Chapter 877: Breakthrough

"Deal!" Han Li replied without any hesitation.

"Hold on just a second, Fellow Daoist Li, I also have a minor additional request. In addition to the cultivation art, would you also be able to include your cultivation insights as well?" Gu Qianxun asked.

"Sure. However, you can only keep the Wingform Ascension Arts and my cultivation insights to yourself and not pass it onto anyone else. If you agree to this condition, then swear a vow on it. If not, then I'm afraid that the deal will have to fall through," Han Li said.

"As far as I'm aware, you are the only one in Green Goat City who possesses this cultivation art. Even if this wasn't a condition of yours, there's no way I would've passed on such a rare cultivation art to anyone else," Gu Qianxun replied, following which she immediatley swore a vow to keep the cultivation art to herself.

With all of his conditions met, Han Li exchanged cultivation arts with her through spiritual sense communication, and he also received a B tier beast core for his efforts.

Both parties were very pleased with this outcome, and after parting ways with Gu Qianxun, Han Li explored the event for half a day, but didn't find anything else that caught his eye.

After bidding farewell to Toxic Dragon, he departed from the exchange event, but instead of returning to the ninth area, he went to the exchange hall instead.

"How can I help you today, Fellow Daoist Li?" a crimson-robed arena employee asked.

At this point, Han Li had forged quite a reputation for himself, and he took part in arena battles far more frequently than the average gladiator. On top of that, he also made more exchanges than the average gladiator, so he had become quite familiar with the arena employees.

"I want to enter the star pond," Han Li replied as he handed over his badge, which contained 118 profound points.

He had been working tirelessly these past few years and earned quite a large sum of profound points, but he had used all of it on cultivation, so he didn't have much to spare at all.

The crimson-robed employee nodded in response, and he took Han Li's badge before waving a silver baton over it, deducting a hundred profound points.

Han Li then followed the crimson-robed employee to the entrance of the passageway that led to the star pond, and like usual, the stone gate was tightly shut.

The crimson-robed young man pulled out a blue badge before pressing it against the stone gate, upon which was an indentation that the blue badge fit perfectly into.

Specks of starlight were released by the badge before rapidly spreading over the stone gate, which slowly swung open with a faint click.

"Come with me," the young man said as he removed the badge before leading Han Li into the passageway, and the stone gate swung shut behind them.

After walking through the dimly lit passageway for a short while, the two of them arrived at a staircase that led upward.

The staircase was quite long, and it took them a while to reach the top, where they arrived in a stone chamber that was around two hundred to three hundred feet in size.

To call it a stone chamber wasn't entirely accurate as there was no ceiling, so it was more like a man-made basin on a mountain summit.

At the center of the open-air area was a circular pond that was over a hundred feet in size, and it was surrounded by roughly a dozen trees that were a pristine white color throughout, including in their trunks, their branches, and their leaves, making it appear as if they had been carved out of white jade.

Furthermore, these trees were extremely lush and vibrant, and their dense canopies covered virtually the entire open-air area above the pond, while their trunks were riddled with countless white patterns that extended all the way into the pond.

It was nighttime at the moment, and rays of starlight were cascading down from above.

The leaves of the white trees were radiating rays of white light, and they collected all of the nearby starlight before funneling it into the trees, following which the starlight was then released into the pond.

As a result, the water in the pond was filled with radiant starlight, giving it the appearance of a starry pond.

A white-robed young man was seated with his legs crossed beside the pond, meditating with his eyes closed.

The man appeared to be in his early thirties, and his skin was extremely pale, completely devoid of color. On top of that, his hair and eyebrows were also white.

"Gladiator Li Feiyu has submitted a hundred profound points to enter the star pond," the crimson-robed young man declared in a respectful manner.

The white-robed man opened his eyes and took a glance at Han Li, then gave a slight nod.

The crimson-robed young man extended a respectful bow before departing.

The white-robed man remained silent as he pulled out a palm-sized hourglass, then set it down beside him to commence the countdown.

Han Li immediately leaped into the pond upon seeing this, sending glowing white water splashing in all directions.

He had been here on more than one past occasion, so he already knew the rules.

