Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 194

The next morning, Han Li left a letter for Teacher Go on the table and flew to a nearby village with Guk-hon.

After purchasing a map of Ghost Cry Island and the surrounding sea, he headed straight for the port.

According to Wang Jang-cheong, the largest city on the island, Ghost Cry City, was located in the western part of Ghost Cry Island. There was also a street called Cheon-do Street, where cultivators’ goods were traded.

In truth, he wanted to go there, not to the port, to see what kind of items the cultivators in the sea area used and what cultivation methods they practiced, but he couldn’t.

His cultivation level was too low, so he was reluctant to go to a place where many cultivators gathered, feeling uneasy. He arrived at the port and muttered to himself.

‘My courage seems to have shrunk as my cultivation level has decreased.’

The reason he gave up his residence on Mount Qingyun and chose Small Ring Island, which lacked spiritual energy, was solely to prevent the secret of the mysterious bottle from leaking out.

Only on such a remote island could he freely cultivate spiritual herbs and achieve rapid progress without attracting the attention of other cultivators.

Although his cultivation speed would definitely be a little slower, the spiritual energy of Small Ring Island would be sufficient to grow spiritual herbs.

In any case, he was converting the spiritual power gained from taking elixirs into his own magical power through cultivation, so the actual surrounding spiritual energy did not have a significant impact on him.

Han Li escaped the massive restriction surrounding Ghost Cry Island and flew towards Small Ring Island, which was marked on the map.

On the map, it appeared as if it were right next to Ghost Cry Island, but in reality, it was a distance that required a full day and night of flying on the Wind Rider Boat to reach.

Arriving above Small Ring Island, Han Li circled the island once before discovering a small pier that seemed to be the entrance to the formation. He slowly descended towards the pier.

At the pier, a dozen fishermen were gathered, resting. They gathered around when they saw Han Li and Guk-hon.

“Black Ghost greets the esteemed cultivator!”

Everyone bowed, but one man with a sturdy build and a dark face stepped forward and spoke politely. He seemed to be the leader of the fishermen.

To be sure of everything, Han Li asked seriously,

“Is this Small Ring Island?”

“Yes, esteemed cultivator! But have you come to replace the spirit stones? It hasn’t been long since they were replaced.”

Han Li, relieved that this was indeed Small Ring Island, looked at everyone and smiled.

“I have not come to exchange spirit stones, but to manage Small Ring Island from now on and to stay here as my cultivation place. So, from now on, just call me Cultivator Han.”

He left the surprised looks of the people behind and flew up again with Guk-hon towards the center of the island.

* * *

The only village on Small Ring Island was located in the eastern part of the island, very close to the pier, and the western part was a small mountain range about twenty li [approximately 10 kilometers] away. There were two peaks in the mountain range, the higher one about 200 to 300 jang [approximately 600-900 meters] high, and the lower one about 100 jang [approximately 300 meters] high.

Han Li looked down at the mountain peaks from the air and then descended to the village.

When he and Guk-hon landed from the sky, there was a bit of a commotion, and then an old man, who was said to be the village elder, came forward.

When Han Li showed the certificate issued by the Ascension Pavilion to the elder, the elder paid his respects, saying that he would handle all matters according to Han Li’s wishes.

Of course, there was nothing that required the help of ordinary people, so Han Li asked about the general situation of the island and how much of the spirit stones collected by the village itself covered the spirit stones consumed by the formation. This was the most crucial issue.

When the old man mentioned a negligible amount, Han Li felt a bit depressed. It seemed that he would have to cover most of the spirit stones he would consume in the future.

The middle-aged cultivator’s claim that residents could collect spirit stones was completely empty. He couldn’t help but curse the middle-aged cultivator in his mind.

He then examined the core of the formation in the center of the village.

After briefly examining it and grasping the amount of spirit stones needed, Han Li called the old man and gave him a year’s worth of spirit stones in advance. He also ordered him to come to his residence every year to receive the spirit stones needed for the following year.

