Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 765

At that time, Han Li was at the foot of a mountain about two thousand miles away.

He had completely changed his appearance, now looking like a middle-aged man with a mustache and beard, and his physique was several inches shorter. Moreover, there wasn’t a trace of spiritual energy left in his body, making him appear to be an ordinary mortal to anyone who looked at him.

Han Li sat cross-legged on a blue stone. After a while, he opened his eyes and a smile touched the corners of his mouth.

“Finally, I’ve completely removed all the remaining fire spiritual energy from my body. Now, unless they come to see for themselves, there’s nothing they can do.”

However, he didn’t immediately plan to move elsewhere. Even though he had changed his appearance and aura, there was still a risk of being discovered.

He stood up from the rock and climbed up the mountain. Soon, a cliff completely hidden by vines and shrubs came into view.

Han Li surveyed the surroundings and nodded in satisfaction. Then, he repeatedly struck the rock face with his golden fist.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

Pieces of rock fell away, revealing a cave several feet deep. His figure blurred as he quickly entered, and then he punched the ceiling of the cave entrance.

Immediately, stones and pebbles collapsed, blocking the cave entrance, and the inside of the cave became pitch black. However, Han Li didn’t mind and flipped his palm, taking out a moonstone he had prepared in advance.

With a *thud*, the moonstone embedded itself in the cave ceiling, and the view became much brighter. Han Li sat in a clean spot and flicked his storage ring, taking out a small bottle from the storage pouch.

It was a very ordinary, smooth, porcelain bottle, except for the crimson light it emitted. Han Li gently touched the bottle, then hesitated for a moment.

He then reviewed the memories of the Spirit Race’s divine blood that Seo Yeom possessed.

After a while, he narrowed his brows and took out a palm-sized blue jade bowl from his storage pouch. He opened the crimson bottle and tilted it. A purple light swirled at the bottle’s opening, and after a while, seven or eight drops of purple liquid slowly flowed out.

As soon as they fell into the bowl, they scattered and didn’t merge with each other. Han Li, observing with narrowed eyes, finally reached out a finger to touch one of them.

At that moment, the purple liquid leaped up and enveloped his fingertip as if trying to seep inside. However, Han Li raised his eyebrow and flashed a golden light on his fingertip, blocking the purple liquid from his skin.

Then, with a light flick, the liquid fell back into the jade bowl.

“Indeed, it’s definitely the divine blood of the Spirit Race.”

Han Li’s eyes sparkled.

He carefully put the purple liquid back into the small bottle, stored it in his storage pouch, and then quietly rested inside the cave.

His ability to survive without food or drink, even without magic power, remained intact, so he didn’t worry about eating or drinking.

Soon, a strand of consciousness swept over the small mountain where Han Li was, and they naturally passed him by, as he had no spiritual energy.

For several days, these consciousness sweeps occurred frequently. It seemed they were searching more than a dozen times a day.

After half a month, the frequency decreased to two or three times, and after two months, it was down to once a day. The consciousness was clearly weaker, which meant the search team had been replaced.

Even so, Han Li didn’t leave the cave. Finally, after half a year, even the faint consciousness disappeared.

Inside the cave, Han Li sensed this change and was delighted.

*Thud!*

After a few more months, he broke the stones blocking the cave entrance and walked out.

Looking around, he saw that nothing had changed since he entered the cave. He smiled and strode down the mountain.

Soon after, he disappeared into the woods.

* * *

One year later, a strange young mortal appeared in a small city near Rakil Castle, bought a pile of goods, and then disappeared without a trace.

Even though no trace could be found, the story of the divine blood gradually spread by word of mouth.

The fact that the three races had met and fought that day was confirmed by some cultivators and mortals who were there, causing quite a stir.

Hwang Ryang-yeong-gun and other Nascent Soul cultivators stepped forward, but people were amazed that a mere Core Formation cultivator had managed to escape with it.

