Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 135

The other cultivators, well aware of what such a spirit beast meant to the people of Spirit Beast Mountain, all wore envious expressions.

However, the leather pouch stopped in mid-air and showed no sign of moving again.

Lye Cheonmong hurriedly poured his magical power into it, trying to forcibly retrieve the pouch, but despite the light flashing several times, it remained still. Then, after a moment, the surface of the leather pouch began to bulge and move.

It seemed as if a demonic beast was rampaging inside. This strange phenomenon lasted only briefly, and soon the entire leather pouch swelled up into a sphere.

‘Bang!’

Finally, the magical artifact was completely torn apart, and the white spider emerged, perfectly restored to its original form.

The spider’s transparent, white body suddenly began to turn red, emitting a crimson light.

Then, as the blood-red spider moved its legs, it reached the two furthest cultivators like lightning.

At the same time, a white light flashed, and the spider’s legs pierced through their protective barriers, cutting them in half at the waist.

One of the two was the unfortunate Jong Oh, who had thought he would be safe by running further away than the others.

Seeing the gruesome sight of the two cultivators and the spider’s fast and silent movements, the others were greatly startled and scattered in all directions.

Han Li and the others immediately threw talismans and magical artifacts at the spider’s head.

However, the spider, already emitting a red light all over its body and moving like the wind, could not be hit by spells or magical artifacts.

In that fleeting moment, two more cultivators were bitten to death by the spider’s fangs.

One of them had protected his body with a magical artifact, but he was torn apart and killed. The spider’s legs and fangs were so sharp and strong that they exceeded the power of even the highest-grade magical artifacts.

Now, only Lye Cheonmong, Seonak, and Han Li remained in the cave, their faces pale.

If only it had been a wide, open space, the cultivators would not have been killed so easily.

‘Bang!’

As the spider approached Lye Cheonmong, trying to cut him in half at the waist, a black object flew in and blocked it.

It was a giant turtle shell, like a flat, small shield, and surprisingly, it withstood the spider’s leg, leaving only a faint mark.

The spider, seeing that its attack was ineffective, immediately abandoned Lye Cheonmong and tried to bite Han Li.

However, Han Li, with a cold expression, became blurry and disappeared, reappearing seven steps away. This time, even the demonic beast seemed surprised and paused for a moment.

As the spider stopped, Seonak’s yellow bell, which had been chasing it, finally caught up and grew in size, trapping the demonic beast.

“Don’t worry. The Heaven-Shielding Bell [a magical artifact] is made with copper essence [a rare material used to create treasures], so even that spider won’t be able to escape.”

Seonak explained to Han Li and Lye Cheonmong, looking a little relieved. Han Li’s expression also brightened, and he retracted the Five Dragon Talons. However, Lye Cheonmong thought for a moment and shook his head anxiously.

“No, I can’t be at ease. I don’t feel safe, so if you can hold the demonic beast a little longer with that bell, I’ll activate my treasure and get rid of it.”

Seonak’s eyebrows twitched at those words, but he didn’t particularly object. Han Li looked at the teleportation array and the spirit tablet containing the skull, lost in thought, then went to one side and sat cross-legged. It was as if he intended for the other two to handle the rest.

At that moment, Lye Cheonmong raised a talisman with a brilliant blue light in his hand and slowly began to inject magical power into it.

As expected, a cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage was quick to activate a treasure. Soon after he released his hands, an intricate blue light flew up and circled above Lye Cheonmong’s head.

“If you’re ready, I’ll release the demonic beast.”

Seonak said, controlling the bell while speaking.

“Yes, I’m ready, so you can all die in peace! That Great Teleportation Order [a mysterious treasure] is Lye Cheonmong’s!”

Lye Cheonmong’s eyes flashed open, suddenly revealing a murderous intent. With his shout, the short light above his head instantly multiplied from one to two, two to four, and four to eight, creating hundreds of identical lights. However, all the lights flew towards Seonak and Han Li, who was sitting cross-legged, under Lye Cheonmong’s control.

Han Li’s expression changed very slightly as he gripped the object in his hand tightly, watching the treasure attacking him. Seonak, despite the sudden attack, felt no sense of crisis.

Seeing their expressions, Lye Cheonmong sensed something was wrong and was about to summon his turtle shell magical artifact when a loud explosion was heard behind him, and a blood-red light flashed past.

At the same time, his body was cut in two and rolled onto the floor. The red light stopped after passing him, and surprisingly, the light was the giant spider that had escaped from the bell.

As Lye Cheonmong died, the hundred or so lights that had lost their spiritual power all shattered. In the end, they gathered in one place and fell in the form of a talisman, right in the center where Han Li, Seonak, and the spider were.

Seonak stared at Han Li expressionlessly, not making any move, but Han Li looked back and forth between him and the spider, then silently took out a white scale shield. Then, eight white lights appeared, and puppets emerged beside him.

Seeing this, Seonak retracted the yellow bell and quietly opened his mouth.

“I didn’t expect Fellow Daoist Han to be so skilled in puppetry [a technique to control puppets]. But I wonder if those mere puppets can be my match.”

“Did you release the spider?”

“Yes.”

Seonak calmly admitted, taking out a silk cloth like a cloak in his hand.

“You could have been harmed by the demonic beast, weren’t you afraid?”

“Haha! Me being harmed? Do you think such a trivial demonic beast can be my match? You should be the one worrying, Fellow Daoist Han. I hope you survive.”

He shrugged his shoulders and spoke confidently, then wrapped the silk around his body and suddenly disappeared. His appearance remained the same, but his breathing and aura vanished. Seonak smiled quietly and slowly backed into a corner of the cave. Han Li, realizing the purpose of the silk, immediately watched the spider’s movements.

