Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 914

The white light, now incredibly sharp, sliced through the blood-colored threads, but it quickly faltered, as if its power was waning. In response, the remaining blood-colored threads tightened around the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread, making it resemble a silkworm cocoon.

Having already emitted white light twice, its energy was depleted. The blood-colored threads constricted further, pulling the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread helplessly towards the cave. Suddenly, a burst of golden light erupted, piercing through the blood-colored energy.

The golden beam transformed into a massive blue hand, attempting to seize the cocooned Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread.

*Bang!*

The giant blue hand firmly grasped the blood-colored cocoon, and countless sword lights flashed from the hand, wildly slashing at the blood-colored threads. However, the blue sword lights proved ineffective, as if they were cutting through illusions.

Han Li used the blue threads to secure the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread.

Despite this, the blood-colored threads were so powerful that the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread continued to ascend slowly towards the sky. Had the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread not been resisting on their own, they would have already been sucked into the black cave.

It was only a matter of time before the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread were pulled into the black cave. In desperation, Han Li pointed at a blue flying sword with his free hand.

*Buzz!*

The flying sword trembled, its blade seeming to vanish, becoming faint. This was the divine ability of Sword Spirit Transformation to Emptiness [a technique that makes a sword intangible].

*Swish, swish.*

Only then were the blood-colored threads severed into countless pieces. Han Li, overjoyed, snatched the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread, transforming into blue threads and fleeing. His flying swords quickly caught up to him and disappeared into his body.

Inside the escaping light, Han Li sighed, believing he had finally escaped the crisis. However, the black cave within the blood-colored formation suddenly released a bright red silk cloth, which vaguely disappeared and then reappeared over two hundred feet away, catching up to Han Li.

Han Li was startled by the silk cloth’s incredible speed. In that instant, a flash of blood-red light enveloped the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread and him, binding them together before rapidly retracting. Consequently, Han Li and the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread were sucked into the black cave at an unimaginable speed.

*Rumble!*

The moment the silk cloth entered the black cave, the blood-colored formation in the void exploded with a deafening roar, and the surrounding blood-colored clouds surged, emitting lightning.

Even while wrapped in the silk cloth, Han Li released his flying swords, slashing wildly in all directions, but to no avail. This time, even after transforming the flying swords into the Sword Spirit Transformation to Emptiness state, he couldn’t cut through the silk cloth.

Just then, the surroundings darkened, ghostly wails echoed, and powerful spatial fluctuations surged.

‘This is bad!’

A sense of foreboding sent shivers down Han Li’s spine.

Even though he couldn’t see what was happening outside the silk cloth, the fact that the surroundings were pitch black meant he was definitely being pulled into the black cave.

He quickly tapped his forehead, and a pitch-black eye with a dark light appeared. It was the Destruction Eye, which Han Li had cultivated for many years.

Since ordinary divine abilities were ineffective, he decided to try a divine ability adept at breaking restrictions. As a black beam of light shot out from the Destruction Eye, a hole was pierced through the incredibly tough blood-colored silk cloth.

As the thin beam of light tore through the cloth, an exit the size of a sheet of paper opened up.

Han Li was overjoyed and flapped his wings. Unable to use his earth escape technique, he used the Wind Lightning Wings to ascend. Otherwise, he would have fallen straight down in the strange black cave.

As he emerged, ghostly wails echoed around him, and blood-colored phantoms appeared. Han Li quickly crossed his hands, summoning golden lightning.

*Crack!*

Thunder roared loudly, and golden lightning bolts shot out. These golden lightning bolts were larger and different from the previous Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning. The newly refined flying swords had not only absorbed the spiritual energy of the Golden Thunder Bamboo but had also made the Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning their own.

Therefore, the amount of Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning had increased, and its power was much greater.

*Rumble, crack!*

As the golden lightning surged, the blood-colored phantoms flying towards him were repelled. However, there were too many of them, and they were not afraid of death, rushing towards him.

They pierced through the lightning net woven with Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning and targeted Han Li, but they were blocked by the sword energy he released with a hand seal. Blue sword energy flashed, and the red threads were cut to pieces.

