Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 545

Not long after, various spirit lights flickered from all directions, causing a commotion.

Although the surroundings became noisy, Han Li remained motionless, floating in front of the eerie red cloud. His entire body was enveloped in purple ice flames, and the surroundings were filled with red flames.

About a dozen yards away, a half-human, half-dragon Jiaolong [a mythical creature with a dragon’s body and a human head] was in human form, watching him from within the pillar of fire. The demonic beast was covered in transparent red scales and emitted red flames.

“Indeed, it’s a Crimson Flame Jiaolong! It wasn’t a waste of time after all. An eighth-grade Crimson Flame Jiaolong is much better than a seventh-grade one.”

“Did you come here for me?”

At his muttering, the Crimson Flame Jiaolong opened its long mouth. White fangs gleamed, and the pillar of fire surrounding him intensified. However, the Crimson Flame Jiaolong was actually quite uneasy inside.

The human cultivator who had flown here in an instant was in the mid-Nascent Soul stage [a high level of cultivation] and was covered in purple ice flames. Moreover, he didn’t seem afraid of the demonic flames it had refined for so long, so he was not an easy opponent.

Also, as soon as the Crimson Flame Jiaolong saw Han Li’s indifferent expression, it felt an inexplicable chill.

“I came here thinking there might be a seventh-grade Crimson Flame Jiaolong, but it turns out to be you. Since you have already taken human form through cultivation, I don’t intend to slaughter you without reason! How about this? Just give me a few of your natal scales from your neck and retreat with the other Jiaolongs. Then, I will let you live.”

“Hand over my natal scales? You’re just a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, yet you’re so arrogant! I will kill you so you can’t spout any more nonsense.”

The Crimson Flame Jiaolong was furious at Han Li’s words.

Natal scales are scales that Jiaolong-type demonic beasts are born with, and over time, a considerable amount of essence and magic power accumulates in them. They are similar to demonic cores, and losing natal scales greatly diminishes one’s cultivation, so it was understandable that it was enraged.

*Bang!*

The enraged Jiaolong spun around in the pillar of fire and then appeared through the flames. As soon as the demonic beast revealed its true form, it opened its mouth and spat out a lava-like red liquid.

“Liquefied demonic flames, you must have put in some effort to refine that.”

Looking at the demonic beast, Han Li immediately spat out a pure white bead. It was the Ice Attribute magic treasure, the Setting Pearl. The bead grew in size as it left his mouth, becoming the size of a fist, and then shot forward.

As Han Li extended his finger towards the bead, a clear chime rang out, and a large amount of purple flames erupted. The purple flames instantly transformed into a fire dragon, which grabbed the bead like a wish-fulfilling jewel and lunged forward.

The purple fire dragon then collided with the red liquid.

*Chwaaak!*

Steam spread around, obscuring the view, but faintly, the purple fire dragon could be seen gradually pushing back the red liquid. The Crimson Flame Jiaolong’s eyes turned ferocious as it saw this, and it roared, stirring up red energy from its entire body.

The flames that had been burning around Han Li surged like a wave with the roar. Seeing this, Han Li sneered and spread his arms.

Purple light flashed from his palms, and ice walls, each twenty to thirty yards long, appeared to his left and right. The ice walls, shimmering with purple cold air, blocked the onrushing flames.

At that moment, the Crimson Flame Jiaolong, which had been far away, suddenly increased in size and, with a ‘whoosh,’ turned into a beam of light and rushed towards Han Li, reaching him in the blink of an eye.

Since the demonic flames were useless, it decided to kill Han Li instantly with its sharp claws.

Seeing the Crimson Flame Jiaolong approaching in an instant, Han Li smiled instead. He flicked one of his sleeves, and a thunderous sound echoed from behind him as silver wings appeared.

Then, silver light spread, and his body, which seemed about to be torn apart by the sharp claws of the demonic beast, instantly disappeared from the spot, and the Crimson Flame Jiaolong’s claws slashed through the air.

At that moment, a sharp whistling sound entered the demonic beast’s ears, and a red, transparent needle, aimed at its face, pierced sharply.

