Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 971

Ma Yuan trembled at the sight of the bead and shouted,

“Evil-Slaying Thunder Pearl!”

Ma Yuan instantly transformed into a dark red demonic wind, rushing towards Han Li, not allowing him a chance to activate the Evil-Slaying Thunder Pearl. But just then, golden light flashed from the ground, and twin swords and a long saber sprang out as if from nowhere.

Swish- Whish Whish!

The sword and saber energies slashed through Ma Yuan within the demonic wind. Ma Yuan halted his advance, sending three streaks of purple afterimages to intercept the sword and saber energies.

As the demonic wind was momentarily held back by the weapons, Han Li chuckled.

Whoosh!

In that instant, the scenery around Ma Yuan blurred, and large lotus flowers emerged, merging into one. He found himself trapped within a blue barrier.

It was the Spring Dawn Sword Formation, activated after waiting for Ma Yuan to rush in. Once he was confined within the blue barrier, the golden twin swords and long saber vanished, and two soldiers clad in golden armor materialized from Han Li’s shadow.

The soldier wielding twin swords and the soldier with a long saber were shadow puppets created using the Armor Talisman [a magical talisman that creates temporary armor or constructs].

“A sword formation! This has become a bit troublesome.”

Ma Yuan muttered, showing no signs of panic.

As Han Li observed the sword formation with a cold gaze, blue light enveloped Ma Yuan, and suddenly, enormous blue trees appeared, raining down like a storm.

However, Ma Yuan snorted, a bloody light flashing across his face, and the armor on his face disappeared. A large eye with a hideous visage glowed purple, and faint five-colored spell characters flickered within it.

Ma Yuan scanned the falling blue trees with his strange demonic eye and smirked. Ignoring the other trees, he reached out towards just one of them.

Thud!

A giant crystal hand materialized in the void, and the moment it grasped the blue tree he was targeting, the tree transformed into a sharp sword.

Swoosh!

As the illusion of the flying sword shattered, the numerous trees that had been falling towards Ma Yuan scattered into light of spiritual energy. The flying sword held in the crystal hand struggled desperately to escape. Ma Yuan laughed wickedly and hurled a purple giant sword.

He recognized it instantly as Han Li’s natal magic treasure [a magic item that is spiritually connected to its owner] and intended to cut the flying sword in half, damaging Han Li’s consciousness.

Han Li was slightly puzzled when the illusion was broken, but he was not surprised. If it had not been for the newly refined Azure Bamboo Cloud Sword, he might have suffered a setback, but it was easy to make the flying sword illusory with the spirit transformation ability.

Bang!

The Azure Bamboo Cloud Sword, which had been held by the giant hand, scattered into blue light. Then, it reassembled in the void, taking the form of a blue flying sword, before flashing with blue light and disappearing back into the sword formation.

Ma Yuan’s eyes turned fierce, and the purple light within them intensified. His pupils, with five-colored spell characters flickering, scanned the surroundings and surprisingly found Han Li outside the sword formation, staring directly at him.

‘Demonic Eye Divine Ability!’

Without a doubt, Ma Yuan possessed the Demonic Eye Divine Ability. He had seen through the illusion of the sword formation with his demonic eye and located Han Li.

While Han Li was surprised, Ma Yuan spat out dark red essence from his mouth and absorbed it into the giant sword.

Whoosh!

The purple light expanded greatly, and the giant sword floated up and trembled. Then, the blade rose vertically and fell towards Han Li, slicing through the blue barrier.

Han Li was startled and formed a hand seal with the golden arm of his dharma form [a manifestation of spiritual power], releasing a golden pillar of light.

Kwarurung!

The momentum of the golden pillar of light was astonishing, but it could not stop the purple sword. The purple sword easily cut through it and rushed towards Han Li. Han Li’s eyes turned fierce, and the puppet standing beside him immediately swung its sword and saber.

Sword and saber energies rained down like a storm, and Han Li channeled his magic power to boost the power of the sword formation. Large spell characters flowed on the blue barrier, and blue lotus flowers bloomed, blocking the way.

However, even though the golden sword and saber energies attacked in succession, they could not stop the purple sword energy and simply scattered and disappeared into golden light. As the purple sword energy rushed towards the blue lotuses, the blue lotuses were instantly split apart helplessly.

“…….”

