Chapter 359: Response
"No, I only have this one. I was going to keep it and try and figure out what it was, but it's clearly beyond my ability to comprehend, so I thought it would be best to give it to you, Senior," the Pig Dolphin Beast said as it lowered its large head in a fawning display.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he flicked another pill through the air, and the Pig Dolphin Beast immediately opened its mouth to swallow the pill with an ecstatic expression.
A burst of light flashed over its body once again, and its aura swelled even further.
"Go on. Make sure you don't speak a single word of this to anyone," Han Li said.
The Pig Dolphin Beast hurriedly nodded in response, then rushed back into the sea before swimming away.
Han Li watched for a moment as the beast departed, then flipped a hand over to produce a red jade box.
This box was crafted from a type of special warm jade, and it was giving off a warm and soothing aura.
He placed the black rock into the box, and after observing for a moment to ensure that the box wasn't affected by the black light emanating from the rock, he stowed the box away, then withdrew the True Extreme Film over his hand before returning to his cave abode.
Instead of returning to his secret chamber, he arrived in the section of his medicine garden where the primary bean had been planted.
He had been focused entirely on cultivation these past few decades, so he didn't have the spare time or attention to manifest time crystals. Due to the fact that he already had a sufficient supply of Myriad Axis Pill, he instructed his giant ape puppet to use all of the Heaven Controlling Vial's spirit liquid to water the primary bean.
Upon arriving in that section of the medicine garden, Han Li's eyes immediately lit up as he discovered that the primary bean had already sprouted, and a thin green seedling had poked its way out of the soil.
Even though it was only a tiny seedling, it was giving off a vast aura of vitality.
He carefully observed the seedling for a moment to find that just like before, there were some faint golden patterns on its two leaves.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
Having already grown a batch of Dao Warriors, he had gained some experience and wasn't as clueless as he had once been.
The most difficult and time-consuming part of the Dao Warrior nurturing process was getting the primary bean to sprout.
Once the primary bean sprouted, half of the work had already been done, and barring any mishaps, he would be able to quickly obtain another batch of Dao Warriors.
With that in mind, Han Li observed the seedling for a moment longer before leaving the medicine garden and returning to his secret chamber.
After rounding a corner, he cast his gaze toward another secret chamber.
Daoist Xie had already been in seclusion for several centuries in there, yet he still wasn't displaying any signs of coming out, and it was unclear what he was doing in there.
Han Li withdrew his gaze before entering his secret chamber and sitting down with his legs crossed. After that, he put on his Transient Guild mask, then activated all of the restrictions in the secret chamber before checking on his Dewform Herb acquisition mission, but there had still been no responses.
This wasn't a surprise to him, and after heaving a faint sigh, he released two more missions, one of which was to acquire the complete Great Universe Origin Arts, while the other was to appraise the black rock that he had just obtained.
For some reason, he felt like the rock was something quite special.
After doing all of that, he meditated momentarily before summoning his giant ape puppet to his side and taking the Heaven Controlling Vial from it.
There was already a drop of green spirit liquid swirling around in the vial, and he set the vial down in front of himself before making a hand seal.
The Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a flash of golden light, and all of the Tim Dao Runes on its surface were flashing incessantly while giving off time law power fluctuations.
He made a hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly flew up before descending in front of him.
At this point, the number of Time Dao Runes on the axis had reached 130.
Back when he was still at the mid-True Immortal, the number of Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis seemed to have hit an upper limit at 108.
However, now that he had reached the late-True Immortal Stage, the number of Time Dao Runes on the axis had begun increasing again.
In that case...
Han Li picked up the Heaven Controlling Vial before injecting his immortal spiritual power into it.
All of the world's origin qi around the cave abode instantly began to churn violently, forming a massive vortex that drew in countless translucent threads formed by the world's origin qi.
Gusts of fierce wind blew over the surface of the sea, raising massive waves, and this astonishing phenomenon lasted three days before fading.
Inside his cave abode, Han Li was holding a time crystal with a hint of weariness on his face.
With his current immortal spiritual power reserves, it was already far less taxing than before to manifest time crystals.
After resting for a brief moment, he made a hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a flash of golden light.
He then began to chant an incantation, the Mantra Treasured Axis began to revolve, while the Time Dao Runes on its surface radiated dazzling golden light.
A ball of resplendent golden light appeared at the center of the axis, and it quickly transformed into a vertical golden eye that cast its gaze toward the time crystals in Han Li's hand.
A faint crack rang out as the crystal shattered, and the golden thread within flew out before shooting into the vertical golden eye.
