Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 1045

The middle-aged man carefully put away the leather pouch and hesitated before opening one of the jade boxes on the table. A white aura flowed out, revealing a white fan made of jade with a cool, elegant design.

It was a treasure covered in densely packed spell runes. The middle-aged man took out the jade fan and swung it lightly, stopping when he felt the immense pressure of spiritual energy.

“The Mountain River Fan possesses wind and earth attributes. When you wave it, it can attack any enemy within the wind’s reach with the force of ten thousand pounds. It’s a decent item,” Han Li explained with a light smile. The middle-aged man expressed his gratitude, his face beaming with joy.

The other three also excitedly chose and opened a jade box each. Inside were a silver ring, a colorful handkerchief, and a flying dagger made of mystic ice, respectively.

These were insignificant items to Han Li, but they were treasures that Core Formation cultivators would yearn for. The cultivators repeatedly expressed their thanks and accepted the treasures. They had formally agreed to Han Li’s request.

There was no need to worry about them running away with the spirit stones. It turned out that the four were not rogue cultivators, so their origins could be easily traced.

Therefore, they wouldn’t do anything that would bring great misfortune to their families. Moreover, just in case, Han Li subtly let slip the news that he had recently reached the Composite Body stage [a high cultivation stage].

After leaving the pavilion, Han Li flew to the giant stone tower where he had stayed while serving in the Heavenly Fiend City. Looking at the soldiers in various colored armor entering and exiting the stone tower, old memories naturally came to mind. The stone tower was where he had stayed when he was a Clear Sky Guard [a type of city guard].

‘It’s been hundreds of years, but this place is still the same as before.’

Han Li turned his gaze and flew towards the entrance of the stone tower, where a dozen Black Iron Guards and two Clear Sky Guards were standing. They looked at the unfamiliar cultivator with suspicion.

Without a word, Han Li revealed his Composite Body cultivation. The difference in cultivation was so extreme that the Clear Sky Guards turned pale, and the Black Iron Guards had to take several steps back.

“A Composite Body cultivator!” the burly Clear Sky Guard exclaimed in surprise.

“Wait! Is that… Cultivator Han?”

The old Clear Sky Guard with a short beard scanned Han Li’s face and was shocked. Surprisingly, he recognized Han Li. Han Li also found the old man with the short beard somewhat familiar.

“Cultivator Ak!”

“Cultivator Han… Ah, no, Senior Han, what brings you here…?”

The old man mumbled as if he had seen a ghost.

“I don’t believe that Senior is an elder of the Heavenly Fiend City. May I ask for your name? Brother Ak, do you know him?” the burly Clear Sky Guard hurriedly asked respectfully, looking at the old man. However, the old man was lost in thought with a blank expression and couldn’t speak for a moment.

“Is the Clear Sky Guard, He Seonja, inside?” Han Li stated his business calmly.

“Ah, He Seonja seems to have gone out on patrol with his team and won’t be back for a few days,” the burly Clear Sky Guard replied politely, looking at the old man with a strange expression.

“If the person I’m looking for isn’t here, then I don’t intend to go inside. Then, please tell He Seonja that I’ll be waiting at the Gathering Immortal Pavilion in the city when he returns! Cultivator Ak knows my identity well, so I won’t reveal it separately,” Han Li instructed with a frown. He then made eye contact with the old man with the short beard and transformed into a streak of light and flew away.

“Just who is that person that you’re acting like that?” After the blue streak of light disappeared from sight, the burly man asked the still dumbfounded old man with a dissatisfied tone.

“Seeing that he was looking for He Seonja, my eyes weren’t mistaken. It’s no wonder that Brother Jeong thinks it’s strange, but Senior Han was a Clear Sky Guard just like us 300 years ago. The last time I saw him, he was only in the mid-Core Formation stage!” the old man with the short beard finally came out of his reverie and replied with a strange voice.

“A Clear Sky Guard just 300 years ago? You’re not joking, are you?”

