Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 373

Three months later, Han Li sat cross-legged in the secret chamber, eyes closed and motionless. A blue light rippled across his body, indicating he was deep in cultivation.

After a long while, his eyes snapped open, sharp and focused. Without a word, he grabbed the spirit beast pouch at his waist and tossed it into the air.

“Go!”

*Buzz buzz buzz buzz.*

Thousands of three-colored Gold Devouring Beetles swarmed out like a disturbed hive, quickly forming a huge, zhang-high [approximately 3.3 meters] mass above his head.

Han Li didn’t even blink as he rose to his feet, performing a strange footwork. He chanted an incantation, then suddenly spread his arms, and a blue mist rose, trapping the swarm of insects within it.

The buzzing of the Gold Devouring Beetles instantly ceased, and they began to move left and right like a loom, as if bewitched. Yet, no beetles collided, their movements incredibly precise.

Staring intently at the swarm, Han Li formed a hand seal with one hand and grasped at the air with the other.

Then, the swarm, enveloped in a brilliant blue light, descended vertically, surrounding him and beginning to spin at an incredible speed. Their frantic movements enveloped him completely, creating an impenetrable insect shield.

A smile appeared on Han Li’s lips at this sight. But it vanished in an instant as he exhaled another burst of energy. All the spirit insects gathered around Han Li, and a blue flash erupted, making it impossible to look directly at it.

Moments later, when the blue light faded, an antique armor with three-colored patterns adorned Han Li’s body.

The armor shimmered with a blue light and had a glossy sheen, clearly boasting immense sturdiness.

Han Li’s smile deepened. He raised a hand to touch the surface of the armor, which was as smooth as any ordinary magic treasure.

“Excellent! I had the idea of condensing the Gold Devouring Beetles into armor back in the Void Sky Hall, but the Spirit Insect Sect cultivators have already developed it. As expected of a demonic sect famous for handling spirit insects in the Tiannan Region. They’ve turned an absurd idea into reality.”

With Han Li’s current cultivation and understanding, mastering this secret technique was easy. The techniques for handling spirit insects opened up a new world for him. He was amazed by the various attack techniques using spirit insects.

In particular, this insect armor technique had turned his imagination into reality.

Previously, he had been able to command the three-colored Gold Devouring Beetles to create simple shapes like knives or swords. However, creating complex objects like armor had been beyond his capabilities.

But after mastering the insect armor technique’s incantation recorded in the jade slip, he had reached the point of condensing a perfect armor shape in just a few months.

Han Li couldn’t hide his joy.

The ancient cultivator who devised this insect armor technique probably hadn’t obtained powerful spirit insects like the Gold Devouring Beetles, so the completed armor would have been less defensive than real armor. Moreover, since spirit insects themselves were rare, this technique hadn’t become widely known.

However, the carapaces of the three-colored Gold Devouring Beetles were already tough, and when condensed, they were far superior to ordinary armor. Furthermore, if he could control the golden Gold Devouring Beetles and condense them into armor, it would become incredible protective gear.

Han Li was confident. The thought of the fully evolved, adult Gold Devouring Beetles thrilled him. After a long while, Han Li regained his composure.

After pondering for a while, he exhaled spiritual energy again, causing the insect armor to disperse and return to the spirit insects, which entered Han Li’s spirit beast pouch in the blink of an eye.

He sat cross-legged on the floor and took out a blue jade slip from his storage pouch. It was the very book left by Shen Nuyin. Holding the jade slip in both hands, his eyes blurred as he delved into his consciousness.

He set aside the ancient formations at the front and immediately found the incantation for the Profound Demon Transformation Technique at the very end. This technique had a difficult incantation and many hidden meanings, and it took Han Li half a year to barely understand half of it.

This technique outwardly resembled the Daoist One Qi Transforms Three Pure Ones [a powerful Daoist technique]. Han Li had no way of knowing what the specific differences were, as he had never had the opportunity to examine the Daoist’s most profound technique, One Qi Transforms Three Pure Ones.

However, it was clearly different from the technique commonly called External Avatar in the demonic path. By cultivating the Profound Demon Transformation Technique, one could possess two completely independent nascent souls [a cultivator’s core of power], and even if one nascent soul was lost, the other could survive.

