Chapter 197: The True Word Wheel Sutra

In a dimly lit hall, dense black-green chains covered the floor, reflecting a greenish gleam under the eerie green flames.

On the black throne at the center of the hall, a gaunt man in a snow-white cloak leaned slightly forward, his blue-black face falling into the shadow of the flames, his expression unreadable.

Just then, a dull sound of a door opening suddenly rang out.

The two heavy stone doors of the hall swung inward from outside, and a rumbling sound like rolling thunder, mixed with the roar of sand and dust, came from the world beyond.

At the open doorway stood a tall, stalwart figure.

He was nearly ten feet tall, with a sallow face, broad features, and a wide mouth. On his head was an ancient bronze headband, and he wore a dark yellow robe resembling a cloak, covered in sand, as if he had just traversed a sandstorm.

After he slowly walked into the hall, the two doors closed heavily again, shutting out all noise.

The sallow-faced man walked with heavy steps, his feet scraping against the black-green chains, producing a series of rustling sounds.

“Master, I have been to the place where the Seventh fell,” he said, kneeling on one knee before the black throne, addressing the corpse-like man in a voice like a bell, which echoed through the hall.

“Oh? And what did you find?” The corpse-like man leaned back slightly, his voice hoarse as he asked.

“He was thorough; there were few traces left,” the sallow-faced man said, his expression darkening.

“The Seventh’s death should be related to a powerful enemy he pursued three hundred years ago. I leave this matter for you to investigate,” the corpse-like man said slowly.

“Yes.”

…

Night fell.

The courtyard atop Red Cloud Peak was brightly lit. After the busy work of Meng Yungui and others, everything inside and out had been arranged anew, and they were still finishing up.

At that moment, in a secluded chamber deep within the cave residence, Han Li, now dressed in the inner elder robes of the Candle Dragon Sect, sat cross-legged on a cushion. Beside him lay a palm-sized metal round token.

This token was the spirit recording plaque that contained the first layer of the Formless True Wheel Sutra.

After an unknown time, Han Li suddenly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them. He reached out and grabbed the spirit recording plaque, pressing it against his forehead.

A light shone on the metal token, and immediately a dense array of golden characters appeared in his mind.

These golden characters were roughly divided into two parts. The first part was an introduction similar to a general outline, while the latter part was the actual first-layer technique of the Formless True Wheel Sutra.

According to the outline, the Formless True Wheel Sutra was divided into three layers, and through cultivation, one could condense a divine ability called the “True Word Wheel.”

When facing an enemy, activating this divine ability would slow down any attack approaching the True Word Wheel, stripping it of its original speed advantage.

As the outline stated, cultivating the Formless True Wheel Sutra from the first to the third layer would not change the nature of the ability, but its power would increase layer by layer.

It was said that mastering the first layer would allow the True Word Wheel to slow an enemy’s speed by nearly half. Mastering the second layer could achieve a tenfold slowdown or more. The third layer was not described, but it was believed that if one could master it, the power would be astonishing.

Reading this, Han Li’s mind was shaken, and he was filled with amazement.

Let alone slowing an enemy’s attack tenfold, even halving it was an incredibly heaven-defying divine ability. If he had mastered this ability earlier, he would not have been so passive when facing Fang Pan.

Suppressing his excitement, Han Li continued to examine the other part of the spirit recording plaque.

But moments later, his brows furrowed deeply.

The characters recording the first-layer technique were not unfamiliar to him—they were the Golden Seal Script he had already mastered. However, the content formed by all the characters he knew was something he could not understand.

For some reason, the phrasing and style of the first-layer technique were vastly different from the content on the fragments of the Golden Jade Jade Book, making it obscure and difficult to comprehend.

After pondering for a long time, he had only grasped less than one percent of the content, and even that was only a vague understanding, unable to accurately grasp its meaning.

Frustrated but unwilling to give up, Han Li carefully recalled the content he had seen in the Golden Jade Jade Book, comparing them, and gritted his teeth to continue studying.

The next morning, having expended considerable mental energy, Han Li removed the spirit recording plaque from his forehead, rubbed his aching brow, and felt somewhat disheartened.

The profundity and abstruseness of this cultivation technique far exceeded his expectations. After a night of contemplation, he still hadn't fully understood everything. It seemed he had grasped something, yet also nothing at all—in short, he couldn't get the gist.

He shook his head, flipped his hand to put away the metal round token, and was about to rise when he suddenly remembered something.

When he left the Transmission Hall yesterday, Elder Fang had said that if he needed anything in the coming days, he could come back to the hall.

At the time, he had found it somewhat strange. Now it seemed there was indeed a hidden purpose.

A helpless smile appeared on Han Li's face. He rose, left the secret chamber, and transformed into a streak of rainbow light that shot into the distance.

