Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 226

“Ugh…”

Amid the deathly silence, a sound emerged from the pond. The cultivators, startled by the groan, quickly turned their heads.

From the pond, the corpse of Fellow Daoist Gan, who had long been dead, was convulsing and crawling out of the water. Its lips, where the flesh had already disappeared, moved, making strange noises.

Everyone’s eyes widened. In truth, most cultivators, when faced with a powerful spirit or the like, would immediately attack rather than be surprised.

However, since it was the body of someone they had fought alongside until just moments ago, they were hesitant. Although the body was ruined, it was possible that the original spirit was being maintained by some secret technique!

Not knowing whether the opponent was a person or a ghost, Huo Yue and the others naturally hesitated. The Fellow Daoist Gan before them slowly crawled out of the pond and was now standing, trying to approach them.

Huo Yue, realizing this wouldn’t do, shouted loudly,

“Whether you are a person or a ghost, stop! Or we won’t stand idly by.”

He released his flying dagger magic treasures [magical weapons] from his body, causing them to circle around him. Jin Qing and Shi Jie also showed great vigilance, staring intently at Fellow Daoist Gan.

Huo Yue’s words echoed through the hall, and Fellow Daoist Gan’s body stood still in place. Seeing this, Huo Yue and the other cultivators breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Han Li, with his cold eyes, sensed something was amiss and flipped his hand, firmly grasping something.

At that moment, the situation changed drastically. Fellow Daoist Gan’s body suddenly surged forward, rushing at them with its white bones exposed.

Huo Yue and Jin Qing’s faces turned pale as they hastily sent out their magic treasures. The two’s attacks shattered as soon as they touched Fellow Daoist Gan’s body. Unexpectedly, they were defeated in just one move.

Huo Yue’s heart felt a little more at ease.

At that moment, he felt a cold wind behind him, and a white skeletal hand pierced through his stomach. He noticed that the slender five fingers were holding a small, navy-blue bead-like object.

Staring blankly at the blood-stained bony hand, Huo Yue had an expression of disbelief, his eyes wide open.

Thud!

The navy-blue core in the skeletal hand exploded, and then the blood-stained fingers disappeared.

“Ugh!”

With Huo Yue’s low groan, he collapsed to the floor, and a massive amount of blood gushed from his stomach, forming a puddle. He was still breathing, panting heavily.

Jin Qing and Shi Jie’s surprised voices and the sound of magic treasures flying and something exploding rang in his ears, and the life he had lived flashed before his eyes like a light.

The cold and hungry life of his childhood, the moment his whole family rejoiced at discovering his spiritual root [potential for cultivation], the heartbreak when the junior sister he had feelings for married another, the success of his triumphant decision, the desire to achieve the Nascent Soul stage [a high level of cultivation]—all these feelings were leaving his body as his hands and feet grew cold….

However, Huo Yue couldn’t accept it.

He had refined three flying dagger magic treasures. Usually, he would only use two to fight enemies, and he always kept the remaining one inside his body.

The third flying dagger was refined in a special way, so even though its power was ordinary, its ability to protect his body far surpassed that of other magic treasures.

Through long refinement, the flying dagger had reached a state where it almost seemed to have its own consciousness and was alive.

If that third flying dagger sensed killing intent from another person, it would automatically leave his body and block the attack, even without his command.

‘Unless the attacker isn’t human…’

Huo Yue, with great effort, turned his head that was buried in the ground, and only then did he understand the whole situation.

A white shadow was chasing Jin Qing, who was running away frantically with a silver protective barrier around her. She was constantly attacking the opponent with her magic treasures, but it was clear that she was afraid of the white shadow.

On the other side, a huge black mist was trapping Han Li and the other cultivators. Han Li had unfurled a red scroll painting, releasing fist-sized fire swallows, and countless red swallows were creating a huge ring of fire, blocking the black energy from approaching.

Gu Hun and Shi Jie were closely behind him. Gu Hun was covered in a red glow, continuously emitting purple flames to drive away the black energy.

Shi Jie was also holding a white bead emitting light in her hand, resisting the black energy, but her trembling eyes showed clear signs of panic.

Huo Yue didn’t care about the black energy and focused on chasing the white shadow with his eyes. It was also a skeletal corpse that he didn’t know when it had died.

The thing was scattering a white mist-like substance all over its body, running around nimbly, not at all like something that was dead.

Huo Yue let out a bitter laugh. How ridiculous it was that he, a Core Formation cultivator [a mid-level cultivator], was dying from an attack by a mere dead corpse! He mocked himself as his vision darkened, and he breathed his last.

The moment Huo Yue’s breath ceased, Han Li was looking around with a dark expression. At the same time Huo Yue was attacked, a large amount of ghost mist suddenly poured out from the nearby walls, surrounding them.

Fortunately, Han Li, who had prepared in advance, unfurled the scroll painting in time and released the fire-covered swallows, so it wasn’t a big problem.

He had read about the fire swallows, known as Zhiyang Birds, in books. They were born in fire and enjoyed eating evil spirits, making them the nemesis of wicked monsters.

However, the Zhiyang Birds were already extinct, and what was sealed in the painting Han Li held was only a part of their soul.

The flock of swallows that poured out of the scroll painting looked exactly like the original Zhiyang Birds, but their power was worlds apart. If not, they should have completely devoured the ghost mist instead of just temporarily blocking it.

But what worried Han Li was not the black mist. Whether it was the Azure Bamboo Cloud Swords or the Gold Devouring Beetles, he had enough of his original possessions to eliminate it.

What he was concerned about now was the owner of this ghost mist, who was hiding somewhere and not showing himself.

The skeleton attacking Jin Qing was merely being manipulated by someone, and the fact that it was unharmed by the magic treasure attacks meant that some trickery was involved. As he was organizing his thoughts, he heard a ghostly wail in his ear.

