Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 180

Han Li also sat on the Wind Shuttle, composed himself, and checked his magic power. The upcoming battle was extremely dangerous, so preparation was necessary. Gokhon stood right behind him, loyally guarding the surroundings.

After some time, Senior Uncle Huang slowly opened his eyes.

“The enemy is approaching. We are off their path, so we will move towards them.”

Without saying anything more, he immediately activated the Wind Cloud Banner and began to move. Those hidden inside also used their magical artifacts at full speed to follow Senior Uncle Huang.

Han Li, knowing that they were about to move in earnest, took out the huge silver sword and threw it to Gokhon.

He did this to find anything that could increase their power, even a little, as no one knew what might happen.

“The enemy will arrive soon, so everyone prepare!”

An order was given as they arrived at the path where he had sensed the enemy. At the same time, about twenty cultivators busied themselves, activating their respective magical artifacts and casting defensive spells all over their bodies.

Han Li took out two beads, one red and one blue, and collided them.

‘Bang!’

A thick, blue-red mist erupted from the beads, instantly covering Han Li, and then formed a cloud about five or six yards in diameter, erasing his presence.

As he used the Azure Transformation [a technique to transform into a cloud] to create a cloud within a cloud, the surrounding cultivators were puzzled and just looked around.

Han Li had no intention of resolving his fellow disciples’ questions, so he simply held the Turtle Shell Artifact in one hand and prepared an ordinary navy blue dagger in the other.

Surprisingly, he did not take out the most important Five Dragon Escape [a powerful escape technique], because this operation required a magical artifact with low attack power.

This was to ensure that he could carry out his assigned task of attacking while preventing the enemy’s attention from focusing on him.

As they waited anxiously, time passed quickly, and half a quarter of an hour had passed in an instant, but the enemy was nowhere to be seen. Those who were getting impatient began to glance at Senior Uncle Huang.

Senior Uncle Huang, who was also intelligent, seemed to sense something was wrong, and after a moment of contemplation, he opened his mouth.

“I will search again.”

‘Krrrr!’

As soon as he finished speaking and before he could even begin to meditate, a series of sounds suddenly echoed through the sky.

Startled, everyone raised their heads, and the faces of the Yellow Maple Valley disciples changed drastically.

Since when, the entire sky had been covered in red, all the clouds were the color of sunset, and they were shaking, splitting, and scattering, creating such a huge booming sound.

“What is that!”

It was a Foundation Establishment cultivator near Han Li who shouted, but everyone felt the same way.

“It’s the intermediate high-grade magic technique, Heavenly Fire Technique! Everyone be careful! Each drop of that lava is equivalent to an attack from a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so if you can’t block it, you will turn to ash.”

Senior Uncle Huang’s expression was also not good. It seemed that the Yellow Maple Valley group was not waiting to ambush them, but rather they had fallen into the enemy’s ambush.

“Then we must run away quickly!”

A cultivator shouted in panic and began to sprint, pushing his magical artifact to its limit. Seeing this, a coldness settled in Senior Uncle Huang’s eyes, and he decisively ordered.

“The opponent’s technique is complete, so it is already too late. Running away will not allow us to escape the range of the magic, so everyone must combine their strength and deploy a joint defense barrier.”

As the order was given, the remaining Foundation Establishment disciples quickly released their spiritual power and formed a huge, navy blue defense barrier.

The moment the barrier covered them, the intermediate high-grade magic technique finally began to rage, and scarlet lava droplets began to fall.

At first, they fell occasionally, but now countless droplets were falling like a downpour.

However, because they fell vertically, most of them avoided their defense barrier, and only a very few covered the Yellow Maple Valley cultivators.

The defense barrier, created by everyone’s combined strength, was sufficiently neutralizing the magic’s attack.

However, the speed of the falling lava was only getting faster, and the spiritual power of Han Li and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators was also being consumed in an instant.

The navy blue light covering them gradually began to fade.

