Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 549

Three days later, Han Li appeared on another deserted island.

He stood on a rock, gazing solemnly at the dwarf puppet that housed the Great Yan Divine Lord.

“Are you truly going to leave this world like this? In your current state, I can prevent your soul from dissipating for another month or two.”

“What’s the point of living a few more days? There’s no need to suffer needlessly. It’s better for me to enter reincarnation as soon as possible.”

“If that’s the case, I won’t stop you. I hope that there truly is reincarnation in this world, and that you will walk the path of cultivation again in your next life.”

“Boy, even if there is reincarnation, who knows if you’ll be lucky enough to be born as a human in the next life? Forget about that! Do you remember when I asked you to fulfill one request when I improved the Seven Flame Fan refinement method?”

“I remember. However, you haven’t mentioned it, so I thought you had forgotten.”

“My request is simple. If possible, I would like you to reclaim the Heavenly Bamboo Sect in the West Pole Region! After all, the current leaders of the Heavenly Bamboo Sect are not my disciples. I want you to choose one of my disciples to inherit my research. This way, I can close my eyes in peace.”

“No problem. When the time comes, I will take in a disciple with outstanding talent, teach them all the puppet techniques you have passed down, and make them the leader of the Heavenly Bamboo Sect.”

“Haha! That’s settled then. I will leave all my cultivation methods, secret techniques, and my life’s experiences and knowledge in a jade slip called the ‘Great Yan Treasure Scripture.’ I will place the jade slip in the Eastern Abode, so you can learn as much as you can and pass it on to the disciple who will inherit the Heavenly Bamboo Sect. Only then can it be said that you are truly carrying on the lineage of this Divine Lord.”

The Great Yan Divine Lord laughed heartily. Then, the dwarf puppet opened its mouth and spewed a green light high into the sky, chanting an incantation.

The green light rapidly expanded, rising dozens of feet into the air. The brilliant light forced Han Li, who was watching from below, to close his eyes for a moment.

Thud!

The chanting suddenly stopped, and the green light exploded, dyeing the sky.

Han Li’s expression became somber. The Great Yan Divine Lord, who had dominated an era and founded the Heavenly Bamboo Sect, had returned to nothingness.

He stood silently, staring at the sky, and after a long time, he let out a long sigh. He lowered his gaze, and only the dwarf puppet, devoid of its soul, floated lifelessly in the air.

Han Li flicked his sleeve, retrieved the dwarf puppet, and reached for the bamboo tube.

Several jade slips shot out from it. Upon inspection, they were indeed filled with the Great Yan Divine Lord’s research, secret techniques, and strange tales from the cultivation world.

Han Li put the jade slips into his storage pouch and stood there, lost in thought. The puppet was complete, and now, if he could refine the Three Flame Fan, he would be able to fight Goma.

However, the problem was that the refinement method was a bit complicated, requiring the use of three types of flames: heaven, earth, and human, to process the materials.

It seemed that the human and earth flames could be resolved, but the only troublesome part was the material that needed to be refined with heaven fire.

According to the jade slip, heaven fire was actually the flame of heavenly lightning. Only when thunderstorms occurred could he gather natural lightning fire.

Although Han Li possessed the Heavenly Lightning Bead, it was a collection of lightning power, useless for him, as he needed to refine with the lightning fire itself. Perhaps he could gather lightning fire in a few months when the weather was right.

Refining the Three Flame Fan was now only a matter of time.

Han Li calculated the dates and realized that the time he had agreed to meet with Old Man Gu Yu Zhong in Nanjiang was not far off.

Although it was an appointment made without knowing any circumstances, since the volcanic eruption on Mount Eunsa in Nanjiang was famous for its earth fire, he thought he would meet Old Man Bu while refining the materials.

Besides, he was also curious about why the other party was putting so much effort into gathering cultivators.

