Chapter 371: Truth and Falsehood Hard to Distinguish

The transparent figure was naturally Han Li, now attached to the body of the old Taoist Ling Yunzi.

After following the gray-haired old man and the disheveled man through the restriction light curtain, he did not continue to follow them but instead stood still, looking up at the pavilion before him. At the same time, he released his spiritual sense to sense it slightly, and a hint of joy appeared in his eyes.

At this moment, the disheveled man had far outpaced the gray-haired old man, quickly walked to the pavilion door, and was about to push it open and enter.

Just then, Han Li suddenly turned his head, his pupils constricted, and his gaze fell on the disheveled man. At the same time, a layer of crystalline light appeared on his brow.

With a "whoosh!"

A small crystalline sword shadow flew out from his brow. With a flicker, it crossed hundreds of feet as if teleporting, appearing behind the disheveled man, and with another flash, it directly vanished into his mind.

The entire process took no more than a single breath, silent and without any sound.

The disheveled man's right foot, just lifted, paused. Then his eyes bulged suddenly, and without any warning, his body fell forward, crashing to the ground with a "thud."

"Manager Wang! What's wrong with you?"

Seeing this, the gray-haired old man was slightly startled. He quickly stepped forward and lifted the disheveled man's body.

But the next moment, the old man's face changed drastically.

The disheveled man had stopped breathing, and not a trace of life force could be sensed from his body.

After composing himself for a moment, the old man looked around, simultaneously releasing his spiritual sense. In an instant, he swept through the area within the restriction light curtain, centered on the small building.

But the restriction light curtain was completely unharmed, and with his cultivation, it was naturally impossible for him to see through Han Li's concealment technique.

"Someone! Come quickly!" The gray-haired old man's expression shifted between uncertainty and gloom, then he shouted loudly.

A stir arose within the Scripture Collection Pavilion. Several cultivators filed out from inside. Seeing the scene before them, they quickly grasped the gist of the matter, and all were greatly alarmed, falling into chaos.

Han Li paid no attention to these people at all. Calm and composed, he drifted through their midst and entered the Scripture Collection Pavilion, simultaneously releasing his spiritual sense again.

The Scripture Collection Pavilion had three floors. The first two floors were lined with miscellaneous ordinary books—human geography, illustrated travelogues, and the like.

These items were of little value, so the first two floors were unguarded and had no restrictions set up.

The third floor housed some cultivation technique texts, and the entire floor was enveloped by a rather exquisite restriction.

Han Li naturally had no interest in those cultivation technique texts. He immediately began flipping through the books on the first and second floors at a rapid pace.

At this moment, because of the commotion outside, everyone in the building had run out, so he had even fewer scruples.

His earlier decision to kill the disheveled man at the door was also made with this consideration in mind.

He quickly leafed through one book after another and soon learned a great deal about the situation in the Mujin Continent. However, this information was of no help to his current predicament.

Han Li looked up to his left front. The time dao patterns on the True Word Wheel shadow were now only about a quarter remaining.

His eyes flickered. Although he did not know what would happen when all the time dao patterns went out, based on his past experience, he could roughly guess something.

But he had no mind to worry about that now.

Han Li quickly withdrew his gaze and continued to rapidly peruse the texts.

After a while, his movements suddenly halted. He looked at a slightly yellowed book that appeared to be quite old.

This book was a travelogue of notes and observations recorded by a cultivator who enjoyed traveling across the continent. One illustration in it caught Han Li's attention.

It depicted a bald, browless golden figure with two long golden antennae on its head and golden barb-like spikes on its body, looking quite ferocious.

It bore a considerable resemblance to his former Devourer Beetle King.

"...Today, while traveling near the Golden Flame Mountain Range, I happened upon a shocking battle that destroyed ten thousand miles of mountains, causing heaven and earth to split apart. Fearing it was a battle between immortals, I hastily fled far away to avoid being caught up in it, barely escaping with my life. This insect was one of the two immortals fighting. Alas, my knowledge is shallow, and I do not recognize its origin..." Behind the illustration was the cultivator's annotation.

Seeing this, Han Li's eyes lit up.

This golden insect was clearly not his former Devourer Beetle King. Could it be another one?

Speaking of which, his beetle king had been lost after encountering Tao Yu upon first entering the Northern Cold Immortal Domain, and he had yet to recover it. He had expended considerable effort on this matter afterward, but unfortunately, he had found no useful clues. He never expected to see related records about the Devourer Beetle here.

After noting this matter, Han Li did not delay and continued flipping through the pages quickly. But the rest of this travelogue recorded other anecdotes and tales, with no further content about the Devourer Beetle.

He felt somewhat disappointed but did not pause. He picked up another text on spirit herbs.

After flipping through a few pages, his movements stopped again, and his gaze fixed intently on this page.

