Chapter 214: Six Dao Marks

Before long, multicolored lights lit up on Red Cloud Peak as one restrictive array after another spread out, enveloping the entire mountain.

After doing this, Han Li entered the cave abode's secret chamber and sat down cross-legged.

At this moment, within his body, the seventy-two recovered Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were wrapped in pure immortal spiritual power, slowly being refined with infant fire.

Having been away from him for many years and having absorbed so much flying sword essence in the Sword Grave, their power had greatly increased, but their spirituality had become quite mixed. If he were to directly activate them, it would likely have a considerable negative impact, so he needed to carefully refine them.

After a moment's thought, he flipped his hand and grasped the Gourd Vial, bringing it close to his eyes to examine it carefully.

Now, he was basically certain that the Gourd Vial contained the law of time.

Back in the Spirit Realm, after obtaining a replica from Ma Liang and merging the two, he could slightly activate the Gourd Vial for attacks. But after three hundred years of upheaval, something had happened to the vial, and despite many attempts, he could no longer activate it at all.

Han Li pondered briefly, then with a thought, golden light blazed from his body as the Truth Dharma Wheel manifested behind him.

He beckoned with one hand, and the Truth Dharma Wheel flew to his side, buzzing and spinning rapidly.

Golden ripples spread out in circles, enveloping the Gourd Vial, and faint traces of time power, barely perceptible, seeped into it.

During this time, Han Li stared fixedly at the Gourd Vial without moving.

Time passed bit by bit, but the vial showed no reaction from start to finish.

Han Li pondered briefly, then changed his hand seal.

The Truth Dharma Wheel blazed with light but rapidly shrank, turning into a small golden orb that, under his control, shot into the small vial with a whoosh.

The Gourd Vial's body flashed with crystalline light, and a few faint runes appeared, but they immediately vanished again, leaving no further movement.

Han Li frowned slightly and sighed softly.

He had originally thought that since the True Word Wheel Sutra was a technique for cultivating the law of time, and he had condensed the Truth Dharma Wheel, he might be able to use it to control the small vial somewhat, or at least cause some change in it.

But now it seemed to be of little use.

Perhaps it was because his cultivation of this technique was still too shallow.

Han Li shook his head and summoned the giant ape puppet, instructing it to continue condensing green liquid and watering the spirit herbs while he was in seclusion.

As for the crystals needed for the Earth Immortal incarnation's cultivation, he would condense them during breaks in his seclusion to ensure the incarnation could continue refining heavy water.

After a moment's thought, he suddenly remembered something and went to another stone chamber, where he set up a small spirit-gathering array. He placed the giant egg obtained from Fang Pan at the center of the array, letting spiritual energy slowly nourish it to see if it could be hatched.

After arranging everything properly, Han Li returned to the secret chamber and sat quietly with his eyes closed.

This sitting lasted for three days and three nights.

When his mind had completely calmed and he was in optimal condition in every aspect, a faint golden light emanated from his body, soon filling the entire cave abode's secret chamber.

Time flowed, and in the blink of an eye, more than three years had passed.

The sky over Red Cloud Peak changed color as countless black clouds appeared, and the world's spiritual energy surged wildly, converging toward the cave abode.

Inside the cave abode, Han Li's body shone with dazzling golden light, and three bright golden spots appeared on his lower abdomen, absorbing the dense spiritual energy around him.

He had opened another immortal aperture!

Amid the brilliant golden light, the Truth Dharma Wheel appeared behind him, now bearing six time dao marks.

Buzz!

A powerful fluctuation of the time law radiated from the Truth Dharma Wheel, far stronger than when it had four time dao marks.

Han Li opened his eyes, filled with joy.

Opening another immortal aperture was certainly gratifying, but what truly pleased him was that he had finally condensed six time dao marks.

This was a level that ordinary cultivators could only hope to reach after opening twelve immortal apertures while cultivating the True Word Wheel Sutra!

According to the technique, a Truth Dharma Wheel with six time dao marks would undergo a leap in power, incomparable to before.

He stood up, eager to experience the power of this divine ability.

With a thought, the Truth Dharma Wheel spun rapidly, emitting countless golden ripples that spread outward, but still only extended ten zhang.

"Hmm, it seems that as long as it's still the first level, no matter how many time dao marks are cultivated, the range of the Truth Dharma Wheel is only ten zhang. Only by breaking through to the second level might the range expand," he mused inwardly, then closed his eyes to sense.

Within the range covered by the golden ripples, everything slowed down.

The flow of air and the fluctuations of spiritual energy became unprecedentedly slow.

A layer of blue light appeared in Han Li's eyes, and the spiritual energy in his field of vision became ten times clearer.

Now, this slowing effect was even more pronounced.

The multicolored spiritual energy surged like colliding water currents, crashing into each other and then dispersing.

Everything was clearly visible.

This feeling was quite奇妙.

Although everything around him had slowed down, his own movements were unaffected, making it seem as if his speed had doubled.

He flickered and appeared several zhang away.

