Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 459

Through the puppet, Han Li saw the situation inside the cave unfold.

The white wolf puppet moved through a natural cave, nearly seven yards long, and entered deeper. The dark red stone walls were warped and sparked from the intense heat.

The high temperature was enough to make low-level cultivators faint without even entering the passage. However, the wolf, being a puppet, felt no pain.

After a while, the scene brightened, revealing a red underground world.

The space, hundreds of yards wide, was mostly a churning lake of lava.

Surprisingly, green spirit herbs grew on the red rocks beside the lake. However, Han Li, through the white wolf’s eyes, focused on a huge rock protruding from the center of the lava.

On top of it, a crimson monster, its whole body seemingly ablaze, was sleeping. It was a giant toad, about six yards in size. Its flame-like skin and the red mist billowing from its breath were extraordinary.

‘That must be the Fire Toad!’

Han Li carefully confirmed its appearance and then looked at a stone table beside the lava lake.

On the table, the skeleton of a cultivator wearing a blue robe sat quietly. It hadn’t aged despite the passage of countless years, indicating it was no ordinary object. The skeleton was just bones, but it was transparent, as if frozen in water, making it look bizarre.

As Han Li examined the situation, he quietly released a bit of his spiritual essence towards the skeleton, and suddenly, something strange happened.

A light suddenly spread from the blue robe, and a blue mist repelled his consciousness. A wave of spiritual energy spread out. Then, the deeply sleeping Fire Toad sensed something and opened its eyes wide.

‘This is bad!’

The white wolf puppet, having made eye contact with the toad, quickly turned into a white streak of light and fled under his control.

At the same time, the toad leaped up and landed, preparing to chase.

“The Fire Toad is coming!”

Han Li, hiding beside the barrier, moved only his lips to send a telepathic message to Nam Rong-hu and the others.

The two cultivators looked towards the large mountain peak with serious expressions.

A white streak of light shot out and flew towards their location, and soon after, a toad with a brilliant red glow followed closely behind.

It was so fast that it matched the speed of a typical Nascent Soul cultivator [a high-level cultivator].

Han Li’s expression changed. Fortunately, he had sent out the fast wolf puppet; otherwise, things could have gone wrong.

He urged the puppet to increase its speed and raised his palm, covered in dark blue flames.

Nam Rong-hu and Ro Wi-yeong also waited, their faces grim, while releasing their magical treasures. The giant toad and the white wolf quickly flew near the barrier.

However, as if the toad’s patience had run out while chasing the white streak of light, it spat out a bright red fireball from its mouth.

Kuhook!

The fireball suddenly turned into a vortex several yards in size and engulfed the white wolf.

Thud! Crash!

A low explosion was heard from within the flames, and then the surroundings became silent.

Han Li’s complexion worsened as he watched the scene. The vortex of flames dissipated, and the puppet had disappeared without a trace.

The demonic fire within the Fire Toad seemed to match the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator’s fire.

However, Han Li wasn’t too worried because he had even more powerful methods, such as the Purple Aurora Flame and the Great Gengjin Sword Formation. He was confident that he could kill the demonic beast even if he released all the puppets he had at the Core Formation stage [a mid-level cultivator]. Of course, he had no intention of taking such losses.

At that moment, the Fire Toad, thinking it had killed its enemy, was about to return, satisfied.

At that moment, Han Li and the other cultivators exchanged glances. This was about Namgung Wan’s life, so they couldn’t let it go like this.

He narrowed his brows, turned into a blue streak of light, and flew out. Nam Rong-hu and Ro Wi-yeong were briefly surprised but quickly understood Han Li’s intention.

When Han Li revealed his presence, the Fire Toad, which was about to return, was startled and quickly turned its head, glaring at him.

Han Li held an ice flame in one hand and brushed his waist with the other, causing six dark blue lights to fall from his storage pouch behind him.

As the light faded, six giant dark blue turtles, each about three yards in size, appeared. They were the turtle puppets he had recently reforged.

