Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 165

Liu Jung and the others were not accustomed to close-quarters combat, so the opponent’s movement techniques seemed mysterious to them. However, Han Li, who used such techniques frequently, was experienced and knew how to handle them.

Having made up his mind, Han Li deflected the opponent’s sharp claws with his silver sword and revealed his position.

“Senior Brother Liu! Please get on your magical artifact and fly into the air to attack the remaining Blood Fiends! I will make sure this monster doesn’t get near you!”

After speaking, his body flashed and disappeared again, using his silver sword to pressure Bingyo and keep him grounded.

The silver sword he held was a trophy from the Blood Fiend Trials, and it remained undamaged even after clashing with the opponent’s claws. However, the opponent’s claws were also intact, which made Han Li feel uneasy.

Liu Jung paused for a moment, contemplating Han Li’s words. He understood Han Li’s intentions, but a fierce conflict arose within him.

Although he was born into a good family, he had been kidnapped as a child and experienced an unfortunate childhood.

He had almost lost his life due to abuse, but he was barely rescued by his family and eventually entered the Ewhawon sect.

Perhaps because of his dark childhood, he could not tolerate evil or injustice. If any cultivator used strange sorcery and acted tyrannically, he would not let them get away with it.

This allowed him to feel a sense of satisfaction and also build a reputation. Even the cultivators from the Seven Great Sects, who had higher cultivation levels than him, could not help but admire him when they met him.

Later, he deliberately went around eliminating evil groups, partly to gain the admiration of others.

Of course, he thoroughly concealed these feelings outwardly, maintaining his image as the righteous and iron-blooded Senior Brother Liu, who hated evil.

As Senior Brother Liu, the Black Fiend Sect was the strongest group he had ever encountered, and they were an evil force that he absolutely had to eliminate. However, at the same time, he was not confident that he could deal with such a powerful enemy using ordinary magical artifacts. If his attacks were even slightly weak, it would only cause the remaining Blood Fiends to break out of their transformations.

If even one half-demon was this difficult to deal with, there would be no chance of victory if the other three emerged from their cocoons.

If they retreated now, the Black Fiend Sect would immediately hide their forces in a secret location, and his reputation, which he had built up over the years, would be ruined.

The thought of others laughing at him and looking down on him was unbearable.

“Senior Brother Liu, wouldn’t it be better to retreat for now? The power of the Black Fiend Sect has exceeded our expectations, and if we delay any longer, we might not be able to escape!” Senior Brother Wang whispered with fear in his eyes.

‘Retreat? If I back down now, I’ll just be a coward.’

“If everyone protects me in the air, I will deal with the remaining three Blood Fiends,” Liu Jung said with a calm smile.

‘I’ll have to use that in the end. That’s the only way to win this battle and maintain my reputation.’

“Senior Brother Liu, are you saying you’ll handle them all by yourself?” Senior Brother Wang, who was beside him, as well as the other cultivators who heard his words, looked incredulous, which made Liu Jung feel sorry for them.

However, Liu Jung, who had already flown into the air on his magical artifact, took out a red jade box with a solemn expression.

Liu Jung’s face, which had already regained its composure, was calm, and the other cultivators, seeing this, seemed to have gained faith and flew into the air with him.

Liu Jung’s face showed a hint of regret as he looked at the jade box, but he immediately composed himself and struck it down. The jade box shattered, and a peculiar talisman with a reddish glow appeared among the fragments.

A firebird was drawn on the talisman, and it was clear that the firebird drawn on the paper was flapping its wings and even rolling its dark blue eyes, looking around as if it were alive.

What was even more surprising was that the temperature around them rose instantly due to the heat from the talisman. The appearance of the talisman also caught the eyes of the others.

“A talisman!”

“No. That’s not just a talisman, it’s a, a True Treasure!” Senior Brother Wang corrected Song Mong. True Treasures were a type of talisman, but they were different from ordinary talismans.

First of all, talismans could only unleash about one-tenth of the original magical artifact’s power, but True Treasures could unleash up to one-third of the magical artifact’s power.

Also, True Treasures were refined using the blood of the magical artifact’s owner, so only those related by blood could activate them. Unlike talismans, if anyone tried to use them by injecting spiritual power, they would turn into scraps of paper.

However, the biggest drawback of True Treasures was that they were one-time-use talismans that could only unleash their powerful force once. Once their power was used, they could not be used again.

Although it was a bit of an exaggeration, everyone agreed that True Treasures were rare.

True Treasures were more difficult to activate than talismans. That was why Liu Jung had asked the other cultivators to protect him.

He maintained the yellow ring-shaped protective magical artifact and began to inject spiritual power into the firebird True Treasure while sitting cross-legged.

The fiery red talisman grew a red aura in his hand, and the more it did, the more dynamic the movements of the firebird became.

If the bird escaped the talisman and flew away, it could be said that he had succeeded in awakening the True Treasure.

While fighting Bingyo, Han Li noticed that his fellow disciples were trying to do something and felt relieved. What he was most worried about was that the Huangfeng Valley cultivators would run away with their tails between their legs, forcing him to steal the item he wanted alone.

Now that his troubled mind was at ease, all that was left was to focus on the opponent in front of him. Although he could use the Raging Flame Steps for longer as a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was still putting a strain on his body, so it was best to finish things quickly.

He continuously swung his silver sword with one hand, giving Bingyo no room to breathe, while his other hand secretly brushed against the storage pouch and wrapped something around his finger.

Once he was ready, Han Li, with murder in his eyes, put his hands together, firmly grasped his silver sword, and began his final attack.