As he organized his future plans, he realized that he had accomplished about half of his goals here. The other half was to find a way to undo the Soul Sealing Curse from the Yin Fiend Sect and retrieve his flying sword from Goma’s grasp.

He transformed back into a streak of blue light and flew along the island’s mountain range. He then released a Heavenly Talisman at the foot of a certain mountain peak, set up several restrictions, and entered.

Han Li placed the Fire Spirit Talisman he had obtained from the Heavenly Talisman Sect into his body and refined it. Then, he sat cross-legged and released a spirit beast bag into the air.

The storage pouch opened, and a white mist escaped, and a yellow spirit beast, about a foot in size, fell to the ground. It was the Earth Dragon Turtle he had captured a few years ago.

The spirit beast resembled a pangolin, but it was motionless, perhaps due to the various colored talismans attached to it. It merely looked at Han Li with pitiful eyes.

It seemed that its wild nature had diminished after being captured for several years.

“Stop acting pitiful. You’re a seventh-grade spirit beast with high intelligence, so you must understand human speech to some extent. I don’t have much time, so let’s settle this here. If you agree to follow me, I will place a restriction on your consciousness. However, if you refuse, I will kill you and exchange your scales and spirit core for spirit stones.”

Han Li said grimly, and the Earth Dragon Turtle trembled, a look of fear flashing across its face, followed by a vicious expression.

“It’s better to become my spirit beast than to fall into the hands of another cultivator. The lifespan of a spirit beast does not exceed that of a human cultivator. You will only be under my command during my lifetime, and when I die or ascend to the upper realm, I will set you free.”

At Han Li’s words, the Earth Dragon Turtle seemed to be stunned for a moment, then fell into deep thought. Seeing the spirit beast struggling to make a decision, Han Li suddenly took out a cyan bottle from his storage pouch.

The lid opened on its own, and a cold, chilling light escaped, causing the surrounding temperature to drop sharply. The Earth Dragon Turtle immediately froze, unable to take its eyes off it. At Han Li’s gesture, the silver liquid coalesced into a round bead.

“It seems you recognize what it is. If you become my spirit beast, I will give you a drop later to help you survive the Fire Lightning Tribulation [a type of trial]. These are all my conditions, so choose.”

The Earth Dragon Turtle’s face contorted as it looked at the silver bead that had transformed from the Cold Essence. After waiting for a while, Han Li snorted and retrieved the silver bead and the small bottle.

“……?”

He opened his hand, and a purple flame flickered, clinging to the surface of the flying sword that emerged from his fingertip.

Swish.

Terrified by the flying sword flying towards it and the immense spiritual power, the Earth Dragon Turtle lowered its head, barely dodging the flying sword, and immediately bowed its head to show its surrender.

* * *

Half a day later, Han Li retrieved the Heavenly Talisman and flew inland.

He arrived on the mainland in half a month, but instead of returning to the Heavenly Talisman Sect, he headed straight for Nanjiang. He took breaks from time to time and began to refine some of the materials for the Three Flame Fan with spirit fire, but the clear weather continued, and he could not gather lightning fire.

However, he was not worried. Nanjiang was a tropical rainforest, and the weather was humid, with storms frequently appearing and disappearing. Once he arrived there, gathering lightning fire would not be a problem.

Four months later, he finally reached the southern border after passing through several provinces and counties. Nanjiang was divided among a dozen or so mid-level sects, not a single large sect. They often fought over interests, but when external forces tried to invade Nanjiang, they would unite and fight as one.

Even the forces known as the Ten Great Demonic Sects did not easily provoke them, and this was due to the special cultivation methods that the local cultivators had mastered.

The local sects had mastered rare and special cultivation methods. They were not only skilled in poison but also adept at handling poisonous insects, curses, and sorcery, making them difficult for even cultivators of the same level to deal with.

Chao Yun Prefecture was located in the western part of Nanjiang, and the Shuanggal Mountains located there were a remote mountain range that was difficult to enter unless one was a high-level cultivator or had taken elixirs that counteracted poison.

