Chapter 482

Chapter 482: The Water Palace of Ancient Cultivators

In the Barbarian Nation, at Jinniu Ridge, in the Cold Mountain Gorge, there was a stream that always turned crisp and icy as it flowed through. Li Hui descended from the air and observed from a distance using Bai Ze’s divine eye, then stepped into the stream.

The water escape of the Ideal Body was remarkably powerful, and it became even more remarkable when propelled by the Qi of Taiqing.

In a moment, Li Hui found the location of the water palace, but the depths below were unfathomable. For every thirty zhang he descended, the resistance increased by another layer.

By the time he reached three thousand zhang deep, even the Ideal Body couldn’t move an inch.

Xiuqiu said, “This is a giant river basin formed by a massive river impact. The underground river continues to flow, creating tremendous resistance in the basin.”

“I know; be careful to guard my body. I’ll release the Legal form to dive into the water palace,” Li Hui said. As soon as he finished speaking, a fine silver light shot out from his dantian.

The silver snake Legal form was extremely small, no larger than a mustard seed. However, its weight and power were substantial, piercing through layers of barriers like paper. In no time, it entered the water palace.

The water palace was far from intact; many places had been broken open. The array covering the water palace was riddled with cracks and was on the verge of collapse.

Li Hui slipped in through a crack and quickly found an opening to dive straight down.

The Legal form floated to the ground, gathering water vapor to form a figure, revealing a scene of devastation within the water palace. Everywhere showed signs of catastrophic destruction, and weapons made from beast bones were scattered across the ground.

“Are the high-quality medium opportunities in the Barbarian Nation met with such a fate?” Li Hui shook his head. Among the barbarians, there were fierce cultivators and shamans who also understood how to utilize timing and geography, as well as calculating the heavenly mysteries. It was not impossible for a wise individual to time their entry when the basin’s resistance was weakened.

“In that case, exploring the water palace has turned into a bargain hunt.”

Suddenly, red ripples spread out as Bai Ze drove a thread of Dao Rhythm forward.

Li Hui began to move forward, searching layer by layer from the highest platform, only to find each level empty. The barbarians had removed everything that could be taken and shattered anything that couldn’t be moved. It truly was the end for this place.

“Did I come here for nothing?”

The red ripples continued to spread, emanating from Li Hui’s spiritual sense. The Dao Rhythm Residual Talisman merged into it, allowing him to see through most of the hidden secrets in the world.

The water palace was divided into twenty-eight layers, resembling a tall tower.

The arrays and restrictions were equally damaged, requiring no effort to navigate through. Soon, Li Hui descended to the bottom layer, where he saw a deep tunnel leading further underground.

“Burn it down, smash it, take everything! Don’t even hope for underground veins!” Li Hui laughed bitterly. Recently, he felt unlucky; he wondered if he’d exhausted all his good fortune, even getting a grain of water stuck in his teeth felt painful.

With a glimmer of hope, he sent the Legal form into the tunnel, and about a tea’s worth of time later, it returned. The underground was even worse off than the water palace. You could hardly see any trace of the original veins. As for Miao Jade? Not even a low-grade Miao Jade was left.

Just as Li Hui was about to turn back, he looked up at the water lotus lantern hanging high up, and a smile appeared on the face formed by the gathering water vapor.

“This water lotus lamp just happens to illuminate the tunnel leading to the veins. The barbarians must have forgotten to pry it away for convenience when they left! Dao is fifty, Heavenly Evolution of Forty-Nine, and the one that has escaped. They took advantage of the heavenly evolution but missed the most important thing.” Li Hui floated up closer to the bowl-sized water lotus lamp, which hung from the ceiling like a rock-carved lotus, occasionally gathering wisps of water mist.

If one thought this lamp was ordinary, they would be gravely mistaken. The lotus core could rotate, turning left nine times, right eight times. All the petals of the water lotus lamp made a resonating sound and began to spin outward.

Moments later, the ceiling was covered with lotus petals, revealing a beam of light along the center line. A booming sound echoed in the air as the ceiling opened inward like two large doors.

“What an ingenious arrangement! If one’s eyes were only focused on the veins, how could they notice an inconspicuous stone lamp upon returning from the veins?”

Li Hui marveled and quickly entered through the opening. Before him, the scene opened up. The silver snake Legal form found itself in a uniquely beautiful little garden.

The garden was small, only twenty zhang in length and width.

The flowers and plants here were not spiritual plants, but Bai Ze’s divine eye detected something unusual. These flowers did not wilt or grow; they seemed frozen in a certain period, like insects sealed in amber, vivid and lifelike.

“Frozen time? Such profound and unfathomable techniques,” Li Hui observed earnestly, learning from the underlying principles.

He studied for several hours, feeling the Legal form grow fatigued, realizing it was actually his spirit exhausting itself too much. He quickly collected his thoughts and looked again at the little garden.

“Path of time, key of years; I understand a bit now.” As he spoke, the winds surged, and the little garden gradually shrank, eventually shrinking to the size of a sesame seed. The silver snake Legal form used its tail to grasp it and turned to leave.

After half a tea’s time, the Legal form returned to the dantian.

Li Hui opened his eyes and quickly settled down, his hands continuously forming seals while occasionally waving the talisman brush to draw a few symbols on himself.

“The Seize the Day Talisman has always failed to break through. Achieving seventy times the flow rate at the Late Condense Essence stage, and yet I am still at seventy times in the mid-stage Bosa.”

This was a significant bottleneck. It would be extremely difficult to continue upward. Finding this little garden today inspired him; it seemed he could use the flowers and plants from the little garden as a medium to break through his stagnation.

With preparations complete, Li Hui reached out to take the flowers and plants. As they left the little garden, they immediately wilted and turned into fine dust at an unbelievable speed.

Even as the flowers transformed into dust, beneath them time flew swiftly, turning the dust into mere particles.

“Swift!”

More and more flowers and plants emerged, burying Li Hui in them. Beautiful runes appeared on his body, and strange seals covered his chest and back, even his forehead was adorned with patterns interweaving.

“Breakthrough! Break through with all my might!”

His roar sent ripples through the water, and suddenly a bright light appeared and vanished instantly. However, Li Hui knew he had succeeded. The Seize the Day Talisman finally broke through, raising the maximum flow rate to ninety times, but not without cost; he drained five years of his lifespan.

“Five years of lifespan? Worth it! Breaking through this layer of stagnation is enormously beneficial. Moreover, advancing to late-stage Bosa now allows the flow rate to reach a hundred times.”

Li Hui felt satisfaction as he had used all the flowers and plants from the little garden for progress, ensuring his trip to the water palace was not in vain, with the main gains from the little garden.

The seniors had employed extraordinary techniques on the little garden. It was like a book, revealing the mysteries of time, and if it fell into the hands of the leader of the Heavenly Talisman Sect, it could be drawn into talismans to seal strong enemies.

To stabilize time—what kind of tremendous power was that? If borrowed for use, it could transform into a time prison.

“Let’s go find opportunities at the second location.” After Li Hui and Xiuqiu left the water palace, they began their trek through mountains and rivers toward the border between Great Xia and the Giant Armored Tribe.

This opportunity was very famous; the Surveillance Pavilion classified it as high-quality upper. Whenever the day of its appearance arrived, Great Xia practitioners battled with the Giant Armored Tribe, creating a scene where the sun and moon lost their light, and blood flowed like rivers.

“Pengxuan Cave, this is a well-preserved small heavenly cave. I wonder if I can find the entrance?”