Han Li, watching this, fiercely poured magic power into the sword formation, further strengthening it. Then, the blue lotuses that had been shattered strangely reassembled and blocked the purple sword energy.

The purple blade fragments were powerful, but the illusion of the Spring Dawn Sword Formation had also reached a mysterious level, so the illusory blade fragments within the purple sword energy could no longer hold out, losing their light and disappearing.

Ma Yuan within the sword formation looked puzzled. Although he was seriously injured and his treasures were not able to exert their full power, he could not understand how he was being blocked by a mere sword formation.

Ma Yuan’s heart sank. The power of the sword formation exceeded his expectations, and it seemed that he would not be able to escape the sword formation easily.

Ma Yuan’s expression darkened.

After crossing over to this realm through the spatial rift in the Magic Gold Mountain Range, he had experienced several battles, and his cultivation had declined, and he had lost powerful treasures. If that had not been the case, he would have immediately taken out several treasures and broken the sword formation.

On the other hand, Han Li was relieved and took out a set of shining blue talismans from his sleeve. The talismans all contained pure wood-attribute spiritual energy.

He was convinced that Ma Yuan’s magic power, who was seriously injured, was only at the level of the late-stage Void Refinement Realm’s peak. Although the armor and purple blade fragments possessed heaven-defying power.

‘Since he’s trapped in the sword formation, there’s no need to worry about him escaping.’

He had the demonic eye that could see through illusions, so it would be difficult for the illusion to exert its full power, but now was the time to test the divine ability of the sword formation that he had recently awakened.

Han Li made up his mind and shot the talismans towards Ma Yuan. The talismans, which flew in blue light, quietly seeped into the sword formation.

As Han Li chanted a spell, the golden bead transformed into a pillar of light and soared upwards, and large golden spell characters flowed from his mouth, following behind it. Ma Yuan in the golden restriction felt something and hardened his face.

Koo-roong!

Dark clouds gathered over the sword formation, and a gale arose. And between the dark clouds, a golden sun appeared faintly, emitting an enormous aura.

Koo-roong Kwakwang!

Golden lightning bolts flashed one after another on the surface of the sun.

“Thunder Summoning Technique!”

Ma Yuan muttered as he recognized the true nature of the golden sun with his demonic eye divine ability. He snorted and raised the purple giant sword, intending to cut the golden sun in the void in one go.

He could not just take a hit from a technique that was the opposite of demonic energy.

Swoosh!

However, before he could swing his sword, the surroundings were filled with blue light, and blue trees grew and became a forest. He was blocked on all sides by huge trees that were much taller than a person.

“Hmph! Do you think such crude tricks will work!”

Ma Yuan sneered and chanted a spell, and the sword trembled and hummed, and at the same time, spell characters flickered in his eyes. At that moment, all the trees around him were distorted in the blue light and transformed into giant blue armored soldiers.

They were giant soldiers holding various blue weapons such as swords, sabers, axes, and spears. A dozen or so giant soldiers near Ma Yuan began to swing their weapons.

Ma Yuan was startled and swung his sword horizontally. A purple afterimage flew in an arc.

Swoosh!

A dozen or so soldiers were cut down along with their weapons.

“They’re not all illusions.”

Ma Yuan’s expression hardened even after easily dealing with the enemies. When the purple afterimage cut through the giant soldiers and their weapons, he felt the large amount of spiritual energy they contained.

Thump Thump Thump Thump! Thump Thump Thump Thump!

Before Ma Yuan could grasp the situation, footsteps were heard from all directions, and sharp weapons rushed in. Ma Yuan sneered and lifted one foot, slamming it down on the ground.

Kwaang!

A loud explosion was heard, and a dark red shockwave scattered around like a wave. Then, the armored soldiers were swept away by the dark red shockwave, and the surroundings were instantly empty.

At this, Han Li outside the sword formation narrowed his eyes and changed his hand seal. After a while, numerous blue lights appeared in the void and transformed into long arrows.

Swish Swish Swish Swish!

Ma Yuan was not flustered even when he saw the arrows raining down like crazy and tapped the armor around his body. A purple barrier extended from the armor and surrounded him, and Ma Yuan calmly examined the arrows with his demonic eye divine ability.

‘Hmm?’

Ma Yuan’s expression was strange as he frowned. The arrows he examined with his demonic eye divine ability were all real, containing spiritual energy.

Puff Puff Puff Puff!

