Chapter 264: Entrusting Affairs After Death

Half an hour later.

Han Li returned to the peak where his cave residence was located.

At this moment, he stood with his hands behind his back on the stone steps before the cave.

On the square in front of him, disciples of the Candle Dragon Dao stood densely packed. As he appeared, their gazes gathered upon him, their expressions varied—some joyful, some anxious, but most were filled with reverence and anticipation.

Although every so often, different rotating True Immortal elders would be stationed in this secret realm, accidents rarely occurred here. Thus, most of the time, these True Immortals were in seclusion and seldom handled matters here.

An anomaly like today's was a rare sight, and witnessing a True Immortal in action not only filled these disciples on duty with庆幸 and awe but also added much motivation to their future path of cultivation.

"This Floating Mountain anomaly was truly a disaster sent by heaven. You all handled it properly, preventing excessive losses. I will report truthfully to the sect and claim the rewards you deserve." Han Li's gaze slowly swept over the disciples as he spoke.

"Thank you, Elder Li!"

The crowd had initially feared that disturbing the True Immortal elder's seclusion would incur his displeasure, but upon hearing these words, they were immensely moved and voiced their thanks one after another.

"The thick fog in the Great Chasm has gradually receded. There is still cleanup work to be done. After tallying the losses, hand them over to me; I need to report them to the sect. Alright, go about your tasks." Han Li continued.

"Yes!" The crowd responded in unison and flew away.

Han Li kept Hu Zhen and the others behind, bestowed upon them some suitable pills, and then turned back into his cave residence.

In the secret chamber.

A golden light flashed behind Han Li, and the Truthful Speech Wheel emerged, rotating slowly.

On the wheel, twenty-four clusters of Time Dao patterns shimmered, emitting waves of law power.

Ordinary cultivators practicing the "Truthful Speech Wheel Sutra" might not even condense eighteen clusters of Time Dao patterns even at the third layer, yet he, at the mid-stage True Immortal realm, had condensed twenty-four. Today's brief trial in the Great Chasm filled him with delight.

With this wheel by his side, combined with the transformed Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, he reckoned he could now handle even an opponent as powerful as Gu Jie's incarnation.

Of course, if Gu Jie himself came in pursuit, he would still have to flee without a second word.

As thoughts turned in his mind, he sat down cross-legged.

Now that he had perfected the first layer of the "Truthful Speech Wheel Sutra," according to the text, he could attempt to comprehend and control the laws of time.

However, although the time power on the Truthful Speech Wheel was abundant, it felt scattered to him. He couldn't even condense law threads, far from those who had truly mastered law power, and even inferior to Earth Immortals who condensed laws through faith.

Otherwise, the law of time, one of the three supreme laws, should not have only a slowing effect.

Thinking of this, he recalled Gu Jie's incarnation's various uses of the Wood Law and its immense power. While envious, he felt even more anticipation.

If he could one day condense law threads for the time law, its power would surely surpass that of the Wood Law.

Han Li took a deep breath, flipped his hand to produce a Celestial Primordial Stone, and held it in his hand. Then he urged the Truthful Speech Wheel behind him to rotate slowly. The Time Dao patterns on it flickered, forming a ten-zhang-sized golden ripple zone around him, with circles of golden ripples flowing slowly and undulating.

He closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes in the law power around him, and delved into comprehension.

The "Truthful Speech Wheel Sutra" contained no specific method for comprehending the time law; it relied entirely on one's own understanding.

Time passed bit by bit, and in the blink of an eye, three or four months went by.

Han Li sat motionless like a statue.

A golden light flashed around him, and he opened his eyes, his brows furrowed.

After months of comprehension, he had no clue about the time law, not even a glimmer of hope for success.

He was not surprised by this situation.

If laws were so easy to comprehend, there wouldn't be so few True Immortals who understood law power, let alone that he was comprehending one of the three supreme laws.

He had made many preparations to comprehend law power.

A gray light flashed in Han Li's hand, and a grayish stone bead appeared—it was the eye of the one-eyed giant.

This item was one of his preparations.

Han Li held the stone bead with both hands, mobilized the time law power around him, and slowly infused it into the bead.

A faint white light emanated from the stone bead, emitting a different fluctuation of time law.

He immediately closed his eyes, sensing the time law within the bead, comparing it with his own time law power, trying to achieve a breakthrough.

In the blink of an eye, several more months passed.

Han Li opened his eyes, his expression darkening.

Sensing the time law power within the stone bead still yielded nothing.

His eyes flickered, and he put away the stone bead. He flipped his hand to produce the green vial, inside which a drop of green liquid gently rolled.

Han Li looked at the vial, silent for a moment, then grasped it and infused his celestial spiritual power into it.

Boom!

The spiritual energy around the cave residence suddenly churned violently, and a massive spiritual energy vortex emerged, extending for ten thousand li.

