Chapter 462: Shock

Han Li's mind stirred. He turned around and, instead of continuing to flee, shot rapidly toward the Immortal Palace.

Since there was still time, he naturally did not want to waste it, and took the opportunity to confirm a few things.

First, he wanted to see if he could figure out how the变故 at the Nethercold Immortal Palace had occurred, after all, his true body was still trapped in the Nethercold Immortal Palace ruins, and he did not know if he could escape smoothly.

Second, he wanted to understand why the Reincarnation Hall had launched a large-scale attack on the Immortal Palace. After all, he was the Son of Reincarnation and did not want to be used as cannon fodder without knowing what was going on.

Third, he wanted to observe the various kinds of spirit domains up close.

In fact, he had already encountered spirit domains back when he was in the Spirit Realm, but at that time, what Bao Hua used was a Xuantian Spirit Domain, which at best could only be considered a pseudo-spirit domain released with the help of a treasure.

After arriving in the Immortal Realm, Han Li had also searched for information about spirit domains, but he had too few opportunities to see a true spirit domain with his own eyes. Since he had the chance to experience it firsthand today, he naturally did not want to miss it.

This Nascent Soul body was already quite extraordinary, and after Han Li's divine sense took control, its flying speed increased severalfold.

Before long, he had already approached the battlefield.

Looking up, he saw that about half of the time dao patterns on the True Word Wheel had already gone out.

Not far in front of him, a layer of earthy yellow light covered the sky. Even before entering it, one could feel a dense earth-attributed qi emanating.

Through the light screen, Han Li could clearly see that all the trees and buildings within this light screen were crushed and shattered by a tremendous force.

In the far distance, he could faintly see some cultivators, their bodies shining with various colors of light, struggling to resist this pressure, but they were clearly being suppressed with great difficulty. They could not even fly at high altitudes, barely skimming a few zhang above the ground as they slowly sped by.

At the other end of this light screen, a silver spirit domain intersected with it. Within it shone countless snow-white lights, as if countless sword qi crisscrossed, cutting the void within into pieces, a blurry mess.

Further away, there were even more spirit domains, larger in scope and brighter in light, each with its own power and distinct characteristics.

Han Li was secretly astonished. Just as he was hesitating whether to risk entering one, he suddenly heard a low roar like thunder coming from far away.

A tangible sound wave, unimpeded, stabbed directly into his sea of consciousness, like a giant heavenly blade that wanted to split his sea of consciousness open, slashing down heavily.

Han Li's sea of consciousness immediately stirred up a monstrous wave. He felt as if his divine sense was about to collapse and dissipate, and he could no longer control his body, plummeting downward.

But at that moment, the Art of Refining the Spirit silently activated in his sea of consciousness. A layer of black light instantly spread, shielding and protecting his sea of consciousness.

In the instant before hitting the ground, Han Li's divine sense finally stabilized. Shocked, he controlled the Nascent Soul body and flew back up into the sky.

He turned his head and looked back in the direction of the battlefield, where seventy to eighty percent of all the spirit domains had already collapsed. He could not tell whether they had been shattered directly by that roar, or whether the cultivators releasing the spirit domains had suffered divine sense collapse and dispersed them on their own.

Han Li's expression changed repeatedly. He directly turned around and fled rapidly in the direction he had come from.

The power contained in that low roar was not unfamiliar to Han Li; it was the power of the Art of Refining the Spirit, like an enhanced version of the Spirit Shock Needle, but its power was magnified a hundredfold or more.

Han Li was not sure if he continued to stay there, and if that person released another such, or even stronger, soul attack, whether his own soul would be damaged.

After flying over a hundred thousand li in one breath, Han Li still showed no sign of stopping. Only after reaching a sea area did his speed slow down slightly.

He swept his gaze across the surrounding sea area and saw, not far below on the deep sea, a slender island no more than a few hundred zhang high, long and narrow like a willow leaf. Its vegetation was sparse, and gray-white rocks were exposed everywhere on the surface.

“Isn’t this… the island of the Han Crystal Clan? Could this be the Black Wind Sea?” Han Li was surprised.

He did not know why he had ended up in the Black Wind Sea.

Just then, a sudden drowsiness came over his mind, and the fragmented memory fragments of Jin Hai surfaced again.

But this time, the memory was not about this great battle, but about a treasure map.

Before this变故, it seemed that this Jin Hai had made an appointment with someone to leave his sect and go to another immortal domain to seek treasure, but had not yet set out when the变故 occurred.

This treasure map seemed quite extraordinary, so much so that he was quite concerned and deeply regretted it. Perhaps this was why the memory of it surfaced in Han Li's mind.

Han Li's mind stirred, and he probed into his storage bracelet with his divine sense.

Whether it was because this cultivator named Jin Hai had prepared for a long journey, or because of the sect's变故, the storage bracelet contained a very rich collection, including not only a large number of immortal essence stones, but also many treasures, pills, and ancient books.

