Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 74

“To think you’d act so recklessly with your meager skills! Junior Brother, I don’t know your name or background, but I can say for certain that you will die tonight!”

Senior Brother Yuk, who had been laughing maniacally, clasped his hands together, once again seizing the Azure Dragon Flag and swinging it with all his might. Now, even Han Li had to be on his guard. His opponent’s defense had exceeded his expectations. Although he didn’t know what function that enormous flag had, it was clear that a formidable attack was coming.

‘I need to use the talisman! Otherwise, I have no chance of winning.’

However, at his current level, he couldn’t simply use the talisman. When using a talisman, one had to perform a spell for a certain amount of time to control it. Therefore, it was a priority to focus on defense first.

The azure flag that Senior Brother Yuk was swinging was becoming increasingly radiant, with a blue aura surging from it. It seemed that it would start attacking soon. There was no time to hesitate. Han Li sent out the Steel Ring. The Steel Ring rose above his head and began to spin continuously.

“Grow.”

With Han Li’s command, it emitted a yellow light and rapidly expanded, stopping only when it reached the size of a table.

“Descend!”

Once again, following Han Li’s command, the Steel Ring fell vertically from above his head, forming a protective barrier that surrounded him.

Han Li didn’t stop there. He put away the bottle and took out the newly acquired shield, pouring magical power into it. Then, a black light shone brilliantly from the rippling blue barrier, and the shield grew to an enormous size and floated into the air.

Han Li had three layers of defense: the Steel Ring on the outermost layer, the Black Iron Flying Shield in the middle, and the blue barrier that had been protecting him from the beginning on the innermost layer.

* * *

Once all preparations were complete, Han Li finally relaxed and took out the talisman with the gray sword drawn on it, sitting cross-legged. He planned to use a spell as quickly as possible to launch an attack using the talisman.

At that moment, Senior Brother Yuk, having gathered enough spiritual energy into the Azure Dragon Flag, pointed the tip of the flag at Han Li with tremendous force. Simultaneously, dozens of crescent-shaped wind blades shot out from the flag, leaving blue trails behind them.

‘Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!’

The speed of the wind blades was unimaginable. They had been next to Senior Brother Yuk just moments ago, and now they were already near Han Li. He knew that wind-attribute spells were faster than other attributes, but this was probably more than twice as fast. If Han Li hadn’t prepared layers of defense in advance, he would have been torn to shreds by the wind blades.

The moment Han Li breathed a sigh of relief, the wind blades collided violently with the outermost Steel Ring, creating a chaotic shower of sparks.

When the sparks subsided, the surface of the Steel Ring, which had been so smooth, was now covered in wounds. The once pristine magical artifact was now a piece of junk.

It was fortunate that the Steel Ring had rotated, changing the impact surface. If it had continued to take the attack on one side, it would have already been destroyed. Both Han Li and Senior Brother Yuk were surprised by this outcome.

Han Li was worried that the expensive Steel Ring, which was known for its sturdiness, had been so badly damaged by the wind blades that it was now useless. He wondered if he could withstand the opponent’s continued attacks. Senior Brother Yuk was surprised because the wind blades he had just sent out seemed like basic low-level spells, but in reality, each one was equivalent to a mid-level spell. They were so powerful that they could be called indiscriminate bombardment, yet they couldn’t even break through Han Li’s outermost defense.

Seeing Han Li sitting motionless with layers of defense, Senior Brother Yuk thought that he was definitely preparing a finishing move. Without wasting any time, he frantically poured spiritual power into the flag and aimed it at Han Li again. This time, a continuous stream of wind blades was released.

These wind blades were relatively small, but their sheer number created a massive blue current.

Once again, they collided with Han Li’s Steel Ring, creating a fierce friction sound as blue and yellow lights sparked.

This time, the Steel Ring couldn’t hold out for long and shattered with a dull sound. The yellow light scattered, its lifespan exhausted.

The wind blade stream, now unimpeded, collided with another top-grade magical artifact, the Black Iron Flying Shield.

Once again, a roar echoed as a new battle between black and blue lights began. However, the Black Iron Flying Shield was different from the Steel Ring.

This shield was a top-grade magical artifact of the same level as the Azure Dragon Flag. It was something that not just anyone in the cultivation world could possess. It didn’t have any offensive power, but its defensive capabilities were outstanding.

Its defensive power was incomparable to the Steel Ring. Its material was sturdy, and several defensive spells were engraved on its surface, making its defensive power several times stronger.

Therefore, even with the onslaught of over a hundred wind blades, it floated calmly in the air, completely unmoved.

It was like a massive rock that stood firm even in a storm, emitting only a cool black light.

When Han Li successfully defended, Senior Brother Yuk was furious, but he only sneered outwardly.

He immediately shook his hands, stopping the wind blade stream. Then, white light flowed from his hands holding the flag, and the magical power within his body was being sucked into the flag like a flood.

Senior Brother Yuk’s face was pale from the enormous loss of magical power, but his expression was firm and vicious, as if he was about to end it all.

He muttered something and threw the Azure Dragon Flag into the air with all his might. Then, with quick hand movements, he formed a hand seal and pointed at the Azure Dragon Flag floating in the air.

“Transform into a Dragon!”

At this, the blue light that had been gathered in the Azure Dragon Flag spread out in all directions, instantly transforming into an enormous blue dragon.

