Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 503

While searching above the water, a narrow river appeared ahead. A faint crimson flash flickered in the river far away, then vanished from their sight in an instant.

“The outsider sensed something and used a secret technique to escape. To think they’ve already fled hundreds of miles away. Their spiritual sense [a cultivator’s ability to perceive their surroundings] is too strong, making them difficult to catch. The other cultivators are too slow, so the three of us should go ahead and block their path,” the Holy Maiden said decisively.

The other two cultivators naturally had no reason to object. They sent a sound transmission to the group of cultivators who were belatedly following, and then began to fly at full speed using escape techniques.

Although the distance was too great for anyone to capture the outsider with their spiritual sense, they were able to follow Han Li’s trail without losing him by using the Holy Beast’s strange divine power.

Thus began a chase that lasted a full day. When Han Li used Blood Shadow Escape [a high-speed escape technique] to flee a thousand miles away, the three Dolol cultivators would find his location again and continue the pursuit.

After breaking the seal three times in a row, Han Li’s expression darkened rapidly as he still couldn’t shake off his pursuers.

“Senior, the Dolol people are finding me even from a thousand miles away. Is there a secret technique in this world that enhances spiritual sense even more than the Great Connection [a powerful spiritual sense technique]?” Han Li asked, his face pale.

Han Li’s body was in a very dangerous state after breaking the seal three times in a row and using Blood Shadow Escape countless times.

If he hadn’t used high-level secret techniques several times to suppress the flare-ups and drunk more than ten drops of precious ten-thousand-year spiritual milk to partially compensate for the loss of essence blood, he wouldn’t have been able to hold on. [Essence blood is a vital substance in cultivation, and its loss weakens a cultivator.]

But even so, losing two or three hundred years of magic power was unavoidable. This was only because he possessed a large number of pills; if it were another cultivator, their cultivation level would have dropped altogether.

Yet, he was still being pursued by Nascent Soul [a high level of cultivation] late-stage cultivators, making it a very dangerous situation. Moreover, since he didn’t know how they were tracking him, he couldn’t recklessly use Blood Shadow Escape anymore.

At this rate, he would be finished before he could shake them off.

“This old man dares to claim that my Great Connection is the best in the cultivation world, but how can there not be cultivators with better talents than me? It’s not strange that there are even greater techniques. However, the reason they can find you even from a thousand miles away this time is because something other than a human is watching you.”

“If not a human, are you talking about a demon beast?”

“Yes, didn’t the appearance of the demon beast following us seem familiar? It was exactly the same as the demon beast that the Dolol people call the Holy Beast of the Heavenly Orchid. Perhaps the old men of the Heavenly Orchid Holy Temple summoned it from the upper realm after you killed several upper realm cultivators.”

“The Holy Beast of the Heavenly Orchid? I did pay attention to that demon beast, but its magic power fluctuations weren’t that strong. It was only at the seventh level, which is too different from what the Moran people called the Holy Ancestor, isn’t it?”

Han Li frowned, expressing his doubts.

“I heard about your war with the Moran people. The Holy Ancestor that the Moran people summoned at that time was probably a summoning method that projected a kind of shadow. It was merely creating a phantom in the mortal realm by borrowing the power of a treasure from the upper realm spirit beast. But the demon beast following us definitely has a physical body. If so, the Heavenly Orchid Holy Beast probably has abilities similar to the Demonic Transformation of the Ancient Demon. So, you can’t underestimate it. That’s what you can call a true avatar summoning method. If given enough time, it will become the most terrifying existence in the mortal realm. However, although it has descended several times, it always holds back, perhaps out of fear, so ordinary cultivators haven’t properly seen or known about it,” the Great Evolution Divine Lord explained softly.

“I’ve never heard of such an existence in the mortal realm. Whether it’s a demon beast or some holy beast, we need to find a way to escape the pursuit quickly. It’ll be a disaster if the seal is broken again,” Han Li said, revealing his anxiety as he confirmed that they were getting closer.

