Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 414

“I didn’t expect the Moran Clan to be this cautious. Even though we eliminated some mages and weakened their forces, their core strength remains intact. It seems a full-scale battle is inevitable. You must have used the Concealing Sky Banner just now, which would have consumed a lot of your magical power. Are you alright?”

“If the barrier breaks, I can hold down at least one of the Moran Clan’s Grand Masters.”

The giant asked, concerned about the old man’s well-being. The old man stroked his beard and replied nonchalantly.

“That’s a relief. Please leave the others to me and Brother Han. Fellow Daoist Bok should have recovered some of his energy, so he can join us if the battle becomes critical.”

“Is that so? By the way, that giant demonic beast is a big problem. The Core Formation cultivators can’t handle it, so we’ll have to deal with it ourselves…”

“Haa, it can’t be helped. Anyway, we’re short on manpower, so I’ve told the Moyong brothers to assist with the restrictions to buy us some time. Their lightning-attribute techniques are quite powerful for Core Formation cultivators, so they should be of some help.”

“That’s all we can do.”

The old man nodded, having no other options. At that moment, a blue light flashed, and a beam of light landed beside them.

“The Moran people are launching an offensive. Have you prepared any countermeasures?”

The blue light faded, and Han Li smiled at them.

“You’ve come at the right time, Brother Han. We were just discussing it.”

“A giant demonic beast is certainly troublesome. I don’t know how the Moran people managed to obtain such a rare species from ancient times. As for the battle, I’ll follow Brother Ryuk’s lead.”

Han Li frowned as he spoke.

“We’ll need to rely on Brother Han’s strength in this battle as well.”

The giant chuckled, casting a subtle glance at Han Li.

“Of course, I’ll do my best for the sake of Tiannan. However, the enemy’s forces are strong, so I’m not sure how much help I can be.”

Han Li rubbed his nose at his words, but remained calm. Since he had already revealed his strength, there was no reason to hide it any longer.

“If Brother Han can’t handle them, how can we?”

The old man smiled and spoke respectfully to him. Han Li looked at the old man.

“Elder Ma, you flatter me. My abilities aren’t as great as you think, so please don’t expect too much.”

“Haha, even so, Brother Han’s abilities are far beyond those of an ordinary early Nascent Soul cultivator… Oh, it seems the Moran people are starting their attack.”

The giant, who had been talking to Han Li, stopped and turned his head to look into the distance. Han Li and the old man Ma also turned their heads.

There, a red light spread, and dozens of intense fireballs were coalescing in the red glow.

“What is that?”

The old man Ma asked in surprise, and the giant explained.

“It’s a mage’s spirit technique barrier. It’s a technique where many mages quickly form a barrier using formation flags and discs. Usually, a high-level mage would maintain the barrier, but judging by the energy, it seems to be the mage who was using fire-attribute techniques yesterday.”

“A spirit technique barrier!”

The old man repeated the giant’s words, as it was the first time he had heard of it.

“Let’s go in and deal with them. We need to eliminate as many as we can before engaging the enemy’s Nascent Soul mage.”

“Alright.”

Han Li calmly suggested after withdrawing his gaze, and the old man and the giant readily agreed.

The haggard giant first gave orders to a few other Core Formation cultivators, and then disappeared into the fog. Li Ying’er was among them.

Han Li sent a quick telepathic message and also disappeared into the fog.

* * *

Outside the fog, the Moran mages were divided into dozens of small units, forming strange formations. They were holding fire-attribute magical artifacts that glowed red above their heads, gathering fire-attribute spiritual energy.

In the middle of these dozens of spirit technique barriers, Gulyao sat cross-legged with his hair disheveled, making bizarre hand seals with both hands.

Six red flags fluttered around him, and a fire serpent circled above his head, emitting intense flames.

And in the distance, a woman in green, who had descended from the giant demonic beast, was coldly observing Gulyao’s actions.

“Go!”

Suddenly, Gulyao opened his eyes wide and shouted.

The six flags vibrated with a ‘buzzing’ sound, and each emitted a red beam of light that seeped into the huge, round mass of fire.

