Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 668

The centipedes, their cold aura dissipated, had swollen to the size of a mat. Faint sword marks on their white shells hinted at the fierce battle that had taken place. Han Li cast a spell, shrinking the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes and returning them to his Spirit Beast Pouch.

After a short wait, two more groups of Six-Winged Frost Centipedes flew in from different directions. One group was fine, but one centipede from the other group had several legs severed.

Han Li collected all the centipedes and looked down at the center of the lake. Soon, a blue aura enveloped him, and he transformed into a beam of light, disappearing into the water. The lake wasn’t very deep; after descending about two hundred feet, the bottom became visible.

Although the lake blocked vision and even spiritual sense, Wan Huzi had provided the exact location, making it easy to find the target. It was a seemingly ordinary pile of rocks.

Han Li scanned the area and flicked his finger, sending out a blue sword aura. A navy blue protective barrier unfolded from the lakebed, briefly blocking the sword aura before shattering into light.

The rocks were merely an illusion and vanished on the spot. In their place, five protective barriers appeared, covering an area of about a hundred feet.

Han Li stroked his chin, sensing the flow of spiritual energy through the barriers. The navy blue barrier he had just broken was a simple illusionary restriction, likely set up temporarily by Core Formation cultivators to avoid attracting attention.

The problem was that Wan Huzi had suddenly died, leaving him with no magical artifacts or spells to dismantle the restrictions. Now, the only option was to break through by force.

‘Since it’s a condensation of five different elemental energies, it might take some time…’

He formed a hand seal, summoning a humanoid puppet and thirty-six flying swords. The flying swords trembled and merged into a giant golden sword about fifteen feet in size. As a spell landed on the sword’s surface, lightning the size of an arm crackled and moved like a living snake.

The lightning, shaped like a snake, circled the giant sword several times, its tongue flicking out with great force. At the same time, the humanoid puppet drew a red bow and shot a jade-colored arrow, causing a thunderous sound as the golden lightning and the small arrow shot out simultaneously.

Han Li, with a serious expression, extended his finger, and the giant sword fell as if to split a mountain. A deafening roar shook the area, causing the surface of the protective barrier to tremble, and the lake water surged, creating a massive whirlpool.

A smile appeared on Han Li’s face as he stood motionless at the center of the whirlpool.

The five-colored protective barrier below had already disappeared, and only a small formation with a diameter of about fifteen feet was faintly glowing in the center. The formation was made of a special material that prevented water from seeping in.

Han Li first retrieved the puppet and then landed in front of the formation, beginning to examine it closely. After a while, he nodded and summoned half of the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes from his Spirit Beast Pouch, giving them an order.

The pure white centipedes shook their bodies and burrowed under the formation. Only then did Han Li feel relieved, and he cast a spell onto the outside of the formation. A white light flashed, and he disappeared from the spot.

A moment later, Han Li found himself inside a stone chamber. It wasn’t very large, but there was a closed stone door made of bluestone.

He sat cross-legged and released his spiritual sense, examining every corner of the stone chamber. After confirming that no one was hiding, his expression relaxed.

Han Li stood up and walked towards the stone door.

* * *

Half a day later, a dazzling blue beam of light shot out of the lake, flashed a few times, and then vanished. Han Li flew away, fiddling with a golden ore in his hand, a smile on his face.

‘To think Wan Huzi had so many treasures in his residence.’

There were countless spirit stones, various materials, treasures, and scriptures piled up there. Among them were some rare treasures he had only heard of but never seen. However, what pleased him the most was a fist-sized mirror.

With the mirror, he could now deploy the complete Great Geng Sword Formation with seventy-two flying swords. The half-formation made with thirty-six swords was already powerful, but the complete Great Geng Sword Formation would unleash unimaginable power.

Flying leisurely in the blue beam of light, Han Li suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a small cauldron about an inch in size. It was the Heavenvoid Cauldron.

Han Li placed the cauldron on his palm and formed another hand seal, sending a spell into it. The small cauldron glowed blue, and the lid slowly opened. A golden talisman flew out.

Han Li, as if waiting for this, released a blue aura towards the talisman. The talisman’s light dimmed, and it was trapped in the blue aura and pulled towards him. The talisman was the one used by the Golden Flower Old Ancestor, capable of teleportation and summoning golden petals and bees, and it was quite powerful.

‘It must be a talisman created with a unique secret technique!’

Han Li, who had been curious about the talisman’s identity throughout his fight with the Golden Flower Old Ancestor, couldn’t resist examining it immediately. The talisman looked ordinary, but there were silver ancient characters inscribed on its four corners.

The ancient characters were incredibly mysterious, giving the impression of silver tadpoles wriggling. No matter how many times he looked, none of them matched the ancient characters he had seen before.

Another peculiar thing was that tiny golden specks floated on the surface of the talisman as if they were alive. As he stared at the talisman without blinking, his brow furrowed.

“Hmph! Do you think a human cultivator from the mortal realm can understand the Silver Tadpole Script? You might as well give up.”

Suddenly, a child’s voice came from the Heavenvoid Cauldron Han Li was holding. Han Li’s eyes flickered, but instead of getting angry, he chuckled.

“Oh, it seems you know a lot about this?”

“There aren’t many people who know the Silver Tadpole Script even in the upper realms. If I hadn’t devoured the Nascent Soul [the core of a cultivator’s power] of a human cultivator who knew this script, I wouldn’t know it either.”

“I thought you were so comfortable in the Heavenvoid Cauldron that you had no intention of ever coming out. Why are you speaking today?”

Han Li looked down at the Heavenvoid Cauldron with a serious expression.

“What would I have to say to a mortal realm cultivator who hasn’t even reached the Deity Transformation stage? But it’s different now! Now that you’ve obtained the feather of the Sky Soaring Kun Peng [a mythical bird], you’re at a level where I can talk to you and even do business with you.”

