Chapter 266: Five Thousand Rewards

With a flash of golden light, the Wheel of True Words vanished without a trace, merging into Han Li's body.

Han Li let out a muffled groan and spat out a mouthful of black blood.

He opened his eyes, and the protective azure light flickered wildly, as if about to shatter at any moment, while all the tendons and bones in his body trembled violently.

Startled, he quickly formed a series of hand seals with his fingers, and the azure light on his body gradually stabilized.

Then he took out a pill and swallowed it, his expression shifting unpredictably.

Just now, he had never felt so close to the power of time law, almost touching this existence known as one of the three supreme laws.

Yet in the end, he still fell short.

Though infinitely close, there was always that slight barrier that prevented him from crossing over.

"Why is this so?" Han Li murmured to himself, his eyes flickering.

According to the *True Word Wheel Sutra*, it clearly stated that after cultivating the first level to perfection, one could attempt to comprehend the power of time law—though whether one would succeed was another matter.

But he had the aid of the green liquid condensed from the Celestial Bottle; logically, he should have had an easier time succeeding.

Perhaps there was still something he hadn't done enough?

With a contemplative expression, he flipped his hand and took out a pill to swallow, then azure light emerged on his body.

One month later.

Han Li held a small bottle, inside which another drop of green liquid had condensed.

He looked at the green liquid in the bottle, hesitated not, and drank it again.

The next moment, a dazzling golden light appeared behind him, and the Wheel of True Words emerged, radiating brilliant golden light as the power of time law surged forth.

He held a celestial stone in each hand, muttered incantations, and the golden light on his body grew brighter, with the time law beginning to converge.

At that moment, the golden light on the True Word Wheel suddenly flickered, and with a "crack," a series of cracks appeared on its surface.

The surging power of the time law dissipated, and the True Word Wheel vanished in a flash.

Han Li opened his eyes, his expression extremely grim.

Once could be considered a coincidence, but happening twice in a row like this—it seemed that with his current power of time, he was truly unable to support his comprehension of the time law.

In that case, he could only first consider exchanging for the second volume of the "True Word Wheel Sutra."

Thinking this, Han Li turned his hand and took out a medicinal pill, swallowing it.

Several months later.

The eastern part of the Bell Cry Mountain Range experienced a prolonged snowfall, covering the entire mountain range with a thick layer of snow. Chixia Peak, having lost its fire miasma, was also blanketed in snow, donning a coat of silver.

In the spirit herb garden atop the peak, Meng Yungui, clad in a silver-gray robe, was half-kneeling beside a plot of land planted with dozens of Yuanling herbs, inspecting the warming formation array arranged around it.

This type of spirit herb was originally native to Chixia Peak, liking warmth and fearing cold. Now that it no longer had the protection of the fire miasma, it required the shelter of a formation array to grow safely.

"Brother, when do you think Elder Li will come back?" Meng Qianqian, dressed in a verdant long skirt, stood half-bent at the side, watching him inspect the foundation of the formation, her gaze somewhat distant as she spoke.

At this moment, her eyes were lively, her aura restrained, and her jade-like countenance appeared even more radiant and captivating.

"Qianqian, are you still my own sister? Back when I went out to find spirit medicine seeds for Elder Li, I never saw you miss me this much..." Meng Yungui turned his head to look at her, feigning anger.

"Hehe, not at all... I just want to quickly tell Elder Li that I've already become a Nascent Soul stage cultivator. Brother, you need to work hard too." Meng Qianqian covered her mouth with a light laugh, defending herself.

Upon hearing this, Meng Yungui shook his head helplessly. He had no idea where his sister had gotten her fortune, but ever since she succeeded in forming her Nascent Soul, her cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. Now she had even surpassed him, having recently achieved Nascent Soul stage.

Seeing his sister achieve such success, he was naturally overjoyed and happy for her from the bottom of his heart.

However, he did not want to overly praise his precious sister in front of her, lest she become too proud. After all, although she had been in the world of immortal cultivation for several hundred years, her heart was still innocent, and he did not want a few words of his to destabilize her Dao heart.

With that thought, he continued with the work at hand.

On a patch of open ground outside the spirit herb garden, the mountain-guarding spirit beast, as large as a small hill, raised its two heads high, let out a "huff" as it snorted, then listlessly lowered them again and lay back down on the ground.

But before it could settle, its two heads lifted one after the other, gazing into the high sky.

A streak of green light shot across the sky, flying swiftly toward Red Cloud Peak. The protective array covering the peak flickered once and then vanished like melting ice and snow, and the green silhouette descended toward the mansion.

Meng Yungui straightened up and exchanged a glance with his sister. Both showed joy on their faces and immediately flew toward the mansion.

When the two returned to the mansion, Sun Buzheng had already summoned the others. Everyone gathered in the main hall, awaiting instructions from Han Li, who had just returned to the sect.

However, he only briefly inquired about the situation on Red Cloud Peak, bestowed some pills and artifacts, and then hurriedly left the mansion, leaving Meng Qianqian, who had been eagerly awaiting his return, somewhat frustrated—she hadn't even had a chance to mention her own cultivation breakthrough.

As for Han Li, he left Red Cloud Peak, flew all the way to the nearby Transmission Hall, and immediately transferred to Startled Cloud Peak.

