With a flash of golden light, the Mantra Treasure Wheel disappeared without a trace, merging into Han Li's body.

Han Li groaned, spitting out a mouthful of black blood.

He opened his eyes, his protective azure light flickering wildly, seemingly about to shatter, as the meridians and joints throughout his body trembled violently.

Alarmed, he swiftly made a series of hand gestures, and the azure light around him gradually stabilized.

Then, he took a medicinal pill and swallowed it, his expression shifting between shades of uncertainty.

Just now, he had never felt so close to the power of the law of time, almost touching the existence revered as one of the three supreme laws.

However, in the end, it was still a failure.

Though infinitely close, there was always that sliver of separation preventing him from crossing the threshold.

"How could this be?" Han Li muttered to himself, his eyes flashing.

According to the "Mantra Wheel Transformation Scripture," cultivating the first level to perfection should allow one to attempt to comprehend the power of the law of time. Of course, whether or not one succeeds is another matter entirely.

But he had the support of the green liquid condensed within the Palm Heaven Bottle, so in theory, it should be easier for him to succeed.

Perhaps there's something more I need to do?

He pondered, flipping his hand to take another pill, and azure light reappeared on his body.

A month later.

Han Li held a small bottle containing another drop of green liquid that had condensed within.

He looked at the liquid in the bottle without hesitation and swallowed it again.

In the next moment, a dazzling golden light appeared behind him, and the Mantra Treasure Wheel emerged, emitting a brilliant golden light, with the power of the law of time surging forth.

He held an immortal essence stone in each hand, chanting incantations, the golden light on his body growing brighter, and the law of time vaguely began to converge.

At that moment, the golden light on the Mantra Treasure Wheel flickered suddenly, and a cracking sound echoed as cracks appeared on its surface.

The surging power of the law of time dissipated, and the Mantra Treasure Wheel vanished in a flash.

Han Li opened his eyes, his face unusually grim.

One time could be considered a coincidence, but after this happened twice in a row, it seemed his current time power was truly insufficient to support his comprehension of the law of time.

In that case, he could only consider exchanging for the second level of the "Mantra Wheel Transformation Scripture" first.

Thinking this, Han Li flipped his hand and took another pill.

Several months later.

The eastern part of the Bell Toll Mountain Range welcomed a prolonged snowfall, covering the entire mountain range with a thick layer of snow. The Crimson Glow Peak, devoid of fire miasma, was also covered in snow, adorned in a silver-clad outfit.

In the spirit herb garden on the peak, Meng Yungui, dressed in a silver-gray robe, was squatting beside a spirit field planted with dozens of Vitality Spirit Grasses, checking the nurturing formations arranged around them.

This spirit grass was originally a native species of Crimson Glow Peak, fond of warmth and averse to cold. Without the protection of the fire miasma, it now needed the protection of formations to grow safely.

"Brother, when do you think Li Chang will return?" Meng Qianqian, dressed in a vibrant green dress, stood beside him, bending over slightly, watching him inspect the formation foundation, her eyes wandering aimlessly.

At this moment, her eyes were bright and lively, her aura restrained, and her jade-like countenance appeared even more radiant and captivating.

"Qianqian, are you really my sister? I didn't see you miss me so much when I went out to find spirit herb seeds for Elder Li..." Meng Yungui turned to look at her, feigning anger.

"Hehe, of course not... I just want to tell Elder Li as soon as possible that I'm already a Transformation God stage cultivator. Brother, you have to work hard too." Meng Qianqian giggled, trying to defend herself.

Meng Yungui shook his head helplessly. He didn't know where his sister had obtained such an opportunity. Since successfully condensing her nascent soul, her cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. Now, she had even surpassed him, successfully entering the Transformation God stage not long ago.

Seeing his sister achieve such success naturally filled him with joy and happiness for her.

However, he didn't want to overly praise his precious sister to her face, lest she become too proud. After all, although she had been in the world of cultivation for hundreds of years, her mind was still simple. He didn't want his words to destabilize her Dao heart.

With this in mind, he continued his work.

Outside the spirit herb garden, in an open space, the mountain-guarding spirit beast, as large as a small mountain, raised its two heads high and sneezed loudly before lowering them listlessly again, lying prone on the ground.

But before it could settle down, its two heads were raised high again, looking towards the sky.

Above the horizon, an azure light sped past and flew towards Crimson Glow Peak. The mountain-sealing formation enveloping the peak flashed and disappeared like melting snow, and the azure figure landed near the mansion.

Meng Yungui straightened up and exchanged a glance with his sister. Both of them looked pleased and quickly flew towards the mansion.

When the two returned to the mansion, Sun Bu Zheng had already summoned the others. Everyone gathered in the hall, waiting for Han Li, who had just returned to the sect, to give instructions.

However, he simply asked about the situation on Crimson Glow Peak, gave everyone some pills and artifacts, and then hurriedly left the mansion. This left Meng Qianqian, who had been looking forward to his return, feeling somewhat depressed, and she didn't even have time to tell him about her improvement in cultivation.

Meanwhile, Han Li left Crimson Glow Peak and flew to the nearby Lin Chuan Hall before immediately heading to Jing Yun Peak.

