Chapter 273: Astonishment

Three years later.

In a valley within the territory of Red Cloud Peak, a blurry golden light darted back and forth through the void at an inconceivable speed, leaving a series of discontinuous afterimages in the air that were impossible to track clearly.

Even more bizarrely, the trajectory of these afterimages had no discernible pattern; just as it seemed to be charging straight ahead, the afterimage would appear in the opposite direction the next moment.

At that moment, the golden light in the air suddenly stopped, revealing a tall young man—none other than Han Li.

His face was slightly flushed, and deep in his eyes gleamed a barely suppressed joy. Around his body clung a thin layer of pale golden light that traced his contours, from which emanated waves of strange fluctuations.

"When I fully activate twenty-five Dao patterns, the speed does indeed increase further. It seems that as the number of Dao patterns on the True Wheel grows, this divine ability still has much room for improvement. However, the consumption of immortal spiritual power is also considerable..." Han Li murmured to himself.

As he finished speaking, the golden light enveloping his body gradually faded, not dissipating into nothingness but merging into his body.

In fact, this golden light originated from the True Word Wheel he had absorbed into his body.

During the first year or so of cultivating this divine ability, he could barely control the method of reversing the flow of immortal spiritual power, and later, when he tried to incorporate the reversed wheel into his body, errors were frequent.

Thinking back to how a mountain peak that had seemed far away, no larger than a grain of rice, would suddenly appear before him the moment he activated the technique, causing him to lose control and crash into it, he couldn't help but smile wryly.

That wasn't all; during this period, he had smashed or damaged no fewer than several hundred mountain peaks, turning a scenic mountainous region spanning thousands of miles into a mess, and he himself had suffered some minor injuries.

Fortunately, this area belonged to his own territory, so it didn't cause any trouble.

Thankfully, the essence of this divine ability was not entirely opposed to the original technique; they shared some common ground. Thus, after failing over a hundred times, Han Li finally gradually grasped the knack of reversing the True Wheel and incorporating it into his body.

Now, he had even achieved mastery, able to reverse the wheel directly within his body without summoning the True Word Wheel outside, greatly enhancing the speed and concealment of the technique.

What excited him even more was that the twenty-fifth Time Dao pattern remained unchanged, showing no signs of fading.

Han Li mused to himself that with this divine ability, combined with the Thunder Array Escape Technique, he should be able to protect himself even if pursued by an ordinary Golden Immortal realm expert.

"Having delayed so long for this technique, it's time to try again."

Han Li murmured to himself, and his figure immediately flew down toward the cave dwelling below.

Before long, he reappeared in the secret chamber of the cave, sat cross-legged, with the golden wheel manifesting behind him and the vertical eye wide open.

In his palm lay a small, translucent crystal grain, bathed in the golden light of the True Vision Eye.

To focus on comprehending the Reversed True Wheel and observe whether the twenty-fifth Time Dao pattern would disappear, he had instructed his puppets to water the spiritual herbs during this period, only recently finding time to condense another grain.

With a soft "crack," the crystal grain shattered, and a wisp of golden thread flew out, shooting into the golden eyeball.

Han Li's body trembled violently, as if struck by a heavy blow.

This time, however, he did not close the vertical eye but allowed the golden thread to slowly merge into the eyeball.

After a moment, white light gathered on the True Word Wheel, forming another translucent Time Dao pattern.

The twenty-sixth Time Dao pattern!

"Good!"

A relieved smile appeared on Han Li's face. He was now certain that absorbing crystal grains through the True Vision Eye could increase the Time Dao patterns on the True Word Wheel, and the increase was permanent.

That is, from now on, by condensing one crystal grain each month, he could add one Time Dao pattern!

Others painstakingly cultivated the True Word Wheel Sutra, taking hundreds, thousands, or even over ten thousand years to open two immortal apertures before they might condense a single Time Dao pattern. But he, by using the True Vision Eye to absorb crystal grains, needed only a month.

Moreover, as far as he could see, there seemed to be no limit!

Twenty-four Time Dao patterns could already slow down or speed up time by more than ten times. Considering that every six Time Dao patterns brought a significant change, what about thirty, thirty-six, or even... sixty, one hundred and eight?

Next, as long as he continued cultivating the second level technique while maintaining the monthly condensation of crystal grains, he believed he would soon achieve this.

Suppressing his excitement, Han Li changed his hand seals and slowly closed the golden vertical eye on the wheel.

Then, he closed his eyes, and the sound of chanting incantations filled the air as he began to comprehend the second level of the True Word Wheel Sutra.

...

Time flew like a white horse passing a gap; in a blink, ten years had passed.

During these ten years, Han Li cultivated the second level technique while condensing crystal grains for the True Vision Eye to absorb and fuse. He had now increased the Time Dao patterns on the True Word Wheel to one hundred and eight.

