Chapter 271: The Truth of the True Eye

Early the next morning.

Han Li, travel-worn, returned to Chixia Peak without alerting anyone, passed straight through his residence, and entered his cave abode.

After activating all the cave's restrictions, he went directly into the secret chamber, sat cross-legged on a cushion, and with a turn of his wrist, a white porcelain teacup appeared in his palm.

This object was not a magic treasure or spiritual tool, but an ordinary everyday item commonly found in wealthy secular households. Han Li had casually picked it up from a table as he passed through the hall.

Holding the teacup in one hand, he tapped lightly on its rim with a finger.

With a crisp "crack," a piece of porcelain broke off from the rim and fell to the ground.

Han Li nodded, placed the chipped, broken teacup on the floor before him, and formed hand seals. Golden light burst forth behind him, and the True Word Wheel emerged.

The bright golden wheel rotated slowly, with a golden vertical eye suspended at its center.

He chanted softly, and the True Word Wheel spun rapidly, emitting a humming sound.

One by one, the translucent Dao patterns on the wheel lit up. Soon, all twenty-four patterns were activated, operating at full power, radiating ripples of faint golden light that made the entire secret chamber shimmer.

The vertical eye at the wheel's center opened its eyelids, revealing a golden eyeball.

The strange runes at the center of the eyeball immediately began to spin rapidly. With a "crackle," a faint golden beam shot out from the pupil.

As Han Li shifted his gaze, the golden light from the True Eye moved accordingly, focusing on the broken porcelain cup.

The golden light shone on the white teacup on the ground, reflecting specks of light and making the entire cup appear more translucent.

However, the damaged part showed no change, remaining exactly as it was.

"It seems it cannot repair ordinary objects..." Han Li pondered for a moment, then murmured.

He was not surprised by this outcome, as he had never expected the True Eye to work on all mundane items.

There must be something special about it.

After a moment's thought, he turned his wrist, and a black octagonal pagoda appeared in his palm.

This pagoda was originally a high-grade spiritual treasure with trapping formations, but it was severely damaged, greatly reducing its function. However, the runes inscribed on it were quite unique and held reference value for Han Li, so he had kept it after obtaining it.

The pagoda was exquisitely crafted, only about a foot tall, yet it had eaves, pillars, doors, windows, terraces, and stairs, all complete. Even the plaques hanging on each level were present, each inscribed with true words in runes.

Originally, the pagoda should have had seven levels, but due to damage, the topmost level and its spire were missing.

Han Li placed the pagoda on the ground before him, took a deep breath, and once again activated the True Eye, slowly turning it to gaze upon the pagoda.

Bathed in golden light, the pagoda's surface glowed with black radiance, rippling with strange waves. Hidden runes beneath the eaves and behind the pillars gradually revealed themselves.

However, the damaged top remained unchanged, just like the teacup before.

"Still no effect..."

Han Li frowned slightly, lost in thought.

After a moment, he swept his hand across the ground, put away the pagoda, and took out a vermilion broken seal, placing it on the ground. He urged his magic art.

The faint golden light of the True Eye shifted, shooting a golden beam that covered the seal...

After most of the day, Han Li sat cross-legged on the cushion, his hand wreathed in green light, holding a spirit stone in his palm.

On the ground before him were arranged seventeen or eighteen items, including spiritual tools and magic treasures, all slightly damaged.

These were all the flawed treasures he currently had, covering various attributes like wind, thunder, water, and fire. Despite his patient attempts one by one, none could have their damaged parts repaired in the form of a phantom like the stone tablet.

"Strange, what exactly is the difference?" Han Li mused while absorbing spiritual power.

"It has no effect on ordinary objects, nor on spiritual treasures containing spiritual power, but it worked on the stone tablet in the White Sparrow Valley secret realm... What is so special about that tablet?"

He absolutely did not believe that the True Eye would only work on specific things; there must be some common characteristic.

“Could it be…”

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, as if he had thought of something.

With a flip of his palm, a delicate white jade long box appeared in his hand, sealed with a cyan talisman that preserved spiritual energy.

Han Li gently wiped his hand over the jade box, and the talisman vanished with a flash of cyan light.

