Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 528

After about an hour, Han Li appeared on a not-so-high mountain peak.

In the distance, a massive city gate was already visible, crowded with carriages and pedestrians trying to enter.

“That’s good. Knowing that Guma is in the Great Jin is enough. There will be a chance to retrieve the flying sword someday. But now is not the time. I haven’t fully recovered my cultivation, nor have I refined the Three Flame Fan. Although Guma was severely injured, with his ability to absorb cultivators’ souls and devour their cores, he must have already recovered. Fighting now wouldn’t give us a high chance of victory,” the Great Yan Divine Lord calmly stated within Han Li’s consciousness.

“That’s right. Even if we catch up, the chances of retrieving the flying sword are low. Guma’s power is immense, so we should only feel safe after finding the flying sword and deploying the Great Stellar Sword Formation. It seems we should only attempt it after Senior’s puppet and the Three Flame Fan are refined.

Also, considering how fast he flew without me noticing, Guma must have urgent business. The only good thing is that he won’t have a way to deal with the two Azure Bamboo Cloud Swords. Even if he can’t use them, how could he discard a magic treasure made with Gold Thunder Bamboo as the main material, refined with essence and spirit? Besides, even if he tried to melt them with demonic fire, it would consume a large amount of his vital energy, so he wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“That’s true. If you nurture your dozens of flying swords for four or five hundred years, the power of the Great Stellar Sword Formation will become immense. It might even rival a Heaven Piercing Treasure!”

“That might be so, but I don’t intend to spend most of my life nurturing magic treasures.”

“Haha, you are wiser than this old man. If I had been half as cautious as you back then, I would have already reached the Transformation Stage… That Guma appeared near Jinjing is probably because of the auction. Be careful not to be discovered by him.”

“Yes, I understand. I originally intended to use General Ju Nam’s influence to learn more about the auction, but that’s no longer possible. If my memory serves me right, there’s a Feng family-owned tavern in Jinjing, so let’s go there first.”

Han Li dusted off his clothes and walked forward.

Jinjing was a place that both mortals and low-level cultivators admired as a beautiful and magnificent city. However, in Han Li’s eyes, it was far inferior to the Heavenly Star City of the Chaotic Star Sea.

Jinjing had six walls inside, each spaced at regular intervals, in addition to the outermost wall. Each was about five or six times higher than the previous one, with the last stone wall reaching over forty yards, a near miracle for something built by mortals.

Jinjing was divided into 13 districts, with the imperial city occupying tens of miles in the northernmost part, comparable to other districts.

Also, unlike Heavenly Star City, Jinjing had buildings densely packed along the streets, so Han Li spent almost half a day just passing through two districts from the city entrance.

Han Li finally found a two-story tavern and was walking towards it. It seemed to be doing reasonably well, with quite a few people inside, and a lean middle-aged man who looked like the owner was standing at the counter.

Han Li approached him, subtly turning his body to avoid the gazes of others, and showed him a jade pendant. The words ‘Guan Ning Feng’ were clearly engraved on it.

The owner’s expression changed upon seeing the jade pendant. He carefully examined Han Li and then looked at it again. After a moment, he retrieved the jade pendant and whispered, “Follow me.”

He turned around and entered a side door on the first floor of the tavern, taking advantage of a moment when the customers weren’t paying attention, and Han Li followed him.

“Has the young master arrived? This humble one, Feng Zhan, greets you,” the owner said, leading him to a quiet room. He returned the jade pendant with both hands and bowed respectfully. It seemed he mistook him for Feng Yue, who had died from a poison attack.

“Prepare a quiet residence. Not in the tavern, but somewhere people don’t frequent. Only you should know that I’ve come here. You must not let others in the tavern know.”

“Yes, this humble one will immediately prepare a place for you to stay. Please rest here for a while, and I will return within half a day.”

“Alright, hurry then.”

