“If this place is really the so-called White Sparrow Valley, perhaps summoning the Mantra Wheel will make a difference?”

Han Li thought to himself, forming a series of hand gestures, and the Mantra Wheel Sutra technique began to circulate within his body.

With a soft “buzz” sound.

Golden light suddenly appeared behind him, and a faint golden wheel, about a foot in size, floated into existence, slowly rotating in mid-air, which was the Mantra Treasure Wheel.

Upon the Treasure Wheel, twenty-four semi-transparent temporal Dao patterns flickered with extraordinary agility, emanating an indescribable strange law fluctuation, causing the space within a ten-zhang radius to seem to suddenly freeze.

The mountain wind stalled, the air flow became extremely slow, and even the sound of the wind became almost inaudible. In contrast, the ripples on the lake surface seemed to be frozen in an instant; the slight ripples remained, but they were as still as if they had stopped.

The wisps of mist rising from the lake surface not far away also seemed to be slowly wriggling like white pillars of smoke at a very slow speed, contrasting sharply with the mist in the distance, as if they had been solidified in place.

Han Li turned around on the spot, looking around, wanting to see even the slightest unusual change in the surrounding environment. However, after observing for a long time, he did not find any differences.

Just when he thought he had come to the wrong place and was about to retrieve the Mantra Treasure Wheel, the anomaly finally appeared.

In the void in front of him, a beam of white light suddenly emerged, and a white sparrow the size of a palm appeared out of thin air, flapping its wings in mid-air and spiraling down towards the lake surface.

Although it was within the ten-zhang range covered by the Mantra Treasure Wheel, it seemed to be unaffected at all. It flew down leisurely, and its two dark red slender feet gently touched the surface of the water, creating circles of subtle circular ripples, and then stopped on the water.

Han Li stared at the white sparrow, not knowing what to do next.

At this moment, the white sparrow suddenly turned its head and glanced at him, then turned its head again and gently pecked at the water surface with its gray beak.

“Ding-dong.”

Han Li seemed to hear a light ding-dong sound, and then he saw circles of ripples spreading out on the lake surface, one ring nested within another, constantly expanding outwards.

The further out the ring, the larger the waves it stirred up. When it finally hit the stone banks on both sides, it made a crashing sound and splashed large patches of white water.

In the center of the waves, a black hole as thick as an adult's waist appeared, with an octagonal black light array floating above it, from which bursts of strong spatial fluctuations emanated.

“Secret realm!” Han Li frowned slightly and whispered.

The white sparrow that caused these changes seemed somewhat dissatisfied with his hesitation. It spread its wings and circled in the air for a while, then plunged straight into the black hole, disappearing with a flash of light.

Han Li no longer hesitated, and retrieved the Mantra Treasure Wheel into his body. He leaped from the shore and landed towards the black hole.

However, when his feet landed above the black hole, he seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier, standing on the magic circle and unable to enter it at all.

Seeing this situation, his eyes flashed with blue light, wanting to see what mystery this restriction held.

After a while, he frowned slightly, raised a fist and punched directly at the barrier. As a result, this punch felt as if it had hit cotton, and most of the force was dissipated without a trace.

In the time that followed, Han Li tried several other methods, but this restriction was not only extremely mysterious and flawless, but also invulnerable to sword slashes, fire, or brute force attacks, and could not be broken even a bit.

“What’s going on?” Han Li’s eyes flickered, and he muttered to himself.

Judging from the previous situation, he should have guessed correctly that the so-called "White Sparrow Valley" should be this place.

But the white sparrow has already appeared and flown into the secret realm, seemingly guiding him to go there. Why can't he enter?

“Could it be…”

After a moment of thought, he flipped his palm and took out his Elder Token, pointing it towards the octagonal magic circle above the black hole.

A beam of black light shot out from it, hitting the token. The nine thousand merit points recorded in the token were instantly deducted, leaving only a pitiful one hundred and thirty-two points.

“As expected!”

Han Li was slightly startled, and then felt a burst of joy in his heart.

But before he could think more about it, the light of the magic circle above the black hole flashed, and a roll of rosy light wrapped him completely, directly pulling him into the black hole.

After that, the black hole suddenly shrank and disappeared completely.

The ripples on the lake surface still hadn't subsided, but the rising mist had returned to normal.

Han Li felt a dizzying sensation, and his figure had been inverted, standing again on a white stone plaza.

He looked around, and saw green hills and distant mountains behind him, and on the left and right sides, each was built with a huge statue of a divine general over a hundred zhang tall. Each held a huge magic weapon in their hands, bent over and propped it on the ground, looking down at Han Li with angry eyes.

Han Li only glanced at the statues slightly before turning his gaze to the front.

At the end of the plaza, there was a continuous expanse of golden palaces, covered with auspicious clouds, releasing a radiant light.

On a high pavilion with four sides open in front of the palace, two immortals with divine appearances could vaguely be seen sitting cross-legged, playing chess with rosary beads. Behind them, two celestial maidens dressed in plain palace attire were either holding a furnace or serving tea, each with a composed expression, and none of them looked towards Han Li.