Then, he saw the spider, exuding a ferocious aura, staring at him.

The enraged spider began to make strange noises, clashing its fangs, and charged at Han Li.

In response, Han Li summoned the puppets he had prepared in advance to block the spider’s path. Then, he ran towards the corner where Seonak was hiding.

Seonak, seeing Han Li running towards him, was startled and threw the yellow bell in his hand, protecting his entire body with red leather armor.

However, as he used his magical power on the leather armor, the silk naturally lost its effect. Seeing this, Han Li immediately took out a small mirror, and a blue light emanated from it.

“Azure Condensation Mirror [a powerful magical artifact]!”

Seonak cried out in surprise. He couldn’t not recognize it, as it was a famous top-grade magical artifact from his sect. As Han Li approached within ten steps, Seonak scattered talismans that turned into ice spikes, using the Ice Rain Technique [a magic spell], planning to activate a powerful magical artifact while Han Li was blocking the ice spikes.

As a huge number of ice spikes flew towards Han Li, he retracted his shield and quickly moved to dodge them. His agile movements, bending and twisting up, down, left, and right, quickly dodging, made Seonak’s previously relaxed expression disappear.

As Han Li approached right in front of him again, Seonak had no time to think of another magical artifact and poured all his magical power into the red leather armor. He desperately hoped that this top-grade defensive magical artifact would save him from the crisis.

However, Han Li pierced his armor with a sharp, black object he had prepared in advance, and a thunderous sound echoed through the cave.

Then, a fist-sized hole appeared in the neck area of the red armor, and the armor, having lost its spiritual energy, became useless and lost its power.

Han Li immediately used the Azure Origin Sword Net to cut off Seonak’s head. And naturally, the spoils of the battle became Han Li’s.

Looking at the spoils, Han Li felt a strange emotion. He had never imagined that a cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage would die so futilely. However, Han Li knew that this was entirely due to the limitations of the narrow terrain.

If the fight had taken place elsewhere, he wouldn’t have been able to approach him. He would have kept a distance of dozens of steps, and his flying speed using aerial magical artifacts would not have been able to match him.

Moreover, the object that pierced the opponent’s armor this time was a one-time explosive magical artifact refined from a Flood Dragon’s horn.

As Han Li was retrieving the Azure Condensation Mirror and Seonak’s bell, he heard a series of shattering sounds from behind him.

Without delay, he searched through the spoils and released several puppet demonic beasts he had prepared in advance.

The puppets that had been blocking the spider had finally been completely destroyed by the demonic beast.

The blood-red spider charged at Han Li again. However, Han Li sent out a pair of Five Dragon Talons, made from Flood Dragon claws, to block the giant spider’s attack. Then, the light pillar attacks from the puppet demonic beasts continued relentlessly, so the spider couldn’t move from that spot.

In response to Han Li’s attacks, the spider continuously shot out spiderwebs, and the puppet demonic beasts were caught in them without being able to dodge.

Then, Han Li immediately retrieved the puppets and released new ones, ensuring that the attacks continued without interruption.

He wanted to activate the treasure during this gap, but relying only on magical artifacts and protective barriers was not safe.

After a while, the blood-red color on the spider’s body began to fade, and traces of attacks gradually appeared on its once-impenetrable shell.

Just as a smile appeared on Han Li’s face, the spider realized that the situation was turning unfavorable and tried several times to escape through the narrow passage. But each time, the light pillars from the puppets flew at it, preventing it from moving.

When the spider had exhausted almost all of its essence and lost the power to counterattack, he took out his silver sword, stepped forward, and struck the spider’s neck.

The spider, though tough, was no match for the silver sword, as it had no spiritual energy flowing through it. Afterward, Han Li immediately sat down on the ground nearby and remained there blankly for a long time.

When he came to his senses, he looked around and saw the dead cultivators. After taking a sufficient rest, he first started by collecting the small, glowing treasure, and then he searched through the spoils of all the others. Finally, he cautiously approached the teleportation array and examined the spirit tablet containing the skull with a sparkling gaze.

“He clearly called it the Great Teleportation Order, didn’t he?”

He was lost in thought for a moment.

Han Li had never heard of the term ‘Great Teleportation Order’. However, judging by the fact that Lye Cheonmong and Seonak had tried to eliminate the others to take it, it must be a tremendous treasure.

However, looking at this strange skull, he hesitated to touch it. He sent out a blade of the Golden Mother-Child Blades to carefully touch the skull, and when there was no reaction, he finally approached and examined it closely.

The spirit tablet that the skull was supporting shone brightly with a navy blue light, and ancient characters were engraved on top of an antique pattern, indicating that it was definitely an ancient object. Other than that, he didn’t find anything special, and it didn’t have much spiritual power either.

He thought for a moment and then sent out the blade again to bring the spirit tablet to him. When he touched the spirit tablet that had fallen into his hand, it felt soft, and it didn’t seem to be made of wood.

He looked at it this way and that, and then tried to infuse it with spiritual power as a test. Then, the spirit tablet began to absorb a large amount of magical power from his body with tremendous suction. Startled, Han Li quickly withdrew his spiritual power, and only then did the phenomenon disappear. He carefully placed the spirit tablet into his spoils bag.

Then, he began to wander around the teleportation array again, whose identity he couldn’t figure out. He was too curious about where that teleportation array was connected to.

But he couldn’t go up and test it.

Moreover, even if he wanted to take such a risk, one side of the teleportation array was already damaged, making it impossible.

The extent of the damage wasn’t severe, but it didn’t seem possible to operate it normally.
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