Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 1025

The poison serpent lunged at the silver firebird, which met it head-on with milky-white flames. This was the Golden Crow Truefire, which Han Li had absorbed in the Magma Mountain Range. The milky-white flames blazed fiercely, as if doused with oil, when they collided with the poison serpent.

Within the white flames, the poison serpent let out a miserable scream and vanished. At that moment, Han Li sent a hand seal towards the silver firebird. A strange light flowed across the giant firebird’s wings, and the silver flames gradually turned milky-white.

*Bang!*

The firebird exploded, scattering countless sparks in all directions. The numerous green liquids detonated one after another upon contact with the sparks. When the Rainbow Flying Fish’s attacks ceased, the melted gray protective barrier gradually reformed.

Han Li flicked his fingers, sending out hand seals, and blue lights flashed as the vanished flying swords reappeared.

The flying swords, now numbering in the hundreds, began to slice through the Rainbow Flying Fish again. The fish still spewed poison, but they were covered by countless white sparks, making them less of a threat.

The hundreds of flying swords crisscrossed through the fish, and with the aid of the Spirit Devouring Truefire, they slaughtered over 40,000 Rainbow Flying Fish in the blink of an eye. Han Li withdrew the Spirit Devouring Truefire and looked around the empty space before shifting his gaze downwards.

‘This is….’

The lake’s surface was covered with the corpses of not only the Rainbow Flying Fish but also other fish. The dead fish, belly up, stretched endlessly into the distance.

Only then did Han Li realize that the surrounding lake water had a light green tint. Although the Spirit Devouring Truefire had eliminated most of the poison spewed by the Rainbow Flying Fish, the deflected portions had fallen directly into the lake.

He knew the fish’s poison was potent, but this sight still gave him goosebumps. Even without the Spirit Devouring Truefire, he could have killed them somehow, but it would have greatly depleted his consciousness, forcing him to summon the Devouring Gold Insects or use the Profound Heavenly Treasures [powerful, rare artifacts].

These were divine abilities that had aftereffects once activated. Han Li pondered for a moment before summoning a white light mass from his sleeve. Then, Qu Ya appeared with a bright smile.

“Greetings, Master!”

“Collect the cores from the heads of the fish. I deliberately left their heads intact, so the cores should be fine.”

“Yes!”

At Han Li’s calm command, Qu Ya immediately shook her shoulders. Countless cold blades shot up from her back and flew towards the lake’s surface.

As Qu Ya descended, Han Li activated his escape technique and headed towards the giant island in the distance. After a short while, the escape light faded, and he appeared in the sky above a gray mountain peak.

He narrowed his eyes, examined the mountain peak, and then took out a golden disc. It was a magical artifact that someone had been sent to retrieve from the Stone Insect Clan before his departure.

He exhaled a blue aura and absorbed it, then sent out a white hand seal, and the golden disc emitted a golden light with a sound. As silver spell characters appeared on the golden disc, it left Han Li’s hand and shot downwards.

*Bang!*

Silver spell characters extended from the golden disc and entered the mountain peak, flashing silver as they moved through the rock. Han Li floated in the air and waited quietly.

After a short while, Han Li retrieved the golden disc, examined it, and then entered the mountain. He appeared inside a huge cave, and the golden disc floated in the air, emitting a silver light.

It was a light formed by the silver spell characters that had gathered from the golden disc. Han Li withdrew his escape light and confirmed that there were several winding passages connected inside the cave.

Without hesitation, he moved towards one of them. The passage was pitch black, making it difficult to see even his own fingers. Han Li took out a few white crystal stones from his sleeve and floated them above his head. Now, the passage was as bright as day.

After walking for a while, he scanned the uneven stone wall with his consciousness and stopped. Then, he emitted a blue light, split the stone wall, made a hole, and entered.

*Clang!*

Soon after, a blue flying sword returned from inside the hole, having pierced through a dark purple ore.

“Considering the amount of ore, it will take some time to extract it all.”

