Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 609

The Reverse Star Disc, controlled by Ryeong-rong, unleashed its power first.

Starlight twinkled as numerous orbs of light soared, forming a spectacular Milky Way of golden streaks, like thousands upon thousands of stars.

The two-headed wolf at the center of the vortex remained unconcerned, waiting only for the black vortex to absorb more light.

The next moment, the black wolf’s expression turned blank. The golden stars that had flown up, forming the Milky Way, were not aimed at the vortex.

“Was it a mistake? That can’t be…”

The wolf wore a puzzled expression, then one of its two heads turned and flinched in surprise.

As the other head quickly chanted a spell, the multicolored light erupting from the vortex curled up, trying to block the golden starlight. Ryeong-rong’s cool voice was heard.

“It’s too late to notice now!”

No sooner had she spoken than the starlight gathered tens of feet behind the black vortex, and someone appeared from within.

The person looked around in surprise, appearing very cunning. Han Li, who was running away, turned his head to see who it was.

“That person? How is he here!”

Han Li was completely baffled.

The sly-looking old man was unexpectedly Hyang Ji-rye, who had been caught in the fusion of Go-ma’s divided soul and Ryeong-rong’s power as soon as he entered Gon-o Mountain and had been banished to the Illusory Celestial Phenomenon [a type of spatial prison]!

The new soul created by the Soul Fusion Great Art had completely taken over the silver wolf’s body and was proficient in both Go-ma’s and the Spirit Realm’s secret arts. Therefore, it was far stronger than the black-clad woman or Ryeong-rong. It probably wielded power comparable to a cultivator in the early stage of the Refinement of Emptiness [a high cultivation stage].

That was why it was able to temporarily imprison Hyang Ji-rye, a Nascent Soul cultivator [a mid-level cultivation stage], even in a state where his spiritual power was sealed and cut off.

The Illusory Celestial Phenomenon was an ancient secret art lost in the Human Realm, a technique that used immense ritual power to seal someone in a spatial rift. These spatial rifts could not last long, and the person casting the spell could not enter them. Such spatial rifts were sometimes called the Imprisoning Immortal Cage or the Nightmare Abyss, depending on their attributes.

Of course, the actual effectiveness depended on each individual’s cultivation.

However, if a lower realm cultivator was trapped by a higher realm cultivator, they would most likely suffer a setback. They would have to wait for the spatial rift to disappear on its own, break through the spatial barrier with a powerful magical treasure, or wait helplessly inside until the spell was released.

However, it was an impractical technique except in special circumstances. There were countless ways for a higher realm cultivator to deal with a lower realm cultivator, so there was no need to waste ritual power and magical power using such a secret art.

To cast the secret art, one had to reach at least the mid-stage of the Transformation of Divinity [a high cultivation stage], and it was difficult to accurately target and imprison a cultivator of the same level, which was another reason why it was not often used.

Fortunately, it did not take much ritual power and magical power to undo the secret art, which Ryeong-rong had managed to do with the help of the Reverse Star Disc.

Hyang Ji-rye did not know exactly what secret art he had been subjected to, so he had been waiting quietly inside the Illusory Celestial Phenomenon when he was suddenly summoned here. He was both pleased and bewildered.

Hyang Ji-rye blinked his small eyes and looked around.

At that moment, the wolf’s four eyes flashed as it spat a black pillar of light toward the Black Wind Flag. The flag shook and emitted dense black light, and the black vortex, which had been contracting, twitched and turned into a hole one foot in diameter.

The hole was pitch black, with no light, and a strange phenomenon occurred as the distorted spaces around it seemed to be sucked into it.

Even though it was a space-type treasure, the Black Wind Flag’s divine power was truly bizarre. Hyang Ji-rye’s face changed drastically when he saw the black cave.

‘That is!’

The old man hurriedly opened his mouth and spat out a triangular spirit arrow from his body. Light flashed, and golden flames surged from the treasure, transforming into a golden beast-shaped flame.