The bone-chilling ghost cry was neither a man’s nor a woman’s voice, and it unsettled the listener’s blood and Qi [vital energy], making their hearts uneasy.

Startled, Han Li immediately opened his consciousness, encompassing the entire hall, and moved his fingers, causing two jade-colored small swords to circle around him.

Jin Qing, stimulated by the ghost cry, shouted fiercely,

“Who is hiding and playing ghost tricks!”

Her voice wasn’t very loud, but the entire hall echoed, and the ghost cry subsided. Not only that, but when her magic treasure attacked the skeleton again, it shattered in one blow, losing its original form.

Jin Qing was greatly surprised.

At the same time, the black mist that had been trapping Han Li and the others quickly seeped into the walls on all sides. It was too unexpected a situation to be the result of Jin Qing’s shout.

At this moment, Shi Jie, who was standing behind Han Li, turned and ran towards the stairs of the underground cave. Han Li didn’t move, but Jin Qing’s expression changed drastically, and she became furious.

‘How dare she run away alone in the face of a common enemy!’

She knew that her cultivation was low, but since the bead she held had the effect of resisting the ghost mist, she couldn’t let her go like this. After thinking this, Jin Qing tried to stop her by shouting.

At that moment, another anomaly occurred.

Green light burst from the walls of the stone steps, and a terrifying ghost hand suddenly appeared without any warning. The hand, with sharp nails and entirely turquoise, pierced through Shi Jie’s chest at a speed that was impossible to follow with the naked eye.

“Aaaah!”

Shi Jie’s scream echoed, and she struggled to escape using the light from the bead in her hand. However, the hand that came out of the wall didn’t fear the light at all and instead emitted black energy, covering her.

After a while, Shi Jie’s scream suddenly disappeared.

Then, a withered corpse with only skin and bones was flung out of the black energy and fell in front of Han Li and Gu Hun. Han Li looked down at the corpse, which had lost both flesh and blood, and his face turned slightly pale.

Jin Qing, with a bloodless blue face, tightly gripped the seal magic treasure in her hand and looked around frantically. Eerie laughter was heard from all over the hall, and it was a tone that completely disregarded them.

“Hehehe! This venerable one needs a suitable body, which of you two will offer it?”

At those words, Han Li, feeling chilled, suddenly unfurled the scroll painting, gathered the fire swallows around him, and with a solemn face, formed a hand seal and chanted an incantation.

Then, a giant Zhiyang Bird, about a zhang [about 3.3 meters] in size, flew out of the scroll again, circling above Han Li’s head with its body ablaze. Then, it spread its two wings and shot towards a stone pillar in the hall.

Kooong!

The moment the giant bird was about to hit the stone pillar, a green light flashed, and black energy flowed out as if it had become a serpent, colliding with it.

The Zhiyang Bird emitted flames, and the serpent-like black energy emitted a cold aura, and they began to compete for power within the hall.

“Hehe, so there was someone who learned the soul manipulation techniques that have long been lost in the Chaotic Star Sea. Then, this venerable one will take you.”

The voice disappeared, and a figure walked out, passing through the stone pillar. Han Li and Jin Qing focused their gazes as if they had made a promise.

The figure’s face was not visible, as it was thickly covered in black energy, but it was clear that its eyes were as red as blood.

The eerie shadow scanned the two of them, and Han Li and Jin Qing felt a chill run down their spines from extreme fear. Feeling as if their eyes were piercing through everything, the two looked at each other’s startled faces.

To exert such pressure with just a gaze meant that the opponent’s cultivation far surpassed the two of them.

‘Could it be a Nascent Soul cultivator?’

However, no matter how one looked at it, the figure didn’t feel alive. But if it were a mere ghost, how could it speak so logically without losing its reason?

Jin Qing, unable to overcome her fear, asked,

“Are you a ghost or a person!”

“A ghost or a person, why don’t you guess? Hehehe!”

At those words, the eerie shadow let out a sinister laugh. It was toying with Jin Qing.

Han Li, who had been standing silently, unfurled the scroll painting in his hand without any warning.

‘Kyaak!’

Then, countless fire swallows poured out and rushed towards the turquoise shadow, and the giant Zhiyang Bird, which had been fighting the serpent, also cried out and turned into white flames, changing its direction towards the eerie shadow.

The eerie shadow snorted and spoke in a tone that still looked down on them.

“Zhiyang Bird? If it were real, I would have been somewhat wary, but it’s just a fragment of a soul. You think you can repel a ghost with just this?”

After speaking, it slowly clasped its hands together, and the black energy from its body gathered between them.

The condensed energy transformed into two horned serpents, which plunged into the swarm of fire swallows, and each time they opened their mouths, several birds disappeared inside. The thin white flames emitted by the fire swallows couldn’t do anything to them.

At this moment, the white flames that the giant Zhiyang Bird had transformed into also rushed straight towards the turquoise shadow. At that sight, the eerie shadow’s eyes turned even redder.

Although it didn’t move its body, it showed a cautious demeanor. Despite saying it was just a fragment of the Zhiyang Bird’s soul, it was clearly tense.

The turquoise shadow clenched its hands tightly, and a deep blue flame rose. Then, its body flashed, and it extended its fist to meet the Zhiyang Bird’s white flames.

Under Han Li and Jin Qing’s surprised gazes, the white flames were torn apart in all directions. And a white crystal bead suddenly appeared in the turquoise shadow’s hand.

With a sly smile, it swallowed the crystal without hesitation and looked at Han Li with a cold gaze.

At this, the scroll painting burst into flames on its own, and Han Li had no choice but to shake it off. The small flock of fire swallows that had been exchanging attacks with the two serpents also turned into ashes and disappeared at the same time.

# 228