Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 114

The massive pillar of light gradually thinned and disappeared into the tiger’s mouth. The cultivators, relieved, took their hands off the barrier and exhaled.

The man sneered, then suddenly opened a hidden door in the tiger’s head and tossed in a medium-grade fire-attribute spirit stone. The fading light surged again.

The cultivators were understandably shocked, and even Han Li bit his lip.

Han Li was surprised that a single attack from the giant tiger consumed an entire medium-grade spirit stone. It was truly a bewildering battle.

What kind of magical duel was this? It was like piling up spirit stones of immense value and detonating them one by one. The financial power of the Thousand Bamboo Sect from a distant land seemed beyond imagination.

While he was lost in these thoughts, the cultivators, facing another imminent threat, simultaneously fled. With little magical power left, they knew they would die if they faced another attack.

Now, they had no choice but to run for their lives and hope for luck. The large man watched them and fired two more light pillars, instantly turning two of them into fireballs that plummeted to the ground.

The remaining two were already far away on their magical artifacts, but the man on the tiger simply watched them without moving. Han Li, hidden away, felt uneasy. It seemed strange that the man, who had been so ruthless and cruel, would let them go. Just as he was pondering this, the burly man spoke coldly again.

“Hiding and waiting for an easy advantage, are you? You’ve watched enough, now come out.”

‘Could he have seen me, even hidden this high?’

Han Li couldn’t help but feel a jolt. He swallowed nervously. Having witnessed the power of those puppet beasts, he didn’t want to follow the fate of the cultivators who had turned into fireballs. That massive light pillar was not only powerful but also incredibly fast! If he revealed himself, he would have to activate his Wind Spirit Boat at full power to escape that attack.

After a moment of thought, he decided he had to reveal himself to prevent an immediate attack. He was about to show himself when the man’s actions made him freeze.

The man and his puppets turned their heads not towards Han Li’s hiding place in the air, but towards a nearby pile of dirt. Han Li was shocked and almost bit his tongue. There was someone else hidden there, and he hadn’t noticed at all.

*Rustle*

The pile of dirt overturned, and the person hidden inside emerged. It was the gray-robed weirdo who had competed for the puppet mechanism at the auction house.

“So, it was you. What is your identity? Do you know the secret of this puppet mechanism?”

The man glared at the weirdo with a menacing aura, as if he had expected this.

“Huang Long, even after all this time, your personality hasn’t changed.”

The weirdo’s unexpected words, after a moment of silence, surprised both the man and Han Li.

“How do you know me?”

The man was surprised and puzzled that the other had spoken his name so easily. Since his identity was already exposed, he threw off his hat, revealing his face. He was a fierce-looking man with a yellow face and a short haircut.

“Instead of handling your duties as a Guardian Dharma King [a high-ranking protector] of the Thousand Bamboo Sect, what are you doing so far away? Could it be that you’re after a part of the Great Evolution Formula hidden within it?”

“If you don’t reveal your identity, don’t blame me for whatever happens, Huang Long,” the weirdo said calmly.

The man was startled by the fact that the other knew everything he was hiding and quickly shouted,

“Have you forgotten who secretly taught you the first verse of the Great Evolution Formula?”

The man’s face changed, and he took a step back as the weirdo revealed his identity after a moment of hesitation.

“Senior Brother Lin? … Impossible. Senior Brother Lin died several years ago. Are you trying to trick me! I’ll kill you.”

The man, after his initial shock, swung his arm in anger, and over a hundred puppets surrounded the weirdo from afar, following his command.

“It seems that Junior Brother Huang hasn’t forgotten the past, which is reassuring.”

This only made the weirdo’s tone gentler, and finally, the face hidden by the gray robe was revealed.

“Senior Brother Lin!”

‘Senior Uncle Lin!’

The man and Han Li’s mouths dropped open simultaneously. Han Li’s was silent, while the man shouted out loud.

This weirdo was the old man who was engrossed in carving when Han Li went to receive his items as a disciple of the Yellow Maple Valley!

The wooden monkey he carved was so lifelike that it had left a deep impression on Han Li, leading to him recognizing the old man instantly today.

“It really is Senior Brother Lin! Senior Brother, how did you become an old man like this? And you were already…”

The man still looked incredulous, but then his face turned joyful as he grasped Senior Brother Lin’s hands, his face filled with emotion.

“Hahaha! Junior Brother Huang, at that time, I merely faked my death… Ugh, what are you doing!”

Han Li’s senior uncle’s smiling face turned angry as he shook off Junior Brother Huang’s hand. Deep, chopstick-sized wounds were carved into both of his wrists, oozing dark red blood.

“It seems that you’ve lost your mind while running away these past few years, Senior Brother. How could you be so careless as to be caught by your junior brother? Tsk, tsk, this is the Black Silk Gu [a type of venomous insect] I managed to get from the Gu Poison Sect after much hardship, so it won’t be easy to get rid of. But it’s all your fault, Senior Brother. If you were going to fake your death and run away, you should have stayed quiet. Why did you have to be greedy for the Great Evolution Formula and contact your old subordinates? Now you’ve angered the Golden Sect Master, so I had to put on this ridiculous act to eliminate the problem!”

Huang Long was mocking Senior Brother Lin.

“It seems I did well to have a junior brother like you!”

