Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 434

Kuwakwang!

A deafening explosion erupted behind him, followed by a brilliant red light that shot skyward, accompanied by a burst of laughter.

“I am eternally grateful to whichever fellow cultivator has come to my aid!”

‘Swaehon Zhenren?’

Han Li was surprised to find that the first cultivator he rescued was none other than him.

“Fellow cultivator, could you hold off those two mages for a moment? I need to rescue the other cultivators first.”

Han Li finished his thought and called out loudly to Swaehon Zhenren.

“Oh, it’s Fellow Cultivator Han! A favor received must be repaid. Leave those two to this Zhenren [a Daoist title, meaning ‘Perfected Person’] and go.”

Swaehon Zhenren seemed a bit surprised to recognize Han Li, but he immediately transformed into a streak of white light and flew towards the two Moran Great Shamans who were chasing him.

Han Li quickly assessed the situation with his spiritual sense and, satisfied, increased his speed, heading towards the next barrier. Just as he was about to unleash a blue light from his hand, an unexpected event occurred.

From the top of the barrier, a gray flash appeared, and a large man in golden robes materialized, his gaze fixed on the incoming Thunder Bead with a serious expression.

Han Li was taken aback. It was strange that someone was hiding there, and even stranger that he hadn’t sensed their presence!

After scanning the opponent with his spiritual sense, his surprise deepened.

The golden-robed giant was unexpectedly a Moran Clan Divine Lord with a late-Nascent Soul cultivation! [Nascent Soul is a stage of cultivation]

‘Aren’t there supposed to be only three Divine Lords in the Moran Clan?’

While Han Li was still in shock and trying to understand what was happening, the giant clenched his fist towards the incoming Thunder Bead.

Startled, Han Li immediately tried to change the direction of the Thunder Bead, but it was too late. A massive blue hand suddenly appeared in the void and snatched the Thunder Bead. It was so fast that there was no way to avoid it.

Han Li raised his eyebrows and formed a hand seal, intending to detonate the Thunder Bead immediately. Golden and blue lights erupted from the giant hand, and both the hand and the Thunder Bead vanished simultaneously.

The golden-robed giant snorted, and a blue light flickered across his face, but his expression remained calm.

Han Li didn’t attempt to flee and instead faced his opponent.

“So, you are Han Li. The Tiannan cultivator who possesses the Golden Thunder Bamboo treasure!”

“I was told there were only three Divine Lords in the Moran Clan. Who are you?”

“You are remarkably calm, even knowing that I am a Moran Clan Divine Lord. You must be the one the Middle Divine Lord spoke of. I am Jeon Jong, the fourth Divine Lord of the Moran Clan.”

The golden-robed giant replied emotionlessly.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of a fourth Divine Lord. Judging by how your giant hand couldn’t withstand the Thunder Bead, you haven’t been at the late-Nascent Soul stage for very long.”

Han Li stated his guess while staring at the giant, then pointed at the blue sword energies. The sword energies resonated and spread like a blue mist, forming a barrier in front of him.

“It hasn’t been many years since I reached the late-Nascent Soul stage, but do you think you can match me?”

The golden-robed giant sneered at Han Li.

“Then, how about me?”

Suddenly, a pleasant woman’s voice echoed. Han Li initially frowned, but soon his expression turned to one of happiness.

“Who is it!”

The golden-robed giant shouted in surprise at the voice that was so close.

“I’m surprised you reached the late stage in just over a hundred years. Let’s see how much your skills have improved.”

A beauty in red clothes appeared in a flash of white light, glaring coldly at the golden-robed giant.

“It’s you, Madam Bong! But aren’t you worried about what might happen to Fellow Cultivator Ryongham if you appear here alone?”

“My husband is with thousands of cultivators. Unless a Divine Lord intervenes, what can they do? I will test the skills of the fourth Divine Lord. Fellow Cultivator Han, please go and rescue the other cultivators.”

The woman exchanged a few words with her opponent and then spoke to Han Li. Then, she opened her hand, and a bright red bottle appeared in it.

As the woman cast a spell, a red light flashed from the bottle, and it was engulfed in flames and floated into the air.

