Chapter 1153: Entering the Wildlands

"I also hope to return here in the future to listen to your teachings, Master, but I have not yet fully mastered the method of traversing time and space, and each traversal comes at a great cost. I may not be able to return here again." Han Li said with a wry smile.

"Is that so?" Mi Luo老祖 raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, then flipped his hand to produce a golden jade slip, which he handed to Han Li, adding with a reminder:

"This contains my insights on cultivating the law of time. Keep it with you."

"Thank you, Master." Han Li felt a surge of joy as he accepted the jade slip and put it away.

"If you can bring those things back with you, that would be good. But if you cannot, after you return to your own time, remember to go to a place called the Palace of Yama." Mi Luo老祖 said slowly, a contemplative look on his face.

"The Palace of Yama? What place is that? What should I do there?" Han Li asked, startled.

"You will know when you go there in the future." Mi Luo老祖 smiled faintly, not revealing anything further.

Han Li frowned. This master he had taken always spoke and acted mysteriously, making him hard to fathom.

Unable to figure it out, he decided not to dwell on it.

"Master, I have another request. Could you give me a copy of the formation diagram for the 'Time Spiral Grand Formation' outside?" Han Li spoke again.

"Of course, no problem. The formation diagram is not complicated; you can look at it and memorize it now." Mi Luo老祖 flipped his hand to produce a jade slip and handed it to Han Li.

Han Li's eyes flickered, then he took the jade slip and immersed his divine sense into it, quickly memorizing its contents.

As Mi Luo老祖 had said, the formation diagram inside was not complicated, and he soon committed it to memory.

Just as Han Li finished memorizing the Time Spiral Grand Formation diagram, the last cluster of time dao patterns on the golden ring above his head flickered and went out.

Rumble!

The golden ring suddenly expanded several times, and pitch-black light surged out, condensing into a deep, dark vortex suspended above Han Li's head.

A tremendous force surged from the black vortex, enveloping his body and pulling him toward the vortex.

"Han Li, the 'Great Five Elements Illusory World Art' is an earth-shattering technique. Once cultivated to a high level, it can alter heaven and earth. The Time Dao Ancestor has also tried to get his hands on it, and many other Dao Ancestors covet this art. You must be extremely careful..." Mi Luo老祖 stood up and said.

Han Li's body was enveloped by the black vortex, unable to move. Before he could finish hearing Mi Luo老祖's words, his vision went dark, and he lost consciousness.

...

After a dizzying whirl, a dazzling white light shone before Han Li's eyes. His body, which had felt weightless, regained control, and his feet once again stood firmly on the ground.

The Heaven-Bottle also emerged and slowly fell into his arms.

After steadying himself, Han Li swept his gaze around and found his vision still somewhat blurry. The surroundings appeared hazy and indistinct.

He sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, and then reopened them.

This time, his divine sense stabilized, and he could clearly see the scene around him.

Han Li then realized that he was sitting on a solitary cliff jutting out into the void. All around, he could only see a vast blue sky and clusters of clouds of various shapes and sizes hanging from the heavens.

At that moment, he suddenly looked at his right palm.

In his hand, he still held the jade slip recording the 'Time Spiral Grand Formation' diagram that Mi Luo老祖 had given him. But the jade slip now seemed enveloped by a strange force, rapidly fading as if merging into the void.

Han Li's expression changed, and then, as if thinking of something, he quickly flipped his hand to take out the three materials imbued with time power that Mi Luo老祖 had given him, the golden jade slip, and the golden box he had taken from the Scripture Pavilion earlier.

These items, like the jade slip, were also rapidly fading, and within a few breaths, they vanished completely, leaving no trace.

Seeing this, Han Li was not overly surprised.

"It seems Master was right; these things cannot be brought over." He murmured to himself.

This return trip to the Truthful Word Sect had already yielded him enough gains, so the loss of these items was not a big deal.

But Mi Luo老祖's instruction to go to some Palace of Yama—a place he had never heard of—would have to be investigated slowly. He wondered what Mi Luo老祖 was up to.

Han Li stopped dwelling on it and continued to survey his surroundings.

"Good lad, after such a long physical traversal without using the Heaven-Bottle as a coordinate to return, you only suffered a brief instability in your soul and then recovered as normal." At that moment, the bottle spirit's voice suddenly rang out.

"Senior Bottle Spirit, I have you to thank for this. Many thanks." Han Li quickly took the Heaven-Bottle from his bosom and replied.

"Alright, enough with the pleasantries. I'll need to sleep for a while to recuperate. You take care of yourself, kid. Don't go and die on me." The bottle spirit blinked its eyes and said impatiently.

"Senior, do you know where we are?" Han Li asked.

