Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 980

“It doesn’t matter since we’re not giving up like this. If we join forces with the other investigators and set up an ambush at the exit, we can catch him before he leaves the Magma Mountain Range.”

After a moment of contemplation, the small beast spoke with a confident tone. The other demonic beasts, including the snake-headed one, did not object to his words. They all seemed to trust the small beast.

A gust of demonic wind blew, and the five demonic beasts flew back to where they had been. Meanwhile, Han Li was flying far away, keeping a close watch on his surroundings. Although he had dealt with the pursuers, his expression was not good.

He had completely deviated from his original path while escaping, and he had to find another way to leave the Magma Mountain Range.

This meant he could encounter unexpected demonic beasts, which was dangerous.

The thought that the remaining demonic beasts might be guarding the entrance crossed his mind, but he dismissed it. As long as they weren’t Saint Realm demonic beasts, he could use the Taiyi Azure Talisman or deploy his escape techniques to get away.

What was important now was the safety of Ji Xian. If she died, the Celestial Devil Armor would be unusable for a while. Considering the method he used to escape in front of the demonic beasts, he decided to believe that there would be other countermeasures. However, in the case of the man from the Gui clan, it was better to let the demonic beast hordes handle him.

Han Li decided to stop thinking useless thoughts and focus on moving quickly. The blue escape light became brighter, and his speed increased.

After that, nothing happened. Low-level demonic beasts occasionally appeared, but he easily dealt with them. He was now flying over a hill covered with shrubs, but a black aura obscured most of the hill, leaving only the top visible.

Kuang!

A sudden roar echoed from somewhere. Startled, he stopped the escape light and focused on the direction of the sound.

Far away, the sky was dyed with crimson clouds, and fireballs were exploding wildly within them.

Krrr! Kwang!

Explosions continued to be heard, creating a great commotion. Whatever it was, it was definitely the work of a being at the Void Refinement stage or higher.

His eyes flickered with a blue light as he examined the situation. Suddenly, he activated the escape light and quickly moved forward.

He had no desire to get involved in unnecessary matters. Now that he had obtained the demonic core, he wanted to leave the Magma Mountain Range as quickly as possible.

However, no matter how much Han Li tried to avoid it, troublesome things kept following him. A moment later, four streams of spiritual light shot out from the crimson clouds.

The foremost was a purple light mass, flickering erratically as it teleported in the direction Han Li was flying.

The three escape lights chasing behind it were green, silver, and red. Although their speed was slightly slower than the purple light mass, they were closing the distance with Han Li in an instant, creating sonic booms.

Han Li flinched at the unexpected situation. It was time to decide whether to avoid them or confront them. He quickly released a gray light to protect his body and summoned his blue swords. The swords transformed into blooming blue lotuses.

‘What is that…!’

He narrowed his eyes and used his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to identify the purple object flying ahead, and his expression became strange.

Inside the purple light mass, he saw a monster with a green face, two hands, two feet with root-like growths. The monster, wearing an antique yellow armor, faintly smelled of medicine.

“Ji Xian!”

He had seen Ji Xian’s portrait through the jade slip, so he immediately recognized the monster’s identity. Although he had not entered the Magma Mountain Range to target Ji Xian, there was no reason to turn away a gourd that had rolled in on its own [a stroke of luck].

Moreover, seeing her incomplete hands and feet, it seemed she had been discovered while still recovering from her injuries and was fleeing in a hurry.

He ignored the pursuers behind her and clenched his hand in the air, causing a giant hand to cover the purple light mass. When another enemy appeared in front of her, a look of despair appeared in Ji Xian’s expressionless eyes.

Even as the gray giant hand flew towards her, Ji Xian seemed unable to control her escape light and continued to rush towards Han Li.

Bang!

As she was grabbed by the giant hand, the purple light scattered, and Ji Xian was pulled in by the gray aura. She was unable to resist and fell into Han Li’s hand. Ji Xian, restrained by the gray aura, approached him.

Han Li’s face was filled with joy as he sent out a dozen golden restriction talismans from his sleeve.

Papapapat!

The golden restriction talismans seeped into Ji Xian’s body, flashing with colorful spell characters.

“Stop!”

“Do you want to die!”

Sharp cries and shouts came from the three escape lights. Their voices were quite heated. However, Han Li didn’t care and flipped his palm, taking out a blue jade bottle.

“Be contained.”

The jade bottle trembled and emitted a blue aura, enveloping the subdued Ji Xian before sucking her in. The moment he put the jade bottle back into his storage pouch, the three escape lights arrived and surrounded Han Li.

Han Li’s expression was calm as he slightly lowered his head. He had not yet identified the pursuers, but his face showed that he had no worries at all.

“Oh, Investigator Han!”

“You!”

As the gray aura dissipated, they finally recognized Han Li. However, someone in the blood-red light emitted blood-red energy from both hands without saying a word. Seeing this, Han Li boosted the gray aura in front of him and shot it out.

Chwa-reuk.

The two streams of blood-red energy were so powerful that they were about to cut through the gray aura.

At that moment, a black shadow flashed within the gray aura, and a black mountain phantom appeared. The two blood-red energies tried to cut through the mountain but were instead repelled by its immense power.

