Chapter 1148: A Familiar Scene

Han Li paid no attention to the situation at the attic door, instead looking inside the attic.

The space on the first floor of the attic was not large, with dozens of ancient wooden bookshelves placed about, at least twenty or thirty of them. Each shelf was densely packed with scriptures, jade slips, and the like, arranged quite neatly. Judging by the titles, they were all cultivation techniques and secret arts.

These scriptures were also covered with a layer of white light barrier, the same as the restriction on the attic door.

After a quick glance, Han Li felt a surge of joy. As he had guessed, this place was indeed something like a sect's scripture repository.

Having finally traveled back to the Truthful Speech Sect, he didn't want to come for nothing.

Due to his inexplicable connection with the Truthful Speech Sect after arriving in the True Immortal Realm, he had spent years investigating the sect's history through various channels whenever he had time. The more he investigated, the more astonished he became.

Although the Truthful Speech Sect was located in the Black Soil Immortal Domain, which was not a large domain, its mastery of the laws of time—especially Patriarch Miro's profound comprehension of these laws—gave the sect a considerable status in the True Immortal Realm.

Now, he had spent a full fifty strands of Time Law Crystals to come here. Although the initial reason was to escape those two Da Luo cultivators, since he was already here, he had to gain something; otherwise, it would be a huge loss.

In fact, as one of the three supreme laws, he had always comprehended and cultivated the laws of time on his own. Although his progress was far faster than others due to the Celestial Bottle and other reasons, it would certainly not be a bad thing to find one or two cultivation insights left by predecessors of the Truthful Speech Sect and study them carefully.

Although the laws of time are profound and difficult to understand, they are also the most fundamental and basic laws of this realm.

In fact, even an ordinary person, or even an ant, cannot be separated from them throughout their life. The lifespan of living beings, the birth and death of all things, the changes of mountains and rivers... these laws exist in every aspect of this realm. Anyone seems to be able to touch time, yet cannot truly grasp it. It is like flowers in a mirror or the moon in water—elusive, illusory yet real.

Therefore, every immortal who comprehends and cultivates the way of time, after years of accumulation, whether they have achieved anything or not, if they can write down their insights, there will always be something valuable. Perhaps a single word or sentence can help others suddenly see the light.

As Han Li pondered, he walked quickly among the bookshelves, occasionally stopping to use the white token in his hand to open the restrictions on the shelves and examine the scriptures. Soon, he had roughly browsed through all the texts here, but the joy on his face gradually disappeared.

Although the scriptures on these shelves were quite exquisite, they were all at the Golden Immortal or even True Immortal level. Among them, there were occasional discussions or insights on the laws of time, but most were superficial, not even touching the surface of the laws. Naturally, they were of no use to him at his current level.

"It seems that although this is a scripture repository, it stores only low-level techniques. That makes sense; truly high-level techniques and secret arts should be hidden more securely," he thought to himself. He stopped browsing and walked up the stairs to the second floor.

The second floor also had many bookshelves, but fewer than the first floor—only about a dozen. The shelves were filled with numerous scriptures and jade slips.

Time was precious, so Han Li quickly began to examine them.

The scriptures on the second floor were of a higher level than those on the first, but not by much. Most were still Golden Immortal texts, with only an occasional Tai Yi level text, which were also of little use to him.

Han Li quickly browsed through these texts as well, gaining little. He sighed inwardly and was about to turn and leave.

The time patterns on the golden ring above his head had already dimmed by ten to twenty percent; every moment was precious.

He suddenly stopped and looked at a bookshelf against the wall beside him.

In his haste to examine the scriptures on the shelves, he hadn't noticed that this bookshelf was placed slightly asymmetrically compared to the others, as if it had been deliberately moved back about a foot.

Han Li raised an eyebrow, pushed the bookshelf back, and swept his divine sense around. A hint of joy appeared on his face.

He reached out and lightly patted the wall that the bookshelf had been blocking. With a crisp sound from within the wall, a section of the wall sank inward, revealing a hole about the size of a bowl.

Han Li reached in and retrieved a palm-sized golden jade box.

His heart stirred, and he was about to open it, but a layer of golden light emerged on the jade box, repelling his hand—it was protected by a restriction.

After a moment of surprise, Han Li pondered, then both of his hands emitted golden light as he grabbed the jade box again.

Golden light once again emerged from the jade box, intertwining with the golden light from Han Li's hands.

Soon, the golden light inside the box could not withstand the golden light from Han Li's hands and was crushed and torn apart.

With a "click," the jade box opened, revealing a golden jade slip inside.

Han Li's gaze sharpened, then he took the jade slip and immersed his divine sense into it.

His eyes immediately lit up. The jade slip recorded a divine ability called "Immortal Golden Cloud."

According to the jade slip, this was a defensive divine ability based on the laws of time.

Moreover, this "Immortal Golden Cloud" was not an ordinary defensive ability; it was the foremost protective technique among the many divine abilities of the Truthful Speech Sect, reputed to be impervious to all evils and unbreakable by any spells.

However, the conditions for cultivating this divine ability were extremely苛刻. First, one's own time cultivation technique had to be powerful enough; otherwise, one could not withstand the immense power of the "Immortal Golden Cloud."

Second, one needed a very high level of comprehension of the laws of time; otherwise, one could not grasp the mysteries of this divine ability.

