Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 248

On the other side of a low hill, a man was approaching.

The man, with a sallow face, was unexpectedly the cultivator who had been frightened by the extreme yin energy. He wore a bluish-green bamboo hat that seemed to incorporate a hood and held a white jade bowl in his hand, which emitted a faint chill.

These were unusual items. He climbed to the top of the hill and looked around, seemingly searching for something.

When he couldn’t find anything, his expression became even more cautious. He had clearly seen a blurry figure when he looked at this place from afar. But since he couldn’t find that person, he couldn’t help but feel nervous.

He stared at one spot with a cold gaze and used two fingers to pull something out of the jade bowl. A white light drew an arc and circled above his head.

“Go!”

The sallow-faced man shouted while making a hand seal.

*Pung.*

The light spread with a soft sound, expanding like the Milky Way, covering dozens of feet. Frost formed on the red ground where the white light fell, but no strange signs were found anywhere.

Suspicion settled in the man’s eyes.

After bowing his head and pondering for a moment, he realized there was nothing he could do immediately and turned his gaze to the black desert in front of him.

“It’s truly a strange place.”

He also hesitated to enter. But he didn’t have much time to contemplate. When he waved his sleeve again, a red light fell to the ground.

When the light disappeared, a small spirit beast in the shape of a red fox appeared and swallowed a green pill at the man’s gesture. The spirit beast looked very satisfied.

“Go and see.”

The man pointed to the black desert with his finger.

The small spirit beast hopped on all fours and turned into a streak of red light, shooting out at an incredible speed.

After a while, the small spirit beast went deep into the black desert, but nothing happened. It was as if it was declaring that it was just a normal desert, only with a strange color.

He had been prepared for the Red Fox Spirit Beast to die, so he looked surprised.

In fact, the red fox, which was only a first-level spirit beast, was useless except for its quick movements and sensitive sense of smell. He made it circle the desert a few more times and then called the spirit beast back.

The excited spirit beast went back into his sleeve. He was silent for a moment, then began to walk towards the black desert.

When the man went down the hill and disappeared from sight, Han Li’s figure reappeared in the air.

Although the opponent had used a wide-range search technique to scan the surroundings, Han Li was able to easily avoid it thanks to the effect of the Nameless Technique and the Swift Shadow Steps. Also, although the opponent was a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, he was confident that he could win if the nine Azure Bamboo Cloud Swords attacked.

Therefore, Han Li, who had concealed his tracks, pondered for a long time.

But in the end, he decided to let the opponent pass through the black desert first rather than go for valuable treasures. This decision became even more firm when the red fox failed to find anything even after searching. Originally, the most frightening thing was the unknown dangers.

He needed someone to test the black desert for him, and that person had appeared.

The sallow-faced man, unaware of Han Li who had appeared silently behind him, entered the black desert.

One step, then another step…

The deeper he went, the more tense the man’s face became, and he unfolded a bluish-green protective barrier from his bamboo hat, protecting his entire body without any gaps.

But after going hundreds of feet without any problems, his face finally relaxed. If something was going to happen, it would have happened already.

Han Li, who was watching the man’s figure getting smaller and smaller in the distance, looked puzzled.

‘Am I wrong? Is it really just like it looks, with no danger?’

He felt a little regretful. But then, a strange energy was detected in the distance.

*Whoosh.*

As the man took another step, the black sand grains in the vicinity began to rise. The black dust that densely filled the air was very strange because there was no sign of any energy.

The man, who was also experienced, immediately threw the jade bowl into the sky. Then, a large amount of light was emitted, and another layer of light barrier was laid outside the bluish-green protective barrier.

At this time, the countless black sands that had risen into the air transformed into winged insects, covering the sky.

“Hap!”

With the man’s roar, the white light greatly increased, and countless fist-sized shields appeared, protecting him and rotating.

By this point, he clearly recognized the identity of the black sand. Surprisingly, they were just a swarm of winged ants, but the problem was that there were a huge number of them.

He desperately tried to recall the identity and weaknesses of the insect demon beast. But before he could come up with an answer, the black flood rushed in with the gust of wind caused by the ice shield.

*Papak papak.*

All the ants were bounced off the water barrier. The man, who was a little relieved at the sight, showed a happy expression.

But a moment later, he froze. The ants that had been bounced off flew back up again with just a few flaps of their wings, without any injuries.

Before he could think, he raised one arm, and a gray flying knife shot out like a rainbow.

*Whoosh.*

The momentum created by the flying knife, which was trying to destroy the swarm of ants, caused more than ten thousand ants to rise into the air at once. The ants were not harmed at all by the gray flying knife’s slashing, and instead, they climbed onto the flying knife.

“… !”

The man, seeing the flying knife completely covered in black insects, was shocked and tried to retrieve the magic treasure, but the flying knife flickered with a gray light for a moment and then was completely buried in the black current.

*Cough.*

At the same time, the man, who coughed up a mouthful of red blood, turned pale. As the magic treasure connected to his consciousness ran out of spiritual power, his vitality was greatly damaged.

Without waiting any longer, the man, wrapped in a white whirlwind, began to run. He thought that if he couldn’t escape now, there was no chance of survival.

At this time, the swarm of black ants, which had even devoured the remains of the flying knife, showed another unexpected reaction. Instead of chasing him, they gathered in the air and transformed into a long, black spear.

*Swaek.*

The spear shot out with a tremendous sound. The man pulled up all his spiritual power and boosted the momentum of the white whirlwind around him, but the black spear pierced its head into the white whirlwind.

