Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 972

Ma Yuan’s nascent soul [the soul in its purest form] was flushed, his face as red as blood.

Clang!

The six golden giant fists and golden swords below were cleaved in half, and the barrage of blue arrows vanished. Only Ma Yuan’s physical body remained in that space.

His body was pale, cracked in several places, and charred black. A dozen or so finger-sized holes, stained with blood, marred his flesh.

Injured, Ma Yuan had been forced to use a demonic art to separate his nascent soul. Han Li frowned at this. He had thought his series of powerful attacks would kill the demonic beast, but he had failed.

“Hahaha! You’ve ruined the body I’ve nurtured for hundreds of years! Now, I don’t care about my body. I’ll catch you and relieve this resentment. If I kill you and make you my avatar, that’s all there is to it!”

Ma Yuan was enraged at the sight of his battered body. He immediately swung the shard of blade he held. Blood-colored light spurted out, rushing not towards the sword formation but towards his own body.

Fwoosh!

Ma Yuan’s purple armor allowed the blood-colored light to pass through. His body, having absorbed the light, began to dry out rapidly. When the blood-colored light flashed and rose into the air again, his body had become a dark purple mummy.

The shard of blade, having recovered the blood-colored light, turned bright red, emitting a bloody stench and a black aura. Ma Yuan threw the shard into the air and began to chant a spell while forming hand seals.

Incomprehensible ancient words flowed out in a stream.

Han Li didn’t know what Ma Yuan was trying to do, but he suspected it was a technique that extracted all the essence of his body, making it powerful. He formed hand seals to move the sword formation.

The light barrier vibrated, and hundreds of lotus flowers floated up. They spun around, emitting blue light pillars towards Ma Yuan. But soon, Han Li’s expression hardened.

Ma Yuan glanced at the light pillars rushing in from all directions and flicked the bright red shard of blade, causing the surrounding space to distort and an invisible wave to spread out. The hundreds of light pillars lost their light, like withered old trees.

Purple energy gathered around Ma Yuan’s nascent soul, and a purple phantom appeared. The giant purple ape, resembling Ma Yuan, shone with five colors. On its chest, the character for ‘mountain’ was engraved in silver.

‘Mountain Giant Ape!’

Han Li had never seen the true spirit Mountain Giant Ape, but he recognized the phantom’s identity at a glance. Only the Mountain Giant Ape had such a bizarre pattern on its chest.

Han Li’s eyes sparkled as he saw the purple phantom appear in the sword formation. The Mountain Giant Ape was one of the true spirits that could transform into the Twelve Terrors [powerful demonic beasts].

‘If I can obtain the blood of a true spirit, I can learn a new transformation technique and greatly increase the power of my other transformation techniques.’

Han Li decided he must kill Ma Yuan. He pondered for a moment, then flicked his sleeve and summoned the spirit beast bracelet containing the Gold Devouring Beetles. He would use his trump card to kill the nascent soul.

Summoning the Gold Devouring Beetles would consume a lot of his consciousness, but it was the best way to settle the matter quickly. After reaching the Nascent Soul stage, his consciousness had greatly increased, so he could handle about a hundred of them.

Without the Spring Dawn Sword Formation, he wouldn’t have dared to do it recklessly. But since the demonic beast was trapped in the sword formation, it was the perfect place for the Gold Devouring Beetles to act. His only concern was encountering a powerful enemy while escaping the mountain range with his consciousness greatly reduced.

However, eliminating the powerful enemy in front of him was the top priority, and he could assess the situation later. Just as he was about to activate the spirit beast bracelet, the phantom of the Mountain Giant Ape in the sword formation growled lowly.

Then, a blood-colored mist flowed from the phantom’s mouth and seeped into the bright red shard of blade.

The shard spun around, emitting a thick demonic aura, and black lights swarmed around it like moths to a flame.

‘This is…’

Han Li realized the flow of heaven and earth origin energy around him was strange. The demonic energy that had been filling the passage was wriggling as if alive, flowing towards the sword formation on its own.

