Chapter 276: A Century in Seclusion

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, a year had gone by.

Inside the secret chamber, Han Li sat cross-legged. Behind him, the True Word Wheel rotated slowly, emitting a bright golden radiance, with countless golden runes swirling rapidly upon it.

A cluster of Time Dao patterns on the True Word Wheel suddenly flickered. The surrounding golden runes brightened, converged, and merged into the patterns.

The dim Time Dao patterns immediately brightened at a visible rate. After a few breaths, they regained their former bright and lively appearance, though the other patterns remained dull.

Han Li opened his eyes and looked at the restored Time Dao patterns. He couldn't help but let out a long breath, a great weight lifted from his heart.

These dim Time Dao patterns could indeed be restored, but judging by the current situation, each pattern on the wheel would likely take about a year to recover.

In other words, to fully restore all one hundred and eight Time Dao patterns on the True Word Wheel would require at least a hundred years.

During this period, his cultivation would probably be significantly affected.

Han Li's eyes flickered, but he soon shook his head.

A hundred years was but a fleeting moment. He could use this time to thoroughly contemplate the eight and a half lines of the True Word mantra.

Over the past year, he had yet to figure out any clues, but he grew increasingly confident that with time, he would comprehend something.

Meanwhile, he could also resolve the issue of raw materials for alchemy.

Thinking thus, Han Li waved his hand and took out a jade box containing six or seven pill formulas obtained from Ping Yaozi. Among them, two were suitable for mid-stage True Immortals: one was the Chengwan Dan that Ping Yaozi himself used, and the other was the Yuheng Dan.

He examined the required materials for both formulas. None were particularly rare or hard to find, though some spiritual herbs required a high number of years.

The immortal jade and spirit stones he had accumulated from his tasks in the Wuchang League had mostly been spent on alchemy earlier. Though some remained, it was far from enough to purchase sufficient materials for the two formulas.

"Well, since I need to quickly cast spells to restore the Dao patterns, I'll temporarily stop condensing liquid into crystal grains and use the green liquid to accelerate the growth of spiritual herbs instead..." Han Li mused to himself.

Speaking of which, the Heaven-Devouring Bottle had previously resonated with the True Word Wheel, causing a sudden mutation that affected the wheel. However, the small bottle remained as before, without any abnormality.

He would use the small bottle to accelerate the growth of the main ingredients and some rare auxiliary materials from the two formulas.

Han Li stood up, left the secret chamber, took out a communication array plate, and waved his hand to cast a spell seal.

After a moment, Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng arrived at the cave mansion's hall and bowed to Han Li, who was seated by a stone table:

"Greetings, Elder Li!"

"I will be going into seclusion for a period of time. During this time, you two will go out and collect some materials for me. Here is the list." Han Li handed each of them a jade slip containing some auxiliary materials from the two formulas, as well as seeds for some main and auxiliary ingredients.

The two took the jade slips, swept their divine senses into them, and simultaneously showed surprise.

Most of the materials inside were very precious and not easy to collect.

"I know these items are hard to gather, but there's no rush. Take your time searching. Just gather enough within a hundred years. If you make progress, you can bring them back anytime." Han Li said, taking out two storage pouches filled with spirit stones.

"Yes." The two relaxed upon hearing this, took the pouches, and nodded in agreement.

After they took their leave, Han Li also rose and headed toward the secret chamber...

Time flew like a white horse passing a gap; in the blink of an eye, over a hundred years had passed.

The Zhongming Mountain Range remained as it had for eons. Though some events had occurred, some people had come, and some had left, it was all normal for the entire Candao Sect. As long as the thirteen Golden Immortal sect masters still presided, nothing was a big deal. Even if something arose, there would naturally be someone to handle it.

The already remote Chixia Peak grew even more silent. Coupled with Han Li's low-key demeanor as an inner sect elder, aside from a few people, naturally no one remembered him, and even fewer came to visit.

Of course, even if someone did visit, they would find that Chixia Peak had long been sealed off.

A True Immortal sealing the mountain for a hundred years of seclusion was a very ordinary matter. For some True Immortal elders in life-or-death seclusion, a single retreat lasting a thousand or even ten thousand years was normal.

During this time, Han Li had hardly ever left his cave mansion, devoting himself wholeheartedly to contemplating the eight and a half lines of the mantra he had heard from the big-eared monk, day after day, year after year.

The only times he paused were when Sun Buzheng or Meng Yungui happened to return, bringing seeds of certain main and auxiliary ingredients for the pill formulas, and he would instruct the giant ape puppet to make adjustments as needed.

Inside the secret chamber, the air was stagnant, with specks of dust suspended in midair, as if frozen.

