Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 428

While Han Li was engrossed in refining the Spirit Descent Talisman in the secret chamber, Thousand Apricot City had completely transformed into a war zone in just two or three days. With a life-or-death battle against the mages looming, cultivators from various sects abandoned their garrisons, organized their ranks, and eagerly departed for the border defenses.

In this tense situation, the disciples of the Falling Cloud Sect also joined the mobilization, leaving Thousand Apricot City. Lǚ Luo had gone ahead to oversee their deployment.

He instructed Song to wait at the garrison for Han Li to emerge from his seclusion.

Within days, Thousand Apricot City was nearly deserted, save for a small force left for defense.

As time passed without any sign of Han Li ending his seclusion, Song grew increasingly anxious.

Not only were there layers of restrictions outside the cultivation room where he was secluded, but the sounds of dragon roars and explosions emanating from within were also a cause for concern.

After waiting for five days, Song made a decision. If Senior Martial Uncle Han did not emerge from seclusion soon, she would force her way through the barrier.

Another day’s delay could mean being late for the crucial battle.

As Song gazed out from the main hall of the garrison, her face darkened with worry as she saw the setting sun.

She had to act before nightfall.

*Ding!*

Just as she bit her lip, ready to take action, a clear bell sound echoed through the main hall.

Shortly after, a streak of blue light flashed and disappeared, revealing Han Li.

“Greetings, Senior Martial Uncle!” Song greeted him with relief.

“What day is it today? It seems most of the cultivators in the city have already left,” Han Li said, having scanned the city with his spiritual sense and finding it nearly empty. Although he had roughly calculated the time inside, he wanted confirmation.

“Reporting to Senior Martial Uncle, it is the fifth day today,” Song replied politely, relieved.

“There’s still some time, but it’s better to arrive early. Let’s depart as well.”

“Understood!”

A white aura flowed from Han Li’s sleeve, and a white, winged, rectangular carriage appeared. It was the Wind-Riding Carriage.

“Get in. It will be faster than flying,” Han Li said, stepping into the carriage first. Song looked at the carriage, which moved without a spirit beast, in amazement and silently boarded.

Han Li pointed at the Wind-Riding Carriage, and a white light flashed, creating a protective barrier. It then transformed into a white streak of light, cutting through the sky.

It was a magical treasure specifically designed for flight, consuming little spiritual power and moving incredibly fast.

In the blink of an eye, they had left Thousand Apricot City and were heading towards the border. Only then did Song feel relieved and thought to herself,

‘Senior Martial Uncle Han must have had this treasure, which is why he only came out of seclusion now.’

While she was lost in thought, Han Li spoke first.

“Is Fellow Cultivator Ziling still staying there?”

“Fellow Cultivator Ziling has temporarily left Thousand Apricot City and plans to return after this great battle is over.”

“Ziling is indeed very clever. It’s a wise move. I would have done the same,” Han Li said, not minding at all and even smiling.

* * *

In just a few days, the border between the Yu and Northern Liang countries was swarming with the mage army, which had descended dozens of miles away and begun setting up camp.

The atmosphere had become tense overnight.

Small mage squads patrolled in all directions, guarding against attacks. As the days passed, more and more cultivators gathered, setting up various barriers, which heightened the tension.

On the sixth day, both the Tiannan and Peony sides had completed the installation of their restrictions and returned to their camps to strengthen their defenses.

The Tiannan cultivators maintained their camp with Thousand Apricot City behind them, so they installed fewer restrictions than the mages. However, the number of guards and patrols exceeded that of their opponents.

In this situation, a group of about a dozen cultivators were flying about twenty miles away from the camp.

The leader was a beautiful woman of about twenty years old, who was in the early stage of Core Formation, and the rest were all Foundation Establishment cultivators.

With the great battle imminent, they could not let their guard down for even a moment, so they were patrolling.

