Chapter 670: Frozen in Time

It didn't take long for Han Li to reach the foot of the mountain, and it seemed that he had arrived in a huge valley with a relatively flat and level terrain.

There were numerous tall buildings standing in the valley, and its layout was rather similar to that of the Water Divination Palace from before.

However, these buildings were primarily golden in color, and even though most of them were damaged, they were still glowing radiantly.

Han Li began to search through the valley, and before long, close to half a day had passed by.

During this time, he had searched through most of the valley, but wasn't able to find much of use aside from some spirit medicines.

Hence, he continued deeper into the valley, and he had only flown a few hundred kilometers when a hint of elation suddenly appeared on his face.

He could sense another burst of time law power fluctuations a few hundred kilometers up ahead!

He immediately flew in that direction without any hesitation, but at the same time, he made sure to keep constant tabs on his surroundings with his spiritual sense.

Shortly thereafter, he was able to find the origins of the burst of time law power fluctuations, and he found himself standing in front of a golden palace.

The palace was constructed beside a mountain, and it was several thousand feet tall, taking up an area in excess of a thousand acres. It was entirely constructed out of some type of jade material that was plated in a layer of golden material, giving it a shimmering golden appearance.

There were many signs of battle around the palace, and holes had even been punched through some places. Beams of golden light were shining through these holes, giving off formidable time law power fluctuations.

A hint of elation appeared on Han Li's face at the sight of the golden palace, and he carefully released his spiritual sense to scour the area around the building.

Only after ensuring that there was no danger did he slowly make his way over to the shut gate of the palace, and he laid a palm flat against the gate before giving it a firm push.

The gate flashed momentarily with golden light, then swung open, much to Han Li's surprise.

A burst of blinding golden light instantly erupted out of the palace, and it was as if there were a golden sun trapped inside.

Instead of immediately stepping into the palace, Han Li first used his spiritual sense to inspect its interior.

However, his spiritual sense had only just extended into the palace when it was stopped in its tracks by a burst of gentle yet resilient force, preventing it from advancing any further.

Hence, Han Li had to turn to his Infernal Devilish Eyes, but he soon discovered that his Infernal Devilish Eyes were also unable to see through the burst of gentle force within the palace.

All he could see were several indistinct shadows, but he couldn't make out exactly what they were.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li stepped into the palace, and as soon as he did so, his vision immediately blurred, and he felt as if he had entered another space.

Immediately thereafter, a burst of tremendous force enveloped him from all directions, making it impossible for him to even lift a finger.

Thankfully, his vision hadn't faded, and he hurriedly cast his gaze forward in an alarmed manner.

The entire palace was filled with waves of golden light that were rippling like water while giving off bursts of formidable and profound time law powers, and it was precisely these time law powers that had immobilized Han Li.

In addition to Han Li, there were several dozen more cultivators split up into two factions in the palace, and judging from their attire, it was apparent that one side consisted of Heavenly Court cultivators, while the other consisted of True Mantra Sect disciples.

In contrast with the bodies outside, these people still appeared very much alive, and they were still locked in poses that suggested that they were engaged in battle, with all type of treasures hovering around them.

Han Li was unable to detect their cultivation bases, but judging from the visual clues that he was able to gather, he speculated that most of them were True Immortals, while the leader of each group were Golden Immortals.

At this moment, all of them were completely still, as if they had been frozen in time, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold.

Han Li was astonished to see this.

It was clear that this had something to do with the burst of time law power fluctuations in the palace, and they seemed to have a similar effect to that of his Mantra Treasured Axis, except his Mantra Treasured Axis was only able to slow the flow of time, while time seemed to have completely stopped here.

These cultivators had most likely already been trapped here and immobilized for countless years.

Han Li was stunned by what he was seeing, but he quickly gathered himself as an important question sprang into his mind.

Now that he had stumbled into this place, how was he going to get out?

His physical strength was clearly insufficient to struggle free from the restrictive effects of the time law powers here, and the only thing that he could take solace in was that his immortal spirit power and time law powers hadn't also been restricted. Instead, they were able to circulate at a very slow speed.

Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that he was using a time-attribute cultivation art.

With that in mind, Han Li immediately attempted to channel the immortal spiritual power with all his might, and a speck of golden light emerged over his body, then slowly expanded to completely inundate him.

