Chapter 842: Two Pieces of News

Han Li's heart stirred. He looked up and glanced at the golden ring above his head, noticing that the time patterns on it were nearly all extinguished.

"Come back, we're leaving." Han Li turned his head and looked at the Essencefire Bird, saying.

The silver flame figure seemed to nod somewhat dazedly, then its body flickered and vanished into Han Li's body.

Han Li closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and meditated for a moment to regulate himself. The last cluster of time patterns finally flickered and went out.

Immediately after, the golden ring above his head suddenly expanded several times, with dark light surging within, revealing a deep, dark vortex from which waves of tearing force emanated.

Han Li felt his body lighten as he was pulled into it by a powerful force.

A moment later, in a room within the Third Prince's residence's Changting Garden, golden light suddenly flared, and a figure emerged from it—none other than Han Li.

After steadying himself, he swept his gaze over the familiar furnishings and the formation he had set up, then let out a long breath, relaxing slightly.

The aftershocks in his sea of consciousness had not yet subsided, still causing him considerable pain, but without the invisible constraints and imprisonment of the world, he felt much more at ease.

At this moment, not far in front of him, the crystal wall's light was dispersing and gradually disappearing. The dark green vial was also dimming and returning to its original state.

Han Li raised his hand and beckoned, and the dark green vial drifted down gracefully, returning to his hand.

He frowned slightly, gently rubbing the leaf patterns on the vial with his palm, while his mind attempted to communicate with the bottle spirit.

During the previous traversal, he clearly remembered hearing someone speaking in his mind, and he believed it was most likely the voice of the bottle spirit of the Heavenvoid Bottle.

Unfortunately, after several attempts, there was no response.

After a moment, he hung the Heavenvoid Bottle back around his neck and carefully placed it back inside his clothes.

Han Li's raised hand brushed against his collar, and his entire arm involuntarily paused. When he looked down, he suddenly noticed that on the ring finger of his right hand, a golden ring had appeared at some point. It looked as if it were made of pure gold, with no patterns on it, but it appeared round and full, not like an ordinary item.

When he endured the waves of piercing pain like a tide invading his sea of consciousness and focused on examining the ring, he found that it emitted no fluctuations at all, truly like an ordinary ring.

He tried to remove the golden ring, but found that it seemed to have merged with his body and could not be taken off.

After several attempts, Han Li felt as if his finger was about to be torn off, but the golden ring remained as steady as Mount Tai.

Seeing this, he had no choice but to give up, especially since there seemed to be nothing unusual about it for now.

After sitting quietly and regulating his breathing for a moment, Han Li silently began to circulate the Great Five Elements Illusionary World Art. Wisps of golden light lit up around him, and items such as the True Word Wheel and the Vial of Time appeared one after another. However, the time patterns on them were all extinguished, and the fluctuations of the laws of time emanating from them seemed much weaker.

But at that moment, a sudden change occurred.

The golden ring suddenly emitted streaks of golden light, actively detached from his finger, flew in front of him, and hovered in midair.

It began to rapidly expand, its light growing brighter and brighter, transforming into a huge golden ring that became faint and somewhat transparent.

Han Li was momentarily stunned, then his gaze shifted. Through the golden ring, he saw light flowing inside, as if dozens of golden crystal threads were spinning continuously within, emanating waves of powerful time law force.

That golden ring was actually the Ring of Time formed from time crystal threads.

As the Ring of Time flew out, the True Word Wheel and other manifestations of time laws spun up and landed within the Ring of Time, their surfaces also lighting up with large patches of golden light.

At the same time, Han Li felt the dark green vial on his chest flicker with light, seeming restless, as if wanting to fly out.

Han Li was startled. Had he just returned, only to be about to traverse again?

However, after trembling a few times in his embrace, the Heavenvoid Bottle dimmed and stopped on its own.

After floating in midair for a moment, the Ring of Time transformed back into a golden ring and flew back onto his finger.

"Could it be because there are no time patterns?" Han Li murmured to himself in confusion, stroking the ring.

Having no answer for the moment, he stopped thinking about it. With a casual gesture, the True Word Wheel and other items flew back and vanished into his body one by one.

Then, he turned his wrist and took out a pill for repairing the soul, swallowed it, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

As for the Purple Sun Warm Jade, although he had obtained a considerable amount from the First Prince, the situation with the Soul-Devouring Beast still required it for maintenance, so he would keep it all for her.

…

In the Luojia District, within a vast garden covering a large area, stood numerous exquisite and luxurious buildings.

Inside a resplendent pointed-roof hall, a handsome young man with snow-white hair and deep purple eyes sat high on a golden chair covered with white animal hide.

Below the hall, a tall man with sharp features, clad in black demon armor, bowed and reported something.

