Chapter 278: Retrospection

Half a day later.

Inside the secret chamber, golden light filled the room.

Han Li did not sit cross-legged; instead, he stood somewhat nervously beside the cushion.

Behind him, the Truth Dharma Wheel spun rapidly, radiating brilliant light. The golden vertical eye suspended within it suddenly opened wide, projecting a patch of golden light forward.

Now that he had discovered the time Dao patterns on the wheel could be restored, he naturally thought again of the big-eared monk he had seen in the light wall the other day.

Although his attempt at stealing the Dao seemed to have been noticed by the other party, even if that monk possessed great supernatural powers, he probably couldn't directly trouble him through this image.

With this thought, Han Li took a deep breath, retrieved the dark green vial hidden on his chest, and placed it within the golden light.

As soon as the dark green vial touched the golden light, it immediately flew up on its own, emitting a dazzling green radiance in midair, and a formless immense force surged forth from it.

This time, Han Li was prepared. He crossed his hands in front of him to block, retreated about a zhang, and stopped.

On the Truth Dharma Wheel behind him, the one hundred and eight time Dao patterns blazed with light, once again flying away from behind him, suspended opposite the Vial of Heaven and Earth, brilliant as the sun.

Soon, golden light shot from the Eye of Truth, and a green pillar of light surged from the dark green vial, tearing a rift in the void.

As a stream of crystalline light flowed out from the void cave, a crystalline light wall soon appeared in the secret chamber, stretching across before Han Li.

The scene within the light wall was very blurry, and no sound came from it, but with his prior mental preparation, Han Li was naturally unconcerned, quietly watching as the time Dao patterns on the true wheel dimmed one after another.

Gazing at the increasingly clear image, Han Li's breathing unconsciously quickened.

However, after a few breaths, Han Li's eyes staring at the light wall suddenly became somewhat dazed.

Because this time, the content presented in the light wall was completely different.

What met his eyes was a surging red glow, revealing a world scene filled with enormous volcanoes everywhere.

In the sky above, pitch-black clouds pressed down on half the heavens, with faint blood-red light flickering within the clouds. Below stood thousands of towering volcanoes, all in eruption, with thick black smoke billowing from the craters, almost merging with the clouds.

Scorching hot crimson magma spewed from the mountain mouths, converging into rivers of magma over a hundred zhang wide, flowing down from all directions, and gathering at the foot of the peaks into a vast lake of magma.

A rumbling sound came from within the light wall. The entire earth heaved violently, and enormous ravines over a thousand zhang long, densely spread like a spiderweb, continuously expanded, splitting the earth apart.

Countless red strange beasts, shaped like earthworms but extremely thick, were constantly turned up by the cracking earth, frantically digging into the soil, trying to burrow back underground.

Their bodies, densely packed, intertwined and entangled, writhed madly, but were crushed by the splitting rocks, breaking into countless pieces.

These strange beasts seemed extremely tenacious; even with their bodies broken, they still struggled stubbornly, drilling into the soil.

However, the rivers of magma spreading across the land had already flowed in, pouring into the cracked earth, drowning all these beasts, burning them to ashes.

Standing still, Han Li watched the apocalyptic scene of this primordial world, his heart shaken. Unconsciously, sweat had soaked his clenched fists.

At that moment, a dull thud suddenly sounded. Another time Dao pattern on the Truth Dharma Wheel jumped sharply, quickly dimmed, turning a grayish color.

By now, about half of the patterns had become dim and lusterless.

Han Li snapped back to reality, remembering his purpose for opening the light wall.

However, the world appearing in the light wall this time was completely different from before, catching him off guard.

"In that case... I might as well give it a try..."

Thinking this, Han Li raised his hand and patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist. A green light flashed beneath his palm, and a Rift-mouthed Demon Wolf appeared, drooling saliva.

As soon as the beast appeared, green light flashed on its body, and it tried to escape.

Han Li reached out, grabbed a tuft of skin on its neck, and lightly tossed it toward the light wall.

The demon wolf twisted its waist frantically but involuntarily crashed into the light wall. With a flash of light, it passed through an invisible barrier and fell toward the cracked earth.

As soon as it landed, it immediately turned around, crouched low, and bared its teeth at Han Li with a low growl.

"It really works..."

Seeing this, Han Li was overjoyed; the light wall could indeed be traversed.

But the next moment, he noticed that the fur on the Rift-mouthed Demon Wolf had turned from green-black to gray-white, and the luster in its eyes was rapidly fading.

In terms of the wolf's lifespan, it seemed to have aged nearly a thousand years in just a few breaths.

Then, the wolf's flesh and skin completely rotted away, revealing a complete white skeleton, which then turned to ashes, swept away by the wind, vanishing without a trace.

