Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 1042

From the ceiling of the secret chamber, a large number of spell characters descended, touching the Nascent Soul and Han Li’s physical body before disappearing.

Kieeeek!

Then, from a corner of the secret chamber, a black aura writhed and began to emit a strange sound. It was a bizarre sound that, just by hearing it, made one’s heart uneasy and stirred an impulse to commit slaughter.

One side of the Nascent Soul’s face remained completely still, but the other side seemed to be stimulated by the sound, and the color of its pupil gradually deepened to a blood-red hue. The face, flashing with madness, looked as if it would lose its grip on reason at any moment. In response, the calm face pointed to the incense burner held in one hand.

Swish!

Silver flames extended from the fingertips and flew towards the remaining incense stick in the burner. The incense stick ignited, and the scent of the mystical sandalwood filled the secret chamber.

As the Nascent Soul deeply inhaled the fragrance, the half of its face that was trying to break free regained its composure, and the blood-red color in its pupil faded.

Kieek!

The black aura hidden in the corner of the secret chamber let out a miserable scream as the sandalwood fragrance rushed in, immediately ceasing its eerie wailing. The black aura, washed away by the fragrance, thinned, and a terrified, ghostly face appeared within, writhing in agony.

Having confirmed the true nature of the black aura, the Nascent Soul did not hesitate to unleash golden lightning from its mouth, which struck the ghostly face precisely.

In response, the ghost cried out sharply with a resentful face, turning into black smoke and disappearing. Only then did the Nascent Soul, which had been closing its eyes, slowly open them again, both eyes now clear and bright.

“To think that a mere fragment of an extraterrestrial demon would try to disturb my consciousness by exploiting my inner demons!”

The Nascent Soul sneered and muttered lowly. Then, it tossed the shard of the blade it was holding upwards, rapidly forming hand seals with both hands, and closed its eyes again.

After a short while, the speed at which the five-colored spell characters fell suddenly doubled, filling the secret chamber with a vibrant light of spiritual energy. At the same time, another strange fragrance emanated from his body, but the Nascent Soul paid no attention, focusing solely on desperately absorbing the five-colored spell characters in the air.

Having absorbed the spell characters filled with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the Nascent Soul visibly grew in size, and after half a quarter of an hour, it had swollen to several feet in height.

At this moment, the illusion of the giant ape above the mountain peak transformed into a pillar of light and was sucked into the mountain. His physical body began to turn into a transparent crystal, and the strange fragrance grew stronger with time. The Nascent Soul sat cross-legged above it, enduring the pain with its eyes closed.

The Nascent Soul’s entire body surged like lava, its insides burning and its skin turning fiery red. Just then, a powerful suction force arose from below!

Whisk!

The Nascent Soul, unable to resist, shrank and was sucked into the head of the physical body. The force that had been intensely heating the Nascent Soul flowed madly into the physical body, turning Han Li’s already transparent skin into a completely translucent crystal.

His flesh and blood, as well as his faint golden skeleton, were now clearly visible. His skeleton was now surrounded by countless thin threads of light, emitting a faint five-colored glow.

Fortunately, a small amount of power from his dantian [energy center] spread throughout his body along the meridians [energy channels], dispelling the intense heat and immediately making Han Li feel comfortable. After a short while, all the power gathered in one place and headed towards his head on its own.

‘Ah!’

Han Li felt a strange sensation, as if a large lock floating in the vast sea of his consciousness had been unlocked by a powerful force.

“Hwaaaak!”

A tingling sensation, as if something had pierced his soul, consumed his consciousness, and he roared, overwhelmed by an uncontrollable power.

The moment the illusion of the giant ape disappeared, the pressure that had been suppressing the bodies and minds of the human cultivators vanished. They rose to their feet with uneasy expressions, but their reactions varied.

Some hesitated, looking at the sea of clouds in the distance from where they stood, while others hurried to leave the area.

The white-bearded old man also tried to return to the east to lead his clansmen to safety as soon as his magic power recovered. However, not long after, Han Li’s roar echoed loudly, causing the sea of clouds to create a huge wave that engulfed the surroundings.

“Gasp!”

“Wh-what is that!”

The cultivators around the sea of clouds were startled and all flew into the air. However, the cultivators who heard the roar felt a headache as if struck by lightning, screaming and falling to the ground.

Fortunately, they had bodies far superior to ordinary people, so they did not suffer serious injuries even after falling. However, the continuous roars continued to torment them.

The cultivators rolled on the ground, covering their ears with both hands. They struggled to reduce the extreme pain, but the roars directly affected their consciousness, making it useless.

Then, huge waves of the sea of clouds surged in. Some cultivators barely raised their heads, their faces drained of blood. They knew that it was just a wave created by white mist, but they were terrified by its imposing approach.

For those who could not activate their treasures or summon their magic power, the unknown waves were an even greater threat.

Just as the white waves of the sea of clouds were about to engulf the human cultivators, the roar that had been echoing from the center of the sea of clouds suddenly stopped, and a chilling snort was heard.

Poof! Poof!

The waves of the sea of clouds exploded and disappeared, and everything became quiet as if nothing had happened. Only after a moment did some of the cultivators, looking haggard, get up from the ground and look around.

Then, the cultivators quickly activated their escape lights and flew towards their respective eastern regions. As time passed, more and more cultivators flew from various mountain peaks. They flew without stopping, only pausing to look back.

The white-bearded old man also led his tribe’s cultivators far away, setting up a temporary shelter in a small mountain valley. He gave a jade slip [communication device] to a giant with high cultivation, ordering him to fly to the main branch of the Qu family.

From that day on, rumors spread like wildfire that a cultivator had reached the Composite Body Stage on Rising Sun Peak. And Rising Sun Peak, from which the cultivators had departed, disappeared into a thick fog.

