Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 188

When Han Li didn’t argue back and remained obedient, Nangong Bing, Nangong Wan’s cousin, seemed surprised. She snorted coldly before speaking,

“Since I’ve already slapped you, let’s settle the debt from yesterday. I’ll give you two options, so choose one.

First, you can receive a sufficient amount of spirit stones, and we’ll consider the matter of taking your magical power as if it never happened.

Second, you can join me in retreating with our sect. After the six major sects have stabilized, I’ll find you a suitable cultivation partner along with some spirit pills to restore you to your original state. Since you’ve lost your original magical power, you can cultivate again and advance without any obstacles.

You should be able to return to your original cultivation level in about 20 years. In the meantime, if I’m in a good mood, I might even teach you some of our sect’s secret techniques.

Our Eomwol Sect isn’t like the Hwangpung Valley, which gathers all sorts of miscellaneous cultivation methods. We have a collection of unique secret techniques with mysterious powers. The technique I used to absorb your magical power yesterday is one of them.”

Nangong Bing finished speaking arrogantly and waited for Han Li’s choice. Han Li was a bit bewildered. Anyone could tell that she was emphasizing the latter of the two options.

The first option was to take the spirit stones and disappear, while the second was not only to help him regain his original cultivation level but also to provide him with a cultivation partner and the Eomwol Sect’s secret techniques. No matter how he thought about it, it seemed like she was deliberately leading him to choose the latter.

It felt as if she had set a trap and was just waiting for him to fall into it. Han Li looked at Nangong Bing with questioning eyes.

Indeed, he could sense some complex emotions in her eyes, and she even seemed a bit anxious.

Han Li crossed his arms and fell into thought. When Han Li still didn’t speak after a long time, Nangong Bing couldn’t help but urge him.

“Why haven’t you decided yet?”

At her urging, Han Li raised his head, looked into her eyes, and calmly replied.

“I’ve decided. I’ll choose the first option, so please give me the spirit stones. Restoring my original cultivation is something I’ll take care of myself, so there’s no need for you to worry about it, Senior.”

Nangong Bing’s expression became a bit strange upon hearing Han Li’s decision. She stared intently at Han Li’s face before suddenly throwing a red storage pouch at him.

“Here are the spirit stones. There are also some materials you often use, so take them.”

Her voice was a bit somber. Han Li wasn’t interested in her tone and immediately used his consciousness to examine the storage pouch.

As he expected from the mention of materials, it contained not only dozens of low-grade spirit stones but also all sorts of miscellaneous materials, which pleased him.

He raised his head to look at Nangong Bing.

“Senior, if you happen to have any primal jade [a type of jade with high spiritual energy], could you spare a little?”

She seemed a bit puzzled by his straightforward request, but she silently rummaged through the storage pouch and handed him several pieces of white jade. With this, he had once again obtained the materials to repair the teleportation array.

Seeing Han Li happily counting the materials, Nangong Bing said expressionlessly.

“If you have no other business, I’ll be leaving first.”

“Ah… I don’t think there’s anything else to bother you with.”

After hearing Han Li’s words, she snorted and immediately turned to leave. However, she turned her head again at the entrance of the cave.

“Making such a choice, I don’t know if you’re really stupid or just arrogant!”

She didn’t wait for Han Li’s reaction and was about to fly away. However, Han Li’s calm voice was heard from behind her.

“Senior, please don’t forget to send my regards to Nangong Wan.”

Nangong Bing paused at those words but disappeared without another word, turning into a streak of white light. It was unclear whether that was an affirmation or a denial.

After confirming that she had disappeared, Han Li smiled wryly and scratched his nose. Then, he sat back down on the floor, looking dazed.

He was still bewildered as to how his magical power had been stolen and his cultivation had regressed. For the Eomwol Sect to have such a vicious technique, weren’t they no different from the Black Fiend Cult’s leader?