“Fire Spirit Bottle!”

The golden-robed giant’s face turned serious. And as soon as Han Li heard the woman’s words, he immediately transformed into a streak of blue light and shot away.

The giant’s face hardened, and he released his spirit beast pouch. A sunset light poured out, and two winged demonic beasts with tiger heads and eagle bodies with blue feathers appeared.

‘Heavenly Tiger Beasts!’

Han Li looked in surprise at the appearance of the two monsters.

They were very rare demonic beasts that lived in the Moran Grasslands and could use earth and wind attribute magic, making them difficult to deal with. Moreover, both of them seemed to be at the late-Core Formation stage [Core Formation is a stage of cultivation], so they were not beasts to be taken lightly.

As the two Heavenly Tiger Beasts spread their wings, a blue light flashed from their bodies, and they vanished. Soon, the Heavenly Tiger Beasts reappeared in front of and behind Han Li, glaring at him.

Han Li stopped his escape technique and paused in the void.

‘They can teleport.’

It was said that these kinds of demonic beasts had the ability to teleport, but it was the first time he had actually witnessed it. But this wasn’t the end.

Jeon Jong’s figure flickered, and an identical person stepped out from behind him. The blue shadow was blurry all over, like an illusion, but the beautiful woman’s eyes changed.

“Body Double!”

The blue shadow flew towards Han Li in an instant.

Before the beautiful woman in red robes could stop him, the golden-robed giant opened his mouth and sent out a multicolored wheel.

“This way, I can deal with both of you.”

With these words, the colorful wheel turned into a mist and flew towards the beautiful woman. The beautiful woman seriously shot a hand seal at the Fire Spirit Bottle.

The red light of the bottle intensified, and flames poured out from the bottle’s mouth. The flames scattered and gathered as if they were alive, creating several bright red snakes, and the snakes enveloped the mist.

Han Li could tell that the beautiful woman and Jeon Jong were fighting without looking back at the sounds coming from behind.

He looked at the strange blue shadow in front of him and the Heavenly Tiger Beasts positioned in front and behind him and sighed softly. It seemed that he couldn’t rescue the other cultivators without defeating these strange beings.

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have given Yin Yue a few Thunder Beads and had her secretly rescue the other cultivators.’

It was no use regretting it now. Han Li brushed his spirit beast pouch on his waist, and golden, glittering Gold Devouring Beetles poured out like a cloud.

He didn’t hesitate and sent out a hand seal, and they disappeared into the beetles.

Buzz! Buzz!

The Gold Devouring Beetles split into three groups and rushed towards the enemies.

“Gold Devouring Beetles! If they were fully grown, I might have been a little afraid.”

The blue shadow said with a sneer in Jeon Jong’s voice. He didn’t seem afraid or surprised at all, but as soon as the Heavenly Tiger Beasts saw the Gold Devouring Beetles, they spread their wings and retreated twenty feet away in an instant.

At this time, the blue shadow opened its mouth and emitted a beam of light as thick as a bowl. Each time he emitted a beam of light, the blue light of his body darkened, and after emitting all three beams, his height had also decreased slightly.

The beams of light quickly attacked the Gold Devouring Beetles.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Three blue light masses appeared and trapped the three groups of Gold Devouring Beetles inside. Han Li was surprised and quickly reached out his hand, and the Gold Devouring Beetles began to gnaw madly at the protective barrier.

After a while, Han Li’s face hardened even more.

The blue light masses were so powerful that the Gold Devouring Beetles were gnawing at them too slowly.

Now that he saw it, the three blue barriers seemed to be made of wood attribute spiritual energy, which could temporarily trap the Gold Devouring Beetles.

The blue shadow had a means to restrain the Gold Devouring Beetles, and the Heavenly Tiger Beasts could teleport, so he felt like his hands and feet were tied.

‘Did the fourth Divine Lord target me and prepare for this?’

Han Li stood still with an ominous feeling and gave a bitter smile.

His guess was correct.

The mages had decided to entrust Han Li to Jeon Jong after discussions before the start of the war. So, they had borrowed several treasures from Elder Chuk’s Heavenly Tiger Beasts that could counter Han Li.

