Chapter 359: Reply

"That's all... just this one piece. I wanted to keep it for myself to study slowly... but this thing is too eerie, I can't control it at all. It's better to offer it to you, Senior." The pig-beast lowered its large head, speaking meekly.

Han Li smiled faintly, flicked his finger, and tossed another pill over.

The pig-beast was overjoyed and immediately opened its mouth to swallow the pill. Its body surface flickered with light again, and its aura subtly increased a bit more.

"Go now. Do not reveal a single word about what happened here." Han Li said indifferently.

The pig-beast hurriedly nodded its large head, turned, and swiftly returned to the sea surface, swimming away into the distance.

Han Li watched the beast leave, pondered for a moment, then flipped his hand and took out a pale red jade box.

This box was made of a special warm jade, smooth and warm to the touch, exuding a gentle warmth throughout.

He placed the black stone into the box. The black light shone on the warm jade walls, but they remained unharmed.

After putting away the jade box, Han Li dispersed the True Extremity Membrane covering his palm and turned back to his cave dwelling.

He did not return to the secret chamber but went directly to a corner of the medicine garden, the area where the mother bean was planted.

Over the years, in his attempt to open the thirty-sixth immortal aperture, he had devoted himself entirely to cultivation and had not diverted his attention to condensing crystal grains. Since the Ten Thousand Wheels Pills he had previously refined were sufficient, he instructed the giant ape puppet to use all the green liquid to hasten the growth of the mother bean.

Han Li swept his gaze over and his eyes brightened.

The mother bean had indeed sprouted, growing a few tender roots, and a slender, tender green shoot had emerged from the spiritual soil.

Though it was just a small seedling, it exuded a powerful vitality.

He carefully observed the condition of the shoot. Like the previous one, the two cotyledons bore faint golden patterns in rings.

A hint of joy appeared on Han Li's face, and he nodded.

Over the years, he had studied the method of cultivating Dao soldiers given to him by the old man Hu Yan, and had gained some experience in cultivating bean-type Dao soldiers, no longer as clueless as before.

The most difficult and time-consuming part of cultivating bean soldiers was getting the mother bean to sprout.

Once the mother bean sprouted, half the battle was won. The rest was just careful nurturing, and soon a new batch of bean soldiers could be produced, along with another mother bean.

Thinking this, Han Li observed the mother bean for a while longer, then left the medicine garden and headed toward the secret chamber.

Turning a corner, he glanced at a tightly closed room ahead.

Come to think of it, Crab Daoist had been in seclusion for centuries, just like himself, and still showed no signs of coming out. He wondered what he was doing.

He withdrew his gaze, entered the secret chamber, sat cross-legged, and directly took out the Wuchang Alliance mask. After activating its restrictions, he opened the mission interface.

The mission to find Dew-condensing Grass still had no response.

He had expected this. With a sigh, he posted two more missions.

One was to find the complete cultivation method of the "Great Cycle Star Origin Art," and the other was to identify the black stone he had just obtained.

For some reason, this object gave him a very peculiar feeling.

After doing this, Han Li sat quietly for a moment, then summoned the giant ape puppet and took the Heaven-holding Vase from its hand.

A drop of green liquid had condensed inside the vase, gently swirling.

He gently shook the Heaven-holding Vase, then placed it beside him, forming hand seals with both hands.

Hum!

Han Li's body blazed with golden light, and the Truth Dharma Wheel emerged behind him, spinning gently.

On the wheel, clusters of translucent time patterns flickered nimbly, emitting waves of time law power.

He pointed with a hand seal, and the Truth Dharma Wheel flew up from behind him, landing in front of him.

Now, the time patterns on the wheel had increased compared to years past, reaching one hundred and thirty clusters.

Back when he was at the mid-True Immortal stage, he had increased the time patterns on the Truth Dharma Wheel to one hundred and eight clusters through time crystal grains. Later, when he opened more immortal apertures, no new time patterns appeared on the wheel, as if it had reached its limit.

Now that he had advanced to the late-True Immortal stage and opened eleven more immortal apertures, the time patterns on the wheel began to increase again.

In that case...

Han Li picked up the Heaven-holding Vase beside him and infused his immortal spiritual power into it.

Rumble!

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth near the cave dwelling immediately churned violently, forming a huge spiritual energy vortex. Countless rays of light converged into it.

The void trembled, stirring up fierce winds, and the sea surface raged with surging waves.

The astonishing phenomenon lasted for three days before dissipating.

Inside the cave dwelling, Han Li held a condensed crystal grain in his hand, looking slightly fatigued.

With his current immortal spiritual power, condensing crystal grains was much easier, no longer nearly draining him dry as before.

After a brief adjustment of his breathing, Han Li formed hand seals, and golden light flashed behind him as the Truth Dharma Wheel emerged.

He muttered incantations, urging the Truth Dharma Wheel to spin with a hum. The time patterns on it radiated ten thousand golden rays.

A dazzling golden light mass appeared in the center of the wheel, shimmering and flickering, then transformed into a golden vertical eye, gazing at the time crystal grain in Han Li's hand.

