Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 505

A short while later, as the two sand flood dragons charged, an explosive collision echoed. The shattered flood dragons transformed into giant sand silkworms, trapping him completely.

The woman floating in the air was startled when Han Li produced a cauldron similar to the Dolol people’s sacred objects. However, seeing him easily trapped in the sand, she smiled.

She knew the power of the Dolol people’s sacred cauldron best.

Once trapped in the sand, even if several Grand Cultivators joined forces, it would be difficult to escape for a while. Now, the opponent’s life or death was practically in her hands.

*Thud!*

The protective barrier formed by the transformed navy shield shattered, and a sand cloud surged, engulfing Han Li. The silkworm shape made of sand grew larger and larger.

Now completely at ease, the woman moved, stepping onto the cauldron and slowly descending. However, when she had descended about ten yards, something strange happened.

Numerous navy lights pierced through the steel-hardened sand silkworm, and before she could cast a spell to recover it, it collapsed and returned to a sand cloud.

Then, a dazzling navy aura flashed, and Han Li stood there holding a small cauldron in his hand, looking at the Holy Maiden. The Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden stood there, looking down at him in disbelief.

Han Li chuckled softly and tapped the lid of the Heavenly Void Cauldron in his hand. Then, navy light spread out like waves everywhere. Wherever the navy waves spread, the blue sand disappeared, as if the waves were swallowing the sand.

The Holy Maiden hurriedly formed hand seals to attack Han Li with the remaining sand. However, the sand did not move at all. Her connection with it had been severed.

The Holy Maiden was shocked and urgently pointed at the cauldron beneath her feet. Then, the giant cauldron began to spin, emitting an even more dazzling blue light towards Han Li.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and activated the first stage of the Tongbo Technique [a cultivation technique] to move the small cauldron. A majestic roar echoed, and the cauldron lid instantly transformed into a navy beam of light, soaring into the sky. Then, five-colored rays of light spread out from the center of the cauldron.

The blue light that the Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden had shot out disappeared into it, as if a river flowed into the sea.

“… !”

Not only the Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden but also Han Li was greatly surprised by the strange phenomenon and was momentarily stunned.

*Woong!*

At that moment, the giant cauldron that the Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden was standing on resonated and turned into a blue beam of light, falling downwards.

She was greatly alarmed and tried to summon the cauldron back with hand seals, but the blue beam of light ignored her and went straight into the small cauldron and disappeared.

The Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden was furious, but the situation did not end there.

The Heavenly Void Cauldron in Han Li’s hand suddenly floated up, spinning around, and then aimed at the white mist before a sunset glow flashed. Then, a terrified beast’s cry was heard from within the white mist, and it began to flee hastily.

It was the Heavenly Orchid Holy Beast, with the head of an ox and the body of a flood dragon. However, the dazzling navy aura caught up with the beast at an unbelievable speed and enveloped it.

The Heavenly Orchid Holy Beast screamed madly and struggled, but its body gradually shrank within the aura and was sucked into the cauldron.

The cauldron lid fell from the sky again, covering the cauldron, and the Heavenly Orchid Holy Beast was trapped inside.

In the blink of an eye, the color drained from the Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden’s face. She had clearly been in a superior position, but she could not understand how things had turned out this way in an instant.

She had now lost both her treasure and her Holy Beast. However, the Holy Maiden was not an ordinary cultivator, so she quickly regained her composure and glared at Han Li’s Heavenly Void Cauldron with cold eyes.

It was clear that everything was because of that object that looked similar to the sacred cauldron.

‘I must take that!’

The Holy Maiden made up her mind.

Han Li, who immediately understood her intentions, laughed loudly and used his silver wings to appear dozens of yards away.

After summoning the giant sword, he flicked his fingers and formed a series of strange hand seals, and a strong spiritual energy emanated from his body.

He opened his mouth and spat out a few mouthfuls of essence blood, and the blood clots turned into a blood-colored mist, surrounded by blue and red light, creating an eerie atmosphere.

His exposed hands and face began to turn strangely red, almost blood-colored, making him look truly terrifying to anyone who saw him. Han Li’s figure in the blood-colored mist began to blur.

“No!”

The Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden anticipated Han Li’s movements and shouted in surprise. She quickly spread her arms and shot out two silver threads, but Han Li retrieved the giant sword and disappeared from the spot, leaving behind a blood-colored shadow.

The Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden, with a heavy heart, spread her consciousness to find him, but Han Li, who had revealed his presence a hundred miles away, used the Blood Shadow Escape [a movement technique] and disappeared from her consciousness again, making it impossible to find him.

The woman turned pale and stood in the air, not knowing what to do.

* * *

At the same time, a thousand miles away, a handsome young man surrounded by nine cyan wheels was looking down at a meadow.

“Wood Escape Technique? Even with such serious injuries, he’s using the power of vegetation to hide! That demonic energy is powerful. But now, he won’t even have the strength to take over another cultivator’s body, so he’ll collapse and scatter soon. But I have a bad feeling… Could something have happened to the others?”

The young man’s eyes wavered, and he raised his head to look somewhere. He hesitated, then combined the nine wheels into one, retrieved them, and turned into a cyan beam of light and flew away.

And under a small shrub in the meadow, a jet-black light flickered. A small flag was planted in the ground, and a half-foot-sized hole was pierced in the air above it.

