Time flows, and a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside a secret chamber, Han Li sat cross-legged, the Mantra Treasure Wheel behind him slowly rotating, emitting a bright golden glow, with countless golden runes surging rapidly on its surface.

Suddenly, a strand of Time Dao Rune on the Mantra Treasure Wheel flickered. The surrounding golden runes brightened, gathering and merging into the Dao Rune.

The dim Time Dao Rune immediately brightened at a speed visible to the naked eye. After a few breaths, it returned to its original bright and agile state, but the other Dao Runes remained dim.

Han Li opened his eyes, looked at the restored Time Dao Rune, and let out a long breath. A heavy weight had finally been lifted from his heart.

These dim Time Dao Runes could indeed be restored. However, judging from the current situation, it would probably take about a year to restore each Dao Rune on the Treasure Wheel.

In other words, it would take at least a hundred years to restore all one hundred and eight Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasure Wheel to their original state.

During this period, cultivation would probably be significantly affected.

Han Li's eyes flickered, and he quickly shook his head.

A hundred years was just a blink of an eye. He could take this opportunity to thoroughly comprehend the eight and a half Mantra Incantations.

Over the past year, he hadn't yet figured out any clues, but he was increasingly convinced that as long as he gave it time, he would eventually comprehend something.

In the meantime, the problem of raw materials for refining pills could also be solved.

Thinking this, Han Li waved his hand and took out a jade box, which contained the six or seven pill formulas he had obtained from Ping Yaozi. Two of these formulas were suitable for True Immortal mid-stage cultivators. One was the Cheng Wan Pill that Ping Yaozi himself took, and the other was called the Yu Heng Pill.

He examined the materials required for the two pill formulas. None of them were particularly rare or difficult to find, but some of the spiritual herbs required a high age.

The Immortal Essence Stones and Spirit Stones he had accumulated from performing Uncommon Alliance missions had been mostly used up in previous pill refining. Although he still had some left, it was far from enough to buy enough pill refining materials for both pill formulas.

"Forget it, now that I need to quickly cast spells to restore the Dao Runes, I will temporarily refrain from condensing crystalline particles from the Green Liquid and use it to ripen spiritual herbs first..." Han Li thought to himself.

Speaking of which, the Palm Heaven Bottle resonated with the Mantra Treasure Wheel before, causing a sudden change that affected the Treasure Wheel, but the small bottle remained the same as before, with no abnormalities.

He would use the small bottle to ripen the main materials and some rare auxiliary materials from those two pill formulas.

Han Li stood up, walked out of the secret chamber, took out a communication array disc, and cast a spell.

A moment later, Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng arrived at the cave mansion hall and bowed to Han Li, who was sitting upright at the stone table:

"Greetings, Elder Li!"

"I will be in closed-door cultivation for a period of time. During this period, the two of you go out and collect some materials for me. Here is the list." Han Li gave each of them a jade slip, which contained some auxiliary materials for the two pill formulas, as well as some seeds of main and auxiliary materials.

The two took the jade slips and swept their divine senses into them. Expressions of surprise appeared on their faces at the same time.

Most of the materials inside were very precious, and it would not be easy to collect them.

"I know it's not easy to collect the items inside, but there's no rush. The two of you can take your time to find them. Just bring back a sufficient quantity within a hundred years. You can bring them back at any time if there is progress." Han Li said, taking out two storage bags filled with Spirit Stones.

"Yes." The two relaxed upon hearing this, took the storage bags, and nodded in agreement.

After the two bid farewell and left, Han Li also got up and walked towards the secret chamber...

Time flies like an arrow, and more than a hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The Zhongming Mountain Range remained the same as in the past, although some things had happened, some people had come, and some people had left, but for the entire Candle Dragon Dao, it was all normal. After all, as long as the thirteen Golden Immortal Dao Lords were still in charge, nothing mattered. Even if something happened, there would naturally be someone to take care of it.

The already remote Crimson Cloud Peak became even more silent. In addition, Han Li, the inner sect elder, was already low-key, so naturally, few people remembered him, and even fewer people came to visit.

Of course, even if someone did come to visit, they would find that Crimson Cloud Peak had long been sealed off.

A True Immortal sealing off a mountain for a hundred years of closed-door cultivation was a very common thing. For some True Immortal elders who were in life-or-death seclusion, a single seclusion of a thousand years, or even ten thousand years, was normal.

During this period, Han Li had hardly left the cave mansion, and had been wholeheartedly comprehending the eight and a half incantations he had heard from the big-eared monk, day after day, year after year.

The only time he stopped was mostly when Sun Buzheng or Meng Yungui occasionally returned, bringing back some seeds of main and auxiliary materials related to the pill formulas, and he would instruct the giant ape puppet to adjust things as needed.

Inside the secret chamber, the air was stagnant, and specks of dust floated in the air, as if frozen.

