Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 689

Han Li waved his hand, drawing the three items towards him without another word.

At that moment, Yeon Yeo-eon’s clear voice echoed in his mind.

“The item in the bottle is the Blood Limb Pill, a unique medicine of our sect. It has no other effects, but it’s incredibly effective for physical damage. Even if limbs are completely severed, taking this pill in time will allow them to regrow.

The Blood Limb Pill is extremely difficult to refine, and our sect only possesses about a dozen. There are three in the bottle, so please accept them.

And the Blood Soul Bracelet is a demonic artifact known only to a very few cultivators.

It was passed down through the generations of Guiling Sect leaders, and Elder Jong recovered it after Leader Wang died in Chuma Valley.

Unlike ordinary demonic artifacts, it’s not used for direct attacks but to nurture special entities such as souls or demons within the bracelet.

It absorbs the power of blood to grow stronger and can later be released to kill enemies without them even realizing it.

And the last wooden armor contains an even more precious item than the other two.”

Having said that, Yeon Yeo-eon paused her telepathic message and looked at Han Li with sparkling eyes.

However, Han Li didn’t seem the least bit interested in the Blood Limb Pill or the Blood Soul Bracelet.

She sighed inwardly but maintained her composure and added,

“I heard that Brother Han has mastered a wood-attribute cultivation technique as his main method. Inside the wooden armor is the Wood Spirit Orb, one of the Five Elements Spirit Orbs.”

“Spirit Orb? Isn’t that a treasure that, according to legend, absorbs the spiritual energy of one of the five elements of heaven and earth while repelling the spiritual energy of the other elements?”

Han Li’s expression, which had been calm, changed instantly, and he asked back, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“That’s right. That’s exactly it. The Spirit Orb is similar in name to the basic spirit gathering formation [a formation used to gather spiritual energy], but the difference in their effectiveness is something you already know without me having to explain it. As Brother Han knows well, if the attribute of the cultivation technique matches, the Spirit Orb is more helpful than any other treasure.”

Han Li stared intently at the green wooden armor, but a yellow gold talisman was attached to it, preventing him from seeing the contents inside.

He suddenly opened his mouth and blew a breath of air towards the wooden armor, and a blue aura surged, causing the gold talisman to fall off.

Clatter.

A moment later, the lid of the wooden armor opened on its own.

As the wooden armor opened, a fresh scent of vegetation wafted out, and it glowed with a green light.

Within that light, a jade-colored bead about the size of a thumbnail was contained.

The moment the bead was exposed to the air, a rich wood-attribute spiritual energy filled the area, and when Han Li took a breath of it, he felt his mind clear.

“It is indeed a Spirit Orb. There are only records of it being discovered a few times in ancient times, and no one has been able to refine it since then. I didn’t expect your sect to possess one. But, Fellow Daoist Yeon! Is the Guiling Sect really willing to give away such a precious treasure? If a cultivator who practices a wood-attribute technique possesses this, their cultivation speed would double.”

Han Li picked up the bead and examined it closely before regaining his composure and asking.

“It is indeed a rare treasure in the mortal realm, but it doesn’t matter if our sect can survive. Besides, there are few cultivators in our Guiling Sect who practice wood-attribute techniques. It would be a waste for us to keep it, so we would rather it help open a path for our sect.”

“I don’t care about the first two items, but the Spirit Orb will definitely be of great help to me. However, if you want me to step in and dissuade the Eoryeong Sect and other sects, one condition must be met first. Otherwise…”

“Whatever it is, if it is something our sect can do, we will not disappoint you.”

The yellow-robed giant said earnestly, his eyes gleaming.

“I don’t care about the other members of the Wang family, but I don’t want to see Wang Seon ever again. I have no intention of helping the family of my enemy. Do you understand my meaning?”

Han Li looked at the giant meaningfully.

Elder Jong and Yeon Yeo-eon’s faces turned pale, but the giant didn’t seem surprised.

“Why wouldn’t I understand Brother Han’s meaning? I see no problem with it, but what does Elder Jong think?”

The giant turned his head and asked Elder Jong.

“Since Brother Han has said this much, we must make a decision for the sake of our sect’s survival.”

“Then I will take it that Elder Brother agrees, and I will make a promise on behalf of our sect.”

The giant nodded without hesitation.

Unexpectedly, he didn’t look at Yeon Yeo-eon or ask for her consent even once.

“Very well. Then I will accept what you have given me. I will send letters to the Eoryeong Sect and a few other families in a few days.”

Han Li nodded calmly, and the giant’s face was filled with joy.

Having achieved their goal, the Guiling Sect cultivators immediately got up quietly.

Yeon Yeo-eon paused as she was leaving the main hall.

She turned her head and stared at Han Li for a moment, her lips moving slightly, but in the end, she didn’t say what she wanted to and left with a sigh.

Han Li was aware of this, and his expression changed, but he was lost in thought, looking at the three treasures on the table.

* * *

The Guiling Sect cultivators left the Falling Cloud Sect and transformed into three streaks of light as they returned. As soon as they finally left the Undulating Mountain Range, Elder Jong asked the yellow-robed giant.

“Junior Brother Yeon, are you really going to do something to Wang Sajil?”

“Elder Brother Jong, I don’t want to either, but how can we refuse when the other party is so clear in their demands? Anyway, we are not expelling the entire Wang family, and Wang Sajil is not the only descendant of Elder Brother Wang, so you don’t have to worry about the lineage being cut off.

From his perspective, it is a rather lenient condition. In my opinion, we should take this opportunity to clean up the Wang family disciples in our sect. If the other party becomes dissatisfied with our sect because of this, it will do more harm than good.”

“That is…”

The old man looked troubled.

