Chapter 278: Reversal

Half a day later.

Han Li's secret chamber was filled with bright golden light, and he was standing beside his cushion with a rather tense look on his face.

His Mantra Treasured Axis was rapidly revolving behind him while glowing radiantly, and the Eye of Truth at its center was opened while projecting a beam of golden light forward.

Now that all of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasure Axis had recovered, he had naturally thought of the portly monk that he had seen in that wall of light again.

Even though the portly monk seemed to have caught him eavesdropping last time, surely there was no way that he could attack Han Li through the projection, even with his unfathomable power.

With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath, then pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial before placing it into the beam of golden light.

As soon as the golden light came into contact with the vial, the latter immediately rose up into the air on its own, radiating dazzling green light while releasing a burst of tremendous force.

This time, Han Li was prepared, and he crossed his arms in front of himself as a barrier. As a result, he was only blown back by about 10 feet before drawing to a halt.

All 108 of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis were glowing brightly, while Heaven Controlling Vial was also shining like a green sun as it hovered in mid-air.

It didn't take long before a pillar of green light erupted out of the Heaven Controlling Vial to tear open a spatial rift.

A vast expanse of translucent light surged out of the spatial rift, and the same wall of light as before quickly appeared in front of Han Li.

The scene displayed on the wall of light was extremely blurry and completely silent, but Han Li was already prepared for this, so he naturally wasn't worried at all, waiting patiently as the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were snuffed out one after another.

As the image became clearer and clearer, Han Li's breathing began to accelerate involuntarily.

However, after just a few seconds, a bewildered look appeared on Han Li's face.

The image depicted on the wall of light this time was completely different from last time.

On this occasion, he was greeted by the sight of a vast landscape that was riddled with massive volcanoes.

There was a dense blanket of inky-black clouds hanging in the sky, within which crimson light was flashing incessantly, while all of the enormous volcanoes down below were erupting with full force, releasing vast plumes of black smoke that were almost connected to the dark clouds up above.

Scorching red lava was surging out of the volcanic craters, forming a series of molten rivers that were over 1,000 feet wide. The molten rivers flowed in all directions before converging at the lowest point in the terrain to form a massive lake of lava.

Bursts of loud rumbling were ringing out from within the wall of light, and the entire landscape was quaking violently. A series of massive trenches were appearing in the earth like cobwebs before extending and widening to split the ground up into massive chunks.

Countless thick and burly worm-like beasts with red skin were constantly being flung to the surface by the churning earth before digging into the soil in a frenzy, attempting to return to their burrows beneath the earth.

There were too many of these creatures to count, and all of them were squirming desperately in an attempt to burrow themselves back into the earth, but they were being crushed by the rocks that were constantly tumbling down from above, splitting their bodies into countless chunks.

These creatures seemed to have possessed extraordinary vitality, and even after their bodies had been split apart, they were still attempting to burrow into the earth with resilience and tenacity.

However, the flow of lava had already seeped into all of the rifts in the earth, drowning all of these creatures and incinerating them into nothingness.

Han Li was rooted to the spot, staring at this doomsday-like scene with astonishment in his heart. His hands were clenched into tight fists, and his palms were sweating profusely.

Right at this moment, a dull thud suddenly rang out, and one of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis shuddered before quickly fading into a dull gray color.

At this point, around half of the Time Dao Runes had already been snuffed out.

Han Li instantly snapped back to his senses and recalled his objective for conjuring up this wall of light in the first place.

However, the scene depicted in the wall of light was completely different from last time, and that had caught him off guard.

There's something that I've been meaning to try...

With that in mind, Han Li patted the spirit beast pouch on his waist, and a demonic wolf with strands of spittle hanging down from its mouth appeared out of thin air amid a flash of azure light.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

As soon as the demonic wolf appeared, it immediately tried to escape, but Han Li was able to grab onto the scruff of its neck with ease before hurling it toward the wall of light.

The demonic wolf was writhing and twisting with all its might as it flew through the air, but it was unable to stop itself from crashing into the wall of light. Upon making contact with the wall of light, its body seemed to have passed through some type of invisible barrier, and it appeared on the other side.

As soon as it landed, it immediately turned around and lowered its center of gravity while snarling at Han Li with its fangs bared.

It worked!

Han Li was ecstatic to find that it really was possible to pass through the wall of light.

However, in the next instant, he noticed that the demonic wolf's fur was beginning to turn a lifeless gray color, and the light in its eyes was also rapidly fading.