However, Han Li didn’t know that her technique had many limitations. If it didn’t, the Eomwol Sect would have long been branded as enemies of the cultivation world for using evil arts.

It was only due to a series of coincidences that Nangong Bing was able to absorb his true essence.

She had forcefully used her secret technique to draw out magical power, which had severely damaged her nascent soul [the core of a cultivator’s spiritual power]. If things continued like this, she would barely maintain her Core Formation stage, and she was on the verge of losing the magical power she had cultivated for decades.

She thought that if she lost consciousness, she would naturally fall into the hands of the demonic cultivators, so she gritted her teeth and activated the Samsara True Art [a powerful, dangerous technique].

By doing this, the moment someone tried to explore her body using spiritual power, they would instead be subjected to a powerful suction force, losing their true essence cultivation.

In fact, it was fortunate that she regained consciousness quickly and stopped the technique. Han Li, who only had a Qi Condensation stage cultivation, was almost killed.

Such a miraculous technique naturally had many limitations. To use this technique, one’s nascent soul had to be severely damaged.

Next, if no one replenished her magical power for a certain period after using the technique, the user would die.

Finally, and most importantly, the technique could only steal as much magical power from the target as the user had lost. It could not be used to enhance one’s own cultivation.

After a long time, Han Li finally left the cave and boarded the Wind Riding Boat. However, this time, he was even more cautious.

He fully opened his consciousness, hiding his body at the slightest sound of the wind or the vibration of a blade of grass. If he encountered an enemy again with his current cultivation, he would surely die.

Therefore, he was only able to reach the underground cave at a speed similar to crawling.

It was only after entering the range of the Five Elements Reversal Array that he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing Qu Hun sitting next to the teleportation array, waiting in the same posture as when he had left, he couldn’t help but smile.

Han Li knew that restoring his cultivation would not be resolved in three or four years, so he had no intention of immediately taking pills and focusing on cultivation.

For the next several days, he focused solely on repairing the ancient teleportation array. In this chaotic situation, traveling far with his current cultivation was too dangerous. Now, all that was left was to complete the teleportation array and use it.

Even though his cultivation had drastically decreased, it didn’t hinder him in repairing the teleportation array.

After working day and night for seven days, the teleportation array finally took on its complete form. Looking down at it, even a composed person like Han Li was quite moved.

Now, only the most important task remained. If the teleportation array connected to this one was damaged or had disappeared altogether, all his efforts would be in vain.

If that were the case, he would have to give up his plan to escape using the teleportation array and find another way. With these thoughts, Han Li placed low-grade spirit stones in various parts of the teleportation array.

After placing the last spirit stone, he quickly retreated and waited silently. Then, the ancient teleportation array hummed, emitted a yellow light, and instantly returned to its original state.

Han Li’s face darkened.

Could it be that the connected teleportation array had really disappeared?

If so, all his efforts would be in vain. He couldn’t hide his disappointment, but he didn’t give up completely and began to pace around the teleportation array with his hands behind his back.

Then, he stopped walking and discovered something. He bent down and pulled out one of the spirit stones he had placed. The moment he checked it, a gasp escaped Han Li’s lips.

The low-grade spirit stone, which had been emitting a faint light, had lost all its spiritual energy. He thought for a moment and then began to take out the low-grade spirit stones and replace them with medium-grade spirit stones. If his guess was correct, the problem was that there wasn’t enough spiritual power to activate the teleportation array.

After replacing the last spirit stone, the teleportation array vibrated again, and a huge wave of spiritual power surged. From the center, a blinding yellow light was emitted, and surprisingly, even the barrier of the Five Elements Reversal Array couldn’t block the light.

Han Li’s face turned pale at the sight.

Kwakwang!

At the same time, a huge vibration was heard from the upper part of the cave, but under the protection of the barrier, he only felt a slight tremor.

He called Qu Hun with a tense expression and sent him next to the teleportation array.