After hearing the old man’s thanks, he flew back to the western part of the island.

As soon as he entered the mountain range, which the islanders called Small Ring Mountain, he felt a faint but clear spiritual energy, which pleased him.

Afterwards, he flew around the two mountain peaks, high and low, several times on the Wind Rider Boat.

The side with the denser spiritual energy was the slightly higher peak, but the lower peak was thicker and had a suitable area for setting up a residence. Moreover, there was a cave that the previous cultivator had prepared, so it seemed that he could use it.

He suddenly brightened his eyes and made a decision.

Han Li entered the deepest part of the lower cave and began to dig an underground tunnel using his magical artifact. After digging for half a day, the underground tunnel became quite large, with a diameter of two jang [approximately 6 meters], and extended to the bottom of the lower mountain peak.

Han Li changed the direction of the tunnel, leaving only about ten jang [approximately 30 meters] to the ground, and began to move towards the higher mountain peak.

Although his magical artifact was excellent and he had the help of Guk-hon, the work of digging a passage that connected to the opposite mountain peak continued until the next day.

In the end, he created a new cave on the higher mountain peak, just like the cave he had in the Tiannan region. Everything was the same as his residence in the Taeak Mountain Range.

The only difference was that there was no entrance, and the only passage was the underground tunnel connected to the adjacent mountain peak. From now on, true cultivation and spiritual herb cultivation would take place here.

By preparing a real and fake residence connecting the two mountain peaks like this, it would be much safer. After finishing everything, he took out the All-Direction Five Elements Formation artifacts and installed them near the entrance on the lower mountain peak side.

However, when he floated into the air again and looked down, he was not completely satisfied.

Han Li chose two powerful artifacts from the other formation artifacts given by Shin Yeo-eum. They were the Heavenly Wind Raging Formation and the Illusionary Heavenly Net Formation.

When he installed two more formations that covered a wide area, both mountain peaks were within the barrier.

Although they were not as good as the All-Direction Five Elements Formation, they were troublesome formations for cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage. Unless a Core Formation stage cultivator tried to break the formation, his residence was safe.

He floated into the sky again, checked the mountain peaks covered in white mist, smiled, and disappeared into the mist.

Returning to the cave, he didn’t rest but moved even more busily.

First, he planted the seeds of the spiritual herbs in the secret herb garden of the new cave. After all, the sprouts had to emerge before he could promote their growth with the green liquid from the mysterious bottle.

Afterwards, he covered the mysterious bottle, which he cherished like his life, with a piece of magical treasure and buried it on one side of the herb garden. He then allowed it to absorb spiritual energy and produce green liquid through the small, detailed holes he had made in the cave.

Next, he created dozens of large and small secret rooms. He referred to the method of raising insect monsters he had obtained from the Spirit Insect Sect cultivator and released white spiders and other insect specimens. Of course, he also carefully created the environment of the secret rooms and placed restrictions to prevent them from escaping.

After providing them with enough food, a perfect breeding ground was completed.

Han Li, who had meticulously decorated his residence, did not immediately enter cultivation but took out the grayish-white book he had obtained from the Yue Kingdom royal family from his storage pouch and looked at the secret techniques contained within.

One of them was the technique of creating a body outside the body, the External Avatar, which he had long wanted to learn.

He had decided to learn this technique before, but after examining the details today, it was an extremely dangerous technique.

The book stated that if the refinement of the avatar failed, the consciousness that was divided and sent out would be completely destroyed and could not be recovered.

If the cultivator’s consciousness was not strong enough, they could go mad from this loss or die from the backlash of the technique.

Moreover, even if the refinement was successful, the body of the External Avatar was merely a high-level puppet that could cultivate on its own and be controlled freely.

It was a world of difference from the miraculous realm of two people becoming truly the same person, as described in legends.

However, with the Blood Marrow Five Elements Pill, Han Li had a high probability of forming a Fiend Core, so if he did it well, he would have a Core Formation stage puppet guard.

