Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 712

“That makes sense. The Yin Fiend Sect is a demonic sect, so they must have countless enemies. Otherwise, the Yin Fiend Sect Master wouldn’t have appeared here today.”

The boy agreed with a smile.

Han Li smiled and flipped his palm, taking out a black bead. Then, he retrieved a box from his storage pouch, which was covered with golden restriction talismans. Inside was a bright red bead.

It was the item possessed by the gray-robed monk, known as Great Master Magu, from the So Geuk Palace’s Hyeonok Cave.

Han Li placed the black bead inside the box and carefully observed the two beads.

The black bead looked very ordinary on the surface, but upon closer inspection, subtle spells could be seen on its surface, and a black aura was constantly surging within it.

It seemed to contain pure demonic energy.

After staring at it for a while, Han Li sensed the fire-attribute spiritual power within the bright red bead and stroked his chin.

“To think such a thing still exists in the mortal realm! Someone must have refined a Thunderclap Bead during the ancient times. Whether it was created by ancient cultivators themselves or secretly passed down by someone from the Spirit Realm, I don’t know. If it’s the former, it’s fine, but if it’s the latter, what are their intentions…?”

The boy sighed deeply.

“Is the Thunderclap Bead an item from the Spirit Realm? But according to what I just learned with the Soul-Tracking Technique, this bead is called the Immortal-Slaying Bead. It’s said to be so powerful that even a Transformation Stage cultivator [a very high cultivation stage] would have a hard time if hit by it.”

“Although the appearance is different, it’s definitely a Thunderclap Bead! Of course, what you have is just a crude, inferior product. It seems the name Immortal-Slaying Bead was given to it in the mortal realm.”

“So, is this originally a magical artifact used by cultivators from the Spirit Realm?”

“Cultivators can use it, but it was originally made for mortals. It’s one of the few powerful treasures for mortals without magical power! Later, it fell into the hands of cultivators, but it’s difficult to refine, and those who know the refining method are very rare. I don’t even know the refining method.”

“A magical artifact that mortals can use! Why do Spirit Realm cultivators refine such things?”

“…It’s hard to explain in detail, but you’ll gradually find out when you go to the Spirit Realm.”

The boy paused for a moment and then vaguely glossed over the topic.

Han Li found it strange, but since the matters of the Spirit Realm were of no immediate use, he didn’t ask further. He put the beads back into his storage pouch.

Now that he had two powerful treasures, they would be useful later.

The five skull heads were slowly devouring the three persimmons, which had slowed down like snails, absorbing their pure corpse energy.

Han Li knew that the persimmons wouldn’t be able to escape, so he pondered how to deal with the Yin Fiend Sect while organizing his thoughts.

* * *

Half a year later, the Great Jin was shaken.

In just half a year, the Yin Fiend Sect had lost seven or eight Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, including their sect master.

They had disappeared one after another, and their deaths were confirmed as their life lamps, which were kept deep within the Yin Fiend Sect, went out one by one.

What was even stranger was that most of the Yin Fiend Sect cultivators who were killed had disappeared silently within the sect’s mountain range. It was as if an invisible enemy had infiltrated and dealt with the elder-level figures.

When the first elder was killed, the Yin Fiend Sect’s higher-ups thoroughly searched the sect and checked if all the restrictions were working properly.

Despite this, the elders continued to die, and eventually, the remaining elders gathered in one secret room and didn’t move an inch.

However, while some elders went out to perform tasks, they encountered strange incidents again, and the Yin Fiend Sect’s Nascent Soul Stage cultivators were terrified but helpless.

In that half year, half of the Yin Fiend Sect’s Nascent Soul Stage elders had died. It was almost one per month.

The Yin Fiend Sect, having lost their Great Elder and several other elders, gathered all the remaining elders in one place to protect them, and finally, they were able to stop the disaster.

The Yin Fiend Sect desperately tried to hide this fact, but the matter was so serious that it inevitably leaked out.

Forces that had been waiting for an opportunity began to dispatch large numbers of cultivators to gradually encroach on the areas that the Yin Fiend Sect had originally controlled.

The remaining Yin Fiend Sect elders tried their best to counterattack, but they couldn’t hold out for long.

Having reigned as one of the ten demonic sects and enjoyed their glory, there were many small and medium-sized forces that had been wary of them.

Sects that bordered the Yin Fiend Sect, both righteous and demonic, were all moving busily.

* * *

In the sky above a wasteland, about a dozen cultivators were gathered.

They were divided into two sides, and in the center, two boys were dueling, wielding a blue flying sword and a red flying blade.

The other cultivators watched the battle with excitement.

They were all young cultivators around fifteen years old, all with Qi Condensation Stage cultivation [the first stage of cultivation], and judging by their uniform attire, they seemed to be disciples of a certain sect or cultivation family.

The blue flying sword and the red flying blade clashed for a long time, but the blue light gained the upper hand and slowly pushed back the red light.

“Wow, the power of the Azure Spirit Sword is amazing. Senior Brother Im will win this duel.”

A girl said with a smile, looking at the scene and speaking to the boy next to her.

“What’s so great about that? If he weren’t from a good family, would he be able to possess a mid-grade magical artifact at the Qi Condensation Stage? If I had something like that, I wouldn’t have failed the last test.”

The boy snorted, looking uncomfortable at the girl’s words. However, his voice was very low, as if he was worried that others might hear him.

The girl giggled softly. Although she was still young, she was quite beautiful.

“What is that?”

Before she could reply, the boy, who was looking up at the sky, shouted in surprise.

“What is it?”

At the girl’s words, the boy also looked up and was startled, his eyes wide open. A strange shadow had appeared not far away.

