Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 562

Several cultivators in navy robes and red hoods were observing seven pillars of light shooting into the sky from about twenty *li* [approximately six miles] away.

“What could have caused such a tremendous event?” one asked.

“Whatever it is, it must be significant. Junior Sister Ye, return to the sect and report this immediately. The rest of you, follow me to investigate these light pillars,” the dark-faced cultivator at the lead instructed carefully.

One of the cultivators immediately turned his magical artifact towards the sect, while the rest of the middle-aged cultivators flew towards the lake.

Farther away, on a high mountain peak, over a hundred cultivators of various attire had gathered for a meeting. Most were at the Qi Condensation stage, with a few at the Foundation Establishment stage among them.

They too noticed the light pillars and realized something significant was happening. Immediately, many cultivators climbed onto high rocks or rode their magical artifacts to get a better view.

Below an unnamed mountain, a plump old man stood lost in thought, watching the light pillars through a half-open stone gate. These events were occurring within thousands of *li* around the small lake where the Ye family cultivators had gathered.

Soon, news that a rare treasure had appeared somewhere quickly spread throughout the entire Southern River region.

Within days, everyone in the surrounding areas knew about it. And in an instant, this matter became the main topic of conversation among the Southern River cultivators.

When the Ye family cultivators descended underground, Han Li found himself inside a massive teleportation array in an unknown location. It was a huge stalactite cave with stone walls on all sides.

He looked down with a gloomy expression at something that had fallen at his feet. The shattered round rings were as red as blood and still faintly glowing with spiritual energy.

These were the magical artifacts that had bound Yin Shiyacha. The red rings were in pieces, and Yin Shiyacha had vanished without a trace.

He glanced at his waist. A green jade talisman was attached and still glowing. He had seen something similar before; it was a teleportation talisman, an extremely rare item.

However, the one he had seen in the Chaotic Star Sea was just a talisman, while this was a jade talisman. He frowned and looked at the navy spiritual badge in his hand.

He had been holding the Great Shifting Order, fearing it would be torn by the pressure, but unexpectedly, the jade talisman had appeared on his waist the moment the teleportation array activated.

It was unclear whether it was the effect of the massive teleportation array itself or the consideration of the ancient cultivator who had set it up. Such an ancient teleportation talisman would certainly be invaluable for talisman crafting.

As Han Li reached out, the jade talisman scattered into spiritual light.

He paused and smiled wryly. The talisman was modified to be used only once.

As Han Li’s talisman disappeared, the jade talismans attached to the soul puppet and the two gray cocoons still suspended in the air also scattered into light and vanished.

However, in front of Shi Lang’s corpse, the soul puppet was excitedly pounding its chest and making a fuss. Shi Lang had unfortunately been teleported right next to Han Li and had been critically injured by the Evil-Slaying Divine Thunder before being teleported.

Then, the soul puppet emitted a yellow aura and absorbed all of Shi Lang’s corpse energy. It seemed that Yin Shiyacha no longer intended to fight. As soon as he regained his freedom, he must have used a wind escape technique to flee.

Han Li had no intention of chasing after Yin Shiyacha. First, without a barrier to contain him, it would be difficult to kill him relying solely on the power of the Three Flame Fan. Second, he had obtained the Yin Marrow that the cultivators had risked their lives to capture.

He turned his gaze to the soul puppet, who was shaking something white in its hand. It was the Yin Marrow, with its soft, white fur.

Just before being teleported, the Yin Marrow had hidden back inside Shi Lang’s body. As a result, it was almost swept into the soul puppet’s stomach by the yellow aura, but Han Li had immediately noticed it and stopped the soul puppet.

The two trapped flying swords were recalled by Han Li just before teleportation, and the Nascent Soul of Lady Mi, who had been trapped in the Soul-Slaying Banner, was swallowed by Yin Shiyacha.

Unfortunately, the flying needles refined with Nether Iron had disappeared in Yin Shiyacha’s hands. Although they were not his natal magic treasure, he had personally refined them, so it would be difficult to erase the magic treasure’s spirit and take possession of them in a short time.

Han Li looked around, but this place did not seem to be inside the Yin-Yang Cave. First of all, there was no black Yin wind, and on the contrary, the spiritual energy was abundant. It seemed to be a cave inside a huge mountain, and a high-grade spiritual vein seemed to be flowing through it.

He examined the teleportation array at his feet. Although it was clearly different from the ones he had seen before, it was definitely a one-way teleportation array, and he could not return using it.

After assessing the surrounding situation, he frowned and finally examined the two gray cocoons. The intense spiritual energy emanating from them indicated that Old Man Bu and Bai Yaoyi seemed to be safe.

After hesitating for a moment, he retrieved the soul puppet, pulled the Yin Marrow, attached a restriction talisman to it, and put it into his spirit beast pouch. Only then did he reach out both hands and send lightning bolts to each cocoon.

*Kuururung! Kwakwang!*

The massive cocoons burst open with golden lightning, and Old Man Bu and Bai Yaoyi emerged. Both looked pale and their expressions were not good. They had been trapped inside the Soul-Slaying Banner, which absorbed spiritual power, for a long time, so their magic power loss must have been enormous.

“Thank you for saving us!” Old Man Bu said, composing himself and clasping his hands.

“If it weren’t for Brother Han, we would have been helpless. Who would have thought that Yin Shiyacha would be hiding in the Yin-Yang Cave?” Bai Yaoyi also bowed to Han Li and gave a wry smile. Han Li looked at them and smiled. On the surface, they seemed grateful, but he knew they were wary of him deep down.

