Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 370

Although she regretted her misjudgment, Ham Woon-ji knew there was no turning back now.

Having retrieved the jade plate, she spat out a crystal ball from between her red lips, as if sighing. The glossy ball circled her face before settling on the giant bird’s head.

Focusing her mind again, she formed a hand seal and pointed at the ball. A dazzling light emitted, and the spirit beast spread its two wings, increasing its speed.

Kee-hah-hak!

Following the giant bird’s long cry, its movement speed doubled, but Ham Woon-ji’s complexion also turned pale. She had used the vital energy she had been saving for emergencies to perform a secret technique.

She couldn’t afford to hesitate when her life was at stake.

Not long after using the secret technique, the sound of thunder that others had heard also rang in her ears. Finally, the enemy had begun to chase her.

However, since she was already doing her best to escape, there was no other option but to inject more spiritual power into her protective barrier to strengthen it. She had chosen this technique solely to make her decision easier, so its actual offensive power was not outstanding.

Kwarurung! Kwakwang!

Just as a silver flash appeared, the shadow of a winged person was briefly visible.

The blue light was so intense that she couldn’t see the opponent’s face, but Ham Woon-ji felt death approaching and closed her eyes in despair.

“Huh! You are…”

The shadow mumbled something after seeing Ham Woon-ji’s face, then disappeared immediately.

Ham Woon-ji, puzzled, opened her eyes, but the thunder and the winged man’s shadow were long gone.

“…?”

Kwakwakwang!

As she was trying to figure out the situation, thunder struck from behind. And just as she decided to turn her head, she heard a ‘thud’ as something pierced her protective barrier.

Ham Woon-ji’s entire body went numb, and she fell from the spirit beast. At the same time, she felt someone catch her. Before she could feel ashamed of the faint scent of a man, her mind went blank, and her memories ceased.

* * *

How much time had passed? As soon as Ham Woon-ji slowly regained consciousness, she saw the azure sky.

‘Why am I?’

Startled, she quickly sat up and found herself collapsed in an unknown mountain!

Not far away, the giant avian spirit beast was sitting still, dozing off. It seemed to be under some kind of restriction. She easily released the restriction and climbed onto the spirit beast, looking around. It was a mountain not far from where she had been subdued.

Ham Woon-ji was dazed for a while before suddenly, as if struck by an idea, she examined her clothes and body.

As a result, it seemed that the things she had worried about had not happened, and everything, including the treasure in her bosom, was intact. It was strange.

‘They didn’t kill me, didn’t violate me, and let me live?’

She was too confused to make a judgment, but she remembered the opponent’s voice mumbling just before she lost consciousness.

‘Did a Core Formation cultivator [a cultivator who has formed their core, a significant step in cultivation] recognize me and spare me? It might be a cultivator I know.’

And after racking her brain, she couldn’t think of any Core Formation cultivator who would do that, except for the ancestors of the Spirit Beast Sect.

She couldn’t see his face properly, and his physique was ordinary, making it even more difficult to identify him. The only thing she had was his voice, but it was so fleeting, and there was no nearby cultivator who matched it.

After being dazed for quite some time, she finally made up her mind and took out the green jade plate from her bosom. She formed a hand seal and chanted a spell, and a white magic seal shot out and touched the jade plate. However, there was only one red dot left.

Since it seemed to be showing only her, it seemed that even Junior Sister Ryu had been defeated or had already moved out of the sensing range of the treasure. Of course, the former was much more likely.

Ham Woon-ji sighed, retrieved the jade plate, and began to fly away on her spirit beast.

* * *

At the same time, tens of thousands of miles away, Han Li was holding a young woman and turning into a streak of blue light, cutting through the sky.

Even with a beautiful woman in his arms, his expression was surprisingly cold. After knocking Ham Woon-ji unconscious, he immediately changed direction and captured another Spirit Beast Sect cultivator.

When she was chased by Han Li, she was shocked and released a flying centipede spirit beast that was a foot long. Unlike ordinary centipedes, these spirit beasts had jet-black shells and a pair of white wings on their backs, and the frost-like cold air they emitted was extremely vicious.

Rather than being surprised, Han Li was overjoyed to see them and raised the corners of his mouth.

The menacing centipede was the Six-Winged Frost Centipede, ranked 18th among the spirit insects. Like his Gold Devouring Beetles, it was one of the ancient spirit insects that had been active in ancient times!

