Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 544

Han Li’s lips curled up at the Heavenly Talisman Sect’s proposal.

“You want me to be a guest elder for your three families? Do you really think I’d accept such an offer?”

“We understand that a small sect like ours can’t afford to support a senior like you. We only ask that you resolve a minor issue we’re facing. After that, we’ll simply keep your name as a guest elder and won’t bother you further,” Elder On quickly explained, relieved that Han Li didn’t seem too displeased.

“So, you’re saying that if I help you once, you won’t need anything more from me?”

“That’s correct. Of course, our three sects aren’t asking for your help for nothing. Our Heavenly Talisman Sect will offer the secret art of the Fire Spirit Talisman, and both Golden Haze Mountain and Bright Yang Valley will give you their best secret arts. We’ve also prepared tens of thousands of spirit stones. It’s a small token of our sincerity, and we implore you to accept it.”

Elder On presented the conditions directly, having brought the conversation this far. He didn’t want to risk upsetting Han Li with unnecessary wordplay.

“Tens of thousands of spirit stones?”

“Also, the three sects will offer a certain amount of spirit stones every year. And we’ll also give you the Fire Spirit Talisman personally refined by our sect’s founder. With your cultivation, Senior, you should be able to refine it and use it effectively.”

Elder On added the final condition, gritting his teeth.

“The founder of the Heavenly Talisman Sect, are you referring to the Heavenly Talisman True Immortal?”

“Yes, it’s his treasure. Our founder had great divine powers, but his successors weren’t up to par, so they couldn’t use it properly. They could only watch as its spiritual essence gradually faded over the years. If you, Senior, can use it properly, it would be a great blessing for us.”

This time, Sect Leader Ak Jin stepped forward to speak.

“If there’s such a treasure, I’d like to see it.”

“Ak Sajil, quickly bring out the Fire Spirit Talisman and show it to the Senior.”

Elder On was overjoyed at Han Li’s interest and gave the order. Although he was the most highly cultivated cultivator in the Heavenly Talisman Sect, only the successive sect leaders could inherit the talisman used by the Heavenly Talisman True Immortal.

“Yes, Sasook!”

Ak Jin immediately reached into his storage pouch, and a yellow wooden box with a faint blue glow appeared. The box wasn’t particularly ornate but looked antique, and a talisman with scattered golden light was attached to it.

Han Li stroked the lid of the wooden box with one hand, and the talisman fell off silently. Seeing this, Elder On and the other Core Formation stage elders were shocked.

It wasn’t something anyone could do—to lightly remove a golden restriction talisman using spiritual energy. It required not only high cultivation but also the ability to manipulate magical power freely and very subtly.

When the jade box opened, a pure wood-attribute spiritual energy wafted out, accompanied by a blue light. Han Li was inwardly surprised.

Even after so many years, the talisman’s spiritual essence should have greatly diminished, yet it still exuded such power. It was definitely not an ordinary object.

Moreover, the Fire Spirit Talisman was unexpectedly a wood-attribute spirit talisman. If it complemented his cultivation method, it would be much easier to nurture.

He began to examine the talisman carefully. The palm-sized talisman was as clear as if blue water was about to drip from it, and the spells written in gold and silver were also mysterious.

However, what caught his eye was a small purple dot in the center of the talisman that slowly moved and sparkled.

Han Li reached out with his hand, which was glowing with a blue aura, to take the talisman out of the box. The talisman trembled and suddenly turned blue, leaping out of the jade box.

With a stern face, he grabbed the air with his other hand, and a hand of light appeared like a phantom, grabbing the talisman and bringing it back. The cultivators watching couldn’t help but admire him.

“This is the Fire Spirit Talisman. It’s indeed extraordinary. I heard that the Heavenly Talisman True Immortal was a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator at the time. The original energy left in the Fire Spirit Talisman is so powerful that ordinary cultivators would have difficulty refining it. You must use your own nascent soul [a cultivator’s core of spiritual energy] to nurture it anew, which isn’t something that can be done in a few decades. If you fail, over a hundred years of effort could be wasted.”

Han Li smiled as he looked at the spirit talisman wriggling like a live fish between his fingers.

“Then, Senior….”

Elder On and the other cultivators’ expressions darkened at Han Li’s words.

“However, that’s only true for early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators. I’ve reached the mid-stage and mainly cultivate a wood-attribute cultivation method, so it’s not that difficult for me. It will be useful.”

“Does that mean you’ll accept our request?”

“Let’s talk about the matter I need to resolve first. If it’s not too troublesome, I might be able to help right away.”

Han Li immediately flicked his hand, and the talisman, which was emitting spiritual energy, returned to the wooden box, and the lid closed on its own.

“Of course, we must tell you. It’s actually related to the market that our three sects manage. A few days ago…”

Elder On hurriedly began to explain about the market and the Slaughtering Yang Sect. After a while, Han Li turned into a streak of blue light and left White Bamboo Mountain.

* * *

A few days later, rumors spread among the cultivators in the Huayun Prefecture.

A cultivator with the surname Han, who claimed to be a guest elder of the Heavenly Talisman Sect, had suddenly appeared at the gate of the demonic Slaughtering Yang Sect. Under the pretext of testing his skills, he defeated the only Nascent Soul stage elder of the Slaughtering Yang Sect and then left abruptly.

As a result, the next day, the Spirit Wind Sect, which had been supported by the Slaughtering Yang Sect, withdrew its forces from the market near Kaijiang Town and moved tens of thousands of miles away.

Other small sects were shocked by the news and immediately withdrew their forces. Eventually, the vast area fell into the hands of the three sects, including the Heavenly Talisman Sect.

