Chapter 550: Secret Lore

According to the relatively intact portion of this person's memories, this immortal domain was called the Black Earth Immortal Domain, a place many times larger than the Northern Frost Immortal Domain. The True Word Sect was the undisputed foremost sect there, having been passed down for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, with countless disciples and extreme prosperity.

As for the corpse he had possessed, it was named Mu Yan, one of the five great elders of the True Word Sect, holding a rather high position within the sect.

The large-eared monk was the sect master of the True Word Sect, Mi Luo, also Mu Yan's master. His cultivation had reached the Da Luo realm, making him the foremost immortal among the Black Earth Immortal Domain, known as Immortal Venerable Mi Luo.

Besides Mu Yan, Immortal Venerable Mi Luo had four other personal disciples, precisely the other four listeners in the scene Han Li had seen through his True Vision of the large-eared monk preaching, who were also the other four great elders of the True Word Sect.

These five had received the true transmission of Immortal Venerable Mi Luo, and their cultivation was not weak; all were experts at the Tai Yi realm.

Immortal Venerable Mi Luo's cultivation was transcendent, yet he was killed with a single palm strike by a golden giant hand. The owner of that hand was clearly even more formidable, but in Mu Yan's memories, this person's identity was somewhat vague, only known to be a great figure of the Heavenly Court.

One who could crush a Da Luo with a casual gesture—his cultivation realm was obvious.

"Dao Ancestor... Could it be the Time Dao Ancestor?" Han Li's heart trembled at this thought.

From the earlier situation, it was clear that the True Word Sect was being besieged by the Heavenly Court, and it was the intervention of this 'Time Dao Ancestor' that killed Immortal Venerable Mi Luo in one blow, ultimately leading to the True Word Sect's destruction.

He wondered what offense the True Word Sect or Immortal Venerable Mi Luo had committed against the Heavenly Court, causing them to mobilize such a force, even involving the 'Time Dao Lord.'

The Time Law, as one of the three supreme laws of the Immortal Realm, inherently surpassed many other laws, and its difficulty of comprehension was far beyond that of other laws. If this Dao Lord who destroyed the True Word Sect was truly a Dao Lord of the Time Law, then he was likely a paramount figure even in the entire True Immortal Realm.

Han Li took a deep breath, steadied his mind, and continued to organize Mu Yan's memories, trying to find some information about the Heavenly Court.

After all, after the battle at the Minghan Immortal Mansion, having killed the监察仙使 Gongshu Jiu, he was now completely opposed to the Heavenly Court. As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy. Although with his current strength he could not challenge the Heavenly Court, gaining more information would always be beneficial.

After a while, Han Li's heart pounded.

As a high-level cultivator at the Tai Yi realm, Mu Yan's knowledge and experience did not disappoint him. His fragmented memories indeed contained much information about the Heavenly Court!

In fact, Han Li had previously tried to find materials about the Heavenly Court, but although he found some, they were mostly widely circulated information, of little value to him.

Just as Han Li was about to ponder carefully, his mind suddenly shook, and he felt dizzy.

"What's happening?"

Startled, he quickly stopped probing the memories, and the dizziness in his soul disappeared.

"Could it be because the cultivation of the possessed person far exceeds mine..." Han Li murmured to himself after a moment's thought.

Although Mu Yan was dead and his body was now possessed by Han Li, his residual memories did not belong to Han Li. Forcibly probing their contents was somewhat similar to soul-searching.

It must be noted that Mu Yan was a genuine Tai Yi realm cultivator, far surpassing Han Li's cultivation level. Even though Han Li's divine sense was far stronger than that of cultivators at the same level, attempting to soul-search a Tai Yi cultivator as a Golden Immortal was naturally extremely difficult. If the other party had not already fallen, he might have suffered more than just a tremor of the soul.

Understanding this, Han Li could only shake his head helplessly. While waiting for his soul to recover, he looked around.

Now deep underground, the surrounding soil pressed against his body, which was not very comfortable.

Han Li waved his hand, and a yellow light spread outward.

The nearby soil melted away like snow meeting fire, clearing a space about five or six zhang in size.

He found a relatively comfortable spot, leaning against the stone wall to rest.

As the time patterns on the True Word Wheel extinguished one by one, until more than thirty had gone out, Han Li's soul power gradually recovered.

Han Li eagerly continued to probe Mu Yan's memories, trying to piece together the fragments, and soon obtained more information about the Heavenly Court.

The Heavenly Court, as the official foremost power in the entire True Immortal Realm, exercised its control through immortal palaces spread across various immortal domains. Its strength far surpassed any other force, and its seat was in a place called the Central Earth Immortal Domain.

Within the entire Heavenly Court, there was indeed a Time Dao Ancestor, the one who had existed the longest and held the highest status among the Dao Ancestors.