*Krrr*.

At the same time, the six huge fireballs trembled, and the flames grew even larger. With a vibrating sound, the huge fireballs plunged into the fog like meteor showers.

*Wham!* *Kuwaham!* *Kuk!*

Although it was a restriction carefully laid out by the Guoguk Alliance formation masters, the impact of the massive fireballs caused earth-shattering explosions.

As fire pillars dozens of feet long followed one after another, the fog in the area where the intense heat had subsided was completely cleared.

Looking down from above, six huge holes had appeared. The woman in green’s eyes lit up, and she flipped her hand, grasping something round and golden.

As she shook her hand, the golden light flew towards the giant rhinoceros demonic beast that was already waiting beside the fog.

“Wooong!”

The golden ring accurately caught on the rhinoceros’s horn, emitting golden light, and the giant rhinoceros’s blue eyes turned blood red. Then, it let out a thunderous roar and began to ram its huge body into the dark blue fog.

Shortly after, the demonic beast’s roar and the light of the greenish-yellow barrier collided, creating a chaotic explosion.

“Grand Master Gul, please continue to break the restrictions using fire techniques. We must eliminate the barrier here today. The rest of you, let’s go!”

The clear voice of the woman in green spread throughout the sky, and the mage army, having received their orders, cheered and entered the fog in groups of a dozen or so.

“Let’s go too. Grand Master Gul will follow after completing his spell.”

After speaking, the woman in green transformed into a white beam of light and shot away. The gaunt mage hurriedly answered and followed her in a black beam of light.

Now, only hundreds of mages remained in front of the fog, maintaining the barrier.

The light pillars emitted from Gulyao’s six flags were added to the fireballs they were sending into the sky, creating holes in the fog.

Gulyao, who had almost destroyed the barrier, laughed madly, then stood up and immediately transformed into flames and flew away. The other mages who had been maintaining the formation followed him like a swarm of bees.

In an instant, thousands of mages rushed into the fog.

* * *

Han Li was sitting still in the fog with his eyes closed.

Floating in the air, he was already wearing the insect armor made from the three-colored gold-devouring beetles, and he was stepping on a blue giant sword. Above his head, golden, dazzling beetle swarms buzzed, revealing a menacing aura.

His eyelids twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes.

“I thought there would be a mid-Nascent Soul mage, and it was a woman.”

Muttering to himself, he brushed past the storage pouch and took out the formation artifacts. Then, he began to set up the most powerful combat formation among the formation artifacts.

“Yinyue, come out.”

Han Li flicked his sleeve, and a small white fox appeared.

“I’ll leave the Violet Cloud Dou [a magical artifact] to you this time. Take the Basket Treasure [another magical artifact] as well. This opponent will be more formidable than Wan’er’s senior sister, so be careful.

If the opponent’s abilities are stronger than expected, don’t hold back and lure them here. I’ll fight them, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll just let them go. If they run away, so be it. There’s no need to risk your life.”

After explaining, he flipped his hand and handed the Violet Cloud Dou and the Basket Treasure to the fox Yinyue.

“Yes, Master! I’ll hide secretly as before and appear at the right time.”

The fox emitted a white light, spun around, and bowed in the form of a woman.

“Good, just like you did with the Great Elder of the Yan Moon Sect last time. You appeared at the perfect moment.”

“Thank you. I’ll do my best this time too!”

Yinyue grinned and disappeared into the void with a yellow light. Han Li also raised his head, looked into the distance, and then transformed into a blue beam of light and flew into the fog.

At the same time, as the mage army plunged into the fog, the remaining restrictions began to activate. However, most of the mages were charging right behind the giant rhinoceros, so the giant demonic beast was blocking the restrictions’ attacks for them.

Whether it was fireballs, ice shards, lightning, fire, or earth-attribute thorns, the giant demonic beast blocked them with its black armor as if they were tickles.

The giant rhinoceros continued to charge forward regardless of the attacks. The rhinoceros, which had been advancing like a hot knife through butter, arrived at the open space that had been cleared by the meteor shower of fireballs.