With a soft "crack," the crystal grain shattered, and a golden thread flew out from it, shooting into the golden vertical eye.

Han Li's body jolted violently, as if struck heavily.

The Truth Dharma Wheel immediately trembled, emitting streaks of golden light.

After a moment, a dazzling white light appeared on the wheel, then transformed into a translucent time pattern.

Seeing this, a glimmer of joy flashed in Han Li's eyes.

As he had expected, the Truth Dharma Wheel could continue to increase time patterns with crystal grains.

He put away the Truth Dharma Wheel, handed the Heaven-holding Vase to the giant ape puppet, and instructed it to take it outside to continue condensing green liquid.

The more time patterns on the wheel, the greater its power naturally.

After taking a deep breath, Han Li began to slowly circulate his cultivation technique to recover the immortal spiritual power lost from condensing the crystal grain.

...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, more than twenty years had passed.

Inside the cave dwelling, Han Li's body emitted dazzling golden light. The Truth Dharma Wheel spun rapidly behind him, radiating faint golden ripples that illuminated the entire cave with brilliant golden splendor.

On the wheel, dense circles of dazzling time patterns covered it, numbering exactly three hundred and sixty clusters upon careful count.

Over the years, he had continuously used time crystal grains to increase the time patterns. But just like during his mid-True Immortal stage, after reaching three hundred and sixty clusters, it hit another limit and could not increase further.

Han Li urged his hand seal, and countless golden ripples emerged, spreading outward.

The golden ripples were noticeably brighter than before, almost solidifying.

Within the range covered by the ripples, everything stood still.

The air stopped flowing, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth ceased to fluctuate at all. Everything seemed frozen.

Feeling the changes around him, Han Li nodded.

Within the range of the golden ripples now, the flow of time had slowed drastically. By his estimation, it was slowed by about three thousand times.

He waved his hand, and the golden light emitted by the Truth Dharma Wheel dissipated, merging into his body.

With the increase in time patterns on the Truth Dharma Wheel, the immortal spiritual power required to activate this divine ability also increased significantly. Even with his late-True Immortal cultivation, it was somewhat strenuous.

Han Li let out a light breath and sat down cross-legged.

Now that the time patterns on the Truth Dharma Wheel had increased, not only had its power greatly increased, but the time power it contained had also increased considerably. With a slight urge of the Truth Dharma Wheel, a vast amount of time law power would surge out.

With such abundant time power on the Truth Dharma Wheel now, perhaps he could comprehend the time law without relying on Dao pills?

With this thought, he flipped his hand, took out a pill, swallowed it, and closed his eyes again.

Half a day later.

Rumbling, the void inside his secluded secret chamber trembled. Even through the restrictions, streaks of golden light could be faintly seen emanating from within, emitting powerful fluctuations of time power.

At that moment, golden light flashed repeatedly on the door of the stone chamber where Crab Daoist was in seclusion not far away.

With a muffled "boom," the door slowly opened.

Crab Daoist walked out slowly, his entire body wrapped in countless fine golden lightning threads, like a layer of golden gauze.

Under the shroud of the golden gauze, his body appeared somewhat indistinct, as if it might vanish into the void at any moment.

He looked around the cave dwelling, quickly fixing his gaze on the secret chamber where Han Li was in seclusion. After standing there for a moment, he soon turned and walked back into his own stone chamber.

A few days later, the strange phenomena in Han Li's secret chamber dissipated, and all fluctuations vanished completely.

Inside the secret chamber, Han Li sat cross-legged, his clothes somewhat torn, traces of blood visible on his body, and his complexion extremely pale.

This attempt, like the previous ones, ended in failure.

It seemed that some unseen force was hindering his comprehension of the time law.

Han Li frowned deeply, formed hand seals with both hands, and a ripple of green light passed over his body, instantly erasing all traces of blood.

He took out a new set of robes and changed into them, then flipped his hand to take out a pill and swallowed it. He closed his eyes to refine the medicinal power, and only after half a day did his complexion gradually return to normal.

Han Li opened his eyes, sat quietly, and stared ahead.

After a long while, he let out a soft sigh.

It seemed that without Dao pills, comprehending the time law was truly unlikely.

His gaze quickly became resolute. He flipped his hand, took out the Wuchang Alliance mask, put it on, formed a hand seal, activated the restrictions, and entered the alliance's mission area.

Han Li swept his gaze over, his expression first showing joy, but then the smile quickly disappeared.

Someone had replied to a previously posted mission, but it was not about finding Dew-condensing Grass; it was the mission to identify the black stone.

Han Li shook his head, but still formed a hand seal and tapped on the mission.

Although it wasn't the most anticipated search for Dew-condensing Grass, he was still curious about that stone.

A layer of clear light immediately appeared on the mission text, flickering gently on and off.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, the mission text brightened, projecting a beam of green light toward the secret chamber.

Where the green light landed, a figure wearing a bright red dragon-head mask gradually materialized. On the mask, a number 'three' was engraved in strange characters.

Han Li looked at this person, momentarily startled, but did not show it through the mask.

This mask left a deep impression on him; it was the mask of that Jiao San from years ago.