Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 782

As everyone stared at her, Madam Xu nervously fluttered her sleeves, emitting a white light. The white light swirled and transformed into a transparent, shimmering flying sword above her head.

It was the Ice Crystal Sword, her natal magic treasure [a magic weapon tied to a cultivator’s life force] that she had cultivated.

She was in a difficult situation. No matter what had been done to the Green Wave Blade, given enough time, she could have infused the Ice Crystal Sword with Ten Thousand Year Profound Jade and frozen it.

‘But to do it right now!’

Even after releasing the flying sword, Madam Xu hesitated, not daring to swing it recklessly, and looked at Han Li with a troubled expression. Han Li, in turn, examined the Ice Crystal Sword and the green flying knife, then suddenly reached out and pulled the flying sword towards him.

Swish!

Madam Xu’s natal magic treasure trembled, breaking free of her control and landing in Han Li’s grasp.

Han Li, holding the hilt, lightly flicked the blade with his other hand, causing it to emit a long, phoenix-like cry.

The sound was so beautiful, it was like celestial music. The old man with the triangular eyes flinched at the sound, then sneered.

For cultivators of their level, it wasn’t difficult to use techniques or secret arts to enhance the power of their magic treasures. However, it was difficult to enhance the power of another cultivator’s natal magic treasure.

This was because spiritual power and techniques often clashed, making it difficult to merge them. How much could a mere early-stage Deity Transformation cultivator [a high cultivation stage] enhance the power of a flying sword by simply fiddling with it?

The reason the old man was able to strengthen his disciple’s natal magic treasure was because he had refined it for half a month using a mystical spirit talisman he had obtained by chance.

To freeze and seal the Green Wave Blade, it had to possess the power of ice and cold. Therefore, the old man was not at all nervous about Han Li’s actions.

“A fine sword indeed!”

Han Li seemed to know the old man’s thoughts, as he raised the corners of his mouth. Then, a silver flame erupted from the hand holding the sword, engulfed the flying sword, and disappeared without a trace.

The originally transparent flying sword turned silver-white, and a pattern of a soaring firebird was engraved on the surface of the blade, as if it had always been there.

This was a result of Han Li forcibly injecting the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flame into the Ice Crystal Sword.

The Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flame possessed the mysterious ability to devour various spiritual powers, and because it was a fusion of the Yin and Yang True Flames, it possessed both extreme cold and extreme heat attributes. Therefore, it was unaffected by merging with the Ice Crystal Sword.

‘This!’

The old man’s eyes widened, indicating that he was quite surprised.

Swish.

Han Li moved his palm, and the flying sword lightly flew away. Madam Xu, overjoyed, quickly formed a sword incantation, regained control of the flying sword, and then chanted a spell, flicking her fingers a dozen times.

Successive incantations flew and were absorbed into the flying sword, and at the same time, all of her magic power was poured into the sword.

Whoosh!

At the same time, the flying sword cried out, and a silver flame rose on its surface, transforming into a silver firebird the size of a hand in an instant. The temperature in the hall plummeted, and white frost formed on the floor.

As Madam Xu was filled with admiration, the firebird was already flapping its wings and rushing towards the green flying knife not far away.

Thanks to Han Li, the power of the Ice Crystal Sword had become incredibly strong. The small man looked visibly flustered, but there was nothing he could do now, so he gritted his teeth and formed a hand seal.

The green flying knife emitted a bright light of spiritual energy and transformed into a horned green dragon, flying menacingly.

Bang!

A loud explosion erupted.

The green dragon and the firebird collided, and green light and silver flames mixed together. Then, the firebird opened its mouth and devoured half of the green dragon in one bite.

“Ah!”

The small man screamed and spat out blood, too terrified to use any other techniques. However, the firebird burst, and silver energy surrounded the remaining dragon.

Crack.

Silver light flared, and a huge block of ice, several dozen feet high, appeared in the air. The green dragon trapped in the ice cried pitifully before dissipating, leaving behind a flying knife with a dimmed light.