As Han Li’s face exuded a ferocious aura and the speed of his silver sword surpassed his previous attacks, Bingyo hurriedly retreated, trying to block it by crossing his transparent claws.

‘Clang’

A clear sound rang out, and Bingyo regained his cold smile. Taking advantage of the attack, he tried to increase his speed and widen the distance between him and Han Li. However, there was no way Han Li would let him do that.

Just as Bingyo thought something was strange, Han Li took one hand off his sword and fiercely pulled something. As a result, Bingyo was pulled towards Han Li instead.

Han Li once again gripped his silver sword, but it was already too late when a shocked Bingyo tried to change direction, and he was right in front of Han Li.

A moment later, two figures appeared under the moonlight. One was standing upright with a sword in his hand, while the other was rolling on the ground, his body covered in countless cuts. Seeing this, Song Mong and the others, who were watching from afar, were shocked.

Bingyo staggered as he got up, then gave a sly smile as he looked at Han Li’s back. However, just as he was about to jump out, his transparent body shattered into pieces in an instant, leaving behind ice-like fragments and disappearing.

All that remained of Bingyo were his sharp claws. They still emitted a sinister aura and maintained their intact surface despite numerous clashes with the silver sword.

Han Li, who was looking at Bingyo, frowned as he saw three cocoons emitting a dazzling crimson light in the distance. As he pulled one hand, one of Bingyo’s claws flew towards him.

Under the moonlight, a transparent, thin string could be seen connecting Han Li’s finger and the claw. That transparent thread was the reason for Bingyo’s death.

Bingyo’s entire body had become hard and transparent, but he had lost most of his sensitive touch, so he had not noticed that Han Li had used the transparent thread to wrap around his claws.

After looking down at the transparent claw for a moment, Han Li eventually threw it away again.

If it could fight on par with a silver sword refined with silver essence, it would be a good material for making a top-grade magical artifact, but knowing that it was made from a human hand, he felt a chill just thinking about it and lost the desire to do so.

He took a few more steps, searched through Bingyo’s fragments, found the storage pouch, and took it. Then, he immediately flew up and approached his fellow disciples.

Unknown to Han Li and the others, at the moment Bingyo’s breath was cut off, a middle-aged man who was practicing cultivation in the underground of an artificial mountain in the imperial palace garden opened his eyes wide.

“Bingyo is dead? That saves me some trouble.”

He muttered and then quietly closed his eyes again. In front of him lay a emaciated corpse. The horrifying figure, with no flesh or blood except for bones, was dressed in the clothes of a Huangfeng Valley cultivator.

As Han Li flew up on his magical artifact, Song Mong and the others hurriedly greeted him. Han Li asked about Liu Jung and his talisman.

When everyone explained about the True Treasure, all his worries disappeared and he was filled with joy.

Han Li had heard about True Treasures before, so he was surprised that Liu Jung possessed such a treasure and that he was using it just to eliminate the Black Fiend Sect.

Treasures like True Treasures were as precious as one’s life, so they were usually never taken out unless it was an unavoidable moment of life or death.

Han Li did not know about Liu Jung’s past, so he could not understand the psychological conflict he had experienced.

However, Han Li, who did not know Liu Jung’s true feelings, was a little moved. He even thought that his view of the world was wrong and that there might actually be good people who would give up their own interests to defeat evil.

Suddenly, a fierce roar was heard. Everyone was startled and turned their heads to see one of the three cocoons swelling up, as if it was about to burst out at any moment.

‘I guess I’ll have to fight that guy and buy some time for Senior Brother Liu!’

Just as Han Li was thinking this and about to act, a calm voice was heard.

“I will destroy those monsters.”

When he turned his head, Liu Jung was smiling and holding a small, cute red bird in his hand.

“Thank you all for protecting me for so long,” Liu Jung said.

As Liu Jung slowly rose, he whistled, and the bird let out a clear cry and flew up.

‘Crack’

At that moment, the cocoon that was showing signs of change broke open, and a blue-glowing monster was spewed out.

The monster was similar to Bingyo’s half-demon form, except that its face was blue. The monster-human still had the face of Taoist Cheongmun, but it seemed half-mad as it raged and flailed about. The monster roared and showed signs of fear when it saw the small bird flying towards it.

The monster was flustered and tried to boost the blue energy in its body, as if it was about to run away.

‘Whoosh’

At that moment, the small bird transformed into a giant firebird that was about a zhang [about 3.3 meters] long. As the giant bird flapped its wings, it appeared behind the monster, as if it had teleported, and pecked the monster’s back with its sharp beak.

Soaring flames erupted, and Cheongmun, who had been pecked by the firebird’s beak, fell down as a huge ball of fire. He only let out two miserable screams before hitting the ground and turning into ashes without even being able to resist.

Then, the giant firebird let out a clear cry and immediately covered the remaining cocoons.

The two cocoons, which were almost completely transformed, were also engulfed in the same flames as before, creating a sea of fire.

The two cocoons barely held out in the raging flames before eventually melting away.

This was a power that was fundamentally different from ordinary flames. Through the True Treasure, Han Li was able to indirectly glimpse the power of the magical artifacts used by Core Formation cultivators.

Song Mong and the others were also speechless with surprise, but they showed their joy at the scene that had unfolded.

“That’s amazing power!”

“We’ll leave it to Senior Brother Liu to deal with these evil bastards!”

The excited cultivators shouted one after another.

In their minds, they had already dealt with four Blood Fiends, so they thought that they could easily eliminate the Black Fiend Sect leader, who was just in secluded training. They were all Foundation Establishment cultivators, so there was no way they could not handle one Foundation Establishment cultivator.