Chapter 465: Core
Han Li suppressed the bewilderment in his heart as he continued to listen to the soul fragment's story.
"Her name is Mo Yu, and back then, she used a secret technique to conceal her cultivation base before infiltrating my Infernal Frost Immortal Palace. She possessed decent aptitude, so I decided to take her under my wing as my disciple, teaching her my sword techniques and imparting upon her a spirit domain, but alas..."
After a brief pause, the soul fragment continued in a slightly forlorn voice, "In the end, she tried to use my Immortal Palace as an entrance for a passageway to the Gray Realm so that the living beings of the Gray Realm could invade this immortal region. The Reincarnation Palace was colluding with the Gray Realm, and they also attacked my Infernal Frost Immortal Palace alongside the army of Gray Realm beings. Ultimately, things completely spiraled out of control and..."
The soul fragment's voice trailed off there with another forlorn sigh, and Han Li concluded in his stead, "Your Infernal Frost Immortal Palace was defeated."
"We were indeed defeated, but they didn't manage to reap any benefits from their victory, either! It's just a pity that my Infernal Frost Immortal Palace was torn to pieces during the battle, and many of its regions have most likely already been completely lost," the soul fragment said in a forlorn voice.
All of a sudden, a thought occurred to Han Li, and he hurriedly asked, "Is there a region in your Infernal Frost Immortal Palace known as the Vast Glacial Realm?"
"There is. Why do you ask?" the soul fragment asked as it raised an eyebrow.
A hint of enlightenment instantly welled up in Han Li's heart upon hearing this. The Vast Glacial Realm had most likely been lost from the Infernal Frost Immortal Palace in the wake of that battle, and it had since become a secret area in the Spirit Realm.
With that in mind, the Myriad Sword Scroll that he had obtained from the Vast Glacial Realm most likely once belonged to the Boundless Sword Sect as well.
The soul fragment was unbothered by the lack of response from Han Li, and it continued, "You've asked me a bunch of questions, so it's only fair that you answer a few questions for me now, right?"
Han Li completely ignored this request as he asked, "How did that battle conclude, and how did you end up in here?"
The soul fragment was rendered completely speechless for a moment, following which it exclaimed in an indignant voice, "How could you be so rude?"
Han Li remained completely expressionless as he subtly adjusted the positioning of the longsword in his hand once again.
"Ahem... To be honest, I don't know how the battle ended. After the reinforcements from the Reincarnation Palace arrived, I was forced to battle Mo Yu and another formidable enemy on my own. I was able to severely injure both of them, but ultimately, I was defeated, and my physical body was destroyed. In the end, only this soul fragment of mine survived, and I was forced to flee here before sealing myself away so I could wait to be saved," the soul fragment explained.
"Why didn't you receive any reinforcements from the Heavenly Court? Haven't they always been sworn enemies of the Reincarnation Palace?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Even though I was the master of the Infernal Frost Immortal Palace, I was used to living with full freedom and autonomy, so I was unwilling to join the Heavenly Court, and I didn't follow any of their orders. Hence, they were happy to see me go down in that battle so they could swoop in and reap the spoils. My guess is that the Infernal Frost Immortal Region has already been completely taken over by the Heavenly Court by now, right?" the soul fragment asked.
"The Infernal Frost Immortal Region has already been renamed to the Northern Glacial Immortal Region, and the current Northern Glacial Immortal Palace is indeed under the control of the Heavenly Court," Han Li confirmed with a nod.
The soul fragment faltered slightly upon hearing this, then fell into deep thought.
Han Li stowed his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword away, then took a glance at his surroundings before asking, "Where did these statues come from?"
"I have nothing to do in here anyway, so I made them to help pass the time. What do you think? They're not bad, right?" the soul fragment chuckled.
"If you sealed yourself in here, did you not think to make a way out so that you could leave at some point?" Han Li asked.
The soul fragment took an exasperated glance at Han Li, then replied, "I created this place for my own protection. If I left a way out, there would've been a way for my enemies to get in as well. Besides, I was in a real hurry when I fled into this place, so I didn't have time to think things over."
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "In that case, you don't know how to get out of this secret area, either, right?"
At the very most, Han Li was only willing to believe half of what the soul fragment was telling him. He had a feeling that the soul fragment was hiding some things from him, but he could find any holes in its story, either.
The soul fragment took a quick glance at Han Li, then shook his head as he scoffed, "You're dreaming if you think you can get out of this place at your current level of power!"
"What do you mean by that?" Han Li asked.
"Unless this secret area is opened from the outside, the only way to get out of here is to destroy its core. However, this core is directly connected to this entire secret area, and as soon as it's attacked, it'll draw upon all of the world's origin qi within the entire secret area to defend itself.
“At the peak of my powers, I would've been able to get out of this place with ease, but at the moment, you're only at the early-Golden Immortal Stage, right? I suggest you resign yourself to your fate and stay here to keep me company," the soul fragment chuckled.
