Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 806

Han Li felt the snake-like tongues, transformed from the divine beast’s, trying to slip through his grasp.

His dark blue eyes narrowed as he shifted his hands, now black and white. A small silver mountain pattern appeared on the back of his black hand, and his fingers thickened considerably.

Crack!

Blood splattered as one of the snake-tongues was crushed and severed.

From his white jade-like hand, five skull heads emerged, biting and tearing at the other snake. The skulls cackled with delight as they devoured it, the snake withering and losing its essence. This was the result of Han Li condensing and unifying the Origin Magnetic Mountain and the Five Child Devils into his hands.

This technique was a unique training method recorded in the Hundred Vein Refinement Treasure Art.

Refining the body into a treasure was a lengthy process. However, if a useful treasure could be condensed, the time could be greatly reduced. In this way, Han Li effortlessly destroyed the snakes that had formed from the divine beast’s two tongues.

The old Taoist was enraged. The divine beast’s heads, writhing in pain once more, let out a monstrous roar. The divine beast transformed into a black aura and dashed away, its form blurring and then disappearing completely.

It was capable of not only brute force and illusions but also stealth. Soon after, the monster’s roars echoed around Han Li, but its exact location remained elusive.

Even activating the Brightsight Spirit Eyes [a technique to enhance vision and perception] proved useless. It was a critical moment for anyone else, but Han Li chuckled.

Buzz! Buzz!

From his sleeves, the sound of insects could be heard, and countless golden dots poured out. As soon as they appeared, the golden dots grew in size, each transforming into a giant beetle about half a foot long. These were the Gold Devouring Beetles that Han Li had painstakingly raised to adulthood.

When over a thousand giant insects rose into the air, it was no exaggeration to say that the entire sky was covered with Gold Devouring Beetles.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz!

The divine beast, which had been hiding nearby, collided with a few of the Gold Devouring Beetles. The spirit insects, controlled by Han Li, swarmed and surrounded the monster.

The divine beast let out a painful scream and immediately tried to escape in the form of a black aura. Ordinary spirit insects would have been ineffective against the divine beast, which had transformed into an intangible aura.

However, something unexpected happened.

The beetles’ claws glowed with golden light, tightly gripping the black aura and beginning to gnaw at it. As over a thousand giant beetles gnawed away, the divine beast’s aura, which had been vast, instantly lost a tenth of its power.

A desperate scream echoed as the black aura writhed, and from within it, a dozen or so slender gold and silver snakes appeared, swallowing the Gold Devouring Beetles one by one. In an instant, a dozen or so adult Gold Devouring Beetles disappeared into the bellies of the snakes that had emerged from the black aura.

Buzz!

However, the gold and silver snakes immediately twisted and fell, turning back into black aura. The golden Gold Devouring Beetles they had swallowed flew back up, completely unharmed.

The black aura created various monsters to stop the spirit insects, but they were no match for the adult Gold Devouring Beetles. Instead, they consumed the monsters’ energy and devoured them even faster.

The time it took for Han Li to release the swarm of spirit insects and for the black aura to be devoured was instantaneous. The old man, who had been staring intently at the giant golden beetles from afar, wore a bizarre expression.

“Gold, Gold Devouring Beetles! Adult Gold Devouring Beetles!”

The old Taoist muttered to himself before striking the back of his head without hesitation. A red light flashed, and Red Shadow [likely a spirit or entity] appeared above the old Taoist’s skull and flew away. The red streak of light flashed and moved, fleeing towards the horizon.

The old Taoist’s body, which remained in the void, became a withered corpse and scattered into dust with a gust of wind.

Han Li’s eyes widened as he watched his opponent flee.

“He’s running away even after leaving behind such a strange beast? Are adult Gold Devouring Beetles that famous?”

Confused, he turned his head and saw that the Gold Devouring Beetles had almost finished eating the black aura. He stroked his chin and gestured, calling the spirit insects back. The golden Gold Devouring Beetles shrank back to the size of rice grains and disappeared into his sleeves.

He was about to leave when his face suddenly turned pale, and he staggered in the void.

‘When did I consume so much consciousness? I almost damaged my Nascent Soul [a core of spiritual energy]!’

Han Li quickly checked his condition and was chilled to the bone. He, who had a consciousness similar to a Void Refinement cultivator, had exhausted 70 to 80 percent of his consciousness. Moreover, it was strange that he had consumed his consciousness so quickly without even noticing it.

“Could it be…”

He recalled using the adult Gold Devouring Beetles a moment ago and had a hunch.

Han Li sent a golden light into his sleeve. The golden light transformed into a giant beetle and flew around as he commanded.

He watched his consciousness calmly and was stunned.

He could feel his consciousness slowly being consumed even when he summoned and controlled just one spirit insect. It didn’t seem like much, but if he summoned more than a thousand at once, the consumption of consciousness would be extreme.

With his current consciousness, he would only be able to control them for a very short time. What was even more frightening was that he could not know about the consumption unless he was using his consciousness to monitor them.

Han Li was a little depressed. The joy he had felt at obtaining the adult Gold Devouring Beetles had subsided. He had 8,000 adult Gold Devouring Beetles, so if he released them, he could kill a powerful enemy, but the spirit insects would also quickly consume his consciousness.

This phenomenon had not occurred before, and he did not understand why it was happening after they had become adults. To find a solution, he first needed to find the cause of the consciousness loss.

Otherwise, how could he use the Gold Devouring Beetles without worry! Han Li gestured towards the Gold Devouring Beetles.

Buzz.

The golden spirit insect circled in the air and landed on his palm. He examined the insect’s body with a strand of consciousness, but there was nothing unusual.

