"Looks like not only has the core pattern of the Dream Concealment Rune been revealed this time, even the entire formation has been revealed," Daoist Xie praised as he looked at the golden stone platform.
"In that case, let's see how we can crack it, Fellow Daoist Xie," Han Li said with a smile.
"Judging from the repaired stamen, it should be the most special type of Dream Concealment Rune, the Nine Awakening Rune. It's a good thing that we didn't use brute force. Otherwise, if the entire formation were to be activated, the entire secret realm would be in chaos.
However, now that we've figured out the base of the formation, it'll be much easier to crack it, "Daoist Xie mused.
With that said, he borrowed a few formation flags and magic tools from Han Li. His figure then blurred, and he began to shuttle back and forth through the ruins of the city, busily setting them up.
Han Li waited patiently on the spot.
About 15 minutes later, Daoist Xie returned to the stone platform with a white jade plate that was engraved with complex patterns in his hand.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't ask any questions.
Daoist Xie paused momentarily in front of the stone platform before making his way over to the center of the platform, where the stamen of the Dream Cloud Flower was located. He placed the jade plate in the middle of the platform, where the stamen of the Dream Cloud Flower was located.
"The original patterns have been destroyed, so I made a replacement using jade stones. Hopefully, it'll work," Daoist Xie explained.
After that, he made a gesture with his hand. After a low chant, he raised his palm and slammed it toward the center of the stone platform.
A burst of golden light shot forth from his palm into the stone platform, and the entire stone platform tremored violently amid a burst of piercing golden light.
The Dream Concealment Rune on the platform glowed brightly, and a layer of golden light rose up into the air.
As it flew higher and higher, the light grew brighter and brighter. In the end, it turned into a huge flower that could cover the entire ruined city and floated in the air above the secret realm.
The golden patterns on the nine petals all intersected with one another at the base of the formation, and Daoist Xie had already set up formation flags at those locations.
When the Dream Concealment Rune released hundreds of golden threads to connect with the formation flags at the base of the formation, golden light erupted from the stamen at the center of the flower, and a golden pillar of light descended toward the center of the stone platform.
"Bang!" A muffled sound rang out.
Under the illumination of the golden pillar of light, spiderweb-like golden patterns instantly appeared beneath the stone platform, but on this occasion, they only flickered a few times before disappearing on their own.
Then, the sound of rocks rubbing against each other rang out, and the entire stone platform split into two from the center, splitting to the sides, revealing a five feet wide hole.
When Han Li saw this, he walked forward to take a look. He saw that it was pitch-black inside, and he could only feel a gust of wind blowing against him.
His brows furrowed slightly as he waved a hand through the air, and seven or eight crimson fireballs the size of human heads appeared out of thin air before crashing into the ground, then bounced a few times before rolling deep into the hole.
With the help of the fireball technique's light, Han Li was able to see that the cave wasn't very deep. It was only about a hundred meters deep and there were stone slabs at the bottom. There seemed to be a passageway, but it clearly wasn't the exit to the small secret realm.
"Looks like we'll have to go through some trouble to get out of here," Han Li sighed.
"This place has been sealed with a formation set up with Dream Concealment Rune, so there must be something else inside. Perhaps there are even greater opportunities waiting for you," Daoist Xie said.
"Han doesn't really care about opportunities; my top priority right now is to get out of here as soon as possible," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"Even though I didn't expend much energy guarding you, I've been out here for over a decade, so I need to go back and rest. Summon me when you need me," Daoist Xie said.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Xie," Han Li said in a sincere manner.
Daoist Xie waved a hand, and his body lit up as he flew into Han Li's sleeve as a wisp of golden light.
Han Li focused his gaze and immediately leaped into the hole.
After landing on the ground, he soon discovered that the ground beneath his feet and the walls beside him were extremely flat, and there was a passageway that led deep into the darkness before him. The passageway was over six feet tall and six feet wide.
Blue light lit up in his eyes, and he abruptly released his Divine Sense into the depths of the passageway.
Upon doing so, Han Li discovered that there was a massive underground palace underground that was comparable in size to a city on the surface.
Due to the concealment of the Dream Concealment Rune, he was unable to detect anything, but now, he was able to see everything.
Han Li walked along the passageway for a few hundred steps before arriving at the end of the path, upon which he was greeted by a bare stone wall.
He pressed a hand against the stone wall before giving it a forceful shove.
A rumbling sound immediately rang out from within the passageway, and the entire stone wall slowly receded several feet to reveal a horizontal passageway.
Han Li stood at the center of the passageway, and he looked around before making his way toward the right.