The needle, refined from a demonic core, pierced through the red energy surrounding the Crimson Flame Jiaolong in an instant. The demonic beast screamed in pain and grabbed its huge face with one claw.

*Thud!*

While blood dripped down, the needle pierced through one cheek of the Jiaolong and came out the other.

Since it was made from a fire-attribute demonic core, it was impossible to inflict a fatal wound on the Crimson Flame Jiaolong, but the moment it pierced through its cheek, the red needle expanded several times, creating a hole the size of a finger, which caused the demonic beast such pain.

*Kwagwang!*

Before the Crimson Flame Jiaolong could go berserk, a thunderous sound came from behind, and Han Li’s figure appeared, swinging his arm. Then, a golden sword struck down on the demonic beast with a fierce momentum.

Startled, the Crimson Flame Jiaolong, despite the extreme pain, swung its huge tail. It was about to crush Han Li in an instant. Han Li was taken aback by the Jiaolong’s quick reaction.

He didn’t stop either, and instead, he bent the golden sword to cut off the Jiaolong’s tail first. Eventually, the golden sword collided with the Crimson Flame Jiaolong’s tail, and the golden light slowly penetrated the red flesh.

The Crimson Flame Jiaolong hurriedly gathered all its demonic power into its tail, and the scales on its tail began to glow with a transparent red light.

*Kung!*

As the golden light and the red light began to struggle against each other, a dazzling light spread in all directions. Han Li narrowed his eyes and watched the situation with his navy blue eyes.

The sword, created by combining several flying swords, unexpectedly failed to cut off the Jiaolong’s tail in one go and instead got stuck in the hard bone.

Han Li immediately formed a hand seal to retrieve the flying sword and tried to strike again, but the Jiaolong’s tail held onto the golden sword and wouldn’t let go.

“Now, without a magic treasure, how will you fight me!”

The Crimson Flame Jiaolong laughed wildly and opened its mouth, revealing a fist-sized red bead.

‘A demonic core!’

The red demonic core was clearly visible in Han Li’s navy blue eyes. It seemed that since it couldn’t win in a head-on fight, it had held onto his natal magic treasure and was using the demonic core to exploit the gap.

In an instant, Han Li’s expression changed, and his figure seemed to waver, and then three Han Lis appeared in the air.

Confused by the sight, the Crimson Flame Jiaolong couldn’t distinguish which one was real. The three Han Lis simultaneously flicked their sleeves, emitting long golden lights.

The Crimson Flame Jiaolong was terrified by the three streams of golden light flying from different directions. It had no choice but to turn the demonic core towards the middle golden light and scatter red light to the left and right with its claws.

It figured that not all three flying swords could be real. One of them would be blocked by the demonic core, and the rest would be blocked by its powerful claws.

*Kwang!*

Unfortunately, a huge sound rang out, and the red demonic core was bounced away by the golden light, and the flying sword within the golden light also revealed its true form.

“The flying sword in the middle was the real one!”

The moment the Crimson Flame Jiaolong was relieved, its claws felt cold, and it felt extreme pain. The golden light, which had cut off most of its claws, rushed towards the Jiaolong in an instant.

“Hah!”

The demonic beast was startled and tried to retreat, flashing light.

But then, a purple lotus bloomed from below. Wherever the shadow of the lotus flickered, a cold air that seemed to freeze everything burst out, forcing it to hesitate.

Unfortunately, that brief hesitation gave the golden sword the time to cut off the Jiaolong’s head.

*Sreuk.*

The huge Jiaolong’s head fell from its neck.

Han Li had secretly formed a hand seal in his sleeve, pouring all his magic power into the flying swords that were flying to the left and right. Thanks to this, the flying swords, infused with essence, were able to fully display their power and cut through the thick scales of the Jiaolong.

At this moment, the two Han Lis disappeared, flashing blue light.

The Han Li standing in the middle continued to move his hands without rest, even as the demonic beast’s head was being severed, gesturing towards the flying swords.

