Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 638

The puppet’s palm emitted a silver light, slicing through the strange bird phantom, though its speed faltered, allowing the old monk to dodge. The old monk’s shoulder was deeply cut, and blood flowed as the red bead he held was flung away.

Just then, the yellow light released by the old woman reached the humanoid puppet, revealing a slender needle within. The yellow needle struck the puppet’s head, causing an explosion.

“Oh!”

“This!”

The old monk and the old woman reacted differently.

The old monk was shocked by the red bead’s disappearance, while the old woman was delighted that her opponent hadn’t blocked her natal magic treasure [a magic item refined with one’s own life force] that she had spent centuries refining.

The humanoid puppet took a few steps back to steady itself, then stood and faced the old woman. A small hole pierced its temple, but a silver light flashed, and the wound vanished without a trace.

Seeing this, the old woman stared blankly, then suddenly, as if sensing something, she shouted sharply.

“The Yellow Plum Needle! What have you done with my Yellow Plum Needle!”

The humanoid puppet slowly opened its palm, revealing the yellow needle desperately trying to escape. However, it was trapped in silver light and couldn’t break free.

The old woman’s face turned pale, and she was about to speak when the puppet suddenly clapped its hands together.

Clang!

Silver light intensified between the palms, and the yellow needle lost much of its spiritual energy, becoming dim. The old woman, whose consciousness was linked to her natal magic treasure, screamed and spat out blood, clearly suffering a significant loss of vitality.

The gray-robed monk’s face turned pale. Without tending to his wounds, he spread his arms. Countless silver lights, the size of fists, flowed from his hands, accompanied by a faint sound like a storm, creating an immense aura.

Watching from afar, Han Li smiled and focused his mind. The humanoid puppet blankly formed hand seals, and silver light surged from its entire body, disappearing from the spot along with the light.

The old monk’s silver lights struck the void in vain. The monk and the old woman exchanged glances, realizing their despair.

The golden threads of the sword formation had already closed to within seven or eight yards of them. No matter how great their divine abilities, they were trapped.

Han Li stood with his hands behind his back, watching with a cold expression.

The Great Stellar Sword Formation finally merged, the golden threads forming a huge golden sphere that exploded. With a roar, golden energy surged, and the screams of the old monk and the old woman echoed from within.

Using his Brightsight Spirit Eyes [a technique to see through illusions and energy], he clearly watched the bodies of the two Nascent Soul [a high level of cultivation] intermediate cultivators being torn to shreds.

The Nascent Souls hidden within their bodies managed to hold on for a while, but as countless golden threads cut and cut again, they eventually scattered into light and disappeared from the world.

Not only their remains but also the treasures they wielded vanished without a trace, leaving only a lump of yellow and green cold flames in the void.

Han Li sighed. As the battle ended, he showed a bitter expression. He stood silently as a silver light flashed beside him, and the puppet appeared, handing him the red bead.

Han Li silently accepted it and examined it. A tiny firebird writhed inside the bead. Around it, five-colored spells floated, ancient characters he had never seen before.

Surprisingly, they were completely different types of ancient characters. It was a treasure that Nascent Soul cultivators had used when their lives were in danger, so its power must be immense.

The bead was mysterious, and the fire-attribute spiritual power it contained was substantial. It would have been foolish to try to break the Great Stellar Sword Formation with just that. Perhaps the true power of the bead could be understood through the spells made up of ancient characters, but since he couldn’t read them, he couldn’t gain any insight.

Now wasn’t the time to study such things. Han Li took out several golden restriction talismans from his storage pouch, attached them to the bead, and carefully placed it in a wooden box.

When Han Li looked at the Qilin [a mythical Chinese creature] phantom again, it had shrunk considerably, but the fire crow flying within it had grown more than a third larger and seemed full of energy.

Instead of hastily retrieving the Taiyin True Flame [a powerful flame], he formed hand seals and chanted a spell. Then, over a hundred golden lights flashed below and disappeared, returning to 36 golden swords.

