Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 445

Han Li took out a jade box from his storage pouch and handed it to Eunwol.

“Master, may I take charge of the Profound Heaven Immortal Lantern?”

Eunwol recognized the jade box at a glance and asked.

“If it can’t be revived, it’s just a precious refining material. I need to focus on creating the second nascent soul with the Mind-Controlling Spirit, and I also have to deal with the corpse demon using the corpse refining techniques I got from the Yin Corpse Sect elder’s storage pouch, so I don’t have any time. Leaving the corpse demon in the Unmound Mountain could cause trouble later. So, I have no choice but to entrust the matters within the residence to you.”

Han Li slowly explained the situation.

“Yes, of course, I will follow Master’s orders.”

Eunwol received the jade box and replied as if she had no choice. Han Li gave her a few more instructions and was about to leave the main hall when Eunwol hesitated and called out to him.

“Master, there’s something I’ve been pondering for a long time. May I ask you about it?”

Eunwol blinked her large eyes and asked seriously.

“Ask away.”

Han Li turned his head to look at Eunwol with a puzzled expression.

“Since I became your spirit, you have never added me to your flying sword in my spirit form or summoned me. May I ask why?”

“Why are you suddenly asking about that?”

Han Li frowned at the unexpected question.

“I just suddenly thought of it. It’s true that Eunwol is just a spirit.”

“Do you think of yourself as an ordinary spirit? If you were a true spirit that had lost its intelligence, you wouldn’t even be able to ask such a question. Of course, it’s true that using a spirit by adding it to a magical treasure greatly increases its power, but when facing strong enemies, the spirit’s own vitality is often damaged.

You have helped me a lot by borrowing the body of a fox, so damaging your vitality would be harmful to me.”

Han Li gave her the reason and immediately turned and left the main hall. Eunwol, left alone in the main hall, was lost in thought.

* * *

The next day, Han Li began preparations to refine his second nascent soul in a secret chamber of the cave.

He sat cross-legged on the floor, holding a pale blue jade slip and studying it. It was the jade slip containing the Profound Demon Transformation Great Method left by Shin Yeoeum.

He summoned his consciousness, closed his eyes, and formed a hand seal.

As he began to chant, a blue light flashed above his skull, and his nascent soul appeared. The nascent soul was much sturdier and larger than it had been a few years ago.

The nascent soul sat on Han Li’s head for a moment, then turned its head to look around. Then, its body flashed with blue light, and it floated into the air and began to fly slowly.

At first, it looked awkward, but it gradually became more skilled at flying, and soon blue lights flashed throughout the secret chamber, repeatedly disappearing and reappearing in an instant.

After a while, the nascent soul suddenly stopped in a corner of the secret chamber and formed a hand seal with its small, soft hands, and then disappeared from that spot.

The nascent soul, which reappeared on Han Li’s head, looked a little pale. It had consumed a considerable amount of vitality in an instant.

The nascent soul stretched and then turned into a blue light and seeped into Han Li’s head. Han Li’s eyelids twitched, and he opened his eyes.

“Now it’s stable. It’s not comparable to the nascent souls of old monsters, but refining the second nascent soul won’t be a problem.”

Han Li muttered and then brushed his hand across his storage pouch. A jade box sealed with various talismans appeared.

As he flicked his sleeve, the talismans fell off on their own, and the lid of the jade box opened, revealing a golden, radiant bead.

It was the Mind-Controlling Spirit that had been sealed in advance. After staring at it for a moment, he brought his finger to the golden bead.

Koo-roong!

A thunderous sound was heard, and subtle lightning bolts seeped into Han Li’s fingertip, and a tiny, unseen cyan figure revealed its face.

The main body of the Mind-Controlling Spirit was unconscious, with black needles embedded all over its body. Han Li did not let his guard down and carefully examined the Mind-Controlling Spirit and the black needles.

As everything went as expected, he pointed his finger at the space between the Mind-Controlling Spirit’s eyebrows.