Fortunately, the opponent’s magic technique did not last very long. As the red clouds began to disappear without the defense barrier being broken, the anxious cultivators were relieved.

However, before they could even catch their breath, their faces hardened.

In the place where the red clouds had disappeared, there were over a hundred cultivators, all of whom were Demonic Path cultivators trying to kill them.

It was an urgent moment, but they were somewhat relieved that all one hundred or so were Foundation Establishment cultivators. It was good news that no Core Formation cultivator had appeared.

Although they had already wasted a lot of magic power, if Senior Uncle Huang, a Core Formation cultivator, stepped forward, the situation would not be too dire.

“How did you find us, knowing our traces were hidden by the cloud technique?”

Senior Uncle Huang asked with a darkened face.

“I will give you that answer.”

At that moment, a seductive voice was heard from the sky, and Senior Uncle Huang was startled and turned his gaze.

A man and a woman were slowly descending towards them.

The man had white hair and was so emaciated that he seemed to sway in the wind, and the woman was as beautiful as a flower, with a voluptuous figure that drew attention.

With two Core Formation cultivators appearing in the enemy camp, things had gone terribly wrong.

“Red Powder Skeleton?”

Senior Uncle Huang recognized their appearance, and his face darkened even more.

He did not wait for the opponent’s answer and withdrew his magical artifact, scattering the white clouds.

Facing a powerful enemy, he no longer had time to care for his fellow disciples.

“Haha, I didn’t expect you to recognize us. We don’t know you cultivators, isn’t that too unfair? But I heard that there is a cultivator with an icy face in Yellow Maple Valley who uses a magical treasure called the Wind Cloud Banner, and it seems that is you.”

The woman spoke with a smile, as if she had no hostility at all.

However, the more her smile deepened, the colder Senior Uncle Huang’s face became, and he seemed to have no intention of playing along with their games.

“You’re a boring man. I guess I’ll just have to kill you.”

The woman pouted and suddenly changed her demeanor.

“Alright, if my junior sister says so, then I will naturally kill them.”

The skeleton-like man next to her muttered ominously. At the same time, Senior Uncle Huang’s telepathic message rang in Han Li’s ears.

“The moment I move, everyone run away.”

Senior Uncle Huang’s Wind Cloud Banner emitted a yellow light, and at the same time, a dense fog emerged, trapping the enemies.

“You wish to die!”

The skeleton-like man’s shout and the woman’s laughter were heard simultaneously from within the fog, followed by a tremendous roar. Senior Uncle Huang and the two Demonic Path Core Formation cultivators had begun to fight.

The Yellow Maple Valley Foundation Establishment cultivators did not miss this opportunity and scattered in all directions, riding their magical artifacts, as the fog was being emitted from the Wind Cloud Banner.

Han Li, due to the Wind Shuttle’s speed, naturally shot out faster than the others.

The direction he headed was the direction where the most cultivators were flying, and among them were many who were relatively weak.

Most of his fellow disciples rushed out in directions where no one was, and Han Li shook his head. In an instant, taking advantage of the chaos, he reached the outermost part of the encirclement.

The dense fog had now thinned considerably, and the Demonic Path cultivators could see Han Li’s outline.

However, because he was covered in the Azure Transformation, he appeared to be a strangely colored cloud to others, which momentarily confused the enemies.

However, three Demonic Path cultivators, who soon regained their senses, raised their hands, and a streak of golden light, three yellow objects, and a black aura simultaneously tried to engulf Han Li.

Han Li snorted and flicked the Turtle Shell Artifact floating in front of him, causing the turtle shell to grow several times in size and block the attack. At the same time, spiritual power was released from under his feet, further increasing his speed.

He was acting according to the plan he had made in advance. Now was not the time to fight them and waste magic power, but to somehow escape quickly. If he delayed even a little, their encirclement would become solid, and there would be no opportunity.

