Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 1020

Han Li cleared his mind of unnecessary thoughts and focused on cultivating within the golden light, his eyes closed. Each cycle of his cultivation technique felt like a year of arduous training.

However, this increase in cultivation was insignificant compared to the gains of his second nascent soul, which was directly absorbing the pillar of light.

The second nascent soul also tried to endure the extreme pain by circulating its cultivation technique, but it was no match for the immense power of the light pillar. Instead, its cultivation increased three or four times faster than Han Li’s. In just half an hour, it was advancing from the early to the mid-stage of the Transformation stage.

As time passed, Han Li also surpassed the peak of the early-stage of the Void Refinement stage and reached the mid-stage. Overjoyed, Han Li worked even harder to circulate the Heaven-Shaking Devil Transformation Art.

When Han Li reached the mid-stage of the Void Refinement stage, golden liquid droplets from afar enveloped the second nascent soul, and it regained the form of the Golden God.

The Golden God’s head and arms were the same, but its entire body was covered in faint, purplish-gold patterns that formed bizarre, arcane characters. The aura of the Golden God’s form was now greatly different, incredibly mystical as it emitted a golden glow with streaks of purple light from its entire body.

The third face also became much clearer, its eyes, nose, and mouth now distinguishable. Having regained its body, the second nascent soul also accelerated the speed at which it digested pure spiritual power and the five-colored arcane characters, and the pain was greatly reduced.

Shortly after, the second nascent soul broke through the mid-stage bottleneck of the Transformation stage and reached the late-stage. While Han Li was at the peak of the mid-stage of the Void Refinement stage, accumulating his cultivation, the second nascent soul was preparing to ascend to the Void Refinement stage at the peak of the late-stage of the Transformation stage.

The increase in cultivation was truly terrifying.

* * *

Boom!

A loud noise rang out, and the armored soldiers, sensing something, fired another nine pillars of light from the tips of their silver spears. The light pillars, which had been emitting golden vortexes, became twice as thick as before.

Within the light pillar, the second nascent soul screamed miserably. The Golden God, which had just taken shape, flickered violently and began to melt again. This time, purple threads floated within the golden liquid droplets.

Shortly after, the same situation repeated itself. Pure spiritual power and five-colored arcane characters seeped into the golden liquid, refining the Golden God with a mysterious power.

‘Hah!’

As the light pillar thickened, Han Li’s body and consciousness were overloaded. The terrible pain felt like it was piercing his soul, and he almost fainted. He barely managed to regain his senses and avoid collapsing.

The cool energy intensified, and the speed at which his cultivation increased also accelerated. Han Li felt like his body was being filled with both ice and fire at the same time.

Having reached the peak of the mid-stage of the Void Refinement stage a moment ago, he had tried more than ten times to reach the late-stage with the help of the mysterious power. However, he had not yet succeeded.

The pain that pierced his soul and the mysterious power accumulating in his body had reached their limits. Fortunately, thanks to the Great Development Technique and the Heaven-Shaking Devil Transformation Art, his nascent soul and body were several times stronger than those of cultivators at the same level, allowing him to barely endure. Anyone else would have already died.

Han Li, who had been happily accumulating his cultivation, was now desperate. Good and bad fortune can only be known at the end. If things went as predicted, he could lose his life if he failed three more times.

‘One more time!’

Han Li strained with all his might, and golden light burst from his entire body like the sun. Perhaps his previous attempts had helped, as this time he was able to naturally overcome the bottleneck.

A hot energy flowed from his dantian [energy center] through his meridians and into his entire body. The blue and gold main nascent soul within his body also grew slightly larger. Han Li was both happy and fearful as his magic power increased significantly.

When Han Li reached the late-stage of the Void Refinement stage, the golden liquid in the light pillar also regained the form of the Golden God, and the aura emitted by the arcane characters had turned into a faint purplish-gold color.

However, it was only for a moment before the light pillar melted the Golden God again, and the cool energy within Han Li’s body began to circulate his cultivation technique even faster than before. He never imagined that there would come a day when he would be terrified by the way his magic power was growing so wildly.

