Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 472

Nan Longhou didn’t recognize the Gold Devouring Beetles, but he was alarmed by the potent energy radiating from the ancient insects and instinctively reached out to intercept the swarm. A massive, spectral hand formed from blazing, ash-white flames materialized in the air, ensnaring every single Gold Devouring Beetle without missing one.

Then, Nan Longhou sneered and attempted to resume his pursuit of Han Li.

At that moment, the white-clad woman, who had been biding her time, activated her mirror once more, unleashing a multicolored beam of light to trap Nan Longhou, while Linghu Patriarch sent the white ring hovering above his head hurtling towards him.

Annoyed, Nan Longhou flickered, dodging the beam of light. The beam possessed considerable power, but it was inconsequential if he could evade it.

The white ring was also a treasure designed to restrain opponents, but it couldn’t possibly reach Nan Longhou, who moved with incredible speed.

Nan Longhou paused briefly to reassess the situation.

Although Linghu Patriarch and the white-clad woman were attacking, the most immediate threat was Han Li’s Evil-warding Lightning. Having made up his mind, he charged towards Han Li again.

However, Han Li, protected by his barrier, was not idle. He brushed one of his spirit beast bags, and a dozen or so white lights shot out, instantly transforming into a dozen puppets.

The tiger-headed, human-bodied puppets blocked Nan Longhou’s path, brandishing their claws.

Nan Longhou was surprised to see the tiger puppets appear before him, but he didn’t hesitate and tried to break through them.

The dozen or so puppets moved, flashing white light, and surrounded Nan Longhou, with dozens of sharp claws flying towards him.

In response, Nan Longhou ignored the claws trying to scratch him and shook his arms. Then, a pair of fists flew fiercely towards the sharp claws of the puppet beasts.

A dull sound echoed as the sharp claws and fists collided violently, and the tiger’s sharp claws, as well as its forearms, began to crack.

However, the puppets, fearless, continued to swing their claws. Seeing this, Nan Longhou chuckled and vanished from the spot with a whoosh.

He then moved out of the puppets’ encirclement and used both hands to pierce the chests of the one-armed tiger beast puppets. Puppets didn’t have hearts, but such severe injuries would cause them to lose control and fall.

The opponent’s powerful fists were too much even for the puppets that Han Li had carefully crafted. However, Nan Longhou’s attack this time had a different target.

His target was Han Li. So, before the other puppets could surround him, he flickered and appeared in front of Han Li, throwing a punch. Han Li, inside the barrier, did not raise his magic power but observed the opponent’s fist covered in demonic energy.

The moment Nan Longhou felt suspicious, countless explosions sounded from behind his head. It was as if something was exploding continuously nearby.

Startled, Nan Longhou didn’t have time to think and withdrew his fist, flickering left and right in a bizarre trajectory. He left behind countless afterimages before disappearing completely at some point.

Then, countless green claws appeared in the spot where he had been, tearing through the afterimages in the air. A green light flashed, and a monster that looked like a hairy skull coldly stared at Nan Longhou.

It was the Heavenly Fiend Corpse that Han Li had secretly summoned while the puppets were providing cover.

“A corpse?”

Nan Longhou muttered, surprised, as he looked at the Heavenly Fiend Corpse. Meanwhile, the remaining tiger puppets quickly surrounded Han Li.

Inside, Han Li spread his arms, shooting out golden lightning from one hand and a purple light from the other, with flames silently burning. Having finished his preparations, Han Li stared expressionlessly at the demonic soul.

Nan Longhou snorted at the sight. It was already impossible to win now that the opponent had recovered his magic power. Moreover, he was reluctant to face the continuous release of so many Evil-warding Lightnings.

If his memory was correct, the power of the Evil-warding Lightning was formidable even before the seal. However, the magical treasures that could emit Evil-warding Lightning were extremely rare, and even if one possessed such a treasure, it would be exhausted after being used twice at most, making it no match for the demonic souls.