Han Li muttered as he retrieved the flying sword and held the ore. Instead of staying to mine the ore himself, he summoned various puppets from his storage pouch.

They were crafted in the Mortal Realm, so their cultivation was low, but they were perfect for the simple task of mining ore from the rock face.

Han Li released his second Nascent Soul [a secondary soul formed through cultivation] to manage the puppets’ work and then used earth escape to return to the top of the mountain.

Qu Ya was already waiting with tens of thousands of Rainbow Flying Fish cores. Han Li accepted the storage pouch filled with cores and praised her generously.

“Master, there seem to be quite a few spiritual herbs on the island. Shall I go and get them?”

“Spiritual herbs? Your true form is a spirit of heaven and earth, so you must be certain. There are no powerful ferocious beasts here, so go ahead.”

“Yes, I’ll be right back!”

Qu Ya smiled brightly and turned into a white light mass, flying towards the jade-colored mountain peak. Han Li smiled, set up a restriction around himself, and sat down in a cross-legged position.

*Hum.*

A five-colored protective barrier surrounded the mountain peak and strangely disappeared. From the sky above, no one would be able to find Han Li.

He felt relieved and summoned the Saintly Demonic Transformation. Purple spell characters flickered on the surface of the three-headed, six-armed transformation, and the Golden Deity Transformation stood before it. As Han Li sent out a hand seal, one of the three heads of the Golden Deity spat out an object wrapped in silver light.

It was the silver ruler he had taken from the Golden Horned youth. Although it was not a Profound Heavenly Treasure, it had shown remarkable power that day, so it seemed to be a treasure at the level of a Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure [a very powerful magical artifact]. Han Li closed his eyes and infused his consciousness into the silver ruler.

“Mixed Origin Ruler.”

He opened his eyes abruptly and muttered. As he had expected, the silver ruler was a Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure, and he needed to learn the inscribed treasure control incantation to wield it. Han Li infused pure spiritual power into it.

*Hum.*

The silver ruler vibrated, and a silver barrier appeared on its surface. Having recited the Mixed Origin Ruler’s treasure control incantation, he dispersed the silver light barrier and also withdrew the Golden Deity Transformation. Then, he began to practice the Mixed Origin Ruler’s treasure control incantation.

Three days passed while he sat there.

Because he had reached the peak of the late-stage of the Void Refinement Realm [a high level of cultivation], he mastered the treasure control incantation faster than he had during the Void Transformation Realm, and he completed his training to the point where he could store the silver ruler inside his body.

Meanwhile, the puppets in the mountain had mined almost all of the buried ore and would finish their work in half a day.

Qu Ya had also found quite a few herbs in various parts of the island, some of which were rare spiritual herbs that were hard to find even in the Spirit Realm. It was an unexpected harvest.

After a day or two, Qu Ya, feeling confident, began to venture out a little further, searching for spiritual herbs that grew secretly at the bottom of the lake.

Han Li, who was focused on practicing the treasure control incantation, gave her a few words of caution and didn’t interfere much. Of course, he attached a strand of his consciousness to her body to prepare for any emergencies.

Whether he had foresight or not, a troublesome situation eventually arose. Half a day after practicing the treasure control incantation, Han Li, who had been meditating, suddenly opened his eyes and glared at something with a cold gaze.

“You must have a death wish!”

He immediately flew up in a streak of blue light.

* * *

At the same time, three streaks of escape light were hurrying across the lake, a little distance from the island. The small figure in the white light was none other than Qu Ya.

Behind them, four triangular chariots were chasing closely. The chariots were not very large, but they were covered in green stains here and there, and the light of their spiritual energy was dim, but their speed was extremely fast.

Even Qu Ya, who was skilled in escape techniques, was gradually being caught up by the chariots behind. However, the other two lights flying ahead were slightly faster than Qu Ya, barely maintaining a certain distance from the chariots.

“Fellow Daoist Yue, you’re still running well despite greatly injuring your vital energy. Just hand over the Nine Flame Grass. Then, we’ll kill you cleanly and open a path for your soul to reincarnate.”