They just didn’t know that Han Li would participate in the duel.

Later, Jeon Jong discovered that Han Li had appeared and killed a group of mages and even destroyed a Great Shaman.

Whether it was to prevent him from rescuing the cultivators in the other barriers, to kill him, or to keep his promise to the Yin Luo Sect, he had to win this battle.

As the Gold Devouring Beetles were trapped, the Heavenly Tiger Beasts seemed to lose their fear and disappeared into the void once again.

Han Li sneered and flicked his sleeve, and a small navy-blue shield popped out, and the sword energy of the flying sword group greatly increased, defending him perfectly.

A blue light flashed, and the Heavenly Tiger Beasts appeared on his left and right, emitting beams of light. Han Li’s eyes flashed, and the sword energies split into two, blocking the beams of light.

Kwakwang! Kuwang!

The sword energies easily eliminated the beams of light and even attacked the spirit beasts, but the Heavenly Tiger Beasts were not flustered and disappeared with cunning eyes. Han Li was furious and tried to chase them with his sword energy, but Jeon Jong’s blue shadow moved.

At the same time, Ryongham and the skinny mage, who were commanding both sides, simultaneously unleashed their trump cards.

In the cultivator camp, seven white-haired Nascent Soul cultivators, each holding a high-grade treasure, flew up from behind Ryongham.

And in the mage camp, the evil woman who had not shown herself all along appeared and took out a bronze lamp from the darkness.

The evil woman floated the lamp and blew a white infant fire between her red lips to light it. She formed hand seals with both hands and chanted a low incantation, and white lotuses bloomed from her body, making her look like a fairy.

The incantation was full of the atmosphere of the ancient wilderness, and the lamp vibrated, creating an illusion, and nine identical lamps appeared in a row.

The evil woman sent out nine different colored hand seals, and the blue flames of the lamps blazed.

The woman spat out a mouthful of essence blood, and the flames became even more explosive. After a while, a clear cry was heard, and a one-foot-sized blue bird appeared in the flames.

The bird was a beautiful peacock with colorful wings. The peacock, with its head held high arrogantly, looked at the evil woman and muttered in the ancient wilderness language.

The evil woman respectfully bowed to the bird three times and spoke in the ancient wilderness language as well.

The evil woman stopped speaking and opened her palm, and a pink bead appeared, emitting a very pleasant fragrance. The peacock was delighted to see the bead and opened its mouth to emit a blue aura and took the bead.

Chwareuk!

A glow surrounded the blue peacock’s body, and flames rose, turning it into a huge firebird.

As the bird spread its wings and flew, the surrounding fire attribute spiritual energy became unstable, and the power of the cultivators and mages who used fire attribute techniques was halved.

And their fire attribute spiritual energy gathered and flowed into the peacock. The bird’s size grew even larger, and the blue flames caught the attention of the cultivators.

The mages who saw the blue flame peacock were delighted.

“It’s the Holy Bird! Great Shaman Ak has summoned the Holy Bird.”

“This war is our victory!”

The mages shouted and put more effort into their attacks. The skinny old man also showed a smile on his face for the first time in a long time. The black-robed woman of the Yin Luo Sect looked at the peacock in the flames and asked the old man.

“To freely control fire attribute spiritual energy, it must be at least at the Deity Transformation stage [Deity Transformation is a stage of cultivation]. It’s worth using as a last resort. But no matter how high its cultivation is, its spiritual power is only at the early-Nascent Soul stage. Even after absorbing fire attribute spiritual energy, it has only reached the late stage. Perhaps that is one of the main body’s clones? Otherwise, there’s no way they would have been so defeated in the battle with the Dolols.”

“You recognized it at a glance, Madam Ryuk, your insight is amazing. The Holy Bird’s main body has not descended, but even so, it has power that ordinary late-Core Formation cultivators can never defeat.”

The old man explained while looking at the black-robed woman.

“The ability to freely use the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is an ability that can only be used in the Deity Transformation stage… Now, there is no way we can lose.”

The black-robed woman nodded and looked envious. The old man smiled at that and didn’t say anything more.
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