Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 767

Han Li narrowed his brow, a premonition of trouble brewing. The golden ship, though appearing to approach leisurely, was in reality as swift as an arrow, arriving before him in an instant.

“You must be a cultivator who ascended from the lower realm, right? How strange. How did a nascent soul stage cultivator ascend to the spirit realm… Well, no matter. It’s fortunate that you’ve met us here. Let’s go together.” A pale-faced cultivator spoke first, his tone neither friendly nor cold.

“Senior, what do you mean? Where are we going?” Han Li was surprised that the other party recognized him as someone from the lower realm at once, but he didn’t show it and asked.

“What do I mean? You must have had some trouble during your ascension. If you didn’t appear at the Ascension Platform or serve at the Natural Citadel, then you must have encountered a spatial storm or ascended through a spatial rift.” The pale-faced cultivator’s lips twitched as he answered.

“Ascension Platform…?” Han Li didn’t understand what he was saying, so he naturally looked puzzled.

“In our spirit realm, there are thousands of lower realms, and each lower realm has an Ascension Platform to manage it. Usually, cultivators who ascend to the spirit realm are immediately summoned to the Natural Citadel. It’s rare for something like what happened to you to occur, but it’s not unheard of. In most cases, they die because they can’t take the first tribulation without taking the Extinction Pill! We happened to be passing by here on our way to handle some matters and found you, so you can say you’re lucky.” The older cultivator smiled and explained kindly.

“If you don’t take the Extinction Pill, you can’t wash away the foreign energy you had in the lower realm, and the lesser heavenly tribulation that comes every 300 years will come as a two-colored lightning tribulation. No matter how great your divine powers are, you can never survive it! This time, we helped you scatter the tribulation, so the next tribulation will be advanced and descend again in a hundred years. If you take one Extinction Pill every year, you can make the energy in your body the same as that of the spirit realm, and the two-colored lightning tribulation will no longer appear. So, if you come with us to the Natural Citadel, you can receive one Extinction Pill every year. The next tribulation will probably be more powerful than this one.”

“Then, senior, are you saying that I have to stay in the Natural Citadel for the rest of my life?”

“Of course not. If you take the Extinction Pill for 300 years, you can completely wash away the energy of the lower realm. Then you are free to leave the Natural Citadel.” The pale-faced cultivator answered casually.

“The Natural Citadel wouldn’t just gather ascending cultivators and give them Extinction Pills for no reason. What is the reason you need us?” Han Li didn’t beat around the bush and asked what he was most curious about.

“You are indeed clever. The Extinction Pill is essential for ascending cultivators, but the materials are so rare that many of them can only be found in the Great Barren World. If you want to receive this, you have to pay the price.

But let’s talk about the details when we get to the Natural Citadel! Get on board first. Of course, if you refuse, we won’t force you, but you know best what will happen after that.” The older cultivator stroked his beard and smiled. Han Li thought deeply, then looked at the golden ship and the blue sky, and suddenly boarded the ship.

The cultivators in golden armor smiled as if it was natural. If they knew how terrifying the two-colored lightning tribulation was, there was only one choice. Moreover, Han Li was still in the early nascent soul stage, so it was a miracle that he had survived the tribulation.

Once on the golden ship, Han Li looked around and found a small formation engraved in the middle of the ship. As he was looking at the formation, the golden-armored cultivators stood on it first and called out to Han Li. After hesitating for a moment, he walked into the formation.

Then, the golden-armored cultivators cast hand seals, and the formation under their feet activated, enveloping the three of them in a thick protective barrier. Then, the older cultivator flipped his palm, and a golden, radiant disc appeared, with silver ancient script on it. He struck the disc with his other hand. Then, golden light spread from the disc, and the silver ancient script emitted a brilliant light. At the same time, the golden ship trembled, and a milky white energy appeared from below, turning into a white formation.

*Woong!*

The formation’s light flashed, and the golden ship disappeared from the spot. Then, even the formation shattered and scattered.

“……”

Elder Hwa and the Core Formation cultivators, who were watching from afar, were dumbfounded. After the two golden-armored cultivators appeared, they couldn’t even breathe loudly, let alone speak. They finally sighed in relief and looked at each other after the golden ship disappeared. They looked like they had been lucky.

“Elder, it seems the Natural Guards aren’t as scary as the rumors say. The stories that circulate are often different from the truth.” The young man in the yellow robe hesitated and spoke.

“That’s because you don’t know. The only place among the Three Sovereigns and Seven Kings that is not under their jurisdiction is the Natural Citadel. The Natural Guards in golden armor are even more so; they are high-ranking cultivators of the Natural Citadel who have the right to freely enter and exit each region. Moreover, they can openly kill those who are a threat to the human and demon races, so even the Three Sovereigns can’t do anything about it. If a war breaks out with external races, even the Three Sovereigns and Seven Kings have to follow the arrangements of the Natural Citadel elders.” Elder Hwa hesitated for a moment and told them what he knew.

“I had no idea. I just knew that my master told me never to go against the Natural Guards. Come to think of it, I heard a long time ago that the Natural Guards annihilated 100 cultivation families in a month. No one knows the specific reason, and even the Three Sovereigns pretended not to know.”