After that, Feng Zhan left the room, closed the door to the secret chamber, and quickly disappeared somewhere. Han Li sat on a chair, closed his eyes, and focused his mind.

Not long after, Han Li heard Feng Zhan’s footsteps approaching.

“Young master, the residence is ready. I am well acquainted with the owner of the mansion, and he has moved to another place, so it has been vacant. He won’t be back for a year or two. I’ve had it cleaned, so you can use it right away.”

“Good, you’ve done well. Lead the way.”

“Please follow me.”

Feng Zhan walked a few steps ahead, leading Han Li out of the room.

When they exited the back door of the tavern, a carriage was waiting, and a hunched old man was sitting in the driver’s seat.

“You even prepared a carriage in advance, you’re quite thoughtful. But I told you not to let others know I came, so who is that man?” Han Li narrowed his eyes as he looked at the old man in the carriage.

“Old man Wu suffered from an illness when he was young, so he can’t hear or speak. The residence is quite far from here, so I had no choice but to prepare a carriage.”

“If that’s the case, then I understand.”

Han Li frowned slightly, then got into the carriage, and Feng Zhan followed. At the same time, the old man started the carriage slowly without waiting for their instructions.

Han Li sat cross-legged inside the carriage, expressionless with his eyes closed, while Feng Zhan sat silently in a corner. The carriage turned through a dozen alleys and then suddenly changed direction, heading somewhere else.

After an hour, the carriage stopped in front of a quiet mansion, far from other houses in the vicinity.

Han Li and Feng Zhan got out of the carriage.

“Here it is. Please inspect it yourself, young master,” Feng Zhan said with a smile and stepped forward, about to open the door and enter.

“Are you planning to hide within the restriction first and then have the three cultivators inside capture me?” Han Li asked calmly, and Feng Zhan was startled and rushed forward. He was about to open the mansion door with both hands, just a step away from entering.

However, at that moment, a red thread appeared behind Feng Zhan’s head and brushed past him. Feng Zhan immediately burst into flames and disappeared into ashes in an instant.

The hunched old man sitting in the carriage also immediately shouted and moved towards Han Li. As the old man stretched out his hand, a green flying knife fiercely slashed out, and yellow mist flowed out from the quiet mansion.

Soon, a pair of black iron rakes and a red spear flew out from the yellow mist that covered the mansion. Han Li sneered and flicked his sleeve towards the green flying knife.

Then, a blue aura emerged, wrapped around the flying knife, and returned. His other hand casually grabbed the air where the weapons were flying from, and a huge blue hand appeared, grabbing the rakes and spear like a gust of wind.

“Hah!” A surprised gasp came from the yellow mist, and the hunched old man’s face turned pale. He couldn’t not understand what it meant that their magic treasures were all blocked effortlessly.

Without thinking further, the old man took out a blood-colored talisman. He gritted his teeth and spat blood onto the talisman, which turned into a blood-colored mist that enveloped him, and the old man flew over ten yards away in an instant.

The cultivators in the yellow mist also quickly turned into three beams of light and soared in different directions.

Han Li’s face hardened, and he flicked his fingers at the three figures that had flown up. Then, three streaks of sword energy instantly caught up with them and slashed them down.

Screams were heard from different directions, and clumps of blood fell from the sky, filling the air with a bloody stench.

The hunched old man saw this in the blood-colored mist and was terrified. He poured all his spiritual power into the blood-colored mist to increase his speed even more. He was trying to escape to a distance of tens of yards away.

He hoped that if he mixed in with the mortals, the opponent wouldn’t be able to openly attack him.

However, Han Li sneered. As he pointed at the blood-colored mist, the red thread that had killed Feng Zhan suddenly appeared a yard behind it and pierced through the blood-colored mist.

A whimpering sound was heard, and as the mist scattered, the hunched old man fell down. A blue hand appeared like a ghost, abandoned the three magic treasures, and grabbed the old man, bringing him back.

