Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 463

True Person Tian Jing smiled and declined the offer, but his cautious gaze remained fixed on Dong Wendo. Seeing this, Dong Wendo slightly narrowed his eyes but responded with a smile.

‘If True Person Tian Jing doesn’t wish it, I cannot force you. I hope you achieve great success!’

‘Thank you for your kind words.’

With a much more relaxed expression, True Person Tian Jing immediately led his puppets away. The old man’s face gradually darkened as he watched him leave.

‘That old man is too timid. He didn’t show a single opening in two days. If I could have those puppets, it would have been much easier to explore for treasures in the center.’

Dong Wendo spoke with a hint of regret, then looked around before touching the spirit beast pouch at his waist.

Swoosh!

A silver flash appeared, and a giant bat soared into the air.

He opened his hand, and something like a black pill flew into the bat’s mouth. After eating the pill, the bat circled in the air and disappeared. Dong Wendo immediately gathered the five cultivators and transformed into a streak of green light, flying away.

‘Elder Luo, are you almost done? Setting up the formation is a pain. And it takes so long.’

Nam Ronghu said with a wry smile as he planted the last flag on the pond floor.

‘It’s better for us to proceed safely, even if it takes time. It would be fortunate if there are treasures of ancient cultivators inside, but we must prepare for the worst. What is more important than life?’

Luo Weiying said with a smile, but Nam Ronghu didn’t reply.

Soon, Luo Weiying placed the last formation disc, and a restriction was activated, causing white light to appear around them. The old man nodded in satisfaction, then turned to face the blood-red stone gate.

Nam Ronghu, who had been impatient for a while, immediately released the storage pouch from his waist and threw it into the air as soon as the old man finished setting up the formation.

A white light emerged, and a transparent skeleton of an ancient cultivator fell out.

‘The Blood Lord’s curse is truly wicked. To break the restriction, we need the essence or flesh and blood of the cultivator who was cursed. We can’t get blood and flesh now, but there should be essence left in the skeleton.’

Nam Ronghu explained, then spat out a golden flying sword from his mouth.

He then extended his hand into the air and released a white hand seal. The flying sword vibrated, scattering brilliant golden light as it collided with the transparent skeleton and exploded.

The skeleton shattered and scattered, and Nam Ronghu gathered the fragments with golden light.

Nam Ronghu looked at Luo Weiying, and the old man understood his intention, rubbing his hands together to produce a white flag. The old man lightly waved the flag, and a vortex began to form in the air.

Nam Ronghu sat cross-legged and chanted incantations, occasionally shooting hand seals toward the skeleton dust in the air.

The translucent powder shimmered instantly, creating a beautiful sight.

At this moment, the old man next to him tried attacking the stone gate. A red light flashed from the flag in his hand, and fist-sized fireballs shot out one after another.

Whoosh!

As the fireballs approached the stone gate, the blood-red color moved as if it were alive. A large amount of red energy condensed, transforming into a face identical to the demon engraved on the stone gate.

The demon’s face opened its mouth and swallowed the fireballs, then immediately dispersed, returning to its original blood-red color. Luo Weiying and Nam Ronghu exchanged glances at the sight.

‘The Blood Lord’s seal is indeed powerful. We can’t break the curse unless we follow Merchant Chang Kun’s method.’

Luo Weiying nodded slightly at Nam Ronghu’s words.

Of course, they had more powerful attack methods, but the demon face on the gate was ominous. Rather than creating trouble and inviting disaster, it seemed better to use the method left by Merchant Chang Kun.

‘Go!’

At Nam Ronghu’s low voice, golden mist surged toward the stone gate.

Again, the demon’s face appeared on the stone gate, but the bone powder in the golden mist turned white and stuck to it.

The demon emitted gray smoke each time the white light touched it, and when the demon’s face had completely melted away, the entire stone gate was enveloped in gray mist.

From within, a mournful wail echoed, and a red light flickered.

‘Now!’

Seeing the state of the stone gate, Nam Ronghu first infused spiritual power into his golden sword. The old man, who had been watching, also poured a large amount of spiritual power into the flag and threw it.

