Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 586

The Demonic Dragon Blade was a treasure with a vicious divine ability. When it killed cultivators, it would absorb their blood, flesh, and souls to refine them. Therefore, the more cultivators it slaughtered, the stronger it became. There were even rumors that it had once been used to cut down a Transformation Stage cultivator [a very high level of cultivation].

It was generally accepted that if the Demonic Dragon Blade’s power was increased by killing cultivators, it could unleash power close to that of a Heaven-Reaching Treasure [a legendary, extremely powerful artifact].

Of course, both Heaven-Reaching Treasures and the Demonic Dragon Blade had long disappeared from the human realm, so no one had actually compared them.

“Judging by its similar appearance and the fact that the cultivator’s Nascent Soul [a cultivator’s core of power] is safe, it doesn’t seem to be the Demonic Dragon Blade. It’s probably one of the rare demonic treasures,” Kyu-ryeong muttered, having listened quietly.

“Perhaps you’re right!”

Han Li nodded and looked towards the direction of the Devil Subduing Pagoda. The area of the mountain peak had definitely shrunk compared to before.

‘Since Mount Kunwu was called a sacred mountain of the human realm, it wouldn’t be strange if a Heaven-Reaching Treasure was hidden there.’

Han Li thought, recalling the Heaven Refining Cauldron [a powerful artifact he possesses].

With the help of Kyu-ryeong and the human-shaped puppet, it wouldn’t be a bad choice to aim for the Heaven-Reaching Treasure. The seven or eight high-grade spirit stones he had found in the old devil’s storage pouch would also be a great help in unleashing the puppet’s power.

“Master, how about we go take a look? For some reason, the current Devil Subduing Pagoda feels strange. It’s as if something there is calling to me! It feels very familiar, and I think it’s related to my lost memories,” Eun-wol suddenly muttered in his mind.

“Something is calling to you?”

“Yes! It’s a vague feeling, but if I miss this opportunity, I don’t know when I’ll be able to recover my memories.”

Eun-wol wanted him to go to the Devil Subduing Pagoda. Han Li, who had been silent, smiled lightly and said,

“In that case, let’s go take a look! I’ve also become interested in the Heaven-Reaching Treasure.”

“Thank you, Master!”

Eun-wol was overjoyed.

“Cultivator Kyu, since a Heaven-Reaching Treasure has appeared, it would be good to go take a look.”

“I will follow your wishes, Cultivator. Then, what should we do with this person?”

Kyu-ryeong asked calmly, slightly bowing her body.

“I’ve told you everything I know. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t do anything?”

“I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t do anything either. I won’t torture your soul. So, if you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being an elder of the Yin Fiend Sect.”

Han Li finished speaking calmly and opened his mouth, releasing a thick golden lightning bolt. The Nascent Soul, struck by the lightning, screamed and shattered into pieces, and the green flag fell to the ground.

Han Li’s eyes lit up as he summoned it. It was the Ghost Soul Banner [a powerful magical artifact].

Through the Soul Extraction Technique, he clearly understood why the flag was such a great treasure. If he could collect all eighteen flags, their power would be unimaginable.

Since he was already an irreconcilable enemy of the Yin Fiend Sect, Han Li didn’t hesitate to put the Ghost Soul Banner into his storage pouch. It wasn’t very useful yet, but he couldn’t let the Yin Fiend Sect have it.

Over the long years, the Yin Fiend Sect had lost or damaged the Ghost Soul Banner. Then, using their powerful influence, they would either recover the Ghost Soul Banner or refine new flags to fill all eighteen.

However, this had only happened a few times, and they had never lost so many flags like this before. No matter how wealthy the Yin Fiend Sect was, it would be impossible to refine and cultivate all the flags again in a short period of time.

“Let’s go. Someone might have already obtained the treasure.”

Han Li looked towards the Devil Subduing Pagoda and first went down the stone steps, with Kyu-ryeong following behind him. There were strange restrictions on both sides of the stone steps, so they couldn’t cut across.

This time, they went down the steps without hesitation and arrived at the original white jade plaza. Then, they ran towards the steps leading to the Devil Subduing Pagoda.

Again, they soon came across a place where the stones were broken and the steps were shattered. Just as he was about to ignore it and run forward, Kyu-ryeong, who was next to him, gasped as she saw something.