*Whoosh!*

At that moment, the sound of the blood-colored formation being released rang in his ears, and the spatial fluctuations within the cave intensified. Han Li looked around and, sensing the danger, flapped his wings, trying to escape the black cave.

*Bang!*

However, he was bounced back as if he had hit an invisible barrier, a transparent restriction. His face, which was barely able to maintain his balance by flapping his wings wildly, was a mix of surprise and anger.

*Whoosh!*

Just as he was about to unleash a powerful divine ability to break the restriction, an enormous suction force suddenly arose from within the black cave, pulling him back to his original position without any resistance.

Han Li released all his divine abilities, trying to escape from that place. Golden light, gray energy, five-colored flames, golden lightning, and blue sword lights exploded and disappeared around him.

Covered in various lights and flames, Han Li’s body was barely visible, but he was able to slightly resist the powerful suction.

‘Now!’

*Flap, flap, flap!*

Just as Han Li was about to fly out of the black cave, the surrounding blood-colored phantoms suddenly shrieked and scattered into a blood-colored mist, which soon disappeared into the black cave like smoke.

At that moment, Han Li felt his surroundings becoming hazy. It was the same sensation he had experienced when being teleported.

“No!”

He didn’t know where he was being teleported, but it wouldn’t be a safe place. He activated the Destruction Eye on his forehead, releasing a black beam of light.

As the black beam of light seeped into somewhere and disappeared, the hazy scenery returned to its original state.

Han Li frantically released black light from the Destruction Eye again, causing the three-headed, six-armed Dharma Idol [a manifestation of a deity or powerful being] above his head to wave its six arms, sending out golden light.

However, the sound of the black cave vibrating grew louder, and signs of him being teleported somewhere again began to appear. This was very different from the teleportations he had experienced before.

His heart grew heavy, and he felt a sense of helplessness for the first time in a long time. But then, he suddenly felt something was strange. According to his previous experiences, the teleportation should have already started the moment his surroundings became blurry.

But he couldn’t understand why it was taking so long.

‘What is it?’

Just as he was frantically racking his brain, he suddenly felt extreme pain in the hand holding the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread. Startled, he lowered his head and saw that his golden palm was sharply split, and blood was flowing out.

The Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread were sticking out like sharp thorns, soaked in blood. It was clear to anyone that the culprit was the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread.

His body was several times stronger than usual due to the activation of the Great Cosmos True Devil Art. Yet, he was bleeding from being pierced by a wooden thorn. It would have been hard to believe if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.

However, before Han Li could cast a spell to stop the bleeding, a white light flashed, and the blood was sucked away. Then, a clear cry began to emanate from the blood-soaked Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread.

Han Li tried to throw away the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread. However, the wooden stick was stuck to his palm as if it had been glued there, and it wouldn’t come off.

His face turned pale in an instant.

He could feel the essence blood [vital life force] in his body being sucked into the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread through the wound in his palm, but no matter how hard he tried to stop it, he couldn’t. It only stopped after two-thirds of his essence blood had disappeared in an instant.

If he hadn’t trained his body to the extreme, he would have already withered and died. Of course, if the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread had absorbed the blood of an ordinary cultivator, it wouldn’t have been satisfied even after absorbing all of it, not just two-thirds.

The Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread, having absorbed the essence blood, turned red, and dark green patterns moved, creating unknown spell characters. At the same time, countless five-colored light dots appeared around Han Li and flew towards the Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread.

*Chichichik!*

The Profound Heavenly Wood and Thread, now imbued with jade-green light, suddenly revealed a shining blade a foot long. The clear jade-green blade was as smooth as a mirror, and strange green spell characters were engraved on it.

*Bang!*

However, the moment the sword appeared, the blood-colored formation seemed to be stimulated, and a loud noise was heard as the black cave disappeared from the void. As a result, Han Li, who was inside the black cave, felt his surroundings blur, lost his balance, and staggered.

Terrified, he instinctively grabbed the sword in his hand and swung it wildly around him.

* * *

On a giant altar surrounded by a blood-colored mist reeking of blood, about a dozen figures stood. Beneath their feet, a giant formation shimmered with a blood-colored light. Upon closer inspection, the size of the formation was different, but its shape was identical to the blood-colored formation that had been floating above Han Li’s head.