Pa-chut!

A bean-sized green light suddenly appeared from his fingertip, stretched out, and entered the space between the Mind-Controlling Spirit’s eyebrows.

Han Li began to wait with a cautious expression. It seemed as if he was exploring the inside of the Mind-Controlling Spirit with the green light. After a full half-hour, Han Li sighed deeply and pulled out the green energy.

He stroked his chin and then raised one hand to retrieve the black needles that were densely piercing the Mind-Controlling Spirit’s entire body into his sleeve. The Mind-Controlling Spirit was still unconscious and slumped in the jade box.

Han Li seemed to have made up his mind and immediately formed a hand seal.

As he cast a spell, the Mind-Controlling Spirit floated out of the jade box and sat cross-legged in the air in front of his face.

Han Li closed his eyes and focused his mind, and a blue light was emitted from his skull, and his nascent soul reappeared.

This time, the nascent soul was not smiling and was filled with tension. The nascent soul raised its head and looked at the Mind-Controlling Spirit with its black eyes, then sat cross-legged facing the Mind-Controlling Spirit.

The Mind-Controlling Spirit was almost two inches in size, while Han Li’s nascent soul was only one inch in size, creating a stark contrast.

At this time, Han Li’s nascent soul moved its small lips and began to chant. Then, it turned its mouth and shot pure spiritual energy toward the Mind-Controlling Spirit’s face.

At the same time, the Mind-Controlling Spirit opened its eyes, but they were unfocused, as if it were dazed.

Han Li’s nascent soul moved its small hands with a serious expression, and several blue beams of light shot out from its eyes and were injected into the Mind-Controlling Spirit’s eyes.

At the same time, the two figures vibrated, and the Mind-Controlling Spirit let out a painful scream. The Mind-Controlling Spirit lost its balance and fell to the floor, rolling around as if it were suffering extreme pain.

On the other hand, Han Li’s nascent soul remained floating in the air. Its face was full of pain, but it seemed to be barely enduring it.

The painful groans that filled the secret chamber continued for a full day before gradually subsiding.

Two more days passed, and when he left the secret chamber with a tired expression, a faint sense of excitement could be felt.

When he first obtained the Mind-Controlling Spirit, there was a risk of being devoured, so he could not recklessly refine the second nascent soul. However, after using the Soul Separation Technique recorded in the Profound Yin Scripture, the Mind-Controlling Spirit gradually lost its intelligence under the influence of the black needles.

After a long time, the Mind-Controlling Spirit’s consciousness weakened, and he had a powerful consciousness similar to the late stage of the nascent soul, so he was able to successfully complete the refinement.

The risk of his partial consciousness being assimilated with the Mind-Controlling Spirit was not completely gone, but with his powerful consciousness, he would not allow such a thing to happen.

Moreover, if such a thing really happened, he could just give up his partial consciousness. There would be some damage to his consciousness, but it would not be a major problem.

He left the secret chamber, rested for a day, and then went straight to the market to buy refining materials. He spent more than ten days in another secret chamber before coming out.

In his hand, he held about a dozen nail-shaped magical treasures that could freely adjust their size. Han Li took the nail-shaped magical treasures and flew to the swamp where he had captured Seol Unho.

He was relieved to see that the corpse demon was still in the rock.

Han Li took out a jade box containing a golden talisman from his storage pouch, laid out the huge silver nails he had prepared, and looked at the corpse demon.

The corpse demon’s appearance had not changed at all. Its entire body was covered in green fur, it still had only one arm, and thin silver chains tightly bound it.

Han Li checked the appearance of the stone chamber to make sure there was nothing strange and placed the jade box he was holding on the ground.

As his hand brushed against his spirit beast pouch, a black light shot out, and a small, one-foot-tall soul-devouring monkey appeared.

What was strange was that as soon as the soul-devouring monkey saw the corpse demon sitting on the rock, it squeaked and, without Han Li’s command, raised a black aura and inflated its body.