After that, for some unknown reason, even when he used the True Vision Eye to shoot light at the crystal grains, he could no longer add any more Dao patterns, as if some limit had been reached.

But he had no time to dwell on this, for according to the original True Word Wheel Sutra, even the third level could only condense eighteen Time Dao patterns on the wheel, and so far, no one in the entire Candle Dragon Sect seemed to have succeeded.

Compared to before, the range of the True Word Wheel's influence had not changed much, but the deceleration effect on attacks within its range had reached an astonishing over a thousand times.

During tests, when he ordered puppets to attack him, once they entered the wheel's influence area, their speed slowed to almost a standstill.

When he used the Reversed True Wheel divine ability, the acceleration effect also reached an astonishing level; his figure flickered in the air like a star, elusive and unpredictable.

However, both of these divine abilities, when fully activated, consumed an enormous amount of immortal spiritual power.

Given his mid-stage cultivation, the immortal spiritual power he could store in his body could not sustain it for long, so unless in a critical moment facing a formidable enemy, it was generally not advisable to use them.

At this moment, the secret chamber was ablaze with golden light.

Han Li formed hand seals, the True Word Wheel suspended behind him, with one hundred and eight Time Dao patterns flickering on it, emitting golden light that covered him like a layer of golden radiance, resembling a Buddha's aura.

As the Time Dao patterns lit up one by one, the True Word Wheel began to rotate slowly.

Within a few breaths, all one hundred and eight Time Dao patterns were fully illuminated.

Han Li's face turned slightly pale as he felt his immortal spiritual power draining rapidly, but he had prepared in advance, taking out two immortal essence stones and holding one in each hand, absorbing them quickly.

As obscure incantations issued from his mouth, the wheel's rim became blurry, and strands of golden thread emerged from the Time Dao patterns on the wheel, converging toward the hollow center of the wheel.

These golden threads intertwined and twisted together, forming a golden thread ball the size of a fist, shimmering with golden light.

"Open!"

Han Li suddenly let out a low shout.

The golden thread ball instantly blazed with brilliant golden light, then transformed into a large golden vertical eye—the True Vision Eye.

A pale golden beam shot out from the golden pupil.

He closed his eyes and looked around through the True Vision Eye.

The array restrictions he had set on the surrounding walls emerged, all becoming transparent, with countless spiritual power runes flowing on them. Every subtle change in the restrictions was clearly visible, as clear as the lines on his palm.

Where the golden pupil gazed, the void became a hazy gray. The figures of Yun Menggui, Yun Qianqian, and others faintly appeared in the gray void, and the scenery outside Red Cloud Peak was also dimly visible.

It seemed that even the void was directly pierced!

Han Li's heart stirred slightly.

The True Vision Eye's ability to penetrate illusions and void was previously similar to the Clear Insight Eye, but now that the Time Dao patterns on the True Word Wheel had increased to one hundred and eight, the True Vision Eye's power had greatly increased, and its insight was far beyond that of the Clear Insight Eye.

He had a technique that combined the Destruction Eye and the Clear Insight Eye, but even that was far inferior to the current True Vision Eye.

Han Li exhaled lightly and his expression turned solemn.

With a flip of his hand, the green vial appeared in his palm.

He began to chant incantations, intending to activate the True Vision Eye again to observe the vial.

Just then, a sudden change occurred.

The green vial flew out of his hand on its own, hovering in midair, its surface blazing with light like a green sun.

Immediately after, a tremendous force emerged within the green light. Caught off guard, Han Li was pushed backward, sliding until he hit the cave wall before stopping, his face filled with astonishment.

The True Word Wheel flew out from behind Han Li and hovered not far from the green vial, its surface also radiating golden light several times brighter than usual.

Especially the True Vision Eye, which blazed with dazzling golden light, and the ring of runes around its pupil writhed as if alive.

The two seemed to resonate with each other.

Seeing this, Han Li, ignoring the need to absorb immortal spiritual power, urgently formed hand seals, but then his expression changed.

At this moment, both the vial and the True Word Wheel had slipped from his control.

Before he could react, the True Vision Eye suddenly shot a beam of golden light into the green vial.

The vial hummed and rapidly expanded, turning into the size of a human head. Countless green runes emerged on its surface, like tadpoles swimming.

With a "pop" sound!

A thick green beam shot out from the vial, directly tearing the void and vanishing into it.

Rumble!

The torn void did not close but twisted violently, like a black mouth writhing.

The next moment, endless crystalline light burst forth from the spatial rift.

This crystalline light was bright as autumn water, luminous but not dazzling, flowing out like a gentle stream from the rift.

Han Li had now stood up, watching the scene with a changing expression.

The sudden changes in the True Word Wheel and the green vial—whether they were a blessing or a curse—were unknown.

Although the wheel had slipped from his control, he could still make it disappear by cutting off the supply of immortal spiritual power.

But he was uncertain whether he should do so...

While Han Li hesitated, another change occurred.