"Du Yuan, is this information reliable?" the young man asked, frowning upon hearing his words.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the source is reliable. I am willing to stake my life on it," said the tall demon named Du Yuan.

"I never thought that after all my hard work searching for so long, it would be in that damned place. But thinking about it, it's not surprising; if it were elsewhere, it wouldn't have taken me this long to find it," the young man said slowly, tapping the back of the chair with his finger.

"I have returned this time to report, hoping that Your Highness can mobilize more personnel to go with me to retrieve this item," Du Yuan said with a firm gaze, cupping his fists.

"You have done well to gather this information. I have other plans for this matter," the young man said thoughtfully.

"Your Highness, forgive my boldness, but may I ask if you intend to handle this personally? The situation in that place is unclear; Your Highness's person is invaluable, so perhaps…" Du Yuan hesitated slightly and asked.

"This item concerns my path of cultivation and determines whether I can take the lead and step into the Da Luo realm first. I must be cautious. Other matters can be set aside for now; everything is secondary to this," the young man said, waving his hand to interrupt Du Yuan.

"Yes, I obey your command," Du Yuan said, cupping his fists.

…

Time passed, and another few years went by.

Inside the secret chamber, Han Li sat with his hands forming seals, eyes closed in cultivation.

Around him, the True Word Wheel and other items floated, each with about half of their time patterns restored.

Compared to before, the recovery speed seemed to have increased somewhat.

The golden ring remained quietly on his finger, appearing as ordinary as a worldly object.

After this period of seclusion, he had fully repaired all damage to his soul. Not only had he made considerable progress in cultivating the Great Five Elements Illusionary World Art, but his control over the Ring of Time had also become more proficient.

He could now control it so that when activating the Great Five Elements Illusionary World Art, he could avoid simultaneously triggering the Ring of Time.

Because once that happened, it would cause the Heavenvoid Bottle to stir, pulling his physical body into that strange river of time.

At that moment, Han Li's expression shifted. He stood up and left the secret chamber, walking into the outer hall.

There, a ball of white light was flying around the hall like a fly, emitting a buzzing sound.

He waved his hand and grabbed the white light; it was a sound transmission talisman. Crushing it, a piece of information was transmitted into his mind.

Han Li raised an eyebrow slightly, stepped out, and came to the outside of Changting Garden.

A white-haired figure stood there with his hands behind his back—it was Shi Chuankong. Seeing Han Li, he smiled and walked over:

"Fellow Daoist Li, you are truly diligent in your cultivation. Admirable."

"Fellow Daoist Shi, you flatter me. Please, come in." Han Li smiled and invited Shi Chuankong inside.

Han Li led Shi Chuankong into the living room, where they sat down at a round stone table. Han Li asked:

"Fellow Daoist Shi, you haven't gone to take over the Tianhong Domain. What brings you to my place?"

"Having never managed a domain before, I didn't realize how many things needed to be done. Just the handovers alone have me overwhelmed. My eldest brother and the others are also causing trouble behind the scenes, so I'm afraid I won't be able to take over the Tianhong Domain anytime soon. Enough of that; I came today to tell you two pieces of news," Shi Chuankong shook his head, then took a light breath and said seriously.

"What news?" Han Li's gaze sharpened, and he put down his teacup.

"One is about the information you asked me to find—the Jilin Void Realm," Shi Chuankong said with a smile, taking a sip of spirit tea.

"Any leads?" Han Li's heart stirred.

"Sort of. I had never heard of this place before. I asked my third brother and searched through many documents before finding it. It's located in a remote area of the Holy Domain, like the Yeyang Domain, another plane of existence—and a perilous one at that," Shi Chuankong said after thinking for a moment.

"Perilous?" Han Li looked slightly surprised.

"The Jilin Void Realm has no spiritual energy or demonic energy… As for the specific conditions inside, there's no way to verify now. In short, it's a peculiar place. Many years ago, it was used as a place of exile for criminals, but it has long been abandoned and hasn't been used for the past several hundred thousand years," Shi Chuankong continued.

"Do you know where it is?" Han Li nodded thoughtfully and asked again.

"I knew you'd ask that. Am I not reliable?" Shi Chuankong chuckled, turned his hand, and produced a jade slip with a map, handing it over.

Han Li's divine sense entered it, his eyebrow twitching slightly, then quickly withdrew.

"Fellow Daoist Li, although I don't know why you're looking for the Jilin Void Realm, it's a dangerous place. You'd better not go there," Shi Chuankong said gravely.

"Thank you for the warning, Fellow Daoist Shi. By the way, what is the other piece of news?" Han Li smiled, not wanting to dwell on this topic, and changed the subject.