Chapter 1029: Exploring the Secrets

Before long, a man in a green robe appeared within the White Head Valley, naturally none other than Han Li.

When he had heard the village head speak of it earlier, he had felt that the spirit spring was not simple. The power of the time law contained within it had, to some extent, altered the physiques of the villagers who bathed in it, causing them to either rejuvenate or decay into bones.

If he were to cultivate the Great Five Elements Illusionary World Art here, he would likely be able to break through to the next realm in a shorter time, and then his chances of dealing with the pursuit of the Heavenly Court's hounds like Qi Mozi would increase.

However, the time law in this spring seemed unstable. According to the village head, it only appeared once every hundred years or so, and not for long. If he wanted to make use of it, he would have to find the source of the law's power.

Upon entering the valley, Han Li did not immediately head deep into it. Instead, he began to examine the jagged rocks on both sides of the valley.

After a moment, he did notice something unusual.

Among the scattered rocks, quite a few were engraved with golden seal script talisman patterns.

Some of the talisman patterns were still intact, while others were already damaged, but without exception, they had all lost their original spiritual nature.

"No wonder I vaguely sensed a trace of time law fluctuation when passing by earlier, but after entering the Green Silk Hollow, I could no longer feel it. The concealment effect of these talisman patterns is quite good. Even though they are already damaged, they still have such efficacy," Han Li praised, gently stroking the talisman patterns on a large rock.

Having said this, his mind suddenly stirred. Since this place had a strong concealment effect, why not hide here?

In the past two years, although he had never truly been caught by the Immortal Palace's men, there were always tails behind him, forcing him to never dare to stop. Every time he ran for a while, he would release a puppet with his own mark on it to lay false trails for the pursuers.

But even so, he had never truly shaken off the pursuit of the Immortal Palace and the Nine Yuan Temple.

With his mind made up, Han Li began to carefully inspect the White Head Valley, occasionally reaching out his fingers to trace in the air, copying the stone-carved talisman patterns.

It was not until the eastern sky began to lighten that he sat down on a large rock, drenched in sweat.

After a night of work, Han Li had carefully examined all the talisman patterns, repaired most of the damaged ones himself, and moved several displaced rocks to restore the valley's talisman formation as much as possible to its original state.

The moment the great formation was fully repaired, a morning mist began to slowly rise within the valley. A layer of milky white fog started to envelop the surroundings, almost completely concealing the entire valley.

Han Li flew into the high sky and released his divine sense to carefully inspect. He found that even the faint trace of time law fluctuation he had sensed earlier had now completely disappeared.

If even his divine sense could not detect anything unusual here, then few others would be able to.

Han Li's body dropped, and he re-entered the valley, heading toward the spirit spring deep within.

Entering the depths of the White Head Valley again and seeing the two rocks arranged in an A-shape, Han Li's gaze darkened slightly. He found that the spirit spring was now also shrouded in a layer of white mist.

However, the mist in the spring water all gathered without dispersing beneath the rocks, with none leaking out.

Han Li swept his divine sense over it, his expression changing slightly. He tapped the ground with his toe and swiftly dashed forward to the small pool formed by the spring. At a glance, he saw several elderly men lying askew in the mist.

At that moment, those men all had bulging eyes, sunken cheekbones, and gray, withered skin. They had clearly been dead for some time.

Moreover, under Han Li's gaze, the clothes on these old men began to rapidly decay, soon turning to ashes. Their exposed flesh also rotted away, gradually revealing stark white bones.

"It seems their luck wasn't good this time..." Han Li sighed.

With that, he extended a palm into the pool water and gently stirred it. He felt a cool sensation penetrate his skin, with no other discomfort.

Just as Han Li was puzzled, he suddenly felt a faint warm current emerge from the spring's eye deep below, wrapping around his hand. The flow of that water was noticeably smoother, quite different from the surrounding water.

When that warm current touched his hand, Han Li immediately sensed a wave of time law fluctuation. The fine hairs on his hand began to grow rapidly, then quickly fell off, repeating this cycle endlessly.

Han Li slowly withdrew his hand, examined it for a moment, and laughed: "It can actually accelerate the flow of time. It seems there really is some kind of treasure hidden below."

He rose and waved a hand, gathering the seven or eight skeletons together and placing them by the pool, then walked step by step into the deep water.

Approaching the spring, Han Li bent down, reached out a hand, and groped around.

Soon he had pushed aside all the small stones piled near the spring, but what lay beneath was only a small hole buried in the silt at the bottom of the pool, nothing unusual.