The moment the flying knife appeared, a thin ray of light silently penetrated the ice, and a strange thing happened.

The small man, who was twenty feet away from his natal magic treasure, collapsed like a stiff corpse and lost consciousness as his flying knife was sealed in ice.

What kind of heaven-defying power did the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flame possess!

Even Nascent Soul cultivators [a lower cultivation stage] were caught off guard by its power. There was no way a Core Formation cultivator’s [an even lower cultivation stage] magic treasure could withstand it.

Madam Xu, with a mix of surprise and joy, reached out her hand. The silver energy condensed and turned back into a flying sword, which immediately flew towards her.

On the way, the silver flame left the blade, flashed, and disappeared, then vanished into Han Li’s body the next moment.

At the same time, the yellow-robed man suddenly regained his senses and moved. He appeared next to his disciple and saw that the small man’s body was covered in milky white frost, and his face was pale as if he had frozen to death.

“The cold has seeped into his body and mind!”

The yellow-robed man exclaimed in surprise, but he was also a Deity Transformation cultivator. He immediately flicked his sleeves towards the air, and a red light enveloped the floating block of ice.

Bang!

Energy filled with heat exploded and covered the ice.

The temperature in the hall rose rapidly, and the huge ice block melted in an instant. The green flying knife regained its freedom and returned to the body of the fallen small man.

Han Li had suppressed the power of the flying knife to hide the true power of the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flame, and then froze it with the original power of the Ice Crystal Sword. Otherwise, it would not have been possible to melt an object frozen by the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flame so easily.

Of course, he had revealed a bit of his strength to create a situation where the opponent would retreat on their own.

He had injected the extreme cold energy of the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flame into the flying knife, causing it to penetrate the body of the small man, whose consciousness was linked to it.

The divine ability of ‘Cold Seeping into the Heart and Body,’ which allowed cold to penetrate the body through consciousness, was a strange ability he had only recently learned about through the Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flame.

According to related records, it was an ability possessed only by the legendary extreme cold energy of the Spirit World. Indeed, the extra effort had paid off.

Now, the old man would perceive Han Li as an unfathomable, unknown figure.

The old man hurriedly took out a red pill from his pocket and put it into his disciple’s mouth. After confirming that his disciple’s complexion was gradually returning, he let out a long breath. The old man’s expression was not good as he looked at Han Li.

“I am ashamed of my own inadequacy in the face of Fellow Daoist Han’s amazing divine abilities. Let’s consider the matter of my disciple’s marriage as if it never happened. Farewell!”

The yellow-robed man, having sorted out his thoughts, forced a smile and cupped his fist. Then, he picked up his disciple and immediately left the hall.

Han Li calmly returned the gesture and watched the old man disappear before his face darkened. Before Madam Xu could approach and greet him, he asked coldly,

“What is that man’s background?”

Madam Xu was stunned, not understanding Han Li’s meaning. The blue-eyed giant beside her quickly understood and hurriedly replied,

“You can rest assured. Senior Huangpao and his disciple are both from a small sect called the Flowing Sand Valley and have no connection to any ancient, large sects. He is the most powerful elder in the Flowing Sand Valley.”

“Then I don’t need to worry about it anymore! Fellow Immortal Xu, this is the first and last time I will help you outside of my assigned duties. If you cause another disturbance, you will have to resolve it yourself. Do you understand what I mean?”

Han Li turned his head towards Madam Xu.

“I understand. Thank you sincerely for your help. I will make sure that such a thing never happens again.”

Although her heart was heavy, Madam Xu expressed her gratitude politely. Han Li nodded and strode out of the main gate.

“I don’t know what that silver flame is that caused the ‘Cold Seeping into the Heart and Body’ ability. From what I’ve heard, the legendary cold flames didn’t look like that! Senior Han seems to care a lot about Fellow Immortal Xu. I wonder if they have some kind of connection? Do you know anything about the identity of the cold flame?”