What was strange was that it clearly had a human form, but it had huge wings fluttering behind it, and it was flashing blue and white lightning, yet there was no sound at all.

So, no one had noticed it until the low-level cultivators below looked up.

The man had his hands behind his back and was looking far into the distance. He seemed to be looking for something, but there was nothing but clouds in the sky.

“Could it be a high-level demon beast?”

The girl was also from a cultivation family, so she had read about the existence of Transformation Stage demon beasts in the scriptures, and her face turned pale in an instant.

“That can’t be! No matter how remote Gwak Province is, a high-level demon beast wouldn’t be wandering around in broad daylight. Maybe it’s a senior cultivator?”

Even while stunned, the boy made an accurate guess.

What was strange was that even though they were far apart, and there was no way the man could hear their conversation, the man briefly turned his head and looked at them.

The boy and girl, who had made eye contact, felt their hearts pound.

It wasn’t because the man’s face was hideous, but because a pitch-black eye was flashing between his eyebrows, sending a chill down the boy and girl’s spines.

‘What is it? Is it really a high-level demon beast? How else could a human have three eyes?’

The boy and girl were so surprised that they had similar thoughts.

However, before they could open their mouths to inform their fellow disciples, the young man in the sky turned his head again, emitted a black light from his third eye, and disappeared.

Boom!

Then, a heavy roar was heard nearby, and a white light flashed. A figure appeared strangely, only a few dozen feet away from where the young man had been.

Upon closer inspection, it was a barefoot old man with a long face, who looked to be in his sixties.

As soon as the old man appeared, he immediately stretched out one hand and tore through the air, and a giant yellow hand flew like lightning toward the young man’s head.

However, the young man seemed to have anticipated it, flapped his wings, and disappeared into the blue lightning, reappearing a short distance away with a dark expression.

“Old Monster Pung! You’ve been chasing me for a month now, isn’t that enough? What’s the point of being so persistent when you can’t catch me anyway?”

The young man frowned and shouted loudly, his voice so loud that it echoed through the sky.

Now, all the low-level cultivators who had been watching the battle were startled and looked up, but they couldn’t withstand the deafening roar, and some of those with weaker cultivation fainted.

Some cultivators protected themselves with magical artifacts, but their bodies became weak and they couldn’t use their strength, only staring at their senior cultivators with pale faces.

The boy and girl who had first discovered him were also in tears, just like their fellow disciples.

Normally, encountering a high-level cultivator by chance would be an unprecedented opportunity, but getting caught up in a battle between high-level cultivators was a huge disaster.

The low-level cultivators who were conscious unconsciously showed signs of fear.

They had never seen a battle between high-level cultivators directly, but they had heard about it once or twice from the elders of their sect.

In such a situation, anyone should run away as far as possible, they had been repeatedly warned.

The impact of a battle between high-level cultivators was so enormous that watching it would be a death sentence.

Moreover, in the eyes of high-level cultivators, Qi Condensation Stage cultivators were nothing more than ants, so it was unreasonable to expect any consideration.

“Hmph! Even if the others are like that, you killed my descendant in front of my face, and you expect me to let you go? I don’t know how long a mere Nascent Soul Stage cultivator [a high cultivation stage] can last, but even if I have to waste decades of my life, I will definitely catch you and hold you accountable.”

The old man glared at his opponent and pointed his fingertip, and the giant yellow hand tried to engulf the young man again.

The young man flapped his wings and disappeared again, reappearing twenty feet away.

The young man was none other than Han Li, who had caused such a stir in the Yin Fiend Sect.

And the old man with the long face was Old Monster Pung. Han Li regretted this incident.

‘There were so many other elders, why did I have to choose that one!’

If he had made the other elders his last target and taken the Ghost Banner, this wouldn’t have happened.

At the time, Old Monster Pung was with his descendant, a Yin Fiend Sect elder, and was hiding his cultivation at the early Nascent Soul Stage.

However, Han Li had failed to identify his opponent and lured the Yin Fiend Sect elder away to kill him, and Old Monster Pung had suddenly appeared and witnessed the scene.

The old man immediately exploded, revealing his Transformation Stage cultivation, and rushed at him.

If it weren’t for the Wind Thunder Wings and the Swift Wind Transformation, even Han Li would have been in great danger.

He didn’t hesitate to use the Wind Thunder Escape, which had the attributes of wind and thunder, to leave the place.

If it weren’t for this incident, he would have stayed hidden for a few more months and targeted more Yin Fiend Sect elders.

However, unexpectedly encountering a Transformation Stage cultivator, he had given up all his plans and fled. A Transformation Stage cultivator was the only being he was wary of in the mortal realm.

Thanks to this, the Yin Fiend Sect was able to breathe a sigh of relief, but Han Li was very depressed.

But what was even more depressing was that the Yin Fiend Sect elder he had killed last had a very close relationship with the old man, and the old man didn’t care about his lifespan being reduced and had continued to pursue him until now.

Old Monster Pung’s escape technique was slightly inferior to the Wind Thunder Escape, but with the addition of a Transformation Stage cultivator’s cultivation, there was not much difference, and whenever Han Li barely managed to shake off his opponent and tried to hide somewhere, the old man would know it like a ghost and come after him.

Han Li hurriedly checked his body several times, but there were no strange signs at all.

With his vigilance towards Old Monster Pung heightened, he didn’t engage in a full-scale battle and instead entered a protracted war of attrition.

He had the Ten Thousand Year Spirit Milk, so he wasn’t worried about the consumption of magical power, but after fifteen days, he was speechless.

The old man also seemed to have the Ten Thousand Year Spirit Milk, and even after traversing several regions with him, he was still chasing him without showing any signs of fatigue.