If the primary nascent soul was lost, the second nascent soul would also be greatly weakened, but it could slowly recover and become the primary nascent soul again. If the second nascent soul was lost, the impact on the primary nascent soul would be negligible.

What tempted Han Li even more was that once he succeeded in refining the second nascent soul, he could merge it with the body of an outstanding cultivator and use it like an avatar.

Creating an avatar was like preparing a second existence outside of the main body. Even if the main body turned to ashes and disappeared, Han Li could still survive because the avatar existed.

After all, the memories and emotions of the two entities were the same, so it could be considered a duplicate of the second nascent soul.

It was worlds apart from the Soul Puppet he had refined long ago.

The so-called Soul Puppet that Han Li had refined in the past was merely a small portion of his will separated from his nascent soul, so it had no memories or emotions, nor did it have free will. It was like a top-grade puppet.

Moreover, the Soul Puppet avatar could not stray too far from Han Li. Otherwise, it would soon lose its abilities.

However, the avatar created with the Profound Demon Transformation Technique was different. It could be tens of thousands of miles away from the main body and still think, act, and cultivate on its own without commands or instructions. It was no different from an ordinary cultivator.

When Han Li realized this, he felt a chill run down his spine. But as he continued to learn, the limitations and weaknesses of this technique were eventually revealed.

Seeing this, Han Li felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured on his burning desire. The technique was just too difficult to execute.

Leaving aside everything else, the most crucial issue was the condensation of the second nascent soul.

Usually, to condense a nascent soul and become a Nascent Soul cultivator, one had to spend countless hours dismantling the dantian [energy center]. But there was no second golden core to condense a second nascent soul.

The only way was to seize the nascent soul of another Nascent Soul cultivator, erase their consciousness, and assimilate it with one’s own.

The jade slip contained the incantations and methods needed to seize a nascent soul and erase the opponent’s consciousness, but it was highly dangerous and had an extremely low success rate. Even if one was lucky enough to secure a nascent soul, the subsequent process was also very difficult.

Since the nascent soul was forcibly taken, one had to risk having one’s own consciousness devoured until it was completely assimilated. And even if the refinement was completed, one had to find a suitable body to create an avatar with the second nascent soul.

Naturally, the higher the original cultivation of the body, the better. The best would be the body of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Only then would the avatar be of great use.

However, capturing a Nascent Soul cultivator alive was much more difficult than killing one, especially if the opponent was of the same level. Furthermore, one had to prepare for the possibility of the avatar retaliating even after the Profound Demon Transformation Technique was successful.

Han Li was deep in thought, but he couldn’t not try such a great technique. Once successful, it would be like having another life!

However, he needed to think about how to seize the nascent soul of another cultivator. Han Li lowered his head in thought, then took out a jade box covered in talismans and restrictions from his storage pouch. It was the very Earthly Fiend Nascent Soul that Han Li had painstakingly restrained.

Frowning, he fiddled with it, remaining silent for almost half a day. After hearing Liu Yu’s explanation, he knew that this was different from the nascent soul of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator.

However, considering that the Spirit Insect Sect used the Five Elements Spirit Nascent Soul technique to fuse a Core Formation cultivator into a Nascent Soul cultivator, it must have many similarities to an actual nascent soul.

There was a high chance that he could use this to refine a second nascent soul. Moreover, there was no use in keeping it, so there was no harm in trying.

However, his only concern was that he might be defeated by this unknown nascent soul. If that happened, his nascent soul would be severely damaged, and he didn’t know what kind of aftereffects would remain.

After staring at the jade box for a long time, Han Li sighed and put it back into his storage pouch. Then, a blue light flashed in his hand, and he held the light blue jade slip again.

Instead of recklessly attempting to refine the second nascent soul, it was better to first fully master the incantation of the Profound Demon Transformation Technique. Given the high risk, he had to be even more cautious.

Having made up his mind, he poured his consciousness into the jade slip, immersing himself in learning the incantation.

The closed cultivation chamber was silent, and Yin Yue was quietly cultivating in a secret chamber not far away. The chores of the residence were taken care of by the giant ape puppets, so there was no need to worry about them.

Time passed like the wind, and soon spring turned to winter. More than a year had gone by.

On this day, a streak of blue light and a streak of white light pierced the sky and flew towards Han Li’s residence.

The lights disappeared, and two Fallen Cloud Sect elders emerged from the thick fog. They were the silver-haired old man and the middle-aged man surnamed Lyu.

