Chapter 174 - 173: Perfect Dao Foundation

Chapter 174: Chapter 173: Perfect Dao Foundation

Divine Void Temple. A dilapidated meditation chamber.

Fortunately, the talisman from the diviner priest Shouyangzi was remarkably sturdy. It had miraculously withstood the shockwave from the tree demon’s self-detonation, holding on tenaciously.

The entire room was filled with dense Spiritual Qi.

Just a few breaths made one feel light and euphoric, as if about to become an immortal.

He Xiaotian remained over three meters tall, the brilliant buffs that had covered his body now faded.

Shouyangzi, meanwhile, was sweating bullets, his wolf-hair brush moving with masterful speed as he drew bizarre symbols.

He wanted to slap himself right then and there. It was all his fault for opening his big mouth.

All he did was say one little thing: that the more Talismans you drew during the Spirit Opening, the better the result.

And then... then He Xiaotian simply maintained his enormous physique.

What could the old priest do? He had no choice but to comply.

A step that should have been finished in ten minutes had now taken over twenty, and he still had a small section left to draw.

He had finally gotten a clear read on He Xiaotian. The man was undeniably greedy.

The cinnabar, ink blocks, and rooster blood—enough for five or six people’s Spirit Openings—were completely depleted the moment Shouyangzi finished his final stroke.

"Whew!"

As the old priest dotted the brush between his eyebrows, the intricate and bizarre patterns covering He Xiaotian’s body suddenly began to blaze with an infinite golden light.

It was several times more intense than the faint glow Daoxuan had produced.

He seemed to have transformed into a golden sun, blindingly brilliant.

He Xiaotian felt some kind of gas seeping in through his pores.

Moreover, its speed was increasing with each passing moment.

Even the Spiritual Qi—a mixture of yin and yang qi gushing from the open Netherworld Fissure—was struggling to keep up.

One moment, the air was dense with energy, like an Immortal Realm; the next, it was nearly depleted.

This scene left Shouyangzi dumbfounded. ’Could it be that X is the real once-in-a-century cultivation prodigy?’

At this thought, he glanced over at his own disciple, Daoxuan.

Sigh!

’It’s true what they say, comparisons will be the death of you!’

He Xiaotian now felt like a fish washed up on the beach, desperately craving a return to the ocean.

Unfortunately, the rate at which the Spiritual Qi gushed forth simply couldn’t keep up with his absorption.

If Shouyangzi hadn’t warned him not to move recklessly during the Spirit Opening, he would have already jumped up, rushed over, and used his Unrivaled Divine Power to rip a wider hole in the Netherworld Fissure.

"Yang, you’ve got to think of something! I’m starving over here, and I have a bad feeling that if the Spiritual Qi runs out completely, something terrible is going to happen," He Xiaotian said, his body motionless as he spoke.

The old priest was in a real bind now. He never in a million years would have imagined that He Xiaotian could suck the energy tide dry, and it had caught him completely off guard.

’What the hell am I supposed to do?’

’My senior brother never told me something like this could happen!’

Inevitably, his mind flashed back to scenes of some of his martial brothers who had forced their Spirit Opening and, due to insufficient Spiritual Qi, ended up being sucked dry into human husks by the blood-colored talismans on their skin.

Shouyangzi said, his face a mask of panic, his voice tinged with a sob, "I-I... I don’t know either!"

He Xiaotian: "..."

"You were too greedy! You just had to do the Spirit Opening in a body over three meters tall. Now look what’s happened—there isn’t enough Spiritual Qi! And what on earth did you eat growing up? A Netherworld Fissure half the size of a grown man isn’t pouring out enough yin qi to fuel your Spirit Opening!

I seriously suspect you aren’t even human! You must be some kind of monster that became sentient! How else can you explain this situation?"

’Monster my ass!’

’It’s come to this, and you’re still cracking jokes with me?’

’Hurry up and find a solution!’

"Wait, I’ll get all the Spiritual Energy Crystals from the vault and smash them! We’ll see if that works. If it doesn’t, you’re on your own." After speaking, the old priest scrambled out of the meditation chamber, running with all his might toward the inner vault of the Divine Void Temple where the Spiritual Energy Crystals were stored.

For He Xiaotian, every second was an eternity of agony.

He couldn’t afford to fail, so all he could do was endure.

The old priest had said it before: a person only gets one chance at a Spirit Opening in their entire life. Failure meant never being able to set foot on the path of cultivation.

He Xiaotian didn’t want to lose this opportunity. Who knew if the Experience Points system would even allow him to learn Daoist arts in the future?

If it couldn’t, wouldn’t he be filled with a lifetime of regret?

Five or six minutes later, the old priest came running back, panting and carrying a suitcase.

CLATTER!

Ignoring the sweat pouring down his face, he immediately opened the case and upended it.

The floor covered in Spiritual Energy Crystals was a staggering sight.

"X, I, Shouyangzi, am seeing this through to the very end. These are all the Spiritual Energy Crystals the Divine Void Temple has gathered in the past six months—one thousand two hundred in total. Three hundred of them were my own coffin fund! If even these can’t save you, then you’re truly on your own."

Shouyangzi’s words moved He Xiaotian so deeply that he was on the verge of bursting into tears.

’To be fair, the old priest is betting his life’s savings to rescue me.’

’But can we save the waterworks for later?’

’Saving my life is the priority here!’

Shouyangzi pulled a Talisman from his robes and slapped it onto his own body.

With a flash of golden light, his arms instantly bulged with power.

He then clenched his fists and, facing the Spiritual Energy Crystals on the floor, unleashed the ’Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique’.

CRUNCH!

The Spiritual Energy Crystals shattered, pulverized into a fine powder by the immense force.

In an instant, the depleted Spiritual Qi in the room rapidly became abundant once more.

This fresh infusion of Spiritual Qi also stimulated the Netherworld Fissure, causing it to once again spew forth yin qi.

And the flow was just as strong as the previous energy tide, not a bit weaker.

He Xiaotian breathed a sigh of relief. ’Surely nothing will go wrong this time, right?’

And yet, ten minutes later.

The Spiritual Qi was once again depleted.