The blue-eyed giant asked with a wry smile after Han Li had gone far away.

“Senior Han has a connection with our family’s ancestors. But I’ve never heard of that kind of cold flame before. Even when he swallowed the Ten Thousand Year Old Man after his fusion, it was clear that he was no ordinary person. But Brother Zhuo, Senior Han doesn’t seem to like people asking about him. It’s best not to reveal such questions in the future. Otherwise, we might….”

“……”

Madam Xu sighed softly, trailing off her sentence. The blue-eyed giant’s expression changed, and he nodded repeatedly, indicating that he understood.

At that time, Han Li was flying towards the Heavenly Essence Market.

According to the information he had gathered, the auction was scheduled to start at noon, so if he went now, he would arrive just in time.

* * *

When Han Li arrived at the market, it was close to noon. Using a secret technique, he disguised himself as a burly man with a curly beard and walked towards the Grand Profound Hall.

Many people were already at the entrance, paying spirit stones and receiving light-blocking tokens to enter. They were all cultivators at the Deity Transformation stage or higher. Even as he watched, three Void Refinement cultivators [an even higher cultivation stage] entered, so there was no need to say more.

After hesitating for a moment, Han Li stepped forward and handed over a pouch full of spirit stones. The guard scanned the pouch and Han Li with his spiritual sense, nodded, and handed him a jade token.

“Go inside and turn left.”

Han Li’s face showed a hint of doubt at those words, but he walked in anyway.

After passing through the passage, surprisingly, instead of a straight path leading inside, there was a winding path that split in the middle, leading to dark places.

It was as if it had become a completely different place from the Grand Profound Hall of yesterday. It seemed that the restrictions inside the building had also completely changed.

However, since the guard had given him a heads-up, Han Li did not hesitate and turned left at the fork. Soon after, he disappeared into the darkness.

An hour later, Han Li was in a secluded, dark stone chamber. It was the size of a mat, with three sides blocked by walls and one side open. There was a jade table, a bamboo chair, and a red formation disc on the table.

These stone chambers were sparsely distributed in the air, a hundred feet high. Unexpectedly, they were all flying stone chambers. The huge hall was wide enough to be a thousand feet, and it seemed to contain almost a thousand stone chambers.

Faint blue runes flickered on the surface of the stone chambers, and blue sky lanterns were hung at regular intervals, creating a mysterious atmosphere.

The auction house owner seemed to have put a lot of effort into creating an environment where cultivators could trade discreetly, understanding that they were reluctant to reveal their identities.

While Han Li was waiting, hundreds of cultivators flowed into the hall. Almost all of the numerous stone chambers were filled.

‘Ah!’

When he opened his eyes again, Han Li took a light breath.

Those who came and went here were at least Deity Transformation cultivators, so there were nearly a thousand Deity Transformation cultivators gathered in this small auction house.

This was impossible in the Human Realm. But even in the Spirit World, it was only possible in Heavenly Essence City. In the Three Regions, except for the three main cities, one could not see so many high-level cultivators.

Ding!

Suddenly, a bell rang, and the open doors of the hall slowly closed with a creaking sound. The already dark hall became even darker.

Soon, several moonstones the size of heads floated above the auction stage, emitting a soft light and illuminating the view. Everyone’s attention was instantly focused on the auction stage.

A formation appeared on the auction stage, which was a dozen feet wide, and an old man in a white robe appeared with a white light.

The cultivators in the stone chambers stirred at his appearance.

“Grandmaster Chi!”

“Why is he here…? Could it be that he is hosting this auction?”

Murmuring sounds were heard from all over. Han Li, intrigued by the sudden commotion, carefully examined the man.

The old man with silver-white hair was a mid-stage Deity Transformation cultivator. His kind-looking face and bright eyes gave off an aura like that of an immortal.

Since others called him ‘Grandmaster,’ he must be a person who has achieved outstanding results in complex fields such as alchemy or formations.