Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 225

Huo Yue gestured to the two cultivators, Gan and Shi.

“Fellow Daoist Gan, please retrieve the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus! After selling it at auction, we’ll divide the spirit stones equally. Fellow Daoist Shi, please check the perimeter of the pond for any hidden restrictions.”

The two glanced at Han Li, then agreed.

Seeing his extraordinary abilities, the others seemed to have formed a silent alliance, subtly excluding him.

Jin Qing’s face showed concern, as if she wanted to say something, but she ultimately remained silent.

At this time, Han Li was almost kneeling as he examined the skeleton, which eased Huo Yue’s mind, as he had been cautiously observing Han Li’s expression.

Shi, after checking the surroundings with various magical artifacts, said with certainty,

“There are no special restrictions around the pond. Fellow Daoist Gan, you can proceed without worry.”

Gan walked towards the pond with a cheerful gait. Suddenly, as if remembering something, Huo Yue hurriedly reminded him,

“Be careful! I heard that the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus must be picked directly, and if it touches any magical artifact, it will wither immediately.”

Gan waved his hand without turning his head, indicating that he already knew. He was completely focused on the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus.

Standing at the edge of the pond made of transparent jade, he bent down and reached for the three-colored lotus.

Shi and the others held their breaths, watching his actions. Then, an odd expression appeared on Gan’s face.

“Huh!”

“What’s wrong?” Huo Yue and Shi asked in unison, as if they had rehearsed it.

Their faces were filled with worry, but no one could tell if it was for Gan or the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus.

Gan withdrew his hand, which had been about to pluck the lotus, and muttered as if puzzled,

“It doesn’t seem to come out easily. The roots are too firmly embedded.”

“How about just breaking it off if it won’t come out?”

“Break the lotus? Then its value will greatly decrease.”

Shi immediately objected to Gan’s suggestion.

“Wait a moment. I’ll try again using a Strength Talisman [a magical paper that temporarily enhances physical strength].”

Gan took out a yellow talisman, stuck it on his body, and then firmly gripped the base of the lotus, pulling with all his might.

At that moment, Han Li, who had been examining the skeleton, called out to them without even looking up,

“Wait!”

The cultivators were startled and looked at him with puzzled expressions.

Gan was also taken aback, but his mind was so captivated by the dazzling flower bud in front of him that he pretended not to hear and exerted force.

However, the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus seemed as if it was nailed down, showing no signs of moving. In his impatience, Gan pulled with such force that his fingers seemed about to break.

Only then did the lotus react, trembling slightly before suddenly shrinking into the pond and disappearing.

*Splash!*

Caught completely off guard, Gan was pulled down by the shrinking flower bud and fell straight into the pond, splashing sticky white liquid everywhere.

At the same time, the pond water splashed onto Shi’s face, who was standing closest, and she immediately screamed.

“Aaaah, poison! There’s poison in the water!”

She covered her face with both hands, terrified. Then, she hurriedly rummaged through her storage pouch and took out a red medicine bottle, pouring its contents into her mouth.

While she was taking the elixir, yellow blisters began to appear on her face, festering. Seeing this, Jin Qing and Huo Yue swallowed hard in shock.

Han Li’s expression also changed slightly. If Shi, who had only been splashed by a few drops of water, had become like this, what would have happened to Gan, who had fallen into the pond?

Everyone seemed to have the same thought, and their gazes turned towards the pond.

“…….”

“……Oh dear.”

Gan had shown no reaction after falling into the pond. No one had heard his scream, nor had they detected even the slightest movement.

The cultivators inside the hall felt a chill run down their spines.

Shi, who had been groaning, also tore a piece of her sleeve to cover her face tightly and looked at the pond with a hateful expression.

*Glug, glug.*

Bubbles rose to the surface of the pond, and a corpse, its form unrecognizable, floated up. The cultivators’ faces turned pale.

Judging by the clothes, it was definitely Gan’s corpse, but his skin had melted away, leaving only bones, and the sockets where his eyes had been were empty, sending shivers down the spines of those who saw it.

Huo Yue opened his mouth in disbelief.

“How could this be? How could there be poison in the Thousand-Year Stone Oil…”

Han Li, who had calmly stood up, sighed.

“There may not be poison in the Thousand-Year Stone Oil, but someone could have poisoned it.”

At those words, Shi asked sharply,

“Fellow Daoist Han! Did you already know there was poison in the pond?”

“I didn’t know if there was poison or not, but I knew that the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus was not something that could be easily obtained. Everyone, look at the right hand of the white skeleton.”

Huo Yue, Jin Qing, and the others looked at where Han Li was pointing with puzzled expressions.

Soon, they also noticed that the entire right hand of the skeleton was pitch black, and that a segment of the index finger was missing. The uneven surface looked as if someone had bitten it off.

Han Li didn’t explain further and stared at the pond with a cold gaze.

The Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus floated back up on the white liquid, still emitting a beautiful glow. However, the cultivators who looked at it felt uneasy.

Han Li immediately extended five fingers, creating five flames at his fingertips, and flicked his fingers, sending the flames in a line towards the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus.

Jin Qing and the others hesitated, but they couldn’t stop him after seeing Gan die just now.

*Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!*

Five consecutive explosions were heard, and the flower bud, which had been swaying from side to side due to the force of the flames, hid back into the pond.

Then, a black shadow leaped out of the pond and charged towards Han Li like an arrow.

“Huh!”

“Eek!”

While the others cried out in surprise, Han Li, who had already prepared, spread his hand.

The black shadow, deflected by the green-yellow sword, returned to the edge of the pond, raised its head, and glared at everyone with a cold gaze.