It seemed as if the Spring Dawn Sword Formation had turned into a vortex, drawing in all the surrounding demonic energy. But in reality, the demonic energy was blocked by the blue barrier of the sword formation, turning into black beads and floating around.

“True Demonic Qi!”

Han Li frowned, recognizing the black energy.

Kwarung!

A roar echoed from within the sword formation, and the passage shook violently. A terrifying pressure of spiritual energy erupted, causing the blue barrier to flicker uneasily.

Han Li quickly turned his gaze to the center of the sword formation. The entire sword formation was filled with large and small magic characters, and the blood-colored shard of blade floated in the center of the black light magic characters.

The broken tip of the blade had been restored, and an unidentified golden ancient character was flashing on the blood-colored blade. Han Li narrowed his eyes, realizing something astonishing.

Every time the black talismans filling the sword formation flickered, the shard of blade also flickered, as if controlled by the sword, not wavering in the slightest.

Ma Yuan let out a strange laugh and formed hand seals. The giant ape phantom stretched out its long arm and summoned the blood-colored shard of blade.

Woong!

The golden ancient characters on the shard of blade wriggled as if alive, emitting light while making a crying sound. By the time Han Li sensed that the heaven and earth origin energy in the sword formation had become chaotic, the black talismans were already flying towards the shard of blade.

The bright red shard of blade, having absorbed the talismans, was turning increasingly black. As the numerous talismans disappeared, the black energy that had been sparkling with a clear cry also vanished.

The golden ancient characters on the surface of the shard of blade looked even more mysterious. Han Li, his pupils contracting as they flickered with a dark blue light, suddenly grabbed one of his forearms and glared at the pitch-black blade.

“A treasure of the Heavens! No way… How could a demonic beast with a treasure that possesses the heaven and earth laws of defying the heavens be seriously injured and here!”

Han Li muttered, pale-faced, unable to believe it.

“How do you know about the treasures of the Heavens?”

Ma Yuan was greatly surprised by his words and widened his eyes. But Han Li couldn’t answer Ma Yuan’s question right now. His forearm was burning as if branded by fire. It was the forearm where the Heavenly Sword was sealed!

This symptom had suddenly appeared the moment the Mountain Giant Ape’s dharma form [a manifestation of spiritual power] swung the shard of blade. It felt as if the Heavenly Sword was reacting to the pitch-black blade, throbbing vividly.

He had just said what had suddenly come to mind, but Ma Yuan hadn’t denied it.

‘Is it really a treasure of the Heavens!’

Not only did he have to struggle to suppress the Heavenly Sword in his forearm, but if his opponent was wielding a treasure of the Heavens, even the Gold Devouring Beetles wouldn’t stand a chance.

But if he were to use the Heavenly Sword just like that, the price he had paid for activating the Heavenly Treasure last time made him shudder. If his magic power and consciousness were depleted in this place swarming with demonic beasts, it would be as good as a death sentence.

However, the power the Heavenly Sword had displayed last time wouldn’t leave his mind. If the shard of blade’s power was even half of that, there would be no way for him to stop it, and the Spring Dawn Sword Formation would also be no match for it.

Ma Yuan, seeing that Han Li didn’t answer his question, became furious and moved the dharma form above his head. The phantom of the Mountain Giant Ape aimed the shard of blade at Han Li.

At that sight, Han Li broke out in a cold sweat. Considering the power of the Heavenly Treasure that could tear through space, escaping from here was a pipe dream.

‘Wait! The opponent has lost his physical body, and his cultivation has fallen to a level similar to mine. But he’s wielding a treasure of the Heavens? And not even the main body, but with a true spirit dharma form…’

In that moment of crisis, Han Li’s mind began to clear. The giant purple ape dharma form slowly swung the black blade. Han Li gritted his teeth and moved the hand that had been gripping his forearm.

A yellow wooden club appeared in his hand. It was the Heavenly Fruit. A golden light flashed, and the Celestial Fiend Dharma Form, which had reappeared above Han Li’s head, moved one of its arms and grasped the Heavenly Fruit. The remaining arms formed hand seals, and the giant three-headed, six-armed dharma form emitted golden light from its entire body. The golden light flowed into the Heavenly Fruit like water, and the dark green pattern on the surface of the fruit became even darker.