Han Li was dressed in a green robe, sitting cross-legged, with the Mantra Treasure Wheel behind him slowly rotating. All one hundred and eight Time Dao Runes on it were lit up, emitting waves of obvious Law fluctuations.

After a moment, he retracted the magic seal in his hand, and with a thought, the Treasure Wheel flashed and flew into his body.

As if a restriction had been suddenly lifted, the air in the secret chamber began to flow normally again, and the dust in the light fluttered freely.

"Finally, they're all restored..." Han Li exhaled, stood up, and walked out of the secret chamber.

The sky above Crimson Cloud Peak was clear and bright, as clear as his mood.

A round sun hung high in the sky, bringing some warmth to the snow-covered mountain peaks.

Han Li came out of the cave mansion, and with a flash of light, soared high into the air. He originally wanted to go directly to the valley he often went to, to try out the new supernatural power he had comprehended from the eight and a half incantations, but he inadvertently caught sight of Meng Qianqian and a group of five or six people gathered near the spiritual medicine field on the mountain.

So, he flickered and flew down towards them.

"Elder Li..." Seeing Han Li fly over, everyone hurried forward to pay their respects, respectfully calling out.

Han Li waved his hand, indicating that everyone didn't need to be so polite, but his gaze was cast towards the mountain-guarding beast in front.

He hadn't paid much attention to this beast since he adopted it, and had simply left it to the servants to take care of. He hadn't expected that this beast had unknowingly reached the mid-stage of Body Integration.

However, what caught his attention was not the two-headed lion-eagle beast, but a cyan strange bird riding on its neck.

The bird had an extraordinarily large head, a slender neck, and was nearly two zhang long. Its entire body was covered with arrow-like feathers, and it had a five-chi-sized pouch hanging in front of its chest.

It was riding on the back of a giant beast many times its size, looking around majestically, with an air of arrogance.

However, when Han Li's figure landed, the bird seemed to be greatly surprised, flapping its wings and a hint of fear flashed in its eyes.

After Meng Qianqian glanced at it, it calmed down, but its body was already lying prostrate on the lion-eagle beast, covering its head with its wings, and observing Han Li with its eyes.

"This is... Nian Yu?" Han Li turned his head to look at Meng Qianqian, and asked hesitantly.

"Yes, it's Nian Yu." Meng Qianqian nodded and replied with a smile.

"Oh, I didn't expect that after a hundred years, it's already close to the Nascent Soul stage?" Han Li asked.

"Yes. Elder Li, you don't know, it eats so much now, I'm afraid it has something to do with this... But besides feeding it the wind spirit grass from the spirit medicine garden, I haven't given it any other spirit grass or pills. It's just that it occasionally sneaks out of Crimson Cloud Peak, and as for what it eats outside, I don't know." Meng Qianqian turned her head to look at the cyan strange bird, and said.

Han Li pointed to the two-headed lion-eagle beast lying on the ground with little interest, and Nian Yu riding on its neck, and asked:

"What's going on with these two?"

"Two years ago, Nian Yu sneaked out of Crimson Cloud Peak once, and was chased by a Deity Transformation stage demon beast when it came back. At that time, the mountain-guarding beast took action... and ate the demon beast, saving it. After that, they seemed to become friends." Meng Qianqian explained.

"This little guy doesn't seem to be a fuel-efficient lamp either, it must have gone out to hunt demon beasts, and was chased back. By the way, haven't your brother and Sun Buzheng returned?" Han Li smiled upon hearing this, and then changed the subject.

"They came back seven or eight years ago. It seems that they both had some adventures on this trip. Not long after they returned, they both reached the point of breaking through the late Nascent Soul stage, and are now in closed-door cultivation. The spiritual medicines they brought back have already been planted in the spirit medicine garden, and by the way, there are these seeds." Meng Qianqian said, handing a storage bag to Han Li.

Han Li took the storage bag, released his divine sense to scan it, and then came to the spirit field, walked along the ridges, and nodded in satisfaction.

There were quite a few seeds and auxiliary materials that the two had brought back this time. As long as he spent some time, he could prepare at least dozens of sets of pill refining materials.

This was really not an easy task for them, which shows that they did their best to do it.

"They did a great job. I may have to go into seclusion again later. When they break through and leave seclusion, they may not be able to see me. These two bottles of pills are for stabilizing their realms. You can give them to them for me when the time comes." Han Li threw the pills to Meng Qianqian and said.

The latter quickly accepted them, bowed to Han Li, and said, "Qianqian thanks Elder Li on behalf of my brother and Sun Dage."

Han Li waved his hand casually, and then his hands lit up with a cyan light, reaching towards the spirit field.

As the ground shook slightly, more than a hundred spiritual medicines of various colors rose from the ground under the cover of cyan light. The leaves were still stained with dew, and the roots were still covered with soil. They all flew up into the air, following Han Li towards the direction of the cave mansion.

These spiritual medicines were not old enough, and still needed to be ripened with Green Liquid, so he had to transplant them all back to the medicine garden inside the cave mansion.