Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 291

As evening approached, the girl stood before Han Li’s bedroom, her heart in turmoil.

When she bit her red lip and slowly opened the door, an unexpected scene greeted her. The bedroom was completely empty, with only a handkerchief-like object spread out on the stone table.

Gongsun Heng hesitated for a moment before approaching it.

“This is a reward for your filial piety. If you don’t want to invite disaster because of these treasures, you shouldn’t reveal them easily to others. And take good care of yourself!”

Though the message was short, the girl couldn’t make sense of it. The shocking content left her in a strange mood for a long time.

* * *

At this time, Han Li, already a thousand miles away from the island, was flying high in the sky as a streak of blue light. He chuckled to himself, murmuring leisurely,

“She must be bewildered right now. Anyone would be out of sorts for a while if something like that happened for no reason.”

As he escaped the sea fog, he had left behind not only the Heavenly Fiend Art [a powerful cultivation technique] and several magical artifacts in the cave but also a large quantity of elixirs and two magic treasures. These treasures would be of immense help to her as she lived as a cultivator.

He hadn’t given her these treasures because he had suddenly taken a liking to the woman. It was because he was moved by the sight of the young girl, Hang Ah, who was willing to risk her life for her father.

As a cultivator, he had always felt regret for not being able to serve his parents for long and fulfill his filial duties.

Although he had left his hometown far behind, he kept everything there deep in his heart. In particular, the girl’s frail figure overlapped with the image of his younger sister. For this reason, he had used cultivation as an excuse to leave the girl behind.

In fact, the magical artifacts and treasures he had left behind were like chicken ribs—too good to throw away but useless to him.

It wasn’t bad to use such items to do a good deed and help the girl reach a higher level of cultivation. Although her aptitude wasn’t particularly outstanding.

He had also intended to leave the cave dwelling once he finished his cultivation. Otherwise, how could he have so easily let the middle-aged seniors go?

Even after reaching the mid-Nascent Soul stage [a high level of cultivation], Han Li had remained in the secret chamber for over twenty years.

Yet, he still hadn’t consumed all the elixirs, and some remained in his storage pouch. It wasn’t that he couldn’t endure the long cultivation that made him leave the secret chamber.

It was because, as he approached the late-Nascent Soul stage, he realized that he had reached a cultivation bottleneck. Until he overcame it, no matter how many elixirs he consumed, it would be futile.

The way to overcome such a bottleneck was, literally, to follow the harmony of the heavens. There was no set rule.

Some cultivators reached the next stage while sitting still in cultivation, others while wandering the world, and still others while engaging in life-or-death battles.

So, rather than wasting time sitting in the secret chamber, he decided to leave his dwelling and find the Demonic Beast Grass while traveling around.

Since he didn’t know how long this period would last, he decided to take the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng with him. He wouldn’t have abandoned his dwelling so easily if he hadn’t taken the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng, his last resort.

The problem of the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng needing to absorb the energy of soil and stones periodically was naturally resolved as he showed progress in his cultivation. When he tried taking the essence of the soil from the island and injecting it into the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng, it was perfectly fine.

The place he was flying to now was the market that the girl had mentioned. Only in a place frequented by seniors would he be able to obtain information about the eighth-level demonic beast. Once he had that information, he could plan how to obtain the Demonic Beast Grass.

He increased his speed.

* * *

Two days later, as he was crossing the sky at full speed, he suddenly noticed a red light being chased by several gray-white auras.

Han Li raised his eyebrows.

He chanted a low incantation, and a series of small explosions sounded from his body as blue light gathered on his face.

In a moment, he had transformed into the appearance of a robust man. He had used the Mystical Yin Scripture’s secret technique, the Shape-Shifting Art, which he had mastered during his closed-door cultivation.

This technique could shrink or enlarge his physique and adjust the muscles of his face to change his appearance in an instant. It was a top-tier disguise technique, considered among the best.

Even compared to other legendary disguise techniques, it was not inferior, so even if he encountered a senior whose cultivation was stronger than his, he would not be easily exposed.

However, the technique also had its flaws. Once the Shape-Shifting Art was activated, he could only use up to seven-tenths of his total magic power.

If he consumed more than seven-tenths of his magic power during a battle, the Shape-Shifting Art would immediately lose its effect, revealing his original appearance. However, this was not a particularly concerning flaw.

When concealing one’s appearance, it was mostly to hide one’s cultivation level, so there was no reason to worry about a limitation on magic power.

The red light rushed towards Han Li, as if he were its only hope for survival.

Han Li, who had stopped in mid-air, looked at it and sighed softly. Even without looking closely, he knew that another troublesome matter was flying towards him.

Without knowing his cultivation level, they were rushing towards him with trouble, which didn’t make him think they were of good character. However, the gray-white auras chasing behind them were clearly just a group of second or third-level demonic beasts.

From within the red light, an old man with thick eyebrows and rat-like eyes, before even getting close to him, began to beg in terror.

“Senior, please save me! I will surely repay you with a Yellow Spirit Gift.”

He was somewhat clever, having judged that Han Li had the ability to save him based on his calm demeanor, even without confirming his cultivation level. Han Li looked at the old man with a calm face, then waved his hand as if annoyed.