The golden beast was wearing leather armor all over its body, with two horns on its head, resembling a cow and a tiger. As soon as the beast took shape, it leaped and turned into a streak of light, flying toward the black hole.

At the same time, a great light of spiritual energy spread from Hyang Ji-rye’s old clothes, and a purple protective barrier unfolded. Only then did the old man stare at the black hole with a tense expression.

However, before the golden beast could reach the hole, the black-clad woman’s laughter erupted from within the black hole. Then, the hole drew a strange trajectory and fell down below the altar, contracting and expanding as if it were about to explode.

As the black hole exploded, countless thick and thin black rifts appeared, and an ear-splitting sound, like the chirping of ten thousand birds, spread out.

To Han Li, who was watching from afar, it looked as if the giant mirror that had been illuminating the altar was shattering.

Han Li turned pale.

‘Is space collapsing again!’

When space had collapsed on the eighth floor, at least the restrictions had been triggered, and he had been moved, but this time was different.

Numerous spatial rifts appeared haphazardly, spreading out irregularly, and even their sizes were different. If one were to be sucked into an unstable spatial rift, they would most likely die.

There was no chance that the spatial rifts would lead to a stable space like last time. The Seven Mysteries True Man, who had been close to the altar, was swept away by several spatial rifts, and his body and the treasures he possessed were all shattered.

The Nascent Soul [a mid-level cultivation stage] escaped from the shattered corpse, but it was sucked into an even larger rift and disappeared without even screaming.

Han Li sighed inwardly.

Spatial rifts of various sizes were rushing toward him as well. It seemed impossible to avoid them, as each rift was rushing in a different direction.

Then, a scream was heard, and it was unexpectedly Gyu-ryeong’s voice.

Han Li could not even grasp her situation and gritted his teeth. Unexpectedly, she had taken the lead with the Void Sky Cauldron and rushed into a small spatial rift.

Then, an astonishing thing happened.

Woong!

The subtle rift tried to cut the Void Sky Cauldron, but a blue light flashed, and it stopped for a moment.

Han Li flew past the stopped rift without hesitation. When he turned his head, he saw that the spot where he had been was being torn apart by several rifts passing through it at the same time.

Cold sweat poured down his back. Soon, the black rifts vibrated simultaneously, and Han Li’s expression twisted.

The rifts contracted, emitting black light, and then began to recede. They quickly disappeared back to where they had come from, as if time were being reversed.

As if everything he had seen so far was an illusion, the space around Han Li suddenly became clear.

Relieved, Han Li remembered the scream and quickly looked for Gyu-ryeong. Nothing had changed, but Gyu-ryeong was nowhere to be seen.

Surprised, he checked the demon beast’s life tablet using his consciousness, and indeed, it was gone. Unexpectedly, Gyu-ryeong had been swallowed by a spatial rift.

Han Li sighed, but he did not have time to dwell on it. He quickly scanned the entire space to assess the situation, and in the end, only Im Eun-byeong and the Ten Thousand Year Stone Bear had survived.

The Ten Thousand Year Stone Bear had a calm expression within a strong, blood-colored orb of light, but Im Eun-byeong’s complexion was terrible.

In fact, numerous rifts had brushed past her, and she could have died at any moment, but she had been lucky enough to survive because she was located in a gap between the rifts.

What luck! Perhaps the Heavenly Orchid Holy Beast was so powerful that it protected the saintess who served it.

Han Li looked even more tense as he passed them and looked toward the altar.

The reason why the Original Killing Ancestor’s avatar had caused an explosion with the Black Wind Flag was clearly to break the seal.

The altar was shrouded in black energy, and nothing could be seen. The surrounding pillars were completely destroyed by the spatial rifts. The formation here was as good as gone.

As Han Li narrowed his eyes and watched, the black light still flickered intensely, shrinking and growing, before disappearing in an instant.

“… !”

Han Li’s pupils narrowed at the revealed situation.

