As Han Li inspected the diagram on the ground and the armored warriors, he couldn't help but look up toward the section of the sky that the silver halberds were pointing toward.
There, he discovered a golden ball of light that was situated at an indeterminate altitude. The ball of light was slowly revolving in a mysterious manner and created a stark contrast with the azure sky around it.
This immediately made Han Li think of spatial nodes. Even though that ball of light wasn't an actual spatial node, it was definitely something that was similar to a spatial rift.
Han Li appraised the golden ball of light as blue light flashed through his eyes, immediately following which a hint of bewilderment appeared on his face. Could it be that it led to some other mysterious place?
After a long while, he withdrew his gaze, having discovered nothing else, and began to inspect the nine armored warriors.
These armored warriors were all shimmering with silver light and wore suits of uniform silver armor. However, their suits of armor and halberds were all constructed in the simplistic style that was unique to ancient treasures, and there were countless runes inscribed all over them. In particular, there were a few indistinct yet profound golden runes on a few important areas, and it was clearly golden seal text.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly raised a hand before flicking a finger gently toward one of the armored warriors.
A streak of sword Qi that was around as thick as a finger shot forth and reached the armored warrior's shoulder in a flash, yet just as it seemed that it was going to puncture through the armor warrior's shoulder without any impediment, an astonishing scene ensued.
The statuesque armored warrior's silver halberd suddenly moved like lightning, striking the azure sword Qi and dispersing it with a single blow.
Han Li's expression changed upon seeing this, and he retreated back a few steps. At the same time, he waved a hand in front of him to conjure up a grey light barrier before looking on in a cautious manner.
However, in the next instant, the silver armored warrior merely withdrew its halberd and adopted its original pose again.
"So these really are puppets!" Han Li murmured to himself as his expression eased slightly.
He didn't know just how powerful these puppets were, but the fact that they were still able to move without being controlled after so many years was already quite astonishing.
However, it was exactly because Han Li had ascertained that these puppets didn't possess any spiritual nature that he was led to heave a faint sigh of relief.
No matter how powerful a puppet was, it was simply a mindless object without anyone to control it, so there was nothing for him to fear.
Thus, Han Li paid no further heed to them and lowered his head to carefully inspect the massive starry sky diagram underfoot.
In the beginning, the diagram merely struck him as something that was very mundane and ordinary. However, after inspecting it for a while longer, he suddenly felt the diagram blur, following it seemed to have sprung to life.
The surrounding scenes blurred, and he found himself situated in a profound alternate world beneath the starry sky.
The sun and moon that were originally still and lifeless suddenly began to release golden and silver light, and under their illumination, all of the other stars also began to glow with cold white light while revolving rhythmically around the sun and moon.
At the same time, the sun and moon themselves were also fluctuating in size and altitude in a continuous loop, seemingly depicting the passage of time. Some periods were slow and peaceful while others rushed by in a flash.
Han Li looked on calmly at this unfolding scene, which seemed to contain the true laws of heaven and earth, and his mind was completely blank. He wasn't thinking of anything, nor did he want to think anything; he was merely being passively being taken along for the ride.
10 years, 100 years, 1,000 years... It was as if an eternity had passed by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, his entire body shuddered as a surge of refreshing coolness surged out of his dantian, then revolved throughout his head along his meridians.
Under the stimulus from that burst of cold energy, Han Li let loose a faint groan and finally returned to his sense, thereby snapping back to reality.
Almost at the exact same moment, the entire starry sky seemed to have sensed something, and it shattered before vanishing as fragments of light.
When Han Li completely reawakened, he was still standing on the tall platform, looking down at the starry sky diagram on the ground. The eternity that he felt as if had just transpired had actually only lasted the span of a few breaths.
Han Li immediately drew a sharp breath as he hurriedly withdrew his gaze from the diagram. This starry sky diagram was imbued with an extremely powerful illusionary formation that was well beyond his realm of comprehension.
Even with his powerful spiritual sense, he was drawn into it without being able to offer any resistance, and if it weren't for the fact that his Great Development Technique had activated of its own accord to drag him back to reality, he would've still been standing on the spot in a completely entranced state.
The illusionary formation that he had just experienced had been so realistic, and the concepts of reality and illusion filled him with quite a conflicted and complex feeling.
Even though his mental fortitude was far superior to that of the average person, he still couldn't help but be affected by that experience.