Seeing this, Han Li felt his mind shake again and stopped probing.

"Who exactly is this Time Dao Ancestor..." Han Li relaxed his mind to recover again, frowning and murmuring.

Perhaps because he also cultivated the Time Law, he always felt a strange sensation regarding the existence of the Time Dao Ancestor.

Time passed little by little. After several dozen more time patterns on the True Word Wheel went out, Han Li's soul power recovered again, and he resumed searching and organizing Mu Yan's memories.

This time, his expression gradually turned grave, finally becoming completely solemn.

He had finally found some fragments of information about the beginning and end of this great battle.

Logically, with Immortal Venerable Mi Luo, a Da Luo Immortal Venerable, in charge, the True Word Sect should have continued to prosper, since no one except a Dao Ancestor could match him.

But unfortunately, the reason for the True Word Sect's destruction lay precisely with Immortal Venerable Mi Luo.

The root cause was that the law Immortal Venerable Mi Luo cultivated was also the Time Law, which greatly angered the Time Dao Ancestor.

As for the reason for provoking him, it involved a great secret concerning the entire True Immortal Realm.

The three thousand great paths are all derived from the great paths of heaven and earth. As the saying goes, there cannot be two suns in the sky; each law can only have one Dao Ancestor. If another Da Luo Immortal Venerable's comprehension of a certain law surpasses that of the Dao Ancestor, they will replace him. As for what happens in between, cultivators at Mu Yan's level of Tai Yi naturally would not know.

However, it seemed that every Dao Ancestor paid close attention to cultivators who cultivated the same law as them, especially those at the Tai Yi realm or above. Unless such a person was willing to submit and be controlled, they would be eliminated.

But even so, throughout history, some Dao Ancestors had been replaced. It could be said that any Dao Ancestor of a law advanced by stepping on the corpse of the previous Dao Ancestor of that law.

Immortal Venerable Mi Luo had cultivated the Time Law to the Da Luo realm, seriously threatening the Time Dao Lord. Although he tried to hide it, the Heavenly Court found out, leading the Time Dao Lord to personally act and destroy the True Word Sect.

Han Li frowned upon seeing this.

His cultivation had now reached the mid-Golden Immortal stage. Although he was still far from the Tai Yi realm, he had never considered switching to another law. Wouldn't he eventually be hunted by the 'Time Dao Lord' of the Heavenly Court?

"This path of cultivation is truly going against the heavens..." Han Li muttered to himself with some bitterness after his expression shifted for a while.

For cultivators of a certain law, the Dao Ancestor of that law was heaven. Only by going against heaven and overturning it could one truly achieve the right fruit.

But the strength of the Heavenly Court was far beyond what he could contend with now.

Han Li pondered for a moment, then quickly stopped thinking too much and continued searching and organizing memories.

By now, most of Mu Yan's already scattered and incomplete memories had been probed, leaving only a small portion.

As Han Li sensed these memories, his face suddenly lit up with joy.

The remaining memories were about Mu Yan's cultivation. Surprisingly, he cultivated the same law as his master—the Time Law. Although these memories did not contain Mu Yan's cultivation technique, they had many insights and experiences.

Han Li had always been groping in the dark regarding the cultivation of the Time Law, with no one to consult. These memories were exactly what he urgently needed, so he quickly examined them carefully.

"Eh!" After a while, he let out a soft exclamation.

These cultivation experiences were vaguely related to the three techniques: the True Word Wheel Sutra, the Illusory Chen Treasure Canon, and the Water Evolution Four Seasons Art.

Earlier, he had felt that the three techniques were connected, as if they could merge with each other, but they were vastly different and could not be unified.

However, from these experiences, he seemed to find some clues on how to combine the three techniques.

"Could it be that the True Word Wheel Sutra, the Illusory Chen Treasure Canon, and the Water Evolution Four Seasons Art are indeed related?" Han Li pondered inwardly as he continued to examine these memories, soon finishing them all.

He looked up at the True Word Wheel slowly rotating in the void ahead.

Most of the time patterns on the wheel had now gone out, leaving only a few dozen. Time was running out.

There was not enough time left to go out and do anything else.

So Han Li turned his gaze to Mu Yan's body, looking for his storage device.

He estimated that the storage device should contain Mu Yan's cultivation technique. If he could find that technique, he should be able to discover the connection between the True Word Wheel Sutra, the Illusory Chen Treasure Canon, and the Water Evolution Four Seasons Art.

He frowned. Mu Yan's storage device was nowhere to be found.

"It seems it was taken by the person who killed Mu Yan..." Han Li thought to himself, somewhat regretful.

At this thought, a strong surge of anger rose from Mu Yan's residual soul memories, as if he died unwillingly.

Feeling this anger, Han Li raised an eyebrow slightly, comforted him a few words, and gradually calmed his anger a bit.