Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 113

Ten days later, Han Li finally left the shop, a faint smile playing on his lips as he turned back and departed.

Once he was beyond the area where flying magical artifacts were prohibited in the market, Han Li raised his arm. A meticulously crafted white boat emerged from his sleeve.

Han Li gazed at the faintly glowing boat with affection, then pointed a finger at it. It gradually expanded, soon becoming a small ferry capable of carrying several people. He leaped onto the magical artifact, and with a flash of white light, it soared into the air.

“The Divine Wind Boat, made from the Black Dragon’s fin and tail, is truly remarkable!” he mused. “It may not have the capacity to transport large quantities of goods or the defensive capabilities of the Heavenly Moon Divine Boat of the Strict Moon Sect, but its speed is unmatched by any other magical artifact. I won’t need to ride that turtle-like leaf artifact anymore!”

Han Li, standing at the bow of the ferry and muttering to himself, looked cheerful. As he vigorously injected spiritual power, the Divine Wind Boat emitted a white light, shooting through the sky like a white rainbow.

Its speed was truly astonishing. Han Li sat down on the bow of the boat, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the thrill of high-speed travel he had never experienced before.

While enjoying his leisure, he suddenly sensed an enormous surge of spiritual power from below the Divine Wind Boat. He didn’t know what it was, but judging by the immense spiritual power, a collision would destroy both the magical artifact and him.

Startled, he opened his eyes wide, and the boat’s speed doubled, moving it dozens of yards away.

At the same time, a huge yellow pillar of light pierced the spot Han Li had just passed, still lingering in the air.

‘Could someone be lying in ambush, anticipating my passage?’

He couldn’t help but think this in surprise and anger. He took out a bead that emitted both red and blue light and shattered it.

‘Pop.’

With a soft sound, a dense cloud of mist, creating red and blue hues, enveloped Han Li.

Moreover, it expanded ceaselessly, forming a massive cloud that completely concealed Han Li’s figure. Only now did he feel relieved. He regained his composure and surveyed the ground.

Upon seeing the situation below, Han Li’s mouth fell open. Surprisingly, a brawl was underway!

Five Foundation Establishment cultivators [a stage of cultivation] were clearly outnumbered, surrounded by a hundred enemies. Their enemies were all expressionless and clearly not living beings.

Surprisingly, most of them were puppet demonic beasts like tigers and leopards, and some were human-shaped puppets similar to the ones Han Li possessed.

The puppets were relatively slow, so they seemed easy to deal with, but when the cultivators’ magical artifacts struck them down or damaged them, new puppets would emerge from the bushes, replenishing their numbers. Moreover, the puppets’ attacks were extremely fierce.

When the demonic beasts opened their mouths, they would often unleash pillars of light as thick as bowls, which was the very attack that had almost hit Han Li. Each demonic beast had a different color of light, indicating different attributes. It was clear that Han Li had narrowly escaped a fatal accident.

The human puppets were even more formidable. The archer puppets, similar to the one Han Li had, held long bows and continuously shot arrows of light as thick as fingers.

Although their power was not comparable to the demonic beasts’ pillars of light, the key was that their attacks were relentless.

If the cultivators hadn’t formed a massive barrier together, they would have been killed by either the pillars of light or the arrows.

However, what troubled them the most were the melee-type human puppets wielding swords.

They wore thick armor, and the swords they held all gleamed, indicating that they were at least low- or mid-grade magical artifacts.

There were only about a dozen of them, but they relentlessly attacked the barrier, causing it to shake and become increasingly precarious.

If some of the cultivators hadn’t constantly poured spiritual power into reinforcing it, it would have been broken many times over.

However, the cultivators were not helpless against the puppets.

They were all Foundation Establishment cultivators with deep magical power, and their weapons were incredibly powerful. After a short while, they had rendered 30 or 40 puppets unable to attack.

The problem was that no matter how many they destroyed, the number of puppets emerging from the bushes seemed endless. As their magical power gradually depleted, the cultivators couldn’t hide their growing unease.

Han Li was just watching with his mouth open. Since no one had noticed his presence yet, it was highly likely that what had just happened was a coincidence.

Eventually, one of them, unable to catch his breath, suddenly reinforced his body with dozens of defensive techniques, mounted his magical artifact, and broke away from the massive barrier. It seemed he was trying to escape alone.

The others naturally cursed at him. However, as soon as he broke away from the massive barrier, a massive pillar of light flew in and struck him. The man didn’t even have time to scream before he fell to the ground as a ball of fire.

Those who had been cursing the man for trying to escape alone all fell silent and exchanged glances. Their fear was now growing.

Although they were outnumbered, they had not felt any immediate danger to their lives, except for a bit of gloominess.

Even if they couldn’t kill all the puppets, they still had a chance to escape if they tried their best.

However, seeing one of them get killed while trying to escape made them realize that it was all a pipe dream. No matter how many layers of barriers they put up or how many defensive magical artifacts they used, they didn’t think they could withstand the attack they had just witnessed, so they couldn’t help but be shocked.

The pillar of light they had just seen was truly immense. They weren’t sure how long even their jointly formed barrier could withstand it, let alone the defenses of the man who had tried to escape alone.