Han Li was hesitating. He couldn’t just jump through without knowing what was waiting for him on the other side of the teleportation array. Originally, he had planned to slowly examine the area for any dangers before deciding whether to stay there.

However, now that the existence of the ancient teleportation array had been revealed, it was clear that the day he could return would be far away.

Bang!

While he was hesitating, a tremendous sound was heard.

When he raised his head, the upper part of the cave had been blown away by some magical artifact, exposing the inside of the cave. From above, a large army of demonic cultivators was descending, looking down at Han Li and the ancient teleportation array.

One of them spoke in an angry voice.

“Is it you again?”

At the same time, three people stepped forward.

The one in the middle wearing a silver mask was Wang Seon, the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, and the old man and the child protecting him on either side were the Lee brothers he had encountered at the Spirit Beast Mountain.

“An ancient teleportation array!”

The Lee brothers couldn’t close their mouths as they looked at the ancient teleportation array rather than Han Li. Wang Seon also quickly asked after hearing those words.

“Are you two sure you’re not mistaken? Is that really an ancient teleportation array?”

Wang Seon’s voice trembled slightly. He knew very well what the existence of a complete ancient teleportation array meant to a sect.

The old man among the Lee brothers, who had been showing signs of joy, suddenly shouted as if he had thought of something.

“This is bad! That guy is trying to use the ancient teleportation array. We have to stop him quickly.”

Before his words were finished, he shot out a black light. The old man knew that it would take some time to activate such a huge teleportation array, and he was confident that he could kill Han Li five or six times in that amount of time.

However, just as the Core Formation cultivator’s magical treasure was about to enter the cave, a colorful protective barrier blocked the black light.

The old man’s eyes widened, and he shouted at the soldiers.

“That guy has set up a formation, so everyone attack. We have to break the barrier and capture him before it’s too late.”

At the sect elder’s command, the demonic cultivators snapped to attention and activated their magical artifacts. The Lee brothers and Wang Seon also launched their respective magical artifacts and treasures to attack the barrier.

Han Li’s Five Elements Reversal Array was originally just a miniature version of the original formation, so it quickly began to shake under the simultaneous attack of two Core Formation cultivators and a large number of soldiers.

However, Han Li was located in the center of the teleportation array with Qu Hun. He was holding something like a spirit tablet in his hand, and with his eyes closed, he was chanting a spell, seemingly not caring whether the demonic cultivators were attacking or not.

The old man identified the object in Han Li’s hand and shouted.

“The Great Teleportation Token! That bastard even has the Great Teleportation Token!”

After that, a huge black light was emitted from his two hands and descended towards the bottom with a menacing aura.

The formation made a gloomy explosion, and eventually, the colorful protective barrier began to explode. With no obstacles blocking them, all sorts of magical artifacts and techniques rushed towards Han Li.

However, at that moment, Han Li’s eyes flashed open, and two words escaped his lips.

“Teleport!”

At the same time, the yellow light of the teleportation array soared, enveloping Han Li and Qu Hun, and then they disappeared.

After they disappeared, the various magical artifacts simply hovered in the air, and the numerous demonic cultivators were left speechless.

Wang Seon and the Lee brothers also turned pale. Without the Great Teleportation Token, they couldn’t chase after him.

In the end, when the yellow light of the teleportation array completely disappeared, Wang Seon and the Lee brothers, who had been watching, were furious.

This was because Han Li had destroyed the connected teleportation array as soon as he arrived on the other side. Now, even if they managed to obtain the Great Teleportation Token, they wouldn’t be able to use this teleportation array.

Wang Seon, filled with rage, ordered some cultivators to stay behind and guard the place day and night, hoping that Han Li might return.

If he caught Han Li, he would make him pay dearly for interfering with him at every turn.

However, not long after, the demonic path expanded its power, and as a young sect master, he began to wander the battlefields, forgetting about this incident.

Thus, the Tiannan region, where Han Li had disappeared, remained in turmoil for a long time.

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