Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 195

Three years after mastering the Great Connection, a disciple of the Ascending Immortal Pavilion, who had competed for the Great Dao Trading Rights, came looking for him.

He ended up trapped in the powerful formation Han Li had set up, suffering for three days and nights before being rescued by Han Li, who happened to emerge from seclusion.

In fact, Han Li had been so engrossed in cultivating the Great Connection that he had completely forgotten about the duel he had promised five years prior.

Han Li, who had concealed his energy using an unnamed technique, easily defeated the man who was furious after being trapped in the formation for several days. The man, fuming, returned from whence he came.

Three years after this incident, he finally reached the second stage of the Great Connection, and now he began to prepare for the Body Outside the Body technique.

He first rested for a few days to bring his primordial spirit [a cultivator’s life force and consciousness] to its peak condition, and then sat cross-legged in the secret chamber, facing Guk-hon.

He waved his hand to firmly close the stone door of the secret chamber, and then stared intently at Guk-hon for a long time without saying a word.

Looking at that ugly yet familiar face, he felt a mix of emotions as he tried to push them aside. The faces of the Seven Mysteries Sect, Noeul Mountain, and his beloved friends flashed through his mind.

However, when he saw Guk-hon’s eyes, which held no spirit, Han Li could only sigh.

Finally, he began to form hand seals, rotating his hands like windmills, and a faint blue light emanated from his entire body, illuminating the entire secret chamber.

After a while, Han Li’s face contorted, beads of sweat formed, and a dazzling light, as if trying to draw people in, shot out from his eyes.

“Combine!”

A strange shout suddenly came from his mouth, and he formed bizarre hand seals with both hands. His body remained still, but a thumb-sized green light emerged from his nose and was sucked into Guk-hon’s nose.

At this time, Han Li’s complexion was extremely pale, and bean-sized beads of sweat rolled down his face. The light emanating from his eyes became even more intense and was drawn into Guk-hon’s eyes. It was the moment when Han Li’s and Guk-hon’s bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.

The stone door of this cultivation chamber was finally opened after a month.

Han Li, looking haggard, walked out.

This time, the avatar refinement was barely successful. He had not yet confirmed its effectiveness, but he was relieved that the refinement had not failed and he had not suffered a backlash of magical power.

As soon as he came out of the secret chamber, he went into another stone chamber and began closed-door cultivation.

His primordial spirit was severely damaged, and if he did not take an elixir to recover his energy immediately, he was in danger of falling back to the Qi Refining stage [the initial stage of cultivation].

However, Guk-hon, who had become an avatar, had not yet fully taken control of his body, so he had no choice but to leave him in the secret chamber and wait for him to gradually adapt.

Several months later, Han Li, having recovered to his original state, immediately began cultivating the Three Revolutions Primordial Art.

The Three Revolutions Primordial Art stated that after reaching the late Foundation Establishment stage [a mid-level stage of cultivation], one should scatter most of the magical power accumulated through the Azure Essence Sword Technique and then cultivate again from the early Foundation Establishment stage to solidify the liquid primordial spirit.

According to the expectations of the ancient person who created this technique, if one did this three times, one would have a 50% chance of succeeding in Core Formation [a major breakthrough in cultivation].

Han Li had scattered his magical power in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage instead of the late stage, but he judged that it was not a big problem, as his primordial spirit was only slightly less solidified.

In the next two cultivations, he would diligently scatter his magical power in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

After carefully studying the Three Revolutions Primordial Art for several months and fully understanding it, Han Li took some elixirs and entered the secret chamber.

He planned not to leave the cave until he had succeeded in the first cycle of the Three Revolutions Primordial Art and the Azure Essence Sword Technique had reached the stage of mastery.

He also brought the avatar Guk-hon next to him and did not forget to feed him elixirs to prepare him for Foundation Establishment.

Guk-hon had three spiritual roots, making his aptitude better than Han Li’s, so if he was assisted with the same medicines, he would definitely progress much faster. Perhaps in about two years, Guk-hon would also become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Han Li planned to have Guk-hon, after reaching Foundation Establishment, learn the demonic art called Blood Refining Divine Light, which he had chosen from the gray-white book he had taken from the Emperor of Wol Country.

He had seen the power of the Blood Refining Divine Light with his own eyes, so its power was certain. The fact that this technique had no further cultivation methods after Core Formation was not a problem for Guk-hon at all.

Since Guk-hon would only be able to achieve a cultivation similar to the early Core Formation stage through the Soul Severing [a technique to create a separate entity], it was impossible for him to progress any further. The cultivation that had begun in this way did not end in a short period of time.

As if he had truly forgotten the passage of time, he devoted himself solely to cultivation, and twenty years passed in an instant.

During this period, Han Li never came out of the cave, and naturally, he did not show himself to the islanders.

The residents of So Hwan Island did not feel any difference after Han Li settled there. The fishermen fished, and the farmers grew crops, just as before.

The mountain peak, which had been fine, was shrouded in fog, which initially attracted some attention. However, it was not long before it was considered a familiar sight, and no one paid any attention to it.

The villagers told their children never to approach the fog in the mountains.

Once inside the fog, they would lose their way and wander for days, and only after shouting “Immortal Han” countless times could they barely escape.

However, the spirit stones needed for the formation that protected the island were delivered once a year when the village elder shouted towards the mountain peak from outside the fog, and a tray containing the spirit stones would fly out. They would then take it and replace the old spirit stones.

After more than twenty years, the old man who had been the village elder passed away, and Black Ghost, the fisherman Han Li had met on his first day on So Hwan Island, took over as the next elder and performed the same task.