Hwang Ryang-yeong-gun couldn’t just give up, so he returned to Rakil Castle and investigated for several years. He was determined to find out the identity of the cultivator who had run away with the treasure.

However, despite the many noticeable divine abilities, not a single person knew him.

After a year or two, even Hwang Ryang-yeong-gun left Rakil Castle and went to the Great Desolate World as he had promised Hwan Cheon-gi, no longer paying attention to this matter.

The divine blood incident was thus forgotten.

Several years later, far away from any human habitation, Han Li sat cross-legged, glowing gold, inside a tall and majestic rock face.

Next to him lay a small, blood-colored bottle, now empty. The person sitting cross-legged didn’t move, appearing like a stone statue except for the rise and fall of his chest.

For the mortals of the Spirit World, a hundred years was a lifetime. However, for cultivators with high magic power, a hundred years was just a moment.

* * *

One day, a hundred years later.

Armed cavalry riding large wolves were escorting several beast-drawn carriages across the mountains.

In one of the carriages, there was an elderly man with graying hair, a spirited boy of about six or seven years old, and a girl of similar age.

The old man’s face was full of wrinkles, but the muscles and skin below his neck were as glossy and elastic as a young man’s. However, his hands, revealed from under his sleeves, were wrinkled like old tree branches.

Strangely, the nails on the old man’s ten fingers were several inches long and very sharp. Moreover, they had a faint red glow, giving them a mysterious feel.

The children sitting across from the old man were also looking at his hands with curiosity. The old man didn’t bother to hide them and smiled at the children. Then, the sound of hooves came from the carriage window, and a man shouted.

“Reporting to Elder Hwa, the scouts sent ahead have returned and report that they have eradicated all the beasts and demonic beasts within a thousand miles of Cheonun Mountain.”

“Good, that’s good. Now, our merchant guild can open a new trade route. There shouldn’t be any major problems for the next ten years or so.”

The old man raised one hand and slowly lifted the curtain of the window. A sturdy middle-aged cavalryman was respectfully reporting while riding a white-furred mutated wolf.

“But how can you be sure that not a single demonic beast remains? If there is a demonic beast skilled in concealment, it won’t appear on the demonic energy plate.”

“Therefore, in addition to the demonic energy plate, we have also invited several mountain hermits to examine the entire mountain with rituals. They say there are definitely no traces of demonic beasts.”

The cavalryman’s expression changed slightly, but he immediately replied.

“Oh, if that’s the case, then it’s fine. Although the cultivators’ cultivation is only at the Core Formation stage, there’s no way a higher-level demonic beast exists on this mountain. Understood, let’s continue on.”

The old man nodded with a satisfied expression and was about to lower the window curtain again. But at that moment, a strange phenomenon occurred in the sky.

*Crack! Crack! Crack! Rumble!*

Suddenly, a deafening roar seemed to tear the sky apart, and a series of rumbling sounds followed as dark clouds suddenly gathered.

A chilling wind blew, and the surroundings darkened.

“What is this…”

The middle-aged cavalryman hurriedly looked up at the towering mountain peak that soared high into the clouds. The old man frowned and immediately knocked on the carriage wall three times.

The carriage stopped immediately.

The old man opened the carriage door and stepped onto the ground. Like the cavalryman, he stared at the high sky above the mountain peak. Then, his expression completely changed.

“Heavenly Tribulation! A cultivator is undergoing a Heavenly Tribulation! It doesn’t seem like a Lesser Heavenly Tribulation or a Greater Heavenly Tribulation…”

The old man was stunned, looking puzzled at the thunder and lightning.

The top of the mountain had turned pitch black, and golden and silver lightning bolts continuously roared, their sound spreading far and wide.

White gusts of wind swirled below the dark clouds, shattering rocks and uprooting trees.
The entire procession had stopped, and the cavalrymen stared wide-eyed at the strange phenomenon they were witnessing for the first time.

And from some of the carriages, several people flew up and approached the old man.