* * *

Three days later, Han Li, who had been sitting cross-legged in the secret chamber, slowly opened his eyes.

Having reached the Composite Body Stage a few days ago, he had spent time meditating to stabilize his realm. Now that he had suppressed the imbalances caused by his increased realm to some extent, it was time to do other things.

He calmly looked around and frowned. He could sense the power of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within the empty secret chamber without even releasing his consciousness.

Han Li took a light breath, formed a hand seal with one hand, and recited a simple incantation.

Buzz!

Surprisingly, the air vibrated, and white dots gathered, forming palm-sized wind blades. The translucent wind blades trembled slightly, filling the secret chamber.

“It’s just as it’s written in the scriptures! It’s no lie that when one reaches the Composite Body Stage, the level at which one senses and manipulates the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is greatly different from before. I can even directly control the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to attack without consuming any magic power.”

He happily scattered the wind blades into white light and scanned his body with his consciousness. He wanted to carefully check if there were any problems with his body or consciousness after reaching the Composite Body Stage.

Han Li opened his eyes with a bright expression after half an hour. The strength of his physical body and magic power had increased far beyond expectations, making it highly likely that he could win even against a cultivator who had reached the Great Accomplishment of the Composite Body Stage.

He calmed his surging heart and pondered about the future. Having reached the Composite Body Stage, he had no one to fear among the human and demon races, except for the Great Ascension Stage cultivators. Although he would have to focus all his efforts on consolidating his realm for the next few years, there were many things he had to do.

The most important thing was to confirm whether Nangong Wan had come to the Spirit Realm. If she had ascended using the spatial junction as he had, it was natural that she could not be found in the Heavenly Star City. She was likely in other human regions outside of the Heavenly Star City, or even in the adjacent demon regions.

‘The human and demon territories are adjacent to each other.’

If he could not find news of her in the Heavenly Star City, he would have to search the human and demon regions thoroughly himself. If Nangong Wan was still in the Mortal Realm due to insufficient cultivation, he would have to learn the technique of breaking the boundary to help her.

Even if he could only send some of the elixirs and treasures he possessed across the boundary to Nangong Wan, it would not be difficult for her to ascend to the Spirit Realm. Thinking of her, he was lost in emotion for a long time.

However, there was another matter that he had to deal with immediately after leaving seclusion. It was to find the descendant of Ice White Immortal, Immortal Xu. And he also had to deliver the materials that the petitioner had asked him to collect.

When he returned from the Thunder Continent to the Wind Origin Continent, the point of arrival was far from both the human and the non-human regions. So, he chose to return to the human region first to raise his realm before moving.

Since the other party had asked him to deliver it within a thousand years, there were still six or seven hundred years left. With that much time, he could reach the late stage of the Composite Body Stage and go to the petitioner to trade the materials and the Nether River Divine Milk.

Also, for his Composite Body Stage cultivation, he planned to gather supplementary materials and refine several Composite Body Stage elixirs using the Poisonous Eater Grass as the main ingredient. Although they were easier to obtain than the Poisonous Eater Grass, the supplementary materials were also rare in the Spirit Realm, so it would take time.

In addition, to prepare for the Great Heavenly Tribulation [a major trial] that occurred once every three thousand years, he had to refine the Taiyi Green Mountain he had obtained from the Guanghan Realm into one of the Extreme Mountains. Although it would be less powerful than the Origin Harmony Five Extreme Mountains, it would help him overcome the Heavenly Tribulation along with the Origin Extreme Mountain.

He also had to figure out the use of the Void Spirit Pill he had obtained so that he could take it at the right time. Also, having learned the Spirit Refinement Technique and reached the Composite Body Stage, the power of his consciousness had greatly increased, and he could now control a thousand Gold Devouring Beetles at once.

If so, he should also consider refining the legendary ‘Seven-Colored Pill’ using the inner core of the Scarlet Rainbow Fish. If he used the ancient Seven-Colored Pill and the leaves of the Golden Thunder Bamboo, he could evolve or mutate the already mature Gold Devouring Beetles once more.

In the past, some of the Gold Devouring Beetles had mutated due to a strange cornerstone, but other than a significant increase in weight, there were no other special effects, which was disappointing.

And to quickly raise his realm in the future, it was also necessary to learn the second level of the Spirit Refinement Technique. Currently, the power of his consciousness was sufficient, but the strength of his physical body was insufficient, so he would only barely meet the requirements after reaching the late stage of the Composite Body Stage and achieving the Great Accomplishment of the Universal Devilish Art.

Until then, he had to strengthen his physical body in other ways. For example, it would be a good idea to take the Scarlet Rainbow Immortal Wine for a long time to slowly improve his constitution.

‘Of course, I should also take the time to slowly research the Immortal Talisman and the Success Talisman!’

Thus, Han Li was preoccupied with planning for the future.

For the next year, he did not step out of Rising Sun Peak, focusing solely on consolidating his Composite Body Stage magic power and consciousness.

Outside, there was a commotion about his entry into the Composite Body Stage, but everyone knew that a cultivator who had just overcome a major hurdle needed about a year of closed-door training, so they did not bother him.

However, after a year, an old man with golden eyebrows appeared outside the sea of clouds. The old man, wearing a blue robe and a cyan jade scepter at his waist, stood on a mountain peak, looking at the sea of clouds.

He slightly turned his head to look at the long streaks of light flying from the far end of the sky. The streaks of light, flying at a tremendous speed, seemed to be about to enter the sea of clouds.

“Hmm?”

Just then, a clear voice echoed in the old man’s ear, and a silver streak of light changed direction, approaching the mountain peak where he was.

The slender figure that stopped its escape light at a distance was a young woman with a beautiful appearance, dressed in a navy palace dress.