And he was confident that the Turtle Shell Artifact, which was sturdier than the White Scale Shield, would sufficiently block the attacks.

As expected, the Turtle Shell Artifact was able to pass through the golden light and yellow objects, but the black aura cleverly changed its path, slipped past the shield, and aimed for Han Li’s side.

The aura, which had transformed into a huge ghost head, was poised to swallow Han Li and the Wind Shuttle whole.

Seeing this, Han Li was not at all flustered and slightly raised the corners of his mouth. As he raised his hand, nearly a hundred fireballs shot out, completely shattering the ghost head.

Han Li was well-versed in dealing with such petty Demonic Path tricks. Having easily dealt with all the attacks, he took advantage of the gap and escaped the encirclement in an instant.

The Demonic Path cultivators persistently followed them, but Han Li had no reason to wait for them.

The Wind Shuttle was a rare masterpiece among flying magical artifacts, and he could feel the shouts of those chasing from behind gradually fading away, and as time passed, the pursuers completely disappeared from sight.

Turning his head to confirm that no one was chasing him anymore, Han Li went on for a while longer before slowing down and looking around to descend.

His body was not in good condition right now. He had used up half of his magic power to maintain the protective barrier, and he had almost no magic power left after running like crazy, so he definitely needed time to recover.

The place he landed was a certain yellow mountain. He removed the poisonous fog of the Azure Transformation and secretly hid under a huge rock.

Then, he took out a medium-grade navy blue spirit stone from his storage pouch and began to replenish his magic power. Even at this time, Gokhon guarded his surroundings from behind.

Not long after he sat cross-legged, he sensed someone rushing overhead, followed by about six people chasing after them.

It was clear that someone had escaped the encirclement like Han Li. However, Han Li had no time to worry about other people’s affairs. He immediately entered a state of unconsciousness and focused all his efforts on recovering his physical condition.

When he opened his eyes again, more than seventy percent of his lost magic power had been replenished. It was not a perfect state, but he could not delay any longer.

Looking up at the sky, the sun was setting, which was a good time to escape under the cover of darkness.

Han Li did not get up right away but spread his consciousness around to scout.

He could not sense the presence of the Demonic Path cultivators, which meant they had already dealt with them and gone to chase the rest of the group.

Han Li shook his head. Given the opponent’s power and numbers he had seen earlier, the group that had escaped first would not be safe either.

After taking care of Gokhon, he immediately took out the Wind Shuttle and flew towards the Wonmu Kingdom.

Although most of the Wonmu Kingdom cultivators were also dispatched to the Yue Kingdom, it would take several months for the Demonic Path to completely take over the Yue Kingdom’s capital region, so it would be safe for a while.

He had no intention of going to the meeting place they had agreed upon before they scattered. Now that the Demonic Path’s pursuit had begun, it was only a matter of time before everyone was wiped out by following their traces.

Besides, he had originally planned to use this mission as an opportunity to escape. He did not want to spend his life rebuilding Yellow Maple Valley and ending up as a high-ranking official.

According to his expectations, once the Demonic Path had taken over several countries, a full-scale war with the Righteous Path Alliance would begin. Then, this entire Tiannan region would become hell.

He simply needed time and space to quietly cultivate.

For now, he had to go to the Wonmu Kingdom to weather the storm and make his next decision depending on the repair status of the ancient teleportation array.

If the worst-case scenario really happened, he would have to use the ancient teleportation array to start a new life in another unfamiliar region.

He silently considered various possibilities and split the sky with the Wind Shuttle.

* * *

Two days later, he was finally able to reach the border between the Yue Kingdom and the Wonmu Kingdom.

He turned his head to take in the sight of the Yue Kingdom and then entered the Wonmu Kingdom.

He had no idea that just half a day after he had passed, dozens of Demonic Path cultivators would arrive.

Their mission was naturally to lie in ambush here and deal with the Yue Kingdom cultivators who were fleeing towards the Wonmu Kingdom.