He furrowed his brows tightly as he closed his eyes and continued to activate the Great Development Technique, alleviating the irregular emotions in his heart little by little. Only after a long while did he manage to just bare repress his massive emotional fluctuations, upon which he opened his eyes again.
On this occasion, he naturally didn't dare to look at the starry sky diagram again. Instead, he stood on the spot with a vacant expression for a long while before heaving a long sigh as his expression gradually returned to normal.
He could sense that even though what he had just experienced had been extremely perilous, it had also provided a rare opportunity for him to refine his mental state, and it had therefore significantly benefited his mental fortitude. Even his spiritual sense seemed to have become slightly more powerful.
Could it be that this starry sky diagram was actually a special restriction designed to refine one's willpower rather than just simple illusionary formation? Seeing as this diagram was so profound, it only made sense that the item positioned at the center of the platform would be quite extraordinary as well.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately turned and began to appraise the green taishi chair sitting at the center of the stone platform.
The material used to construct the chair was neither wooden nor metallic in nature, but it was entirely green in color, and there was a layer of translucent light shimmering from its surface.
Han Li suddenly began to stare intently at the chair as a stunned look appeared on his face.
A series of shimmering silver runes suddenly appeared on a previously empty chair, and there were only just over 100 runes in total, but all of them were beveled silver text.
With Han Li's photographic memory, he was naturally able to memorize them in the blink of an eye, but he had no idea how they had appeared.
Moments later, all of these silver runes shattered before vanishing into the chair down below as specks of spiritual light.
Han Li continued to stare at the chair, but his mind had already wandered to the string of text that he had just memorized.
A short while later, his expression changed slightly, and he discovered that the string of text was nothing more than an extremely simple activation incantation. There was no beginning and no end, and there weren't even any annotations.
How peculiar!
Han Li was rather hesitant as he glanced at the nine armored puppets, then up at the golden ball of light in the sky. He then turned his attention back to the starry sky diagram and the green taishi chair as he carefully read through the incantation in his mind.
He stroked his chin, and a contemplative look appeared on his face as he formed a rough judgment.
All of a sudden, he made a hand seal, and bright golden light erupted from his body. Golden scales also appeared over the surface of his skin, and he activated his Provenance True Devil Arts once again.
Immediately thereafter, he let loose a low cry, and a golden figure emerged from behind him, then transformed into the golden body projection in a flash.
Han Li then laid a hand onto the top of his own head, and a streak of black light flew forth before vanishing into the golden body. That was none other than his second Nascent Soul, Little Black.
As soon as the Nascent Soul entered the golden body, one of the clear faces on the three heads abruptly attained a pair of intelligent inky-black eyes that were identical to those of a normal person.
A flash of golden light then appeared, following which the fiendcelestial-like golden body drifted down onto the ground before landing in front of Han Li.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and his body blurred before he vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, a figure abruptly appeared in the air around 300 feet away from the tall platform. It was none other than Han Li, and he was hovering in a stationary manner with his hands clasped behind his back.
He had already discovered that as soon as he entered the space within the screen, the flight restrictions had disappeared. That was why he was able to rise up into the air to appraise everything that was transpiring on the platform.
He issued an instruction to his second Nascent Soul, and the golden body suddenly made hand seals with all six of its hands at once. A profound incantation was then uttered by the head with the pair of intelligent black eyes.
The incantation was uttered very slowly, but every single syllable was pronounced in a very clear manner, and this was none other than the beveled silver text incantation that had appeared on the taishi chair. A mere activation incantation naturally wasn't going to stump a Spatial Tempering Stage being like him. However, here in this strange space, he didn't dare to use his true body to activate this nameless incantation.
However, he could do so using his second Nascent Soul and his golden body, and that combination was far better able to defend itself in the face of danger than he was.
Furthermore, using his second Nascent Soul to utter this incantation definitely produced an identical effect to utter this incantation himself, so this was naturally the perfect substitute.
The incantation continued, and in the blink of an eye, the second Nascent Soul had already completed the entire incantation. However, no changes had appeared on the stone platform.
The golden body stood silently on the platform in a completely expressionless and stationary manner.
Han Li's eyelids twitched slightly upon seeing this, and a hint of confusion flashed through his eyes.
However, after a brief moment of contemplation, he immediately instructed the second Nascent Soul to utter the incantation a second time.
Thus, after around 10 minutes, the second Nascent Soul had uttered the incantation through the golden body three times in succession.
However, after the third time the incantation was completed, the nine silver armored puppets and the golden ball of light up above still didn't display any changes, as if the incantation had had no effect at all.