Chapter 154: Candle Dragon Dao

After a moment's deliberation, Han Li flicked his wrist, and a mass of heavy water the size of a watermelon squeezed out from the mouth of the True Water Pouch. Wrapped in immortal spiritual power, it floated suspended in midair.

The black water flowed ceaselessly, appearing unremarkable, yet its weight rivaled that of a mountain several hundred zhang tall.

He closed his eyes, pondering over his previous thoughts once more, then opened them again.

With one hand, he made a grasping motion in the air, and a stream of silver lightning surged from his palm, transforming into a silver electric net that coiled around his hand.

Then he pushed both hands forward, and the silver electric net, as if alive, spread toward the mass of heavy water.

Threads of the electric net wrapped around it, and the heavy water mass immediately shook violently, as if strongly stimulated.

Han Li quickly gathered his immortal spiritual power and pressed it toward the mass.

With the influx of a large amount of immortal spiritual power, the heavy water mass gradually stabilized, though the residual tremors never ceased.

Seeing this, Han Li pressed down with his other hand, beginning to infuse strands of lightning power into the heavy water mass.

Threads of electric light, like sharp knives, cut countless tiny slits on the surface of the heavy water mass, penetrating inward.

As a large amount of electric light entered, the heavy water mass began to slowly contract, its size gradually diminishing.

Witnessing this, Han Li felt a surge of joy.

But the moment he was distracted, a loud bang sounded.

The heavy water mass and lightning exploded simultaneously, and a violent gust of air rushed toward him, sending him flying backward. With a splash, he fell into the sea.

When he climbed back onto the reef, he saw that nearly half the small island had been blasted flat and submerged. A bitter smile appeared on his face.

After tidying his clothes slightly, Han Li took out the True Water Pouch again and extracted another mass of heavy water.

With a crackling sound, a wisp of silver lightning reappeared.

…

Before long, a heavy rumble sounded, and electric light burst forth on the island.

This time, on guard, Han Li was not thrown back, but his brows furrowed deeply.

He swept his hand through the air, and wisps of immortal spiritual power, like fine dust threads, wound out, gathering the scattered heavy water particles bit by bit.

He did not want to waste any of this hard-earned heavy water.

Unknowingly, three days and three nights passed.

One morning, Han Li suddenly soared up from the island, hovering high in the sky.

His robes rustled in the morning wind, his face showed slight fatigue, but his eyes reflected the rising sun, gleaming with a captivating light.

In his palm, he held a black sphere the size of a fist, its surface covered with silver-white dark patterns resembling lightning veins.

This was the Heavy Water Thunder Sphere he had refined over the past few days, imitating the Heavy Water Thunder Pearl, after countless failures.

In appearance, this thunder sphere differed markedly from the Heavy Water Thunder Pearl: it was larger, lacked the surrounding black mist, and instead bore conspicuous silver thundercloud patterns. Hence, he named it the "Heavy Water Pattern Thunder."

He knew that without the involvement of law power, the heavy water could not be condensed purely enough, resulting in a larger sphere and less secure sealing of lightning.

But for now, this was the best he could achieve.

Earlier, merely adjusting the ratio of heavy water to lightning had caused him great hardship. Heavy water was extremely difficult to control; too little lightning power would result in insufficient威力, while too much would make it unstable and prone to explosion.

Having finally managed to refine one that satisfied him, he naturally wanted to test its power.

Han Li channeled a wisp of immortal spiritual power into the sphere, flicked his wrist, and threw it out.

The Heavy Water Pattern Thunder traced an arc through the air, falling toward the sea ahead.

After flying about four to five hundred zhang, its surface silver patterns suddenly brightened, and with a thunderous boom, it exploded.

Immediately, a狂暴 ring of silver electric arcs spread in all directions, enveloping an area over a hundred zhang in radius.

Han Li had already retreated a thousand zhang, but his eyes never left the spot.

Much like the explosion of the Heavy Water Thunder Pearl, a black sun nearly a hundred zhang in size appeared over the sea, flashing with silver light and roaring with thunder.

However, this time, the sun did not emit the terrifying波动 of law power that had made even him feel uneasy.

As the sun burst, the waves below shattered, seawater evaporated, and a great pit was pressed down by the heavy pressure, while surrounding seawater surged into towering waves dozens of zhang high, rushing in all directions.

After a moment, though the sea still raged with furious waves, it no longer bore the狂暴 and terrifying appearance of before.

Han Li flew back to where the thunder sphere had exploded, carefully sensing the changes in the surrounding air. He spread the ten fingers of both hands, and from them flowed fine, hair-thin threads of immortal spiritual power.

