257: Why isn't Chapter 257 published?

She blinked, her gaze refocusing, and she looked down at her hands, then back up at the stone wall, her voice carrying a lingering resonance that had not yet completely faded away.

"Old Ancestor... Just now..."

"It's a Buddhist scripture. Now that the monk is not here, you can contemplate that Buddhist scripture for a moment, and I will be your Protector."

As Wu Li finished speaking, Bai Chi immediately nodded.

Closing her eyes and slowing her breathing, that previous Buddhist scripture resurfaced in her mind, its syllables unfolding word by word, the arrangement sequence completely identical to when she had chanted it, with every single character staying in its original position.

That scripture slowly revolved in her mind, at first in sync with the Buddha's light, like expanding outward from the center of a ripple of water, encountering a new layer of ripples upon reaching the edge, slowly rebounding and beginning to change direction.

When the scripture revolved to the third circle, one of the syllables changed.

The trailing sound of the character " Om" was prolonged for a moment during the revolution, then converged into another sound, shifting from " Om" to " Buzz", and the originally flat tone developed a slight tremolo deep in the throat; when it revolved to the seventh circle, another syllable also began to change, with the opening amplitude of the character " Ah" narrowing and its tone lowered by half a degree.

As the scripture continued to revolve, it shifted word by word, its pitch lowered layer by layer, and the originally symmetrical rhythm began to misalign, with a few syllables in the middle no longer arranged according to the original sequence of the Buddhist scripture, as if their positions had been readjusted.

Bai Chi's breathing frequency underwent a brief change at this moment, then returned to stability.

When the scripture finished revolving for the ninth circle in her mind, the final syllable also completed its shift, and the beginning and ending pitches of the entire scripture closed at the same height, forming a complete cycle.

Her hands pressed together slowly relaxed, and the scripture stopped at the trailing sound, but the words were no longer a Buddhist scripture.

The pitch at the ending was a full octave lower than the trailing sound of the Buddhist scripture.

Very quickly.

Bai Chi opened her eyes.

She looked down at her hands, her voice carrying a newly settled steadiness.

"Old Ancestor, I have comprehended a Divine Ability."

She raised her right hand with her palm facing upward, and a dark golden light flickered in her palm before extinguishing immediately, but at the very instant before it extinguished, the edges of the light displayed a layer of extremely faint dark red patterns.

She withdrew her hand, her gaze falling upon her palm as if confirming the spot where that light had appeared.

"This Divine Ability has no name; it should have naturally evolved from the Buddhist scripture."

Wu Li stood by her side without interrupting, confirming that the residual layer of golden Buddha's light on her body had formed a coexistence state with the light of the blood bead, before asking: "What is it called?"

Bai Chi was silent for a moment, her gaze falling upon the position on her palm where the pattern was located: "Demonic Speech Buddhist Curse."

"When chanting this curse, it can cause the target who hears it to fall into a brief trance, and the duration depends on the target's mental strength and the gap in cultivation."

"If the target's mind is weak, this curse can suppress the opponent's Spiritual Qi, disturb their state of mind, and even summon their Heart Demon if I become proficient in this Divine Ability."

As soon as these words were spoken,

Wu Li slowly nodded.

"A decent Divine Ability."

"Are there any others besides this?"

Bai Chi nodded.

Bai Chi's gaze did not shift away, still lingering in the direction of that Buddha statue.

"There are."

"After I acquired this Divine Ability, that induction in my heart is still there."

Her hand lifted from her knee, pointing toward the high platform.

"There should still be an Opportunity belonging to me inside here."

Wu Li glanced in the direction she pointed, his Blood Pupil sweeping around the high platform, and after confirming that there were no newly emerged Formation traces, he strode toward the high platform.

Bai Chi followed behind him, and the two bypassed the largest Buddha statue, arriving before the stone wall behind the statue.

The surface of the stone wall was smooth, its color slightly darker than the surrounding area, like a separately treated zone without any engraved scripture marks.

Wu Li did not ask much nor pause; raising his right hand, a dark red demonic light condensed in his palm, and he poked it directly onto the stone wall.

The moment the demonic light struck the wall, it emitted a muffled impact sound, cracks spreading outward from the impact point, and the entire stone wall shattered into several pieces that fell to the ground, kicking up a layer of dust.

After the dust dissipated, a sunken space behind the stone wall was revealed, containing a pool of golden water.

The pool water was about a zhang square, its surface calm, with no traces of leakage at the edges, resembling a container chiseled into the stone base, gleaming with a warm layer of light under the illumination of the Buddha's light, with no reflections on the water's surface.

Bai Chi walked to the edge of the pool and squatted down, extending her hand into the water. The moment her fingertips touched the water surface, she quickly withdrew it, as if scalded by something, her fingertips glowing with a fading layer of dark golden light.

The pool water continuously released pure Spiritual Qi, which did not diffuse outward but coiled only within a range of a few inches above the water surface, as if its boundaries were fixed by something.

Wu Li walked to the edge of the pool without reaching out to touch it, looking down at that slowly floating layer of golden water surface, a layer of coldness rising within his blood-red pupils: "Is this a Purification Pool?"

Bai Chi also came to Wu Li's side at this moment.

"Old Ancestor, could there be a problem with this pool water?"

Wu Li's gaze did not move away from the pool water.

He squatted down, his claw tips gently scraping the edge of the pool water. When his fingertips swept across the water surface, there were no signs of being burned, only that layer of golden light twitching slightly beneath the water.

"This pool water is a method used by Buddhism to convert demons."

"When demons enter the water, their Demon Power will be stripped layer by layer from their Meridians by the Buddha's light, transformed into pure Spiritual Qi, and converged into the pool. Their Physical Body will be reshaped by the Buddha's light, their demonic bones suppressed back to their original form, and their consciousness will also be assimilated by the Buddhist scripture."

Bai Chi looked down at that layer of golden water surface, her gaze pausing for a moment at the spot on the edge of the pool scratched by Wu Li's claw tips: "Then we absolutely must not go down into this pool water."

Wu Li sneered, crossing his arms, a layer of scrutinizing light rising within his blood-red pupils.

"Why not go down?"

"This is a great Opportunity. If handled properly, this time you will be able to directly achieve a Breakthrough to the Third Rank."

Bai Chi abruptly raised her head to look at Wu Li, her gaze carrying a layer of obvious astonishment, as if she thought she had misheard: "But this pool water..."

Wu Li didn't say much more, his tone very calm: "Just go down, I will handle everything."

Bai Chi stood by the edge of the pool, silent for a moment.

She looked down at that layer of golden water surface, and then looked up at Wu Li again, as if confirming the weight of those words.

After a moment, she nodded, asked no more questions, turned and walked toward the edge of the pool, stopped at the edge of the pool water, folded her wings, placed the blood bead on the stone slab by the pool, and then stepped into the pool.

The moment she stepped into the pool water, golden Buddha's light surged from the surface, spreading upward along her ankles, as if something at the bottom had been triggered, surging up from the bottom of the pool and climbing upward along her legs, like a layer of slowly tightening golden gauze, surging upward layer by layer against her skin.