*Thud!*

With a series of sounds, the black spear pierced through the center of the whirlwind. Then, the entire body of the black and shiny spear was covered in wet, fresh blood.

* * *

The white whirlwind stopped, and the sallow-faced man appeared.

He stood blankly in place, and the bluish-green protective barrier and ice shield were long gone. With a fist-sized hole in his chest, he slowly lowered his head, scanned his chest, and then showed an expression of disbelief.

*Chwarak.*

At this time, the sound of sand flowing down from the black spear was heard. The spear scattered again, returning to a swarm of black ants, and without hesitation, they covered him.

“Hee, heehak! Ack!”

A terrible scream was heard, and then silence came.

As time passed, when the swarm of ants rose again, nothing was left. They had swallowed everything, including the man and the treasures he had.

Han Li had been watching all of this from the top of the hill. He muttered in a low voice.

“Ironfire Ants! To think that such a spirit insect would live in a place like this.”

At first, when the black fog was hazy, he couldn’t recognize its identity. But after seeing the insects not fearing the man’s magic treasure and transforming into a spear, he was sure that they were Ironfire Ants.

In fact, there were countless types of insect demon beasts in the form of ants, so it was difficult to distinguish them unless one was a cultivator who specialized in handling them.

However, depending on the type, their abilities and fearsomeness varied greatly. The Ironfire Ant was a powerful spirit insect that ranked 37th in the insect demon beast hierarchy.

Except for the Sky Crystal Ant, which was ranked 3rd and only existed in legends, the Ironfire Ant was the most powerful ant-type demon beast. This was because swords and ordinary magic attacks did not work on Ironfire Ants.

Only intermediate-level magic of water and ice attributes or a very few magic of other attributes could attack these flying insects. In addition, they boasted an enormous defense power comparable to the Gold Devouring Beetles, and they were even stronger than the Gold Devouring Beetles in terms of resistance to direct attacks from magic treasures.

They did not have the strange ability to devour spiritual power like the Gold Devouring Beetles, but they had the corresponding ability to spray black flames or form shapes in groups. It was like a fire-attribute magic treasure that could change its shape at any time.

They were not known to be extinct like the Gold Devouring Beetles, but they were very rarely found. Also, even if they were occasionally found, there were only a few hundred or a thousand of them.

The reason for this was the environment required for the survival of the Ironfire Ants.

They could only grow in hot lava terrain and in the vicinity of large iron or copper mines. If they left these special terrains, they would quickly weaken and not be able to properly exert their abilities.

If these were all their weaknesses, other cultivators would have already succeeded in raising them as spirit beasts. However, this insect demon beast had another fatal weakness.

Whether they were raised in the wild or by humans, Ironfire Ants did not recognize their owners. No matter what kind of control ritual was performed, they always overcame it.

This was a fact that many cultivators had discovered while chasing empty dreams. There were many different opinions about the specific reason. Some said that it was because of the Ironfire Ants’ strong personality, while others suggested that it might be a problem with their constitution.

As a result, information about Ironfire Ants was almost impossible to find, not only in the Tiannan Region but also in the Chaotic Star Sea [a vast and dangerous area of space].

For nearly a thousand years, only a very few cultivators had encountered such demon beasts, and the number of Ironfire Ant swarms had been decreasing day by day, and they were almost disappearing. That was why Han Li was stunned when he unexpectedly encountered a swarm of Ironfire Ants in the black desert.

It seemed that the Ironfire Ants were the most dangerous element of the black desert. He didn’t know exactly how many ant swarms lived there, but since the man had encountered a group after walking only a few hundred feet, there was a possibility that there were more.

As this thought occurred to him, a chill ran down his spine.

Han Li hurriedly searched through his storage pouch to see what he had. He had about a dozen intermediate-level ice and water attribute talismans, so he could handle two or three swarms of ants of the size he had just seen.

However, it was too reckless to enter the vast desert relying only on talismans. His gaze stopped at the spirit beast pouch containing the Gold Devouring Beetles.

‘What would happen if I used the Gold Devouring Beetles to deal with the Ironfire Ants?’

First of all, the Gold Devouring Beetles were ranked higher than the Ironfire Ants in the insect hierarchy, and they also had a large number. Also, since the color of the Ironfire Ants was not the legendary black gold, it did not seem that they had completely evolved like the Gold Devouring Beetles.

Considering these circumstances, it was worth trying to deal with the Ironfire Ants with the Gold Devouring Beetles. He considered various conditions once again and made a decision.

He would try to deal with the flying insects with the Gold Devouring Beetles first, and if it didn’t work, he could use the talismans in his possession to retreat. With a cold face, Han Li ran down the hill and entered the black desert.

After a while, he stopped at a certain point. His eyes were closely observing the black sand.

Suddenly, he bent down and grabbed a handful of black sand, bringing it up to his eyes.

“Hmph!”

After a moment, he snorted and put strength into his five fingers before slowly opening his palm.

As a result, most of the sand in his hand was intact, and very little of it was broken. Han Li chuckled and muttered.

“A black desert? It’s just a pile of black iron!”

After thinking again, he sighed.

“To create a desert terrain using such a huge amount of iron ore, the owner of the Illusory Heavens Palace must have been a great person.”

He shook off the grains in his hand and was about to get up when his eyebrows twitched. He touched the white jade pendant on his waist and covered his entire body with white light.

He had activated the effect of the noisy White Jade Pendant to avoid the sallow-faced man, but he couldn’t stand the heat and activated it again. Now was not the time to save spiritual power.

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