This would've only taken him an instant under normal circumstances, but the same maneuver took him several hours to complete here.

Han Li remained patient as he continued to circulate his immortal spiritual power while also using his own time law powers to ward off the effects of the external time law powers as much as possible.

After what seemed like an eternity, his Mantra Treasured Axis finally appeared behind him, following which he was able to unleash his Reversal True Axis ability.

The flow of time within his body began to speed up as a result, slowing counteracting the restrictive forces around him.

His body was still immobilized, but his immortal spiritual power and time law powers were beginning to circulate a little faster.

This came as quite a relief to Han Li, but he still didn't dare to let down his guard as he continued to channel his Reversal True Axis with all his might.

As the Mantra Treasured Axis revolved in reverse faster and faster, the restrictive forces around him quickly lessened, and over an hour later, the Mantra Treasured Axis had picked up so much speed that it had transformed into a blurry golden disk.

An elated look flashed through Han Li's eyes as he was finally able to slowly raise an arm.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

However, even with his Reversal True Axis ability activated to its limits, he was still unable to ward off the surrounding restrictive forces.

Thankfully, the entrance of the palace was just nearby, so he wouldn't have to move far to leave.

With his mobility restored, Han Li was feeling much more reassured, and he began to inspect his surroundings again.

His gaze fell upon the two nearby groups of cultivators, and he began to make his way toward them in an extremely slow and sluggish fashion.

All of them were still carrying their storage tools, and the treasures hovering around them also appeared to be quite powerful.

Han Li strode over to these cultivators before stowing away their storage tools and the treasures floating in the air around them one by one.

After that, he began to make his way toward the other parts of the hall.

These storage tools and treasures made for a nice haul, but they weren't all that appealing to him. Instead, what he was far more interested in was finding out why time had come to a stop here, and that was why he hadn't left the palace right away.

Unfortunately, with his spiritual sense completely impeded here, he could only inspect the palace with his eyes.

The palace wasn't very large, and it didn't appear to be remarkable in any way. At the deepest part of the palace was a stone platform that resembled an altar, and it had already mostly collapsed.

Han Li quickly examined the rest of the palace, but didn't find anything worthy of note.

He turned his gaze to the collapsed altar, then made his way up the steps leading up to it.

As soon as he set foot on the stone platform, Han Li immediately felt a burst of incredibly potent time law power fluctuations.

His eyes immediately lit up, and he knew that he had found the source of this time-stopping effect.

He really wanted to speed up, but the time law power fluctuations up ahead only became more and more potent, so he was slowing down further and further instead. Fortunately, he wasn't immobilized again.

It took Han Li half a day to finally step onto the small altar, and at the center of it was a bottomless hole that seemed to have resulted from some type of attack.

Within the hole was a ball of radiant golden light that was giving off tremendous time law power fluctuations, and that was the reason why time had fallen still in this palace!

The ball of golden light didn't contain any time-attribute immortal treasure or anything like that. Instead, it seemed to be some residual power left behind by some type of attack.

Han Li raised his head to discover that there was a large hole in the ceiling of the palace as well, and its angle was identical to that of the hole in the ground.

A stunned look appeared on Han Li's face upon making this discovery.

Just the residual power from whatever attack had been unleashed was enough to bring time in the palace to a complete standstill for so many years. Han Li couldn't even begin to fathom just how powerful the one who unleashed the attack had to have been.

Could it have been the Time Dao Ancestor?

The Eye of Truth slowly appeared at the center of the Mantra Treasured Axis, and a beam of golden light shot out of the eye and into the hole.

A burst of bright golden light appeared within the hole, and the ball of golden light began to rapidly change form, reverting back into a golden finger projection that was several feet in length before flying back up into the sky.

The broken altar also quickly reverted back to its complete form, but Han Li paid no heed to it as his gaze was focused solely on the golden finger projection.

Bursts of golden light were flashing over the finger projection, and upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that the finger projection was formed by numerous time law threads intertwined together in an extremely profound fashion.

The finger projection seemed to be able to pierce through all things, and Han Li was struck by a sense of vulnerability just from looking at it.

Ever since his arrival in the True Immortal Realm, he had been constantly working hard in his cultivation, and he was now able to wield the power of time laws, but in contrast with this golden finger projection, his mastery of time law powers was downright abysmal.