Chapter 548: The Three Cultivation Arts

Han Li pressed the jade slip that contained the Water Divination Time Arts to his own glabella, then closed his eyes and fell completely still.

Initially, his brows were slightly furrowed in befuddlement, but they quickly unfurrowed again as if he had been struck by some enlightenment. However, shortly thereafter, his brows furrowed slightly once again before relaxing for a second time, and the cycle continued to repeat itself.

As time passed, Han Li's brows became more and more tightly furrowed, and this time, he remained stumped by the obstacle that he had encountered.

Sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead, and remained in the same seated positino for three days and three nights.

Upon opening his eyes, his back was already completely drenched in sweat, while his eyes were severely bloodshot, giving him an exhausted appearance.

"How could this be?" he murmured to himself as he removed the blue jade slip from his forehead.

The Water Divination Time Arts consisted of seven chapters, and during the initial phase of its cultivation, he had to manifest a treasure similar to the Mantra Treasured Axis.

This treasure was called the Clear Time Vial, and it could derive time water droplets from absorbing the light of the sun and the moon.

Upon reaching the fourth chapter of the cultivation art, one would be able to refine the time water droplets that they had collected in order to manifest threads of time.

These threads of time weren't unfamiliar to Han Li. Even back in the Spirit Realm, he had seen these threads being produced by the Asura Spiders. [1] These were extraordinary threads that could only arise from the river of time, which contained time law powers, and they could extend the lifespans of mortals and low-grade cultivators, or delay the onset of heavenly tribulations for high-grade cultivators.

From the description in the cultivation, the threads of time refined using the Water Divination Time Arts were supposed to contain a greater abundance of time law powers, thereby making them even more potent, and they could even delay the onset of the three decays for True Immortals.

However, as was the case with the Mantra Treasured Axis, an item that contained time law powers was required to refine the Clear Time Vial. Additionally, many other precious natural treasures were also required, thereby posing a very steep barrier of entry for this cultivation art, and this was presumably why so many Vast Flow Palace cultivators had ultimately refrained from pursuing this cultivation art.

Unlike the Mantra Axis Scripture, this cultivation art didn't allow one to open immortal acupoints as they progressed. Instead, the improvement in one's cutivation base more so hinged upon the rate at which they were able to manifest time water droplets.

Apparently, once one accumulated sufficient time water droplets to form a river, they would be able to unleash even more unfathomable abilities. However, these time water droplets took a very long time to manifest, and in the initial phase of one's cultivation, it would take centuries to accumulate even a single time water droplet, so it was unclear how much time it would take to accumulate an entire river's worth.

From what he had read, Han Li determined that the Water Divination Time Arts was slightly inferior to the Mantra Axis Scripture, but it had its own unique advantages as well.

At this point, he had only read through the cultivation art several times, and he hadn't begun cultivating it at all, so his understanding of it was naturally still rather limited.

He took a deep breath to suppress the befuddlement in his heart, then began to read through the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.

The inner room was completely silent with the exception of the sound of rustling pages, and over a day passed by in a flash before Han Li closed the book.

He massaged his sore glabella momentarily, but at the same time, a faint smile had appeared on his face.

The Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture was even more unique than the other two time-attribute cultivation arts. As opposed to a cultivation art, it was more accurate to call it a tool refinement scripture.

The reason why Han Li thought this was because upon reaching a certain stage in the cultivation art, one would be able to break down certain items that contained time law powers to derive something called Illusory Dawn Sand.

After refining this Illusory Dawn Sand using a special technique, one would be able to to create a small closed-off space known as an Illusory Dawn Sand Domain using these grains of sand, and that could come in any form, such as an Illusory Dawn Sand Box, an Illusory Dawn Sand Vial, etc.

Inside the space within these vessels, the rate at which time flowed could be altered.

All of a sudden, a thought occurred to Han Li.

If I had a sufficient amount of Illusory Dawn Sand, would I be able to...

However, a self-deprecating look then appeared on his face.

Setting aside whether that's even possible, how am I supposed to obtain so much Illusory Dawn Sand? Items that contain time law powers aren't so easy to find.

With that in mind, he turned his gaze back to the three cultivation arts as a contemplative look appeared on his face.

All three of them were time-attribute cultivation arts, but they focused on different things, and aside from the Mantra Axis Scripture, which could be used as a cultivation art, the other two were more related to treasures that contained time law powers.

After closely examining all three cultivation arts, Han Li became even more convinced that some type of connection existed between them.