For a hundred profound points, he would only have an hour to spend in the star pond.

After sitting down in the pond with his legs crossed, he channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts, and pure starpower instantly began to surge into his body from all directions.

Han Li channeled all of the starpower toward a profound acupoint on his lower abdomen.

This was the only profound acupoint in the Wingform Ascension Arts that wasn't on the legs, but it was also the most important profound acupoint and the most difficult hurdle to overcome in the Wingform Ascension Arts.

As long as he could open this profound acupoint, he would essentially have achieved full mastery of the Wingform Ascension Arts, and it would only be a matter of time before the rest of the profound acupoints opened up.

During the past few years, Han Li had been focusing solely on his Wingform Ascension Arts, and he had made rapid progress, reaching this bottleneck three months ago.

Over the course of these three months, he had tried a whole host of ways to break through the bottleneck, but progress had proven elusive.

This was why he had saved up some profound points to enter the star pond in the hope that this would be the catalyst he needed.

The vast torrent of starpower entering his body surged toward the profound acupoint at his behest, but it refused to budge.

Han Li wasn't surprised to see this, and he channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts as he made a second attempt.

One burst of starpower crashed into the profound acupoint after another, and close to two hours flew by in the blink of an eye.

At this point, Han Li's complexion had become quite flushed, and sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead, indicating that this was a very strenuous process.

However, his efforts were paying off, and the profound acupoint was not far away from completely opening.

Han Li took a deep breath to brace himself, then directed another burst of starpower at the profound acupoint, only to discover that it had become very resilient again, refusing to open any further.

"I had a feeling it wouldn't be so easy," Han Li murmured to himself as he flipped a hand over to produce a fist-sized beast core.

It was the B tier beast core that he had just obtained from Gu Qianxun, and inside it was a swirling vortex of white starlight.

At the same time, the beast core was giving off a burst of starpower fluctuations that was even more formidable than that of the star pond.

Compared with the Titan Vajra Arts, this B tier beast core was actually the more appealing of the two to Han Li.

The beast core contained tremendous starpower, thereby making it very effective when it came to opening profound acupoints, and that was why he had agreed to Gu Qianxun's proposal. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been willing to impart his cultivation art onto anyone else.

The higher the caliber of a beast core, the more difficult it was to refine, but thanks to the Heaven Controlling Vial, this was not a concern for Han Li.

The beast core quickly melted in his stomach to form a burst of extremely formidable and violent starpower that began to rampage through his body.

However, the starpower was then immediately tamed by the suction force released by the Heaven Controlling Vial, allowing Han Li to control it and direct it at his desired profound acupoint.

A resounding boom rang out in his mind as his spiritual sense churned violently. Even his dantian was trembling as the profound acupoint began to open further once again, much to Han Li's elation.

He took a deep breath as he redoubled his efforts, drawing upon the starpower from the beast core and the star pond with all his might, and a vortex took shape within the starpower around him.

The white-robed man's eyes sprang open in surprise upon seeing this, and he murmured to himself, "What cultivation art is he using? It's been a long time since I've seen anyone stir up the star pond to this extent."

Observing others through one's spiritual sense was strictly prohibited in the star pond, so he refrained from doing so, but he was looking at Han Li with a very intrigued expression.

Time slowly passed by, and it didn't take long before the sand in the hourglass ran out.

Han Li was still seated in the star pond with a radiant ball of starlight glowing on his lower abdomen, and it was giving off more and more violent starpower fluctuations.

It was clear that he was at a very crucial juncture in his cultivation, and the white-robed man took a hesitant glance at the spent hourglass, then decided not to rouse Han Li from his cultivation.

Several more minutes passed by, and right at this moment, a faint crack rang out from Han Li's lower abdomen as the all-important profound acupoint was finally opened.

All of the profound acupoints on his legs instantly began to release bursts of starlight, and his entire body was feeling as light as a feather.

An ecstatic look appeared on Han Li's face as his eyes sprang open, and he flew straight out of the star pond.

The starlight radiating from the profound acupoints on his legs formed a nebulous cloud that carried his body, allowing him to remain suspended in mid-air.