Chapter 669: Reliving an Old Vision

As soon as Han Li emerged from the forest, he immediately stepped into an open area.

He inspected his surroundings momentarily before continuing onward, and it didn't take long before he arrived at a rocky forest formed by all types of strange-looking rocks.

At the exact center of the rocky forest was a round stone platform that was around ten thousand feet in radius and roughly a thousand feet tall. It was connected to the mountain below it, and its surface was riddled with cracks and moss, indicating that it was a very old structure.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he felt like this platform was somewhat familiar.

After a brief moment of contemplation, he sprang up into the air before landing on the platform.

The entire platform was riddled with cracks that were filled with green vines, and the one remarkable thing about the structure was that it was giving off a hint of faint law power fluctuations.

Furthermore, there was a giant stone plaque that was around a thousand feet tall standing on the edge of the platform, and it was also crawling with moss and vines.

Only after Han Li drew close to the plaque did he discover that the words "Mantra Domain" were inscribed upon it in large golden characters beneath the masses of vines.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he turned around to inspect his surroundings once more, and a look of realization suddenly appeared on his face.

This was the exact same stone platform that he had witnessed Patriarch Miro deliver his lecture from on the translucent wall of light.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

At the time, he had only heard eight and a half sentences of Patriarch Miro's profound lecture, and that had allowed him to open up eight immortal acupoints in succession.

Unfortunately, he was never able to conjure up that same vision again since then.

However, he had now arrived at the site of the lecture in person, seemingly completely by chance, or perhaps fate had guided him here.

All of a sudden, Han Li made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis emerged behind him, then began to revolve on the spot.

In the next instant, he rose up into the sky and stood in mid-air.

The wall of translucent light had restricted his field of view, preventing him from seeing the entirety of the stone platform, but he was able to see everything from this vantage point.

He made a hand seal as he chanted an incantation, and all of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis lit up in unison.

The Eye of Truth at the center of the axis also sprang open, and a beam of golden light erupted out of the giant eyeball before shining down upon the stone platform.

Basked within the golden light, the stone platform also began to glow faintly with a golden hue, and a series of familiar figures began to take shape.

I knew it!

He turned his gaze to the yellow-robed tree being by the name of Mu Yan, then to the large-headed child that he had seen earlier in the Water Divination Palace. One after another, his gaze roamed over the people seated on the stone platform before finally settling on the rotund monk that was Patriarch Miro.

He wore a benevolent expression as he sat in a casual manner with his legs crossed, gently massaging a string of green jade Buddhist prayer beads as he delivered his lecture.

Whenever he opened his mouth, a string of five-colored runes would emerge from within, then rise up into the sky as a burst of five-colored light to resonate with heaven and earth and conjure up all types of phenomena.

Even though this was already Han Li's second time witnessing this scene, he was still stunned by what he saw.

However, in contrast with last time, everything that was unfolding was merely a projection that was being restored by the Eye of Truth, and it wasn't happening in real time. Hence, he wasn't able to glean the same profound insights as before.

He watched as all types of phenomena emerged one after another, and as he did so, a hint of befuddlement welled up in his heart.

Even with his unfathomable powers, Patriarch Miro was still unable to prevent his own death, nor the destruction of the True Mantra Sect. In that case, just how powerful was the Time Dao Ancestor that had laid waste to the True Mantra Sect?

Moments later, Mu Yan raised a question, and Patriarch Miro offered a response, to which all five of his disciples reacted with enlightenment and gratitude.

Patriarch Miro continued his lecture, but all of a sudden, he stopped as a surprised look appeared on his face, and he turned his gaze to a certain direction.

Han Li turned his gaze in that direction, but didn't see anything there.

Right as he was wondering what Patriarch Miro had just reacted to, his five disciples also snapped back to their senses before turning to the same direction, and Mu Yan sprang to his feet as he said something in a loud, questioning voice with an angry look on his face.

Only then did Han Li realize that this was the scene where he had been caught eavesdropping on Patriarch Miro's lecture.

A wry smile appeared on his face as he turned his gaze back to Patriarch Miro, and he spotted a fat rat seated on the cushion that Mu Yan had just gotten up from. It was standing upright on its hindlegs, and it was also looking in the same direction as everyone else.