Han Li did not know what these treasures and pills were, but he knew what those few ancient books were.

In Jin Hai's memory, he treasured these ancient books as if they were his life. What they recorded were none other than the exquisite sword techniques and various sword formation variations passed down by the Wusheng Sword Sect.

But Han Li knew that the time he could maintain this state was too short; otherwise, he would have liked to study them, after all, the Wusheng Sword Sect focused on the way of the sword and was famous. Who among the sword users in the world would not want to study the sword techniques stored in their sect?

Among these items, Han Li indeed found a piece of silk of strange material. It felt ice-cold to the touch, and faint seven-colored light flickered on it. One could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary object.

But when he carefully examined the patterns on it, he found that the light flickered unsteadily, making it impossible to see anything clearly, and naturally, no map lines could be discerned.

Han Li's heart stirred. The Wheel of Truth hanging above him turned slowly, and a beam of light suddenly shone down from his Eye of Truth, falling onto the silk cloth.

However, with the use of the Eye of Truth, the consumption rate of the Time Dao Patterns on the Wheel of Truth accelerated once again.

At present, only a little over a dozen clusters remained.

The seven-colored light on it rippled like ink spreading from the center, and a very complex colored topographic map emerged on its surface.

Han Li fixed his gaze on the image, carefully scanning every detail of the map, etching it into his mind.

Then, he glanced at the Wheel of Truth, where only a few clusters of Dao Patterns still glowed, put the map back into his storage bracelet, paused, and plunged straight down toward the sea near the white island, his body like a small meteorite crashing into the water.

His body dove rapidly, cutting a white waterline through the deep sea, heading straight for the seabed.

On the Wheel of Truth suspended above his head, the Dao Patterns were extinguishing one cluster after another.

When only five clusters remained, the miniature infant had already descended a thousand zhang into the sea.

Four clusters, several thousand zhang deep...

Three clusters, over ten thousand zhang deep...

...

The golden infant finally reached the seabed, raised a palm, and stabbed it like a blade into the seabed rock, digging a zigzag deep hole, tossing the storage bracelet inside, then raised another palm and slapped a rock into the hole's entrance.

With a muffled thud.

Before Han Li could check whether the rock had sealed the hole perfectly, the last cluster of Dao Patterns went out.

A vortex suddenly emerged from the void, and a sharp pain struck his mind again, his divine sense returning to his body.

Watching the crystal wall gradually dissipate, Han Li's heart could not calm for a long time. He repeatedly recalled the scene he had seen, his expression somewhat melancholy.

After a long while, he waved his hand, and all three Time Crystal Threads emerged, dim and lusterless. Under his guidance, they returned to the Wheel of Truth.

Immediately after, the radiance of the True Word Wheel also dimmed as it was drawn back into his body.

Han Li stood up and waved his hand casually; a brand-new azure dharma robe neatly draped itself over him. He then took out a white jade hairpin, swept his hair into a topknot, and fastened it with the pin.

At that moment, a figure flew over from afar and landed—it was none other than the Crab Immortal.

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Han, on reaching another level in your cultivation," the Crab Immortal said, slightly cupping his hands.

"I have troubled you, Fellow Daoist Crab, to guard and watch over me all these years," Han Li said with a clear smile.

"Your honor is my honor; there's no need for such words. Now that you have reached the Golden Immortal realm, the divine might of your True Wheel should have been fully restored. How about it? Shall we go decipher the Dream Seal patterns on that stone platform?" The Crab Immortal waved his hand and said.

Hearing this, Han Li recalled the strange sensation he had felt in the empty-consciousness realm. His gaze narrowed slightly, and he said with a smile:

"I was just thinking the same..."

As he spoke, he remembered that all the time patterns on his True Word Wheel had gone dark, and he paused briefly.

"What's wrong? Is something amiss?" the Crab Immortal asked upon seeing this.

"It's nothing. Let's go give it a try," Han Li said with a wry smile, shaking his head.

Then, the two of them flashed and appeared in the garden.

In the garden, the lush vegetation remained as before, and the stone platform at the center of the dense woods showed no change either.

Han Li stepped forward, first releasing his spiritual sense to carefully probe the stone platform. Then, behind him, golden light flowed, and a brilliant golden wheel emerged, with all its time patterns now dim and lifeless.

He formed a hand seal, and the golden eye suspended above the wheel behind him immediately rotated, shooting a golden beam of light that struck the center of the stone platform.

The stone platform merely rippled with a flash of light before quickly returning to its original state, with no further changes.

"It really doesn't work..." Han Li sighed and murmured to himself.

After saying this, he fell silent in thought for a moment, then changed his hand seals once more.

Three time crystal strands shot out from the True Word Wheel, tracing arcs of golden light through the air before flying straight onto the stone platform.

This time, the entire stone platform blazed with golden light. The spreading radiance instantly expanded, transforming into a hazy glow that extended from the center, splitting into branch-like patterns that reached beyond the entire dense forest.