The disciples of the Candle Dragon Dao, seeing such an anomaly, were slightly surprised but soon paid it no further attention.

This situation had occurred countless times over the past two hundred years, and they had long grown accustomed to it.

A few days later.

Inside the cave residence, Han Li's face was slightly pale, and he held a crystal grain in his hand.

His cultivation had broken through to the mid-stage True Immortal realm, greatly increasing his celestial spiritual power. Condensing crystal grains no longer drained him dry due to insufficient celestial spiritual power as before.

He flipped his hand to produce a recovery pill and swallowed it; his complexion soon recovered.

Han Li held the crystal grain and immersed his divine sense into it.

The golden crystal thread within the grain suddenly brightened, and the Truthful Speech Wheel behind him also flashed with golden light. The Time Dao patterns on the wheel fluctuated, seemingly resonating with the crystal grain.

Overjoyed, Han Li immediately closed his eyes and delved into comprehension.

Time flowed, and in the blink of an eye, a month passed.

The golden crystal thread within the grain vanished without a trace, and with a soft sound, the grain shattered and disappeared.

Han Li opened his eyes, a hint of excitement on his face.

Although this attempt at comprehension still did not succeed, compared to previous attempts, there was some progress. He vaguely touched the edge of the time law.

It was like a point of light in endless darkness, giving him a glimmer of hope.

Han Li flipped his hand to produce the green vial, inside which another drop of green liquid had condensed. He examined it closely, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

His smooth progress in cultivating the "Truthful Speech Wheel Sutra" was largely due to the vial. Now it seemed that to comprehend the time law, he still needed this item.

But...

He looked thoughtful, his eyes flickering.

Previously, whether comprehending the crystal grain or the stone bead, although he could sense the law power within them, it always felt like viewing flowers from across the river.

To sense law power more deeply, he needed to make closer contact.

Han Li's eyes flickered, and after a moment, a resolute look crossed his face.

He flipped his hand to produce a basin-sized jade bowl, filled it with spiritual liquid, and then dripped the green liquid from the vial into the bowl.

The originally colorless liquid immediately turned pale green, gently rippling.

Han Li then produced a jade bowl with his other hand and beckoned.

A stream of pale green spiritual liquid flew out from the jade bowl and fell into the bowl, filling it more than half.

He intended to drink the green liquid into his body to sense the time law power contained within it at the closest distance.

Han Li placed the jade bowl aside, and after a moment of silence, waved his hand. Seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared. Although not deliberately activated, their astonishing sword qi spread out, causing the nearby void to hum.

He waved his hand to cast a spell seal, and the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords all merged into one, transforming into a single cyan small sword.

Han Li flipped his hand to produce a silver talisman and affixed it to the small sword.

The sword qi emitted by the cyan small sword vanished entirely, turning it into an ordinary cyan small sword.

He then placed the small bottle beside the cyan small sword, and with a silver flash on his body, the Essence Flame Firebird shot out.

With a silver flash, the Essence Flame Firebird transformed into a silver flame figure, dancing gracefully around Han Li's body, emitting cheerful cries.

A smile appeared on Han Li's face. He played with the silver flame figure for a while, then held it in his palm.

"Little one, do you still remember this person?" A green light lit up in his hand, and within the light appeared the figure of a girl in white—Nangong Wan.

The silver flame figure tilted its head, looked at Nangong Wan's image, and nodded.

Back in the Spirit Realm, although the Essence Flame Firebird had not yet developed intelligence like now, its spirituality was not weak, and it remembered Nangong Wan.

"I entrust these two items to you for safekeeping. If something happens to me, take these two items and seek out this person. No matter how long it takes, find her and give these two items to her for safekeeping." Han Li said to the Essence Flame Firebird.

The Essence Flame Firebird tilted its head and looked at Han Li for a while. Although its intelligence could not fully understand why Han Li was doing this, it soon grasped his meaning and nodded.

Han Li patted the silver flame figure's head, placed it beside him, and his expression turned grave.

He still vividly remembered the two wild rabbits that had been burst apart by the green liquid when he first discovered the vial.

Later, in the Chaotic Star Sea, he had used the green liquid to trap the Nascent Soul-stage Gale Wind Beast Feng Xi, nearly killing it.

Although his cultivation was now far above Feng Xi's back then, and he had cultivated a Mystic Immortal body, the green liquid in the vial was also not the same as before.

Han Li could clearly sense that the special energy contained in the current green liquid was immeasurably more powerful than before.

Even for him now, drinking this green liquid would entail great danger, and even falling was not entirely impossible.

However, he was willing to bear this risk. If he could not withstand it, he would try to expel the green liquid from his body as much as possible. In the worst case, he was even prepared to have his nascent soul leave his body.

After so long comprehending, he had gradually come to understand that to comprehend the time law, one of the three supreme laws, taking risks was absolutely necessary.

As the saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained.