Chapter 269: The Eye of Truth

"If this place is truly the so-called White Sparrow Valley, perhaps summoning the True Wheel would make a difference?"

Han Li pondered this in his mind, then formed a hand seal and began circulating the True Word Wheel Scripture within his body.

With a soft hum,

golden light flashed behind him, and a pale golden wheel about a foot in size materialized, spinning slowly in midair—the True Word Wheel.

On the wheel, twenty-four translucent Time Dao patterns flickered with extraordinary agility, emitting an indescribable wave of peculiar law fluctuations that seemed to freeze the space within a ten-zhang radius.

The mountain wind halted, the air flow became sluggish, and even the sound of the wind grew faint. In contrast, the ripples on the lake seemed instantly frozen, the tiny waves still present but motionless.

Not far away, the mist rising from the lake surface writhed slowly like white smoke pillars, appearing frozen in place compared to the mist farther off.

Han Li turned around, scanning his surroundings, hoping to see even a hint of unusual change. But after observing for a long while, he found nothing different.

Just as he thought he might have mistaken the location and was about to retract the True Word Wheel, a change finally occurred.

A white light suddenly appeared in the void before him, and a palm-sized white sparrow materialized, flapping its wings as it spiraled down toward the lake.

Though it was within the ten-zhang range of the True Word Wheel, it seemed completely unaffected, casually flying down. Its two dark red slender feet lightly touched the water surface, creating tiny circular ripples, and it came to rest on the water.

Han Li stared at the white sparrow, unsure of what to do next.

Just then, the sparrow turned its head to glance at him, then turned back and gently pecked the water surface with its gray beak.

"Ding dong."

Han Li seemed to hear a soft ding-dong sound, and then saw ripples spreading outward from the water surface, ring after ring expanding in all directions.

The farther the ripples went, the larger the waves became, until they crashed against the stone banks on both sides with a splashing sound, sending up large white sprays.

In the center of the water, a black hole as wide as an adult's waist appeared, with an octagonal black light array floating above it, emitting strong spatial fluctuations.

"A secret realm!" Han Li murmured with a slight frown.

The white sparrow that had caused these changes seemed dissatisfied with his hesitation. It spread its wings, circled in the air, then plunged straight into the black hole and vanished with a flash of light.

Han Li hesitated no longer. He withdrew the True Word Wheel into his body, leaped from the shore, and landed into the black hole.

However, when his feet touched the area above the black hole, he was blocked by an invisible barrier. Standing on the array, he could not enter.

Seeing this, a blue light flickered in his eyes as he tried to discern the mystery of this restriction.

After a while, he frowned, raised a fist, and punched the barrier. But it felt like striking cotton—most of his force was dissipated without a trace.

In the following moments, Han Li tried several methods, but the restriction was not only profound and flawless but also impervious to blade, fire, or brute force, showing no damage at all.

"What's going on?" Han Li muttered to himself, his eyes flickering.

From the earlier situation, he guessed correctly that the so-called "White Sparrow Valley" was indeed this place.

But the white sparrow had appeared and flown into the secret realm, seemingly guiding him, so why couldn't he enter?

"Could it be..."

After a moment's thought, he flipped his hand and took out his Elder Token, then pointed it at the octagonal array on the black hole below.

A beam of black light shot out and struck the token. The nine thousand merit points recorded in the token were instantly deducted, leaving only a pitiful one hundred and thirty-two points.

"So that's it!"

Han Li was momentarily stunned, then overjoyed.

But before he could think further, the array above the black hole flashed, and a swirl of rainbow light enveloped him, pulling him directly into the black hole.

Then, the black hole suddenly contracted and disappeared completely.

The ripples on the lake had not yet subsided, but the rising mist had returned to normal.

Han Li felt a dizzying spin, and then his orientation reversed as he stood once again on a white stone square.

He swept his gaze around and saw green mountains in the distance, with rolling peaks. On the left and right stood two giant divine general statues over a hundred zhang tall, each holding a huge magical weapon, bent over with their hands on the ground, glaring down at Han Li with anger.

Han Li only glanced briefly at the statues before turning his attention straight ahead.

At the end of the square, there was an endless stretch of golden palaces, shrouded in auspicious clouds and radiating brilliant light.

On a high pavilion with open sides in front of the palaces, he could vaguely see two immortal-like figures sitting cross-legged, playing a game of Go. Behind them stood two palace maidens in plain dresses, one holding a censer and the other offering tea, all looking composed, none paying attention to Han Li.