“Are you talking about the giant bird demon beast I saw in the sea, the Sky Soaring Kun Peng?”

At those words, Han Li immediately recalled the mysterious battle he had witnessed in the Chaotic Star Sea.

“A giant bird demon beast? That’s what you call it in the mortal realm. If the Sky Peng Clan, who worship the Sky Soaring Kun Peng in the Spirit Realm, heard you, they would be furious.”

“The Sky Peng Clan?”

“There’s no need to talk more about the Spirit Realm. If you’re lucky enough to ascend, you’ll naturally find out. Well, if you can’t go to the upper realm, it’s all useless talk!”

The child spoke nonchalantly, seeing Han Li’s puzzled expression.

“Speaking of which, aren’t you just a clone of a Spirit Realm demon cultivator, not the main body of the Sky Spirit Bird? You’ve only cultivated to the level of an eighth-grade demon beast. How long will it take for you to recover your Deity Transformation stage divine abilities?”

Han Li retorted with a sneer.

The child’s voice from inside the cauldron was surprisingly the clone of the Sky Spirit Bird that Han Li had obtained from his battle with the Sky Spirit Saintess.

The demon beast had been trapped in the Heavenvoid Cauldron for over a hundred years and had recovered its memories of the Spirit Realm, but it had remained silent because it had no way to escape the Heavenvoid Cauldron.

After Han Li reached the late Nascent Soul stage, he reforged the two Heaven-Reaching Treasures and mastered the second level of the Treasure Unlocking Spell, finally opening the Heavenvoid Cauldron. Then, a strange thing happened.

The Sky Spirit Bird’s clone used a Spirit Realm escape technique and disappeared from his sight, instantly vanishing over a hundred feet away. However, the cauldron suddenly flashed blue, and the Sky Spirit Bird was back inside the Heavenvoid Cauldron.

Seeing this, Han Li couldn’t hide his joy. Having been trapped in the cauldron for too long, the energy within its body had assimilated with the Heavenvoid Cauldron, putting it in the same state as Yin Yue had been before.

However, the Sky Spirit Bird was not the spirit of the Heavenvoid Cauldron, so Han Li couldn’t control it at will. But when it saw Han Li examining the golden talisman, it suddenly started talking.

“Why do I need to reach the Deity Transformation stage? I never intended to increase my cultivation to that level within tens of thousands of years of coming to the mortal realm!”

“A cultivator who doesn’t want to increase their cultivation is a first for me. Do you think I’ll believe that?”

Han Li expressed his disbelief at the child’s laughing words from inside the cauldron.

“You’re just a kid, so it’s hard for you to believe. Let me tell you a little bit. I, who was once quite famous among the demon clans of the Spirit Realm, had reached a level you can’t even imagine. Do you think I would have sent a clone down to guard the Sky Spirit Prairie if I had nothing better to do? I have countless demon subordinates in the Spirit Realm. The Dolin people are insignificant.”

The Sky Spirit Bird spoke as if the Dolin people were of no importance.

“The reason I sent a wisp of my soul here this time is to prepare for the great tribulation that will occur in ten thousand years. Even if my main body in the Spirit Realm can’t withstand the tribulation and something happens, I’ll have a way to survive by hiding a wisp of my soul in the mortal realm. So, there’s no reason for me to increase my cultivation quickly, is there? If I reach the Deity Transformation stage, I might be affected by the great tribulation even while hiding here.”

“To anticipate an upcoming tribulation and send a wisp of your soul away, is that even possible? Do all the powerful figures in the Spirit Realm secure their lives in this way?”

Han Li was surprised but also skeptical.

“Do you think it’s easy to send a wisp of your soul down? Not only do you need to have a certain level of cultivation, but you also need to be proficient in the relevant secret techniques and use the rare Boundary Transformation Stone from the Spirit Realm.

Only then can you overcome the pressure between realms and send a wisp of your soul away. Even then, the success rate of descending to the lower realm is only one in ten. If you fail, the wisp of your soul will disappear in the boundary storm. Each failure requires a thousand years of closed-door cultivation to recover, so it takes at least ten thousand years.

I barely succeeded after failing seven or eight times. Transmitting divine abilities or magical power across realms is a bit easier, though.”

“Even if that’s true, why are you telling me all this?”

“Simply put, there’s no conflict of interest between you and me. The reason I attacked you before was because I lost my reason and was used by the Dolin people. And since I have no intention of reaching the Deity Transformation stage for the time being, there’s no need for you to worry about what I might do.”

The Sky Spirit Bird chuckled as it answered Han Li’s question.

“Is that so? It seems much safer and cleaner to just kill you.”

“…My cultivation is far inferior to yours right now, so go ahead if you want to. But have you ever imagined how many strange secret techniques a clone of a high-ranking demon from the Spirit Realm might know? Before I die, I could risk my life to severely injure you, or if that doesn’t work, I could leave a mark on your Nascent Soul. Well, it wouldn’t matter if you die in the mortal realm without ascending to the Spirit Realm! But if you ever come to the Spirit Realm, my main body will find you no matter what. When that time comes…”

The Sky Spirit Bird trailed off, but its intention was very clear. Hearing those words, Han Li was speechless. Based on his judgment, the Sky Spirit Bird’s words were not false.

He might reach the Deity Transformation stage and ascend to the Spirit Realm, so he couldn’t afford to make an enemy of such a powerful being there. Judging by the way it spoke, killing him with its main body’s cultivation would be easier than crushing an ant.

However, he didn’t pay much attention to the threat of being severely injured by a secret technique. Since it couldn’t leave the Heavenvoid Cauldron, he thought that if he prepared in advance, he wouldn’t be harmed by it.

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