…

On Yulong Peak, bathed in the morning sun, the exposed rocks and the tiles of the palace all reflected a pale golden luster, not glaring but soft and warm.

On the white jade square before the Transmission Hall, Han Li, dressed in elder's robes, descended gracefully from the sky. Bathed in the morning sunlight, a faint halo surrounded his body, giving him quite an immortal air.

After landing, he did not pause but walked straight into the great hall.

It was almost the same as yesterday—still empty and desolate. Elder Fang Zhuan still sat behind the desk, holding the green-covered ancient text and reading.

The only difference was that on his left hand side sat a purple clay teacup filled with emerald green tea, from which a faint fragrance emanated, filling the entire hall.

Seeing Han Li stride hastily into the hall, Fang Zhuan put down his book, picked up the teacup, took a light sip, then slowly set it down again. He looked up at Han Li with a smile and said gently:

"Elder Li, you've come."

"Elder Fang, you must have long known why I am here, right?" Han Li cupped his hands toward Fang Zhuan and said.

"Hehe, to be honest, everyone who has exchanged for the Formless True Wheel Sutra comes back to my Transmission Hall within seven days. Fellow Daoist Li, you are among the quicker ones," Fang Zhuan said unhurriedly, without beating around the bush.

"Oh, I wonder why that is?" Han Li asked, puzzled.

"The content of the Formless True Wheel Sutra is abstruse and hard to understand. Without the annotated scripture to aid comprehension, not to mention practicing the technique, even entering the gate is basically impossible. These people either come to exchange for another technique or to obtain the annotated scripture," Fang Zhuan said with a smile.

"Such a thing exists? Then why didn't Elder Fang mention it yesterday?" Han Li asked, somewhat speechless.

"In the past, I would remind everyone each time. But there are always those who pride themselves on their extraordinary talent, making me, a mere Mahayana cultivator, seem meddlesome. So I simply stopped mentioning it. Letting you discover the problem yourselves saves me the trouble of talking and is also more convincing. Don't you agree?" Fang Zhuan said with a sly smile.

"What Elder Fang says is very true; that is indeed the reasoning. But may I ask how many merit points this annotated scripture costs to exchange, and whether it is truly useful?" Han Li could only force a bitter smile and asked further.

"Not too many, not too few—exactly ten merit points. This annotated scripture, after all, is compiled from the cultivation insights of many predecessors. The content is mixed, some good and some bad. How useful it actually is, I wouldn't know," Fang Zhuan said, crossing his two index fingers to form a 'ten' as he answered.

"Alright, I'll exchange for it." Without much thought, Han Li directly handed over his elder token.

After receiving a copy of the annotated scripture, Han Li chatted casually with Fang Zhuan for a few moments before quickly returning to Chixia Peak.

Back at his cave dwelling, he acted with vigor and plunged straight into the secret chamber again.

After studying the annotated scripture alongside the original for half a day, reading many people's annotations on the first level of the Formless True Wheel Sutra's oral formula, Han Li finally had a sudden realization.

It turned out that the original name of the Formless True Wheel Sutra was the True Word Wheel Sutra. The essence of the original technique was even more obscure and profound, making cultivation extremely difficult. The step of condensing the True Word Wheel alone blocked ninety percent of practitioners at the door.

Among the remaining ten percent, even if they managed to condense the True Word Wheel by luck, they could at most cultivate the technique to the second level. To truly comprehend the laws of time and condense the Law Thread that marks the beginning of mastering laws was fundamentally impossible. At least, according to known rumors, no one in Candao Sect had ever cultivated this technique to the third level.

Therefore, when many people found no hope of breakthrough, they accidentally discovered another very opportunistic method, thereby avoiding the difficulty of condensing the True Word Wheel.

They used materials containing law power to directly forge a physical True Word Wheel, then inscribed some specially comprehended runes onto the wheel, enabling it to unleash various unexpected and astonishing powers.

Because it differed greatly from the orthodox method, the True Word Wheel refined in this way had a negligible effect in slowing attack speed. However, due to the different law attributes of the materials used, it could manifest effects of other law powers.

For example, if the material used to refine the True Word Wheel carried metal-attribute laws, the wheel's sharpness could be greatly increased. If the material carried speed laws, the attack speed could become several times faster.

Additionally, effects like flame abilities, illusion effects, freezing properties, and variable weight could also be achieved this way.

Afterward, almost everyone who chose to cultivate this technique adopted this opportunistic method without exception.

It was for this reason that the True Word Wheel Sutra was renamed the Formless True Wheel Sutra, meaning that this technique has no fixed form and can transform into myriad forms as needed, following one's will.

Seeing this, Han Li fell into deep thought. Only after a long while did he continue to slowly ponder based on the various annotations.