Han Li, clad in a green robe, sat cross-legged. Behind him, the True Word Wheel spun slowly, with all one hundred and eight time-patterns glowing, emitting distinct fluctuations of law power.

After a moment, he withdrew his hand seals. With a thought, the wheel behind him flashed with light and flew into his body.

As if a restriction had been lifted, the air in the chamber began to flow normally again, and the dust in the light drifted freely.

"Finally, everything is restored..." Han Li exhaled, stood up, and walked out of the secret chamber.

On Chixia Peak, the sky was clear and the blue sky was washed clean, matching his mood.

A round sun hung high in the sky, bringing a touch of warmth to the snow-covered peaks.

Han Li emerged from his cave dwelling, his body enveloped in a flash of light as he soared high. He intended to go directly to the valley he often visited to try out the new divine ability he had comprehended from the eight-and-a-half-line mantra, but he inadvertently caught sight of Meng Qianqian and a group of five or six people gathered at the spiritual herb field on the mountain.

Thus, he shifted his flight and descended toward them.

"Elder Li..." Seeing Han Li approach, the group hurriedly stepped forward to bow and address him respectfully.

Han Li waved his hand, signaling them not to stand on ceremony, but his gaze fell on the guardian beast ahead.

Since adopting this beast, he had paid little attention to it, leaving it to the servants to care for. He hadn't expected that it had unknowingly reached the mid-Hegemony stage.

However, what caught his attention was not the twin-headed lion-eagle beast, but a strange green bird riding on its neck.

The bird had an enormous head, a slender neck, a body nearly two zhang long, covered in arrow-like feathers, and a pouch about five chi in size hanging from its chest.

It had been sitting boldly on the back of the beast, which was many times larger than itself, looking around with an air of authority.

But when Han Li landed, the bird seemed startled, flapping its wings and showing a trace of fear in its eyes.

Only after Meng Qianqian glanced at it did it calm down, though it crouched on the lion-eagle beast, covering its head with its wings and observing Han Li with its eyes.

"Is this... Nianyu?" Han Li turned to Meng Qianqian and asked hesitantly.

"Yes, it's Nianyu," Meng Qianqian nodded and replied with a smile.

"Oh, I didn't expect it to have reached near the Nascent Soul stage in just a hundred years?" Han Li asked.

"Yes. Elder Li, you don't know how much it eats now. Maybe that has something to do with it... But aside from feeding it the Wind Spirit Grass from the spiritual herb garden, I haven't given it any other spiritual herbs or pills. However, it occasionally sneaks off Chixia Peak on its own. As for what it eats outside, I don't know," Meng Qianqian said, glancing back at the strange green bird.

Han Li pointed at the listless twin-headed lion-eagle beast lying on the ground and Nianyu riding on its neck, and asked:

"And what's the story with those two?"

"Two years ago, Nianyu sneaked off Chixia Peak and was chased back by a Deity Transformation stage demon beast. The guardian beast intervened... I mean, it devoured that demon beast and saved Nianyu. After that, they seemed to become friends," Meng Qianqian explained.

"This little one doesn't seem to be an easy character either. It probably went out hunting demon beasts and got chased back. By the way, haven't your brother and Sun Buzheng returned?" Han Li chuckled, then changed the subject.

"They came back seven or eight years ago. But it seems they both had some encounters during their trip. Shortly after returning, they both reached the critical point for breaking through to the late Nascent Soul stage and are now in seclusion. The spiritual herbs they brought back have been planted in the garden. Oh, and there are these seeds," Meng Qianqian said, handing a storage pouch to Han Li.

Han Li took the pouch, swept it with his divine sense, then walked along the ridges of the spiritual field, nodded with satisfaction.

The seeds and auxiliary materials the two had brought back were quite numerous. With some time, they could be used to prepare at least dozens of batches of pill ingredients.

This was no easy task for them, showing that they had indeed put in their best efforts.

"They did very well. I may go into seclusion again soon, and they might not see me when they emerge after breaking through. Give them these two bottles of pills to stabilize their cultivation bases when the time comes," Han Li said, tossing the pills to Meng Qianqian.

She caught them quickly, bowed to Han Li, and said, "Qianqian thanks Elder Li on behalf of my brother and Brother Sun."

Han Li casually waved his hand, then his hands glowed with green light as he reached toward the spiritual field.

With a slight tremor of the ground, over a hundred various spiritual herbs rose under the cover of green light, their leaves still bearing dewdrops and their roots covered in soil, all flying through the air as Han Li headed toward his cave dwelling.

These spiritual herbs were not old enough and would need to be ripened with green liquid, so he had to transplant them all into the medicinal garden inside his cave.