Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 655

‘Is there such a powerful demon beast? Even a level 10 demon beast wouldn’t cause such an earth-shattering phenomenon… It doesn’t match the stories about Transformation stage demon beasts either.’

If his memory served him right, even demon beasts, once they surpassed level 10, were restricted by the sparse spiritual energy of the human realm, making it difficult for them to act recklessly, just like human Transformation stage cultivators. Causing such a large-scale disturbance would only shorten their lifespan.

Han Li’s heart sank.

He had heard that once demon beasts surpassed level 10, their cultivation levels were divided in the same way as human cultivators. But even so, this was too much. Even Han Li, a Nascent Soul late-stage cultivator who had experienced countless battles, felt his heart tremble at the immense power.

He quickly decided that whatever was below, it was best to leave this place immediately. Just as he turned to fly away, a sharp, high-pitched sound suddenly pierced Han Li’s ears, a sound so loud it felt like his eardrums would burst.

Without any defense, his head suddenly spun, and he fell headfirst. The blue protective barrier formed by his spiritual power did nothing to block the sharp sound.

*Kwagwang!*

Han Li fell a dozen or so feet before emitting purple flames from his entire body, and at the same time, golden lightning burst forth. Only then did the dizziness stop, and he was barely able to steady himself in the air.

‘This is bad!’

Han Li looked up at the sky with a troubled expression. The sharp roar had clearly come from above, but the gray sky had been covered by a black shadow, vaguely connecting with the sea below.

Han Li frowned as he looked up at the clouds. He, who was always cautious, hadn’t sensed anything appearing from above.

Without hesitation, he released his consciousness to carefully investigate the area above, but he couldn’t even approach the black shadow before being repelled by a massive rebounding force. Alarmed, Han Li turned into a streak of blue light and flew towards the far end of the sea.

He had no idea what was happening here, but it was clear that staying any longer would be disastrous.

Han Li’s cultivation allowed him to fly over ten miles in an instant, but then the sharp cry in the sky stopped, and the space above the small island where he had been began to distort.

Then, a white light flashed within the black shadow, and a spatial rift appeared. Following that, a massive object slowly emerged from the white light.

Han Li glanced back to assess the situation, and his expression changed drastically.

Surprisingly, the massive object was the cyan-green claw of a bird, and the part that had emerged from the spatial rift was nearly hundreds of feet long. However, the claw that had emerged from the white light moved extremely slowly, as if it was struggling.

But before the giant claw could grab anything in the sea, an immense pressure of spiritual energy surged from the depths of the sea, swirling and rising madly. The black shadow in the sky was an incredibly massive avian demon beast, seemingly attacking by traversing space.

Based on normal proportions, if the claw was that large, the avian demon beast’s body would be at least thousands of feet long, a size that would have been seen only in ancient times.

‘There’s no way such a demon beast could remain in the human realm!’

Han Li was startled and activated the Wind Thunder Wings behind him, leaving behind a trail of silver lightning as he disappeared. Then, after the lightning flashed a dozen or so times, Han Li finally escaped the black shadow and breathed a sigh of relief.

However, before he could turn his head, a demon beast’s roar echoed from the seabed, filled with obvious rage. Han Li looked back with a dark expression.

*Kukwakwakwang!*

A tremendous roar was heard, and he saw the small island where he had been resting sink into the sea. At the same time, a massive whirlpool appeared on the sea surface, covering an area of over ten miles, and black mist spewed from its center.

The few strands of mist quickly thickened, almost filling the entire whirlpool. Faintly, eerie wails and the mournful cries of beasts could be heard within the pitch-black mist, and strange black lightning flickered.

Even more bizarre was that the surrounding fish and crustaceans were being sucked into the mist as if they were insane and disappearing.

“Ghost Mist!”

Han Li immediately recognized the pitch-black mist and exclaimed.

What had appeared in the giant whirlpool was the Ghost Mist that had previously swallowed him. He still vividly remembered how he had barely survived after losing all his magic power in the Land of Yin [a dangerous, otherworldly place].

Fortunately, unlike before, the Ghost Mist was not spreading out but only rising from the center of the whirlpool. Because of this, Han Li temporarily put aside his thoughts of fleeing.

In fact, with his current abilities, even if the Ghost Mist spread, it wouldn’t be able to catch him from a distance. He silently stared at the giant whirlpool from afar.

“……!”

The giant blue claw fully emerged from the white light, and as he had expected, it was the claw of a bird, and it was much larger than he had thought. Han Li felt a chill run down his spine.

Suddenly, a sharp cry echoed from within the black shadow, and the giant blue claw fired five massive pillars of light at the Ghost Mist. The Ghost Mist’s violent shaking indicated that the attack was incredibly powerful.

The demon beast’s roar in the whirlpool abruptly stopped, and an even more ferocious aura emanated. The Ghost Mist writhed and solidified into a pitch-black giant mouth, filled with sharp teeth.

Now, the five blue pillars of light were being sucked into the giant mouth. Han Li could only watch with wide eyes. At that moment, the black mouth snapped shut, and strangely, it bit through the five pillars of light.

*Patsutsut!*

Black lightning, as loud as thunder, shockingly annihilated the five giant pillars of light. The lightning was so thick that it looked like a black dragon over a hundred feet long. The giant lightning dragons then attacked the black shadow.