A white light flashed, and the flag transformed into several wind dragons that fiercely attacked the stone gate. In an instant, golden streaks of light and wind dragons rushed into the gray mist.

Boom!

With an earth-shattering roar, gold, blood-red, and gusts of wind combined and exploded.

A gale swept through, and the gray mist in front of the stone gate scattered, and the blood-red color that had been guarding the gate disappeared.

Nam Ronghu, carefully examining the state of the stone gate, saw his golden flying sword embedded in the stone gate and began to control it with his consciousness.

The flying sword extended and instantly slashed the stone gate to pieces.

Crumble!

The stone gate crumbled within the golden light.

Nam Ronghu and the old man’s expressions changed as they looked at the fragments of the stone gate, which were spewing out a dark red blood as if they had killed someone. The stench of blood was beyond imagination.

‘What a bizarre restriction!’

The stone gate was broken, but no treasure appeared immediately. A pitch-black staircase led endlessly into the underground.

‘Let’s go down. I’m curious what kind of precious treasure is hidden so deeply.’

Nam Ronghu sneered as if he could see the treasure behind the passage. He immediately took a few steps down the stairs, while the old man paused in place for a moment.

Luo Weiying’s gaze shifted between the remains of the stone gate spewing dark red blood and the dark, endless passage.

The old man suddenly let out a long sigh and stepped onto the stairs leading underground, as if he had no choice. Contrary to expectations, the passage was shorter than expected, and after going down about twenty steps, it connected to a large hall.

There was nothing in the not-so-large hall except for a table.

When the old man entered the hall, Nam Ronghu was staring blankly at several items on the table.

‘Heavenly Origin Fruit! Am I seeing this right? Isn’t that the Heavenly Origin Fruit that increases lifespan by a hundred years with just one bite? And that purple spirit mushroom is the Sky Mending Mushroom! If you eat a ten-thousand-year-old Sky Mending Mushroom raw, you can gain decades of cultivation. The golden bamboo is the Golden Thunder Bamboo, one of the Three Divine Woods! And that is…’

Luo Weiying also checked the table and muttered, unable to close his mouth.

‘Elder Luo, I wouldn’t approach so rashly. Do you really think these treasures would just be sitting on the table for us to take? Look closely.’

Nam Ronghu coldly warned as the old man excitedly tried to approach the table.

‘What do you mean?’

The old man was startled by the words and focused his mind to examine his surroundings.

‘Ha! Someone has set up the legendary Lesser Sumeru Vajra Formation [a powerful Buddhist defensive formation]. Unbelievable!’

Nam Ronghu spoke coldly, but he couldn’t help but feel greedy as he looked at the elixirs before him.

To have elixirs that could extend his lifespan, which he desperately desired, right before his eyes and yet be unable to touch them!

However, when Luo Weiying called out the name of the restriction, he felt much more at ease.

He knew there was a restriction here, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. If the other party knew the name, there was a high chance they also knew how to solve it.

‘Elder Luo, do you know about this restriction?’

‘I remember reading about it in Buddhist scriptures before. The Lesser Sumeru Vajra Formation is one of the most miraculous formations. But if this is really the Lesser Sumeru Vajra Formation, we’re in trouble.’

The old man frowned.

‘Can’t we break it?’

‘This formation is also called the Vajra Imprisoning Immortal Formation. It’s a rare restriction that can only be broken by brute force. There’s no special method to break it; we have to smash it.

We can’t rest for even a moment while breaking through the restriction’s barrier. It’s not very strong, but it will repair itself over time due to the power of the Buddhist formation.’

The old man carefully explained the characteristics of the Lesser Sumeru Vajra Formation. And as if to prove his words, he extended one hand and sent a fireball flying.

Bang!

The fireball exploded and disappeared before it even touched the table.

At the same time, a thick barrier that had not been visible before hovered over the table. Within the brilliant golden barrier, tiny ancient characters floated and bloomed like flowers.