Han Li couldn’t hide his joy at seeing that.

Shwook-

A strange sound was heard from the sword formation, and a murky wave emerged from the pitch-black shard of blade, transforming into a giant wave and surging towards Han Li. In the blink of an eye, the black wave covered the blue barrier.

Woong!

The light barrier vibrated, releasing blue lotus flowers, but they were all shattered and scattered in front of the black wave.

The blue barrier was pierced like a thin piece of paper. Han Li hurriedly cast a magic seal. Countless five-colored dots gathered around him like a swarm of clouds, and the tip of the wooden club shone with a jade-green light, and a blade appeared.

Five jade-green magic characters emitted a chilling light on the mirror-like blade.

The golden dharma form forcefully swung the jade-green longsword towards the black wave. As a large amount of magic power drained from Han Li’s body, the golden light flowing on the surface of the dharma form became even stronger, and all the golden energy flowed into the sword.

The Celestial Fiend Dharma Form’s size was reduced by half, and its clear appearance gradually became blurry. The surrounding heaven and earth origin energy fluctuated violently, and countless five-colored magic characters floated up. A thunderous sound swept through.

The black energy that had been rushing in was pushed back by a strong force.

The Heavenly Sword held by the golden dharma form emitted a tremendous roar and dazzling light, as if it had gathered all the surrounding heaven and earth origin energy. It was a powerful light that could never be obscured by black demonic energy.

The passage seemed to be divided into two worlds by the pitch-black wave and the sword light. Above, five-colored magic characters wriggled, and below, a black wave surged, with pitch-black light flashing.

When the two lights collided, explosions occurred in succession, and an invisible wave swept through the passage like a storm.

Kukwakwakwakwang!

Everything except the space where Han Li and Ma Yuan were located was destroyed and turned to dust. The Spring Dawn Sword Formation flickered a few times due to the tremendous force and collapsed. The 72 flying swords also could not withstand the wave and were annihilated.

The power of the heaven and earth laws contained in the jade-green sword light was definitely stronger than the black wave. It was barely holding on, but the black energy was gradually disintegrating within the jade-green light.

The Mountain Giant Ape dharma form that had been floating above Ma Yuan’s nascent soul had already been reduced to half its size by swinging the shard of blade. It disappeared powerlessly in the face of the jade-green sword light’s immense power.

Even the shard of blade that the phantom was holding was cracked.

“A treasure of the Heavens! A complete treasure of the Heavens has appeared!”

The blood-colored light surrounding Ma Yuan’s nascent soul trembled, expressing his feelings.

The nascent soul, terrified by the jade-green energy, tried to escape towards the main hall, creating a blood-colored light. But it didn’t get far before the jade-green sword flashed, and the power of the heaven and earth laws trapped Ma Yuan’s nascent soul.

The space around Ma Yuan’s nascent soul shattered with a clanging sound. Inside the space with white cracks like a broken mirror, Ma Yuan’s nascent soul’s scream echoed, and it split apart like a wooden doll.

Surprisingly, the once-powerful Star Realm Ma Yuan had lost his life. A pitch-black hole formed in the place where the space had shattered, and the remnants of Ma Yuan’s nascent soul were silently sucked into the black hole along with the nearby space fragments.

Pat-!

The hole disappeared strangely with a flash of black light, and the purple shard of blade, having returned to its original shape, floated quietly in the air. Han Li sighed deeply and quickly formed hand seals, gesturing towards the dharma form.

The Celestial Fiend Dharma Form lightly swung the Heavenly Sword, and the sword turned back into the blunt Heavenly Fruit, slowly descending.

Han Li tried to retrieve it by sending out a blue energy, but the Heavenly Fruit turned into a green beam of light and quietly seeped into his arm. He felt a burning sensation, and a yellow mark was engraved on his forearm.

Han Li smiled bitterly. The Heavenly Fruit had settled in his arm and sealed itself on its own.