Taking into account the demonic wolf's lifespan, it was as if it had aged close to 1,000 years in the blink of an eye.

Immediately thereafter, the pelt and flesh of the demonic wolf rotted away to reveal a complete skeleton, which was then reduced to ashes before being swept away by the wind.

Another dull thud rang out as one more Time Dao Rune on the Mantra Treasured Axis was snuffed out.

This time, Han Li didn't turn his gaze to the Mantra Treasured Axis. Instead, he was staring at the spot where the demonic wolf had just disappeared with a contemplative look on his face.

Moments later, he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized mirror that was azure on side and red on the other.

This wasn't a particularly powerful treasure. Instead, it was only a low-grade treasure that was capable of releasing waves and flames. He couldn't even recall when he had obtained it, and he hadn't gotten around to selling it yet.

Just like with the demonic wolf, he tossed the mirror at the wall of light, and it was also able to pass through without any trouble.

Han Li immediately activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, trying to see through the wall of light to find out exactly what was happening.

He watched as the mirror reached the other side, and even before it landed on the ground, azure and red light began to radiate from its surface, as if it had been activated by someone and was about to unleash its waves and flames.

In the next instant, a quiet thud rang out, and the light radiating from the mirror flashed momentarily before the entire mirror exploded.

To Han Li's surprise, the mirror hadn't exploded into shards or pieces. Instead, it had disintegrated into a cloud of colorful mist that was rising up into the air before quickly converging to form around a dozen types of ore of different colors, all of which then fell toward the ground.

Han Li wasn't unfamiliar with these materials. Among them, the ones that could be seen in the largest quantities were the red Flame Spirit Rock and the azure Origin Water Rock.

These two types of ore were the primary materials for refining the mirror, while the other types of ore were all supplementary materials for refining the same treasure.

A hint of intrigue appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, all of the chunks of ore quickly began to take on a transparent form before vanishing entirely.

At this point, over half of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis had already faded.

After that, he continued his experiments, tossing things like spirit stones and even Immortal Origin Stones into the wall of light, and eh discovered that as soon as those objects landed on the ground, they would quickly fuse as one with the earth, following which the spiritual power inside them faded away, and they were completely assimilated with the earth before also vanishing into thin air.

As time passed, the rate at which the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were fading seemed to have been growing faster and faster.

Han Li's brows were tightly furrowed as he stared at the wall of light and the doomsday-like scene displayed upon it. All of a sudden, he flipped a hand over to produce an azure longsword, which he held in his hand.

He then took a step back before raising the longsword and slashing it down upon the wall of light.

A draconic roar rang out as a burst of rippling swordlight emerged over the surface of the azure longsword, then swept directly toward the wall of light up ahead.

After swinging the sword through the air, Han Li bent his knees slightly while holding the sword horizontally in front of himself in a defensive stance. At the same time, he was making a hand seal with one hand, and golden lightning was flashing from his fingertips as he braced himself for any potential backlash.

The sound of a gentle breeze blowing past rang out as the streak of swordlight landed upon the wall of light.

However, contrary to Han Li's expectations, the wall of light wasn't destroyed, nor was there any spatial collapse. Instead, a burst of faint ripples swept over the surface of the wall of light, following which the streak of sword light disintegrated into nothingness.

At the same time, a string of dull thuds rang out from the Mantra Treasured Axis in a rapid succession, and in the instant that the ripples on the surface of the wall of light subsided, the final Time Dao Rune on the axis faded.

A burst of five-colored light emerged from the wall of light amid a faint thump, and the wall of light disintegrated into countless specks of light, while the spatial rift also sealed over.

With all of the Time Dao Runes snuffed out, the Mantra Treasured Axis had also dimmed slightly, and it vanished into Han Li's body.

The light radiating from the Heaven Controlling Vial also faded, and it reverted back to its original size before falling out of the air.

Han Li reached out to catch the vial, then placed it back around his own neck before tucking it into the collar of his robes.

Everything had returned to normal in the secret chamber.

Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, then flipped a hand over to produce a yellow pill. After swallowing the pill, he closed his eyes to meditate.

Maintaining the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Eye of Truth had been extremely taxing on his immortal spiritual power, leaving him feeling quite depleted, but he had naturally fared far better than last time.

Some time later, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he offered some words of consolation to himself.

"It looks like I was merely lucky to have seen what I did last time, and that luck isn't necessarily guaranteed every time. For now, I should just focus on collecting pill refinement ingredients and cultivating while recovering my Time Dao Runes."

As soon as his voice trailed off, he rose to his feet and exited his secret chamber.