“Elder Hwa, whose Heavenly Tribulation is that? It doesn’t seem like a Lesser Heavenly Tribulation. Could it be a Nascent Soul senior who was living in seclusion?”

A young man in a yellow robe, who seemed to be the leader of the group, landed beside the old man and asked respectfully. However, he couldn’t hide the excitement in his tone.

After all, even in the Spirit World, cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage were rare to encounter.

“It’s not a Greater Heavenly Tribulation either. I’ve seen a Greater Heavenly Tribulation once, and all the falling lightning bolts were gold and purple. The power was also much stronger than this.”

“But Lesser Heavenly Tribulation lightning doesn’t have gold and silver colors. It was blue lightning. I’ve seen the elders of our sect undergo Lesser Heavenly Tribulations several times, so I’m sure of it.”

The young man in the yellow robe also said, looking puzzled.

“It’s much fiercer than a Lesser Heavenly Tribulation, and it can’t be considered a demonic beast’s Fire Tribulation either. Demonic beasts’ Fire Lightning Tribulations uniformly produce silver-white lightning bolts.”

The Core Formation cultivators, including the young man, looked disappointed when the old man said he didn’t know what was going on either.

However, the wind became even stronger, and a gale blew for hundreds of miles around the huge mountain range, making it difficult for ordinary people to even stand still. So, Elder Hwa paused for a moment and decided to take a break.

They decided to wait until the cultivator’s tribulation was over before continuing. In the distance, thunder rumbled in the sky, and the golden and silver lightning bolts became even more violent, as if in a frenzy.

The dark clouds churned, and finally, lightning bolts began to fall one by one, then suddenly turned into a downpour of lightning.

But an even stranger thing happened next.

When the silver lightning struck the mountain peak and exploded, it was as if the huge mountain had been sliced in half. And when the golden lightning touched the mountain peak, it strangely disappeared.

*Crack!*

Then, a loud thunderclap echoed from the middle of the mountain, and an even louder explosion than the silver lightning was heard from inside the rocks. Elder Hwa and the Core Formation cultivators, who were watching this from afar, were all startled.

‘What is that golden lightning? The rocks aren’t blocking it at all, and it’s falling directly on the person undergoing the tribulation. This is something only seen in Greater Heavenly Tribulation lightning!’

Could it be a new type of Greater Heavenly Tribulation? Everyone’s hearts pounded as a dazzling blue light burst out from the middle of the mountain.

The figure faintly visible inside was likely a cultivator with great divine abilities undergoing the tribulation. As soon as he appeared, the golden and silver lightning bolts, which had been falling like crazy, changed direction as if they were living beings and fell towards the figure in the blue light.

Then, a long cry was heard, and a huge cauldron appeared above the figure’s head in the blue light, its lid opening on its own. From inside, countless blue threads flew up, covering the sky.

The silver lightning bolts all seeped into the cauldron along the blue threads, but the golden lightning passed through as if nothing was there and struck the figure below.

“So, that’s how it is!”

The figure in the blue light seemed surprised for a moment, but soon burst into laughter. Then, he clapped his hands together and spread them apart, and a golden lightning bolt as thick as a bowl flashed violently, forming a huge lightning net above his head.

In an instant, golden lightning bolts of the same color collided and exploded, and the lightning bolts that sparkled and disappeared in gold beautifully adorned the sky.

Elder Hwa was momentarily stunned by the sight.

There were more than one or two lightning-attribute techniques in the Spirit World. However, ordinary lightning, when encountering the Heavenly Lightning of a Heavenly Tribulation, would be absorbed and returned to its owner, let alone block it.

But the cultivator undergoing the tribulation in the distance had mastered a lightning divine ability identical to the Heavenly Tribulation’s lightning and used it to block the Heavenly Lightning.

He had never heard of such a thing.

However, the lightning falling from the dark clouds seemed endless and only grew more violent. The lightning bolts that had been as thin as fingers were now as thick as forearms.

Then, the expression of the figure in the blue light also changed.