This place was also famous in Nanjiang for its miasma [a poisonous fog]. It was a good environment for various valuable poisonous herbs to grow, and two types of poisonous scorpions, the Iron Brow Scorpion and the Red Thread Scorpion, were native to the area. If low-level cultivators succeeded in capturing them, they were good to use as spirit insects.

When Han Li arrived near the Shuanggal Mountains, it was the time of the year when the miasma exploded, and many cultivators had gathered. This was the best time to catch the poisonous scorpions, as they would come out of their burrows during this period.

However, most of them were Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment cultivators, and high-level cultivators did not pay attention to this place.

It was natural that the appearance of a Core Formation stage cultivator like Han Li would cause a commotion among the cultivators, so he immediately concealed himself in the miasma.

He was surrounded by a blue protective barrier, so neither the pink miasma nor the poisonous insects could approach him. It was a trivial matter for his cultivation, although it was fatal to low-level cultivators.

Old Man Bu had only told him to meet at the Shuanggal Mountains, without specifying the exact location, so he decided to wait at the top of the mountain. He occasionally passed by a few low-level cultivators, but no one noticed him due to the thick miasma and his incredible speed.

As he flew, thinking about why Old Man Bu had asked him to come here, he heard a shout from somewhere.

“It’s a mutated Iron Brow Scorpion! Everyone, run!”

The man’s voice was hoarse and trembling with fear. And not far away, there were explosions and strange cries of spirit insects. Han Li glanced in that direction with his navy blue eyes.

Swish, swish!

Unexpectedly, the sound of air being torn apart was heard, and several male and female cultivators were flying towards Han Li. They seemed to be using a movement technique, leaping several feet with each step they took on the ground.

“Hmm?”

Han Li stopped his movement technique when he saw one of the women. Then, he flicked his sleeve and dispelled the miasma within a radius of several dozen feet with a blue aura.

Several cultivators stopped in surprise at this strange phenomenon. Before they could react, Han Li reached out his hand towards the sky. Then, a blue hand appeared, grabbed something dark, and returned to Han Li.

It was a giant scorpion with a black shell, about a foot long, with purple poison on its long tail.

It was the mutated Iron Brow Scorpion that the low-level cultivators were chasing. This scorpion spirit beast was a second-grade spirit beast, but it was helpless in the hand of the light, only letting out painful cries.

The cultivators were shocked by this sight and stared at Han Li in the sky.

“I didn’t expect to see Fellow Cultivator Wang again here after we parted ways in Jin Country. Is Miss Jo doing well?”

“You’re Fellow Cultivator Han, no, Senior Han! Junior Sister Jo is doing well in Jin Country. I’m here with other cultivators to find spirit herbs.”

The woman in the yellow robe was surprised, but she was very happy to see him. She was Senior Sister Wang, who was with Jo Mong-yong on the outskirts of Jin Country. At that time, Han Li had left after hearing the sound of his flying sword, and the woman knew that Han Li was a high-level cultivator, so she paid her respects.

The other cultivators were relieved to see that Senior Sister Wang knew the high-level cultivator in the sky and followed suit, greeting him.

“Your family is wealthy, and your uncle is General Ju Nam, so why are you risking your life to come all the way here to find spirit herbs?”

“My family is wealthy, but I lack talent, so my family doesn’t value me much. Therefore, they wouldn’t spend many spirit stones on me.”

“You don’t seem to lack talent. There’s still hope for Foundation Establishment. It’s fate that we met again here, so I’ll give this scorpion spirit beast to you. I have a long way to go, so I’ll be on my way.”

The blue hand scattered into light, and the giant scorpion fell in front of the low-level cultivators, motionless as if it were dead.

“Thank you so much…”

The woman was about to express her gratitude with a joyful expression, but Han Li had already disappeared, turning into a blue light. Unable to do anything, Senior Sister Wang swallowed the words she was about to say.

# 551