Han Li shuddered as if he had been dealt a heavy blow, and the golden light radiating from the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly became even brighter.
Moments later, a ball of dazzling white light emerged on the axis, then transformed into a semi-transparent Time Dao Rune, a very encouraging sight for Han Li.
Just as he had anticipated, more Time Dao Runes could now be added to the Mantra Treasured Axis.
He withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, then handed the Heaven Controlling Vial to the giant ape puppet so that it could continue to produce more spirit liquid.
The more Time Dao Runes the axis had, the more powerful it would become.
……
Over two decades flew by in the blink of an eye.
Inside his cave abode, Han Li's entire body was radiating dazzling golden light, while the Mantra Treasured Axis was rapidly revolving behind him, giving waves of golden ripples that illuminated the entire cave abode a bright golden color.
The axis was riddled with rings upon rings of Time Dao Runes, which totaled 360.
During these past years, he had been constantly using time crystals to add more Time Dao Runes to the axis, yet upon reaching 360, the Mantra Treasured Axis seemed to have reached its upper limit once again, making it impossible to add more.
Han Li made a hand seal, and countless rings of golden ripples emerged before spreading outward in all directions.
These golden ripples were far brighter than before, and everything enshrouded within them came to a complete standstill.
The air and the world's origin qi had all stopped flowing, as if they had been frozen in place.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
The time-slowing effect of the Mantra Treasured Axis had become significantly more powerful once again, and by his estimates, time had been slowed down by a factor of roughly 1:3,000.
He swept a sleeve through the air, and the Mantra Treasured Axis disintegrated into specks of golden light that vanished back into his body.
With the increased number of Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis, it was also becoming more taxing to use, and even with his late-True Immortal Stage immortal spiritual power, maintaining it was no easy task.
Han Li gently exhaled as he sat down with his legs crossed.
Not only had the increase in the number of Time Dao Runes enhanced the power of the Mantra Treasured Axis, the power of time imbued within it had also increased significantly, and whenever he used the axis, it would release an enormous amount of time law powers.
Given the abundance of time law powers in the Mantra Treasured Axis, perhaps he would be able to glean the laws of time without having to rely on a dao pill.
With that in mind, he promptly devoured a recovery pill before closing his eyes again.
Close to half a day later.
The space within Han Li's secret chamber suddenly began to shudder, and even through all of the restrictions, one could sense formidable time power fluctuations emanating out from within.
Right at this moment, golden light flashed from the stone door of Daoist Xie's secret chamber, and the door slowly opened.
Daoist Xie slowly emerged from within with its entire body enveloped by countless thin arcs of golden lightning, making it appear as if he were wearing a veil of golden lightning.
Beneath the veil of lightning, its body was looking rather indistinct, as if it could vanish into thin air at any moment.
Upon emerging seclusion, its gaze quickly fell upon Han Li's secret chamber, and after standing there momentarily, it turned around and made its way back into its own secret chamber.
Several days later, the phenomenon taking place in Han Li's secret chamber finally subsided.
Inside the secret chamber, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed. His robes were rather tattered, and there were traces of blood all over his body, while his complexion was also extremely pale.
Just as like his previous few attempts, this one had also concluded in failure.
It seemed that there was some type of force that was preventing him from gleaning the laws of time.
Han Li's brows were tightly furrowed as he made a hand seal, and a burst of azure light surged over his body, upon which all of the gashes instantly healed.
He then changed into a brand new robe before taking a pill, and only after closing his eyes to meditate for another half a day did his complexion gradually return to normal.
Han Li opened his eyes and cast his gaze directly forward, and after a prolonged silence, he heaved a faint sigh.
It seemed that it was truly going to be impossible to master the laws of time without the help of a dao pill.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on before directing his attention to the missions section.
A hint of elation immediately appeared on his face, only to be quickly replaced by disappointment.
As it turned out, there had been a response to one of his missions, but it was the black rock appraisal mission rather than the Dewform Herb acquisition mission.
Despite his disappointment, Han Li still cast an incantation seal onto the mission.
It wasn't the mission that he was most hoping for a response in, but he was also quite curious about that black rock, nonetheless.
The text of the mission began to gently pulse while fluctuating in brightness, and around 15 minutes later, the text released a beam of azure light, projecting it into the secret chamber.
A figure wearing a crimson dragon mask slowly took shape, and the number "3" was engraved onto their mask.
Han Li faltered slightly at the sight of this figure, but his expression was concealed behind his own Transient Mask.
This was the mask that belonged to none other than Wyrm 3.
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