It had an ice attribute and the bloodline of a dragon. Once it reached adulthood, its entire body would turn pure white, and its wings would increase to six. The cold air it emitted was so powerful that it could freeze everything within a hundred miles.

Although it was still a larva, the centipede spirit beast was already emitting a cold air that would frighten ordinary cultivators. However, Han Li, who possessed the Azure Flame Ice, was not one to be deterred by such a level of energy.

When Han Li absorbed the centipede’s cold air into his body by simply flapping his sleeves without using any special techniques, the woman’s face turned even paler.

Taking advantage of that opportunity, he moved like lightning, knocked her unconscious, and dragged her away. The winged centipedes, having lost control of their consciousness, naturally returned to the spirit beast bag.

Han Li hesitated for a moment as he looked at the beautiful woman.

Killing her was not difficult, but if he did, the chance of obtaining the legendary spirit insect, the Six-Winged Frost Centipede, would be lost. Usually, cultivators who controlled spirit beasts or spirit insects would place a special restriction on them to prevent their spirit beasts from falling into the hands of their enemies after their death. This restriction would cause the spirit beast’s mind to collapse and self-destruct if its owner died.

Of course, this restriction could be canceled if the owner willingly wanted to pass it on to a successor. Han Li had also placed a similar restriction on his Gold Devouring Beetles.

He wanted to obtain the eggs of the Six-Winged Frost Centipede and hatch them, and he was also greedy for the secret techniques of the Spirit Beast Sect for handling spirit insects. The Spirit Beast Sect was renowned in the Southern Sky Region for its ability to handle spirit insects and spirit beasts, so they must have some special techniques.

He needed a technique to control his growing Gold Devouring Beetles more powerfully.

After thinking, Han Li sealed the woman’s spiritual power and attached several talismans to prevent her from waking up for a while, then picked her up.

And because Ham Woon-ji was a woman who reminded him of his sister from long ago, he couldn’t bring himself to kill her cruelly. He was not a cruel person to begin with. Besides, since she hadn’t seen his face, he judged that there wouldn’t be a big problem.

Moreover, even if his identity was revealed after he quickly returned to the State of Ji, what could the Spirit Beast Sect and the Ghost Spirit Sect do to him, a Great Elder of the Fallen Cloud Sect?

Originally, the Heavenly Dao Alliance and the Demonic Path were hostile to each other, so even when the Sect Master of the Heavenly Slaughter Sect personally appeared and ravaged the sacred site of the Cloud Dream Mountain a few years ago, they were unable to make him pay a significant price.

Unless they were waging war, it would end with them just getting angry and arguing.

Once he escaped the pursuit range of the Core Formation old monsters of the Demonic Path and returned, it would be over.

Thud!

The moment the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Core Formation cultivators were annihilated, the Soul-Locking True Lord, wearing a black robe, burst out of the Strict Moon Sect’s secret chamber.

Having lost his beloved disciples in an instant, he could no longer continue his closed-door cultivation. With a grim face, he sent a sound transmission talisman towards the Ghost Spirit Sect branch in the State of Yue. He intended to have them investigate the situation and then visit in person to find the one who dared to kill the disciples of the Soul-Locking lineage.

However, it was a step that was far too late.

Before the Ghost Spirit Sect even realized that the Demonic Path cultivators had disappeared and began their search, Han Li had already left the State of Yue and was flying towards the State of Wonmu.

The Soul-Locking True Lord ultimately gained nothing and only vaguely learned that his disciples had been defeated by an unknown Core Formation cultivator. Since the opponent had already left the State of Yue, no matter how much he raged, there was nothing he could do.

Ten days later, Ham Woon-ji returned to Mount Gilyeong in the State of Cheonra with a pounding heart and knelt before the stone chamber, pleading for punishment. The old man’s expression turned strange at her explanation.

“The opponent found you hundreds of miles away? And all the other disciples and Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators were defeated by him, and only you survived and escaped?”

“Yes, Fourth Uncle. My fellow disciples, including Junior Sister Ryu, scattered and fled, but I could not confirm the fate of the others.”

Ham Woon-ji, without realizing it, omitted the fact that the Core Formation cultivator, who was a fiend, had recognized her and spared her.

“…I knew that anyone who could bind the Spirit-Pointing Infant [a type of spirit infant] must be a Core Formation cultivator, but to realize that you were chasing them from hundreds of miles away, their divine power is truly great. I know that there are only a few who have reached the late stage of Core Formation in the entire Southern Sky, so is he one of them!”