*Kwagwang!*

Two thick golden lightning bolts shot out from the flying swords, forming a golden net.

Shortly after, a red light flashed from the severed neck of the Jiaolong, and a small Jiaolong popped out. However, the small Jiaolong was caught in the net and ended up trapped like a bird in a cage.

The Jiaolong’s soul, as if out of its mind, desperately tried to break through the net by spewing out bright red flames.

However, Han Li did not destroy the Jiaolong’s soul by detonating lightning like other cultivators would.

He soon took out a small cyan bottle and gestured towards the net, and a thin stream of lightning flowed out of the net, binding the struggling Jiaolong’s soul. The red Jiaolong had already turned into a fist-sized golden sphere.

As he tilted the bottle towards the golden sphere, a white light seeped out and wrapped around it. Only then did Han Li’s expression relax.

“The Spirit Shadow Technique is nothing special, but it’s not bad for practical use. It’s worth the Golden Haze Mountain disciples passing it down through generations.”

Han Li muttered and gestured towards the Jiaolong’s corpse, and the golden flying sword came out of the Jiaolong’s tail and returned, and the severed head and body also went into the prepared storage bag.

He didn’t forget to retrieve the eighth-grade demonic core that the Crimson Flame Jiaolong had created.

Then, the eerie fog and sea of fire created by the Crimson Flame Jiaolong naturally dispersed and disappeared. Only then did Han Li breathe a sigh of relief and look at the situation of the other cultivators.

The Core Formation stage cultivators were numerically superior, so there were no major problems. They were not winning decisively, but they were not being pushed back either. However, the Nascent Soul stage giant, who was fighting another eighth-grade Jiaolong, was in a very precarious situation.

“Eighth-grade demonic beasts are not easy to find, so I should take one more this time.”

As Han Li’s eyes flashed and he was about to fly away, the usually quiet Great Yan Divine Lord scolded him.

“Boy, don’t be too greedy. Other cultivators are already coming here, so if you waste time, you’ll miss the chance to slip away quietly. The South Sea Sect has put in so much effort to eliminate the Jiaolongs, do you think they’ll let you take everything?”

“Already? They are fast. Then, that’s fine. It’s a bit of a shame, but it’s better to leave now.”

Han Li spread his consciousness to confirm the facts and quietly disappeared from the spot before the last remaining red energy dissipated.

And at that moment, the eighth-grade navy blue Jiaolong, realizing that the Crimson Flame Jiaolong was dead, became enraged and began to attack even more frantically.

The Nascent Soul stage giant, who was already being pushed back, was inwardly distressed and was contemplating whether to run away now. But then, spirit lights flickered in the distance, and about a dozen cultivators each were flying towards this place.

The navy blue eighth-grade Jiaolong sensed it first and roared loudly, trying to escape into the sea, and the other seventh-grade Jiaolongs, hearing the sound, were also startled and jumped into the sea.

However, the giant, as well as the other cultivators, would not let them go. Once again, a fierce battle broke out in an instant…

At that time, Han Li had already retreated a hundred miles away and was flying without looking back. Now that he had dealt with the Crimson Flame Jiaolong, all that was left was to find an island without spirit veins and refine the Great Yan Divine Lord’s puppet.

* * *

Han Li had purchased a map of the nearby sea area in advance, so he traveled for half a month, focusing on areas that cultivators rarely passed through, and arrived at a small, nameless island.

The island, only about forty miles in size, had a meager spirit vein flowing through it.

If it were inland, even this would have been occupied by a small clan, but this was in the middle of the sea, where demonic beasts were rampant. Small clans could not maintain their existence here, and large clans did not pay attention to such weak spirit veins.

Han Li was satisfied and set up a base on a small mountain, releasing the Heavenly Fiend Banner. Then, a small dwelling was prepared in an instant.

To be cautious, Han Li installed a formation to conceal the mountain’s appearance, in addition to the dwelling’s own restrictions, and summoned a large amount of fog. Now, the island was hidden in a fog that stretched for ten miles, and even if a cultivator passed by, it would not be easily detected.