The air disturbance caused by his movement, as well as the changes in spiritual energy, were all clearly presented before his eyes.

Han Li curled his lips slightly, flipped his hand, and a mass of black liquid appeared—a small amount of heavy water.

He flicked his finger!

With a "bang," the heavy water exploded, turning into countless black droplets of various sizes that shot in all directions.

The splashing of the droplets also slowed by half, with every tiny particle clearly visible.

Han Li waved his arm, creating countless afterimages, and effortlessly blocked all the droplets, gathering them back into a mass of heavy water.

Seeing this, he had an idea and put the heavy water away again.

Although the True Word Wheel Sutra described the effects of the Truth Dharma Wheel in detail, he still needed to experiment a lot to fully master this divine ability.

Next, Han Li clenched his hand in the air.

Crackle!

Countless silver arcs of lightning appeared, dancing in his hand.

These arcs were completely unaffected by the Truth Dharma Wheel.

He spread his five fingers, and several silver arcs shot out, striking the wall of the secret chamber with incredible speed.

A layer of white crystalline light appeared on the chamber wall, flickering slowly a few times, and the silver arcs spread across the wall, rapidly jumping a few times before vanishing.

The slow crystalline light and the swift silver arcs formed a stark contrast.

Han Li nodded. Even after being released, the silver arcs remained unaffected, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, if his own attacks were also slowed down, the Truth Dharma Wheel would be meaningless.

He then tested divine sense and physical法宝 attacks, and after confirming they were all unaffected, he finally felt completely at ease.

With a thought, Han Li summoned the giant ape puppet from outside.

With heavy thudding footsteps, the giant ape puppet approached.

Affected by the Truth Dharma Wheel, the sound of the puppet's feet hitting the ground was also stretched by half, sounding quite strange.

Soon, the giant ape puppet stopped outside the range of the golden ripples.

"Attack me," Han Li commanded the puppet.

As soon as he spoke, the giant ape puppet opened its mouth wide, shooting out a thick blue lightning beam, while raising its five fingers to release five blue arcs of lightning toward Han Li.

Although the attacks were weak, the lightning speed was still extremely fast.

But as soon as the lightning entered the golden ripples, its speed immediately slowed—not just the flight speed, but also the sparking on the lightning beam and the flying of lightning sparks, everything slowed by half.

Although slowing by half might sound insignificant, it was actually a world of difference.

Han Li took a step to the side without deliberately using any movement technique.

The arcs of lightning brushed past his body without even touching his clothes.

Excited, Han Li had the puppet try other attacks, all of which were slowed by half under the influence of the Truth Dharma Wheel.

He clenched his fists, his eyes shining brightly.

Through a series of experiments, he had grasped about seventy to eighty percent of the Truth Dharma Wheel's capabilities, and several ways to use it had come to mind, making him more and more excited.

With this divine ability, as long as it was used properly, even a late-stage True Immortal might not be unbeatable.

But then, Han Li raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had only been activating the Truth Dharma Wheel for a short time, but his immortal spiritual power had already been consumed by a large margin. It seemed that although this divine ability was powerful, its consumption of immortal spiritual power was truly terrifying.

However, with such a formidable effect, it was understandable that it consumed a lot of immortal spiritual power.

The golden light on his body dissipated, and the Truth Dharma Wheel also vanished into his body. He sat down cross-legged, intending to continue cultivating.

But before cultivating, he had the giant ape puppet bring the Gourd Vial and tried to activate it with the Truth Dharma Wheel again, but the result was the same as before.

Han Li smiled bitterly, then quickly calmed his mind and entered seclusion again.

...

Spring passed and winter came; time flew like a shuttle, and more than twenty years slipped away in a flash.

Red Cloud Peak remained as quiet as ever, without the lively scene of other cave peaks.

The red miasma near the peak had completely disappeared, and the climate had returned to normal. Except for the areas covered by restrictions, the rest was blanketed in thick snow.

The endless expanse of white made one's heart feel broad.

But unfortunately, no one on Red Cloud Peak was in the mood to enjoy such beautiful scenery. A few guards were each responsible for patrolling their areas, while others were in their own quarters, diligently cultivating.

On an open space at the back of Red Cloud Peak, a ten-zhang-wide red array was drawn on the ground, inlaid with red crystals that flickered with flame-like light.

At the center of the array sat a girl in a white dress, none other than Meng Qianqian.

Red light rose from each crystal, converging around the girl, making her look as if she were sitting in a cluster of red flames.

Sweat was faintly visible on Meng Qianqian's forehead and temples, and her face was flushed from the flames, as if she were cultivating some secret technique.

Over twenty years had passed, and her appearance had not changed much, but her cultivation had surprisingly reached the late Core Formation stage. Such rapid progress would astonish many even among the outer disciples of the entire Candle Dragon Sect.

All of this was naturally due to the elixirs bestowed by Han Li and the spirit stones left by her brother Meng Yungui before he left, but it was also related to her now firm resolve to pursue the Dao.

Without that, she would not have been able to endure the lonely and tedious life of cultivation.