Chapter 518

Chapter 518: Dao Body

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. During these ten days, Li Hui experienced calm, but many significant events unfolded in the outside world that could affect Wutu for hundreds or even a thousand years.

The Great Summer Prince passed away, and the Prince’s Consort along with the prince’s grandson vanished without a trace.

Meanwhile, dozens of members of the royal family met untimely ends, and rumors began to spread that the summer emperor had used the prince’s life to prolong his own. The situation escalated when the summer emperor suddenly imprisoned two great scholars in the court, causing panic among the people.

The summer emperor indeed acted ruthlessly, sacrificing his own kin for survival. Had it not been for Li Hui leaving the Fortune Ascending Talisman for Wu Zhao’s child, the child would likely have shared the same fate as his father.

However, the situation was more complicated. Someone within the royal family took advantage of this chaos to kill the princes and grandsons, attributing all the blame to the summer emperor.

Haven’t there been enough instances of royal family members turning against each other? The struggle had always been ruthless and had recently intensified. The summer emperor felt overwhelmed, shrouded in shadows, with enemies lurking in the dark while he stood in the open. The clan sent old elders from the founding generation to question him about the prince, infuriating him to the point his curse assassination flared up, forcing him to stay in bed for two days to recuperate.

The Great Summer faced a stormy and unstable situation, a time full of trouble. The vassal states and small nations fared no better; the number of ghostly beings surged, smoke rose from battlefields, and dark soldiers invaded cities and villages.

Previously, the Yin Moon Dynasty had allied with the demon lair, seeking to dominate the Great Summer’s majestic lands. However, Li Hui disrupted their plans, leading to errors compounding until they were left in ruin, forcing the summer emperor and his enemies to part in mutual destruction.

In these same ten days, Ji Mengxue appeared and disappeared mysteriously, continuously eliminating disciples of the demon lair and using the Bull Demon King Talisman to subdue many demon cultivators—those who opposed her perished, while those who supported her thrived…

Meanwhile, far away in Dalong, the avatar Jieyin crushed a letter in his hand and sneered, "It’s clear now; National Master Qiao Tianxing is Xun Zuoyuan, but Xun Zuoyuan isn’t Qiao Tianxing. Much like my relationship with my true self, this guy is deeply hidden. Despite my efforts to peel away the layers, I couldn’t uncover the core! Since that’s the case, let’s first eliminate this troublesome avatar that has caused chaos for so many years."

Guang Jin transmitted a message, “My lord, please wait. We control insect, beast, and ghost three elements, monitoring the Dalong imperial city. We’ve discovered a relic. Others might not know, but I do—it’s a teleportation array left by the Buddhist nation. After careful verification, it appears someone not only repaired this array but is also actively using it.”

“Moko Buddhist nation?” Jieyin was taken aback. This was a major surprise. He exclaimed, “Are you saying Xun Zuoyuan might be digging into the Moko Buddhist nation? That Qiao Tianxing in plain sight is merely a doorman?”

“There is that possibility. Whether it is actually Xun Zuoyuan is still uncertain. In any case, the waters of Dalong imperial city are quite deep…” Guang Jin lamented.

“Investigate the insider details quickly. It seems we must proceed with our original plan to expand the Haotu Sect’s deterrence range before forcing Dalong into a corner,” Jieyin set aside this matter and asked Guang Jin, “Is Qianyun still not awake?”

Guang Jin hesitated, "Soul damage is the most troublesome; nurturing the soul takes time! Unless my lord cultivates the Dream Command to help her avoid dangers and guide her in her dreams, she might wake up sooner."

“I will cultivate the Dream Command right away. You oversee the affairs; we have spread ourselves thin, continue to collect refugees to build up their will…”

In addition, another significant event transpired; many sects dispatched powerful cultivators to the Golden Luan Great Thousand Cave, already confirming plans to open the Yuan Chen Heavenly Mansion. However, crossing the Giant Armored Tribe and Barbarian Nation to reach the Xun Wind Desert would not be easy, requiring the elders of each sect to wield spirit treasures for relocation.

While the outside world was filled with chaos, Li Hui and Yang Jiuzhen felt quite satisfied as they cultivated with the thirteen Xuanhuang Certainty Stones. Every session allowed them to break through barriers, and on the thirteenth day, they sensed an impending breakthrough.

"Suppress!"