At the palace gate below, two teams of golden-armored guards wielding golden maces seemed to have noticed him and charged over with murderous intent.

Seeing this, Han Li snorted coldly. Instead of advancing, he sat down cross-legged.

A blue light flashed in his eyes as he formed a strange hand seal and muttered under his breath:

"Break for me..."

In an instant, his vast, ocean-like divine sense, no longer suppressed, surged outward like raging waves in all directions.

"Whoosh..."

A sound like rolling waves arose, and a狂暴 aura swept outward from Han Li in all directions.

The white stone square beneath him cracked into countless fissures, the entire surface lifted and shattered, collapsing outward. The divine general statues on both sides toppled with a crash, crumbling into dust, and the mountains behind dissipated like smoke.

The group of golden-armored guards charging toward him were caught in the blast before they could reach him, torn to shreds.

Soon, the golden palaces in the distance also crumbled inch by inch, turning to ashes along with the immortals and maidens.

The entire illusory world collapsed with a roar and vanished completely.

Han Li remained seated on the ground, but the white square beneath him had become mossy soil. The surroundings seemed like green mountains, appearing vast, but he could clearly sense the presence of spatial barriers.

It seemed this secret realm was much smaller than he had imagined.

Thinking this, he slowly stood up, symbolically patted the dirt off his back, and looked straight ahead.

There stood a huge stone tablet over ten zhang wide, erected on the ground.

On both sides of the tablet were carved two strange beasts resembling dragons and serpents, but the tablet was severely damaged, with a large chunk missing from the top, making it impossible to identify them.

The broken edge of the tablet was covered with moss, looking dilapidated. Fortunately, the lower half was well preserved, densely inscribed with golden seal script.

Han Li quickly walked to the foot of the tablet. After a single glance, he froze in place, unable to move.

"This is... the True Word Wheel Scripture!" he exclaimed in surprise.

The text on the broken tablet was clearly divided into two sections, separated by a blank space.

Near the ground, partially hidden by low weeds, the text was familiar to Han Li—it was the first layer of the True Word Wheel Scripture. The upper part contained the second layer, which he had been dreaming of.

After a cursory glance at the text, he frowned and fell into thought.

Since the sect's Transmission Pavilion housed the True Word Wheel Scripture, why was there such a strange tablet here, attracting people through such obscure means? Or perhaps the so-called second layer in the Transmission Pavilion also required obtaining it here?

After all, entering this place also cost nine thousand merit points. Next time he went to the Transmission Pavilion, he could discreetly inquire about it.

He had inadvertently discovered the hint on the tablet in the Tai Xuan Hall and come here, perhaps by chance...

This was the only reasonable explanation he could think of.

Just then, a white light flashed above his head. The white sparrow that had led him here materialized again, landed on the broken tablet, and hopped about pecking at the moss on the broken edge.

Han Li looked at the sparrow, its body surrounded by shimmering light, seeming both real and illusory, hard to discern clearly.

Just as he was puzzled, the sparrow stopped pecking, hopped around to face him, and opened its beak to speak human language: "What are you looking at? You only have half a day. Hurry up and memorize the scripture!"

Han Li was startled. He hadn't expected the sparrow to speak human language, albeit somewhat stiffly, clearly a manifestation of some restriction. It surprised him greatly.

With this thought, he couldn't help but glance at the sparrow again.

"Still looking!" The sparrow glared and called out again.

Han Li quickly smiled wryly, composed himself, and focused his gaze on the stone tablet.

The second layer of the True Word Wheel Scripture followed the same vein as the first, also written in golden seal script and in ancient style, thus equally obscure and difficult to understand.

However, thanks to his foundation in cultivating the first layer, Han Li was not as clueless as before, though his progress was slightly slower.

His lips moved slightly as he silently read the scripture word by word, while using his powerful divine sense to forcibly imprint the content in his mind.

After about two hours, a little sweat had formed on Han Li's forehead and temples. He let out a long breath, finally having completely memorized the entire second layer.

The second layer of the True Word Wheel Scripture included a secret technique called "Eye of Truth," which, according to the description, would grant the ability to see through illusions and void powers once mastered.

However, cultivating this secret technique required a prerequisite: the cultivator's condensed True Word Wheel must have at least twelve Dao patterns formed on it.