Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 496

The women chosen for this expedition were naturally the most talented and beautiful from each tribe. Yeongro shook his head at the sound of laughter behind him, trying to quiet them.

‘What if the Immortal gets angry because of this?’ he thought.

Just then, a sharp bird cry pierced the sky. It was a beast’s cry, like an eagle’s, that made everyone’s ears ring.

The old man’s face immediately changed, and he looked at the burly man beside him. The burly man was equally alarmed.

“Everyone, dismount and take cover immediately! The Vulture-Ape has appeared! Quickly, bring Immortal Han here!” the old man shouted urgently. The burly man gave similar orders to his tribesmen.

“Hide behind the carriages and quickly inform Immortal Pung that a beast has appeared!”

Upon hearing the name ‘Vulture-Ape,’ the group became chaotic, and everyone dismounted in alarm. With pale faces, they hid behind the carriages and stared into the distance.

Soon, three black dots appeared in the sky, growing larger until brown beasts came into view.

The Vulture-Apes, with monkey heads and bird bodies, spread their wings and emitted eerie cries that made one’s hair stand on end.

The Vulture-Ape was only a second-level beast that inhabited the grasslands, but it was far more ferocious than other beasts of the same level. Once it grabbed something, it would crush it, whether it was stone or metal. Its eerie cries could bewitch people’s souls, making it difficult to deal with even for Foundation Establishment stage Immortals [a stage of cultivation], let alone ordinary people.

“What is there to fear? They’re just a few second-level beasts. What a fuss,” a cold voice came from inside the Hongrang Tribe’s carriage. A red light flashed as a silk scarf unfolded in the air. Yeongro was surprised to see it.

The Hongrang Tribe’s Immortal was a young man wearing a bamboo hat.

“Immortal Pung, you must be careful. There are three Vulture-Apes,” the burly man warned him. Before hiring him, he had heard that Immortal Pung was only in the early Foundation Establishment stage, so he was worried.

The old man hurriedly looked at the carriage Han Li was riding in. He saw a young man wearing a bamboo hat, emitting a blue light, looking up at the sky from the top of the carriage.

At that moment, the Vulture-Apes seemed to notice the Immortal in the navy blue robe, hovering about a hundred feet above and hesitating.

“You’re just begging to die,” the young man in the navy blue robe seemed to have lost patience when the Vulture-Apes didn’t immediately flee. He raised one hand and took out several talismans. The talismans instantly turned into long fire snakes and flew towards the beasts.

‘Fire Snake Technique?’ Han Li, who was standing on the carriage, was puzzled.

The Fire Snake Technique, which created fire snakes, was not a big deal, but possessing several such talismans was a luxury for an ordinary Foundation Establishment stage Immortal.

Han Li narrowed his eyes, thinking that the opponent was definitely not an ordinary cultivator. But soon, he frowned and sighed.

The three Vulture-Apes easily dodged the fire snakes. The young man in the navy blue robe lacked understanding of the Fire Snake Technique. He didn’t think to control the fire snakes to chase the enemies, and just wasted the talismans.

This would only enrage the beasts. The largest of the three Vulture-Apes folded its wings and charged towards the Immortal in the navy blue robe. The young man was at a loss, as the talismans didn’t work and the beasts were charging at him.

He fumbled around, took out a white sword, and mumbled something before trying to attack. Han Li shook his head at the sight.

‘No, when a beast attacks, you should deploy a protective barrier first. What is he doing?’ He was definitely a novice with no combat experience. He barely managed to activate his magic tool when the beasts were right in front of him, after quickly chanting the incantation.

The sword transformed into several long rays of light and flew out. One of the Vulture-Apes tried to grab the white rays with its sharp claws, but its foot was cut off.

However, the other two were still charging from his left and right, baring their sharp claws.

The young man in the navy blue robe was greatly alarmed and tried to use his silk magic tool, but when the two Vulture-Apes let out a piercing cry, he lost his balance as if he had been hit on the head with a hammer.

Bang!

Two fist-sized fireballs flew from somewhere and attacked the two beasts.

After the explosion and the red light faded, the surrounding temperature rose as the Vulture-Apes were engulfed in flames. The Vulture-Apes’ desperate cries also stopped.

The young man in the navy blue robe was relieved to be alive and immediately activated his magic tool, attaching a talisman to his body. Soon, a yellow protective barrier appeared around him.

Barely relieved, the young man realized that there was a big difference between cultivation and actual combat. He had almost died at the hands of a beast after just succeeding in Foundation Establishment.

Then, he finally looked at Han Li, who was wearing a bamboo hat from the opposing tribe.

The fireballs that Han Li, whose cultivation was sealed and was at the Foundation Establishment stage, had shot out could not kill two second-level beasts at once. The Vulture-Apes immediately rose from the flames and began to rampage even more wildly.

The beast with its feathers burned off now charged straight at Han Li. The Vulture-Ape with one leg cut off charged at the Immortal in the navy blue robe.

Han Li looked at the incoming beasts and brushed past the Spirit Beast Pouch [a pouch for storing spirit beasts], releasing two streaks of white light.

Then, two snow-white centipedes appeared. They were very small compared to the Vulture-Apes, but as soon as the centipedes left the Spirit Beast Pouch, they became excited and charged fearlessly.

The Vulture-Apes’ expressions changed drastically upon seeing the centipedes. They stopped and tried to flee immediately, not daring to approach the aura of an ancient insect.

However, the centipedes had no intention of letting the beasts go. They disappeared into the Vulture-Apes, enveloped in a white aura, while making eerie cries.

At this, Han Li stopped watching and looked at the young man in the navy blue robe. He was sweating profusely and using his flying sword magic tool to fight the severely injured Vulture-Ape.

