Chapter 1306: One Time, Two Lives

"You are you, and I am I. I am the same as you, born in that remote mountain village in the mortal world, growing up under that black roof made of thatch and mud, having the same parents and brothers, the same mortal origins... and ultimately leaving from there, enduring countless hardships to seek a thread of immortal destiny, finally ascending to this true immortal realm." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said calmly, his expression unchanged.

Han Li finally calmed down a bit. A possibility occurred to him, and he immediately asked, "There cannot be two Han Lis in this world, unless you are a product of my time travel?"

In Han Li's view, unless he himself had traveled back in time from some future day to the present, there would be two of him in this time-space. But why would this version of himself be practicing the Wheel of Rebirth technique?

"No, even if time travel were possible, one couldn't stay for long. The law crystals that distort time and space would eventually be consumed, and the physical body would have to return to its original time. You cannot be me." Han Li quickly shook his head repeatedly and said.

"Correct. You and I are one time, two lives. I am not a product of your time travel, but to me, you are like a product of my time travel." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master's expression remained unchanged, his gaze as calm as still water, as he spoke slowly.

Upon hearing this, Han Li first raised his brows, a flicker of doubt in his eyes, and then grew angry.

Although the path of immortality was long and he had already traversed an immensely vast stretch of time, he still vaguely remembered the various experiences from the mortal world and the spirit realm.

Qu Soul, Physician Mo, Li Feiyu, Silvermoon, Yuan Yao, the Great Development Sovereign, Bao Hua... those people he had met, those events he had experienced—they were all etched into his bones, every single one he had personally dealt with.

If he were merely a product of the Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master's time travel, wouldn't all those memories be just memories?

"Impossible, absolutely impossible... You cultivate the laws of reincarnation; how could you possibly know any method of time travel? In my view, all your words are lies. No... this is all an illusion!" Han Li shook his head and said.

As his voice fell, a bright purple light flared in his eyes as he activated his Nine Nether Demon Eyes to the utmost, scanning his surroundings. But the scene remained unchanged, without the slightest alteration.

"Senior Bottle Spirit, Senior Bottle Spirit... take me away from here. Time travel, anywhere will do—just get me out of here..." Han Li shouted inwardly, his mind in extreme turmoil.

At that moment, a clear voice suddenly rang out in Han Li's heart—it was the voice of the Bottle Spirit.

Han Li was momentarily stunned, and his surging emotions abruptly calmed.

"He didn't lie to you. Not only you, but even I am considered a product of that time travel of his. After he traveled back to the past, tens of millions of years passed, and in that mountain village, another Han Li was born—that is you now." These words from the Bottle Spirit struck Han Li like a sword, making his heart tighten suddenly.

"What exactly is going on?" Han Li murmured, feeling more lost than ever before.

"Back then, I started from the mortal world, grew in the spirit realm, and with my four-spirit-root aptitude, I finally set foot on the immortal path through relentless cultivation... When I finally reached the pinnacle of time law cultivation, I threatened the position of the Time Dao Ancestor Gu Huojin... In the final battle with him, I was ultimately outmatched and failed. Just as I was about to be suppressed and killed, I dispersed all my lifelong time law power, using up all my time Dao patterns and crystals, and gathered this unprecedented massive amount of time power into the Palm Heaven Vase. Then, for the first time, the small vase produced the effect of truly reversing time and space, carrying me back through the ages,穿越 endless years, to a time far more distant than the distant past." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master's calm gaze finally flickered with a faint dark light as he spoke slowly.

"When his time law power was infused into the Palm Heaven Vase, a series of changes occurred, and my consciousness was born. At that time, it was still very weak, and after a long, long time, I finally became the Bottle Spirit." The Bottle Spirit added.

Upon hearing this, Han Li finally calmed down completely. After a long silence, he said:

"So that means... I am I, and you are you. Each of us has walked a different path of cultivation."

"You can think of it that way. Because I performed an unprecedented time travel, many of your subsequent experiences may have changed greatly due to my existence. For example, the Gan Ruxue you were supposed to meet became Nangong Wan. Your connections with the demon race, the gray realm, and even the barbaric borderlands are far deeper than mine were back then. It can be said that from the moment you entered the immortal realm, the divergence in our paths grew larger and larger, almost like two different lives." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said.

"But how did you become the current Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master?" Han Li asked, frowning deeply.

"I traveled to an era far before your birth. All my time law power was completely wasted, and I almost became a cripple. What made me despair was that Gu Huojin had already occupied the position of Time Dao Ancestor at that time. If I continued to cultivate time law power, I would still lose to him in the end. So I turned to cultivate the laws of reincarnation, and that's how I became what I am now." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master replied.