“Yeo-eon, I’m sorry for you. When you were betrothed to the Wang family, you couldn’t have imagined that this day would come! It’s fortunate that you reached the Nascent Soul stage [a high level of cultivation] first and Wang Seon failed. The Wang family placed a restriction on all the high-level cultivators of our Yeon family, except for me, who was secretly cultivating! You were no exception. Wang Seon broke the bond of marriage first, so there’s no need for you to be heartbroken.”

The giant turned his head and looked at Yeon Yeo-eon, who had been silent, with a sorry expression.

“How could I not understand my uncle’s intentions? But how could I immediately agree to such a proposal when we were once husband and wife?

As soon as we return, I will enter secluded cultivation for a hundred years and will not interfere with the sect’s affairs, so you don’t need to tell me how you deal with the Wang family and Wang Seon.”

Yeon Yeo-eon finished speaking calmly and increased her speed, moving ahead first. The yellow-robed giant watched her with a regretful expression.

“What more can this old man say? It’s for the sake of the sect, so do as Junior Sister Yeon wishes with the Wang family.”

“Elder Brother Jong, rest assured. I will handle it with discretion.”

The giant smiled brightly at Elder Jong’s words, but the old man shook his head and closed his mouth, looking uneasy.

“That aside, it’s really a shame to hand over the Spirit Orb to someone else.”

“A shame? Does Junior Brother really think the Spirit Orb is a treasure of our sect?”

Elder Jong chuckled and said something that surprised the giant.

“What? What do you mean? I thought you took it directly from the sect’s treasure vault.”

“It was never a treasure of our sect. All I know is that it was given to me personally by the Joyous Old Devil.”

“The Joyous Old Devil, you say?”

The yellow-robed giant was speechless at the sudden story.

“A while ago, the Old Devil suddenly came to me and gave me the bead, saying it was a treasure that our sect had lent to the Joyous Union Sect in the past. And he subtly hinted that we should use it to get help from a certain elder of the Falling Cloud Sect. Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence, Junior Sister Yeon?”

“That’s right. Even if the Spirit Orb was really a treasure of our sect, would the Joyous Old Devil return it so willingly? Then, could he have tampered with the Spirit Orb…?”

The intelligent giant immediately understood what was going on, and his expression changed.

“There’s nothing wrong with the treasure itself. I’ve examined it several times, and it was the same Spirit Orb as I’d heard of. Otherwise, would I have blindly followed his intentions?”

“But the Old Devil might have done something unnecessary. Elder Jong, you should have consulted me first. If it turns out that there’s a problem with the bead, it could lead to the destruction of the Guiling Sect.”

The yellow-robed giant’s expression became anxious.

“If we hadn’t done as the Old Devil said, would we have been able to move the number one cultivator of Tiannan? Whether we consulted beforehand or not, it’s useless. Is there any other way for our sect to survive other than this?”

Elder Jong snorted coldly in response, and the giant couldn’t say a word.

“That’s enough. What can we do now that we’ve already given away the bead? We can only hope that there’s nothing wrong with the bead and that we won’t get caught up in anything.”

The Yeon family giant, who had been pondering for a while, comforted himself.

“Junior Brother Yeon is right. The Spirit Orb was a famous treasure of ancient times, but so much time has passed, who knows how it might have changed? Since he himself admitted that it was a real Spirit Orb, it’s not our concern what happens in the future.”

“Very well. Let’s conclude this matter here. But it’s still better to be careful, so once our sect is safely out of this crisis, we should relocate immediately and close our mountain gate for a hundred years.”

“Let’s proceed as Junior Brother says.”

Elder Jong also nodded in agreement. As soon as the conversation ended, they increased their speed and headed in the direction where Yeon Yeo-eon had disappeared.

* * *

At the same time, in the forbidden area of the Joyous Union Sect.

Someone was sitting on a rock in the Heavenly Yang Pond, which was shrouded in a dense gray mist.

“By now, that thing should be in that Han brat’s hands. Don’t be too happy about getting the Spirit Orb! Your cultivation speed will be much faster, but when you reach the bottleneck to reach the Transformation stage…”

Han Li, who had remained in the Guest Pavilion, was fiddling with the Spirit Orb when a boy’s voice echoed in his ears as he was about to put it away with the other treasures.

“Fellow Daoist Han, are you really going to keep that bead?”

“Why do you ask? Is there perhaps something wrong with the Spirit Orb…?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the bead itself. However, cultivators don’t know that the Spirit Orb is actually just a failed or incomplete treasure. If you increase your cultivation speed with the help of such a thing, you will reach a dead end when you reach a certain level.

Cultivators who cultivate with the Spirit Orb will have more than twice the difficulty in overcoming the bottlenecks to advance their cultivation. This is because, by only absorbing the spiritual energy of one attribute, their ability to sense the spiritual energy of other attributes weakens without them even realizing it.

Cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage may not know about such a drawback, but for cultivators like you who need to sense the origin of heaven and earth to reach the next stage, the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.

That’s why, in the Spirit Realm, the Spirit Orb is only used for low-level cultivators with poor aptitude, even though it has miraculous abilities. Such shallow tricks don’t work for the cultivation of high-level cultivators.”

“Is that so? Then this is an item that will hinder me from reaching the Transformation stage.”

Han Li’s eyes, as he looked at the jade-colored bead in his hand, faintly showed anger.

“Didn’t I tell you? This bead is not yet complete. If you can find other rare wood-attribute materials, you can refine it into a treasure called the Wood Life Orb.

That bead won’t increase your cultivation speed, but if you fully refine it, it can unleash a divine ability that can make you immortal once, allowing you to preserve your life when you are in danger.”

“Immortality!”

Han Li was stunned.

*