However, since the enemy had the upper hand, they were trapped in a dilemma, unable to retreat even if they wanted to.

Han Li, who was hiding above their heads, also felt a chill at the power he had just witnessed. He immediately decided that he should stay hidden and not go out. However, he felt it was a bit of a shame to run away right now.

After all, with the unimaginable speed of the Divine Wind Boat he had just obtained, even if he was discovered, it wasn’t as if he wouldn’t be able to escape alive. He held his breath even more and began to observe the entire situation.

Originally, the red and blue cloud that Han Li’s magical artifact had transformed into was a bit conspicuous floating above their heads.

However, fortunately, he had soared quickly on the Divine Wind Boat, and the distance from the ground was over a hundred yards, so he was able to avoid being detected by the other cultivators or the person controlling the puppets in the bushes.

Hiding like this wasn’t the best long-term solution, but it was better than revealing his identity by dispelling the cloud right now.

The top-grade magical artifact, Azure Fire Barrier, refined with the eyes of a Flood Dragon, not only concealed his body, making it impossible to pinpoint his exact location, but also could subtly poison enemies who came into contact with the mist mixed with the Flood Dragon’s venom. He couldn’t easily give up a magical artifact that both protected him and attacked enemies.

As he was pondering, Han Li noticed a dark cloud floating not far above his head and smiled.

He immediately moved slowly towards it and completely hid himself within it, along with the cloud his magical artifact had transformed into.

Now, even if someone looked closely at the sky, they would be completely deceived. With no more worries, he watched the fight as if it were a fire on the other side of the river [a Chinese idiom meaning to watch from a safe distance].

Perhaps they had been intimidated by the immense pillar of light they had just witnessed, but although they were still wielding their excellent magical artifacts, their power was not as great as it had been at the beginning. It also meant that they were not fully cooperating to fight back, as they were all trying to find ways to save themselves.

Han Li shook his head as he watched. Then, one of the cultivators, who seemed a bit older, must have felt that this was not right, as he suddenly shouted loudly towards the bushes.

“Are you planning to kill us all? We are all disciples of prominent families within the Yuan Wu Kingdom. If you kill us, you will be making enemies of the entire cultivation world of the Yuan Wu Kingdom. Why would you invite such trouble!”

“Haha. Invite trouble? If you had said that before I killed the guy who tried to escape, it wouldn’t be wrong, but now that I’ve already killed one, wouldn’t it be better to kill you all and silence you?”

“We didn’t have any malicious intent. If you spare us, we swear we will never reveal this!”

A young man also hurriedly stepped forward to add his words.

“Hmph! You want me to believe your oaths and let you go? You’ve been secretly following me for so long, and if you didn’t have malicious intent, were you planning to invite me to dinner or something! Besides, I’m not originally from the Yuan Wu Kingdom, so I don’t care if I offend your entire country. Do you think your sect elders will even come to the Thousand Bamboo Sect to argue about right and wrong?”

The blunt voice from the bushes sounded very familiar.

‘It’s that guy from before!’

Judging by the voice, it was definitely the burly man who had won the puppet mechanism at the auction. Listening to their conversation, it seemed that the cultivators had planned to follow the man after the auction and steal the auctioned item by unfair means.

The man, having foreseen this, had set a trap and waited, then attacked them.

“Let’s fight him with a do-or-die resolve, or we will all die!”

The cultivator who had spoken first was not a fool. Realizing that things were not going as planned, he encouraged the others to fight.

“Do-or-die resolve, you say. You can’t even handle my puppet dolls, and you’re going to fight me? I’ve played with you enough, so now I’ll send you to a better place!”

The voice was blunt, but the killing intent was clear.

‘Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.’

No sooner had he finished speaking than a huge vibration was felt from the bushes where he was hiding.

Surprisingly, judging by the vibration and sound, it seemed to be the sound of footsteps. Neither the cultivators behind the barrier nor Han Li in the air could understand what was happening.

The footsteps were deep and heavy, but the speed was fast. Something that emerged from the forest in an instant caught everyone’s attention.

A giant puppet tiger, about five yards tall, appeared, still carrying the man wearing a bamboo hat on its head!

Its massive size was shocking. It became clear whose mouth had unleashed the pillar of light that had just killed one of the cultivators.

The man didn’t say another word and immediately kicked the tiger’s head. At the same time, the tiger’s mouth opened, and a white light slowly began to gather inside.

Upon seeing this, the cultivators inside the barrier stopped destroying the small puppets and stepped back.

Naturally, realizing that the situation was not good, they simultaneously stretched out their hands and placed them on the barrier.

This barrier was the only way they could survive. Of course, they all wanted to fly away, but remembering the fate of the man who had just been killed, they couldn’t act rashly.

The massive white pillar of light was unleashed again, and the barrier, reinforced by the combined efforts of the cultivators, temporarily managed to block it.

However, Han Li, with his excellent eyesight, could see that their expressions were not good.

They had all turned pale due to the spiritual power that had been drained in an instant.

Han Li predicted that the attack couldn’t last long either. The cultivators inside the barrier must have thought the same, as they were gritting their teeth and holding on.

# 115