Feeling strange, Han Li also looked in the same direction, and a bony arm protruded from the cracks in the broken stones.

He flicked his sleeve, creating a blue whirlwind that blew away the stones, revealing the white bones underneath.

Han Li’s face darkened.

The clothes and hairstyle of the white bones were familiar; it was none other than the Vice Elder of the Gu Yu Sect. He was crushed, holding the Freedom Jade in his hand.

Han Li quietly watched the white bones.

‘After all that hardship, he finally managed to refine the Nascent Soul Pill, only to die here in vain! The path of cultivation is truly unpredictable!’

A sigh escaped him due to his complicated feelings.

“Is he an acquaintance, Cultivator? The state of the white bones is a bit strange. It seems like he hasn’t been dead for long, but there’s no blood or flesh, and there’s no sign of the Nascent Soul breaking out. Judging by the wound on his back from a sword-like treasure, it seems like…”

Kyu-ryeong said, carefully examining the corpse.

“You mean it seems like he was attacked by the same treasure that killed the Yin Fiend Sect elder?”

“Yes, that’s right. There are a few demonic cultivation techniques that kill cultivators in this way. But before, at least the Nascent Soul escaped, but this time, it didn’t seem to. Could someone really possess the Demonic Dragon Blade?”

“That’s unlikely. It’s true that the Demonic Dragon Blade can increase its power by killing cultivators, but it takes time. It can’t increase its power so quickly.”

“You’re right.”

“What’s more suspicious is that Sasan True Man is ambushing people without any restrictions. He’s attacking the Gu Yu Sect elder after the Yin Fiend Sect, which is something a mere rogue cultivator wouldn’t dare to do. Moreover, he killed an elder of a top ten sect and didn’t even dispose of the body. Isn’t he afraid of the consequences?”

Han Li looked at the white bones again, revealing his doubts. Since he couldn’t see a storage pouch around the white bones, the Nascent Soul Pill must be in Sasan True Man’s hands.

Kyu-ryeong had only recently escaped from her confinement and didn’t know much about the cultivation world, so she didn’t have much to say.

Unable to come to a conclusion even after thinking carefully, Han Li threw a fireball and turned the white bones to ashes.

“We need to be careful too. If we’re careless, we might suffer a setback.”

With a much darker expression, he raised his head and began to climb the remaining steps. Kyu-ryeong was startled by his words and sneered, distorting her ugly face.

After a while, he and Kyu-ryeong finally reached the end of the steps.

It wasn’t the actual end of the original steps, but rather the steps behind it had disappeared, and a steep cliff had appeared. He looked down at the suddenly sunken area, but he couldn’t see how deep it was, so Han Li rubbed his chin.

“It seems like all the other cultivators have gone to the Devil Subduing Pagoda that has sunk down. I don’t know what’s going on inside.”

Kyu-ryeong, who had heard things on the way, muttered in front of the cliff.

“Cultivator Kyu, do you know what kind of demonic creature is imprisoned in the Devil Subduing Pagoda?”

“I don’t know either. I was just a demon beast imprisoned to guard Mount Kunwu, so the ancient cultivators wouldn’t have told me that. But before I was moved to another place, I felt a powerful demonic energy here. At the time, my cultivation wasn’t high enough to determine the level of cultivation of the owner of the demonic energy.”

Kyu-ryeong hesitated for a moment before answering truthfully.

“That’s enough. No matter how powerful the demon was, it would have become much weaker after being imprisoned for so long. There are many late-Nascent Soul cultivators gathered below, so they should be able to handle it.”

Han Li said, looking down at the deep cliff. Then, he called Kyu-ryeong and began to fall down lightly.

He didn’t know how deep it was, but even after falling for almost a quarter of an hour, he still couldn’t see the bottom, and Han Li was surprised by its depth.

The surroundings were already dark, making it impossible to see anything with the naked eye.

If it were a normal cultivator, their consciousness would be limited, and they wouldn’t be able to see beyond a few dozen feet, but Han Li could use his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to see hundreds of feet.

At that moment, Kyu-ryeong lowered her voice and announced,

“Cultivator Han, it seems like we’re about to reach the bottom.”

Indeed, a light began to shine below, and a tall building began to appear.

Han Li, who was quietly looking down at it, noticed a flash of blood-red light from the side. The thick stench of blood made him feel nauseous.

‘Sasan True Man!’