In this way, the residents of So Hwan Island had a good impression of the Immortal Han, though they could not be said to worship him.

The Ghost Cry Island port was still bustling, and countless ships, large and small, came and went. Streaks of light frequently passed through the sky, but the common people showed no surprise at the sight of cultivators flying around.

A streak of white light flew in like a flash of lightning from outside the island, hovered for a moment above the port, and then headed towards the center of Ghost Cry Island.

If someone had looked closely, they would have seen two figures in the white light. They were Han Li, who had succeeded in the first cycle of the Three Revolutions Primordial Art and reached the late Foundation Establishment stage, and Guk-hon, who had reached a comparable level of cultivation with the help of elixirs.

After more than twenty years of solidifying his primordial spirit, Han Li possessed a much purer and more condensed magical power than other cultivators of the same level, and Guk-hon’s ability to catch up to his level during the same period gave him great joy.

Perhaps if Guk-hon did not need special auxiliary items for Soul Severing, and if Han Li had not intended to prepare for Core Formation, he would still not have left the cave on So Hwan Island.

He was planning to obtain the necessary items this time, visit the ancient family to receive the spirit stones he had promised decades ago, and then return to his residence immediately. Now was an important time for his cultivation, so he had no time to look elsewhere.

The Divine Wind Boat carried Han Li and Guk-hon to Ghost Cry City, the center of Ghost Cry Island.

After a few hours, a huge city wall came into view in the distance.

Even without taking out a map, Han Li could tell that he had come to the right place just by the enormous scale.

Not long after, he suddenly felt the Divine Wind Boat beneath his feet become as heavy as a thousand pounds. They had entered the range of the restriction.

Even though Ghost Cry City was the best city on the island, he had not expected that it would have a restriction that limited such a wide area.

In fact, with his current level, which had already reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, he could have forced his way through the restriction and flown, but it would only consume a little magical power.

However, since he was naturally reluctant to attract attention, he immediately controlled the Divine Wind Boat to descend slowly.

Guk-hon and Han Li landed calmly on the ground.

Han Li, having put the shrunken Divine Wind Boat back into his storage pouch, began to walk towards the huge city wall.

As expected, Ghost Cry City seemed to be three or four times larger than Dong Shi City, which he had visited before. As soon as he entered the city, a wide road stretched out before him.

He asked a passing commoner for directions to Sky Capital Street and headed north of the city.

“This is Sky Capital Street!”

When he arrived at the place the commoner had told him about, he could not help but be surprised.

The northern part of Ghost Cry City, covered by a huge protective barrier, was not a single street as its name suggested, but a complex network of hundreds of streets.

However, the most surprising thing was that a huge pavilion was floating in the air at its center.

The entire pavilion, which was jade-colored, emitted a faint light that would catch anyone’s eye.

Han Li looked up at the pavilion for a long time. He did not know how it was floating in the air, but it was very mysterious.

At that moment, Han Li’s expression changed slightly, and he instantly concealed his spiritual energy, changing his level to the seventh or eighth stage of Qi Refining. Soon after, he heard footsteps behind him, followed by a pleasant female voice.

“It seems that you and your fellow immortal are visiting Sky Capital Street for the first time. Everyone is surprised when they see the Cloud Dream Pavilion for the first time.”

At the sound of the nightingale-like voice, Han Li turned his head. Three men and two women were approaching him, about a dozen steps away.

Leaving the men aside, the two women had beautiful appearances and were dressed in very bold attire.

They wore clothes that exposed their white arms and legs, and they were not even wearing shoes, so their bare feet were exposed. What drew even more attention were the golden rings on their wrists and necks, which gave the impression that they were formidable cultivators.

The three men had very ordinary appearances, and one of them even had pockmarks all over his face, making him look a little ugly. The five of them were cultivators of about the tenth stage of Qi Refining and seemed to have come here together.

Han Li, looking at the beautiful women, asked, not understanding the situation.

“Who are you fellow immortals?”

“My name is Ja Yeon-ryeo, and this is my friend, Won-yo. We are hermits living on a nearby island. We heard that a large quantity of rare materials had arrived at the market street, so we came to have a look with these three acquaintances.”

The small, pretty woman spoke while looking at Han Li and Guk-hon with curious eyes. Her voice, as she smiled and spoke, seemed to be that of the woman who had spoken first.

The young woman next to her had an even more outstanding beauty, with skin as white as snow, and the soft curves of her body could not be hidden even by her clothes, stealing people’s attention. She was truly a beauty that could topple a nation.

However, her gaze was fixed on Guk-hon, not Han Li, and did not move. This was because, while he had concealed his true cultivation using an unnamed technique, Guk-hon was openly displaying that he was a cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

He had thought that bringing Guk-hon with him would prevent him from getting into unnecessary trouble without revealing his true strength. However, the sudden appearance of a strong person seemed to attract too much attention.

Thinking this, Han Li calmly said,

“I am Han Li, and this is my uncle, Guk-hon. It is true that my uncle and I are visiting Sky Capital Street for the first time.”

“I thought so. If Senior Guk and Immortal Han are seeing the Cloud Dream Pavilion for the first time, you must want to visit it, right? How about we look around together?

My friend and I will introduce you to the various shops here. Although we are not from this island, we visit Sky Capital Street often, so we are very familiar with the situation here.”

The beautiful woman smiled, and it felt as if the surroundings brightened up. The woman named Won-yo also agreed.

“If Senior Guk is not uncomfortable, we would like to guide you through Sky Capital Street and help you find satisfactory items.”

The expressions of the men who were moving with them were not good at their suggestion. However, they did not say anything in front of Guk-hon, who was a Foundation Establishment senior.

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