But the man before him was continuously emitting Evil-warding Lightning, which was a headache. What made him hesitate even more was the unusual purple flame.

The demonic soul, unable to easily defeat his opponent, became lost in thought. Linghu Patriarch and the white-clad woman, who were watching from afar, grew uneasy as Han Li and Nan Longhou stopped fighting.

Although they didn’t attack immediately, they kept the multicolored light pillar and the round ring treasure hovering above Nan Longhou. In particular, the round ring treasure momentarily increased and decreased in size.

At this moment, an explosion was heard from one side. Nan Longhou looked over in surprise and saw ash-white flames exploding in the air, with a swarm of golden spirit insects buzzing inside. And when the flames subsided, the cyan claws inside had also disappeared.

Nan Longhou’s expression changed. As soon as the golden spirit insects escaped the flames, they flew towards Han Li.

“Your ability to command is not small. It would be impossible to extract your Nascent Soul [the core of a cultivator’s power] with ordinary methods. But the more it is like this, the more I must kill you to prevent future troubles. This body is only temporary anyway, it doesn’t matter if it gets damaged.”

Nan Longhou, who had been silent, spoke with a vicious glint in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, and black demonic energy poured out from his entire body, with strange sounds coming from each of his joints. A moment later, Nan Longhou’s form instantly grew several feet taller, and the area where his neck and shoulders met became bulging as if something was about to burst out.

Han Li immediately shot out a serpent made of golden lightning from one hand and a purple fireball from the other.

And as Han Li murmured something, the golden Gold Devouring Beetles flew above his head, while the puppets and the Heavenly Fiend Corpse stood their ground, preparing for any possible surprise attack.

On the other side, Linghu Patriarch and the white-clad woman, seeing that Nan Longhou was about to unleash some tremendous demonic art, pointed their treasures in the air and formed hand seals. Then, the multicolored light pillar changed direction and fell above Nan Longhou’s head, a step ahead of the attacks Han Li had launched.

And the round ring, emitting white light, suddenly grew in size, covering Nan Longhou with its massive, palm-sized body.

However, the demonic soul paid little attention to their attacks and hid his body in the black energy. As a result, the multicolored light pillar that touched the black energy disappeared instantly, as if it had been devoured.

At this moment, Han Li’s lightning and purple flames, as well as the white ring’s attack, began simultaneously, with the Gold Devouring Beetles following closely behind. All the attacks were controlled by Han Li and Linghu Patriarch, chasing closely behind.

The black energy wavered under their attacks, and the demonic soul popped out momentarily, but it was difficult to track its trajectory as it flickered and moved erratically.

Seeing this, the white-clad woman once again manipulated her mirror treasure to shoot out light pillars, but it was not enough to keep up with Nan Longhou’s rapid movements.

As some time passed in the chase, Han Li’s face darkened as he controlled the lightning and the Purple Aurora Flame with his consciousness.

“Boy, if you don’t have any more hidden cards, you should run away quickly. Demonic souls and human cultivators are completely different. They are all cruel and have a lot of combat experience. Although they can’t show their full power from another world, if a demonic soul starts to fight seriously, ordinary cultivators will never be a match for them. My research on Nascent Soul puppets is not finished yet, so you can’t die yet.”

Suddenly, the voice of Great Yan Divine Monarch was heard. However, instead of answering, Han Li shook his sleeves, summoning dozens of golden flying swords.

Han Li was instantly surrounded by the flying swords, and over a hundred golden lights appeared, flashing.

“Go.”

Han Li formed a hand seal and spoke in a low voice.

The numerous sword lights resonated, vibrating in various places, and then disappeared from the spot in a bizarre trajectory, unfolding the Great Stellar Sword Formation in front of Han Li.

“Huh, a sword formation! So you had more tricks up your sleeve. Then, forget what I said. You seem confident, so I’ll just watch this time.”

