Chapter 201: Unforeseen Turn of Events
According to the Mantra Axis Scripture, the two semi-transparent runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were Time Dao Runes, which were a manifestation of the laws of time.
The more Time Dao Runes there were, the more powerful the Mantra Treasured Axis was going to be.
Under normal circumstances, someone who had manifested a Mantra Treasured Axis would have the chance to attain a new Time Dao Rune with each immortal acupoint that they opened up, but the probability of this happening each time was only around 50%.
After opening up 12 immortal acupoints, one would reach the mid-True Immortal Stage, and only after attaining six Time Dao Runes would one be considered to have mastered the first level of the Mantra Axis Scripture. Furthermore, only with six Time Dao Runes would the Mantra Treasured Axis be able to halve the speed of enemy attacks.
If a cultivator were struck by misfortune and attained fewer than six Time Dao Runes, then they would never be able to cultivate the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
There were already extremely few people in the history of the Blaze Dragon Dao that had managed to successfully manifest Mantra Treasured Axes at all, and those who had reached the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture were even rarer, but that certainly wasn't due to lack of trying.
Furthermore, six was a cardinal number when it came to the number of Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis, so even if one fell just short and had only five Time Dao Runes on their Mantra Treasured Axis, the slowing effect would be virtually non-existent.
As for those who had taken the shortcut and used treasures in the place of Mantra Treasured Axes, their probability of attaining Time Dao Runes on their faux axes would be significantly diminished. It was often the case that after mastering the first level of the cultivation art and opening up 12 immortal acupoints, one would only have attained two or three Time Dao Runes on their faux axis.
However, the advantage to using faux axes refined from materials that contained other law powers was that there was a chance to attain dao runes of other laws. However, the number of such dao runes that appeared were entirely down to luck and the materials used to refine the faux axis.
Those who were fortunate could add seven or eight dao runes of other laws onto their faux axis, granting it power that wasn't inferior to that of an Acquired Immortal Treasure, while those on the other end of the scale could only attain one or two such dao runes, thereby making their faux axis next to useless.
Han Li was both ecstatic and incredulous to see the two Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Even if he were in luck, there should've only been a single Time Dao Rune attained from the opening of his first immortal acupoint, yet somehow, he had managed to attain two.
In any case, this was most definitely a good thing, and it would significantly lessen his cultivation pressure in the future.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath before activating the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him, and it immediately sped up in its rotation while releasing a burst of faint golden ripples that instantly encompassed the entire surrounding area within a radius of around 100 feet.
The space in the area encompassed within the golden ripples trembled slightly, then instantly returned to normal, and looking at it from the outside, nothing seemed to have changed.
Han Li closed his eyes as he sensed the changes in his surroundings, and he discovered that everything around him seemed to have slowed down a little, including the flow of air and soundwaves, as well as even the circulation of the world's origin qi.
Upon first glance, it appeared to have a similar debilitating effect to the laws of speed and gravity.
Han Li couldn't help but be amazed by the effects of the laws of time, but unfortunately, the effects were virtually negligible at the moment.
Hence, in its current form, it wouldn't even have been as effective as a faux axis in battle, and that was presumably why so many cultivators were willing to compromise and refine faux axes instead.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face, and the golden light glowing from his body faded alongside the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him.
He rose to his feet and emerged from his secret chamber before arriving in another room, where there was an azure transmission array plate on the table.
The array plate was currently buzzing incessantly while giving off a watery azure glow that formed an azure light barrier, within which were two white transmission talismans were darting around in a haphazard fashion like a pair of headless flies.
Han Li made a beckoning motion, and the azure light barrier faded, following which the two transmission talismans flew into his grasp, and he injected his spiritual sense into them.
During the past three years, aside from in the final year and a bit, in which he had focused all of his attention on breaking through his cultivation bottleneck, he had explored the Blaze Dragon Dao the rest of the time to search for his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. For this purpose, he had used his Bonded Eight Spirits Vat on numerous occasions as well, but to no avail, as if his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had completely vanished.
Even though he wasn't able to accomplish his main objective, he had familiarized himself with True Immortals of comparable status to himself in the sect during his exploration, and he was currently on good terms with several attendant elders who had also previously been itinerant cultivators in the past.
As it turned out, the two transmission talismans had been sent to him by two of the inner sect elders that he was friendly with, inviting him to go on missions with them. He immediately pulled out a pair of blank transmission talismans and tactfully turned down their invitations without a second thought.
He was in no mood to be going on any missions at the moment.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in the medicine garden in his cave abode, and he was in the process of carefully inspecting the Heaven Controlling Vial in his hand. Beside him stood a giant ape puppet that was around 10 feet tall.
During the final stage of his seclusion, he naturally didn't get a chance to continue to manifest those crystals that contained the laws of time. However, he didn't waste the green liquid, either, instructing the giant ape puppet to nurture several 10,000-year-old spirit herbs with the spirit liquid in case the need for those spirit herbs arose.