Remembering those who had been ambushed, Han Li was startled. The blood-red light was as fast as lightning, and if he hadn’t been on high alert, he would have been helpless.

Han Li quickly reached out and released a small, silver, shining shield. It was the Yuan Magnetic Shield [a defensive magical artifact].

The shield instantly grew in size, creating a protective barrier in front of him, and the blood-red light flew in and covered it.

Swoosh!

A foot-long saber suddenly appeared from the blood-red light, fiercely cutting through the protective barrier.

The uniquely shaped saber was less than two finger-widths wide and as thin as paper, imbued with an eerie blood-red light. The protective barrier shone brightly, its surface becoming as smooth as a mirror, and clashed with the blood-red light.

Han Li was briefly relieved when the Yuan Magnetic Shield blocked the blood-red saber, but that was only for a moment. The blood-red blade twisted strangely, passing through the shield and rushing towards him.

He was horrified by the unimaginable speed and retreated backward, simultaneously flicking his ten fingers wildly.

Poof! Poof! Poof!

More than a dozen blue sword energies flew out, but they were instantly cut down by the sharp blood-red saber. Han Li’s face turned pale as the blood-red saber didn’t slow down, and he spat out the Heaven Refining Cauldron wrapped in blue light from his mouth.

Ting!

A clear sound rang out, and the blood-red saber finally stopped.

“Hah!”

Someone in the darkness revealed their presence in surprise. Taking advantage of that gap, Han Li flapped the Wind Lightning Wings on his back and instantly appeared more than a dozen feet away.

With a pale face, he quickly summoned the Yuan Magnetic Shield and the Heaven Refining Cauldron. At that moment, a large amount of blood-red light gathered around him, and the stench of blood began to vibrate.

In response, Han Li formed hand seals with both hands, and the sound of thunder rang out from his entire body as golden lightning spread out in all directions, scattering the blood-red light.

‘Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning!’

Someone in the darkness saw it and realized that they had attacked a difficult opponent.

“Are you Sasan True Man?”

Han Li asked coldly, looking into the distance, but no answer was heard. Soon, the blood-red saber hummed and disappeared, enveloped in blood-red light.

“Cultivator, are you alright?”

Kyu-ryeong, who had been unable to help due to the unexpected attack, hurriedly approached.

“I’m fine. It’s really something similar to the Demonic Dragon Blade. If my shield didn’t have a divine ability that slightly reduced its power, I would have been cut in half already.”

Han Li said calmly, examining the Yuan Magnetic Shield in one hand. A thin, deep crack was carved into it. Seeing it, Han Li not only felt a chill in his heart but also became depressed.

He infused spiritual power into the shield, causing a silver light to flow on its surface, and after the crack was filled, he retrieved the Yuan Magnetic Shield and opened his mouth to swallow the Heaven Refining Cauldron back into his body.

“Did you see the appearance of the attacker?”

“No. They were covering their entire body with spiritual light, so I couldn’t confirm if it was really Sasan True Man. However, their cultivation didn’t seem very high.”

He answered Kyu-ryeong’s question calmly, then looked down at the tall building below, lost in thought. Kyu-ryeong also noticed and closed her mouth.

“Cultivator Kyu! I’ll pretend that you hesitated this time didn’t happen. But I hope this doesn’t happen again.”

Before Kyu-ryeong could make an excuse, Han Li turned into a streak of blue light and flew down. Madam Kyu was startled, but she was relieved that Han Li didn’t seem like he would harm her.

However, she couldn’t help but feel complicated. The moment Han Li was attacked, she had other thoughts, but because of the soul fragment she had shared in her lifebound talisman, the opponent had immediately sensed it.

The ugly woman had no choice but to follow Han Li. He was already standing on a square flat area, quietly looking around.

Except for the stairs in the distance, there didn’t seem to be any other entrances.

“It doesn’t look like a pagoda at all.”

Kyu-ryeong muttered as she came down, as if she was puzzled.

“The Devil Subduing Pagoda is different from ordinary pagodas. It buries the pointed top of the pagoda underground and places the lower levels of the pagoda above ground, imprisoning powerful demons or ghosts as you go deeper.”

“I see!”

Han Li nodded at Kyu-ryeong’s explanation. He treated Kyu-ryeong as if nothing had happened, but Kyu-ryeong became even more wary of that appearance.

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