As Han Li controlled them with his consciousness, the shells of the six turtles glowed, condensing huge ice spikes.

Then, the turtles’ faces, which had seemed calm, also twisted fiercely, exuding a threatening aura. The Fire Toad also sensed Han Li’s hostility and spat out a fireball from its mouth.

Like the previous fireball, the suddenly enlarged vortex of fire rushed towards them.

In response, Han Li spread out his palm with the ice flame. It was to gauge the power of the Fire Toad’s demonic fire. From his hand, dark blue flames condensed into snowflakes and flew out.

The confrontation between the Fire Toad’s fireball and the small snowflakes created an unexpected scene.

Chwaaak!

A dark blue light appeared on the surface of the fireball, and then the flames were trapped inside a huge block of ice. The Fire Toad, seeing its fireball trapped, seemed to get heated and opened its mouth, spitting out hundreds of fireballs.

Han Li curled up the corners of his mouth. The six turtle puppets, which had been waiting, simultaneously fired countless ice spikes.

Ku-kwa-kwa-kwang!

Explosions rang out in succession, and the ice spikes shattered, clashing with the fireballs in mid-air. The resulting white steam covered the sky.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and observed that the opponent’s fireballs were pushing back the turtle’s ice spikes. He sent a signal, and the turtles retreated, and he also shot backward.

Then, the sea of fire completely pushed back the cold air and rushed forward.

Fortunately, the turtles immediately fired a large number of ice spikes, allowing Han Li and all the turtle puppets to safely retreat twenty yards away.

Han Li looked at the Fire Toad, which was standing still, and pursed his lips.

The Fire Toad was said to be able to recover its energy and wounds by borrowing the power of lava and was skilled in fire escape techniques, allowing it to escape a thousand yards in an instant through flames.

Since the surroundings were all lava, it would be easy for it to escape even by digging into the ground. Nam Rong-hu and the others might not care, but he had to kill the Fire Toad and obtain its core.

To do so, it was important to trap the demonic beast in the barrier and cut off its escape route.

Han Li suddenly turned and ran away, and the Fire Toad, initially dazed, turned into a red light and chased after him. It was not a very intelligent demonic beast.

Han Li was overjoyed at this.

When he had run a certain distance, a dark blue light suddenly appeared around the Fire Toad, trapping the demonic beast in a water barrier. And from the water barrier, a white light flashed, and a white water dragon appeared, lowering the surrounding temperature even further.

The Fire Toad was startled and stopped, looking around and growling menacingly. The other two cultivators also moved immediately as the demonic beast was trapped in the barrier.

Nam Rong-hu first threw a jade ring into the water barrier, and the old man Ro threw two dark blue spears, crossing them. The water barrier formed by the formation did not stop the treasures of the two cultivators from passing through.

At this time, Han Li also launched an attack with the water dragons inside the water barrier.

At that moment, sensing the danger, the Fire Toad let out a deafening roar and shook its whole body, and small red shields floated around it.

The small shields gathered densely and eventually formed three layers of huge protective barriers. Just then, the jade ring, the water dragons, and the two dark blue spears collided almost simultaneously.

A roar was heard from inside the water barrier, and flames and water energies burst out, obscuring the view.

However, soon the Fire Toad roared madly, and a bright red pillar of light collided with the water barrier.

Thud!

In the end, the water barrier that had been blocking the pillar of light was pierced.

As the red pillar pierced a hole in the water barrier, the water dragons, the ring, and the two spears were all instantly flung out of the pillar of fire. The Fire Toad faintly revealed its form within the pillar of fire.

It seemed to be trying to pass through the hole in the water barrier created by the attack. Nam Rong-hu and Ro Wi-yeong saw this and quickly tried to move their magical treasures, but it seemed too late.

However, just as the Fire Toad was about to escape through the hole in the water barrier, a sharp sound suddenly came from afar, and a black light flashed past.

The Fire Toad contracted its body and writhed in pain. Nam Rong-hu and Ro Wi-yeong, who were watching from outside, were delighted and launched a fierce attack on the immobilized demonic beast.

