Chapter 465 The Core

Han Li suppressed his shock and listened as the old Daoist's remnant soul continued:

"Back then, that gray immortal woman named Mo Yu used a secret technique to suppress her cultivation level and aura, infiltrating my Minghan Immortal Palace. Seeing that her talent was not bad, I took a mortal fancy and accepted her as a disciple, teaching her supreme sword techniques and imparting secret arts of the spiritual domain. The result..."

Pausing for a moment, the old Daoist continued: "The result was that she attempted to use the Immortal Palace as an entrance to open a passage to the Gray Realm, leading those Gray Realm creatures to invade the Immortal Domain. While I was battling her, the Reincarnation Palace, which had long been in cahoots with the Gray Realm, took the opportunity to launch a massive attack on Minghan Immortal Palace, ultimately causing the war to spiral out of control. Ah, it was truly tragic..."

"Minghan Immortal Palace was breached, and you lost!" Han Li suddenly interjected, adding.

"Lost... Hmph, in the end, they didn't gain much either. It's just a pity that my fine Minghan Immortal Palace was shattered into pieces; I'm afraid many regions have been completely lost." The old Daoist said with some regret.

"Does your Minghan Immortal Palace have a region called Guanghan Realm?" Han Li suddenly recalled something and asked hastily.

"Guanghan Realm... Of course it does. Why do you ask?" The old Daoist's remnant soul raised an eyebrow and asked.

Hearing this, Han Li understood that the Guanghan Realm was probably completely lost after that battle, drifting to the Spirit Realm and becoming a secret realm there.

If so, the Ten Thousand Swords Diagram he had obtained from the Guanghan Realm was likely originally something from the Wusheng Sword Sect.

"Boy, you've asked so many nagging questions. Shouldn't I get to ask you a few?" The old Daoist, seeing Han Li silent, didn't mind and asked with a chuckle.

"How did that war finally end, and how did you end up here?" Han Li ignored him and asked on his own.

"Alas, circumstances are stronger than people; truly, hearts are not what they used to be..." The old Daoist was choked speechless, shaking his head and muttering.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged, and he had not put away the long sword in his hand; he now gave it a slight toss.

"Ahem... As for how the war finally ended, I'm not clear... After Mo Yu's reinforcements from the Reincarnation Palace arrived, I fought two against one, severely wounding them both. But unfortunately, outnumbered, I ultimately couldn't avoid defeat, and my physical body was destroyed... Helpless, I fled here with only a wisp of remnant soul, sealed myself in, and awaited rescue." The old Daoist coughed dryly and said slowly.

"Oh, why didn't the Heavenly Court send reinforcements? Weren't they always at odds with the Reincarnation Palace?" Han Li raised an eyebrow slightly and asked.

"Heh, although I once governed Minghan Immortal Palace, I was used to freedom and unwilling to register as an immortal under the Heavenly Court. I always followed their orders but not their summons. When trouble came, they naturally delighted in waiting for both sides to be weakened before reaping the benefits. If I'm not mistaken, the Minghan Immortal Domain has probably been completely taken over by the Heavenly Court by now, right?" The old Daoist chuckled and asked.

"The Minghan Immortal Domain has been renamed the Beihan Immortal Domain, and the current Beihan Immortal Palace is indeed under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Court." Han Li nodded and said.

Hearing this, the old Daoist was momentarily stunned, then fell silent for a long time.

"Where did all these statues come from?" Seeing this, Han Li put away his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, looked around, and asked.

"With nothing to do, I do some handicrafts to pass the time. How about it? Not bad, right?" The old Daoist suddenly chuckled and asked.

"Since you sealed yourself in here, didn't you leave yourself a way out?" Han Li asked again.

"This place was originally a prison cell. I fled in here in a hurry; how could I have had time to arrange an escape route?" The old Daoist raised an eyebrow, glanced at Han Li as if he were an idiot, and said.

"So you don't know how to get out of this small secret realm either?" Han Li asked after a moment of silence.

He could only believe at most half of what the old Daoist said, feeling in his heart that the other party was hiding something, but for the moment, he couldn't find any obvious flaws.

Hearing this, the old Daoist looked him up and down, shook his head, and clicked his tongue: "With your current strength, if you want to get out, I'll give you two words—no way."

"Oh, why do you say that?" Han Li asked in confusion.

"After this secret realm is sealed, unless it's opened from the outside, there's only one way to get out from the inside: directly break its operational core. But this core is connected to the entire secret realm; once attacked, it will gather all the heaven and earth spiritual power of the realm to resist. If it were my former cultivation level, it would be no problem, but you, at most, are only at the early Golden Immortal stage, right? So forget about getting out; just stay here and keep me company." The old Daoist said with a smile.

