Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 164

Then, beams of light exploded and poured down like rain, filling the sky with gold, creating a scene that seemed straight out of a dream.

Within that beautiful phenomenon, a terrifying murderous intent was hidden. As Liu Jung formed hand seals with dazzling movements, each golden light floating in the sky transformed into a thin sword, emitting an astonishing chill.

“Thousand Blades Technique!”

Finally, the name of Liu Jung’s metal-based magic was uttered. At this sight, everyone except the two who were focused on operating their talismans was shocked.

Metal-based magic was the rarest among the Five Elements magic [the five basic elements in Chinese philosophy: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water], and it was usually used as auxiliary magic such as the Golden Armor Technique or the Iron Skin Technique. However, Liu Jung’s talisman unleashed an offensive metal magic that seemed to be above the intermediate level, causing everyone to be surprised and watch it.

Sharp golden swords, seemingly numbering a thousand, gathered above the Four Great Blood Guardians, emitting an enormous aura. As Liu Jung opened his mouth again to activate it, the golden swords fell like hail.

‘Clatter, clatter, clatter!’

Then, numerous collision sounds rang out, and gold and blood began to scatter.

The blood-colored cocoons, which had been unmoved by any attack, began to change under the fierce offensive.

The blood color grew in size, and the red light became thicker, and the confrontation with the golden swords became more intense.

Liu Jung felt relieved rather than impatient at this sight. Since there was a change, it meant that his attack had definitely had an effect. If he kept pushing like this, he felt like he could break the blood-colored cocoon.

Half of the blades that had covered the sky had already fallen, but the red energy emitted by the cocoon was as clear as ever.

At that moment, Song Mong’s voice echoed in everyone’s ears.

“Senior Brother Liu, I’m going in!”

The gray talisman he was holding changed, and a gray spear of enormous length was emitting light. Liu Jung, who was pleased at the sight, shouted at Song Mong.

“Let’s focus our attack on the far left first!”

Then, he pointed his finger at the remaining swords. At the same time, all the golden swords gathered densely and poured down on Bingyo’s cocoon on the far left.

‘Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!’

In the place where so many golden blades had pierced and passed, Bingyo’s cocoon, with its blood color noticeably faded, was revealed.

Finally, as the long-awaited result appeared, everyone’s magic, magical artifacts, and Han Li’s puppet attacks resumed. Song Mong’s gray spear also followed, making a sharp sound.

As the Thousand Blades Technique and the attacks of other cultivators focused, Bingyo’s cocoon quickly faded, and even the vague shape inside came into view.

Finally, the gray spear pierced through it, and a furious roar was heard from within, shaking everyone’s heads. Soon, two transparent claws pierced through the already scattered blood color and revealed their true form.

It was a pure white monster that had only half-transformed.

He was clearly a handsome young man, but his two small horns, tail, and claws were those of a demonic beast, and strange patterns were engraved on his white skin.

There was clearly a fist-sized hole in his shoulder, spewing bright red blood, but the surrounding flesh and muscles contracted on their own to fill the hole, making it a gruesome sight to behold.

“I’ll kill you!”

Surprisingly, he, who had only half-transformed into a demon, had consciousness. From Bingyo’s perspective, even though he had not completely transformed, it was already enough to buy time for the other Blood Guardians to transform.

The expressions of Liu Jung and others changed at the bizarre phenomenon they had never seen before. They had heard about it from Han Li, but the terrifying sight made them feel uneasy.

Suddenly, a white pillar of light flew towards Bingyo’s exposed body, and he dodged it by doing a somersault in the air.

It was Han Li’s puppet technique attack. As Han Li moved first, the others also loosened their stiff faces and poured out attacks like a storm again. However, Bingyo disappeared into the air, emitting a cold mist all over his body.

Everyone was startled and looked around, searching for his whereabouts. In such cases, the opponent had used some kind of technique to quickly leave the place, so he couldn’t have gone far.

However, apart from the three cocoons that were still emitting blood, no trace of anyone else could be found. The Black Fiend Sect disciples were not fools either, and those who were not skilled had already fled long ago.

Startled, Han Li hurriedly took out a white shield and a magical artifact made of turtle shell to completely defend his body and shouted.

“Everyone, be careful! He’s using stealth techniques!”

Before he could finish speaking, a woman’s desperate scream was heard. Everyone’s gaze quickly turned to the source of the sound, only to find Seol Hong, who had been sitting cross-legged and operating her talisman, collapsed.

Her chest had a large hole, as if someone had ripped out her heart while she was still alive.

Her beautiful face, covered in blood, was distorted with pain, and her limbs were trembling. And as if she couldn’t believe it, her eyes soon lost their last spark of life.

“Seol Hong…!”

Her senior brother, who seemed to be her partner, cried out in a sorrowful voice. Then, he stretched out his arms, and black light erupted, tearing her corpse to pieces. It seemed he was trying to find and kill Bingyo, who had killed Seol Hong.

She had been attacked without any resistance when she was retrieving her defensive magical artifacts to reduce the time it took to operate her talisman.

She had been focusing only on her talisman, feeling safe because there were fellow disciples around, but unexpectedly, Bingyo had escaped the cocoon in an incomplete form.

Not only her, but Song Mong also did not put up a protective barrier when activating his talisman, but the power of his talisman was not that great, so he succeeded in activating it first. If both of them had been sitting cross-legged, it was unknown who would have died.

After confirming the tragic end of the woman with a hole in her chest, those who heard Han Li’s shout broke out in a cold sweat. They hurriedly used defensive magical artifacts and protective barriers to prepare for the next attack of the fiend.