"You've probably already sensed the surrounding aura. The spiritual energy here is quite different from the Immortal Realm, so it's most likely the Wildlands. As for exactly where... who the hell knows? The Wildlands are vast—even the known three thousand Immortal Domains might not compare. The true spirit beasts living here are countless, which is why I warned you to be careful..." The bottle spirit's voice grew softer and softer until it finally faded away completely.

As its voice trailed off, the two bean-sized eyes on the bottle also disappeared.

Helpless, Han Li had to put it back into his chest and stood up from the ground.

He walked slowly to the edge of the cliff and looked down. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but yellow sand, with occasional undulating mountains and patches of reddish-brown Gobi, but little green vegetation.

"Oh well, let's first find a safe place to go into seclusion for a while." Han Li sighed inwardly.

With that, his figure shot up, transforming into a streak of green light heading straight into the heart of the yellow sand.

...

After flying through the vast desert for over a month, the endless yellow sand was finally replaced by a patch of emerald oasis.

Along the way, Han Li encountered many sand beast attacks but did not stop. He only landed on a hill at the edge of the oasis, intending to rest briefly before continuing his journey.

However, before he could sit down to meditate, he frowned and looked into the distance on the other side of the hill, where intense fluctuations of spiritual energy were coming from.

After a moment's hesitation, Han Li suppressed his immortal spiritual power fluctuations, concealed his aura, and flew swiftly toward that direction.

As he drew closer, he heard chaotic sounds like wild beasts roaring. When he crossed another slightly taller ridge, he saw a very chaotic scene.

On a plain below the ridge, two wildland tribes were locked in fierce battle.

One tribe consisted of beings over three zhang tall, with human bodies and rhinoceros heads, pitch-black all over except for their silver-shining snouts and horns. Their skin reflected a metallic luster, and they numbered tens of thousands, each wielding a mountain-splitting stone axe.

When fighting, their eyes glowed with a bloody light, as if in a berserk state. They felt no pain and feared no casualties, only charging forward and attacking wildly, their roars shaking the sky.

The other tribe was larger in number but smaller in stature, resembling ordinary tigers and leopards. Their bare upper bodies were covered with cloud-like patches, and they moved swiftly, using both hands and feet.

They carried no weapons, relying solely on their natural bone claws, which were extremely sharp and tough.

One side was thick-skinned and immensely strong, the other swift and fierce in attack. They were evenly matched in a way, making the battle extremely brutal. The battlefield was already littered with severed limbs and rivers of blood.

Standing on the distant ridge, Han Li swept his gaze and noticed a relatively open area in the center of the battlefield. All tribe members deliberately avoided this spot while charging.

In the center, a humanoid giant rhinoceros nearly ten zhang tall was fighting alone against a nimble cloud-patterned tiger-leopard. Their attack methods differed from the ordinary tribesmen, incorporating not only primitive combat but also some magical techniques, all of considerable power.

Needless to say, these two were likely the chieftains of the two wildland tribes.

Just as he was surveying the battlefield, the leading cloud-patterned tiger-leopard suddenly wrinkled its nose, as if catching Han Li's scent, and turned to look toward the ridge, growling, "It seems to be the stench of those despicable humans..."

Hearing this, the silver-horned giant rhinoceros, who was locked in fierce combat with him, stopped attacking and also turned to look this way.

"I was just taking a look..." Han Li thought to himself, knowing he had already attracted trouble, and could only sigh.

But the wildland tribes paid him no heed. The leading silver-horned giant rhinoceros and cloud-patterned tiger-leopard simultaneously let out a deafening roar, and the rest of the tribesmen immediately retreated, ceasing their fighting.

"There's a human over there! Kill him!" The two tribe chieftains commanded in unison.

As soon as the words fell, the two tribes, which had been locked in a bitter struggle moments before, immediately set aside their conflict and charged furiously toward the ridge.

"Kill him!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

Han Li moved, intending to leave and not bother with them, but then he thought better of it. He still didn't know where he was, so he might as well ask them.

With this in mind, Han Li lightly tapped his foot, and his figure shot high into the air.

His gaze fell on the two tribe chieftains, and he plummeted downward like a meteor toward them.

The silver-horned giant rhinoceros saw this and swung his giant axe diagonally upward. A bloody light blazed on the axe, transforming into countless blood-colored blades that covered the sky, flying toward Han Li.

Meanwhile, the cloud-patterned tiger-leopard's body blazed with light. As it ran on all fours, clusters of yellow clouds rose beneath its feet, and it climbed higher and higher, chasing after Han Li from behind.

Although the two were enemies, their attacks coordinated perfectly. The former almost sealed off all space in front and to the sides of Han Li, while the latter used speed to block his retreat.

If Han Li were forced back by the漫天 axe blades, the cloud-patterned tiger-leopard would seize the opportunity to close in and launch a surprise attack.

Seeing this, Han Li's pupils suddenly contracted.