"May I ask what your previous cultivation level was?" Han Li suddenly changed his address and asked.

"Not high, not high. I was once a late-stage Taiyi Jade Immortal." The old Daoist chuckled, and even as a remnant soul, his face showed a proud smile.

Although Han Li had already guessed this, he still couldn't help feeling shocked upon hearing the answer.

"So, according to you, I would need to reach the late Taiyi stage to break that secret realm core?" he asked.

"Not necessarily the late stage; early Taiyi should be enough. But you, boy... Ah, by the way, what cultivation technique do you practice? Have you grasped any laws?" The old Daoist stopped mid-sentence and suddenly asked.

"What does that have to do with breaking the secret realm core?" Han Li asked.

"It has a huge connection! If you cultivate and comprehend ordinary laws, then naturally you need Taiyi... But if you cultivate one of the three supreme laws, like time or space, and have achieved some success, then you wouldn't need to cultivate to the early Taiyi stage; mid-Golden Immortal would suffice. But how could that be possible?" The old Daoist shook his head and explained.

"Is the secret realm core related to these two laws?" Han Li, without giving an immediate answer, continued asking.

"The core of this secret realm is itself something containing the law of time. According to my estimation, breaking it with brute force requires early Taiyi cultivation. Deconstructing it with space law requires late Golden Immortal cultivation. And cracking it with time law only requires mid-Golden Immortal cultivation." The old Daoist said impatiently.

"May I ask where the core is located? I would appreciate it if you could guide me there so I can take a look." Han Li thought for a moment and said.

The old Daoist's remnant soul seemed hesitant and remained silent for a long time.

"What? Is there something wrong?" Han Li frowned and asked.

"That place has some restrictions. My remnant soul body... shouldn't enter." The old Daoist said hesitantly.

"That's easy. Please bear with it and stay in my Soul-Nurturing Furnace for a while." With that, Han Li flipped his hand and produced a delicate purple-black incense burner, only the size of a palm, made of soul-nurturing wood.

"Alright..." The old Daoist sighed softly, and his figure shrank like smoke into the incense burner.

"Please guide the way, Senior." Han Li said, holding the incense burner.

"To the left of this hall, there is a hidden door. Enter through there and go straight ahead..." The old Daoist's voice came from the incense burner, sounding somewhat muffled.

Han Li had been keeping his divine sense extended to probe the surroundings, and following the old Daoist's guidance, he hurried deeper into the underground palace.

After winding through maze-like corridors for about an hour, he arrived at the entrance of another underground hall.

"Is this the place?" Han Li looked around and asked.

"The secret realm core is inside. I won't accompany you in. Just leave me, along with the furnace, outside the door." The old Daoist's voice came from within the furnace.

A blue light shone in Han Li's eyes as he scanned through the stone door of the hall, finding it empty with no restrictions or spiritual power fluctuations.

He curled his lips, raised his hand, and tossed the purple-black incense burner, which spun and landed inside the hall.

A soft "crack" was heard.

As the incense burner hit the ground, golden threads flowed out from the floor, emitting countless golden light marks that illuminated the entire hall brightly.

"You little brat, get me out of here quickly! Any later, and I'll be scattered to the winds..." A shrill cry came from the incense burner, the voice distorted.

Han Li looked at the golden patterns on the ground and the golden light scattered in the air, finding that they, like the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning, were quite effective against wandering souls and ghostly beings. He then flicked his sleeve and pulled the incense burner back.

"Ouch... ouch..." The remnant soul in the incense burner moaned repeatedly, its light dimming significantly, appearing as if it were about to vanish, seemingly lacking even the strength to curse Han Li.

Without a word, Han Li flipped his hand, produced a talisman for stabilizing souls, stuck it on the incense burner, and casually placed it outside the door. He then stepped into the hall.

Once inside, Han Li felt warmth all around and noticed that the stone slabs on the floor were all made of Sun-Yang Stone.

This stone is a type of time-based yang object, naturally extremely harmful to souls.

The hall was spacious but very empty, with nothing except a half-man-high stone platform in the center.

Han Li walked over and looked at the stone platform.

The square stone platform was engraved with various complex patterns, extending to the Sun-Yang Stone floor. In its center was a circular depression containing a white circular stone disk.

The stone disk was placed at an angle, with engraved marks around its edge indicating the twelve two-hour periods, and in the center stood a half-foot-long black iron needle—it was actually a sundial.

A blue light flashed in Han Li's eyes as he examined the sundial, seeing faint flowing light on it, like moonlight on a clear spring, rippling with silver light.

After watching for a while and seeing nothing unusual, he raised his hand and reached toward the sundial.

But just as his hand entered the depression and before it touched the stone disk, a sudden change occurred!