Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 341

As the incense burned in the bronze cauldron, the disciples in the hall grew more focused. When Han Li remained silent even as the incense was halfway burned, Eun-wol, unable to bear it any longer, asked first,

“Brother Han, will you participate?”

“Is there a reason not to? Looking at the others, it seems that if I don’t participate, it would draw more attention.”

Eun-wol fell silent again. It was only when the incense was almost completely burned that the middle-aged man, who had been closing his eyes, opened them wide.

“Those who do not meet the requirements, or who will not participate in the competition, leave the Sesim Hall.”

“Understood!”

Most of the disciples bowed deeply and slowly left the great hall. Now, only some Foundation Establishment cultivators and 30 to 40 Qi Refining disciples, including Han Li and Dudong, remained.

The middle-aged cultivator in white swept his gaze over them and spoke in a satisfied tone.

“Good! It seems that almost all the disciples who meet the requirements have remained. Even if you are not selected, this is an opportunity to test your skills against fellow disciples from other peaks and broaden your horizons, which will be of great help to your future cultivation. Now, you will hear the details from your Senior Brother. Senior Uncle Uh and I will leave as we have other matters to attend to.”

Having finished speaking, the middle-aged man surnamed Shin rose and went to the back of the hall, and Elder Woo followed him silently.

“The Peak Lord has entrusted me with the explanation, so the junior disciples should listen carefully and follow. This selection is an internal event of the sect, so there are rules that must be followed.”

The sickly-looking young man surnamed Myo coughed a few times and then continued to speak to the Qi Refining cultivators, including Han Li.

“First of all, you cannot use magical artifacts or techniques that could take the opponent’s life or inflict fatal injuries. Otherwise, you will be expelled from the sect or have your magical power abolished…”

* * *

An hour later, the disciples leaving the great hall could not hide their excitement.

Han Li, seeing the others excited, shook his head for a moment and then also mounted his magical artifact and slowly left Thousand Heavens Peak.

Returning to his cave dwelling without incident, he began to prepare for the sect’s selection competition next month.

To be selected for the swordsmanship competition within the top 24 without revealing his true strength, he would have to rely on the power of low-grade talismans and magical artifacts that he had not even glanced at for years.

He had more than a dozen extraordinary magical artifacts among the belongings of various Core Formation cultivators who had died in his hands, not to mention top-grade magical artifacts, but to avoid attracting attention, he needed to carefully select something extremely ordinary.

In particular, for this selection competition of the Falling Cloud Sect, his strategy was to refine a large number of low-grade intermediate talismans to deal with his opponents.

In case talismans alone were not enough, he also took the trouble to practice the ‘Flame Manipulation Technique’ [a basic fire control technique] he had obtained from the Royal Family of Yue Country long ago. Even if it was a crude technique that was of no use to high-level cultivators, it would be useful for deceiving the eyes and ears of Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment disciples.

The Flame Manipulation Technique was a technique that had given him much inspiration since he had obtained it, practicing it whenever he had time. However, now that he had reached the late stage of Core Formation, such minor techniques were unnecessary, and he had forgotten about them until this opportunity to practice them again arose.

Not only could he freely change the shape of the flames, but he had even gained insights beyond the original incantations! In the remaining time, Han Li focused on refining various talismans.

During that time, the gold and silver Devouring Gold Beetles finally began to devour each other.

Han Li was greatly pleased to discover this. Although he did not expect them to become fully mature insects with this evolution, it was clear that they were getting closer to the legendary ability of being able to devour anything.

On the other hand, he was still concerned about the Soul Devourer, who still showed no signs of waking up in the stone chamber, but he was not too worried because he felt that there were no major problems with the Soul Devourer thanks to the Soul Nurturing Pearl in his body.

* * *

One month later, the entrance to the main peak of the Falling Cloud Sect was unusually noisy. Countless cultivators had gathered, and among them, there were thousands of spectators.

Even if they were not directly participating in the martial arts competition, they could gain many insights just by watching others compete with magical artifacts and techniques.