Seeing the enormous scale of the barrier, the two cultivators exchanged a smile.

The middle-aged man surnamed Lyu flicked his finger, and a pre-prepared sound transmission talisman appeared, turning into a flame and disappearing into the restrictions. At the same time, he turned his head and looked at the silver-haired old man with a smile.

“It seems that Junior Brother Han has been staying in his residence ever since he returned last time. He is truly dedicated to his cultivation.”

“Indeed! How else could he have succeeded in condensing a nascent soul at such a young age of only 200 years old? It’s a pity, I, who have little time left, will probably not be able to advance further on the path of cultivation.”

“Senior Brother, why do you say that? With your age, you should be able to live for at least another one or two hundred years.”

The middle-aged man hurriedly comforted him.

“Hehe, Junior Brother Lyu! You can’t be serious. If I hadn’t been injured last time, I would have easily lived for another one or two hundred years. Now, the injury is almost healed, but my vitality has been greatly damaged, and I can’t stop the approaching end.”

“Senior Brother!”

The middle-aged man surnamed Lyu’s expression changed, and he was about to say something, but the old man waved his hand and continued.

“Even if I take care of myself from now on, it will only be for another fifty or sixty years at most. I know this best. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have hastily recruited Junior Brother Han into our Fallen Cloud Sect and rushed to build a good relationship with him.

Otherwise, no matter how much I wanted to attract him, I would have thoroughly investigated his identity and background before making an offer. But now, I believe my judgment is correct. Junior Brother Han is certainly not a cultivator who entered our Fallen Cloud Sect with malicious intent, even though there were some twists and turns.”

The middle-aged man surnamed Lyu’s eyes widened at the silver-haired old man’s calm words.

“Senior Brother, did the disciple you sent out last time find out about Junior Brother Han’s background?”

“Yes, although he kept quiet about it himself, we sent some disciples to inquire with the clues of his name, ordinary appearance, and origin from Yue Country, and we finally found out the general background of our Junior Brother Han.

You might find it hard to believe even if I tell you. Junior Brother Han was surprisingly a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Yellow Maple Valley in Yue Country a hundred years ago! Moreover, he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator who made quite a name for himself by killing many cultivators of the same level in the war against the demonic path.

Later, when the Yellow Maple Valley was defeated in the war and fled, that cunning Old Devil Linghu, whether he was blind or not, used our Junior Brother Han as a scapegoat and abandoned him. After that, Junior Brother Han disappeared, and after cultivating hard somewhere, he suddenly reappeared.

And he returned as a late-stage Core Formation cultivator and succeeded in forming a nascent soul in our Fallen Cloud Sect. He must have obtained some fortuitous encounter during that period.”

“Used him as a scapegoat? Heh, anyone who hears this will laugh. To abandon a disciple of his sect, especially a genius who might appear once in a thousand years, who succeeded in going from Foundation Establishment to Nascent Soul in such a short time.

If Old Devil Linghu knew this, I wonder if he would jump up and down in anger.

Right now, the Yellow Maple Valley is barely holding on in the Nine Nations Alliance. It’s difficult for that old man to hold on alone. And if my memory serves me right, he’s about the same age as you, Senior Brother, so his lifespan must be running out.”

The middle-aged man surnamed Lyu sneered, mocking Old Devil Linghu.

“Old Devil Linghu is older than me, but he is well-versed in the art of nourishing life, so he probably has quite a bit of lifespan left. Just the fact that a Nascent Soul cultivator is holding on means that there is less chance of something big happening to the Yellow Maple Valley. I was originally worried that our Fallen Cloud Sect would face a similar situation. After I’m gone, how will you manage this place alone, Junior Brother!”

“Even if we didn’t occupy the spirit mountain of Yunmeng Mountain, you would have been enough, Junior Brother. The moment the sect’s power declines, many sects will try to bite us. So, I was originally going to tell you to voluntarily give up Yunmeng Mountain and move the main sect when I left. But now that Junior Brother Han is here, everything is different.”

“Although Junior Brother Han is only focused on cultivation and doesn’t show much interest in the sect’s affairs, I feel more at ease because of that. Unless there is an absolute crisis, his mere existence will protect the Fallen Cloud Sect for the next thousand years.”

The silver-haired old man stroked his long beard.

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