The red thread flickered in the air and disappeared, then reappeared in front of Han Li. Han Li reached out and looked at it; it was a one-inch-long needle.

The needle, neither metal nor wood, was as transparent as crystal, and its red light grew stronger and weaker, making it look very mysterious.

Han Li looked at the needle with satisfaction. It was a magic treasure carefully refined from the demon core that had turned into crystal, so it was only natural. He had expected its extremely fast speed and ability to conceal its presence, but it would become even more powerful with further nurturing.

He retrieved the needle into his body and looked up at the old man held in the blue hand. The old man had a small hole the size of a thumb in his abdomen, and his face was pale and motionless.

Under Han Li’s expressionless gaze, the old man suppressed his fear and forced a smile.

“T-This is all a misunderstanding. With your strength, senior, you are definitely not the person we were looking for. We made a mistake in not recognizing you, so please be merciful. We are cultivators from the Guan Ning Gong family, and if you have any questions, we will answer anything…” The old man realized the situation was dire and kept babbling, hoping that something he said would pique the other’s interest and save his life.

“There’s no need for that. I’ll find out what I want to know.” As soon as Han Li sent a talisman towards the old man, his begging voice disappeared. The old man’s gaze became hazy.

Han Li easily destroyed the formation spread out in the mansion, gathered all the magic treasures that had fallen on the ground, and entered the mansion. The old man held by the blue hand followed behind him.

* * *

Han Li used Soul Search [a technique to extract memories], not caring about the damage it would cause to the other’s mind, and extracted everything the old man knew. Then, he turned the old man’s body into ashes.

The old man was a steward sent by the Gong family to Jinjing. He had coerced Feng Zhan into defecting to the Gong family and had been living there.

When Han Li arrived with Feng Yue’s jade pendant, it was a chance for him to make a great contribution. The old man was overjoyed when he heard from Feng Zhan that the eldest son of the Feng family had arrived, and he immediately prepared a trap to capture Feng Yue.

As soon as Han Li left the tavern, he saw through the old man’s crude technique and realized he was a cultivator, and that something was wrong with Feng Zhan. However, he was not afraid of a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, and there were many mortals near the tavern, so he followed them to a secluded place as they wished.

And there, he encountered the Foundation Establishment cultivators who were lying in ambush. Han Li was greatly surprised by something he learned from the old man’s consciousness.

Immediately after the Three Kings Assembly hosted by the three families of Guan Ning ended, a cultivator suddenly revealed that an evil demon had possessed the Gong family head, devouring the souls of cultivators.

Then, the other two families joined forces and summoned high-level cultivators, and the Gong family head was killed on the spot, not even able to escape with his nascent soul [a cultivator’s spiritual essence].

At this time, the Profound Leaf King, who was hiding in the Snow Ridge Mountains, was enraged when he learned that his subordinate had been killed. He surprisingly pulled an ancient tomb out of the ground, released thousands of Foundation Establishment stage zombie cultivators, and openly deployed the Yellow Sky Ghost Formation [a powerful formation that enhances the power of the undead].

As a result, the three families and the high-level cultivators who came to help were forced into a great battle with the three zombies in the tomb. Many zombies were killed, but the number of low-level cultivators devoured by the Yellow Sky Ghost Formation from the three families was also considerable.

Some Nascent Soul stage cultivators [a high level of cultivation] also fought against the three zombies, who were empowered by the tomb and the formation, but they did not achieve good results. In the end, the cultivators dispatched by the three families and sects were pushed back a hundred miles and trapped on the peak where the Three Kings Assembly had been held.

And they barely managed to hold on with the formation they had set up there.

It was all because the sect cultivators had underestimated the Profound Leaf King’s strength. They thought he would be easy to deal with because he was severely injured, but the Profound Leaf King, who was originally a mid-Nascent Soul stage cultivator, was using the power of the tomb to display almost the power of a late-Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

Moreover, the other two zombies were also displaying early-Nascent Soul stage cultivation, causing them to suffer a great defeat.