"May I ask what your past cultivation base was, Senior?" Han Li asked, adopting a much more polite and respectful tone this time.
A smug grin appeared on the soul fragment's face as it humble-bragged, "My cultivation base wasn't that advanced, I was only at the late-High Zenith Stage."
Even though Han Li was already somewhat mentally prepared for this answer, he still couldn't help but feel astonished upon hearing his suspicions confirmed.
"In that case, are you saying that only a late-High Zenith cultivator will be able to break the core of the secret area?" Han Li asked.
"Not necessarily, you should be able to pull it off starting from the early-High Zenith Stage, but you're clearly not... Oh, by the way, what cultivation art are you using? Have you mastered the power of laws yet?" the soul fragment suddenly asked.
"How is that relevant?" Han Li asked.
"It's extremely relevant! If you've only mastered some normal law powers, then you would naturally have to be at the High Zenith Stage to have a chance of breaking the core of this secret area, but if, by some miracle, you've mastered one of the three paramount laws to a decent extent, then the mid-Golden Immortal Stage should suffice," the soul fragment explained.
Instead of immediately showing his hand, Han Li asked, "Could it be that the core of this secret area is somehow related to the three paramount laws?"
"The core of this secret area is an item that contains the power of time laws. By my estimates, if you try to break it through brute force alone, you'll need to be at least at the early-High Zenith Stage. If you deconstruct it using the power of spatial laws, then you'll have to be at the late-Golden Immortal Stage, and if you've mastered the power of time laws, you'll only have to be at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage," the soul fragment explained.
"May I ask where the core is? Would you be able to lead me to it, Senior?" Han Li asked.
The soul fragment seemed to be rather hesitant to oblige with this request, and it remained silent for quite some time.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"There are some restrictions in this place that... I'm unable to enter in my current state," the soul fragment replied, seemingly rather embarrassed by its own admission of weakness.
"That's not a problem. I have a Soul Nurturing Burner that you can temporarily reside in," Han Li said as he flipped a hand over to produce a small dark purple incense burner that was crafted from Soul Nurturing Wood.
"I suppose there's no other option," the soul fragment sighed as it flew into the incense burner.
"Where do I need to go, Senior?" Han Li asked while holding the incense burner.
"To the left of this hall is a secret door. After you go through the secret door, keep going straight."
The soul fragment's voice was sounding a little muffled, coming from inside the incense burner.
Han Li was constantly scouring his surroundings with his spiritual sense while making his way deeper into the underground palace under the soul fragment's instructions.
After traversing through a maze-like system of passageways for around two hours, he finally arrived at the entrance of another hall.
"This is the place?" Han Li asked.
"The core of this secret area is just inside. I won't go in with you, just place this burner down at the entrance," the soul fragment replied.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes as he swept his gaze over the stone door of the hall, only to find that it was completely devoid of any markings or spiritual power fluctuations.
All of a sudden, a sly grin appeared on his face, and he tossed the incense burner into the hall.
The burner clattered onto the ground, and countless hidden patterns on the ground instantly lit up with dazzling golden radiance to illuminate the entire hall.
"Get me out of here, you little bastard! You're going to kill me!" the soul fragment wailed in panic.
Han Li briefly observed the golden light radiating from the hidden patterns on the ground, and he discovered that it had a suppressive effect on ghosts and spirits, much like his Divine Devilbane Lightning.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the incense burner was drawn back to him, and the soul fragment inside was still moaning and groaning incessantly, looking as if it could fade out of existence at any moment. It seemed that the soul fragment had been so severely weakened by that brief ordeal that it didn't even have the energy to curse Han Li anymore.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a soul stabilization talisman, then adhered it to the incense burner before placing it down by the entrance before stepping into the hall.
As soon as he entered the hall, Han Li immediately noticed an increase in the surrounding air temperature, and only then did he discover that the floor was entirely paved with Yang Melt Rock, a type of yang-attribute material that was extremely harmful to souls and spirits.
The hall was quite large, but it was also very empty, with nothing inside aside from a stone platform that was around half the height of a grown man.
Han Li strode over the stone platform before conducting an examination to find that it was riddled with all types of complex patterns that stretched all the way down to the floor.
At its center was a circular indentation, within which sat a round stone plate that was white in color.
The stone plate was placed on a slant with a series of markings engraved onto its edge, marking out the 24 hours of the day, and at its center was an upright black metal needle that was around half a foot in length. As it turned out, this was a sundial.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes as he examined the sundial, and he noticed a faint layer of light surging over it like a gently rippling pond under the delicate light of the moon.
After some observation, Han Li wasn't able to spot any amiss, so he reached out to touch the sundial, but as soon as his hand extended into the indentation that the sundial was sitting in, an unexpected turn of events instantly unfolded!
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