The altar, which had been over a hundred feet high, was now only 50 or 60 feet high, and the top part had been cut off as if by a giant blade.

Next to it, a person and two objects were floating.

It was Hyang Ji-rye, who was covered in a purple protective barrier. The barrier, which had initially emitted a great light of spiritual energy, now looked as if it would shatter at the slightest breeze.

Hyang Ji-rye himself was also pale, with large beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

One of the two objects was the Reverse Star Disc, a disc one foot in diameter spinning around, surrounded by a tremendous amount of golden light. And the other object was the Black Wind Flag, which was surprisingly cut in half and stubby.

Although half of the Heaven Piercing Spirit Treasure [a high-grade magical treasure] had been blown away by the explosion, it still emitted black light, so it seemed that it was not completely broken.

Han Li was puzzled because he could not find Ryeong-rong and the black wolf no matter how hard he looked, but suddenly, the Reverse Star Disc moved and emitted golden light from its center.

Someone nimble appeared from within and glared at the Black Wind Flag. It was Ryeong-rong, who had been hidden from sight.

And a similar thing happened with the Black Wind Flag, which was only half left. A black wind surged, and it spat out the two-headed black wolf.

The wolf’s fur had lost its luster and become dry, and its eyes seemed to have lost their focus.

As soon as Hyang Ji-rye saw the wolf, his face hardened, and he took a deep breath to gather his strength. The old man’s face, which had looked tired, regained its vitality, and he immediately extended his fingers.

Thwack! Thwack!

Two streaks of golden and red light left his fingertips, stretched out to a dozen feet, and flew toward the black wolf as if they had become dragons.

Hyang Ji-rye, seeing that his opponent was full of demonic energy, guessed that it was a demon that had been suppressed by the True Demon Pagoda. So, naturally, he had to launch a preemptive strike when the enemy was at their weakest.

The black wolf bared its teeth, and both heads simultaneously spat out black pillars of light to block the sword light flying like dragons, but they began to be pushed back as soon as they collided.

This was because it had consumed a considerable amount of demonic energy to trigger the explosion of the Black Wind Flag. Nevertheless, the wolf did not panic and scanned the altar before letting out a monstrous roar that could pierce even a diamond.

Han Li, who was far away, looked in surprise, and a strange phenomenon occurred.

The altar, which was only a few dozen feet high, crumbled like a sandcastle on the beach. At the same time, pitch-black demonic energy surged out rapidly from the ruins of the altar.

“The seal is opening!”

The Ten Thousand Year Stone Bear shouted in panic.

Ryeong-rong’s face darkened, and Hyang Ji-rye also looked troubled, as if he had remembered something upon seeing the demonic energy. Han Li’s lips twitched at the enormous amount of demonic energy, and he immediately reached out his hand toward the void.

The golden giant sword that had been circling above his head turned into a streak of light at his gesture and tore through the spatial barrier not far away.

Kukwakwang!

Golden light exploded from the barrier, and then numerous bright red arrows surged in. They were fire arrows shot by a humanoid puppet with the Thunderfire Bow.

The spatial barrier shook for a moment, but it was clear that it would take a long time to break through it.

Han Li flipped his hand and took out the Three Flame Fan. He was about to activate the Three Flame Fan when a powerful light and two streaks of arc light attacked the same spot on the barrier.

Han Li turned his head and saw the Ten Thousand Year Stone Bear and Im Eun-byeong flying over to help, their faces haggard. They also knew that if they did not escape from this place as soon as possible, they would be consumed by the enormous demonic energy.

No matter what they wanted, they had to survive first. Han Li did not say anything and immediately released three-colored firebirds from the Three Flame Fan to fiercely attack the barrier.

Three-colored light burst out, and various spells flashed and flowed between them, and this time, the barrier transformed with a rumbling sound.

At this, the attacks of the other treasures intensified. As they concentrated their attacks on the distorted part of the barrier, it finally began to break apart little by little.

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