“That’s right. I don’t know much about the Natural Citadel either. But I heard that the cultivators there don’t appear much in the human and demon regions and specialize in fighting against external races. The only ones who appear here are the Natural Guards in golden armor.” The old man narrowed his brow.

At that time, the golden ship that Han Li was on appeared in a transfer formation installed in a secret room of an unknown city. One of the golden-armored cultivators jumped off the ship, exchanged the sparkling spirit stones of the transfer formation, and then returned to cast a hand seal to activate the formation.

‘Wait a minute.’ Han Li was surprised to see that. All the sparkling crystal stones were high-grade spirit stones. While he was lost in thought, the golden ship was once again submerged in white light and transferred. This time, he appeared in an underground cave, where a similar transfer formation was installed under the golden ship. The golden-armored cultivator replaced the spirit stones in the same way, and the golden ship disappeared from there.

Under Han Li’s gaze, the golden ship was transferred more than twenty-six times. In the past, when he went to the Chaotic Star Sea, intermediate-grade spirit stones were enough. But to use so many high-grade spirit stones, he couldn’t imagine how far they were going.

*Tsutsut.*

The golden ship was transferred again and arrived at another transfer formation. But this time, he could tell that he had arrived at a place called the Natural Citadel. The transfer formation was installed on a high, flat place like an altar, and below the ten-zhang [approximately 33 meters]-high altar, cultivators in black armor were standing. The cultivators in black armor looked much weaker than those in golden armor, but they were the same in that they had silver characters engraved on their surfaces.

There was nothing there except for the high altar, but when the golden ship appeared, the black-armored cultivators showed vigilance, then relaxed when they saw the golden-armored cultivators and flew up. Among them, a giant with turquoise eyes approached and respectfully bowed to the golden-armored cultivators.

“Greetings, Heavenly Guard Masters.” Han Li scanned the man and raised his eyebrows. Surprisingly, they were all nascent soul stage cultivators, one of whom had reached the late nascent soul stage, one in the mid-stage, and two in the early stage.

“Get up. This is a new ascending cultivator. I heard that your squad is missing a Azure Nether Guard, so he might become your captain. Take him to the Ascension Hall and let him rest for a day. We have to report to the Elder Council that we have completed our mission, so we’ll see you later.” The older golden-armored cultivator calmly gave his orders.

“Yes!” The giant also recognized that Han Li was a transformation stage cultivator, so he answered without showing any surprise, bowing slightly to Han Li as well.

“You should follow them and rest for a day, and we’ll talk about the rest tomorrow.” The pale-faced cultivator said to Han Li, and Han Li nodded. The three of them then descended from the altar and went out of the hall. Only the turquoise-eyed giant among the four black-armored cultivators followed them, and the other three remained guarding the altar.

‘It seems that the golden ship is quite an important item here. To have four nascent soul stage cultivators guarding this place.’ When they went out the door, what appeared was a huge road that was four or five zhang [approximately 13-16 meters] wide. Both sides of the passage were blocked by blue-gray stone walls, and ancient silver script was engraved at regular intervals, creating a mysterious atmosphere. The semi-circular passage gradually descended, and the two golden-armored cultivators headed upwards, while the black-armored giant took Han Li downwards.

As they walked along the passage, doors that were identical to the door of the hall that Han Li had come out of appeared every few hundred zhang. Some were tightly closed, and others were wide open. Inside the open doors, the interior of the hall was clearly visible. Most of them had altars, transfer formations, and golden ships, and several nascent soul stage cultivators were guarding them. However, Han Li tried to peek at the closed doors with his consciousness, but he couldn’t figure out anything.

Along the way, they passed many cultivators, most of whom were black-armored nascent soul stage cultivators, and three or four of them were transformation stage cultivators, who were wearing blue armor, so they must be Azure Nether Guards. They looked at the unfamiliar Han Li with curiosity, but no one approached to talk to him. They were all going somewhere, like well-trained soldiers. Han Li frowned at the sight.

* * *

After walking for a long time, the view in front of them brightened, and a huge hall that seemed to be a thousand zhang [approximately 3300 meters] appeared. Inside the hall, about a hundred armored soldiers were busily moving around. There were a dozen or so passages in the hall that were the same as the one Han Li had entered. A look of surprise flashed across Han Li’s face, but he was even more surprised when he inadvertently raised his head. The ceiling of the hall was not visible. Unexpectedly, it was a huge, hollow, tower-like cylindrical building. The place he had come out of was just a space inside this huge tower. It was the first time Han Li had seen such a huge stone tower, so he was stunned for a long time before he could finally regain his composure. The giant who was guiding him didn’t urge him, as if it was natural for Han Li to be surprised.

When Han Li lowered his head, he led him to one of the exits of the hall. When they arrived at another entrance of the hall, Han Li’s heart sank. Everywhere he looked, there were more than 100 blue towers soaring into the clouds. Below these huge towers, there were countless pavilion-style buildings adjacent to each other. The large ones were a thousand zhang [approximately 3300 meters] high, and the small ones were a hundred zhang [approximately 330 meters] high, and each of the buildings was several times larger than ordinary buildings. So, how could he not be dumbfounded by this sight? At that time, the soldiers who had left the hall flew away with *遁光* [遁光 (dùn guāng): a technique that allows cultivators to travel at high speeds] to the buildings under the other towers. The turquoise-eyed giant also greeted them briefly and then led Han Li to a nearby pavilion.