At the entrance leading to the main peak, three formations, each about a hundred feet in size, were set up in a large open space, and a semi-circular barrier covered the competition area to prevent spectators from being injured even if participants used powerful techniques.

In addition, three late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were observing as judges to prepare for any possible accidents.

The competition was already on its third day, and a considerable number of disciples had already been eliminated.

There were very few Foundation Establishment cultivators under the age of thirty, only three or four, so they did not need to participate in the competition from the beginning. They only needed to compete against the remaining Qi Refining disciples at the end to immediately obtain the selection rights.

Although they were not among the selected individuals chosen by the Peak Lords, it was natural that each of them possessed outstanding skills or innate talent, just by having succeeded in Foundation Establishment before the age of thirty.

Han Li was now silently mixed among the Thousand Heavens Peak participants, watching the Thousand Heavens Peak cultivator and the White Peak Peak cultivator fighting within the protective barrier.

White Peak Peak was a rather special existence among the six major peaks of the Falling Cloud Sect. Both the Peak Lord and the Deputy Peak Lord were female Core Formation cultivators, and the disciples under their tutelage were also mostly female disciples. Therefore, they received more attention at every martial arts competition.

The Thousand Heavens Peak disciple currently fighting against the White Peak Peak female cultivator was a man surnamed Won, who looked older but was actually only twenty-seven years old.

Although he was an outer sect disciple, he was from a well-known cultivation family in the Gye Country, and he was driving the female cultivator back with a white-gold halberd, a high-grade magical artifact of considerable power.

The other Thousand Heavens Peak cultivators near Han Li seemed to know the man who was currently competing, and they were cheering him on with excitement.

In an atmosphere where he had almost secured victory, the young man surnamed Won’s halberd-shaped magical artifact turned white and flew towards her, but a blue light shot out from the woman’s hand, blocking the opponent’s attack and disappearing with the light.

The young man surnamed Won, seeing this, hurriedly tried to find her, who had used a concealment technique, but a red light flashed behind him and wrapped around him.

Thud.

With a tremendous sound, the Thousand Heavens Peak disciple’s body fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.

“White Peak Peak’s Geum-yong, victory!”

The thin cultivator who was presiding over the competition in the air announced the result.

The woman called Geum-yong bowed to the judge, even in the air, and then took out a small bottle from her storage pouch and held it under the nose of the unconscious young man surnamed Won.

The young man surnamed Won, who smelled the scent, suddenly regained consciousness and, realizing what had happened, immediately turned red in the face and stormed out of the arena.

The victorious woman flew up proudly with a satisfied expression and left the formation, and other White Peak Peak female cultivators began to gather around her, so the male cultivators could not take their eyes off her.

The thin cultivator announced clearly with a blank face.

“Next, Thousand Heavens Peak’s Han Li versus Hwaun Peak’s Soon-tong!”

Han Li smiled faintly, slipped out of the crowd, and entered the barrier.

Not long after he entered, a young man in white with a handsome appearance appeared from one side, causing a stir among the spectators.

“Is that the junior disciple Soon who hasn’t been in the sect for many years!”

“I heard he was born with the Heavenly Yang Fire Vein [a rare fire-attribute constitution], is that true?”

“If it’s the Soon family, they are a famous cultivation family in our Gye Country! They must have a lot of powerful magical artifacts.”

“That guy named Han Li is out of luck, tsk tsk.”

Even before they had a chance to exchange blows, the voices of the people were heard clearly by Han Li, who was inside the protective barrier.

‘Heavenly Yang Fire Vein?’

Han Li’s expression changed slightly, and he looked up and down at his opponent with interest. He had a handsome appearance and his cultivation was not bad, seeming to be around the 12th level of Qi Refining.

The young man in white, who was facing him, also examined his opponent, and seeing Han Li’s unremarkable appearance and his achievement of the 10th level of Qi Refining, he looked down on him.

Soon-tong did not show it outwardly and naturally bowed, but Han Li slightly raised the corners of his mouth and simply returned the greeting with a casual bow.

The young man in white became upset and his face hardened, but the cultivator in the air called out again calmly.

“The match begins!”