Nam Ronghu carefully observed the scene, which he was seeing for the first time, and soon the old man also widened his eyes in surprise.

‘Ha! This is!’

Inside the golden barrier, in addition to the elixirs, a silver bowl had appeared.

The silver bowl, surrounded by eight white jade talismans, had mysterious characters floating on its surface, and three items were floating inside it. They were a small silver sword, a pitch-black staff, and a blood-red bead. Although they were small, the strange light each emitted was dazzling.

And as the golden barrier disappeared, the bowl, the jade talismans, and the three items vanished with it. What on earth was going on?

Nam Ronghu and the old man were lost in thought.

They couldn’t properly identify the items, but what was the value of the treasures hidden among the precious elixirs!

Nam Ronghu and Luo Weiying’s hearts began to pound. The unsettling stench of the Blood Lord’s seal and their doubts about this place had completely vanished.

‘Elder Luo, we’ve come to the right place!’

‘I never dreamed that so many treasures would be hidden behind the Blood Lord’s gate. Still, it will take us several days to break the restriction.’

The old man said worriedly, but he was also grinning.

‘It’s only natural to put in that much effort when treasures are waiting for us! A restriction that needs to be broken by brute force, we must move quickly. Once we break the restriction, Elder Luo and I will split the treasures inside equally. What do you say?’

Nam Ronghu asked directly, as if he didn’t want to waste any more time.

‘I’ll follow your lead, Elder Nam.’

The old man readily agreed, thinking about the treasures. But subtly, they both began to distance themselves from each other, becoming wary of the other.

The old man threw the white flag into the air and sat cross-legged, while Nam Ronghu flicked his sleeve and released the golden flying sword.

As gusts of wind and golden sword energy attacked, the barrier reappeared around the table, and a series of booming sounds echoed endlessly for a while.

* * *

At that time, Han Li was passing over the mountain peak, transformed into a streak of blue light.

He had long since passed the mountain ridge where the Zhaomungal demon beasts resided and was heading towards the cave he had entered in the center.

Having already traveled this path once, he naturally moved faster, covering a day’s journey in half a day. But suddenly, a loud roar was heard from somewhere.

Han Li spread his consciousness to investigate and found that it was a place he had noticed on his way. It seemed that other cultivators were also gradually entering the center and searching for treasures.

Han Li briefly considered taking advantage of the chaos to obtain treasures, but he quickly dismissed the thought and shook his head. He increased the speed of the blue light and quickly left the area.

In the place he had been looking at, a dozen or so cultivators were fiercely attacking a small mountain peak with a white barrier. They were a group of mages led by the middle-aged scholar and the woman from the Peony Plains.

As Han Li quickly disappeared, the middle-aged scholar raised his eyebrows and stared in the direction he had vanished.

‘Brother Zhong, is there a problem?’

The woman asked cautiously, noticing the scholar’s reaction.

‘No. I sensed the consciousness of a Tiannan cultivator, but he flew away, so it’s not a problem. Anyway, breaking the restriction is urgent, so we don’t have time to chase him.’

‘That’s right. Breaking the restriction is more important now. I just hope this place doesn’t have only old scrap metal like the previous restrictions. Two people died from spatial rifts on the way here, didn’t they?’

The woman sighed.

‘There’s nothing we can do about the hidden spatial rifts. We prepared low-level spirit beasts from the lower realms, but they went berserk as soon as we entered the center, and we couldn’t control them.’

‘They seemed extremely afraid of something. Could there be a demon beast that is their nemesis living here? Even the fifth-level spirit beast I borrowed, the Oshijo, won’t obey my summons and stays inside the spirit beast pouch since we entered the center.’

‘That might be the case. But this place is called the most dangerous area in Tiannan, so there’s nothing we can do. We came here not to solve the secrets of Chuma Valley, but to obtain ancient treasures and elixirs on behalf of the Peony people, so don’t worry too much about unnecessary things.

We can’t waste the price we paid to the high-ranking officials of the four major powers of Tiannan to get the chance to enter Chuma Valley.’

The scholar said with a cold gaze.