or experienced it himself, so he was still somewhat uneasy.

Han Li took a deep breath and looked up at the bright moon.

He did not plan to continue cultivating tonight. With a light leap, he flew up and, after a flicker, landed on the roof of a half-tower building.

He looked up at the moon in the sky once more, a hint of indescribable emotion in his eyes, then slowly lay down on the sloping roof, closing his eyes to rest.