Although they had been trapped, they could hear the sounds of Han Li fighting the enemy. They realized that Han Li was a powerful cultivator who could fight Yin Shiyacha alone and even make him flee.

Moreover, now that they had been teleported to an unknown place and there were only three of them, they had reason to feel a sense of crisis. At that moment, Han Li threw the spirit beast pouch containing the Yin Marrow towards Old Man Bu.

“This is the Yin Marrow. That’s all, just give me one more refined Spirit Nourishing Pill. Do you have any other opinions?”

“Two? If there are enough, of course, we should give them to you,” Old Man Bu said, relieved and readily agreeing.

“I agree too. Rather, I am ashamed that I did nothing. It’s all thanks to Fellow Daoist Han, so we should naturally give you a larger share,” Bai Yaoyi added with a light smile.

“Good then. You two should rest here for now. I will go out first and see where this place is.”

“Go ahead. We have consumed a lot of magic power, so we will need to meditate for a while,” Old Man Bu said, and Bai Yaoyi nodded before sitting down in a cross-legged position. Han Li turned into a blue streak of light and went out through the passage, releasing his spiritual sense to prepare for a possible ambush by Yin Shiyacha.

However, he did not need to worry about Old Man Bu and Bai Yaoyi running away with the Yin Marrow. They had left marks on each other in the Yin-Yang Cave, so they could locate each other within a few days.

Han Li had briefly considered killing them all and taking the Yin Marrow, but the chances of him succeeding in refining the Spirit Nourishing Pill were too low. And the words and actions the two cultivators had shown so far had left a good impression, so he did not feel a strong urge to kill them.

So, after a moment of contemplation, he had saved them.

Following the stalactite cave, he came out to a place like the entrance of a large hall, where a staircase made of bluestone led upwards, the end of which was not visible to the naked eye.

‘Am I still inside the mountain?’ Han Li wondered, surprised, but he did not slow down and continued to fly upwards along the passage. However, the stairs continued endlessly, which surprised him.

Considering his flying speed, he had flown an enormous distance, and if he had not known that there were no formations around, he would have suspected that he had fallen into an illusion formation.

Puzzled, he moved several *li* and finally saw a light flickering at what seemed to be an exit, and he felt relieved.

As he emerged, his vision brightened, and he saw a large open space paved with stones. As he inhaled, abundant spiritual energy filled his lungs. It was much denser than the spiritual energy in the cave where the teleportation array was located.

He turned his gaze and saw a mountain protruding at the end of the plaza. He looked up at the sky and saw that a mountain was also protruding from the passage behind him.

This place seemed to be a large plaza built in a valley between two incredibly high mountains. Han Li looked around and immediately turned into a blue streak of light and flew up.

He flew up almost several thousand *zhang* [approximately several thousand feet] before finally escaping the valley, but after circling for half a day, he returned to the valley again.

Han Li was dumbfounded. He had seen various mountains in his life, and the Sacred Mountain on Heavenly Star Island in the Chaotic Star Sea was the largest. It looked as if the mountain was supporting the sky, and surprisingly, it was divided into 81 levels where cultivators resided.

But this place was comparable to the Sacred Mountain of Heavenly Star Island, or rather, it was much larger. However, what surprised him even more was that this massive mountain was surrounded by an even more massive restriction.

Everywhere he looked, there was a white light barrier. Only ancient cultivators could do such a tremendous thing. Looking at the endless white light, he finally flew towards it.

After flying for about an hour, he reached the white light barrier, and the blue light that appeared as he used his escape technique looked like a grain of sand in front of the endless light barrier.

As the restriction got closer, Han Li could tell that it contained enormous spiritual power without even attacking it.

Even a Nascent Soul middle-stage cultivator, let alone a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator, would not be able to break through the restriction by force.

He looked down at the massive mountain, but it was too quiet. There was no chirping of birds or movement of animals, and the entire mountain was as silent as death.

However, the enormous spiritual energy emanating from the mountain was real, and the discrepancy made Han Li sense danger. With a slightly hardened face, he returned to the cave where the teleportation array was located.

* * *

When he returned to the cave, Old Man Bu and Bai Yaoyi were still meditating.

Han Li glanced at them and took out formation flags and discs from his storage pouch and threw them into the air. Then, various spiritual lights spread out, creating a simple barrier. The barrier would conceal their aura and warn them if someone entered the cave.

When the barrier was complete, Han Li sat down quietly on one side of the cave, just like the other cultivators, and closed his eyes. After a day passed, Old Man Bu and Bai Yaoyi, having recovered their magic power, got up first.

“Have you fully recovered your magic power?” Han Li asked.

“Thanks to Brother Han’s protection, we have recovered most of our magic power,” Old Man Bu replied.

“Did you find out where this place is?” Old Man Bu asked, looking down at the massive teleportation array.

“I don’t know. It seems that this place is a cave inside a huge mountain, but the entire place is blocked by a restriction, making it difficult to escape.”

“A huge mountain? Brother Han is a foreign cultivator, so you may not know the famous mountains of the mainland. I will go and check it out.”

“Haha, is that so? Then go and take a look.”

“Judging from Brother Han’s tone, it seems there is something special about this place. May I go as well?” Bai Yaoyi asked, noticing Han Li’s strange expression. Han Li simply nodded in response.

Then, Old Man Bu and Bai Yaoyi turned into streaks of light and disappeared through the passage.

# 564