Senior Brother Lin quickly calmed down and regained his composure. He formed a hand seal, circulated his magical power to force out the poisoned blood, and then took out a bottle from his robes, pouring the powder inside into his mouth.

“The news those so-called subordinates gave me must have been false. There’s no verse of the Great Evolution Formula in that puppet; it was just bait to lure me out. But it’s strange that the secret shop cooperated with you.”

“There’s no reason why the words of mortals, that no one can resist the temptation of wealth, wouldn’t apply in the cultivation world. If our sect pays enough, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

The man curled his lip and turned his head towards the bushes, shouting,

“Now come out and meet the dignified son of Sect Master Lin.”

“Hehe! Sleeve, I’ve long heard of Senior Brother Lin’s reputation. It’s just a pity that I joined the sect late and never had the chance to meet him.”

“Hmph! What senior brother? He’s just a stray dog now.”

A woman with a melodious voice and a jealous man’s retort were heard, and then a man and a woman appeared side by side.

“Let me introduce you to my senior brother. These two are the new Guardian Dharma Kings of our sect…”

Huang Long sneered at Senior Brother Lin, who had always been above him. But before he could finish his sentence, Senior Brother Lin’s hands danced ceaselessly, creating black dots that emitted different lights and scattering them everywhere. Immediately, countless lights flashed on the ground, transforming into armed puppet soldiers, blocking Senior Brother Lin from all sides. There were 200 of them, a truly spectacular sight.

“Be careful! He’s summoning so many puppets, he must have surprisingly cultivated the third stage of the Great Evolution Formula! Don’t let him get away! No matter how skilled he is, he’ll be helpless once the poison takes effect!”

After speaking, Huang Long moved his puppets to attack. The man and woman exchanged glances and then scattered black dots, creating over 200 puppet beasts. Simultaneously, a chaotic battle of hundreds of puppets began. Arrows of light and pillars of light were constantly fired, and the puppet soldiers blocked the puppet beasts, wielding swords. Han Li was dumbfounded as he watched.

He hadn’t fully grasped what was happening, but he understood the general situation. Senior Brother Lin was surprisingly from a place called the Thousand Bamboo Sect before joining the Yellow Maple Valley, and he was even the son of the sect master. However, he had lost his power and was hiding in the Yellow Maple Valley. One day, he heard about the Great Evolution Formula and coveted it, incurring the wrath of the new sect master, and now his fellow disciples were trying to kill him.

After piecing together the events, Han Li sighed.

Looking down at the chaotic battle, it was clear that there was no place for a cultivator in the early stages of Qi Condensation [the first stage of cultivation] like him. It seemed best to escape as quickly as possible while everyone was distracted.

Having made his decision, Han Li immediately withdrew the Azure Fire Barrier and activated the Wind Spirit Boat at full power. He instantly disappeared across the sky like a streak of rainbow light.

Naturally, the four people were startled and couldn’t help but follow him with their eyes during the battle. There was someone who had been listening to their conversation without revealing himself until the end. But in the current situation, they couldn’t chase him, so they had no choice but to resume their fierce battle.

* * *

After flying at full speed, Han Li was able to return to his cave not long after. As soon as he arrived, he opened the book given to him by Jie Yunxiao and examined the formation artifacts. He then strengthened the defense and concealment of his residence. The place where they had fought was too close to his residence, making him feel uneasy.

Fortunately, the installation of the Reversal Five Elements Formation was quite simple. He just had to bury the flags and discs in the correct positions and use spirit stones to unleash sufficient spiritual power. Once the formation was activated, it could either confuse or trap enemies with illusions.

Han Li buried the formation artifacts deep in their designated positions and then gritted his teeth, taking out medium-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch and inserting them into various parts of the formation.

Half of his medium-grade spirit stones were gone just like that. It felt like giving away his own flesh and blood, but he had no choice if he wanted to maximize the formation’s power.

Once the formation started running, there was nothing unusual to be seen from the outside, which was quite satisfactory. He finally felt relieved and returned to his residence to contemplate his future cultivation.

He was fortunate to have succeeded in Qi Condensation, but to reach higher achievements, he needed talent and opportunities that were rare, perhaps one in ten thousand.

The difficulty of Qi Condensation was nothing compared to the difficulty of Core Formation [the next major stage of cultivation]. Frankly, if one had exceptional talent, Qi Condensation could be achieved with just one or two Qi Condensation pills!

However, even for cultivators who met the above conditions, the success rate of Core Formation was low. That’s why each sect would throw a feast when a new Core Formation cultivator appeared.

Han Li knew that his talent was terrible, and he was fundamentally far behind other Qi Condensation disciples. And now, he had also learned the strange Azure Essence Sword Technique, so he would have to rely on fate to see what kind of opportunities he might encounter in the future. Thinking this way, it seemed that everything was working against him.

But if he thought about it, his extremely poor talent could be overcome by using spirit herbs to make spirit pills. So, what he needed to do now was to find a suitable cultivation method for Core Formation. When he thought about cultivation methods, the first person that came to Han Li’s mind was his master, Li Huayuan.

Since he had accepted him as a nominal disciple, he should at least pass on a few useful cultivation methods, right? Moreover, since he had succeeded in Core Formation, he could also give him advice on choosing a cultivation method.

It seemed that he would have to return to the Yellow Maple Valley tomorrow morning and inquire about the location of Master Li’s residence. Many people still didn’t even know that he had succeeded in Qi Condensation.

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