Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 242

The small rabbit was actually a manifestation of the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng, whose true form was that of a ginseng. Han Li watched the white rabbit with a slightly excited heart.

He was running the Great Development Technique at full power, and the clear spiritual energy emanating from the rabbit was almost blinding.

‘It really seems like a creature born from the harmony of heaven and earth!’

Although he was a little excited, he had already formed a hand seal in preparation.

The rabbit sniffed around outside the formation for a while, its red eyes darting back and forth. It was clear that it was reluctant to just smell from afar.

The Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng was adept at escaping, so even a moment of carelessness could turn everything into a waste.

The rabbit scanned every corner of the formation, its ears perked up. It was clear that it was sensing the fluctuations of spiritual energy around it and was hesitant to enter.

Seeing this, Han Li became a little impatient. He wondered if he should cast a net made of golden thread to capture the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng before it noticed the trap. However, acting rashly would reduce the chances of success.

While he was hesitating, the white rabbit’s body flashed, and it leaped away, disappearing into the surrounding vegetation. Han Li was speechless.

*Whoosh.*

While Han Li was stunned, a white shadow flashed from the other side of the vegetation, leaving afterimages as it quickly darted out and arrived in front of the jade box.

He was a little flustered by the series of events, but how could he let the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng escape by falling for such a simple trick!

A yellow light jumped down from the tree like an arrow, blocking the rabbit’s escape route. The startled rabbit frantically turned its body and darted in another direction.

However, before the rabbit could escape, yellow barriers appeared in various places, completely trapping it.

But that was only for a moment. The rabbit emitted a white light and transformed into a fist-sized, seven-colored sphere, then immediately seeped into the ground. However, as a yellow light shone, the sphere that had burrowed into the ground bounced back up.

Now without any way to escape, the seven-colored sphere rampaged, hitting and bouncing around. At this moment, something like a golden thread fell from the tree, trapping the sphere that was trying to bounce up again.

The white rabbit desperately tried to escape even after being caught in the net. Its body grew larger and smaller, but no method worked. The golden thread net moved according to the rabbit’s changes, keeping it well contained.

After a while, a shadow flashed, and Han Li appeared. In his hand, he held the golden thread net that Hyun-gul had given him.

A smile appeared on Han Li’s face as well.

“……”

After observing the rabbit, he took it with the net he had on his waist and went to the center of the barrier. He didn’t seem to have any intention of dismantling the barrier.

He was waiting for Hyun-gul to dig out the main body of the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng and return. Han Li took out the bamboo basket, a treasure he had recently obtained from the market.

Then, he released the Gold Devouring Beetles from two spirit beast bags, making them circle above his head. As a huge golden and silver light descended, Han Li closed his eyes with a calm face and entered a meditative state.

All of this preparation was in the hope that Hyun-gul would give up his other intentions and hand over the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng to him as promised.

He understood that the alliance could only continue if the other party had a high opinion of his abilities. If the other party showed murderous intent, these were not just for show but could actually be used.

Even if the rumor that the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng was effective in forming the Nascent Soul [a high level of cultivation] was false, it was still something he had to obtain. With such a reputation, even if it didn’t help with the Nascent Soul, it would surely have an amazing effect!

Thinking this, he opened his eyes and looked down at the manifestation of the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng. At that moment, a strange light flickered in Han Li’s eyes.

The rabbit had lost the vitality it had just had and was now limp, barely breathing. It was clear that this was because the merchant Hyun-gul had dug out its main body.

Suddenly, his gaze turned to the sky outside the thicket.

In the sky, the black cloud that Hyun-gul had transformed into flew over and stopped above the barrier. He did not reveal his face or speak, just remained as a black cloud.

Han Li also rose to his feet with a blank expression and stared at the sky. After a while, Hyun-gul’s cold voice was heard from within the cloud.

“You’ve made quite a preparation. What does it mean?”

“It doesn’t mean anything special. As someone with low cultivation, I’m always worried that senior will suddenly turn on me and attack.”

Hyun-gul spoke as if suppressing his anger.

“Hmph! If I had no intention of giving you this spiritual object, why would I have come all this way? Besides, have you forgotten that I need your help to deal with the rebels?”

Han Li suddenly emitted a coldness from his eyes and glared at him with a sharp gaze.

“You know that situations change over time. Perhaps when you first saw me in the Void Sky Hall, you needed my help as you said. But now that you have another helper, I can’t be sure if you still need me.”

Hyun-gul’s voice became colder, and he revealed a hint of surprise.

“What are you talking about!”

Han Li, who had twitched his eyebrows, finally spoke directly.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know, and let the other person come out. I’ve already confirmed that you’ve transformed into your true form and are looking for spiritual objects.”

At these words, Hyun-gul in the cloud fell silent. After a while, a strange man’s deep voice was heard.

“You really found me, how did you do it?”

Han Li scoffed at him and said,

“I don’t have a hobby of answering questions from strangers. Ask the merchant Hyun-gul if he’s going to let us fight each other and end up in a mutually destructive situation, only to benefit the Extreme Yin [a powerful evil force].”

“Mutually destructive? You think too highly of yourself! It will take some effort to kill you, but don’t think that this old man can’t do it.”

As he finished speaking, a yellow light burst from the black cloud and struck the barrier’s protective shield.

*Thud!*

Then, the color of the protective shield changed, turning from yellow to a burning red. Then, heat rose from the center of the formation, and the temperature rapidly increased as if they were inside a furnace.