The Thirty-two Dao-enriching Heavenly Bottles floated in the air, tracing mysterious arcs. The bottles developed numerous cracks, greatly suppressing the demonic heart.

"Poof…" Li Hui spat out a mouthful of demonic blood, purifying the acupoints tainted by demonic essence.

He felt his body lighten significantly and rediscovered the sense of buoyancy he once had. Not daring to slack off, he quickly took deep breaths to regulate his internal energy. Although he had only cleansed ten percent of the demonic heart and achieved a two-to-eight ratio of demonic heart to heart of Dao, arriving at this point was incredibly rare. He began to gather energy in preparation for advancing to late-stage Bosa.

Suddenly, Yang Jiuzhen opened her eyes, filled with excitement and shock. She thought inwardly, "I found it—unbelievable! I truly possess a third type of Dao body, belonging to the metal element among the five elements, hidden in the shadows, fittingly called the Dark Gold Dao Body. Even Master, whose cultivation reaches the heavens, couldn’t see it; Brother Li’s insight is truly unparalleled!"

Through Li Hui’s subtle guidance, Yang Jiuzhen believed that Bai Ze’s divine eye was remarkable but was unaware of the deeper reasons behind it. Without his guidance, she would have needed nearly a hundred years to slowly comprehend the existence of the third Dao body. The moment she conceived the idea of transforming into the boundary Dao body, she might have perished in vain—how tragic!

Now she had quietly cultivated for over ten days and unexpectedly reversed the heavenly secret to open a layer of fate, unaware that this fortunate encounter was merely a result of Li Hui’s and Old Li’s protection!

“Stop being so loud; I have already reduced my demonic heart by ten percent. You just realized you possess a third Dao body; aren’t you embarrassed to be so slow? Next, I’m going to crush a piece of Xuanhuang Certainty Stone to seize the opportunity to experience Tian Xin’s heart of Dao!” Li Hui declared, then truly made a move to crush a precious Xuanhuang Certainty Stone.

“Ah! That’s way too precious!” Yang Jiuzhen exclaimed in shock, quickly focusing her mind to comprehend the principles contained within, feeling as if she were transcending heaven and earth, where the sun waxes and wanes.

Li Hui lightly gasped and proceeded to crush three Xuanhuang Certainty Stones in quick succession, thinking, "Old Li doesn’t even know the benefits of the Xuanhuang Certainty Stones to the Dao Rhythm Residual Talisman. With four Xuanhuang Certainty Stones as a foundation, the Dao Rhythm Residual Talisman can be restored to the level of the Jade Symbol—not a waste at all!"

At that moment, their figures were engulfed by shades of blue-black and golden light.

This experience was extraordinarily unique, resembling an enlightening journey of the Dao while also roaming through the cosmic wilderness, leading to a deeper understanding of all things between heaven and earth. While not able to prove the Dao, they could certainly solidify their own paths.

“Peer into heaven and earth, understand all things, Bai Ze approaches the Dao!”

“Within the flow of time, there seems to exist a dragon that has never revealed itself. People only grasp a scale or claw; I wish to emulate it with the Cloud-Brush Dragon Claw Technique!”

Li Hui gained much from this, with the Dao Rhythm Residual Talisman restored to the level of the Jade Symbol, and his eyes revealed more mysterious wonders. He also rapidly improved his control over the time Dragon Claw, subtly touching upon an unbelievable realm.

Yang Jiuzhen’s insights multiplied, yet it wasn’t the best time for her to have too many realizations. Compared to Li Hui, she fell far short. With his numerous experiences of enlightenment and the unique dragon horns enriching his wisdom, he had already achieved seamless integration of his skills and abilities, allowing him to refine his techniques to perfection while using the Xuanhuang Certainty Stones.

She was different; she needed time to accumulate.

This accumulation took over ten days, blending everything she had ever learned in spells and techniques, including teachings from her master and her own daily insights into one coherent whole.

Surrounded by calamity power, Li Hui was about to take a critical step!

At that moment, Yang Jiuzhen’s breaths became exceptionally elongated, as the first layer of her Dao body shattered like a dam bursting, the second layer like soil washing away, and as the third layer broke apart, steel rods rapidly established an incredibly solid barrier, gradually forming a brand new Dao body. The flow of fortune began to surge chaotically, and her destiny became grand and lofty…