He snapped the jade box open, and a faint purple light emanated from within, accompanied by a rich medicinal fragrance.

Inside the jade box lay a high-grade spirit herb with pale purple leaf veins, shimmering with faint specks of light.

This was a Night Bloom Herb, about a foot long, a main ingredient for refining an Earth-grade pill. Under the hastening of the green liquid, its medicinal age had reached over fifty thousand years.

Han Li put away the immortal essence stones, formed hand seals with both hands, and summoned the True Word Treasure Wheel once more.

With the full operation of the twenty-four patterns of Dao marks, the pale golden light projected from the Eye of Truth slowly shifted, falling upon the pale purple spirit herb.

Under the gaze of the Eye of Truth, the Night Bloom Herb, surrounded by purple light, rapidly shrank from about a foot tall to just an inch. The specks of light on its leaf veins, markers of a mature spirit herb, also disappeared, making it look like an ungrown young herb.

“Just as I thought… the Eye of Truth only works when examining items containing the power of time.” Han Li curled his lips into a smile and murmured to himself.

He steadied himself, reached out a hand, and touched the young herb, but only felt a phantom; what he actually touched was still the mature ten-thousand-year-old spirit herb.

“The anomaly that appeared on the stone tablet earlier was not the Eye of Truth repairing the missing parts, but merely revealing the past complete image of the stone tablet. Since it can only reproduce the past appearance of objects containing the power of time, it should also work on those few items, right?” After pondering for a moment, Han Li muttered to himself.

With that, he flipped his hand again, and a flash of light in the void before him revealed a square jade box of emerald green.

He waved his hand, and the jade box opened with a sound, releasing a round gray stone ball—the single eye of the giant-like strange beast Tai Fei.

Han Li activated the Eye of Truth and gazed at the single eye suspended in midair.

Under the golden light, the eye, which had shown no movement all along, gradually underwent a wondrous change.

Suddenly, streaks of golden light burst from its surface, extending outward as golden threads that intertwined and connected in the air, forming golden bones and a giant framework.

Before long, the image of a one-eyed giant lying flat on the ground materialized out of thin air in the secret chamber.

However, because the beast's body was far too enormous, half of its torso had already sunk into the stone wall on the other side of the chamber, making it impossible to fully reconstruct its entire form.

Han Li stood up, positioned himself at the head end, and after scrutinizing it for a moment, withdrew his gaze from the True Eye.

The massive phantom in the chamber vanished instantly, leaving only the single eye floating there in isolation.

Han Li let out a long breath. With a wave of his hand, he put away the single eye, and then a light flashed in his palm as he took out another object—a translucent crystal grain the size of a water droplet.

This crystal grain was condensed from the green liquid in the Heaven-Devouring Vase, and naturally contained the power of time.

With a thought, Han Li ceased viewing with his original eyes and instead looked at the crystal grain in his palm through the golden vertical eye.

A pale golden light spilled from the True Eye, enveloping the crystal grain, which immediately released a dazzling white light, and a strong fluctuation of spiritual power rippled outward.

Han Li's heart tightened. He quickly withdrew his hand, intending to put the crystal grain away.

But at that moment, a sudden change occurred!

With a soft "crack," the crystal grain shattered directly within the light.

Before Han Li could react, a golden thread shot out from within like a steel needle, flew straight past him, and pierced into the vertical eye inside the True Word Wheel behind him.

Han Li felt as if the wheel behind him had been struck a heavy blow, causing his body to stagger backward.

Immediately after, he sensed the wheel behind him begin to oscillate slightly, and waves of intangible ripples emanated from it.

Startled, he quickly ceased the secret technique and closed the golden vertical eye.

However, although the True Eye was closed, the oscillation caused by the golden thread continued.

Han Li hesitated inwardly, unsure how to intervene and not daring to rashly retract the wheel into his body. He could only force himself to calm down and closely observe the changes in the wheel.

Fortunately, this abnormal oscillation lasted only about a quarter of an hour before the True Word Wheel quickly stabilized again.

Just then, Han Li raised an eyebrow, a look of disbelief appearing on his face. He discovered that a mass of white light had condensed on the wheel, forming another translucent time Dao pattern.