The passageway on the right wasn't very long, and it only took him just over a hundred steps to reach its end. However, there was no fork on this side, and instead, there was a small room that was around the size of a normal guest room.
Han Li pushed open the stone door of the room and walked in.
In contrast to the pitch-black passageway outside, there were a dozen or so palm-sized fluorescent stones embedded into the roof of the room, and they shone down with a cold white light, illuminating the entire room.
Han Li swept his gaze through the room, and he was greeted by a panoramic view of the furnishings in the room.
There was an inky-black wooden shelf in the corner of the room, and it had already decayed beyond recognition. All of the bottles and jars stored on it had fallen to the ground, and they were mixed with sawdust, giving off an indescribable odor.
Han Li casually waved his hand, and a black porcelain bottle flew out from the mud-like rotten wood and hovered in front of him.
He hooked his finger upwards, and the cork of the porcelain bottle flew off by itself, and a strange medicinal fragrance came out from inside.
Han Li frowned and sniffed for a moment, then he sighed softly and put his hand back into his sleeve.
The black porcelain bottle fell straight to the ground, making a crisp sound, and rolled to the side.
What was originally hidden inside was a kind of medicinal pill that could be used by a True Immortal cultivator, but because it had been stored for too long, the originally condensed fragrance was now overflowing. It could be seen that the medicinal efficacy had already dissipated, and it was no longer useful.
After Han Li carefully glanced around, he found that there was really nothing useful inside, so he turned around and left the room, walking toward the other end of the passageway.
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, he came to the front of another stone door. At a glance, he found that the door was engraved with a simple and complicated sealing talisman.
He hesitated for a moment, then his five fingertips lit up with a five-colored light ball, and he pressed it toward the door.
When the five-colored spiritual light hit the door, the talisman lines that almost covered the entire stone door began to shrink back to the center, and finally turned into a strange circular ancient pattern.
Han Li's palm pressed the ancient pattern again, and the stone door rumbled and lifted up.
As the stone door was lifted, there was a glimmer of light coming out from inside.
Han Li subconsciously turned his wrist, and a burst of blue light overflowed from his palm, and there was already a Green Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
When the stone door was completely lifted, he found that it was still a long and narrow passageway, but on both sides of the stone wall, there was a stone trough, which seemed to be filled with the fat of some kind of flood dragon fish, slowly burning, releasing a dim light.
The air was filled with a faint fishy smell, and Han Li wrinkled his nose and continued to walk forward.
From here on, the number of forks along the way increased, and the number of small rooms and side halls also increased, but most of the furnishings inside were simple, and there was almost nothing useful.
In the beginning, Han Li would personally explore it, but later on, he almost only used his Divine Sense to scan it, and if there was no special fluctuation, he would ignore it and directly go to the next place.
After a few hours, Han Li walked out of a stone door and came to a straight passageway with a width of 30 feet.
At the end of the passageway was a tall palace gate. The two doors, which were about ten feet tall, were tightly closed, and the top half of the gate was split in half. On both sides of the gate, there was a relief sculpture of half a ferocious beast's head, and a series of twisted patterns extended from it, wrapping the entire gate.
Han Li did not recognize this beast, but he could also see that it was not a simple talisman.
So he made a hand gesture, and the golden light behind him shone brightly, and directly used the Eye of Truth to explore.
After a moment, he put away the Wheel of Truth, frowned and thought for a while, and then began to crack it.
As a spell flew out and hit on the stone door, the talisman on the door began to light up with a layer of dark yellow light, and the two eyes of the beast's head also lit up like pearls.
A barely audible roar rang out from within the stone gate, following which a beast projection pounced down from above, and Han Li hurriedly evaded to the side to evade it.
After the strange beast phantom flew a few feet away, the light scattered, and disappeared.
The light of the talisman on the stone door immediately disappeared, and the eyes of the strange beast dimmed again.
Han Li strode forward and pressed his palm against one of the stone doors. He exerted force in his arm and pushed the door inward, opening up a gap that was several feet wide.
Through the crack, Han Li could see a dim light seeping out of the hall, casting a blurry silhouette on the ground in front of him.
He frowned, and the power of Divine Sense explored it. After a careful search, he did not find anything unusual.
But when his figure flashed, and after entering the hall, he could not help but be a little stunned on the spot.
In the hall, there were grayish-white stone statues almost as tall as a person everywhere. With the light from the braziers on the wall, Han Li roughly counted seven or eight statues.
What he saw outside the door just now were the projections of the two stone statues near the stone door of the hall.
Han Li walked towards the center of the hall, and carefully looked at these stone statues. After a careful look, he found that these stone statues seemed to be the supporting stone pillars of the hall.