Below the altar, a vast blood-colored lake stretched out, its end not visible even from afar. The floating remains in the lake varied in size and species, but their sheer number made one’s hair stand on end.

“This is impossible! Where did the Profound Heavenly Treasure go! I clearly sensed its presence and summoned it!”

A shocked voice erupted from one side of the altar.

“Could it be that Elder Gan has made some mistake? Perhaps the newly appeared Profound Heavenly Treasure was never in our Bi Ling Clan’s territory to begin with. If that’s the case, no matter how many blood sacrifices we perform, it will be useless.”

A woman’s voice was heard from the altar. She was wearing a white bamboo hat and had five-colored wings shimmering, and her tone was full of mockery.

“Madam Bo! The summoning just now was done by both me and Brother Gan. We clearly sensed the presence of the Profound Heavenly Sword through the blood sacrifice. It seems there was a mistake during the summoning. Could it be that the sword already possessed spirituality and tore through the void on its own?”

Another young man on the altar spoke. The young man with white horns was the one-horned youth of the Horned Chi Clan that Han Li had seen on the giant island. And the woman who had shouted in anger at the beginning was a Sea King Clan Fish-Person.

“Only the two of you who presided over the ritual would know about the treasure’s existence. We just followed your orders,” said an old man wearing a light-colored robe and gray wings calmly. However, there was also mockery in the old man’s tone. The other Bi Ling Clan members didn’t say anything, but their gazes towards the Horned Chi Clan youth and the Sea King Clan Fish-Person were not kind.

The one-horned youth did not respond to the others’ words and began to move his lips towards the Fish-Person, exchanging messages through telepathy. The arrogant attitude of the two made the faces of the other Bi Ling people harden.

“Since the first attempt failed, we must immediately perform the next blood sacrifice. The energy hasn’t dissipated yet, so let’s perform the blood sacrifice right away. If the Profound Heavenly Sword is still in the Bi Ling Clan’s territory, it will have no choice but to respond to the summoning this time.”

The one-horned youth finished his discussion and raised his head, speaking to the other Bi Ling Clan members with a sinister face.

“Perform another blood sacrifice? Do you two think our magical power is inexhaustible? We’ve already consumed nearly half of our magical power to help with the blood sacrifice, and performing another one right away will greatly damage our vitality!”

The old man in the light-colored robe swung his dragon-headed staff, slamming it onto the ground with a *thud*. The altar shook slightly for a moment.

“I’m only saying what I have to. If we don’t perform the blood sacrifice right away, we’ll have to exterminate two more races and kill tens of thousands of Manhuang beasts [beasts from the Manhuang region] within half a year. But if we still miss the Profound Heavenly Treasure after doing all that, who will take responsibility?”

The one-horned youth narrowed his eyes and retorted mercilessly. The old man in the light-colored robe, angered by his words, stepped forward, about to retort. But then, an exclamation was heard from the crowd, followed by a hoarse voice.

“Brother Yao, don’t act impulsively. Elder Min is here representing the Horned Chi Clan, how can you be so rude?”

The hunched figure was obscured by a white mist, making it impossible to see his features.

“Brother Xiong, you’re right. I lost my temper for a moment.”

At his words, the old man in the light-colored robe immediately returned to his place and answered respectfully.

“Elder Xiong, do you have something to say as well?”

The one-horned youth also checked the other party’s appearance and gave a polite smile.

“Yes, I do have something to say. Elder is asking us to perform another blood sacrifice, even at the cost of our vitality, but what will you do if the second one fails as well?”

“If the summoning fails again, it means the Profound Heavenly Treasure is not in this land, and we two will leave immediately without any conditions.”

“Very well. Trusting in that promise, let’s perform the blood sacrifice again. The rest of you, don’t ruin things with momentary anger and prepare to perform the blood sacrifice right away.”

As the hunched figure gave the order, the other high-ranking Bi Ling Clan members quietly nodded in agreement.

Shortly after, ripples appeared on the blood-colored lake, and black energy condensed again as the blood-colored mist surged. And on the altar in the center of the lake, the blood-colored formation vibrated, and the sound of incantations echoed.