The woman was spreading her spiritual sense to guard the surroundings as she flew when she suddenly stopped, looking surprised. She looked into the distance, and the other cultivators were surprised and followed her gaze, but they couldn’t see anything.

“Senior Sister Su, what’s wrong…?” A cultivator in a navy blue robe was about to ask when a light began to appear at the far end of the sky.

“It’s incredibly fast!” someone muttered in surprise, and even in that moment, the white light grew larger and closer.

“It must be a senior, so I will greet them first. You all wait here,” the woman ordered with an elegant expression and turned into a streak of yellow light to meet them.

She hadn’t flown far when the white light had already arrived, emitting an enormous glow.

“Su Cuiren of the Yellow Maple Valley greets the senior. I am patrolling under Wan Bei’s orders. May I know your name?”

“Su Cuiren?” a man’s voice came from within the white light.

“Do you know Wan Bei?”

Su Cuiren blinked, surprised. Among the Nascent Soul cultivators she knew, none had such a voice. Moreover, the voice was familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before, but she couldn’t recall where.

The white light flickered a few times and then disappeared, revealing the people inside. A young man and woman were riding in a strange carriage.

“Senior Martial Uncle Han!” Su Cuiren covered her mouth with both hands, astonished and at a loss. Her eyes were filled with disbelief.

“You’ve grown up so much. You’re unrecognizable from before,” Han Li said, looking at the woman’s familiar face and smiling calmly.

“Senior Martial Uncle Han, is it really you! Senior Sister She and Senior Brother Lei told me that you had reached the Nascent Soul stage, but I couldn’t believe it!” Su Cuiren exclaimed excitedly, like a young girl from the past.

She was the child he had brought to Yellow Maple Valley and initiated into cultivation. So, naturally, he felt closer to her than to She Ying or Lei Manxue.

Song watched this and was lost in thought again.

‘Listening to their conversation, it seems Senior Martial Uncle Han is from Yellow Maple Valley. What is his relationship with that woman?’

Han Li ignored Song and chatted with her, asking about how she had been. As he talked with her, he was struck by how quickly time had passed.

However, after a while, Su Cuiren hesitated and asked, “Senior Martial Uncle Han, is it true that you have become an elder of the Falling Cloud Sect? Can’t you come back to Yellow Maple Valley?”

“The Falling Cloud Sect has treated me well, so that’s impossible. Don’t talk about that matter.”

“But then our Yellow Maple Valley will…”

“Don’t worry too much. I made a deal with Old Devil Linghu that if Yellow Maple Valley is ever in real danger, I will help within my capabilities,” Han Li explained with a sigh, seeing Su Cuiren’s darkened expression.

“Really? Thank you so much, Senior Martial Uncle!” she brightened up again, having been dejected.

“Alright, that’s enough about that. You are Senior Martial Brother Ma’s only direct disciple, so I can’t return empty-handed after meeting you again after so many years. This is a magical treasure I obtained after killing a Core Formation cultivator. Although you can’t use it like your natal magical treasure [a magical treasure that is refined with one’s own essence], it should be useful. And this is a bottle of pills that will help with your cultivation, so take it,” Han Li said, taking out a cyan ring and a medicine bottle from his storage pouch.

“Thank you!”

“Alright. I need to return to the camp and meet the old devils, so I can’t delay any longer. Let’s meet again later,” Han Li said, not waiting for her reply and immediately setting off the Wind-Riding Carriage.

The woman swallowed the words she was about to say and quickly bowed. As she stood there blankly, her subordinates, who had been waiting, flew up on their magical artifacts.

“Senior Sister Su, is that senior a Nascent Soul cultivator?”

“He looked so young?” Everyone was full of questions and quickly spoke up.

“He is someone I owe a debt to and a Nascent Soul senior. You must not speak of him carelessly, so focus on the patrol,” Su Cuiren regained her senses and glanced at them coldly, causing the cultivators to shut their mouths.