Blue lights exploded dazzlingly around the purple barrier. Ma Yuan was relieved to see that the power of the arrows was not great, but he suddenly wondered what Han Li’s intention was.

Bang!

Right then, a giant blue hand suddenly popped out from under Ma Yuan’s feet and attacked with a force like Mount Tai. Ma Yuan tried to cut the giant blue hand with his sword, but he felt something strange and raised his head.

Then, a pillar of light fell silently from the golden sun above, reaching him in an instant.

Ma Yuan was startled and immediately released purple light to thicken the barrier and raised his sword upwards to use it as a shield. At that moment, the golden pillar of light fell on the purple sword.

Kwarururung!

Tsutsutsut.

A world-shaking roar echoed, and numerous golden lightning bolts spread like spiderwebs. Ma Yuan, who had put immense power into his two arms holding up the sword, was barely holding on. The Thunder Summoning Technique of the Evil-Slaying Divine Thunder exerted power beyond imagination. It showed no signs of stopping and continued to pour down.

‘This is bad!’

Ma Yuan was shocked and stirred up dark red energy from deep within his dantian [the energy center of the body], spreading it throughout his body’s meridians. Then, sounds of something bursting were heard from various parts of Ma Yuan’s body, and his two forearms swelled to twice their size.

Now he was able to withstand the golden pillar of light to some extent. At that moment, he felt the pressure of the giant blue hand that had risen from the ground.

However, he did not pay much attention to the giant blue hand. It was because the purple armor could not be damaged by a giant hand that was merely created by an illusion.

Now was the time to focus on exerting his demonic power to the extreme to block the immense power of the Evil-Slaying Divine Thunder. The Thunder Summoning Technique of the Evil-Slaying Divine Thunder, which was the opposite of his demonic energy, was an attack that he would have been wary of even in his prime.

‘If I can just withstand this attack, I will make sure you can’t use the same trick again.’

However, it was not as if he had neglected the giant blue hand. The moment the giant hand touched the purple barrier, a shield of light suddenly appeared.

Clang!

However, as the shield shattered with a clear sound, the Star Realm Demonic Beast finally realized that something was wrong. He hurriedly tried to use another divine ability, but it was already too late.

Kwaang!

An enormous force lightly broke the shield of light and passed through the armor, pushing into Ma Yuan’s main body. Unexpectedly, the purple armor hardly offset the force.

He was putting all his effort into blocking the golden pillar of light falling from above, so he was hit in the side by the powerful force and was thrown sideways.

Only then did the giant blue hand flash and reveal its true form. It was the Primal Chaos Divine Mountain, shining with a gray-white light. Even Ma Yuan, who possessed the demonic eye divine ability, did not recognize it and was tricked by Han Li.

The weight of the Primal Chaos Divine Mountain was not something that even Han Li could easily handle. Even if Ma Yuan was stronger than Han Li, it was natural for him to be knocked away by the Primal Chaos Divine Mountain.

Han Li, who had been waiting for this moment, pointed to the void. The golden pillar of light that had been blocked by the purple sword strangely changed direction and fell on Ma Yuan’s body.

Kukwang!

Golden lightning exploded, and a giant golden net wrapped around Ma Yuan.

Koo-roong Kwakwakwang! Kwarurung!

In an instant, Ma Yuan was buried in golden light, and the blue arrows created by the sword formation did not stop and flew towards Ma Yuan. But Han Li did not stop there.

The blue arrows in the sword formation transformed into hair-thin blue threads and quickly pierced through the place where the golden light was exploding.

Kuhak!

Ma Yuan’s scream burst out from within the silent golden light. The seemingly insignificant blue threads had inflicted damage on Ma Yuan.

Han Li was pleased and slapped the back of his head with one hand, and the three-headed, six-armed dharma form jumped into the blue barrier and disappeared. And the shadow puppets that had been standing beside him also disappeared into Han Li’s shadow.

The next moment, a wave rippled in the void, and six golden lights appeared.

Koo-roong!

The golden lights each transformed into giant fists and fell mercilessly, and golden shadows appeared from the ground, rushing in with golden twin swords and sabers.

Kuhak!

The second attack covered the golden light, and the light split apart with a sharp scream. From within, a streak of blood-colored light flew up, flashing through the void like lightning before stopping. It was Ma Yuan’s nascent soul [the soul in its purest form], which had ambushed Han Li.