Another dull thud sounded, and another time Dao pattern on the Truth Dharma Wheel dimmed.

This time, Han Li did not look at the Truth Dharma Wheel but stared at the spot where the demon wolf's body had disappeared, deep in thought.

After a moment, he flicked his wrist, and a palm-sized, green-and-red Water-Fire Mirror appeared in his palm.

This mirror was of low grade, merely a low-level magic tool capable of releasing water waves and flames, with weak attack power. He couldn't even remember when he had obtained it, but he had never sold it.

He raised his hand and gently tossed it. The Water-Fire Mirror arced through the air and fell toward the light wall.

Like the demon wolf, the mirror encountered no obstruction; the moment it touched the light wall, it flashed and crossed to the other side.

Han Li's eyes focused, blue light shining in them as he activated his Bright Spirit Eyes.

He wanted to see clearly what happened to the object after it passed through the light wall.

As soon as the Water-Fire Mirror reached the other world, before it even landed, its surface suddenly blazed with green and red light, as if someone were activating it, about to release water waves and spew flames.

But the next moment, with a soft "bang," the mirror's light flashed violently, and it directly exploded.

What astonished Han Li, however, was that the exploded mirror did not turn into fragments; instead, it transformed into a cloud of colored smoke that rose from the explosion, then quickly contracted, condensing into over a dozen different colored ore materials, falling to the ground.

These materials were not unfamiliar to Han Li. The most abundant and largest were two types: one was fiery red Flame Spirit Stone, and the other was azure Primordial Water Stone.

These two ores were the main materials for refining the Water-Fire Mirror, while the other colored materials were auxiliary materials for refining this treasure.

"It was actually reverted to its original spiritual materials..." Han Li's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed in surprise.

As soon as he spoke, those decomposed colored ore materials rapidly became transparent and ethereal in midair, eventually disappearing completely.

At the same time, more than half of the Dao patterns on the Truth Dharma Wheel had become dim and lusterless.

Then, he tried throwing spirit stones and even immortal essence stones into the other side of the light wall, but only saw that after landing, the spirit stones quickly merged with the ground, lost all spiritual power, assimilated completely with the earth, and finally disappeared.

As time passed, the time Dao patterns on the Truth Dharma Wheel seemed to dim faster and faster, with continuous "puff" sounds.

Frowning deeply at the light wall and the apocalyptic world behind it, Han Li suddenly flipped his palm and produced a green longsword, gripping it in his hand.

He stepped back slightly, raised the longsword, and slashed down at the light wall.

A sound like a dragon's roar rang out. A clear, autumn-water-like sword light lit up on the green sword, burst forth from the blade, and shot straight toward the light wall.

After swinging the sword, Han Li did not withdraw. Instead, he bent his knees slightly, held the sword horizontally in front of him in a defensive posture, and formed a hand seal with the other hand, with faint golden lightning flickering at his fingertips, carefully guarding against any possible变故.

"Whoosh..."

A sound like a gentle breeze arose, and the sword light landed on the light wall.

There was no imagined shattering of the light wall or scattering of sword light, nor any space collapse after the light wall's destruction. Only this slight sound of wind and a faint ripple on the surface of the light wall, and the sword light instantly vanished into nothingness.

In contrast, a series of dense sounds came from the Truth Dharma Wheel.

The moment the light wall's surface returned to calm, the last Dao pattern on the golden wheel above Han Li's head dimmed again.

A multicolored light lit up on the light wall, accompanied by a "bang."

The entire light wall collapsed with the sound, dissipating into specks of crystalline light, and the spatial rift also closed.

The Truth Dharma Wheel, without the illumination of the time Dao patterns, also became somewhat dim, slowly flew back into Han Li's body, and disappeared.

The Vial of Heaven and Earth, suspended in midair, retracted its light, rapidly shrank back to its original size, spun in the air, and flew down.

Han Li reached out to catch it, tied it back around his neck, and hid it within his robe.

The entire secret chamber returned to complete silence.

Han Li sat down cross-legged, took out a yellow pill and swallowed it, then closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

Maintaining the Truth Dharma Wheel and the Eye of Truth had indeed consumed a great deal of immortal spiritual power, leaving him feeling somewhat depleted, but compared to the last time's disheveled state, it was a hundred times better.

After a while, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, gave a bitter smile, and consoled himself:

"It seems that obtaining benefits from the light wall like last time was ultimately a matter of luck and chance. It can happen once but not necessarily twice. Oh well, from now on, I'll focus on collecting spiritual herbs to refine pills, continue to improve my cultivation, and restore the Dao patterns."

With that, he stood up, left the secret chamber, and headed out of the cave dwelling.