Great Yan Divine Monarch said leisurely as he looked at the sword formation.

“You will soon see the power of the sword formation. If the demonic soul’s true body appears, I don’t know if this can injure it, but it should be able to strip the body of a human cultivator.”

“You young one, what boasting! That demonic soul has only been fighting you with the brute force of his demonized body so far. See the power of the ancient demonic arts before you speak.”

Great Yan Divine Monarch sneered.

“Judging by your tone, it seems you’ve seen it yourself. But didn’t you say you’ve never been to the Demon Suppression Valley?”

“Hmph, even if I haven’t seen it, I’ve heard of it. Some of my friends who went into the Demon Suppression Valley back then were no less skilled than I was. They fought together, but only one of them survived. That alone shows how great the ancient demonic arts are.”

Great Yan Divine Monarch snorted at Han Li’s question.

Han Li smiled and was about to answer when he noticed something roaring and revealing itself from the black energy. Linghu Patriarch and the white-clad woman also changed their expressions and gasped as they confirmed the opponent’s appearance.

The Nan Longhou before them had transformed into a monster with two heads and four arms. The necks protruding from the front and back were of different sizes, making it extremely grotesque, and the four arms that had appeared through his shoulders were hanging down to his knees.

The face of the front head was covered in purple scales and had small horns, but judging by the size of its eyes, nose, and mouth, it seemed to be the part that was originally attached to the body.

However, the head at the back was completely like a monster.

It had horns, its skin was covered in scales, and its dark blue face had long, protruding fangs, with black lips and a tongue that made one feel like they were looking at a venomous snake.

What was even stranger was that the clear eyes on top of its head emitted a silvery light, creating a bizarre atmosphere.

Linghu Patriarch and the white-clad woman were surprised, but they were still Nascent Soul cultivators who had lived for hundreds of years, so they soon regained their composure. And when Nan Longhou revealed his form and didn’t move, they attacked with their treasures as if they had agreed to do so.

The multicolored light pillar flashed and instantly trapped Nan Longhou inside. Linghu Patriarch saw this as an opportunity and tried to violently pounce on him.

However, the demonic soul’s back head tore open its large mouth, pulled up the corners of its mouth, and snatched the ring that was falling from above.

Startled, Linghu Patriarch urged the treasure to escape with a hand seal. Light burst out in all directions from the disc, struggling to escape from the crisis, but the four massive hands did not budge.

The demonic soul’s back head smiled slyly and sprayed a jet-black liquid from its mouth. Then, the shining treasure lost its light and was dyed a strange black color.

“My Inscribed Yang Ring!”

Linghu Patriarch shouted in great surprise. As soon as the round ring’s color changed, the connection with the treasure was severed. The old man’s face turned pale.

Then, the demonic soul shook the ring, creating layers of illusions. The same satisfied expression appeared on both heads.

“I didn’t have any useful treasures anyway. This will do.”

The demonic soul’s front head said. At the same time, the other three hands brushed against his body, and a black flag and a black sword appeared. However, the remaining hand was just a bare, red fist.

“They are just the treasures of you demonized cultivators, but…”

The demonic soul laughed ominously.

While Han Li was busy deploying the formation, the speed of the lightning and fireballs slowed down. And the Gold Devouring Beetles, seeing the demonic soul with two heads and four arms, were afraid and couldn’t move forward.

Since their consciousness was connected, Han Li could feel their fear as well.

Moreover, the Twin-Headed Four-Armed demonic art that the demonic soul had unleashed reminded him of the patterns of the Brahma Saint True Piece and the three-headed, six-armed demon statue he had seen in the cave dwelling of Merchant Cang Kun.

‘Could these three be related?’

The black flag that the demonic soul was holding was the treasure that Old Man Lu had used, and the sword was one of the treasures that had been divided from the ancient cultivator ruins. But now was not the time to have such doubts. He had to lure the demonic soul into the Great Stellar Sword Formation.
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