Huo Yue, seeing the true form of the black shadow, widened his eyes and shouted,

“A Crowned Serpent Demon? It should be a snake demon beast with a crown on its head, but how is it wearing a flower bud shaped like the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus!”

The black shadow that had suddenly jumped out of the pond was a monstrous snake, three feet long. The horn on the snake’s head, which flicked its red tongue, was shaped exactly like the three-colored flower bud.

The rainbow that had been floating above the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus was also just the demonic energy emitted by the black demon. The eerie energy looked exactly like a rainbow, deceiving the eyes of many cultivators.

Shi’s eyes turned venomous as she looked at the snake, and she immediately threw a purple handkerchief.

“Be careful! It’s a demon beast with extreme poison, not something a mere cultivator can handle!”

Jin Qing, startled by her hasty attack, shouted and sent his own magical artifact, a seal, to help.

The Crowned Serpent Demon, seeing the attacks coming from two directions, opened its mouth and spat out seven-colored beads. The beads, emitting a dazzling light, blocked the handkerchief and the seal, unexpectedly engaging in a fierce battle.

At this time, Huo Yue, having finally recovered from the shock of losing his treasure, joined the attack by throwing two flying daggers. Three white lights and a purple light mixed with the seven colors of the beads.

*Shhhik! Shhihihi!*

However, the snake was not afraid at all and made a strange sound, then spewed out a mist of various colors from its mouth. When the cultivators’ magical artifacts and treasures came into contact with it, they immediately lost a significant portion of their light.

Jin Qing was also surprised by the sight.

“I didn’t know that this fiend was so strong… Is it a mutation!”

Before he could finish speaking, a red light flashed, piercing through the demon’s mist and through the head of the Crowned Serpent Demon, leaving a hole the size of a thumbnail.

*Shhihihik!*

The snake, letting out a painful scream, rolled on the limestone floor and tried to flee back into the pond, writhing.

But at the same time, a jade-colored flying sword flew in with intense force, piercing the snake’s head and ending the demon’s life.

It was an attack from Han Li and Qu Hun, who had been watching the situation from the side.

Qu Hun’s Blood Spirit Spear was not a concern, but when Han Li moved the Azure Bamboo Cloud Sword, he controlled it so that lightning did not spark, deceiving the eyes of the others. It seemed that someone might recognize that his magical artifact was refined from Heavenly Thunder Bamboo.

Jin Qing and the others were relieved when the snake demon was subdued.

The three of them worked together to slowly suppress the seven-colored beads, and it was decided that Shi would keep the item in her possession.

Afterwards, everyone surrounded the monster snake. Huo Yue looked at the demon, which was lying on the floor with a small sword stuck in it, and expressed his doubts.

“It’s definitely a Crowned Serpent Demon, but it couldn’t have been born with a horn shaped like the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus. Someone must have deliberately refined it.”

Jin Qing agreed with a wry smile.

“It seems to be a trap aimed at the white skeleton, but we were blinded by the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus and fell for it.”

Han Li, who was standing silently on one side, alternated his gaze between the snake demon and the right hand of the white skeleton.

Without needing to think deeply, he could vividly picture the scene of the person who had excitedly tried to pick the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus being bitten by the demon and dragged into the pond.

Han Li shuddered involuntarily. Judging by the arrow stuck in the white skeleton, the person who had set the trap must have also taken follow-up measures after the Seven-Colored Cloud Lotus.

While he was thinking this, the head of the Crowned Serpent Demon was separated from its body. It was Shi, with a cold gaze, who had thrown the dagger. Han Li merely narrowed his brows.

He understood Shi’s angry actions. Although the Crowned Serpent Demon had not directly splashed water on her face, it was the root cause of the problem in every way!

Appearance was sometimes more important than life to a woman.

Han Li shook his head and extended his hand, and the small sword returned to his body, completely unblemished. Now, his gaze returned to the arrow stuck in the white skeleton.

The jade-colored arrow, which was about a foot long, looked very similar to the Azure Bamboo Cloud Sword at first glance, but it was subtly different.

While the Azure Bamboo Cloud Sword emitted a light that seemed to illuminate people’s hearts, the arrow had a dark aura, as if it had been refined with evil techniques or contaminated by something.

Huo Yue, unable to bear Han Li’s continued focus on the white skeleton, opened his mouth.

“Fellow Daoist Han, how about we look around other places? There might be something else.”

It seemed that he was still reluctant to return empty-handed. Han Li calmly replied,

“Fellow Daoist Qu and I will stay in the main hall, so everyone else can go and explore.”

At those words, Huo Yue showed a hesitant look. In the end, he also did not go to search other places.

Jin Qing and Shi were also silent.

After all, they had just suffered such a disaster, and there was no guarantee that there were no other dangers in the underground cave. They thought it was safer to stay together.

Moreover, they had also noticed that the arrow stuck in the white skeleton was not ordinary. Otherwise, Han Li would not have been staring at it all the time.

Jin Qing could not help but ask,

“Fellow Daoist Han, do you think this place is not the ruins of an ancient cultivator, but a trap deliberately set by someone?”

“That’s not likely. Considering how meticulously it’s been set up and how the two fellow Daoists found this place after seeing the beads they accidentally obtained, it must be the ruins of an ancient cultivator. However, someone must have discovered this place first and set up this trap.”

Seeing Han Li shake his head, Shi asked coldly,

“Then, there probably won’t be any treasures left, of course!”

Han Li also made a regretful expression and agreed with her words in silence. Jin Qing and Huo Yue exchanged glances, their expressions changing.

This was especially true for Huo Yue, as he had gained nothing, and one of the two people he had requested had their face ruined, while the other had lost their life. No matter how you looked at it, it was a complete disaster.

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