* * *

The Wind-Riding Carriage slowed down and arrived near the camp. Han Li retrieved the conspicuous Wind-Riding Carriage and then turned into a streak of light to hasten the rest of the way.

After a short while, a huge protective barrier appeared before him, shining brilliantly and enclosing the entire camp.

Before they could even descend, a disciple on duty hurriedly came to greet them. He confirmed the identities of the two cultivators and opened a passage to guide them inside the barrier.

After returning to the camp, Han Li parted ways with Song. Song had to report to Lǚ Luo and go to her assigned unit, while Han Li had to go to the center of the camp to meet Zhiyang Shangren and the three great cultivators.

They were pleased that Han Li had arrived quickly and discussed the war situation. After a while, Han Li got up from his seat and went to a separate temporary stone chamber to rest.

Han Li recovered the spiritual power he had expended while traveling in the stone chamber.

He opened his eyes and checked his condition. After the Azure Essence Sword Art reached the tenth level, the speed of his spiritual power recovery had noticeably increased.

He thought for a moment and then took out a pitch-black wooden box from his chest. There were several blue talisman papers with restrictions attached to the wooden box.

He brushed his hand over the wooden box, and the talismans fell off and went into his sleeve. When he opened the lid of the wooden box, there was a talisman the size of his palm inside, and a small, blood-red flood dragon was writhing on its surface.

With a wave of his hand, the talisman rose up and fell onto his palm.

It was a talisman he had finally completed after several days of hard work and three failures. He didn’t know how powerful it would be, but it was written that the power of the Spirit Descent Talisman was great, so it was worth anticipating.

While he was sitting cross-legged and lost in thought, several figures were gathered and discussing matters in the mages’ camp, dozens of miles away from the Tiannan cultivators’ camp.

There were five men and two women gathered, and among them, one man and one woman were wearing masks and black clothes that covered their entire bodies, making it impossible to know their true appearances.

Among the other mages, two were people Han Li knew. One was the evil woman who had given him trouble with the lamp treasure in Yellow Dragon Mountain, and the other was the middle-aged gentleman who had chased him for days, trying to kill him.

The other three men were a pitch-black and emaciated old man, a dwarf who was less than four feet tall, and a tall, handsome man in a golden robe.

“Elder Ak, how is the preparation of the spirit oil going? The sacred bird can only be summoned for as long as the lamp is lit, so there must be no mistakes,” the old man, who was full of wrinkles, had clear eyes.

“Don’t worry, Divine Envoy Zhu. This is a matter concerning the survival of our entire clan, so how could there be any negligence? We have already gathered the spirit oil that we have collected for a thousand years, so there will be no problems,” the evil woman in green clothes replied solemnly.

“Brother Zhong, the preparation of the spirit art barrier is proceeding smoothly, right? The mages’ magical treasures are inferior to the Tiannan cultivators in terms of quantity and power, so we must secure our attack power with the spirit art barrier,” the old man asked the middle-aged scholar this time.

“I have passed on the spirit art barrier that I have researched for hundreds of years, so there will be no problems. If the Tiannan cultivators think of the previous spirit art barrier and prepare for it, they will suffer greatly,” the scholar replied calmly.

“Very well. Brother Pi, when the battle begins, have the high-level mages pretend to summon spirit beasts to draw the attention of the opponents and make the cultivators waste their magical power. Clan Leader Fang, for that, the cooperation of the giant spirit beasts is essential.”

“Once the war starts, I will hand over the giant spirit beasts. But you must not forget our agreement.”

“Forget the agreement? How could the Peony Clan turn against your clan right after a large-scale war with the cultivators? The Yin Luo Sect is one of the ten great demonic sects of the Great Jin Kingdom. Once we take Tiannan, what’s so difficult about letting your clan manage the mortal countries? Anyway, the mortals are all of the Yan race, so their lives are none of our concern,” the emaciated old man said coldly.

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