“There are countless strange demon beasts in the upper realm, so how would I know what method they’re using to track you? In my opinion, your skill in concealing your aura is already close to perfect, so there seems to be no way other than killing that demon beast. However, I can temporarily teach you a secret technique to put you in a state of suspended animation. Then, all the energy in your body will completely disappear, making you appear similar to a dead person, but I’m not sure if this method will work. It’s not even certain if that demon beast is tracking you by your aura.”

Han Li listened to the Great Evolution Divine Lord’s words and pondered for a moment before suddenly speaking sharply, “I must kill that demon beast.”

“That will be difficult. There are two Dolol Great Cultivators beside it, and the woman with her face covered is at the Nascent Soul mid-stage, but she’s clearly the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Orchid. She probably possesses divine powers comparable to a Great Cultivator.”

“There’s no way to overcome this crisis without paying a price. If I give up my second Nascent Soul and engage in battle, there’s a chance of victory.”

“Master, if you’ve made up your mind, I will help too,” Yin Yue suddenly spoke.

“How are your injuries? If I ask you to lure the enemy with your spirit body, can you endure it?” Han Li hesitated for a moment before asking in a gentler voice.

“I am the spirit of the natal magic treasure of the master. Even if I am severely injured, I am close to immortal as long as the flying sword is not broken. So, you don’t have to worry about me. At most, I will just go into a deep sleep within the magic treasure for a few years, and then I will be fine.”

“Alright, the situation is not good right now, so it seems I have to trouble you,” Han Li said with a sigh after organizing his thoughts for a moment.

Afterward, he asked the Great Evolution Divine Lord for the hand seals to enter a state of suspended animation, recited them in his mind for a long time, and then immediately rubbed his skull.

A black light flashed, and his second Nascent Soul rose above his head, spitting out a jet-black banner from its mouth. The Nascent Soul grabbed the banner and jumped into the black cloud that flowed out, and the sky above a hundred feet was covered with black clouds, filled with demonic energy.

“Take this. If the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Orchid chases you with the Holy Beast, you must use this sword to kill it,” Han Li said with a grim face, raising one hand and throwing a small, blood-colored sword into the demonic cloud. It was the Blood Demon Sword.

A sharp sound echoed through the demonic cloud, and it flew away with tremendous momentum.

Han Li looked at the receding demonic cloud with a dark face, then took out a small bottle. He tilted the bottle and swallowed a drop of milky white liquid full of spiritual energy, then flew away even faster.

* * *

“What is going on? If I’m not mistaken, that person’s Nascent Soul is escaping alone,” the purple-haired woman following behind frowned.

“Usually, when a Nascent Soul escapes, the physical body cannot move freely. But that person is still using escape techniques, so are they practicing a secret technique similar to the Three Corpse Divine Technique [a technique to separate the soul]?” the young man also shook his head, expressing his doubts.

“If it was a transformation, it wouldn’t have been able to deceive us. Since a complete Nascent Soul is moving separately, it’s probably not a technique to separate the Nascent Soul like the Soul Division Technique of the Jie cultivator. Could it be that they possess a second Nascent Soul that we’ve only heard about…?” the purple-haired woman’s face darkened. The Holy Maiden’s expression was no better.

“Can’t the Holy Beast sense what’s going on?” the young man turned his head and asked the Holy Maiden.

“No. Only a strand of the Holy Beast’s avatar has descended, and it needs more than a hundred years of cultivation to fully regain its reason. It’s only at the level of a seventh-level demon beast right now, so it can’t use other divine powers.”

“Then it’s become troublesome. If we can’t confirm whether the Nascent Soul is real or fake, we can’t let it escape like this. How about I chase after the Nascent Soul first, and the rest of you chase after the Holy Beast and that person? With my abilities, it won’t take long to eliminate the Nascent Soul,” the young man suggested after thinking it over.

“That’s the only way. Ah, the Nascent Soul that’s escaping separately might be the opponent’s main Nascent Soul, so you mustn’t completely destroy it. We need to find out how to cultivate the Gold Devouring Beetles [a type of magical insect],” the Holy Maiden said.