In a side hall of the Tai Xuan Hall's back hall, a plump deacon elder sat behind a desk, taking the elder token that Han Li handed over. He said with a smile,

"Elder Li has worked hard. The two elders who went to Floating Mountain Secret Realm to replace you sent a message back a few days ago. The conclusion of the investigation is basically consistent with your previous report. The sect recognizes that you protected the yield of spirit herbs during this incident and made a great contribution. Therefore, in addition to the duty remuneration, you will be rewarded with an additional five hundred merit points."

"Thank you," Han Li said with a slight bow, smiling.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the deacon elder, Han Li took back his elder token and left the hall after saying goodbye.

The hall doors slowly closed behind him, but Han Li was already calculating in his mind. He had accumulated a lot of merit points from the previous series of tasks. Adding the merit points from this duty task and the reward, he had accumulated nearly four thousand points.

The number seemed quite considerable, but it was still far from the nine thousand merit points required to exchange for the second level of the Mantra Treasure Wheel Scripture.

Han Li paced slowly, walking towards the front hall, thinking about ways to make up for the five thousand merit points.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he remembered something.

On the dark golden stone wall in the Tai Xuan Hall, there was a red-letter task to cultivate the "Mantra Wheel Transformation Scripture" to the second level, and the reward for this task was exactly five thousand merit points.

Han Li was immediately overjoyed and quickly passed through the hall doors in front of him, arriving below the dark golden stone wall in the hall.

The hall was still as lively as ever, and even below the dark golden stone wall at the innermost part, there were more than a dozen inner sect elders gathered, all looking up at the tasks on the stone wall.

Han Li ignored the others and looked directly at the red-letter tasks. He quickly found the extremely concise task in between two tasks with complex explanations. It was still so inconspicuous.

There were only a dozen words, but Han Li stared at them for nearly half an hour.

It wasn't that he didn't have the qualifications to exchange, but he was worried that if he publicly exchanged it here, others would notice it, and his progress in cultivating the Mantra Wheel Transformation Scripture would be exposed.

After all, although there were many people who cultivated this technique, there were probably very few who succeeded. Moreover, his progress was truly shocking. Even ordinary True Immortal Realm cultivators might not have a tenth of his achievements, even after spending ten or even hundreds of thousands of years.

According to Fang Zhuan's description of this technique back then, once he revealed that he had cultivated to the second level, it would definitely set off an unpredictable storm within the Candle Dragon Dao.

At that time, not to mention how the sect's Golden Immortals would treat him, just attracting countless gazes was something he didn't want to see.

Thinking of this, Han Li felt a headache coming on. Not only could he not exchange for these five thousand merit points now, but even if he managed to save up enough merit points in the future, he seemed to be unable to exchange for the second level of the technique openly and legitimately in the Merit Transmission Hall.

That would be no different from standing in the square and telling others that he had cultivated the "Mantra Wheel Transformation Scripture" to the second level. If he didn't have to cultivate the second level, who would spend nine thousand contribution points to exchange it for no reason?

Could it be... could he only steal it?

Thinking of this method, Han Li couldn't help but shake his head, and he directly rejected this idea.

After all, this Candle Dragon Dao was not comparable to the Cold Flame Sect in the Spirit寰界. In addition to those deputy Dao Lords, there were also a group of terrifying Golden Immortals stationed there. Moreover, the Merit Transmission Hall was clearly not an ordinary place and must have powerful restrictions. Trying to steal the sect's town-protecting technique from there would be tantamount to seeking death.

But if he were to give up without exchanging it, Han Li was truly unwilling, since a large part of the reason he joined the Candle Dragon Dao was precisely for this "Mantra Treasure Wheel Scripture" technique.

After thinking for a long time, Han Li turned around and walked out of the hall.

Half a day later, a scholar dressed with a feather fan and a turban slowly stepped into the Tai Xuan Hall.

He walked leisurely to the dark golden stone wall and looked up with the several inner sect elders around him. His arrival, although attracting the attention of a few people around him, only caused them to glance at him before turning away.

The scholar stood in place for a while, and when the people around him were not paying attention, he flipped his hand and took out an elder token, pointing it at the dark golden stone wall in the void.

Immediately, a light flew out from the stone wall and landed on his token.

This person was Han Li, disguised by the Faceless Alliance mask.

After thinking about it again and again, he decided to take the reward for this task first. It would be foolish not to take it, as it was a full five thousand merit points.

He sensed slightly, and the merit points recorded in the token had already become nine thousand one hundred and thirty-two points.

This exchange task was hidden in the area where the red-letter tasks were issued, which was originally a place that everyone did not pay much attention to. At this moment, the elders below the dark golden stone wall were either talking to each other or busy searching for suitable tasks. They did not notice at all which task the light had flown out from just now.

And he came here with this appearance, so even if someone noticed, naturally no one would recognize him. As long as he was not discovered in person, then this matter would naturally not be discovered too much. If someone really discovered something, he would just leave.

Han Li casually put away the token in his hand, breathed a slight sigh of relief, and turned around to leave the Tai Xuan Hall.

But at the moment he turned around, he suddenly tensed up, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the row of red words on the stone wall seemed to have changed...