A contemplative look appeared in Han Li's eyes as he crouched down and dripped a drop of green liquid onto one of the spirit herbs in front of him, and right as he did so, an unforeseen run of events suddenly unfolded.
A burst of faint golden light abruptly appeared over his body, immediately following which his Mantra Treasured Axis emerged on its own without any warning.
The 10,000-year-old spirit herb that was closest to him in the medicine garden immediately began to tremble slightly as a layer of translucent light appeared over its surface, seemingly resonating with the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li was quite startled by this as he sprang to his feet.
The golden light radiating from his body vanished in a flash alongside his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the 10,000-year-old spirit herb instantly returned to normal as well.
A bewildered look appeared on Han Li's face, and after some contemplation, he crouched down once again to get closer to that 10,000-year-old spirit herb.
Sure enough, the spirit herb began to tremble once again, while a layer of translucent light reappeared over its surface.
The Mantra Treasured Axis also appeared behind him amid a flash of golden light, and it was as if the two were resonating with one another.
What is going on?
Han Li's brows were tightly furrowed as he made his way even closer to the medicine garden.
In the next instant, all of the several spirit herbs in the garden that had exceeded 10,000 years of age began to tremble in unison, and the older the spirit herb was, the more severe the tremors it displayed. In contrast, the thousand-year-old spirit herbs didn't display much of a reaction.
After a brief moment of contemplation, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he rose to his feet before flipping a hand over to produce a pair of jade boxes, then removed the lids of the boxes.
Each box contained a spirit herb that was giving off extremely rich spiritual qi, and they were both also over 10,000 years of age.
The dark green spirit herb in the jade box on the left began to quickly began to tremble, while the light red spirit herb in the box on the right remained completely still.
The dark green spirit herb had been matured using the green liquid, while the light red spirit herb had come from Fang Pan's storage bracelet.
"Could it be that this has something to do with how smoothly my cultivation of the Mantra Axis Scripture has gone, and why I was able to manifest two Time Dao Runes at once?" Han Li murmured to himself as he stowed the pair of spirit herbs away.
......
One year later, on the Crimson Dawn Peak.
The light of the dying sun was spilling down onto the entire mountain summit, basking it in a gentle, warm glow.
All of the shadows in the spacious courtyard on the mountain summit were all elongated, presenting a rather dim yet serene sight to behold.
On a stone stool next to a stone table in the courtyard sat a beautiful young woman in red. She was resting on the stone table with her slender jade-like hands folded over one another beneath her chin, looking rather sullen and dejected.
Meng Qianqian had just emerged from seclusion close to half a day ago, having successfully reached the Core Formation Stage, and she wanted to share this piece of good news with her brother, but she discovered that everyone seemed to have been busy cultivating, leaving her feeling rather disappointed.
"I wonder what Elder Li is doing..." she murmured to herself as she turned her gaze toward the cave abode.
Aside from Meng Yungui, Han Li was the one that she most wanted to share the good news of her breakthrough with.
Everyone else, including her brother, held a great deal of awe and veneration toward Han Li, but she was the only one who felt like Han Li wasn't as cold and high-and-mighty as the other elders in the sect. Instead, he was more like a brotherly figure.
……
At this moment, inside Han Li's secret chamber.
The white beads embedded into the walls were giving off a bright white glow, illuminating the entire secret chamber.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on a futon in his elder robes.
In front of him was a square, dark azure array plate that was hovering mid-air. Two of the Starshift Stones embedded into the array plate were glowing brightly to form a blue array, and it didn't take long before a burst of peculiar fluctuations began to emanate out of the array.
The space at the center of the blue array rippled slightly, following which a fist-sized ball of heavy water appeared.
Han Li made a beckoning motion to draw the ball of heavy water into his grasp, then stowed the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plate away.
The ball of heavy water wasn't very large, but in contrast with the heavy water that had previously been delivered to him, this ball of heavy water contained a hint of law powers that Han Li had instructed his Earthly Deity Avatar to inject into it.
What he was planning to do was to refine a faux Mantra Treasured Axis using this heavy water that contained the power of laws.
In reality, he had already decided that he was going to refine a faux axis as soon as he noticed the abnormalities in his Mantra Treasured Axis and Time Dao Runes.
He couldn't be completely sure that this was definitely related to his Heaven Controlling Vial's maturation ability, but even so, he couldn't allow anyone else to discover this connection. Otherwise, he would've been in a world of trouble.
With that in mind, Han Li drew the ball of heavy water into his grasp while sweeping his other hand through the air, releasing a palm-sized piece of black meteoric iron, a watery blue jewel, a drop of blue liquid that resembled a drop of beast blood, and a piece of Water Shade Ore that was giving off a black glow.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l