Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 774

With a gloomy face, Elder Ong also emitted a dull yellow light as he exited the light barrier. Before leaving, he glared in the direction Han Li had disappeared, then kicked off the void and flew in a different direction.

Although he had suffered internal injuries, fortunately, his escape technique’s speed did not decrease, and within an hour, he was able to fly into completely unfamiliar skies.

After flying for a while, Elder Ong suddenly stopped his escape technique.

“What is going on? Why is my energy so chaotic! Could it be that I failed in the territory battle and suffered serious injuries?”

A familiar voice echoed coldly, and a cyan light flickered in the surrounding void. Soon, a jade dragon about a foot in size appeared, staring at the man with a chilly expression.

“The opponent’s divine abilities were beyond comprehension, and I failed to meet your expectations, Master. In the end, the Heavenly Guardian who was watching had to intervene, and I barely avoided being killed,” Elder Ong said, bowing his head upon seeing the jade dragon.

“The opponent was just an early-stage Deity Transformation cultivator, wasn’t he! Your divine abilities are not lacking, and I even gave you the Soul Devouring Bell. How could you have failed? When did you become so useless!”

“This disciple truly did his best. That person used unknown divine abilities and also possessed a cauldron-shaped spirit treasure. Moreover, he was a body refiner who had mastered the Vajra Physique [a physique that makes the body as hard as diamond],” Elder Ong hurriedly explained, cold sweat dripping down his face at his master’s chilly rebuke.

“He had a spirit treasure? And he mastered the Vajra Physique?”

“Yes, everything I said is the truth, without any falsehoods.”

Elder Ong finally relaxed when the jade dragon showed interest. After organizing his thoughts, the jade dragon suddenly raised its claws and grasped the void.

The Soul Devouring Bell, enveloped in black light, was pulled out of Elder Ong’s body and into the dragon’s grasp. The dragon examined the bell, and its expression darkened.

At that, the man named Ong’s heart sank.

“That means he is walking the path of dual cultivation of body and magic! Such cultivation methods were popular in ancient times, but now, there are very few who cultivate both magic and body refinement simultaneously. Neither is easy, and it takes endless time. Cultivating both at the same time allows one to surpass cultivators of the same level initially, but once they reach a certain level, they cannot keep up with the cultivation of ordinary cultivators. Moreover, body refinement requires different aptitudes. As far as I know, only a few, like the Celestial Origin Saint Emperor from ancient times, have reached the Fusion stage by mastering dual cultivation. That person must have originally been a body refiner who later became a cultivator, or perhaps he ate something that made his body strong! Otherwise, why would he walk down such a dead end?”

“He has already mastered the Vajra Physique. Does that mean there are more body refinement techniques that can strengthen the body?”

“Mastering the Vajra Physique means reaching the highest level a mortal can achieve with body refinement. If one wants to improve further, the best way would be to cultivate demonic arts from the Demonic Realm or techniques from the demon race. However, both are techniques of different races, so the risks are great. If the opponent has cultivated both magic and body to reach his current level, it is not strange that you, a mid-stage Deity Transformation cultivator, are no match for him. The problem is, how did you make the Soul Devouring Bell like this? You destroyed the main soul and about 60-70% of the remaining souls.”

“This disciple doesn’t know what happened either. It was clearly sucked into the bell, but not long after, it broke the restriction and came out. I couldn’t see what happened inside,” Elder Ong hurriedly explained again at the dragon’s gloomy tone.

“Although the Soul Devouring Bell is not enough to be listed in the Chaos Myriad Soul Banner, it is still something that can trap even a late-stage Deity Transformation cultivator. It seems that the fellow has a treasure that is incompatible with souls or possesses divine abilities of extreme yang or extreme yang [a concept in Chinese philosophy representing the positive, active principle]. That’s enough, the Soul Devouring Bell can be refilled by capturing the souls of demon beasts! But we can’t let things go wrong like this.”

The jade dragon stared at the man for a while, then snorted and looked away.

“Thank you for your mercy. But since the territory has already gone to that fellow, it will be difficult to find the treasure if he sets up restrictions everywhere,” Elder Ong said hesitantly, bowing his head.

“That’s true! But how profound of a restriction can he set up in such a large territory in a short time? It’s not impossible. First, come to where my main body is in seclusion. If you take my token and visit my friend, Gong Yangdao, you can borrow the Mystical Five-Colored Banner, which can secretly infiltrate. It is a treasure with a strange divine ability that mixes the energy of the five elements and makes objects intangible. This will put me in great debt to Old Man Gong… I’ll have a lot to repay in the future.”

The jade dragon looked displeased. However, Elder Ong did not dare to retort and simply bowed his head with his hands clasped respectfully.

* * *

At the same time, Han Li had just crossed the walls of the Celestial Origin City and was flying towards the plains. Now that the battle was over, he was heading straight for his territory. With his divine abilities, he flew tens of thousands of miles in an instant and faced a massive mountain range covered in lush greenery.

It was the Jinglai Mountain Range.

He ascended one of the peaks and looked down at the mountain range that stretched for hundreds of thousands of miles.

It was the least impressive of the three mountain ranges he had seen in the Jade Palace, but it was still a place for Deity Transformation cultivators, so the density of spiritual energy was extraordinary.

It was worlds apart from the cultivation holy lands of the mortal realm. Han Li nodded in satisfaction and transformed into a blue beam of light, flying away.

He sped through the sky, spreading his consciousness in all directions to carefully check everything around him. Along the way, he found four or five places with restrictions, which seemed to be the residences of other cultivators.

Han Li did not pay much attention to the cultivators living nearby and passed them by. It was only after he had passed almost half of the mountain range that he finally arrived at the territory marked on the map. The territory, which was over 20,000 miles wide, seemed endless.