"Then what about me and my mother?" Jiao San asked, her face pale, her mind no less shaken than Han Li's.

The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master turned back to look at her and Nangong Wan, and his gaze softened slightly.

"Back then, shortly after your mother gave birth to you, Gu Huojin attacked. To buy us time to escape, your mother sacrificed herself, sealing only a part of her reincarnation power within your body. To protect you, I used time law power to seal you in a jade artifact and fought while retreating with Gu Huojin. But in the end, there was no room to retreat, and I had no choice but to activate the Palm Heaven Vase, hoping to blow it up with all my time law power and achieve mutual destruction with Gu Huojin..." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said.

"You had me with you back then?" Jiao San asked incredulously.

"I was already in despair, thinking that we, father and daughter, would perish together. But unexpectedly, the small vase gave birth to the Bottle Spirit and even produced the unprecedented ability of time travel, causing me to truly travel to the past and thus escape the pursuit of the Time Dao Ancestor." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said.

"Did Jiao San travel with you?" Han Li's eyes flickered with surprise.

"Yes." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master nodded.

"Although your words are wild and imaginative, they are full of loopholes and not worth believing." Han Li took a deep breath and rebuked.

Jiao San also looked at the Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master with disbelief.

"If Jiao San traveled with you to the distant past, with her aptitude, how could she be at her current level? How could a treasure like the Palm Heaven Vase have left you and been lost elsewhere? The Time Dao Ancestor stands at the pinnacle of time; if you could travel through time, why couldn't he?" Han Li asked in rapid succession.

"Before answering your last question, let me ask you one: Do you know what the Palm Heaven Vase really is?" The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master asked.

Han Li wanted to answer that it was a time law object, but he didn't say it, knowing that the object was far from that simple.

"In fact, to this day, I still don't know exactly what kind of treasure the Palm Heaven Vase is. The law power it contains is not just time law. Otherwise, even with my lifelong time law power as a foundation, it would not have given birth to the Bottle Spirit, nor could it have produced such an逆天 ability as time travel." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said.

"Are you saying that although the Time Dao Ancestor controls time law power, he cannot travel through time with it alone?" Han Li asked.

"Time travel spans not only time but also involves space power and even reincarnation power. Therefore, apart from the Palm Heaven Vase, no other force can achieve time travel. In other words, as long as you have the Palm Heaven Vase, you are the only person in this world who can possibly travel through time." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said.

Upon hearing this, Han Li believed it seven-tenths without even needing to ask the Bottle Spirit.

"As for Jiu Zhen and the small vase, that involves another Dao Ancestor, Chen Tuan." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said.

Han Li had never heard this name before, and a flicker of doubt appeared in his eyes.

"The Heavenly Court, led by the Time Dao Ancestor Gu Huojin, united with six other Dao Ancestors to form the 'Seven Lords of the Heavenly Dao,' jointly governing the true immortal realm. Among them, the only one you know should be Li Yuanjiu of the Nine Yuan Temple. And this Chen Tuan is the most mysterious of the seven—the Prophecy Dao Ancestor." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said.

"Prophecy law?" Han Li frowned.

Han Li had only heard of prophecy law, knowing it was mysterious and extremely difficult to cultivate, but he had never imagined that such a Dao Ancestor existed.

"At the time of the travel, I was exhausted and unable to control the small vase. The Palm Heaven Vase was lost in the river of time. Without the protection of law power, I exhausted all my immortal spiritual power resisting the chaos of time and space, and I also became separated from Jiu Zhen... I returned to tens of millions of years before my own birth, while Jiu Zhen fell at a node roughly coinciding with your birth... I could only find a remote place far from the mortal world to settle down. By then, I had lost all my treasures and power, becoming a mere mortal. Relying on my past cultivation experience, I found a small sect to take refuge in and restarted my immortal path... Finally, after crossing the endless, long years, I found Jiu Zhen's whereabouts and rescued her. By that time, I had already re-cultivated the laws of reincarnation to the peak of the Great Luo realm and established the Wheel of Rebirth Hall. So I unsealed her and let her appear in various immortal domains as Jiao San." The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master said.

"Since you had already rescued me, why didn't you acknowledge me?" Jiao San couldn't help asking upon hearing this.

"It is precisely because of the existence of the Prophecy Dao Ancestor. Once I acknowledged you, a karmic connection would be established in the unseen. Then Chen Tuan could, through prophecy law, implicate you when sensing me. If the Heavenly Court couldn't find my traces, would they let you go?" The Wheel of Rebirth Hall Master looked at Jiao San, a hint of guilt flashing in his eyes.