“Brother Jeong came to the Heavenly Fiend City 200 years ago, so it’s natural that you don’t know. I didn’t have a deep friendship with Senior Han when he was a Clear Sky Guard, but I did receive help from him. He was a famous cultivator among the Clear Sky Guards back then.

He used to kill alien races equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage [a high cultivation stage] with his Core Formation cultivation. Later, I heard that he left for the Great Desolate World to carry out a secret mission and then disappeared. To think that he went from a Core Formation cultivator to a Composite Body cultivator in the time I haven’t seen him, how can I not be surprised?” The old man Ak let out a long breath, still unable to shake off his bewildered feeling.

* * *

After leaving the stone tower, Han Li headed to the market. Although he had entrusted the purchase of auxiliary materials to the four cultivators, he intended to acquire what he could first.

He had been to the Heavenly Fiend City market several times before, so he went to the material shop he had visited before, gave them the list, and had them procure the items for him.

He left the shop and walked towards the large hall in the center of the market. The materials he wanted might be available on the demon race side. If he relied on a large power, he wouldn’t need to personally handle such trivial matters.

However, it was much better to create his own power than to be bound by someone else. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to gather his own power with his cultivation.

However, if he spent time and effort on such miscellaneous tasks, it would hinder his cultivation. In the long run, establishing a power was a decision that would bring more harm than good.

In that case, it wouldn’t be a bad choice to take the Spirit Emperor position.

Unlike other sects or families, the Three Emperors’ power was mostly held by the Three Emperors themselves. Anyone who became one of the Three Emperors would immediately become one of the leaders of the human race.

Han Li arrived in front of the hall where the human and demon races could trade, thinking about this. He paid the spirit stones and slowly entered the hall.

* * *

At that time, an anomaly occurred in a cave far away from the human race area.

Woong!

A giant teleportation array vibrated and emitted a light of spiritual energy, causing the puppet soldiers guarding the area to flash their eyes and point their swords at the teleportation array. At that moment, a vague figure emitting silver light from its entire body flew in from the cave entrance.

Paat.

At the same time, two figures appeared on the teleportation array, emitting white light. They were a burly black-robed giant and an elegant white-clothed woman. While the giant had a dark complexion and a ferocious appearance, the woman had fair skin and eyes that shone like stars.

“You are not of our Silver Clan. Who are you to use our clan’s teleportation array to come here!” the silver figure shouted sharply at them.

“It seems that the Silver Clan is guarding this place. Saint Ancestor, shall I swallow them all?” the black-robed giant glanced at the silver figure and swallowed hard.

“That one’s cultivation isn’t low either. Aren’t you afraid of indigestion if you swallow the wrong thing?” the white-clothed woman said calmly, scanning the silver figure.

“Haha, with Saint Ancestor here, what can a mere Silver Clan cultivator do?” the black-robed giant flattered the white-clothed woman with a smile.

“How dare you spout such nonsense!” the silver figure shouted at their conversation, and the puppets around them raised their swords and slashed through the air.

Shwish shwish shwish!

A dozen silver lights rushed towards the teleportation array.

“Such a pathetic attack…”

The black-robed giant sneered and emitted black mist from his sleeve, covering his body.

Kwarreung! Kwarreung!

The silver lights collided with the black mist and exploded one after another. The Silver Clan member was startled by this. However, the giant didn’t stop there. He opened his mouth and sucked in the exploded silver light, then summoned a black shadow from behind him.

Whoong!

A sonic boom echoed through the cave, and a dozen puppets were shattered into dust. They were helpless against the black shadow’s attack. The Silver Clan member was busy trying to identify the black shadow’s true nature.

‘That is!’

The black, thick object covered in scales was a tail. The thick tail was long enough to wrap around the giant twice. The black-robed giant let out a sinister laugh and revealed the aura of a Saint Realm existence, flashing black light.

The Silver Clan member tensed up at his appearance. He could handle the black-robed giant alone, but the white-clothed woman next to him was clearly an even more powerful being.

‘They are not opponents I can face!’