It immediately occurred to Han Li that this rat was identical to the giant green rat that he had seen in that abyss in the primordial land, except this one was far smaller.

Right at this moment, Mu Yan returned to his seat, flicking the fat rat on the head to send it tumbling several thousand feet away.

As soon as the rat got up, it immediately rushed over to Patriarch Miro's side, where it sat down right beside him with its legs crossed, much like a human would.

Patriarch Miro took a glance down at the rat and made no attempt to chase it away as he continued his lecture.

Mu Yan also made no further effort to chase the rate away upon seeing this.

Even though Han Li wasn't able to benefit from this vision as he did last time, he still observed carefully as Patriarch Miro answered his disciples' questions, memorizing all of the gestures made by Patriarch Miro and his disciples.

Some time later, as Patriarch Miro's lecture drew to a close, a warm smile appeared on his face, and his gaze roamed over his disciples one after another as he waved a hand to dismiss them.

A stunned look appeared on Han Li's face as he stared at Patriarch Miro. Just now, he felt as if Patriarch Miro's gaze had settled on him for a brief moment.

It was only for a split second, but it was a very profound feeling, as if there were some deeper meaning to that look from Patriarch Miro.

Could it be that not only had Patriarch Miro noticed him eavesdropping on his lecture, he had also discovered the current Han Li, who was reliving this scene through his Eye of Truth?

After some contemplation, Han Li felt like this wasn't very plausible, and he shook his head with a wry smile, feeling as if he were overthinking the situation.

Even after all of the disciples and the fat rat had departed, Patriarch Miro remained seated in silence for a while, then stowed his prayer beads away before slowly rising to his feet.

He then shuffled over the stone wall with the words "Mantra Domain" inscribed upon it, and he observed it in silence for a moment before suddenly raising a hand to point at one of the golden characters.

A beam of golden light shot out of his fingertip before vanishing into that character in a flash, and after that, he clasped his hands behind his back as he looked up at the sky.

His body began to blur, as if he were integrating himself into heaven and earth, and before long, he had vanished altogether.

For some reason, Han Li was struck by a sense of loneliness at the sight of Patriarch Miro's rotund figure, and he was left in a daze for a long while.

After the scene had played out in full, Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, then flew over to the stone plaque.

With a sweep of his sleeve, he conjured up a gust of wind that cleared the moss and vines from the surface of the plaque to reveal the character that Patriarch Miro had been pointing at in the scene from earlier.

Immediately thereafter, Han Li carefully gazed upon that character with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and sure enough, there was a layer of faint golden light glimmering at the topmost tip of the character, indicating that it was harboring some type of secret.

Han Li reached out with his right hand, and he was able to pierce his index and middle fingers into the stone wall with ease before slowly pulling out an azure bamboo slip from within.

He then channeled his immortal spiritual power to refine the bamboo slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it, and moments later, his eyes abruptly sprang open as an ecstatic look appeared on his face.

As it turned out, the bamboo slip contained the nine levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture, as well as a strange text titled "Sumeru Insights."

The Mantra Axis Scripture was naturally very familiar to him, and he quickly read through the entire scripture to find that some of the passages were a little different from what he had seen in the past. However, these differences were very minute, so they had no significant bearing and certainly wouldn't lead to qi deviation.

Furthermore, enclosed within the scripture was a detailed account of the Mantra Domain ability that he had already obtained from Mu Yan, and in this case, there were also some minor, insignificant differences.

As for the Sumeru Insights text, that was completely unintelligible to Han Li. It only consisted of several thousand words, but the contents were very difficult to understand, and it didn't seem like a cultivation art, nor did it appear to be any type of secret technique.

Han Li spent a long time reading through the text, but to no avail, so he could only give up for now.

After that, he carefully examined the nine levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture once more, and he suppressed the elation in his heart, as well as the urge to begin cultivating on the spot, as he flew over to the stone plaque again.

There, he gazed upon the "Mantra Domain" inscribed on the stone wall, then extended a deep and respectful bow toward the long-gone figure before flying down the mountain.