Even with the help of the light pillar, it was becoming increasingly difficult to overcome the bottlenecks. He had suffered so much even reaching the late-stage of the Void Refinement stage, and he could no longer rely on luck. If his cultivation did not increase and only his magic power accumulated, he would eventually explode and die.

Who wouldn’t be terrified in this situation?

To stop this bizarre phenomenon, the second nascent soul had to escape from the light pillar, but there was no way to stop the overwhelming power of the milky white light pillar from pouring in.

After half an hour, the second nascent soul had repeatedly surpassed two realms and reached the late-stage of the Void Refinement stage. It had reached the same realm as the main body. Moreover, it was already preparing to ascend to the Combination stage, surpassing the late-stage of the Void Refinement stage.

The power needed to overcome the bottleneck of the Combination stage was unimaginable. A powerful energy was continuously injected into the second nascent soul, and the black nascent soul gradually swelled, taking on a five-colored glow.

The golden liquid in the light pillar seemed to sense the danger and formed the Golden God to envelop the second nascent soul. A tremendous force surged from the second nascent soul, causing the Golden God to melt, and the second nascent soul mustered all its strength to overcome the bottleneck.

However, it was absurd to jump from the Void Refinement stage to the Combination stage in one go. Unable to do anything else, the second nascent soul accepted more of the mysterious power, and the Golden God, which the nascent soul had escaped, turned into purplish-gold liquid droplets.

This happened seven times in a row. Each time the second nascent soul failed to gather the mysterious power to overcome the bottleneck, the Golden God would melt and then re-condense.

Han Li’s heart grew heavy.

Even his main body’s magic power had risen to the peak of the late-stage of the Void Refinement stage, and his meridians were so full of cool energy that they were about to burst. The immense pain made it difficult to even maintain his sanity, let alone activate other techniques or treasures.

And the milky white light pillar emanating from the golden vortex showed no signs of diminishing.

Han Li’s face turned pale. His body, which was weaker than the Heaven-Shaking Devil Transformation Form, would collapse the moment he failed to overcome the bottleneck of the Combination stage. The powerful force of the light pillar was too violent compared to ordinary spiritual power.

He had only been pushed into such a corner a few times since he began his path of cultivation. Even though he had a strong will, he was becoming increasingly frightened.

After a while, Han Li’s body shone as if it had been painted with gold, and the golden scales merged into one, forming a thin golden armor. It was the ‘梵聖甲衣’ (Brahma Saint Armor), his natal armor that had taken shape on its own after he had cultivated the Heaven-Shaking Devil Transformation Art to its extreme.

Its defensive power was far inferior to the Heavenly Devil Armor, but as it was his natal armor, it had great potential and could be used in various ways. The Brahma Saint Armor was originally a powerful divine ability that could be used in the Combination stage, but he was lucky enough to be able to manifest it with the help of the mysterious power.

The current Brahma Saint Armor was not very powerful, but the earlier he activated it, the longer he could refine it and raise it to a higher level. Normally, he would have been overjoyed, but now he was too preoccupied with figuring out how to survive to be happy.

When the second nascent soul failed to enter the Combination stage, a desperate measure came to mind. Before his body was torn apart by the external force, he would self-destruct and use that force to buy time for his nascent soul to escape.

He didn’t have the strength to activate treasures or techniques, but he could at least try to self-destruct. However, it was the worst possible method, one that he would only use as a last resort. Han Li did not intend to use it unless his life was in imminent danger.

He was now filled with regret. If he hadn’t rashly activated the starting technique, he wouldn’t have to worry about losing both his main nascent soul and his second nascent soul at the same time.

Soon after, a piercing pain spread through all the meridians in his body. His entire body was on the verge of being torn apart by the explosive pressure inside.

‘Is this inevitable?’

Han Li, whose expression had been changing every moment, took a deep breath and moved the power of his consciousness that he had been saving.

Then, the mysterious power and pure power that filled his meridians began to surge. Golden light surged from his cross-legged body, and the newly formed Brahma Saint Armor was distorted and covered in white cracks.

Han Li gave a hollow smile and looked at the second nascent soul in the light pillar one last time. If he self-destructed now, his main nascent soul would escape, but he didn’t know what would happen to his second nascent soul.

Just as he steeled his heart and was about to ignite his own body, an anomaly occurred.