Of course, there were bound to be some similarities, considering all three were time-attribute cultivation arts, but Han Li felt like the connection wasn't as simple as that, but at the same time, he couldn't put his finger on exactly what the connection was.

......

Around half a month flew by in a flash.

Inside the inner room of the cave, Han Li was standing while holding the three cultivation arts in his hands with a wry smile on his face.

Even after extensive examination and pondering, he was still no closer to a definitive answer.

"I should take a break. If I keep forcing myself deeper into this hole, I'm going to end up hampering my future cultivation," he sighed to himself, then stowed the three cultivation arts away.

The laws of time was one of the three paramount laws, so its cultivation arts were bound to be different from the average cultivation art, and Han Li decided that he wasn't going to pursue the other two cultivation arts before he figured out exactly what type of connection existed between the three.

Of course, another important factor behind this decision was that he didn't have the time to go into seclusion for an extended period.

With that in mind, he sat back down with his legs crossed, then flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial, and he tipped out a pill that was as translucent as jade from within before swallowing it.

The pill was called a Snow Soul Pill, and it was one of the Golden Immortal Stage pills that he had obtained from Xiao Jinhan, so it was perfect for him to consume.

After swallowing the pill, Han Li closed his eyes to meditate, and once his heart had settled into a calm and tranquil state, he pressed a white jade slip to his own glabella.

This jade slip contained the fifth level of the Mantra Axis Scripture.

Layers of golden ripples spread in all directions from the jade slip, basking Han Li in a soft, golden glow.

In contrast with how difficult the fourth level of the cultivation art had been to understand, the fifth level felt more straightforward to Han Li, and after memorizing its contents, he stowed it away again.

After that, he placed one hand over the other in front of himself to make a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared before him.

The array in the room concealed the energy fluctuations of the Mantra Treasured Axis, but Jin Tong and Xiao Bai were still able to detect something through their spiritual connection with Han Li, and both of them turned to face the inner room.

The Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis lit up as a string of radiant miniature suns, and over three months quickly passed by in seclusion.

During this time, the Dark Star Canyon had become quite lively. Aside from the other large tribes that ranked alongside the Calm Dawn Tribe, close to half of the smaller Beast Race tribes had also traveled to the Dark Star Canyon.

As a result, things became very busy for the Calm Dawn Tribe. Nuo Yifan paid Han Li two visits in the first month, but on both occasions, so he was told that Han Li was in seclusion, and she hadn't returned since. It seemed that everyone had forgotten that there was still a human residing in the canyon.

On this day, both Jin Tong and Xiao Bai were staring at the light barrier that separated the room that Han Li was in from the outside world, and their eyes were wide with intrigue.

About an hour ago, Han Li had eaten a small round fruit that was riddled with tiny golden spots, and his Mantra Treasured Axis had immediately become brighter as a result.

At the same time, a tiny golden vortex had appeared on the outside of his thigh, and a vast expanse of golden light had begun surging toward the vortex. This was none other than his 61st immortal acupoint!

With the formation of this immortal acupoint, two more Time Dao Runes had appeared on the Mantra Treasured Axis.

A short while later, the surrounding energy fluctuations gradually subsided, and Han Li slowly opened his eyes, but he was looking more concerned than elated.

Even after consuming a fruit that's imbued with time law powers, I was only just barely able to open a single immortal acupoint. How much resources will it take to reach the High Zenith Stage?

With that in mind, a wry smile appeared on his face, but before he had a chance to dwell on this thought, the Heaven Controlling Vial suddenly flew up on its own.

Han Li hurriedly cast his gaze toward his Mantra Treasured Axis, upon which he was ecstatic to discover that an 11th time law thread had appeared around it.

The golden fruit that he had obtained from Gongshu Jiu had allowed him to manifest another time law thread, and that was certainly a pleasant surprise.

Furthermore, judging from the reaction of the Heaven Controlling Vial, it seemed that he was about to be sucked into another vision.

Sure enough, a burst of rumbling rang out, and the Heaven Controlling Vial, which had already swelled to the size of a millstone, released a thick pillar of green light that struck the light barrier around the inner room to form a translucent wall of light.

Jin Tong and Xiao Bai were unable to tell what was happening inside due to the light barrier that was in their way, so they could only return to the stone table in a bored manner.

A green vortex slowly took shape within the wall of light, immediately following which a burst of tremendous suction force erupted forth, sucking his soul out of his body and into the wall of light in a flash.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

1. For more information on Asura Spiders, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2287: Battle Against the Asura Spiders (1). ?