Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 443

Just a single wave of the flag had caused such a massive change; it was indeed worthy of being called a treasure of the Yin Luo Sect. Han Li had faith in the Great Geng Sword Formation, but he couldn’t help but be astonished by this sight.

At that moment, a sound of tearing through the air was heard, and countless black threads shot out from the mist surrounding the youth.

The sword formation also activated, shimmering with golden light, and countless golden threads blocked the black threads. Soon, the black threads shattered and fell, but they immediately dispersed into mist and were reabsorbed by the youth.

“Hah!”

Before Han Li could react, the black-clad youth in the green mist cried out in surprise.

The Yin Soul Threads produced by the Ghost Luo Banner were incredibly tough and sharp, but they were being shattered instead of breaking through the opponent’s sword formation.

After hesitating for a moment, he immediately decided to use the Ghost Luo Banner’s maximum power. The youth threw the flag he was holding into the green mist.

Strange incantations flowed from the mist, and a cold wind enveloped and blew through the mist. Then, the cyan flag instantly grew to almost twice its size, revealing its true form.

Han Li’s expression changed as he saw it.

“So many souls were refined to make this flag! How many people did you slaughter?”

Han Li’s voice and tone became harsh.

On the surface of the cyan flag, countless faces of people were densely engraved. Regardless of age or gender, countless souls writhed in agony, creating a truly horrific sight.

“Who’s counting? Maybe a hundred thousand? Or perhaps several hundred thousand. Among them, several hundred must be the souls of cultivators. That’s the only way to make a proper Ghost Luo Banner.”

The youth’s chilling reply came from within the green mist. Han Li remained silent, coldly glaring at the green mist.

“You deserve to die.”

“All those who have said such things in front of me are now inside this flag! You won’t be an exception.”

The youth sneered at Han Li and immediately sent a red hand seal towards the giant flag.

A green light spread out, and a huge hole appeared on the flag. From within, black energy spewed out, and the eerie wind grew even stronger.

Crack!

Lights flashed, and will-o’-the-wisps flickered. Along with blue smoke, a giant skull emerged from within.

The largest of the skulls had two large horns protruding from its head, and its face was so intact that it could be mistaken for a human’s.

‘Is that the skull of a demonic beast that reached the Fire Transformation stage in life?’

Besides that, various skulls, engulfed in ghost fire, poured out from the black hole.

Suddenly, over a hundred skulls floated around the black-clad youth.

Kyahaha!

The skulls, revealing their white bones, spewed green ghost fire from their mouths and rushed towards Han Li. They hadn’t flown far before they encountered countless golden threads, but this time, the situation was different.

The skulls passed through the golden threads, their surfaces cracking, but the green light flickered, and they were immediately restored.

And as if nothing had happened, they passed through the sword formation and surged towards Han Li.

Han Li paused for a moment when he saw this, but he soon grasped the situation. The skulls were not living beings made of flesh and blood but were formed by gathering souls.

Therefore, no matter how powerful the sword energy was, it could not cut down formless energy. He did not panic in the slightest and moved again.

A thunderous sound echoed in front of the skulls, and a golden net appeared. Since the opponent was attacking with ghost energy, he was trying to block it with the Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning [a type of powerful lightning used to combat evil forces].

Boom! Rumble!

The thunderous sound spread out, and lightning flashed from the golden net, killing many skulls, but the momentum of the skulls surging in like a tide did not diminish.

Han Li also narrowed his brows.

Normally, ghost fire should have disappeared upon contact with the Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning, but the skull-shaped ghost fires were withstanding the power of the lightning.

The black-clad youth finally smiled as he watched the skulls summoned by the flag contend with the Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning. But inwardly, he was extremely worried.

He wouldn’t have worried if the Ghost Luo Banner was perfect, but it wasn’t. After the last war, he had absorbed a large number of souls, and there hadn’t been enough time to restore it.

The youth maintained his sly smile and continued to send hand seals towards the flag, and the black hole created in the sky above the flag gradually grew larger.

Kyahaha!

More skulls poured out, howling sharply. In an instant, Han Li was engulfed by the ghostly cries echoing from all directions.

However, Han Li remained unfazed and brushed his hand across the Spirit Beast Pouch [a magical pouch used to store spirit beasts]. Then, a black beam of light shot out from it and fell to the ground. It was a small monkey covered in black fur, the Soul Devourer.

The demonic beast, still drowsy, blinked its eyes, then flared its large nostrils and opened its eyes wide. It began to get excited as it saw the gathered skulls.

The skulls, which had been rushing in with a fierce momentum, stopped in mid-air in shock the moment they saw the Soul Devourer. At the same time, the strange ghostly cries subsided.

The skulls were trembling with fear.

The black-clad youth’s heart sank at the strange sight. He was so surprised that he opened one hand, and a gray light emerged from his mouth, dancing over his fingers.

At the same time, five fingers were severed and fell to the ground.

Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!

The fingers exploded, and a bloody mist shot out from within, flying towards the horned skull, the leader of the skulls.

Rumble!

The skull absorbed the bloody energy with its strangely gleaming eyes, and the ghost fire on its body exploded. Then, the other skulls, unable to withstand the pressure from the leader skull, opened their mouths and shot out green ghost fire.

The Soul Devourer fiercely pounded its chest, and black energy wrapped around its body, instantly growing to several times its size. A yellow gust of air shot out from its large nose.

