Chapter 992: Lost in the Secret Realm

Rumble!

The void ahead split open, and countless crystalline lights surged out, coalescing into a crystal wall on which countless scenes flickered rapidly.

With a tearing sound, the light on the crystal wall blazed up, forming a massive swirling vortex that emitted a tremendous suction force, enveloping Han Li's body.

Han Li's expression remained calm; he did not evade, allowing the suction to lift him off the ground.

But at that moment, the golden orb in his dantian suddenly flickered and extinguished, and the immortal spiritual power within him abruptly stalled.

The suction from the vortex also diminished greatly, and Han Li's body, which had been pulled into the air, halted there, then fell back to the ground with a thud.

However, a sharp pain shot through his mind, and his soul was drawn into the vortex without any resistance. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

When Han Li regained consciousness, he found himself beside a great river on a barren plain.

Countless droplet-like orbs still floated in the river, flowing forward with a rumble, appearing unchanged from before.

Han Li now hovered beside the great river in his soul form.

"I've come here again. I wonder what this place really is?" Han Li murmured to himself as he looked around.

His mind raced. Instead of approaching the river and entering one of the orbs, he followed the river upstream, intending to explore the place thoroughly.

In his soul state, he was like a cloud of white mist floating in the air, drifting with the wind, and his speed was not very fast.

The desert landscape was monotonous, feeling the same everywhere. There was no alternation of day and night, and the passage of time was very vague.

Han Li pressed forward. By his mental calculation, he had been walking for about seven or eight days, yet the great river beside him showed no change.

He grew increasingly impatient but forced himself to continue for another two days. Still, the river remained unchanged.

"Forget it. I don't know how far this goes, or perhaps there are illusionary restrictions here. Continuing would likely be a waste of time." Han Li stopped, pondered briefly, then looked toward the river and prepared to approach.

At that moment, a yellow light flashed above his head, revealing a yellow cloud about three feet in size. Within the cloud were two black eyeballs the size of beans, staring at Han Li.

"You are the Bottle Spirit!" Han Li was startled at the sight of the yellow cloud but immediately recognized its identity.

The black eyeballs in the yellow cloud blinked twice, as if observing him.

"May I ask why you have appeared now?" Han Li frowned and asked again.

As soon as he spoke, the yellow cloud suddenly brightened, and a beam of yellow crystalline light shot out, swiftly merging into his soul.

Han Li's soul had no time to dodge; the yellow crystalline light entered his body, transforming into a warm current that integrated into his soul.

Greatly alarmed, he was about to question it, but the Bottle Spirit's yellow cloud above his head flickered and vanished again.

Han Li stood dumbfounded for a moment, then carefully examined his soul for any abnormalities but found nothing unusual, nor did he feel any discomfort.

After a moment of silence, he set the matter aside for now, approached the great river, and gazed at the countless orbs shuttling within it.

After so many traversals, he had formed a rough guess about the origins of the orbs in the river.

Each of these orbs represented a point in time in the past; entering an orb would allow one to return to that moment.

Han Li's expression turned contemplative, his eyes flickering.

The time-traveling ability of the Vial of Time was unheard of; if he could fully master it, the benefits would be immeasurable.

For one thing, with this ability, investigating past events would become much easier.

However, the number of orbs in the river was simply too vast, and they seemed to follow no discernible pattern, appearing chaotic. Traveling to a specific time was a matter of luck.

Han Li sighed, thinking to himself that it would be wonderful if he could control the time nodes. He was quite eager to verify the truth of what the Crab Daoist had just said.

The Crab Daoist had fused with that sacred remains, elevating his cultivation to the Dao Ancestor realm in one leap, but a rift had developed between the two, no longer as close as before.

What the Crab Daoist had just said was logically sound and without any flaws.

Yet Han Li felt there might be more to it.

Just then, a sudden change occurred.

The orbs in the river began to churn violently, as if stirred by waves.

Then, with sharp whistling sounds,

a dozen or so orbs of various sizes flew out from different parts of the river and stopped near Han Li, no longer flowing forward.

Han Li looked at the orbs in surprise, examining them closely.

The orbs displayed various scenes, just like before, but this time the scenes were all similar—a magnificent palace complex.

"This palace looks familiar," Han Li murmured. After a second glance, he suddenly realized.

The palace in the orbs was the building complex near the Thousand Mechanisms Hall. From the scenes in these orbs, a fierce battle was taking place in various parts of that palace complex.

Greatly puzzled, Han Li pondered for a moment, then fixed his gaze on the largest orb and took two steps closer.

The orb suddenly emitted a tremendous devouring force, and with a whoosh, it sucked Han Li's soul in.

His vision went black, and he lost consciousness again.

…

After an unknown period, Han Li slowly regained consciousness. He found himself attached to a young man in black armor, lying in a half-collapsed palace. A large hole had been pierced through his lower abdomen at the dantian, with blood gushing out.

A semi-transparent golden wheel hovered above his head, flickering with over a thousand time dao patterns.

Continuous loud noises came from nearby, indicating an ongoing fierce battle.

Han Li's mind stirred. He did not immediately control the golden-robed man to stand up but instead used his divine sense to communicate with the man's residual memories.

A vast amount of memory surged into Han Li's mind. He quickly absorbed it, taking a good while to fully assimilate.