Finally, the cultivator had to have at least three hundred strands of Time Law Crystals within their body to provide sufficient power of the laws of time to施展 this technique.

Han Li revealed a wry smile. The first and second conditions were not a problem for him.

The Great Five Elements Illusory World Technique was the top-tier time cultivation art, and his comprehension of the laws of time was already profound, so that should not be a problem either. However, the requirement of three hundred strands of time law crystalline threads was troublesome.

He currently only had one hundred and fifty strands of time law crystalline threads in his body, barely half of what the 'Immortal Golden Cloud' required. Even without the incident of the bottle spirit appearing and sending him through time, it would still be far from sufficient.

Still, being able to find such a time divine ability, he was quite content.

He flipped his hand and put away the jade slip and gold box, then restored the wall and bookshelf to their original state to avoid being discovered.

After doing this, Han Li did not linger here. He went downstairs and was about to open the attic door to leave.

A golden streak of light shot over from afar and landed in front of the Scripture Storage Pavilion, revealing the figure of a rough-looking man, also at the mid-stage Taiyi realm.

'Fellow Daoist Jiang, your Scripture Storage Pavilion is still so deserted,' the rough man said with a laugh.

Han Li's expression changed slightly, and he urgently activated the puppet secret technique.

"There aren't many visitors here to begin with." The white-haired old man looked up at the burly man but did not rise to greet him, speaking calmly.

"Brother Jiang, don't take offense. Chen is not mocking you. The Heavenly Court is pressing harder and harder, and my Celestial Star Hall has also had very few disciples coming lately. Although our results may be mediocre after the ten-thousand-year guardianship period, it's still better than those dispatched elders. I've heard that quite a few have already fallen." The rough burly man did not notice the old man's odd expression, lowering his voice as he spoke.

The two seemed to have a fairly close relationship.

"Hmm, Brother Chen, is there something you need?" Inside the pavilion, Han Li breathed a sigh of relief, then manipulated the white-haired old man to give a vague response before asking.

"Nothing major. Today, the Patriarch is giving a lecture at Sun-Gazing Peak, and I came specially to invite Brother Jiang to attend together." The burly man smiled.

Upon hearing this, Han Li's eyes immediately lit up inside the pavilion.

Patriarch? Could it be referring to the Miro Lord? The cultivation technique this person practices is also the 'Great Five Elements Illusory World Art.' Although he may not necessarily lecture on the 'Great Five Elements Illusory World Art,' the insights he shares will surely be closely related to it. He cannot miss this.

With this thought, his heart stirred with excitement, but his manipulation of the white-haired old man remained steady.

"Thank you for the kind offer, Brother Chen, but I have some matters to attend to at the moment. I may arrive a bit later." The white-haired old man said.

"In that case, I'll head over first. Brother Jiang, please come over as soon as you finish your business. Although the cultivation techniques of our Patriarch and ours are not on the same path, making it hard to grasp the essence of his lecture, it's still beneficial to listen more." The burly man paused for a moment, then nodded and said.

Then he took his leave, transforming into a beam of golden light that shot toward a distant direction, soon vanishing beyond the horizon.

The attic door creaked open, and Han Li stepped out. Raising his hand, he beckoned, and the white-haired old man rose and walked into the Scripture Depository Hall.

Then he flicked his finger, and a crystalline light struck the white-haired old man between the eyebrows.

The man's body trembled violently, and he fell to the ground with a thud, lapsing into unconsciousness.

Han Li smiled faintly, tossed the white token beside the old man, and waved his hand to close the door.

He had just used a secret technique to shake the white-haired old man's soul, rendering him unconscious for at least four or five days, which would not affect his subsequent actions.

Having done this, Han Li immediately flew in the direction the burly man had gone, soon arriving near a massive cyan-green mountain. The mountain was lush with trees and dotted with strange rocks, presenting a rather peculiar sight.

"This place..." He studied the towering peak before him, a glint of strange light flashing in his eyes.

He was no stranger to this mountain; strictly speaking, he had seen it three times. The first was when he first activated the Heavenvoid Cauldron and witnessed Patriarch Myriad Spirit preaching, which took place at the mountain's summit.

The second time was when he had previously visited the ruins of the True Word Sect and passed by this mountain.

Unexpectedly, today he had come again.

The cyan-green giant peak soared into the clouds, its summit invisible. A long stone staircase extended from the peak down to the foot of the mountain.

At this moment, the stone steps were filled with disciples of the True Word Sect, all sitting in rapt attention.

The sermon had already begun. A grand voice echoed from the summit—the voice of Patriarch Myriad Spirit. Every word was a gem, each syllable imbued with an indescribable profundity and elusiveness.

The ambient spiritual energy trembled incessantly with the patriarch's voice. Above, streaks of light danced in the sky, now transforming into endless wind, now into blazing crimson rain, then into icy storms—endless variations.

Han Li looked at the sky, his brow twitching again. He vaguely felt the scene before him was familiar, but then shook his head and quietly flew toward the mountaintop.

However, he did not fly all the way to the summit. He found a spot halfway up the mountain and sat down, lest he get too close and be discovered by Patriarch Myriad Spirit.

From here, he could already faintly see the scene at the peak: Patriarch Myriad Spirit sat in the center, with Qimozhi, Muyan, and the other three disciples gathered around him.

Beside Muyan, there was also a plump, glossy rat, standing upright on two legs, gazing at Patriarch Myriad Spirit.