Even though it was injured, the Vulture-Ape was so ferocious that it charged, trying to tear through the protective barrier with its sharp claws. Moreover, the eerie cries of the beast continued to disrupt the young man’s consciousness, making it impossible for him to concentrate properly.

The flying sword was a decent upper-grade magic tool, but he was clumsy in controlling it and couldn’t fully utilize its power. In this situation, he had no time to use other magic techniques or talismans.

Han Li looked at the Vulture-Ape with cold eyes and was wondering what to do when the beast seemed to sense something and suddenly left the young man and spread its wings to flee.

Both the young man and Han Li were surprised by the unexpected situation, but Han Li immediately reached out and shot out a red line.

Swish!

The fleeing beast trembled and fell apart in the air.

The Vulture-Apes of the Moran Grassland had a habit of remembering grudges, so Han Li had no intention of letting even one of them live. The expression of the young man changed, surprised by Han Li’s methods.

“A needle? You have a needle-shaped magic tool.”

“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?” Han Li glanced at the other person and gestured to retrieve the red needle.

“It’s not that, but…” Before the other person could explain, two thudding sounds rang out.

Large, crystal-like ice blocks fell down. Inside the ice blocks were the Vulture-Apes, and the frozen beasts were already lifeless.

The young man widened his eyes as two white lights emerged from the ice blocks and landed on Han Li’s shoulders. They were the snow-white centipede spirit beasts.

“Are those spirit insects you’re raising?”

“Yes. They are the Snow-Frost Centipedes I raise,” Han Li replied calmly, stroking one of the centipedes, to the surprised young man’s question.

The Snow-Frost Centipede was not something he had made up, but a real spirit insect. When fully grown, it looked very similar to the Six-Winged Frost Centipede, making it difficult to distinguish unless one was a cultivator skilled in handling spirit insects.

“Could you possibly give me that flying sword magic tool and the spirit insects? I would like to purchase them, no matter the price.”

The young man made a proposal that exceeded Han Li’s expectations. Han Li was stunned for a moment before smiling.

“Your joke is too much. The spirit insects have already recognized their master, and I have no intention of selling the flying sword magic tool.”

“Don’t worry about the amount of spirit stones [currency used by cultivators].”

Han Li stared at the other person for a long time at those words before speaking more coldly.

“Unfortunately, I have no intention of doing so.”

“If that’s the case, then so be it. Well, I wouldn’t easily sell such good magic tools either. My name is Pung Ak, may I know the name of the person who saved my life?” The young man was greatly disappointed but asked politely again.

“My family name is Han. Let’s get things organized first.”

“Organized?” The young man looked around and saw that the commoners, who had been hiding, were now watching them with awe-filled eyes.

Yeongro and the burly man Bal were also listening to their conversation, and the old man seemed so surprised that his mouth was agape.

“You guys take care of these. Except for the claws and a few tail feathers, I don’t need the skin and meat, so do as you see fit,” Han Li instructed the burly man and the old man. According to the rules of the grasslands, the one who killed the beast got to keep its remains.

Although they were low-level materials, Han Li was not satisfied with them, but since he was pretending to be a Foundation Establishment stage Immortal, he couldn’t just leave them behind.

“We will follow the Immortal’s orders,” the old man replied with a delighted expression. The meat and skin of the Vulture-Ape were nothing to cultivators, but they were hard to obtain among commoners.

The burly man also replied respectfully from the side.

Following the orders of the two chiefs, several sturdy young men came forward. They were to move the corpses of the three beasts and cut them up according to Han Li’s orders.

The one killed with the needle-shaped magic tool was in decent condition, but the two that had turned into ice blocks seemed like they would have to be broken with a hammer first.

“If you have nothing more to say, I will go rest,” Han Li said coldly to the young man, and without giving the other person a chance to answer, he returned to his carriage.

The young man was inwardly surprised by this attitude. He had wanted to build some rapport with the other person, but he hadn’t been given the chance.

It was a pity. But since he had just saved his life and seemed quite capable, he couldn’t complain. After a long sigh, the young man also returned to his carriage.

He didn’t realize that Han Li, who had returned to his carriage, was watching him.

“Master, he seems to have a special background, why are you keeping him at such a distance?” Eunwol’s voice echoed in Han Li’s mind.

“That person is not from Dolol,” Han Li’s words immediately surprised Eunwol.

“What does this look like?” Han Li grasped something in the air, and a jade pendant appeared with a flash of blue light.

“Ancient characters of the Great Jin are engraved on it.”

“Perhaps even if I hadn’t intervened, nothing major would have happened. The one named Pung Ak possessed this jade pendant, which is a top-grade magic tool. In a critical situation, a protective barrier would have activated automatically. Can you recognize the Great Jin characters?”

“Yes. It says ‘Jeojung Pung.’ With such a title, isn’t it the way the Great Jin aristocratic families like to do things, as written in the scriptures? The Pung family name is one thing, but what does ‘Jeojung’ mean? It could be Jeocheon County, one of the thirty-six great counties of the Great Jin, or it could be Seojeo Province, one of the one hundred and eight provinces. It’s impossible to figure out his identity with just this.”

Before heading to the Great Jin, Han Li had looked up various customs related to the Great Jin, and Eunwol had also read quite a few books, so she knew about them.

“Whether he is from any aristocratic family of the Great Jin, the fact that he appeared alone in the Cheonran Grassland means that he is involved in something troublesome. So, the further we stay away from him, the better. First of all, it’s important to get out of the grasslands and resolve the killing intent.”

After speaking, Han Li closed his eyes again.

“That’s right. With a top-grade magic tool while being at the Foundation Establishment stage, it’s highly likely that he is an important figure in the Pung family,” Eunwol said, agreeing with Han Li’s opinion with a small laugh.