After an earth-shattering roar, something white was forcibly torn away from the black dragons. The black lightning within the rift flashed madly, and *Kukwakwang!* Thunderclaps struck in succession, followed by a scream.

A blue feather, about a foot long, fell from the white light and protruded from the spatial rift, and the cyan-green claw that had been outside the rift retreated. The spatial rift disappeared, and the black shadow that had covered the sky vanished without a trace.

The gray sky reappeared. Almost simultaneously, the giant whirlpool also gradually subsided, sucking in the black mist and disappearing.

Soon, the sea was calm again, and except for the fact that the island where Han Li had been sitting cross-legged was gone, the battle between the monsters seemed as if it had never happened.

Han Li waited from afar, and after a long while, he slowly released his consciousness to survey the surrounding hundred miles. He couldn’t sense any energy in the sky, and the giant avian demon beast had disappeared without a trace.

Without further hesitation, he explored the depths of the sea this time. However, Han Li’s expression changed to one of slight bewilderment. He suddenly summoned a blue figure that flashed with silver light, passing through the water. It was his humanoid puppet.

“Go.”

The humanoid puppet turned into a streak of silver light and flew away at an extremely fast speed. After a while, the silver streak of light arrived at the place where the Ghost Mist had been and plunged into the sea without hesitation. Han Li, sitting cross-legged in the air, focused his consciousness on the puppet, controlling it like a clone.

The humanoid puppet dove down 4,000 to 5,000 feet in an instant. However, the seabed was too clean, and there were no corals or even seaweed to be found.

The humanoid puppet wandered around the seabed before rushing towards something. A blue ball of light was floating a few miles away. It seemed full of spirituality as it floated leisurely with the current.

The humanoid puppet’s eyes flashed with purple light, and it moved even faster, closing to within a dozen feet of the blue object. Then, a feather about a foot long came clearly into view within the ball of light.

The humanoid puppet increased its silver light and appeared above the feather in an instant, trying to grab it. But something unexpected happened.

The moment the humanoid puppet’s fingertips touched the blue ball of light, the feather became blurry and disappeared from that spot. In the end, the humanoid puppet grabbed empty air.

However, a moment later, a blue light flashed somewhere thirty feet away, and the blue object reappeared as if it had teleported. This time, the puppet didn’t move hastily but kept its distance and stared at the feather.

The blue light flashed a few more times, and the feather had already moved over a hundred feet away. The silver light on the puppet’s body expanded greatly, and it approached the feather again, this time grabbing at the air.

A giant hand, shining with silver light, appeared and tried to grab the feather below, but as before, the blue light blurred, and it tried to disappear by teleportation. However, this time, a thunderclap was suddenly heard, and a golden lightning net fell, covering the object.

Someone appeared above it, and it was Han Li. He clicked his tongue as he looked at the blue feather in the golden net.

‘This is no ordinary object!’

Looking at it up close, the jade-colored feather was emitting a blue light, and various secret techniques were densely engraved on its surface. However, the tip of the feather was slightly scorched, and there were bloodstains and faint golden marks on the lower part.

After examining it for a while, it seemed to be a very precious item. Han Li took out several talismans and sent them into the net, but the blue light flashed, and the talismans passed through the feather as if it were a phantom.

Han Li was startled but soon regained his composure. He began to chant a spell, forming hand seals with both hands. The golden lightning net contracted and tightened in response to the spell, and the blue feather was unable to move.

After spitting blood onto the talismans, he threw them in succession. This time, the talismans flew and stuck tightly to the blue feather. At the same time, the blue light weakened, and the feather also became rough.

Only then did Han Li feel relieved. He took out the Evil-Slaying Divine Thunder [a powerful magical artifact] and sucked the blue feather into his hand. Examining the feather closely, he raised his eyebrows and extended his finger.

But a strange thing happened.

The blue feather flashed and rapidly shrank to a foot in length, and the talismans attached to it also shrank in size, which was amazing. Han Li held the feather in one hand and shook it slightly.

Layers of blue light appeared from the blue feather, emitting a powerful spiritual energy, and he couldn’t hide his joy at the pure energy. However, now was not the time to worry about the feather. He put the feather in a jade box and had the humanoid puppet continue the search.

After a long time, there were no more gains, but Han Li was already satisfied enough. He no longer stayed there and retrieved the puppet, flying back up.

As he flew towards the Wall Spirit Island, he thought about the battle between the giant avian demon beast and the Ghost Mist, but it was not something that human realm cultivators should interfere with. They were definitely powerful demonic entities from the Spirit Realm or another world, and the Ghost Mist was especially stronger than the avian demon beast.

When he was trapped in the Land of Yin, some speculated that the Ghost Mist was related to the Yin Underworld or the demon Rahu [a powerful, mythical demon]. Otherwise, the divine ability to tear through space and travel through it would not make sense.

The giant bird probably had similar abilities. After experiencing the Land of Yin, Han Li had searched through numerous related ancient scriptures, but no matter what he speculated, he couldn’t learn much about the immense beings like Rahu.

Two months later, Han Li was flying over the sea when he suddenly changed direction. Not far away, he faintly heard explosions, and three cultivators were barely holding their own against the pursuit of a high-level demon beast.

One of the three cultivators was at the Core Formation early stage, and the other two were at the Qi Condensation late stage, barely holding out against a level 6 demon beast.

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