The ghost fires, which had been flying in with the momentum to cover the sky, were engulfed by the yellow energy. Even then, the yellow energy did not slow down and charged into the group of skulls behind them.

Wherever the light touched, the skulls were helplessly swept away without resistance. The horned skull let out an angry cry as the skulls scattered in all directions.

The horned skull’s eyes glowed with green light, and it spewed out a large amount of green smoke from its entire body, scattering into an intangible form. Then, it transformed into a horned demon, twice its size, and spewed out pitch-black demonic lightning.

A massive amount of black demonic lightning met the yellow energy, but it disappeared without a trace. The demon, seeing this, trembled in fear and tried to flee, but it was already too late.

The yellow energy covered the demon, and nothing remained where the energy had passed. Each time the Soul Devourer sniffed the yellow energy in its nose, the skulls in the air disappeared.

The black-clad youth, trapped within the Great Geng Sword Formation, was aghast.

Although he had heard that Han Li carried a strange giant monkey demonic beast that absorbed the energy of corpses, he hadn’t paid much attention to it. Dealing with the Yin Luo Sect’s corpse puppets was completely different from dealing with the skulls created by the Ghost Luo Banner.

However, seeing the skulls disappear into the giant monkey’s belly without even resisting, cold sweat ran down his back.

If he had known that Han Li possessed a demonic beast that devoured ghost energy and swallowed demonic energy, he would never have attacked him. Moreover, no elder within the Yin Luo Sect would be able to do anything in front of that demonic beast. Such an existence was more dangerous to the Yin Luo Sect than the Golden Thunder Bamboo.

The black-clad youth was filled with regret, but seeing the golden threads closing in to within two zhang [approximately 6.6 feet], he hurriedly rummaged through his storage pouch.

Six or seven treasures rose up, attacking the sword formation, but they were sliced into pieces by the flashing golden light.

The youth was now completely pale.

With his life hanging by a thread, he had no time to worry about what sect’s treasures they were. He reached out with both hands, firmly grasped the Ghost Luo Banner in the air, gritted his teeth, and somersaulted in the air. He and the flag became one, transforming into an eerie green mist that soared high into the sky.

Now, his only hope was to withstand the sword formation’s attack with the power of the Ghost Luo Banner and escape. Otherwise, he would die within the sword formation.

‘Trying to run away!’

Han Li, seeing this, opened his mouth and spat out a golden bead. A giant golden net covered the top of the sword formation, blocking an area of several dozen zhang.

At that moment, the eerie mist that the black-clad youth had transformed into was clashing with countless golden threads. Each time the golden light flashed, the amount of eerie mist decreased significantly.

The golden threads, gathered in one place, were so dense that they blocked him from breaking through at once. The youth had completely lost his fighting spirit.

“Are you going to kill me like this? You need to find a way to solve the Soul Sealing Curse.”

The youth shouted as only a small amount of mist remained.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I can find out anything I want through your Nascent Soul [the core of a cultivator’s spiritual energy].”

“You think you can do that with a Soul Extraction Technique… Ugh, ugh!”

The youth mumbled something in fear, but as the mist completely disappeared, he screamed as his body was torn to pieces. In that gap, a green light ball wrapped around his Nascent Soul and tried to escape.

However, the net of Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning, which had been prepared in advance, contracted at Han Li’s command. The Nascent Soul cried out sharply as it tried to escape in all directions, but the golden net was tightening from all sides.

“If you intend to use a Soul Extraction Technique, I will detonate my Nascent Soul myself.”

It was a desperate cry filled with spiritual energy. Han Li also narrowed his brows and stopped the contraction of the golden net. The Nascent Soul, seeing this, seemed to have gained hope and hurriedly muttered.

“If you let even just my Nascent Soul escape, I will tell you how to break the curse!”

Han Li’s eyes flickered as he remained silent. As he was considering the opponent’s proposal, a purplish-red light flashed above the Nascent Soul, and a purplish-red net captured the Nascent Soul.

At the same time, Eunwol appeared silently from behind him with a white light.

A pink mist seeped out from her red lips, and a dozen silver threads shot out from her ten fingers.

The black-clad youth’s Nascent Soul was covered in pink mist, causing his head to spin and his vision to turn white. When he could no longer focus, the silver threads flew in and paralyzed his entire body.

Now, he could no longer self-destruct even if he wanted to.

The Nascent Soul looked at the beautiful woman who had appeared behind Han Li in disbelief.

“Your skills are improving day by day!”

“It’s all thanks to Master’s brilliance. This one was so focused on escaping that he didn’t even look around properly. He never dreamed that what I left in that place was just an illusion and that my true self was hiding here.”

Eunwol smiled, pulling up the corners of her lips, and then reached out to another ‘Eunwol’ behind Han Li, dispelling the illusion.

Han Li also smiled slightly and retracted the giant golden net, absorbing the Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning, which had turned into a golden bead, into his hand. The flying swords that had formed the Great Geng Sword Formation also returned to their original forms and flew back into his sleeves according to his will.

Only then did Han Li calmly turn his head and look at the Nascent Soul.

“Eunwol, let’s take this one to the nearby forest and find out how to solve the Soul Sealing Curse.”

Han Li said coldly and flew into the nearby forest first.

“Yes, Master!”

Eunwol replied respectfully and followed behind him with the Nascent Soul.

# 445