“Of course. I’ll take care of it,” the young man replied.

The Holy Maiden nodded, agreeing with the plan.

Thus, the young man chased after Han Li’s second Nascent Soul, while the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Orchid and the woman chased after Han Li. While escaping, Han Li sensed the two cultivators getting closer.

“Now, there are only about six miles left. Yin Yue, you move too,” Han Li roughly calculated and then flicked his sleeve, and a small silver wolf rolled out of the void and transformed into another Han Li.

Seeing this, Han Li couldn’t help but smile bitterly, but since there was no time, he didn’t say anything and handed over a spirit beast bag and a thumb-sized blue bead to the other party.

“You are currently in a spirit body and have no physical body, so it will be difficult to use other magic treasures. Take the Gold Devouring Beetles and the Thunder Essence [a powerful energy source] and don’t interfere with the others. Just kill or severely injure the demon beast.”

“Don’t worry, Master. If the Holy Beast of the Heavenly Orchid chases after me, I will make sure it doesn’t escape easily,” Yin Yue replied in Han Li’s form, carefully taking the two items, and then transformed into a silver streak and flew away.

Han Li watched Yin Yue disappear into the distance and couldn’t help but sigh. Yin Yue had changed not only his appearance but also his aura to be exactly the same.

“Senior, do you think Yin Yue’s illusion technique can deceive the opponent? In my opinion, unless they look closely, they probably won’t notice it,” Han Li asked.

“It seems that the power of your spirit is not ordinary. Even I, not you, cannot see through it properly. If the two guys following behind and the Holy Beast don’t act recklessly, they won’t notice it in a short time,” the Great Evolution Divine Lord gave Han Li an ambiguous answer. Han Li thought for a moment and then suddenly changed direction, hurriedly flying in the opposite direction from Yin Yue.

Han Li didn’t know, but the fact that he had given some of the Gold Devouring Beetles to Yin Yue had coincidentally become a brilliant lure.

When the opponent suddenly split into two and fled, the purple-haired woman and the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Orchid, who were chasing from tens of miles away, had no choice but to stop for a moment.

“What is going on? The aura and the intensity of the spiritual energy are exactly the same! They are truly not easy to deal with,” the purple-haired woman roughly swept back her fallen hair and clicked her tongue.

“It’s too far away to know the opponent’s true cultivation with our spiritual sense, so we need the help of the Holy Beast,” the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Orchid was also troubled. Afterward, she muttered something to the Holy Beast in an ancient language, and a blue light flashed from the Holy Beast’s body. Gradually, the horn on its head became transparent and turned into crystal.

However, after a while, the Holy Maiden’s expression darkened even more as she communicated with the Holy Beast through its cries.

“There’s a problem. It seems the opponent knew that we were tracking them with the aura of the Gold Devouring Beetles, and both of them are carrying Gold Devouring Beetles. This makes it difficult for the Holy Beast to distinguish them.”

“Then that means we can’t let either of them go.”

“It’s alright. Let’s each chase one of them. Now that we know the opponent’s strategy, it wouldn’t be bad to cooperate.”

“That’s true, but the opponent’s cultivation is at the Nascent Soul mid-stage, but their divine powers are considerable, almost matching a Nascent Soul late-stage cultivator. So, you must be careful. But they are injured now, so they won’t be able to rampage that much. Then, I’ll chase after that one. If they don’t use strange escape techniques, I’ll be able to join you soon,” the purple-haired woman gave a few words of caution, looking a little worried.

“Cultivator Son, don’t worry. No matter how strange the opponent’s blood-colored escape technique is, the price for using it will not be small. They’ve already used escape techniques in succession, so they won’t have much energy left. Besides, I have the clan’s treasure, the Holy Cauldron, so what could happen to me?”

“That’s a relief then. I’ll go first,” the woman smiled lightly and transformed into a purple streak of light, flying towards ‘Han Li.’ The Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Orchid also looked at the other Han Li with a determined gaze.

# 505