The jade ring spewed out hundreds of illusions, and the dark blue spears trembled and stretched out like long serpents. However, the Fire Toad was not easy to deal with, and even with one leg cut off, it did not retreat.

And it activated its dense shields, blocking all attacks.

The jade ring’s illusions tried to bind the Fire Toad, but they were blocked by the shields and could not approach, and the ice-attribute serpents that the two spears had transformed into did manage to destroy some of the shields, but there were too many to make a difference.

After a while, six dark blue pillars of light joined the attack and shattered the shields in one go.

Ku-kwa-kwa-kwang!

The Fire Toad, which was about to get up, fell forward again, and Han Li flew towards the Fire Toad, followed by six turtle puppets that fired dark blue pillars of light from their mouths, attacking the Fire Toad inside the water barrier.

Han Li’s gaze landed on the Fire Toad’s leg that had fallen outside the water barrier. The leg was still glowing red and wriggling even after being separated from the main body.

Seeing that the situation was turning unfavorable from afar, he had released the Yin Devil Blade to cut off the leg so that the Fire Toad could not break free from the restrictions.

Yet, it was astonishing that the demonic beast was still holding out against the attacks of the Nascent Soul cultivators and the six puppets’ pillars of light.

“Cultivator Han, the Fire Toad’s fire-attribute shields keep regenerating, so we should attack with opposing attributes. Otherwise, it will never end.”

Old Man Ro shouted as he saw the Fire Toad’s shields break and then transform back into red energy and be absorbed.

Han Li silently flicked one of his sleeves.

More than a dozen golden, brilliant flying swords flew up and condensed into a giant sword about a yard in size.

Ro Wi-yeong and Nam Rong-hu were also startled and looked at it.

They had expected Han Li to use his dark blue ice flames against the Fire Toad, but they were flustered when he suddenly took out the flying swords. As the giant sword was completed, Han Li blew out a thin stream of dark blue cold air, covering the surface of the sword.

After hesitating for a moment, Han Li clapped his hands together and cast a spell, and the Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning was activated from the giant sword.

Kureung!

Numerous lightning bolts flashed from the golden sword covered in dark blue flames.

“Go.”

Woong!

The giant sword turned into a golden streak of light and rushed towards the Fire Toad.

The Fire Toad, despite the fierce attacks from Nam Rong-hu and Ro Wi-yeong, was emitting a red light, and its belly was bulging. It seemed to be preparing a powerful counterattack.

But then, the golden giant sword flew in an instant and struck the Fire Toad’s head.

Feeling immense pressure from the golden giant sword’s attack, the Fire Toad postponed its belly bulging and tried to block the sword by spitting out something like a bright red bullet.

The fist-sized red bullet instantly raised the temperature inside the barrier.

‘Core? No, that’s not a real one.’

Han Li, who had been terrified that the demonic beast was trying to block the giant sword by spitting out its core, was relieved to realize it was not real. If it had been a real core, he would not have been able to attack freely.

Han Li cast another spell, and the giant sword struck the red bullet even more fiercely.

But then, an astonishing thing happened.

Teng!

A red light spread from the red bullet, competing with the golden light and blocking the attack. A sneer appeared in the Fire Toad’s eyes.

Kwang!

The bullet, which had been cut in half, exploded on its own. And in an instant, it transformed into two fire-attribute snakes, wrapping around the giant sword.

Han Li was also a little surprised, but he formed a hand seal and gestured, and the golden light on the giant sword flashed wildly, and the red energy was repelled by the lightning bolts.

The giant sword took advantage of the gap, shook its body, disappeared from its spot, and fell onto the Fire Toad’s shield. At that moment, the dark blue flames on the sword’s surface grew in size and blazed.

Pa-ji-jik!

The small shields touched the sword, froze, and then shattered into ice dust. The giant sword, which had destroyed more than a dozen small shields in one go, sharply cut through the Fire Toad’s huge head.
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