The Heavenly Talisman Sect, Golden Haze Mountain, and Bright Yang Valley had their status changed overnight by borrowing the power of a mid-stage Nascent Soul guest elder. It was clear that the power of the three sects would grow much stronger within the next hundred years.

At this time, the number one sect in Huayun Prefecture, the South Sea Sect, held a Daoist assembly to exterminate the evil dragons. In just a few days, more than two hundred cultivators above the Core Formation stage and ten Nascent Soul stage cultivators had gathered.

They systematically searched the southern coast, trying to find the hiding places of the evil dragons. As a result, the low-level demonic beasts were killed as soon as they were discovered, and the cultivators’ morale was high, with no one doubting their success.

However, the evil dragons were extremely cunning and didn’t show themselves at all. The cultivators searched for months without finding any trace of them, and some cultivators couldn’t bear it and began to leave.

After a few more months, only about a hundred cultivators remained, and the Nascent Soul stage cultivators were only seven, mainly from the South Sea Sect.

As a result, there weren’t enough people to search the coast, and the evil dragons took this opportunity to attack lone cultivators again. Even the eighth-grade blue flood dragon targeted groups of cultivators with small numbers several times.

Although Nascent Soul stage cultivators were assigned to each group, the divine powers of the eighth-grade blue flood dragon were not to be underestimated. It used water evasion techniques to attack and then disappeared deep into the seabed. So, instead of eliminating the flood dragons, they ended up losing a few Core Formation stage cultivators.

The human cultivators began to be frightened, but the South Sea Sect couldn’t turn back on what they had already started, so they continued the search with the remaining people.

One day, a group of about a dozen people, led by a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, was flying above the sea, watching the water below.

And behind that group, Han Li was following, disguised as a middle-aged cultivator. He had a calm face, but inside, he was frowning.

As soon as the Daoist assembly began, he had disguised himself as a Core Formation stage cultivator and joined the group, but he hadn’t gained anything so far.

He could understand the previous few months, but recently, the evil dragons had started to become active again, and other groups had been attacked once or twice, but only the group Han Li was in hadn’t experienced anything.

They were currently exploring the western sea area. A few days ago, cultivators had been attacked by an eighth-grade blue evil dragon in this area and had returned, so the South Sea Sect had sent them to investigate.

To avoid suspicion from the Nascent Soul stage cultivator, Han Li was only observing an area of about ten miles in radius.

This range was enough to identify the movements of the evil dragons first, so there was no need to worry about being ambushed. The dozen or so cultivators had searched the entire sea area, but as expected, they couldn’t find any traces of the evil dragons.

“What is that?”

One of the cultivators flying in front muttered. Han Li, who was looking into the sea, heard the sound and raised his head to look.

After a while, an ominous gray cloud appeared at the end of the sky, flying over their heads and covering them.

“Finally! There must be a high-level demonic beast inside.”

“That’s strange. Before, the evil dragons would run away as soon as they saw us. Why would they come to us on their own? Are they trying to play some trick?”

The cultivators murmured and rejoiced, while another cultivator expressed doubt. The Nascent Soul stage cultivator leading the group also frowned upon hearing their words.

He spread his consciousness to investigate and his face changed. He quickly shouted,

“Strengthen your defenses! Another demonic beast is flying this way.”

Everyone was shocked by his words and took out their magical treasures, but they couldn’t feel the aura of any demonic beast anywhere around them.

They all exchanged glances and looked at the Nascent Soul stage cultivator, but at that moment, a sharp cry of a flood dragon began to be heard, and another cloud with a powerful demonic aura appeared.

Now, the huge bodies and shimmering scales of the flood dragons could be faintly seen in the clouds.

The clouds approaching from the east and west were clearly larger than the others, and they were colored blue and red, respectively.

“No way! Two eighth-grade demonic beasts!”

The faces of the cultivators who had identified the demonic beasts with their consciousness changed.

The eighth-grade demonic beasts weren’t satisfied with the ambush and had called other demonic beasts of the same level to trap the cultivators.

“What are you all doing, standing there dumbfounded? Quickly send sound transmission talismans [a method of communication using spiritual energy] to other groups and ask for help, and then engage them. If we wait until the evil dragons gather, the situation will only get worse.”

The Nascent Soul stage giant maintained his composure and rebuked the other cultivators. Hearing his words, the Core Formation stage cultivators also came to their senses and hurriedly sent out sound transmission talismans.

“I’ll take on one of the eighth-grade evil dragons, and two cultivators with fast evasion techniques will take on the other one. Just avoid the demonic beast and buy time. The rest of the cultivators will scatter and fight the seventh-grade evil dragons.”

The giant quickly revealed his plan, and the Core Formation stage cultivators began to look at each other. They were confident in surviving a fight with a seventh-grade evil dragon, but it was too much to ask just two of them to fight an eighth-grade evil dragon.

“If two aren’t enough, then three can go!”

The Nascent Soul stage cultivator quickly changed his words after assessing the situation. But at that moment, a tremendous sound of air being torn apart was heard, and an astonishing thing happened.

One of the cultivators with an ordinary appearance suddenly unleashed an enormous aura and turned into a streak of blue light, flying towards the red cloud.

“A Nascent Soul stage cultivator, and a mid-stage Nascent Soul at that!”

The cultivators were surprised, but they all looked delighted.

The Nascent Soul stage giant also paused for a moment, but he was just as happy. He guessed that the South Sea Sect had noticed that there might be a trap in this expedition and had secretly sent a Nascent Soul stage cultivator along.

With that, the giant turned into a streak of blue light and flew towards the blue cloud, and the Core Formation stage cultivators, feeling relieved that the Nascent Soul stage cultivators had each taken on an eighth-grade demonic beast, flew towards the approaching clouds of demonic beasts.