As soon as the cultivator’s words fell, the young man in white formed a hand seal, and flames began to blaze all over his body, and a flame crystal began to protect him. Then, he spread out one hand and formed a red bead.

Judging by the sound of chanting spells, it seemed that he was planning to attack Han Li by activating a bead-shaped magical artifact. Han Li remained silent, thinking that his opponent was quite old-fashioned.

Of course, the outside of the arena, watching their appearance, became noisy again.

“Junior disciple Soon was born with the Heavenly Yang Fire Vein, and he formed a fire-attribute barrier in an instant without even using talismans!”

“Don’t you know that the one he’s holding in his hand is the famous Hwarangju [a powerful fire-attribute artifact] of the Soon family? The outcome is already decided.”

* * *

A mocking look flashed across Han Li’s expressionless face for a moment, and then he began to rummage through the enormous amount of talismans in his storage pouch without any hurry.

Looking up at his opponent, the young man in white was so focused on chanting the spell to activate his magical artifact that he was not paying any attention to this side. It seemed that he had considerable confidence in that blazing fire-attribute barrier.

‘If that’s the case, then let’s fight fire with fire!’

Han Li grabbed a handful of talismans and scattered them.

Then, a red light flashed once, and dozens of fist-sized flames, perhaps forty, burst out like a swarm of bees.

“Ah?”

“Gasp!”

The crowd’s surprised voices echoed in the arena.

The young man in white, who had just started to lift the Hwarangju from his hand and was feeling relieved, involuntarily raised his head at the sudden sound.

“What is this…!”

Dozens of flames rushed towards his barrier, creating a spectacular sight.

Kwakwakwakwang!

With a series of loud noises and dazzling flames, the young man momentarily lost his sight. The fire crystal barrier that he had firmly believed in was about to break.

Although he was a genius born with the talent of the Heavenly Yang Fire Vein, he had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse, carefully nurtured by the elders of his family, so how could he have ever experienced such a life-or-death crisis?

Panicked, he screamed and began to turn around and run away.

But then, an unknown force grabbed his neck and pulled him into the air, and he saw a huge wave of flames hitting the spot where he had been standing.

The terrified young man in white hurriedly turned his head and saw that the thin cultivator, who was the judge, had grabbed his collar and rescued him.

The thin cultivator declared firmly.

“Thousand Heavens Peak’s Han Li, victory!”

He, who was skilled in fire-attribute techniques, had not only lost at the start of the martial arts competition but had also been thoroughly defeated by the lowest-grade fire-attribute talismans!

The young man’s face was miserably distorted.

The spectators, surprised in a different way, began to whisper among themselves. Even if they were simple, low-grade fire-attribute talismans, they would cost at least one spirit stone to buy.

To throw away thirty, no, almost forty of them in one martial arts competition was like throwing away forty spirit stones.

‘With that many spirit stones, he could buy a decent low-grade magical artifact and use it permanently, so is this guy planning to squander his fortune to win in the sect’s selection competition?’ was the question of the spectators.

Receiving all kinds of strange looks, Han Li bowed to the competition organizer and walked out of the protective barrier, while Soon-tong had a very resentful expression but had no choice but to leave the arena under the cold gaze of the judge.

Since he had already finished his match, there was no reason for Han Li to stay any longer, so he returned to his residence immediately.

The first round ended two days later.

There were many intense and spectacular matches, and the disciples talked about nothing but the selection competition whenever they gathered.

The absurd story of Han Li winning the match in one go by scattering dozens of talismans also gradually aroused envy among the disciples. They thought that Han Li was a disciple from a fairly large family and had considerable wealth.

As a result, the name Han Li became quite well-known among the low-level cultivators.

For the second round of matches, Han Li’s match was on the first day.

When he appeared at the arena with his usual expressionless face, those who had watched his match before whispered.

“Is that the Thousand Heavens Peak cultivator who scattered dozens of talismans two days ago?”

“Does that make sense? He doesn’t look like much. Doesn’t he feel like it’s a waste?”

“I’ve never heard of a large cultivation family named Han in our Gye Country. Is he a cultivator from another country who has entered our sect?”

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