A rough male voice came from one of the chariots.

“Even if I have to burn the Nine Flame Grass, I will not hand it over to you.”

A woman’s cold voice rang out from within the blue escape light.

“Fairy Yue, why bother talking to such people! We shouldn’t associate with such despicable people who break their promises and launch sneak attacks as soon as they get their hands on treasures.”

An old man’s voice, filled with anger, came from another gray escape light.

“After what we’ve been through, how can we listen to their words? Don’t worry.”

The woman replied to the old man in a much gentler voice. At the same time, the woman’s secret voice transmission reached the old man’s ears.

“Fellow Daoist Xu, are you sure this is the right direction? We won’t be able to hold out much longer like this.”

“It should be right. Judging by the reaction of the magical artifact, there is definitely a person of great fortune over there. The girl following behind also has a special aura, as if something has taken human form, so her master must be somewhere nearby. They’ve placed a mark on us, so there’s no way to escape. It’s time to take a risk.”

Old Man Xu also replied cautiously with a voice transmission. The woman sighed at his words and had no choice but to fly forward with all her might.

*Whoosh!*

The four chariots that had been chasing suddenly gathered in one place and transformed into a giant chariot. A monster’s head, resembling a cross between a flood dragon and a serpent, rose from the front of the diamond-shaped chariot.

The giant chariot, the moment the head appeared, scattered sunset-colored energy and unfurled two pairs of dragonfly wings. The woman and the old man in front were startled by this and exchanged glances.

“You should run away quickly too!”

Even in the midst of this, the old man warned Qu Ya behind him, and the woman combined her escape light with his, splitting the air. Their speed was more than double what it had been before.

At that moment, the giant chariot shook its two pairs of dragonfly wings, and a bloodthirsty light flashed in the monster head’s eyes.

*Shhh!*

Although Qu Ya had been on guard behind her, as the old man had told her to, she suddenly couldn’t see the strange giant chariot. Startled, she was about to use a secret technique to increase her speed, even if it meant damaging her core, but she was a step too late.

A spatial ripple appeared above her head, and a strange laughter echoed. A giant claw flew out from the blue light, trying to kill Qu Ya.

Within the white light mass, Qu Ya gritted her teeth and formed a hand seal, simultaneously releasing hundreds of thin blades from her body.

“Oh!”

Someone in the chariot exclaimed in surprise, but the giant claw did not stop, emitting a green aura from its palm, deflecting most of the thin blades. The giant claw was about to engulf Qu Ya.

‘Ah….’

As the surroundings darkened due to the giant claw, the color drained from Qu Ya’s face. She knew that this was an attack she could not possibly block.

But at that moment, a cold snort was heard from somewhere, and a giant silver seal appeared in the air, striking the giant claw.

*Bang!*

The giant claw could not withstand the seal’s blow and melted away like snow.

“Who is it! How dare you interfere in the affairs of the Rong Clan!”

A roar was heard from the blue light, and the chariot appeared. Four figures surrounded by green light stood on top of it. At first glance, they looked ordinary, but unlike the human race, long dark green fur grew all over their bodies, and their heads resembled jackals or wolves.

“You shouldn’t touch other people’s maids so carelessly.”

A cold male voice rang out, and a young man with crystal wings appeared, holding a silver ruler. It was Han Li, who had activated the Wind Thunder Wings at full power, appearing almost instantaneously.

The silver seal that had blocked the giant claw earlier was the Heavenly Dipper Seal. He had now recovered his magic power and had even finished practicing the Mixed Origin Ruler’s treasure control incantation, so he had no reason to fear these four mere alien race members.

Moreover, they had tried to kill Qu Ya, so he couldn’t suppress his killing intent. The Mixed Origin Ruler in his hand trembled slightly, and silver shadows flowed out, completely enveloping him.

“Thank you for saving me, Master!”

“Fellow Daoist Han!”

Qu Ya’s voice, filled with emotion, and the old man’s voice, who had been flying ahead, were heard simultaneously at Han Li’s appearance.