In a side hall behind the Grand Mystery Hall, a plump executive elder sat behind a desk. He took the elder token Han Li handed over and said with a full smile:

"Elder Li has worked hard. The two elders sent to replace you at the Floating Mountain Secret Realm sent word back a few days ago. Their investigation conclusions are basically consistent with your earlier report. The sect has determined that you protected the output of spiritual herbs during this incident and rendered great service. Therefore, in addition to the duty compensation, you will be awarded five hundred merit points."

"Thank you." Han Li cupped his fist slightly and smiled.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the executive elder, Han Li retrieved his elder token, took his leave, and exited the hall.

The hall door slowly closed behind him. Han Li began calculating in his mind. From a series of previous missions, he had already accumulated a fair number of merit points. Adding the compensation and reward from this duty mission, the total came to nearly four thousand points.

This seemed like a considerable amount, but it was still far from the nine thousand merit points needed to exchange for the second level of the True Word Wheel Sutra.

Han Li paced slowly toward the front hall, pondering ways to make up the remaining five thousand merit points.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he recalled something.

On the dark gold stone wall in the Grand Mystery Hall, there was a red-letter mission: to cultivate the True Word Transformation Wheel Sutra to the second level. The reward for this mission was exactly five thousand merit points.

Joy surged in Han Li's heart. He quickly passed through the front door and arrived beneath the dark gold stone wall in the hall.

The main hall was as bustling as ever. Even beneath the dark gold stone wall at the far end, over a dozen inner elders were gathered, all looking up at the missions on the wall.

Han Li ignored everything else and directly looked up at the red-letter missions. Soon, between two missions with lengthy explanations, he spotted the extremely concise mission, still as inconspicuous as ever.

It consisted of only a dozen or so characters, yet Han Li stared at it for nearly half an hour.

It wasn't that he lacked the qualifications to exchange; rather, he worried that if he openly exchanged here and others noticed, his progress in cultivating the True Word Transformation Wheel Sutra would be exposed.

After all, although many people cultivated this technique, few had succeeded. Moreover, his progress was too astonishing. Even ordinary True Immortal realm cultivators, spending a hundred thousand or even millions of years, might not achieve even a tenth of his results.

According to Fang Zhuan's description of this technique back then, once news of his cultivation reaching the second stage was revealed, it would inevitably stir up an unpredictable storm within the Candle Dragon Sect.

At that time, not to mention how the sect's Golden Immortals would treat him, even attracting countless gazes for no reason was not something he wished to see.

Thinking of this, Han Li felt a headache coming on. Not only could he not exchange for the five thousand merit points now, but even if he painstakingly saved up enough merit points in the future, it seemed he still couldn't openly exchange for the second-stage technique in the Transmission Hall.

That would be no different from standing in the square and telling everyone that he had cultivated the True Word Wheel Sutra to the second stage. Who would spend nine thousand contribution points to exchange for it for no reason unless they needed to cultivate the second stage?

Could it be... he had to steal it?

Thinking of this method, Han Li couldn't help but shake his head and immediately dismissed the idea himself.

After all, the Candle Dragon Sect was not like the Cold Flame Sect of the Spirit Realm. Besides the deputy sect masters, there were also a host of terrifyingly powerful Golden Immortals in charge. Moreover, the Transmission Hall was clearly no ordinary place and must have powerful restrictions. Trying to steal the sect's signature technique from there would be nothing short of seeking death.

But if he just gave up and didn't exchange for it, Han Li truly couldn't resign himself to it. After all, a large part of the reason he had joined the Candle Dragon Sect was precisely for this True Word Wheel Sutra technique.

After pondering for a long while, Han Li turned and walked out of the hall.

Half a day later, a scholar dressed in a Confucian robe, holding a feather fan and wearing a silk headband, slowly stepped into the Grand Mystery Hall.

He strolled leisurely to the dark golden stone wall and, along with several inner sect elders around him, looked up. His arrival drew the attention of those nearby, but they only glanced at him a few times before looking away.

The scholar stood there for a while, and when no one around was paying attention, he flipped his palm, took out an elder token, and pointed it at the dark golden stone wall in the air.

Immediately, a beam of light shot out from the stone wall and landed on his token.

This person was none other than Han Li, who had disguised himself using the Wuchang Alliance mask.

After much deliberation, he decided to first collect the reward for this mission. It was free for the taking—a full five thousand merit points.

He sensed slightly, and the merit points recorded in the token had already become nine thousand one hundred and thirty-two.

This exchange mission was hidden in the area where red-letter missions were posted, a place rarely noticed by anyone. At that moment, the elders below the dark golden stone wall were either chatting with each other or busy looking for suitable missions, and none of them noticed which mission the beam of light had flown from.

Coming here in this guise, even if someone noticed him, naturally no one would recognize him. As long as he wasn't caught in the act, this matter would hardly be discovered. If someone did find something amiss, he could simply walk away.

Han Li nonchalantly put away his token, breathed a slight sigh of relief, and turned to leave the Grand Mystery Hall.

But just as he turned around, his body suddenly tensed, and from the corner of his eye, he noticed that the line of red characters on the stone wall seemed to have changed...