One of his arms became hot as if it were engulfed in flames, and a dazzling yellow light began to emanate from the yellow mark on his forearm.

‘Ah, this is!’

It was the Profound Heaven Fruit that was sealed on Han Li’s arm.

The mysterious power and pure spiritual power within his body suddenly surged towards the yellow mark on his forearm. The yellow mark endlessly devoured the mysterious power and spiritual power, instantly eliminating the overload in Han Li’s body.

Han Li, who had barely escaped death at the moment of crisis, was overjoyed. But an even more surprising scene unfolded.

The yellow mark spontaneously transformed into the wooden club that was the main body of the Profound Heaven Fruit and floated up from his forearm. The Profound Heaven Fruit flashed wildly as if it were greatly excited.

The treasure, which had transformed into a sword, sensed the danger on its own and flew towards the golden vortex with its sharp blade. The clear cry of the sword pierced the sky. Dark green arcane characters appeared on the surface of the blade, and the surrounding heaven and earth energy surged, causing five-colored energy to rush towards the Profound Heaven Sword.

As the Profound Heaven Sword slashed at the golden vortex with great momentum, a jade-colored sword energy flew out with a dazzling light.

Boom!

The milky white light pillar was cut in half first, and the power of heaven and earth covered the vortex.

Whoosh!

The golden vortex wailed pitifully and unexpectedly transformed into a huge golden disc. The same pattern as the Success Diagram was drawn on the huge golden disc, and five-colored arcane characters appeared densely around its perimeter.

The disc was emitting a milky white light pillar from its very center, blocking the power of the sword energy’s laws of heaven and earth. However, no matter how famous a spatial treasure was in the Immortal Realm, it could not withstand the Profound Heaven Sword. In the end, the milky white light pillar completely disappeared, and the blue sword energy slashed the golden disc.

Clang!

The golden disc was shattered by the powerful force and turned into dust. Only faint spatial fluctuations remained in the void.

At the moment the strange treasure was destroyed, someone suddenly raised their head in the deep sea of the Spirit Realm. Green flames flickered in the place where their eyes should have been, and only white bones remained on their face.

The skeleton rose and looked towards the place where twelve bronze lamps were located. There, green lights of varying sizes were flickering.

The skeleton tilted its head, as if remembering something, and spat out a silver disc from its mouth. The disc, which was the size of a palm, was identical in appearance to the golden disc that had been shattered in the Guanghan Realm, except for its color and size.

However, the silver disc, which was already cracked, trembled pitifully and disappeared the moment it came out of its body. The skeleton let out a furious roar with its burning gaze.

Crash!

As it slashed through the air with its bony hand, a huge black claw appeared and tore through the wall of the secret chamber. The thick wall was shattered into dust.

Still not appeased, it was about to shoot black light towards another wall when it noticed the green flames flickering in the twelve lamps and stopped. It regained its composure in an instant, its eyes gleaming. The skeleton snorted and sat back down in a cross-legged position.

The secret chamber became quiet again.

* * *

When the sword energy of the Profound Heaven Sword dissipated, it immediately returned to a club. Then, it turned yellow and was sealed on Han Li’s arm.

Han Li was overjoyed and tried to get up from the pit. However, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. He had no strength in his entire body. Han Li quickly scanned his body with his consciousness.

‘This is quite something.’

A wry smile appeared on his face. His cultivation was at the peak of the late-stage of the Void Refinement stage, but there was no magic power left in his body. The Profound Heaven Sword had absorbed it all. It was fortunate that it had absorbed the mysterious power first, or he would have suffered the same setback as last time.

It was already lucky that his essence blood and vitality were not damaged. His body, which had been full of mysterious power and pure spiritual power, had lost all its spiritual power in an instant, like a deflated balloon, so this level of aftereffect was to be expected.

However, Han Li was not too worried. With his strong body, the aftereffects would disappear soon. It would take some time to recover his magic power, but either way, he was extremely excited.

He had expected to reach the late-stage of the Void Refinement stage with the help of the Dragon Ascension Pill and other various spiritual medicines, but he had skipped two realms in one day, saving five hundred to a thousand years of time.

How could there be anything more delightful than this?