Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 736

Puff! Puff! Puff!

As the insects emerged, a dozen arrows flashed, piercing the Sand Worm Beasts. However, only one collapsed after being struck through the mouth. The rest, bleeding, became even more ferocious, charging towards the giant tortoise.

The guards on the tortoise didn’t panic. They swung their swords, and several giant insects writhed on the ground, likely due to special techniques they had mastered.

However, more giant insects kept emerging from the yellow sand, quickly surrounding the transport procession. The battle escalated into a large-scale conflict, with screams, clashing weapons, and blood splattering everywhere.

Han Li, in the center of the defense line, observed the unfolding battle from his tortoise carriage.

After a while, he frowned slightly. As the old coachman had said, the Sand Worm Beasts were large but couldn’t jump high enough to reach the giant tortoise easily. This put them at a disadvantage against the guards’ swords.

Initially, the guards had the upper hand. However, the sheer number of Sand Worm Beasts was overwhelming, and the yellow sand hadn’t dispersed, making it impossible to know how many more were coming. There seemed to be over 300 in sight. The insect beasts were slow, but their hides were thick, making it difficult to inflict fatal wounds with ordinary swords.

As a result, the defense was breached in places. Eventually, Sand Worm Beasts jumped onto the giant tortoise, biting the guards. Casualties began to mount among the guards on the tortoise carriage.

Some guards had their arms torn off, while others were caught off guard and had their necks ripped open by Sand Worm Beasts attacking from behind.

As time passed, the battle worsened. The only peaceful place was the central tortoise carriage where Han Li was. He turned his head, his eyes gleaming, and looked at another tortoise carriage nearby.

Inside, several cultivators, including Nam Gi-ja, were present. With the cultivation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they should have easily handled these beasts, yet he remained inside the cabin.

Han Li narrowed his brows and turned back, quietly observing the situation.

By this time, over twenty guards were seriously injured or killed, and the remaining ones were exhausted from constantly swinging their weapons. If things continued, the casualties would only increase.

It seemed that if the scarred man and the cavalry group couldn’t deal with the demonic beast leader, the transport procession wouldn’t last long.

Of course, Han Li wasn’t worried about his own safety. Although he couldn’t use his magic and his meridians hadn’t fully recovered, he had mastered the fourth level of the Vajra Body Technique [a body-strengthening martial art], making his body tough enough to withstand being torn apart by the insects.

Moreover, the two Immortal Execution Pearls he carried could seriously injure even a Spirit Transformation cultivator if used in a surprise attack.

“Sister Hyang-ah, this won’t do! We have to help soon,” a girl’s clear voice came from behind. Han Li slowly turned, and three girls appeared behind the tortoise carriage, each holding a small flag.

The girl in the red robe seemed the most anxious.

“It’s still okay. Although Sister Ryu-ah isn’t here, if we quickly deploy the Lesser Spring Return Formation, we can hold out for a while!” the girl in the jade-colored robe said. The three girls quickly took their positions and spread silk handkerchiefs on the ground, forming a several-foot-long formation diagram.

Han Li, watching from afar, was intrigued. The three girls wore bracelets with spirit stones embedded in them, like the girl in the navy blue robe. As they chanted spells, the bracelets and flags emitted a faint glow of spiritual energy.

As they waved the flags, the three flags flew to the formation diagram on the ground. A faint wave of spiritual energy arose, and a white light rapidly spread in all directions. Then, the white light circled around and was absorbed into the guards’ bodies.

The guards who absorbed the white light regained their senses, and the tired look on their faces disappeared. They swung their heavy weapons with much more power than before. Seeing this, Han Li sneered almost imperceptibly.

‘Lesser Spring Return Formation, my foot. Isn’t that just a simplified version of the Essence Gathering Formation of the Demonic Sect of the Human Realm?’

The Lesser Spring Return Formation seemed like a formation that boosted the power of one’s allies, allowing them to unleash great strength, but in reality, it was merely a way to ignite the vital energy within the body by sacrificing lifespan.

For a short-term increase in power, the guards’ lifespans would be reduced by two or three years.

Fortunately, the situation was reversed due to the formation, and for a while, they could withstand the beasts’ attacks. But then, another unexpected event occurred!

Bang!

A loud explosion erupted, and a demonic beast with a human head and a snake’s body appeared from the sand right next to the three girls.

The snake demon had the face of a hideous woman with disheveled hair. Small, white arms grew on both sides of its body, and it held spears made of bone. The bone spears had a dark aura, indicating they were low-grade magical artifacts.

The snake demon’s appearance shocked not only Han Li but also the three girls, including Hyang-ah, who were maintaining the formation.

The snake demon turned its head, looked at the girls, and gave a sly smile. Then, it waved one hand three times, emitting three streaks of black light from the tips of its spears.

The girls were clever and immediately regained their composure, pulling out the flags and dodging.

Swish! Swish!

Fog spread around the three girls, protecting them, and the black light pierced through the gaps.

Boom! Boom!

Explosions erupted one after another, but Hyang-ah and the girl in white managed to block the attacks, with the energy surrounding them weakening slightly. However, the fog summoned by the girl in the red robe was weak, and as soon as it collided with the black light, it was repelled outside the protective barrier.

The girl in the red robe’s face turned pale, and she could barely stand.