"That can't be right. Even my divine sense can't detect anything strange. Could it be..." Han Li said, looking up at the two massive rocks above with a puzzled expression.

Looking closely, he indeed saw that on the two rocks arranged in an inverted V shape, one on the left and one on the right, each bore a carved ring-shaped rune, though no spiritual power fluctuations emanated from them.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly, a purple light glowing within them. When he looked at the runes again, they had changed.

Within the two ring-shaped runes, as if embedded deep in the stone, faint golden light swirled, like two golden carp biting their own tails, moving in opposite directions, swimming without rest.

Han Li's heart stirred slightly. His body rose into the air, and he pressed each palm against one of the ring-shaped runes.

The Grand Five Elements Illusion World Art within him began to circulate. Two streams of golden light flowed from his palms, connecting with the ring-shaped runes, and twisted in opposite directions.

The light on the ring-shaped runes suddenly brightened, their rotation speed increasing severalfold. The two characters at the center of each ring lit up with golden light, which surged downward, forming a golden light curtain that completely covered the space between the two rocks.

Han Li had already retreated outside the rocks, looking at the golden light door that had appeared out of thin air, his gaze hesitant.

After a moment, he looked up at the sky, now faintly brightening. Making up his mind, he activated a protective treasure light around his body, and the True Extreme Membrane also lit up on his skin. With a sudden flash, he plunged into the light curtain.

With a soft "pop," the golden light curtain vanished instantly, and the small pool fell silent.

Not long after, the water in the pool gradually seeped into the ground, and the spring stopped flowing.

The entire pool slowly dried up. After being exposed to the sun for a long time, it became completely parched, with no trace of water left, only the few skeletons lying on the rocks by the pool.

…

At the border between the central and western parts of the Gold Source Mountain Range, on a solitary peak.

A red-haired man with hands and feet as large as palm-leaf fans, his skin inscribed with circles of strange patterns, stood with one foot on a shattered puppet, gazing into the distance. Flames of red fire occasionally spurted from his head.

It was none other than Qimozi, who had been tracking Han Li all along.

"This is the one hundred and thirty-sixth puppet. This time, though he left blood essence on the puppet, he also set a blood-burning mark. Once the puppet is caught by us, the blood essence burns away, leaving us no trace at all. Xiong Shan, tell me, how did this fellow become so cunning?" Qimozi looked at a young man behind him and frowned.

If Han Li were here, he might not recognize the young man's appearance, but he would surely be familiar with his aura. This person was none other than Vice Dao Master Xiong Shan, who had once been close to Han Li in the Candle Dragon Dao and ultimately died by his hand.

"Sir, there's no need to wonder. Fellow Daoist Han's careful scheming, I have experienced firsthand and paid a heavy price for. But I never imagined he would grow so fast, now becoming a major threat to the Heavenly Court." Xiong Shan, recalling the past, felt a shadow fall over his heart as he spoke.

"I originally wanted to capture him quietly, but that scoundrel dared to attack the Gold Source Immortal Palace directly and even killed that waste Dongfang Bai. Now, no matter how blind the Heavenly Court is, they will notice him. But that's fine; I no longer need to hide my movements. I can openly pursue him in the name of the Immortal Prison." Qimozi said thoughtfully.

"Sir, judging by his trail, he is roughly heading toward the central part of the Gold Source Immortal Domain. The forces there are complex, and pursuing him might be inconvenient..." Xiong Shan hesitated.

"Hmph, the Heavenly Court has long been dissatisfied with that area. If any sect dares to stick its neck out now, we can take the opportunity to teach them a lesson. But these sect and family heads are all old foxes who know how to protect themselves. They won't willingly court trouble. To avoid getting involved in this muddy water, they will likely issue strict orders to prevent Han Li from entering their territories." Qimozi snorted coldly.

"That's true. Han Li has always been a loner and probably won't hide in any sect. We should focus on searching the borders or gaps between various sect forces; that should yield results." Xiong Shan seemed to have an idea and said so.

Qimozi said nothing, only nodded, apparently agreeing with him.

"Let's go. The trace of aura I sensed earlier should be heading southeast. I want to see how much longer he can run!" Qimozi said after a moment.

He waved his hand, and a fiery red flying shuttle wreathed in crimson flames appeared.

He and Xiong Shan leaped onto it one after another, and then the entire shuttle transformed into a streak of fire, tearing across the sky and vanishing on the horizon in an instant.