Not only the giant demonic beast, but also the mages following behind it all seemed unharmed. However, the whereabouts of the Nascent Soul Grand Masters were unknown.

Reaching a place where there was no fog, the mages breathed a sigh of relief, and the Core Formation mages gathered to discuss their next move.

*Kwarung!*

At that moment, two silver, dazzling spears suddenly shot out from the dense fog ahead, flashing with silver lightning.

The Core Formation mages each emitted dark blue and blue light, attacking the spears. However, before the spears could collide with the mages’ magical artifacts, they spun around and quickly charged towards the rhinoceros.

Seeing this, the Core Formation cultivators were relieved. They knew that the giant rhinoceros’s defense was beyond the reach of ordinary magical artifacts.

“Huk… !”

But then, something astonishing happened. The two silver spears did not attack the rhinoceros directly, but crossed above the demonic beast’s head.

*Kwarung!*

Silver light flashed, and lightning struck down, hitting the rhinoceros’s head. Then, the silver lightning, which had broken through the rhinoceros’s dark blue protective barrier, fell directly onto its black armor.

*Kukwakwang!*

The rhinoceros, enraged, opened its mouth wide and fired a white ice pillar into the sky, trying to hit the silver spears. However, the silver spears, as if they had no intention of engaging, dodged the ice pillar and struck down with silver lightning once more before flying back into the fog.

The demonic beast, seeing this, became even more enraged, its eyes turning blood red as it began to chase after them madly.

The Core Formation cultivators, surprised, tried to gather other mages to follow the demonic beast. However, before they could move, over a hundred cultivators appeared from the fog around the open space.

The Moran mages, surprised, engaged in a chaotic battle using magical artifacts and spirit techniques, but the giant demonic beast had already disappeared into the fog.

The mages hesitated, looking at the dense fog.

“We have enough manpower, so let’s split up and move. Most of the restrictions are broken, so we just need to be careful. How dare they provoke us? We’ll show them a taste of our power. Anyway, a few Core Formation cultivators can’t even scratch the demonic beast, so let’s wipe these out and then look for it again. It won’t be too late.”

An old man who seemed to be in the late Core Formation stage made a decision after some deliberation. The mages then transformed into beams of light and plunged into the fog, chasing after the group of cultivators who had ambushed them.

The low-level mages also paired up and scattered in all directions.

After everyone had disappeared, the fog in the now quiet open space stirred, and someone walked out. It was the old man Ma, who did not look well.

The old man walked to the middle of the open space, looked around, and his expression became strange.

“I’ve already shown myself, so you should come out too. Do you think you can deceive this old man with that level of concealment technique?”

“You have quite a strong sense of awareness.”

A man’s low chuckle was heard from where his gaze was directed, and a gaunt mage appeared with a black light.

The moment he appeared, he crossed his hands and began to attack the old man, and dozens of black beams of light rained down on the old man Ma.

* * *

In the fog, just a few hundred feet away from where the old man Ma was fighting the gaunt cultivator, the haggard giant was expressionlessly watching Gulyao in the flames. The flames were so intense that the surrounding fog had instantly disappeared.

“Do you think you can save your comrades by blocking me? You have no idea how powerful Grand Master On’s spirit techniques are.”

Gulyao, who had originally intended to approach the old man from behind and assassinate him during the battle, was annoyed when the giant suddenly appeared and interfered.

“Don’t worry about others, worry about yourself! Although Elder Ma was greatly injured in yesterday’s battle, you also wasted a considerable amount of magical power. I don’t know how much magical power you’ve recovered in just one night, but you just deployed a spirit technique barrier. Unless you possess a heaven-defying treasure, you must be very weak.”

The giant narrowed his eyes and assessed Gulyao. Soon, a hazy white club popped out of his mouth, emitting a bright light.

Gulyao’s face hardened as he saw it. On the opponent’s club, there was a giant golden monkey riding it.

Although it was not comparable to the giant rhinoceros, the giant monkey, which was about five or six feet tall, had four hairy ears and a grotesque face.

It looked quite ferocious as it pounded its chest with both fists, like a gorilla.”