Seeing this, the snake demon kicked the ground with its tail and flew up, throwing the bone spear at the girl in the red robe.

The other two girls screamed in surprise, but they couldn’t save her. The young girl was about to be pierced by the black light of the spear.

At that moment, an ear-splitting sound of air being torn apart was heard, and a whitish object flew in, accurately striking the black light of the bone spear.

Clang!

The bone spear was pushed back about half a foot, flying past the girl in the red robe. In that gap, the girl regained her senses and stood on her feet.

The whitish object was surprisingly a mere pebble.

The snake demon, having failed its attack, paused for a moment and then continued its attack with even more ferocious eyes, swinging its other arm. However, another pebble flew in again.

This time, the attack was aimed at the snake demon’s head, not the bone spear.

Judging by the power from before, even if it didn’t shatter its head, it would certainly lose consciousness if hit. The enraged snake demon had no choice but to dodge, turning its bone spear to block the pebble.

Clang!

Another heavy collision sound was heard, and the snake demon was forced back several steps due to the pebble’s immense force. The demon was furious and looked up in the direction from which the pebble had flown.

There, a young man was looking down at the demon, playing with a pebble in his hand. It was none other than Han Li.

Meanwhile, the girl in the red robe retreated and hid within the energy summoned by another girl.

The snake demon, having had its attacks blocked twice in a row, was enraged to the extreme. It opened its mouth and spewed black poisonous energy, rushing towards the three girls.

Just then, Nam Gi-ja snorted from another tortoise carriage and shouted,

“How dare a demon act so brazenly!”

Then, a white light flew out, intending to cut the snake demon in half. It was a small sword, a few inches long, emitting a radiant light.

The snake demon, which had been spewing black energy, saw it and its expression changed drastically. It threw the bone spear it was holding with all its might and turned its body, disappearing into a gap in the sand.

It had realized it had no chance of winning against a cultivator’s attack and had fled. And the bone spear flew towards Han Li, not Nam Gi-ja. Before fleeing, it had vented its anger on Han Li for interfering with its attack.

Han Li smiled wryly as he watched the bone spear flying towards him with black light, but he didn’t shoot it down and just stood there.

In the end, the bone spear struck his body with a bang! He was sent flying over a dozen zhang [about 33 meters], crashing into a pile of cargo on another tortoise carriage, creating a large hole.

Thud! Crash!

The sound of sharp blades falling from the cargo echoed.

“Ah!” the three girls cried out softly at the sight of Han Li, and Nam Gi-ja’s surprised voice was heard from inside the cabin. When the small sword returned to the cabin, the girls quickly gathered their flags and ran towards Han Li.

“Brother Han! Are, are you okay!” the girl in the red robe, whom he had saved, called out anxiously from under the giant tortoise. Hyang-ah and the girl in white also looked worried.

“I’m fine! I won’t die from this. But I can’t move my body,” Han Li said with a wry smile from within the pile of cargo. The three girls were relieved and immediately jumped onto the giant tortoise, looking into the pile of cargo.

Han Li was lying on top of the weapons, looking tattered, but he didn’t seem to be seriously injured. The girls were delighted and worked together to pull Han Li out and placed him on the giant tortoise.

“Brother Han, thank you so much for saving us!”

“It’s nothing. It was nothing much. I’ll be fine soon if I rest for a while,” Han Li replied with a smile, as if he didn’t mind.

The cabin of another giant tortoise opened, and Nam Gi-ja walked out. He flew towards Han Li, grabbed his wrist, and infused pure spiritual energy into him.

“…The Vajra Body Technique is not one of the five great body refinement techniques for nothing! To have such power after only mastering the third level is truly amazing. It’s not because of the evil demon’s magical artifact, but rather because you strained your meridians by throwing the stones, which worsened your injury. You’ll probably be fine after resting for a while.”

The Taoist’s face showed a hint of surprise, but he soon smiled and said.

“Really?” the girl in the red robe was even happier at those words.

“Why would I lie? By the way, it seems that the Lesser Spring Return Formation has stopped, and the battle will likely turn unfavorable,” Nam Gi-ja smiled, glanced at the formation diagram that had lost its spiritual light, and muttered meaningfully. No sooner had he finished speaking than the three girls’ expressions changed drastically, and they looked around.

Without the support of the Lesser Spring Return Formation, the guards began to feel extreme fatigue, and casualties began to increase again.

“This is a disaster! There’s only one formation diagram for the Lesser Spring Return Formation, and we used up all the power of the formation flags while blocking the snake demon just now. What do we do now?” the girl in the white robe’s face turned pale.

“That’s a problem,” the Taoist narrowed his brows, trying to come up with a solution, but the sounds of fighting that had been coming from all directions suddenly stopped, and the guards burst into cheers.

The girls turned their heads and saw that the Sand Worm Beasts, which had been fighting with the guards, had lost their ferocious momentum and were scattering and fleeing.

“We did it! Sister Ryu-ah’s group must have dealt with the demon,” the girl in the jade-colored robe shouted with a bright smile. Indeed, dozens of cavalrymen were returning through the dust storm in the distance.

Having fought a fierce battle, only about thirty of those who had ridden out on giant wolves remained, and they were all covered in blood from minor injuries.

The cavalrymen drove their giant wolves back to the transport procession. The scarred giant threw something onto the ground, which was the head of a giant insect demon beast that shone with golden light.