The dragon was so lifelike that it seemed alive, with sharp teeth and claws, just like the dragon embroidered on the flag.

“Go.”

As Senior Brother Yuk pointed his finger forward, the dragon immediately bared its teeth and charged towards Han Li.

‘Thud!’

A deafening sound rang out as the dragon’s head collided with the Black Iron Flying Shield. At first, the blue and black lights seemed to expand simultaneously, creating an equal momentum, but soon the shield’s light weakened, and its disadvantage was visible to the naked eye. Just as the shield was about to meet the same fate as the Steel Ring, a clear voice came from behind it.

“Withdraw.”

At the same time, the shield returned to its original size and retreated, and the dragon rushed to swallow Han Li and the shield in one bite.

At this moment, a faint gray light emanated from Han Li, who was sitting on the ground, forming the shape of a giant sword. The gray light that shot out immediately was not at all inferior to the dragon in terms of power.

The shield, which had shrunk to the size of a palm, returned to Han Li’s storage pouch.

He had to focus all his power on controlling the talisman, so he didn’t have the capacity to use it.

The gray light that had been transformed from the talisman now looked completely different from when he had killed Huang Yi-in. Judging by how it was facing the dragon, its power had increased by at least three or four times.

When the merchant Jin Guang had controlled this talisman, it was only about an inch in size, but when Han Li used it after learning the control technique, it became several times larger.

And because his magical power was higher than when he had been attacked by Huang Yi-in, it had grown even larger as a result.

It was something that would catch anyone’s eye, but it remained to be seen whether it could withstand the fierce attack of the dragon transformed from the Azure Dragon Flag.

In this situation, the power of the magical treasure sealed within the talisman was important, but the purity and depth of the cultivator’s magical power using it were also important.

Only those with sufficient magical power could bring out the power of the talisman and extend its duration. If he were to operate such a talisman after succeeding in the Foundation Establishment stage, it was impossible to predict what kind of changes would occur.

* * *

Han Li and Senior Brother Yuk were constantly injecting magical power into the talisman and the Azure Dragon Flag, concentrating their minds to control them.

As a result, both of them had no room for other attacks in terms of mental or magical power. They were both clearly aware that the moment either of them lost strength or made a mistake, they would die.

Now, it had become a battle of whose magical power could last longer. Realizing this, both of them, as if by agreement, took out spirit stones to replenish their lost magical power.

When Senior Brother Yuk took out low-grade wind-attribute spirit stones, Han Li conspicuously took out mid-grade earth-attribute spirit stones. Senior Brother Yuk’s expression twisted at this. Mid-grade spirit stones replenished lost magical power faster than low-grade spirit stones.

However, no matter how much they replenished their magical power, there was no way to completely replace the massive amount of magical power that was being lost every moment. Once he had calculated this, Senior Brother Yuk regained his composure and focused his mind.

However, suddenly, the blue barrier that had been covering Han Li’s body disappeared, and his entire body was exposed to Senior Brother Yuk. Senior Brother Yuk was quite intelligent, but this action left him dumbfounded. He couldn’t figure out what his opponent was planning.

‘Does he not think he’ll die from my wind blades?’

Senior Brother Yuk quickly pondered this, and without hesitating for long, he boldly extended his left hand and formed a hand seal in the air, and a light blue wind blade began to form.

However, before the wind blade could fully materialize, the giant sword that had been facing the dragon broke away from Senior Brother Yuk’s dragon and flew towards him.

Senior Brother Yuk was shocked. If he waited for the wind blade to fully form, he might be able to end Han Li’s life. But at the same time, he would not be able to protect himself from the giant sword’s attack, and it would be a mutual destruction.

Although the wind barrier in front of him had not dissipated, the giant sword, which was on par with the dragon, would easily tear through the wind barrier and kill him. This was not the outcome Senior Brother Yuk wanted.

Without much thought, Senior Brother Yuk waved his left hand, scattering the wind blade’s hand seal, and poured all the magical power in his body to summon the dragon. The wind-attribute dragon flew like the wind, blocking the giant sword and returning to a standoff. Senior Brother Yuk was sweating profusely, having barely managed to block his opponent’s move.

After that, he tried to attack Han Li whenever he had the chance, but he couldn’t find a way to deal with Han Li, who responded in the same way every time.

As time went on, Senior Brother Yuk tried to calm his frustrated mind and had no choice but to rely on his deep magical power to endure.

At this time, Han Li was frantically chewing and swallowing strange, weed-like things from his storage pouch. A bad feeling flashed through his mind at this bizarre behavior, but he couldn’t find a way to deal with it. As time passed, Senior Brother Yuk’s face fell.

In the final moment, the blue light began to scatter from the dragon’s body first, but the gray giant sword was still emitting a brilliant light. Senior Brother Yuk, who had lost his composure due to fear, shouted.

“This can’t be! My magical power is clearly far superior to yours, and even if those spirit stones are helping you, this shouldn’t be possible! Your magical power should have been exhausted long before mine!”

As the dragon began to lose its power, Senior Brother Yuk’s shout was filled with desperation.

Han Li had no intention of explaining the reason to Senior Brother Yuk. His own magical power was also depleted and he didn’t have much left, so it was urgent for him to deal with his opponent.

# 76