He sighed, narrowed his eyes, and pondered before flicking his hand to send the Gold Devouring Beetle flying. He examined the Gold Devouring Beetle again with his consciousness, and his expression changed. He had confirmed that a strand of consciousness that had been circling around the Gold Devouring Beetle was gradually weakening and being absorbed by the giant spirit insect.

One thing was certain.

The reason for the large consumption of consciousness was that the adult Gold Devouring Beetles automatically absorbed the consciousness used to control the spirit insects when they moved. Han Li frowned and pondered for a long time, but he could not find a solution right away.

Consciousness could be recovered by meditating and resting for about a day. However, a large loss of consciousness during battle was a big problem.

‘I should only use them in very urgent situations until I find a solution.’

Judging by how Red Shadow had been startled and fled upon seeing the adult Gold Devouring Beetles, it seemed that the Gold Devouring Beetles were infamous even in the Spirit Realm.

Han Li no longer cared much about the so-called List of Strange Insects compiled by the Demonic cultivators in the Human Realm. The perspective of low-level cultivators on strange spirit insects was bound to be different from that of high-level cultivators.

However, the status of the adult Gold Devouring Beetles exceeded his expectations. He decided not to stay here any longer and immediately changed direction and flew away.

If any of his companions had survived, they would probably gather there. The spirit energy marks they had left for each other had disappeared, but they had a special way of contacting each other, so they could find each other as long as they were not too far apart.

* * *

Ten days later, a blue streak of light was flying somewhere in the desert. Although it was blue, it was blurry and transparent, as if some kind of secret technique had been used, making it difficult to spot unless one looked closely.

The owner of the light was Han Li.

Nothing had happened for ten days, and he had not been pursued by the Spirit Race. The Spirit Race, including Red Shadow, seemed to have fled as soon as they saw the Gold Devouring Beetles. With that, Han Li was relieved and had been silently hurrying on his way.

The consciousness he had consumed in the battle with Red Shadow had also gradually recovered during his journey.

Han Li held up and fiddled with a jade bottle. It was a medicine bottle containing the Annihilation Pills, which he had received when he left the Heavenly Origin City. Moreover, any Ascended cultivator who had been assigned this dangerous mission had received a sufficient amount of Annihilation Pills.

However, to prevent them from running away during the mission or not fulfilling their duties, the medicine bottle was sealed with a powerful restriction. If they did not complete the mission, it would be impossible to open the medicine bottle through normal means.

If they tried to force it open or break it, the medicine bottle would explode, and the Annihilation Pills would be destroyed. Once the mission was completed and verified in various ways, the Heavenly Origin City would inform them of the method to lift the restriction through the Myriad Mile Talisman [a communication device].

Han Li, who had been stroking the medicine bottle, raised his eyebrows. Soon, a flash of spirit energy appeared, and the medicine bottle disappeared. A huge flock of birds, which had appeared out of nowhere, was flapping its yellow wings in front of him.

The giant birds also discovered Han Li and flew towards him, screeching sharply.

Seeing the strange birds approaching, Han Li sighed and flickered his body. The next moment, he appeared above the flock of dozens of yellow strange birds and emitted light from his sleeves.

Kwagwagwang!

Gold and silver lightning bolts shot out. Amidst the earth-shattering roar and thunder, the flock of yellow birds disappeared like smoke. Han Li looked around indifferently before transforming into a blue streak of light and continuing on his way.

* * *

Only half of the giant stone pillars remained, and the walls that had not collapsed in the wind showed that this was one of the ancient structures from the ancient era. Traces of time remained everywhere.

Under the stone wall, a woman in a black skirt was sitting cross-legged, and nearby, a young man in a purple robe was pacing back and forth.

Both of them had unpleasant expressions and were silent. They were So Hong and Nong Dong. The young man’s complexion had improved, so it seemed that he had recovered a considerable amount of the essence blood he had used by using the blood-colored sword.

However, it would take him several more years of recuperation to truly recover to his best condition.

After a while, the woman and the young man turned their heads abruptly as if they had sensed something. Then, a golden streak of light flew in silently, and a girl in a white robe appeared from within it.

“So Fellow Daoist and Nong Fellow Daoist, you’ve been waiting long, haven’t you? I’m glad you seem to be safe.”

Ye Ying smiled brightly, looking perfectly fine. So Hong gave a polite smile in response to her words, and Nong Dong secretly showed a hint of joy.

“With someone as clever as Miss Ye, I knew you would return safely. However, two Fellow Daoists have not yet returned… Fellow Daoist Yi was captured by the Spirit Race, so we can’t have high hopes, and Fellow Daoist Han has not contacted us yet, so he may have been pursued by the Spirit Race and suffered an accident.”

Nong Dong sighed. So Hong moved her lips as if to say something but then closed them again.

“Fellow Daoist Yi may have really been captured. But Fellow Daoist Han is different, so let’s wait a few more days.”

Ye Ying descended from the void and stood in front of the two.

“A few days? Now is when the sandstorm of the First Line Sky [a location] is the weakest of the year. We can’t miss this opportunity, so we can only wait for two more days at most.”

“One or two days should be enough.”

So Hong shook her head calmly, and Ye Ying did not argue, retreating to find a place to settle down.

Buzz!

Half a day later, a clear cry rang out from the three people’s bodies at the same time. The three of them had different expressions, and Nong Dong spoke first.

“I will activate the Positioning Plate. It’s a relief that Fellow Daoist Han has really returned without any problems.”

Nong Dong flicked his sleeve and took out a blue formation disc. He raised one hand, formed a hand seal, and then struck the formation with a magic seal. As Nong Dong put his hands together, the formation disc, which had been emitting a light of spirit energy, disappeared.

Having finished his task, he stood with his hands behind his back and waited.