At the palace gate below the palace, there were two teams of golden-armored guards holding golden maces, who seemed to have noticed him, rushing towards him with murderous intent.

Seeing this, Han Li snorted coldly, and instead of taking a step forward, he sat down cross-legged.

His eyes flashed with blue light, and he formed a strange hand seal, muttering in a low voice:

“Break for me…”

In an instant, his vast and sea-like divine sense no longer had the slightest suppression, and surged out in all directions like a raging wave.

"Rumble..."

A sound like the rolling of waves rang out, and a violent aura swept out in all directions with Han Li as the center.

The white stone plaza beneath Han Li suddenly cracked into countless fissures, and the entire surface was lifted up, collapsing and annihilating in all directions. The statues of the divine generals on the left and right sides collapsed with a loud crash, shattering into dust, and the mountains behind him disappeared like smoke.

The team of golden-armored guards rushing towards him were caught in this wave of air before they could even reach him, and were torn to pieces.

Soon, the golden palaces in the distance also shattered inch by inch, turning into ashes along with the gods and celestial maidens.

The entire illusionary world collapsed and disappeared completely.

Han Li was still sitting on the ground, but the white plaza beneath him had turned into muddy ground covered with moss. Surrounded by green hills, seemingly vast and broad, he could clearly feel the existence of spatial barriers around him.

It seemed that this secret realm was much smaller than he had imagined.

Thinking this in his heart, he slowly stood up, symbolically patted the dirt behind him, and looked towards the front.

There, a huge stone tablet over ten zhang wide stood on the ground.

On both sides of the stone tablet were engraved two strange beasts resembling dragon-snakes, but because the stone tablet was severely damaged, with a large piece missing from the top, it was impossible to see what they were.

The broken part of the stone tablet was covered with moss, looking dilapidated, but fortunately, the lower half was well-preserved, and it was densely covered with golden seal script.

Han Li quickly walked to the bottom of the stone tablet, and with just a glance, his whole body froze in place, unable to move a step.

"This is... Mantra Wheel Sutra technique!" He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

The words recorded on the broken stele were clearly divided into two sections, separated by a blank space.

Near the ground, in the area covered by some low weeds, the words recorded were very familiar to Han Li. It was the first level of the Mantra Wheel Sutra, and near the upper part was recorded the second level he had been dreaming of.

After just a cursory glance at the words above, he couldn't help but frown slightly, falling into deep thought.

Since the sect's Scripture Pavilion contains the Mantra Wheel Sutra technique, why would there be such a strange stone tablet here, and attract people here through such an obscure and strange method? Or, does the so-called second level of the technique in the Scripture Pavilion also need to be obtained here?

After all, entering this place also requires spending nine thousand merit points. Next time he goes to the Scripture Pavilion, he can inquire about it indirectly.

He had inadvertently discovered the hints on the Xuan Temple stone tablet and came to this place, not knowing whether it should be considered a stroke of luck...

This was the only reasonable explanation he could think of at the moment.

At this moment, a beam of white light suddenly lit up above his head. The white sparrow that had led him into this place earlier appeared out of thin air again, flying down to the broken stele and hopping around, pecking at the moss on the broken part of the stele.

Han Li looked towards the white sparrow, seeing that it was surrounded by a hazy light, seemingly illusory and real, making it difficult to see clearly.

Just as he was wondering, the white sparrow stopped pecking, turned to him, its beak opening and closing, and it actually spoke in human language: "What are you looking at? You only have half a day. Hurry up and memorize the technique!"

Han Li was immediately stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect that the white sparrow could actually speak human language. Although it seemed somewhat crude, it was obviously transformed by some kind of restriction, but it really made him feel quite surprised.

With this thought in mind, he couldn't help but glance at the white sparrow again.

"Still looking!" The white sparrow glared and shouted again.

Han Li quickly gave a wry smile, restrained his thoughts, and focused his attention on the stone tablet.

The second level of the Mantra Wheel Sutra was inherited from the first level. It was also written in golden seal script, and also in ancient style, so it was equally obscure and difficult to understand.

However, fortunately, with the foundation of practicing the first level of the technique, Han Li was not as clueless as he had been at the beginning, but the speed was slightly slower.

His lips moved slightly, and he followed the technique recorded on the stone tablet, reciting it word by word, while forcibly memorizing the contents of the technique in his mind with his powerful divine sense.

After about two hours, Han Li's forehead and temples were already slightly covered with sweat. He let out a long breath, finally managing to completely memorize the entire second level of the technique.

This second level of the Mantra Wheel Sutra comes with a secret technique called "Eye of Truth." According to the records, after mastering it, one would possess the supernatural power to see through illusions.

However, there was also a prerequisite for cultivating this secret technique, which was that the practitioner had to condense at least twelve Dao patterns on the Mantra Treasure Wheel.