Inside, a dark green small nascent soul [a cultivator’s soul] was lying unconscious, absorbing the pure demonic energy from the flag and recovering from its injuries.

In another place, a woman with purple hair was using a jade-made ancient treasure to trap thousands of Devouring Gold Bugs and was piercing the body of the young man who had startled her.

However, the opponent’s body flashed and surprisingly transformed into a seductive woman, then shattered into light and disappeared.

The woman was speechless for a moment.

* * *

Several hours later, the handsome young man and the purple-haired beauty met with the Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden again and talked.

“Are you saying that you not only failed to find out how the opponent cultivated the Devouring Gold Bugs but also lost the sacred object and the Holy Beast?”

“There is one more sacred cauldron as a backup, so there will be no problem with the summoning ritual in the future, but losing the Holy Beast’s clone is a big deal. The Upper Realm Holy Beast will surely be furious. We must retrieve it.”

The purple-haired woman also expressed her difficulty at the handsome young man’s words.

“This is largely my fault. I was too careless, relying only on the sacred cauldron. I will go to the Great Jin myself to retrieve the Holy Beast’s clone. Also, the cauldron that the person has is strange. I suspect it might be the main body of the Heaven Piercing Treasure [a legendary powerful artifact] that we modeled when refining the sacred cauldron. Otherwise, there is no way to explain this.”

“Heaven Piercing Treasure? That’s impossible. How could such a treasure still remain in the Human Realm? Weren’t they all moved to the Upper Realm by the ancient cultivators? Even the Dolol people’s treasure, the sacred cauldron, was created by an ancestor with great talent using a secret technique to replicate the method learned from the Holy Beast.”

The purple-haired woman looked bewildered.

“It’s not impossible. With the appearance of the Old Demons, it’s not strange that a few Heaven Piercing Treasures are still left in the Human Realm.”

The purple-haired woman and the Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden’s expressions changed when the existence of the Old Demons was mentioned.

“Hmph! Everyone says the Old Demons are terrifying, but it’s a pity that I haven’t had a chance to test my skills against them. Their escape techniques are so mysterious that they passed through our meadow and disappeared into the Great Jin without anyone knowing.”

“That’s because the Old Demon was already seriously injured when he entered the meadow. Otherwise, who knows what a disaster it would have been for the meadow.”

The young man sighed and smiled bitterly.

“Whether the treasure that person has is a Heaven Piercing Treasure or not, he killed the Grand Cultivators and even stole the Holy Beast, so we can’t let him go. As the Holy Maiden, you lost the sacred cauldron and the Holy Beast, so you must retrieve them yourself. Otherwise, you will be reprimanded by the Holy Beast at the next summoning ritual.”

The Holy Maiden said with a dark face. At her words, the young man and the woman exchanged glances, and then the young man quietly continued.

“Since the Holy Maiden has said so, I won’t stop you from going to the Great Jin. However, many sects in the Great Jin have prejudices against our Dolol clan, so it would be better not to reveal your identity.

Judging by that person’s strength, his power within the Great Jin must be considerable, so it would be best to go to the Yin Fiend Sect first and confirm whether the opponent is really an elder of the Yin Fiend Sect. Once the opponent’s identity is clear, contact us immediately in the meadow. We will help you after that.”

“I understand. Since that person’s strength is not to be underestimated, I should naturally refrain from reckless actions.”

The Heavenly Orchid Holy Maiden planned to finish a few things and then immediately infiltrate the Great Jin to track down Han Li.

* * *

Liaozhou in the Great Jin was a large area among the 108 provinces of the Great Jin. However, most of the area had extreme weather with snow all year round, so the population was sparse, and the amount of grain produced was not large.

The Sunkang River, which passed through the Liaozhou area, was the second largest river in the area and one of the few tributaries that did not freeze. Therefore, every year at this time, merchants and others who wanted to trade had to travel by boat along this river. Using a boat was much easier than riding a horse or using a carriage.

Also, at regular intervals, the Great Jin’s official ships patrolled along the waterway.

However, the river was long, and there were many ships passing by, so there were also many robbers. Therefore, large ships hired some skilled guards.

Wang Cheolchang was one of the ordinary guards protecting the ships. As his name suggested, he was quite skilled in spear techniques.

He had been in this field since he was young and had been working as a guard for twenty years, so the young man had become an unfathomable martial artist.

He was now standing at the bow of a large ship, looking at the nearby ships. This was the most familiar escort mission for him, and the only unusual thing was that the owner of the ship was a family member of a high-ranking official of a certain government office.

Usually, ships involved with such government offices were not touched by the bandits of the martial world, so the escort missions usually ended without any problems.

This time, too, the journey was almost over, but nothing had happened. Wang Cheolchang smiled as he thought of his young son, whom he would meet when the journey was over.

But then, suddenly, a woman’s scream was heard.

“What is this!? Please come quickly! There’s a person inside a huge block of ice…”

Wang Cheolchang was startled by the sound. It was impossible for there to be a block of ice on the Sunkang River on such a sunny day. Moreover, a person inside it.

He had lived in the martial world for a long time, but this was the first time he had encountered such a thing. He touched the two short iron spears on his back and walked towards the sound.

When he went to one corner of the ship, there were already seven or eight people gathered. Looking at a spot four or five yards away from the ship, he saw something white floating on the river.

Indeed, it was a transparent block of ice, and the figure of a person could be faintly seen inside it.