The flying swords turned into streaks of golden light and instantly returned to his sleeves, leaving only small lumps of cold flame behind.

Han Li didn’t immediately deal with the cold flames but lowered his head, lost in thought.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he scanned the demons behind him, then looked at the lumps of cold flame again and burst into laughter. His laughter echoed through the huge cave.

“This time, the harvest is also plentiful!”

His laughter stopped abruptly, and he muttered lowly as he reached out and pulled two lumps of cold flame towards him.

Bang!

He sent out a thin golden lightning bolt, merging the cold flames into a golden sphere, and then placed it in the profound ice box.

Next, he took out the black jade bottle and chanted a spell to imprison the five Demonic Heart Fiends again. However, the five demons were reluctant to enter the bottle.

Han Li’s face hardened, and he spoke in a low voice, causing the rings made of cold silver on the limbs and necks of the five Demonic Heart Fiends to emit a blue light.

Having already suffered greatly because of the rings, they could no longer disobey Han Li’s orders. With pitiful cries, they turned into a gray-white aura and entered the bottle. Only then did Han Li flick his sleeve and retrieve the bottle.

However, he didn’t retrieve the humanoid puppet but took out a jade-colored high-grade spirit stone from his storage pouch and threw it to the puppet. He needed to replace the depleted spirit stone with a new one.

Fortunately, unless the puppet exerted its full power, the consumption of spirit stones wasn’t severe. He moved and landed on a pile of rocks.

Embedded in the rock’s surface was a relatively large grain of Myriad Year Profound Jade [a rare and valuable jade], emitting a faint white light.

‘Hmm…’

Han Li raised his eyebrows and took out a long-necked bottle from his storage pouch. As he tilted the bottle, the lid opened, and a drop of ink-black liquid fell out.

The black liquid, emitting a gray aura, looked exactly like the Yin Spirit Water [a special liquid used for mining] that Bai Mengxing had used when mining Myriad Year Profound Jade. This was the Submerged Water that Han Li had collected when he was trapped in the land of Yin Ming after entering the Ghost Mist. Out of curiosity, he had filled it, thinking it might be useful.

Later, after examining it, he found it to be of no use and had left it in his storage pouch. However, after seeing Bai Mengxing’s Yin Spirit Water in the Profound Jade Cave, he was reminded of the Submerged Water. He didn’t show it in front of Han Li Shangren and the other cultivators, but his heart was racing.

Now that he was alone, it was time to confirm whether the Submerged Water was indeed Yin Spirit Water. As Han Li poured out the black liquid, it slowly moved towards the rock and dropped a small droplet.

Indeed, everything was the same as when Bai Mengxing had mined Myriad Year Profound Jade. The black liquid seeped into the jade, and a gray aura billowed out.

Han Li was delighted and flicked his finger, sending out a bean-sized blue light that struck the Myriad Year Profound Jade.

Bang!

The Myriad Year Profound Jade fell off the rock and landed in his hand.

After examining it for a moment, Han Li looked at the veins of Myriad Year Profound Jade flashing throughout the cave and smiled. With the amount of Submerged Water he had, he might not be able to mine the entire vein, but it was enough to extract the exposed pieces.

He immediately swiped his storage pouch and took out more long-necked bottles, handing them to the humanoid puppet. The puppet flew around with the bottles, collecting the Myriad Year Profound Jade in the storage pouch.

As time passed, after several hours, the profound jade coldness within the Profound Jade Cave had noticeably decreased, and two-thirds of the white lights on the cave walls had disappeared.

Han Li extracted the last piece of Myriad Year Profound Jade, put it in his storage pouch, and looked at what was left with regret. Of course, he had already collected an enormous amount, over a thousand.

As he was checking the quantity, the humanoid puppet flew over and threw him a bulging storage pouch. After counting with his consciousness, there were also over a thousand.

This was enough to refine all 72 flying swords and still have enough to create treasures using Myriad Year Profound Jade. Moreover, the remaining jade could be used to refine extreme flames using the coldness it contained, so this was a great haul!