It depicted a purple flower, bright and dazzling—exactly the same as the giant purple flower he had seen earlier in the mountain range.

"Soul-devouring Flowers, which attract living creatures with their strange fragrance to feed on their flesh and blood, contain the medicinal power of blood and qi. They can be used to refine body-tempering pills with remarkable effects. However, these flowers harbor a peculiar corpse poison that must be removed with a secret technique before they can be used as medicine. This method is costly and far from easy..."

Han Li understood at once upon reading this.

No wonder those huge purple flowers, though clearly brimming with spiritual energy and potent medicinal power, were left to bloom across the mountains and fields without anyone picking them.

He was about to continue flipping through the texts when a sudden buzzing sounded above his head.

Han Li looked up and frowned.

The time patterns on the phantom of the True Word Wheel above his head were now all dimmed. The phantom suddenly blazed with brilliant light, rapidly solidifying and spinning swiftly, emitting a howling sound.

Han Li looked outward, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

The howling sound reaching his ears was extremely distinct, but those outside seemed not to hear it at all.

Moreover, although the True Word Wheel spun rapidly with a formidable momentum, it did not affect its surroundings in the slightest, not even stirring a breath of wind in the air.

Suddenly, a speck of black light emerged at the center of the wheel and rapidly expanded, in the blink of an eye dyeing the entire True Word Wheel black.

Woo-woo-woo!

As the True Word Wheel spun, a black vortex reappeared, identical to the one on the crystal wall earlier.

All this, though long to tell, happened in an instant.

Before Han Li could react, a powerful suction force surged from within, enveloping the body his soul was currently attached to.

Swoosh!

Han Li felt a sharp pain in his soul, and then, without any resistance, he was pulled out of that body and sucked into the black vortex.

The last scene he saw was that after Ling Yunzi's physical body lost the cover of the secret technique, it also became visible, but then suddenly trembled violently, collapsed, turned into countless specks of light, and dissipated in midair.

This startled Han Li.

But the next moment, his vision went black, and his consciousness blurred.

He did not know how long passed before his consciousness gradually cleared, and he slowly opened his eyes.

What met his eyes was precisely the same crystal wall as before, on which the black vortex flickered a few times and then vanished without a trace.

Then the crystal wall trembled slightly and also dissipated rapidly, and the void ahead returned to its original state.

"Back..." Han Li looked at the familiar cave dwelling, a complex look flickering in his eyes, seeming both pleased and disappointed.

Pleased to have returned safely, disappointed that, unlike previous times, this time the Vial of the Heaven and Earth had displayed its extraordinary power but yielded no substantial gain.

Naturally, he was not willing to let it go. He immediately closed his eyes and quickly reviewed the bizarre experience in his mind, trying to find some clues.

After a long while, Han Li opened his eyes and shook his head. He ultimately could not figure out the reason for this experience, so he did not dwell on it further.

He let out a light sigh, then formed a hand seal. A layer of golden light appeared on his body, and the True Word Wheel manifested behind him.

As expected, the three hundred and sixty time patterns on the wheel were now all extremely dim, exactly as they had been after he used the crystal wall technique back then.

A golden crystalline thread coiled around the True Word Wheel; it was a time law crystalline thread, but it too had become very dim.

Han Li's expression relaxed. With a single gesture, he absorbed the time law thread into his body.

Just then, a fluctuation of void energy occurred in the space ahead. With a thunderclap, amidst the bouncing of slender golden arcs, the Crab Immortal's figure materialized.

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Han, on finally comprehending the law of time," said the Crab Immortal, cupping his hands.

"Being able to succeed in comprehension through a second-grade Dao pill this time was merely a stroke of luck. As one of the three supreme laws, the law of time is profound and mysterious; this small progress is not worth mentioning. By the way, did you see what happened here just now?" Han Li smiled and then changed the subject.

"What happened just now? Are you referring to the brief moment of distraction after you summoned the crystal wall? Is there something wrong with that?" the Crab Immortal said somewhat woodenly.

Han Li was slightly taken aback, then said nothing more. He rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

From the Crab Immortal's response, it seemed that the three hundred and sixty breaths of time he had experienced—his soul being drawn into the crystal wall, traveling to the Golden Source Immortal Domain, and possessing another person—was but a fleeting moment in the real world where his physical body resided.

Then, does this so-called Golden Source Immortal Domain really exist? Is there truly a sect called the Iron Beast Sect?

And the Ling Yunzi he possessed, and the Li Yuanjiu he saw—were they real, or merely figments of his imagination conjured in a single thought?

If it was false, the entire process of killing the disheveled man with the small sword formed from his divine sense felt extremely real, just like in the real world when he annihilated a cultivator with his divine sense.

Han Li frowned slightly, finding the matter increasingly bewildering.

After a long while, he shook his head with a bitter smile.

This matter was too bizarre. He could not figure it out for now and would have to wait for another opportunity to look into it.