Han Li’s expression changed greatly, and he sighed. He waved his hand, and a blue hand seal struck the protective shield. Yellow and red colors appeared alternately, and the protective shield returned to its original state. Then, the heat disappeared in an instant.

“What did you do to my formation!”

“Whatever you did, I’m sure.”

“Hmph, fine. Then how about the other thing I gave you?”

“……No way!”

As if something had occurred to him, Han Li hurriedly threw away the golden net he had been wearing on his waist.

But as soon as Hyun-gul finished speaking, the golden net turned into a pitch-black aura and quickly enveloped Han Li.

The rabbit that had been inside was thrown to one side, and it still wasn’t moving, as if it had fainted.

Since he had suddenly been played by the other party, Han Li, who had been maintaining his composure, also had a bad complexion. Hyun-gul’s arrogant laughter flowed from within the black cloud.

“Boy, how does the taste of the Yin Soul Silk [a type of binding thread] feel! Can you use even a little bit of your internal magic power?”

Han Li was shocked by those words and hurriedly tried to draw up his magic power, but his face turned pale.

Han Li couldn’t draw up even a little bit of his internal magic power, as if it had all solidified. It must be the restriction of something called Yin Soul Silk that was working.

Panicked, he looked down at the black threads. The black threads were densely intertwined, enveloping his entire body. The black luster and the evil aura made it seem like it was no ordinary object.

His face twisted slightly. When he first received the golden net, he had checked it several times with suspicion, but there was clearly nothing wrong with it.

Moreover, he didn’t have any other pure gold magical artifacts, so he had no choice but to use it to catch the manifestation of the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng. And when the golden net really succeeded in capturing the manifestation, all his doubts had been resolved.

He had never imagined that the other party would use this net to ambush him. But Han Li’s troubled face disappeared in an instant. He judged that since he was inside the barrier’s protection, the other party could not directly harm him.

*Whoosh.*

Thinking this, Han Li was about to call the Gold Devouring Beetles when he felt a strange sensation behind him. It was such a subtle feeling that Han Li would never have felt it if he hadn’t fully opened his senses.

*Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz….*

His chest grew cold, and without even thinking, he dodged, and at the same time, the swarm of Gold Devouring Beetles charged towards his back.

*Thud.*

A loud sound rang out, and Han Li’s face hardened. The Gold Devouring Beetles were blocking a cyan shadow and attacking it desperately.

The shadow’s face was vague, but a ghostly aura flowed from its entire body, and its two arms had transformed into cyan serpents, swinging through the air. As it swung its arms, the Gold Devouring Beetles couldn’t mount a proper attack.

But the mysterious thing was, how did the demon enter when the barrier was clearly intact? As he was thinking this, the cyan shadow shouted.

“There are bugs that are chewing on my formless body!”

It was the voice of the strange man who had been with Hyun-gul, and he seemed very angry.

Only then did Han Li discover that the Gold Devouring Beetles couldn’t approach the body, but they were nibbling at the arms he swung, putting the green light into their stomachs. It was something that would make the other party scream.

The fact that the person who had been in the black cloud had suddenly ambushed him from behind was something he couldn’t find an answer to even after considering all the possibilities. But now was not the time to worry about this.

He didn’t have time to chat with the other party, so he immediately shouted.

“Come!”

At the same time, some of the Gold Devouring Beetles moved away from the opponent, enveloping his body and beginning to gnaw at the black threads. Since he couldn’t use his magic power, he had no choice but to raise his voice and command the Gold Devouring Beetles.

He had to get out of the Yin Soul Silk before the other party could come up with a countermeasure for the Gold Devouring Beetles. He remembered that the Gold Devouring Beetles had greatly damaged their vitality in the Ghost Valley due to the Ghost Cries. If the other party had such a method, it would be a disaster.

*Thwack.*

At this moment, the protective shield surrounding them flickered as if it had been hit by something.

Han Li glanced at it with cold eyes. Then, he saw Hyun-gul, who was floating in the air, attacking the barrier.

A huge black sphere, about a foot long, that had been emitted from the black cloud was fiercely hitting the barrier, and it seemed like the formation wouldn’t last long.

Han Li, whose eyes were shining, surprisingly turned his head away, not caring about what Hyun-gul was doing. He just closed his mouth tightly and looked at the cyan shadow about ten feet away with a blank gaze.

Half of the Yin Soul Silk that was binding him had disappeared in an instant, and the True Essence magic power was already surging within his body. If he could use his magic power, there was no limit to what he could do.

“Hap!”

At this moment, the cyan shadow let out a low cry and suddenly rotated rapidly, like a top, breaking through the bugs and escaping the encirclement. It was now much closer to Han Li.

Some of the beetles fell off during his rotation, but as the ten thousand Gold Devouring Beetles continued to rush in, his rotation speed gradually decreased.

Then, more Gold Devouring Beetles clung to him.

After a while, the cyan shadow’s entire body was covered with gold and silver beetles, completely stopping its rotation, and it was visibly being eaten away.

Han Li felt a little strange.

Rather than being happy about the cyan shadow’s suffering, he felt that something was wrong. The events that followed proved his bad premonition.

The shadow, whose entire body was surrounded by Gold Devouring Beetles, expanded rapidly in a single breath, turning into a large bead-like shape and emitting a dazzling cyan light.

‘No!’

Sensing the abnormality, he hurriedly tried to call back the Gold Devouring Beetles, but it was already too late.

*Bang!*

The bead, which had been swelling as if it would burst, finally exploded with a huge, ear-splitting boom. A gloomy aura enveloped all the beetles.

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