Han Li carefully stored the storage pouches and looked again at the fire crow that had transformed from the Taiyin True Flame. The small fire crow had grown five or six times larger, about the size of a human head, and the Qilin phantom had lost its shape, leaving only a thin aura faintly enveloping the fire crow.

The Profound Jade Plate was being tossed around by the fire crow, but when Han Li reached out, the plate left the fire crow’s beak and flew into his hand.

As the Profound Jade Plate disappeared, the white aura scattered, and the fire crow flapped its wings, absorbing the last of it.

The fire crow, having finished its work, flew energetically and landed on Han Li’s shoulder, using its beak to groom its fine red feathers. Han Li looked at the fire crow with a different light in his eyes. The spirituality of the Taiyin True Flame had increased to an unprecedented level.

He looked down at the Profound Jade Plate and thought for a moment before clenching his hand in the air, drawing in the profound jade coldness from the surroundings.

He wrapped it in purple Extreme Flame and examined it with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes. Unlike before, it was no different from ordinary coldness. Realizing something, he clicked his tongue as he looked at the Profound Jade Plate and carefully stored it in his storage pouch.

After thoroughly searching the entire Profound Jade Cave and finding nothing more to take, Han Li flew towards the entrance with the humanoid puppet and the fire crow on his shoulder. The entrance was still tightly sealed.

Han Li examined the various secret techniques and spells at the entrance before emitting a small navy blue cauldron from his sleeve. Cultivators who couldn’t control the Azure Essence Ice Flame [a powerful ice flame] couldn’t easily control the Azure Essence Cauldron, but this wasn’t a problem for Han Li.

He formed hand seals, drawing the Extreme Flame to his entire body, and soon, the color changed miraculously. The purple flame gradually turned navy blue, returning to the form of the Azure Essence Ice Flame.

He pointed at the small cauldron with his hand covered in navy blue light, and the navy blue flame flew like a snake. At the same time, the Azure Essence Cauldron trembled and cried out, creating a navy blue flame from within and growing in size.

Han Li formed hand seals and spoke in a low voice.

Bang!

The cauldron, which had grown to four or five times its original size, stretched out and was about to collide with the entrance. Just before the giant cauldron touched the entrance, the secret techniques and spells that had been flowing to seal it were sucked into the cauldron’s navy blue flame as if drawn by an unknown force.

Crumble!

The entrance slowly cracked, and a gap began to open.

Han Li, taking the puppet and the firebird, slipped through the gap and appeared on the altar of the Void Spirit Hall. Without even turning his head, he gestured, putting the Azure Essence Cauldron into his sleeve, and with a thud, the entrance to the Profound Jade Cave was sealed again.

Han Li scanned his surroundings, but everything was quiet, and there were no cultivators guarding the entrance to the Profound Jade Cave. Relieved, he frowned as he looked at the dense ice pillars in front of the altar.

‘The Ice Soul Cold Fierce Formation [a powerful ice-based formation] will not be easy to deal with!’

Even he, who wasn’t greatly threatened by the cold, couldn’t underestimate a large formation that belonged to an ancient era. Moreover, he was worried about how to open the gate of the Void Spirit Hall itself, not just the Ice Soul Cold Fierce Formation.

When he came in, Han Li Shangren had said that it would be easy to get out, but that was most likely a lie.

He swiped his storage pouch and sent out formation flags. Flags of various colors cut through the void around the altar, and a white aura surged, covering the surrounding dozen yards.

After setting up a temporary restriction, he flipped his palm and took out a bottle-shaped magic treasure containing Han Li Shangren’s Nascent Soul. Before leaving this place, he intended to extract information about the Void Spirit Hall from the Nascent Soul of the Elder of the Small Pole Palace.

Of course, it would be even better if he could also get information about the Solar True Flame [a powerful fire flame].

He held the bottle and descended leisurely, and after a while, he disappeared into the mist. After at least an hour, the white mists within the formation surged and became noticeably faint.