Then, five blue swords flew out of his hand and towards the five demonic beasts chasing the old man. The old man, relieved by the sight, immediately activated his fire-attribute ring artifact and joined the attack.

Han Li observed the old man, who had almost reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage [a lower level of cultivation]. This was why he had managed to survive the pursuit of so many low-level demonic beasts.

Turning his head, he ordered his flying swords to only drive the demonic beasts and not kill them immediately. Taking the opportunity, the old man on one side attacked the demonic beasts using his fire-attribute artifact.

After watching him for a while, Han Li finally moved his blue swords and killed the demonic beasts. The old man, thinking that Han Li was a Nascent Soul cultivator, bowed respectfully.

“Thank you so much for your help. Senior, are you perhaps heading to the market on Nanli Island?”

“Yes, I’m going to the market to exchange some goods.”

Han Li nodded. Huang Mingli blinked his small eyes, then said with a wry smile,

“Then it would be better not to go. You’ll probably be wasting your time.”

“What happened?”

“A few days ago, the Nanli Island market was discovered by low-level demonic beasts. Most of them were killed on the spot, but some that escaped called in a large number of fourth and fifth-level high-level demonic beasts. Many cultivators were injured, and they each broke through the encirclement and fled. I’m one of them, and I never thought I’d encounter another group of demonic beasts on the way.”

Han Li’s expression darkened slightly.

“Then I really wasted my time.”

Huang Mingli rolled his eyes, then revealed his yellow teeth and said secretly,

“If you really want to trade goods, Senior, this old man will introduce you to another place. The goods there are quite good, and only those with a cultivation level above the Foundation Establishment stage can enter.

However, it’s operated secretly, so you can only use it if you’re recommended by someone familiar with the place, and the time and location of the market change frequently. I happen to be qualified to make a recommendation, so if you wish, I’ll guide you as repayment for saving my life.”

“Is it some kind of black market?”

“Are you joking? In this situation, what’s the point of distinguishing between a black market and a regular market? If a market openly frequented by cultivators existed, it would have been discovered by demonic beasts long ago and wouldn’t have fared well.”

“That’s true! So, is the place you’re talking about far from here?”

Huang Mingli, familiar with the secret market, answered without much thought,

“If we hurry, we’ll arrive in about half a month. The market will probably be open around that time.”

“That’s good. Then I’ll follow you.”

“Yes, please do! Oh, Senior, please wait a moment.”

The old man, who was about to lead the way in a good mood, suddenly seemed to remember something.

He quickly asked for understanding and then descended fiercely towards the demonic beast corpses floating on the sea. At first, Han Li wondered why, but he soon realized the other’s intention and smiled calmly.

After a while, the old man, having skillfully dismantled the demonic beasts and put them in his storage pouch, returned excitedly. He opened his mouth, looking a little embarrassed.

“I showed you a ridiculous sight. Those demonic beasts are a great harvest for me.”

“It doesn’t matter, let’s hurry.”

The old man chuckled at Han Li’s words and changed direction, flying east. Han Li’s expression, following behind him, was extremely calm.

Huang Mingli asked cautiously,

“Senior, it’s our first time meeting, may I know your esteemed name and where you’re from? I might have heard of your name before.”

There was no way Han Li, who had even changed his appearance, would answer honestly.

“I was in closed-door cultivation in the Lyu family and recently succeeded in reaching the Nascent Soul stage. There’s no way Senior Huang would have heard of me.”

His flawless answer made the other suspicious, but he simply offered his congratulations.

Then, he wisely stopped trying to pry into Han Li’s information and instead began to talk about the recent conflicts between cultivators and demonic beasts. However, judging by his constant sighs, it didn’t seem like the human cultivators were in a superior position.

After flying safely for half a month, they arrived at a small, ordinary-looking island.

The island was about a hundred miles in size, with sparse spiritual energy and a few patches of grass and rocks. It was a desolate, uninhabited island. Perhaps that was what made it suitable for opening a secret market.

Even so, from half a day before reaching the island, Han Li and the old man had used concealment techniques to hide their auras as they flew. This was in accordance with the secret market owner’s request. When the old man reached the vicinity of the island, he circled it a few times before landing near a group of rocks.

Han Li looked at him with a puzzled expression. If he wasn’t mistaken, there were no restrictions here.

‘Could it be…’

While Han Li was speculating, Huang Mingli had already chosen a rock and lightly tapped it three times with his fist. Soon, the rock split open, revealing a black cave about ten feet high.

Huang Mingli went in first, spoke to someone inside, then turned his head and called out to Han Li outside.

“Senior Lyu! This is the place.”

Han Li also descended from the sky and entered the cave. Inside, there was a steep stone staircase, and next to it stood an old man with a white beard and a gray robe.

With a cultivation level of late Foundation Establishment, he was not afraid even when looking at Han Li.

“Welcome to our market. I hope you can trade for the items you seek.”

“I hope so too.”

Han Li replied calmly and began to walk.

As he had expected, rather than setting up restrictions for fear of having the spiritual energy fluctuations detected by demonic beasts, they had dug an underground cave to open a temporary market. As he descended the stairs, his vision brightened.

A vast underground world unfolded before him. The space, made of rocks about five or six feet high, was supported by blue stone pillars, and in the middle, various stone chambers lined up with nameplates of different colors.

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