This golden-robed man was named Wu Xuan, a prisoner confined in the Scale Abyss Realm. He was later taken under the command of Shi Kongjie, the Crab Daoist, and served as his personal guard due to his considerable strength.

The Crab Daoist had begun seclusion over a hundred years ago, attempting to sever his last corpse and take that crucial final step. The entire Scale Abyss Realm was under strict lockdown.

Unexpectedly, today a large number of enemies broke in, heading straight for the Thousand Mechanisms Hall where the Crab Daoist was in seclusion.

As Han Li read Wu Xuan's memories, a strange light flickered in his eyes.

Earlier, by the great river, he had thought about investigating the upheaval involving the Crab Daoist back then, and now he had arrived here. Could it be that he could already control the time nodes for travel?

The more Han Li thought about it, the more he felt it was not a coincidence. Although he didn't know why, he indeed seemed to have gained the ability to control time nodes.

Perhaps it was due to the Bottle Spirit's earlier action, or maybe some other reason.

Regardless, this was the best possible outcome for him.

Han Li quickly stood up and went to the entrance of the collapsed hall, looking outside.

In the sky, puppets could be seen fighting each other, along with some individuals with flying abilities locked in combat, the noise deafening.

One side of the battle wore black armor like Wu Xuan, while the other side wore purple-black battle armor.

Han Li was familiar with the purple-black battle armor; it was the guard armor of the Night Sun Dynasty.

These people from the Night Sun Dynasty had unusually tall bodies, their skin a bluish-black color with dragon-like patterns on the surface, and fangs protruding from their mouths, making them look like ferocious ghosts.

Though few in number, they were extremely powerful, possessing immense strength and lightning speed.

Although the Scale Abyss Realm side had greater numbers, they were at a disadvantage.

"Those are the Nightmare Dragon Guards. It seems it was indeed Shi Kongyu who attacked back then," Han Li thought to himself.

During idle chats with Shi Chuankong, he had heard about various secret legions of the Night Sun Dynasty, including the Nightmare Dragon Guards. They were a legion composed purely of body refiners, directly under the orders of the Demon Lord.

Now it seemed that these Nightmare Dragon Guards were indeed formidable, each with strength comparable to a master who had opened one hundred and fifty profound acupoints.

After glancing at the battle outside, Han Li's gaze shifted into the distance.

From here, he could faintly see four nine-story spires standing at the four corners of a white jade square.

At the center of the square stood an imposing glazed hall, which was the Thousand Mechanisms Hall.

The closer one got to it, the more intense the battle became.

After a moment's thought, Han Li adjusted his armor to cover the wound on his abdomen, activated the Ten Thousand Acupoint Void Technique, and shot out toward the Thousand Mechanisms Hall.

Using the nearby palaces for cover, he quickly approached the hall.

Initially, thanks to the Ten Thousand Acupoint Void Technique, he went unnoticed. But as he neared the Thousand Mechanisms Hall, the fighting around him grew fiercer and more crowded, and he was eventually discovered.

A Nightmare Dragon Guard wielding a battle blade lunged at him like lightning, a series of explosive sounds from his bones and tendons, and the purple-black blade transformed into a dragon-shaped light, slashing at Han Li's head.

Wu Xuan had only opened a little over a hundred profound acupoints, on par with the Nightmare Dragon Guard, but now Han Li was controlling this body, with vastly superior insight, experience, and judgment.

He swayed his body left and right, splitting into nine shadows, instantly evading the blade strike.

The nine shadows then coalesced behind the Nightmare Dragon Guard, and Wu Xuan's body reappeared, continuing to shoot forward.

The Nightmare Dragon Guard tried to give chase but was blocked by others from the Scale Abyss Realm, forcing him to abandon the pursuit.

Seeing that his cover was blown, Han Li decided to go all out. He weaved through the fighting crowd, squeezing every ounce of strength from this body, pushing his movement technique to the limit. He never stopped to engage, quickly nearing the Thousand Mechanisms Hall.

The battle here was even more intense, with both sides locked in combat before the hall's entrance.

Strangely, the Nightmare Dragon Guards here stood at the entrance, blocking the door.

The struggle here was less a battle and more a desperate attempt by the Scale Abyss Realm side to enter the hall, only to be firmly held back by the Nightmare Dragon Guards.

"That is…" Han Li hid behind a ruined wall nearby, peering toward the hall's entrance.

Leading the Scale Abyss Realm side was none other than Sha Xin, who was controlling five puppets and locked in combat with a man in cyan armor.

That man was none other than E Kuai.

His profound acupoints flickered with light, about six or seven hundred in total, and he wielded the Barbaric Dragon Sword.

Their appearances hadn't changed much, but they looked slightly younger, full of sharpness and vigor, lacking the sophistication of later years.

"E Kuai! You dare collude with Shi Kongyu to harm our master! You deserve death!" Sha Xin roared angrily.

"A wise man adapts to circumstances. Shi Kongjie is doomed today. Sha Xin, for the sake of our past friendship, I advise you to surrender to the Sacred Emperor. With your strength, he will surely value you highly. Isn't that a hundred times better than staying in this barbaric land?" E Kuai laughed.

"Dream on!" Sha Xin snorted coldly, commanding the five puppets to unleash a torrent of attacks.