Moreover, he could not sense the presence of any other cultivators besides himself. Han Li did not rush and calmly circled the territory once.

Then, at regular intervals, he threw white formation flags, burying them deep underground. They were low-level magical artifacts, so they had no other function than to cause a slight illusion, drawing the attention of other cultivators.

It was a warning not to enter recklessly since this place already had an owner. Han Li leisurely wandered around his territory.

Half a day later, he found several small spirit stone mines and places where natural spirit herbs grew in the territory. The quality of the spirit stone mines and spirit herbs was not up to par for a high-level cultivator like Han Li, but it was still better than nothing.

After thoroughly examining every corner, he finally rose into the sky and fell into deep thought.

‘It’s strange.’

There was nothing special about this place, so he couldn’t understand why Elder Ong had tried so hard to win. Did he really just need a large territory to learn a special secret technique?

Han Li shook his head with a wavering gaze. Judging by the opponent’s dejected face after losing the battle, that was definitely not the simple reason. There were other large territories, but he had desperately tried to kill him.

He would have to thoroughly search this place if he had the chance in the future. Having made his decision, Han Li now thought about his residence. Most of the territory was similar, but there were a few places where the spiritual energy was denser.

He flew to the place he had decided on after considering various factors. Not long after, Han Li arrived at a place where a colorful mist was swirling between two mountain peaks.

This place was a large swamp, and a colorful energy was constantly spewing out of the mud in the ground, forming a poisonous fog that rose to a height of over a hundred feet.

The mist contained strange components that limited consciousness, making it difficult to see inside. Han Li was only able to find a rocky valley deep within the poisonous fog by using the power of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.

It was the point where two large mountains met.

This naturally formed, secluded terrain was the ideal place for Han Li to build the cave dwelling he desired.

* * *

Deep within the colorful mist-filled valley.

He drilled holes in the rock walls and used his flying swords to easily create two long passages.

He planned to build different cave dwellings on each of the two rock walls of the valley. One would be used as a decoy for other cultivators, and the other would be his real cultivation place, as well as a place to raise spirit insects, spirit beasts, and spirit herbs.

Since the Heavenly Secret Pavilion was small, he did not feel the need to use it. After building the cave dwellings, he immediately transplanted all the spirit herbs and spirit trees he had brought from the mortal realm into the herb garden.

He also created a separate secret room for the Golden Devouring Beetles, which he had raised for a long time. Each of the Golden Devouring Beetles was now surprisingly large and had a ferocious appearance, indicating that they would soon reach adulthood.

He also prepared a comfortable cave for the Ice Phoenix and allowed it to cultivate inside.

Then, Han Li entered the empty spirit beast secret room, which was filled with a gloomy aura, with a solemn expression.

He extended the spirit beast bracelet on his wrist towards the secret room, and a light flashed as a black aura emerged, transforming into something the size of a palm.

The round object had a strange silkworm cocoon shape, and as a dark light spread out, the image of a blood-colored evil ghost appeared on the surface of the silkworm cocoon.

A ferocious evil ghost with horns on its head and three eyes.

The silkworm cocoon was the transformed Soul Devourer, and the evil ghost that appeared on the surface was the same one that was usually behind the Soul Devourer.

Han Li rubbed his chin and smiled.

During the territory battle, when he was sucked into the dark Yin Soul space, countless souls condensed and attacked him under the command of a giant ghost king.

Seeing this, Han Li released the Soul Devourer without hesitation.

The Soul Devourer had a natural ability to devour souls, and as soon as it came out, it snorted and devoured the evil ghosts with a yellow aura.

The ghost king was a bit tricky, so he couldn’t pull it in at once, but the situation changed when Han Li used the Wind Lightning Wings to target the ghost king’s back and attacked with the Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning.

The injured ghost king could not condense its soul, and while fighting Han Li, it was absorbed by the Soul Devourer.

After devouring countless souls and finally swallowing the ghost king, which was comparable to a Deity Transformation cultivator, the Soul Devourer, which was already on the verge of advancing to the next stage, overcame the hurdle and transformed into a black silkworm cocoon.

This was not the first time this had happened, so Han Li was not too flustered. After that, he ignored the remaining souls and forcibly tore a hole in the space with the Destruction Dharma Eye and escaped.

Now, the black silkworm cocoon would successfully evolve after a certain amount of time. After slowly examining the silkworm cocoon, Han Li left the secret room and this time looked around the herb garden.

There, spirit trees such as the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng and Dragon Scale Fruit were growing, and they were very precious spirit herbs even in the spirit realm. However, the only thing that was not visible was the Profound Heaven Immortal Lantern, which he had painstakingly cultivated.

The Profound Heaven Immortal Lantern had borne fruit in the mortal realm, and when Han Li took the fruit, it suddenly withered and disappeared into ashes.

What was even more mysterious was that even the few roots he had cut off in advance had withered as well. His plan to continue cultivating the Profound Heaven Immortal Lantern had been ruined.

Han Li guessed that the root fragments of the Profound Heaven Immortal Lantern that others had would also have disappeared.

‘Does this mean that the laws of heaven and earth are unique in one world?’

Just as there could not be two identical Profound Heaven Immortal Lanterns, two laws of heaven and earth could not coexist in one world.

Leaving aside the Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul cultivators, even the Deity Transformation and Void Refinement cultivators of the spirit realm were only using the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in accordance with the laws of heaven and earth.

Mastering the laws of heaven and earth would probably only be possible after the Fusion stage, at the Great Ascension stage, which was the end of the middle realm. Or perhaps by the beings known as the True Spirits of Heaven and Earth!