However, what was surprising was that no matter what magic or magical artifacts they used, they could not find any trace of the hidden Bingyo.

He showed a blurry figure from time to time, but disappeared in an instant, so even magical artifacts with great spiritual power could not track him. However, only Han Li was watching this scene calmly with shining eyes.

Senior Brother Wang, who was standing next to Han Li, had his face turned white, showing a clear sign of fear, as if it was his first time in such a bloody battle.

Senior Brother Wang’s gaze reached Seol Hong’s partner, who was furiously enraged, and his expression darkened even more. Then, his terrified expression caught Bingyo’s eye, and he naturally became the next target.

As fear engulfed him, transparent claws flew towards his back.

Fortunately, Senior Brother Wang’s protective magical artifact, a bronze shield, moved intelligently without its owner’s command and blocked it.

‘Clang!’

It was a light sound, but the bronze shield that had blocked Bingyo’s claws lost its spiritual power and fell straight to the floor in an instant. Only then did Senior Brother Wang, who had realized the attack from behind, turn around with a bloodless face and look behind him in a flustered manner.

When there was no movement around him, he hesitated for a moment and then went straight down to find the bronze shield.

“Dodge!”

Liu Jung, who saw this, shouted in surprise.

However, as he hesitated, still not understanding the situation, the sound of the water-attribute protective barrier that was protecting Senior Brother Wang being pierced was heard from behind, and a chill was felt.

Only then did Senior Brother Wang realize the danger he was in. Bingyo, who had been hiding, had ambushed him from behind.

‘So soon it’s my turn!’

And his vision brightened, and his body felt light. His body soared upwards, and at the same time, the sound of something exploding from below and an angry shout were heard.

However, his feet soon touched the ground, and Senior Brother Wang was able to stand unharmed.

“Are you okay, Junior Brother Wang!”

A familiar voice was heard in the ears of Senior Brother Wang, who was completely out of his mind and confused as to whether he was dead or alive. When he turned his head, Liu Jung was looking at him with a worried expression.

“Did Senior Brother Liu save me?”

“It’s embarrassing, but it wasn’t me who saved you. Junior Brother Han saved you and is fighting the monster. I was wondering before how Junior Brother Han had dealt with dozens of demonic cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage alone, but now I see that his skills are beyond prediction.”

“Junior Brother Han, you say?”

Senior Brother Wang was momentarily stunned by the unexpected name. He didn’t know how Junior Brother Han had saved him when he was clearly quite far away.

He hurriedly turned his head to look. However, there was clearly no one in the place where he had just been attacked, but the sounds of magical artifacts clashing and shouts were heard continuously.

Senior Brother Wang couldn’t come to his senses. As he was about to ask how the situation was unfolding, a whirlwind blew in the air, and a translucent figure appeared.

It was the Blood Guardian who had attacked him, and his body, which had been half-transformed into a monster, was surprisingly transparent like crystal.

“How can you see through my stealth and even catch up to me!”

Bingyo’s transparent face was filled with anger and fear. He roared like a beast and leaped up fiercely before disappearing again.

However, the noise that had been interrupted for a moment resumed. Now that the sound of magical artifacts clashing was moving from place to place, the expressions of Liu Jung and others also changed, and they stepped back.

It was because they could be caught up in the battle between Han Li and Bingyo without even knowing it. They couldn’t possibly join a fight they couldn’t even see.

“Look down quickly!”

Suddenly, Song Mong shouted in surprise. When they looked down, they couldn’t help but be flustered. It was because thick crystals had formed on the ground, emitting a cold energy, as if the cunning Bingyo had been plotting something.

“That cunning monster. Junior Brother Han will be at a disadvantage!”

Song Mong worried with an anxious expression.

“That won’t be the case. Although we can’t sense Junior Brother Han because he’s using stealth techniques, judging from the sounds we hear, he’s not at a disadvantage. The abilities of the monster-human are beyond expectations, and it’s my fault that a fellow disciple has died unexpectedly!”

Liu Jung was feeling responsible with a darkened expression. The others looked at his face and couldn’t find any words to comfort him.

However, none of them knew that Han Li was in the midst of a fierce battle and was cursing them immensely.

Han Li was about to burst with frustration.

The reason he had just saved Senior Brother Wang was because of the favor he had received from him during the battle with Cheongmun [likely a reference to a previous event or location].

It was definitely a difficult opponent for the others, so it wasn’t a bad choice for Han Li to step in. It seemed that if the number of people decreased, it would affect the upcoming battles.

However, while he was fighting, the others were just standing there as if watching a house on fire. But unlike Han Li’s expectations, they also knew that this was an opportunity.

However, they were hesitant because they were afraid that the three Blood Guardians would appear half-transformed into monsters like Bingyo due to Bingyo’s bizarre movements. It seemed that they wanted to retreat at this point because they would definitely become more terrifying enemies if they completed their transformation.

However, Han Li had come here not to defeat the Black Fiend Sect but for a more important purpose. In fact, Bingyo was not his match. He was a much easier opponent than the bald giant who had completely transformed into a monster.

Bingyo was not using great stealth techniques, but was simply transparent, fast, and able to control cold energy.

The opponent’s bizarre movement technique was only effective on the ground, and it was not difficult to deal with if he floated into the air, kept his distance, and launched a wide-range attack.

In any case, the speed of the body becomes difficult to exert to the extreme when the distance increases. Moreover, it could not be superior when compared to magical artifacts at long range.