Even though he was only in the early Qi Refining stage, he would have the ability to protect himself in front of a Core Formation stage cultivator.

Moreover, he had a body in his hands that possessed the most important spiritual power and was alive without any damage.

Guk-hon was suitable for all conditions, even though he had no soul.

Usually, if a cultivator’s Nascent Soul was taken, the body would be likely to be damaged, making it difficult to learn magic again. That was why many cultivators felt the fluctuations of spiritual power in Guk-hon’s body and thought it was strange.

There were rare cases where the body was intact even after taking the Nascent Soul, but it was a very small probability, perhaps one in a hundred attempts.

Also, the secret technique of the External Avatar was only possible on the bodies of low-level cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage. Although he did not know exactly why these strange conditions were necessary, it was probably to easily control the body when dividing the consciousness.

He did not know how Master Mun and Lim Ja-dong had created Guk-hon, but it seemed to be the best target for using the External Avatar technique.

Perhaps the Emperor of Yue had sacrificed many low-level cultivators to create just one avatar.

If not, there might have been more avatars.

Han Li, sitting on the floor, pondered for a long time and decided to try this technique after refining the Great Connection to the second stage. At that time, he would be able to greatly reduce the failure rate of the External Avatar technique. He was fully fascinated by the special effects of the Great Connection.

Of course, before cultivating the Great Connection, it was necessary to recover his cultivation to at least the early Foundation Establishment stage.

Also, he had to try the secret technique through a series of processes and learn the Three Revolutions Heavy Yuan Technique in earnest. After all, the Azure Origin Sword Technique and the Three Revolutions Heavy Yuan Technique were the most important gateways for him to reach the Core Formation stage.

Han Li established his future cultivation plan and then entered one of the secret rooms, took an elixir, and began to cultivate.

He could now take the Yellow Dragon Pill and the Golden Marrow Pill. The Foundation Establishment Pill, on the other hand, was too potent, and it would be impossible for him to accept it now. He would probably be able to take it after reaching the seventh level.

According to his expectations, there would be no bottleneck before the Foundation Establishment stage, so he would soon succeed in reaching the Foundation Establishment stage again.

Except for the time he spent growing herbs and making the Yellow Dragon Pill and the Golden Marrow Pill every day, he devoted all his time to cultivating in a cross-legged position.

Other than that, his only pastime was training the white spiders and other strange insects. As expected, he reached the Qi Refining stage in just over a year, showing much faster progress than before.

However, perhaps he was a little frustrated with this speed, so Han Li, who had barely reached the Qi Refining stage, made up his mind and took three Foundation Establishment Pills.

He spent another year accepting the enormous potency of the pills, and he finally reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

Now he could use the Innate True Fire needed to refine high-level elixirs. From this point on, it was time to refine prescriptions that were effective for the Foundation Establishment stage and above, depending on the pharmacy.

The Qi Refining Powder had lost its efficacy because he had taken too much, but it seemed that taking the elixirs from the remaining three pharmacies would be enough to cultivate to the late Foundation Establishment stage.

However, according to his predetermined plan, he did not immediately focus on raising his cultivation level but changed his cultivation direction to learning the Great Connection and the Avatar Technique first.

When he cultivated the first stage of the Great Connection before, he had succeeded in just half a year.

He was clearly lacking in talent in the Five Elements Magic, but he had a natural talent for the Great Connection, so he was confident that it would not take long to learn the second stage.

According to the book describing the technique, when one reached the second stage of the Great Connection, one’s consciousness would be several times stronger than now, and one would be able to create hundreds of avatars. If this technique and the puppets were combined, they would unleash tremendous power.

He knew that the cultivation of the second stage of the Great Connection would be more difficult than the first stage, but the time it took far exceeded Han Li’s expectations.

In fact, the process, which he thought would take about two years, took six years of relentless effort day and night to finally succeed. It was three times longer than the originally expected period, so he felt complicated.

When he thought about the time he had spent cultivating, he was still terrified.