The soul-devouring monkey knew that the place was cramped, so it stopped at one-zhang [about 3.3 meters] size, but its gaze was fixed on the corpse demon.

Han Li frowned at the sight and used his consciousness to stabilize the soul-devouring monkey. The monkey immediately prostrated itself at Han Li’s feet and behaved obediently.

“Hmm?”

However, Han Li’s face became strange when he saw the soul-devouring monkey’s back.

The blood-colored shadow on its back had become even darker. The shape of the evil spirit had become so dark that it was almost bulging out, as if it would break through the skin at any moment.

It had absorbed a large amount of energy twice recently, and a strange change was occurring. Han Li was surprised, but there was also a slight sense of anticipation. However, now was not the time to examine the changes in the soul-devouring monkey.

He had only summoned the soul-devouring monkey as a means to prevent unforeseen accidents.

Han Li brushed his hand across his storage pouch and summoned a jade slip. This was an item he had found in the black-clothed youth’s topknot after searching his consciousness.

Inside, there were copies of about a dozen corpse refining methods that the Yin Corpse Sect had collected using despicable means.

The dead Yin Corpse Sect elder was very interested in corpse refining, and he had even written down his own opinions and interpretations on them. It was a plan to improve the original refining methods and increase their power.

Unfortunately, he had found the method but had not been able to use it because he could not find a suitable corpse.

One of them was the Heavenly Corpse Demon, which was the best of the corpse refining methods left by the black-clothed youth and required a powerful walking corpse. By erasing the original consciousness of the walking corpse and refining it through various secret techniques, it would be reborn as an even more ferocious corpse demon.

The power of such a corpse demon fundamentally depended on the original cultivation of the walking corpse.

The corpse demon trapped here would be a very suitable material, so as soon as Han Li read the contents, he thought of the corpse demon. He had the best material and refining method, so there was no way he would miss the opportunity.

However, before refining the corpse demon, just like when he refined the second nascent soul, it was a priority to thoroughly remove the corpse demon’s own consciousness.

That was why he had brought the jade box containing the corpse demon’s original spirit.

Han Li looked at the huge silver nails and spread his arms, and the silver nails rose in a row. A chant escaped his lips, and silver light spread throughout the secret chamber.

Koo-roong! Koo-roo-roong!

As he clasped his hands together, a thunderous sound was heard, and thick golden lightning bolts appeared. Han Li spread his arms with a blank expression.

About a dozen lightning bolts stretched out and struck each nail.

“Go.”

As he cast a spell amidst the golden and silver light, the huge nails turned into silver beams of light and stopped, aiming at the vital points of the corpse demon’s limbs and torso on the rock.

Han Li, who had finished preparing, sighed deeply and looked at the jade box with the golden talisman. As he exhaled a blue aura onto the jade box he had placed in front of him, the golden talisman floated into the air.

Shhh!

The jade box moved back several zhang as if it had been attacked by someone. Han Li’s pupils contracted as he followed the jade box with his gaze.

A thick green mist overflowed from the jade box, and a cheer was heard.

“Hahahaha! Freedom! I don’t know which idiot released me, but I’ll have to fill my belly with your blood and flesh. …Whoa, a Nascent Soul cultivator?”

The green mist coalesced into a woman’s face, which was surprisingly identical to Eunwol when she transformed into a fox. The only difference was that her eyes were dyed green, making her look evil.

She was momentarily stunned when she saw Han Li. Han Li was also a little flustered when he saw the other party’s true face, but he soon regained his composure.

It was not strange that Eunwol’s fox demon transformation was initially controlled by the corpse demon, so it was the same as the appearance of the original owner sealed in the jade box.

The face in the green mist soon sneered, and it emitted a sinister aura from its mouth, increasing its size, and rushed toward Han Li. However, he had anticipated this.

He did not know how great the corpse demon’s cultivation was when it was alive, but now it was just an original spirit that had been trapped for a long time.

# 447