The Silver Clan member was shocked, and a silver aura flowed through his entire body, becoming vague.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the black-robed giant’s eyes flashed menacingly, and he violently shook his black tail. The tail crossed space and instantly pierced the silver figure, but nothing remained in the scattered silver light.

The Silver Clan member had used a secret technique one step ahead of the black-robed giant. However, at that moment, the white-clothed woman smiled and pointed forward.

A single pink flower bloomed from her fingertip, and the moment it flashed, it grew huge and enveloped the entire cave. The area was dyed pink, and a strange fragrance stung the nose.

Pung!

At that moment, the Silver Clan member who had just escaped was thrown out of the nearby void.

“No way! This, this can’t be…”

The Silver Clan member was horrified and tried to escape again, flashing a light of spiritual energy, but the white-clothed woman frowned at this. Then, a ripple appeared beneath the Silver Clan member’s feet, and a pink flower silently rose, making it impossible for him to move as if his entire body was frozen.

The blood drained from his face. At this, the black-robed giant burst into laughter and rushed towards the Silver Clan member, enveloped in black energy. A large mouth opened wide in the black energy, and the Silver Clan member let out a desperate scream.

The white-clothed woman, as if uninterested in what happened next, turned her gaze away and bloomed another flower on her fingertip, smelling its fragrance. It was as if she was intoxicated by the scent of the flower.

* * *

In the underwater palace between the Fengyuan Continent and the Leiming Continent, a giant blood-colored cocoon surrounded by black energy floated in a secret chamber. The cocoon pulsed with a blood-red light and moved rhythmically.

Below it were twelve giant black beasts.

There was a beast with two heads and six eyes, a bird beast with two pairs of wings and three legs, and even a dragon with a golden body and nine tails.

The twelve beasts were all lying prostrate under the blood-colored cocoon, not moving, and there was no sign of life in them. Whenever the cocoon pulsed with blood-red light, the beasts’ emaciated bodies were revealed, as if they were being absorbed by something.

On one side of the secret chamber was a green jade table, and on it, a crystal ball faintly flickered with spiritual energy, and an image appeared on its surface.

It was the image of a silver, radiant lotus pod.

* * *

In the human race’s Heavenly Fiend City market, Han Li was looking at a demon race woman surrounded by black energy in the wide hall.

“I didn’t expect to meet a cultivator here.”

“Haha, I also didn’t expect to see Cultivator Han again? I thought you had left to avoid the alien race invasion,” the woman said. She was a demon race woman who had traded with Han Li several times before. She seemed very happy to see Han Li.

Due to the effects of the restriction, it was impossible to know how much the other party’s cultivation had increased over the past hundreds of years, but she had exchanged quite a few ten-thousand-year-old spirit herbs, so there must have been considerable progress.

Of course, the woman also did not notice Han Li’s cultivation.

“Indeed, if I hadn’t had a stroke of luck, I wouldn’t have met you here again. What brings you here? I thought you would go into secluded cultivation for a while after taking so many ten-thousand-year-old spirit herbs.”

“It’s not like I didn’t want to. Although I obtained quite a few ten-thousand-year-old spirit herbs from you back then, I couldn’t use them all. Those spirit herbs have long been depleted. I’ve been collecting rare seeds all this time, and I’m wondering if you’re still willing to trade?” the demon race woman asked with a short sigh.

“If you have seeds of spirit herbs that I don’t have, of course, I’m willing to trade. However, I’ve also acquired many precious seeds during this time, so I don’t know how much we can trade,” Han Li replied.

“Then, the seeds I’ve collected might not catch your eye. However, I can’t stay in the Heavenly Fiend City for long, so I’d like to secure as many ten-thousand-year-old spirit herbs as possible through trading,” the demon race woman said with a hint of regret, calming her excitement.

“Don’t be too disappointed. If you help me procure various materials in addition to the seeds of spirit herbs, I will trade them for ten-thousand-year-old spirit herbs.”

“Materials?”

“This is the list of what I need. Please see if you can find them in the demon race.”