The air in midair trembled slightly, and tiny, barely visible black dust particles, guided by the immortal spiritual power, began to gather toward his palm.

After a long while, they condensed into two fist-sized masses of black liquid, the heavy water contained in the thunder sphere.

"Without the involvement of law power, it's indeed not enough. The power is less than a tenth of the Heavy Water Thunder Pearl..." Han Li sighed softly, muttering to himself.

Though he said this, he was actually quite satisfied with the effect of the Heavy Water Pattern Thunder.

After all, this thunder retained the effect of the Heavy Water Thunder Pearl—"hidden until release, then suddenly startling"—appearing unremarkable before detonation, only revealing its terrifying destructive power at the moment of explosion.

Moreover, the heavy water dust formed after the explosion could be retrieved, so the loss was not significant.

Most crucially, unlike the Heavy Water Thunder Pearl, which could not be obtained again once used, he could refine these continuously given enough time. If he threw dozens or even a hundred of these at once, the power would be quite恐怖.

At that moment, his brow furrowed slightly. He turned his hand over, and a green mask appeared in his palm, which he put on.

The next moment, a mass of green light surged from the mask before his eyes, forming a huge green light array plate in the void before him.

With a fluctuation surging from the green light, a humanoid phantom wearing a green vulture mask and a wide robe emerged, hovering before Han Li.

"Did you contact me regarding the task I posted?" Han Li asked directly.

"Indeed, I have some information on that matter," the phantom said, its voice sharp and thin, indistinguishable as male or female.

"Just some information?" Han Li frowned.

"You jest. The items you seek—whether Dao Pill formulas or time law-related techniques—are not easily found anywhere. How many in the alliance inquire about these two things daily, and how few actually obtain them?" the phantom chuckled lightly.

"The reward I specified in the task is for clear information. If it's just trivial news, forget it," Han Li said.

"Why not listen first and then decide if the information is worth the reward?" the phantom said with a sly laugh, unhurriedly.

Han Li said nothing, merely nodding silently.

"Have you heard of Cangliu Palace, Candle Dragon Dao, and Fuling Sect?" the phantom asked.

"Cangliu Palace is a renowned major immortal sect in the North Cold Immortal Domain, which I have heard of. The other two, I am not familiar with," Han Li said slowly.

"These three powers are all within the North Cold Immortal Domain. I mention them because the time law techniques you are interested in are all inherited within these three sects," the phantom said.

"Please elaborate," Han Li said, his heart stirring slightly, but his expression unchanged.

"Among the three, Cangliu Palace has the greatest power, Fuling Sect is the most secretive, and Candle Dragon Dao has the longest heritage. All have studied the time law, one of the three supreme laws, for millions of years. As far as I know, Fuling Sect's镇宗 secret manual, the '幻辰宝典,' when cultivated to a high level, offers a chance to comprehend the time law. Cangliu Palace inherits a technique called 'Water衍 Four Seasons诀,' also related to the time law. As for Candle Dragon Dao, it naturally possesses such a technique, though I am not clear on its name," the phantom said with a slight smile, continuing.

"Do you know if these techniques differ in quality?" Han Li nodded thoughtfully and asked.

"That is also a sect secret, so I cannot know," the phantom replied.

"Then you must at least know where these three sects are located," Han Li raised an eyebrow.

"Naturally. Cangliu Palace is located in the Diancang Mountains on the southern continent of Shang'a, Fuling Sect is in the Little Tianyou Realm in the north, and Candle Dragon Dao is in the Zhongming Mountains on the eastern continent of Guyun," the phantom answered.

"May I ask how one can join Candle Dragon Dao?" Han Li asked after a brief silence.

Based on his years of understanding on Black Wind Island, the Black Wind Sea was in the southwestern corner of the entire North Cold Immortal Domain. Thus, it seemed relatively closer to Candle Dragon Dao and Cangliu Palace.

His primary goal on this journey was to retrieve the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords and Crab Daoist. According to the指示 of his natal Eight Spirit Vat at the time, their location was precisely to the east. Hence, Candle Dragon Dao was the most convenient route.

The phantom did not answer directly but asked slowly:

"Do you now think the information I provided is worth your reward?"

"If it's just this, I could learn the same elsewhere with some time. If you have no more useful information, let's not waste each other's time," Han Li said coldly.

"Heh, don't underestimate the information I've provided. Otherwise, even if you go to Candle Dragon Dao, you would at most become an external guest elder. To access their inner sect secret manuals would be a pipe dream," the phantom replied calmly, unperturbed.