The old man muttered, lost in thought.

“I don’t know exactly, but the opponent’s consciousness was so strong that I could no longer track them. However, when I last confirmed their location from afar, they were flying towards the State of Wonmu after leaving the State of Yue, so there is a possibility that they are from the Righteous Path or the Heavenly Dao Alliance. I failed in my mission and returned alive, so I ask for punishment from Fourth Uncle.”

“There is no reason for you to ask for punishment when it is not your fault! If that person is truly a cultivator in the late stage of Core Formation, there is nothing I could have done even if I had gone. You have done your duty just by returning alive. I thought that with your and Ryu Ok’s sensing abilities, you would be able to identify the opponent without being detected, but since they have already fled so far, we will not be able to retrieve the Spirit-Pointing Infant. You have worked hard, so go and rest, and I heard that Junior Sister Ham has finished her closed-door cultivation, so go and see her.”

Unlike his boiling anger, the old man’s tone was gentle.

“Thank you for Fourth Uncle’s generous disposition! I will take my leave now.”

After bowing respectfully, Ham Woon-ji left the stone chamber, and the old man’s face changed drastically.

“Is what your junior sister said true? Did a Core Formation old monster really steal the Spirit-Pointing Infant? If that is true, how did only Woon-ji survive?”

At the old man’s questioning, the back of the stone chamber blurred, and a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows and piercing eyes walked out.

“Fourth Uncle, after using a secret technique to confirm, my junior sister was telling the truth, at least for the most part. Her composure was disturbed when she explained how she survived, so there must be something she is hiding, but the main story is true.”

“Tch! If she weren’t Junior Sister Ham’s descendant, I wouldn’t have let that girl go! I don’t know what despicable trick she used to survive alone, but as the saying goes, ‘Don’t look at the monk’s face, look at the Buddha’s face,’ [a saying meaning to show respect for someone because of their connections] I barely tolerated it for the sake of Junior Sister Ham.

If I were to thoroughly search her soul and make her confess everything, she would go insane! Junior Sister Ham cherishes Woon-ji, her only descendant, as if she were her own life. She even used a large amount of vital energy and performed a heaven-defying technique to reverse her aging for her sake.

More importantly, the Spirit-Pointing Infant falling into the hands of a Core Formation cultivator is a problem. It’s fortunate that it was the Spirit-Pointing Infant and not the other two. I wonder if we will ever see the Five Elements Spirit Infants all gathered…”

The old man’s frustrated heart was clearly conveyed.

“The secret technique of the Five Elements Spirit Infants is a powerful technique that our sect had lost, and Fourth Uncle revived it. If Fourth Uncle hadn’t accidentally refined the Earth Spirit Infant a few years ago, no one would have even dreamed of it.

Once the preparations for the Five Elements Spirit Infants are complete and we use the secret technique to merge them with the disciples of our sect, our Spirit Beast Sect will suddenly have five more Core Formation cultivators. Then, we will become a force that can compete with the Joyous Union Sect and the Demonic Path for the position of leader.

It’s a shame that they will have the power of Core Formation cultivators but not the corresponding lifespan. The Spirit-Pointing Infant we lost this time was the most ferocious infant that was refined in the early stages. It was so vicious and savage that it had already devoured the Core Formation Nascent Soul [the core of a cultivator’s power] of our sect’s Core Formation cultivator before, so it is likely that the fusion would not have gone smoothly.”

“Heh heh, do you think I don’t know that? That Spirit-Pointing Infant had some kind of fortuitous encounter a thousand years ago and gained its own intelligence. It secretly entered our Spirit Beast Sect’s library and tried to learn secret techniques and cultivation methods to escape.

It was fortunate that a Great Elder in the late stage of Core Formation subdued it at the time, or it would have become a great threat! Still, I thought that if we could succeed in the fusion with such an infant, we could reach the middle stage of Core Formation in one go, so how could I easily give up?

The funny thing is that before the fusion, we have to minimize the cultivation of the Five Elements Spirit Infants as much as possible to prevent the disciples from being swallowed up during the fusion. That’s why we took the risk of transporting the Spirit-Pointing Infant to the Dry Metal Valley in the State of Wonmu to suppress its energy!”

“…”

The middle-aged man could not think of anything else to say that would improve his Fourth Uncle’s mood, so he gave a bitter smile.

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