The gray auras around them transformed into countless gray threads, confronting the repelled blood-red energies. The blood-red energies writhed, trying to escape, but the gray threads clung to them so tightly that their movements slowed, and their true forms were revealed.

Two blood-red longswords, shimmering with dazzling spiritual light, pulsed with a vibrant spirit.

Woong!

The two longswords were trapped by the gray threads and could not move. The figure in the blood-red light, watching from afar, let out a shout, and with a bang, the blood-red swords, trapped by the gray threads, exploded on their own.

The blood-red energy scattered, escaping the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light, and returned to their sword forms in a strange spatial ripple.

“Sword Spirit Transformation.”

Han Li narrowed his eyes and glared at the figure in the blood-red light. They were none other than the old man and the green-haired alien he had met at the Thundercloud Pavilion.

Since they had glimpsed Han Li’s strength back then, the old man and the green-haired alien were not surprised to see the blood-red figure being defeated. The figure in the blood-red light was a palace lady with thick eyebrows and cherry-like lips.

She was startled by the power of the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light. However, they were not about to back down.

Han Li smiled and looked towards the red clouds in the distance. The roars were still echoing, showing no signs of subsiding. Below, a black wave continued to attack the red clouds.

The red clouds and the black wave seemed to be opposites, and each time they clashed, explosions rang out, creating a mist of steam around them.

“Investigator Han, weren’t you supposed to be in the mountain range with Investigator Yue? How are you here alone?”

The old man spoke first.

“Unfortunately, Investigator Yue was killed by someone.”

“Killed? Do you know who did it?”

“It happened when Investigator Yue was alone, so I have no idea what happened.”

“So that’s what happened.”

The old man’s expression darkened, but he didn’t seem to believe it. Han Li smiled wryly at his reaction. The other party seemed to think he was involved in Yue Zhong’s death.

However, since he didn’t have any special relationship with the old man, he didn’t bother to explain and looked around at the other investigators.

“Why are the three of you surrounding me?”

“Hmph! Why ask when you already know? Just hand over Ji Xian, and we’ll let you go.”

The green-haired alien shouted fiercely.

“Ji Xian… Do you two think the same?”

Han Li sneered and asked for the opinions of the old man and the palace lady. When the old man hesitated, the palace lady coldly shouted.

“There’s no time. Let’s kill him and divide Ji Xian among the three of us. If we delay any longer, the subordinates of Maak and Cheolsima will catch up, and it’ll be over.”

She immediately clasped her hands together and summoned a fan burning with blood-red flames. The jade fan was densely engraved with crimson spell characters, creating a mysterious atmosphere.

“Fine! If I can get even a third, it’s better than nothing.”

The green-haired alien agreed with the palace lady and released an old-looking small cauldron. Seeing this, the old man also hesitated before summoning a silver seal from his sleeve. The silver seal grew larger, emitting faint wind and thunder sounds.

As they decided to join forces to seize Ji Xian, Han Li inwardly sighed. They were all top-tier Void Refinement cultivators, so their speeds would be similar. If he retreated here, it would be difficult to outrun them.

The only way was to kill them all. He had expected this kind of thing to happen when he took Ji Xian, so he didn’t wait and moved first.

The phantom of the black mountain emitted a gray light and fell on the old man. The small hill had transformed into a giant mountain, displaying its might.

The old man quickly retreated and pointed at the silver seal.

Woong!

The seal made a clear sound and swelled several times, colliding with the mountain peak.

Kureung!

Dazzling light burst from under the mountain peak, and intangible waves spread out. The silver seal was also powerful, but it was no match for the Yuan Magnetic Divine Mountain, which had undergone its second refinement.

The seal held out for a moment but eventually could not withstand the weight of the giant mountain and shattered. The giant mountain, with its fierce momentum, led a large amount of gray aura and covered the old man.

Startled, the old man released a handkerchief. The handkerchief immediately turned into a white cloud and floated up, and the old man unhesitatingly absorbed five-colored magic seals into it.

The giant mountain that fell on the cloud was like falling on soft cotton, unable to exert any force. The milky white cloud vibrated slightly, supporting the mountain peak.

Han Li watched it with a slightly bewildered expression. Meanwhile, the green-haired alien and the blood-red palace lady launched their attacks simultaneously.

The green-haired alien emitted green essence towards the cauldron, causing it to ring clearly and send its lid flying. Light poured out from the cauldron and scattered, and suddenly the weather turned dark, and a yellow wind began to blow. The wind transformed into a yellow wind dragon and rushed towards Han Li.

The palace lady also flapped her blood-red fan, sending out a large number of blood-red fireballs. Seeing this, Han Li expressionlessly took out a blue cauldron. It was the Void Sky Cauldron.

He released a silver flame from his mouth, and the flame immediately transformed into a silver firebird and flew up.

“Go.”

Woong!

The cauldron vibrated, and the patterns of various beasts appeared, glowing faintly. Spiritual light burst out, and phantoms of monsters and strange birds circled the cauldron, roaring at the yellow wind dragons.

They immediately began to bite and claw at each other upon collision. And the silver firebird spread its wings and charged towards the blood-red fireballs that covered the sky.

The crimson flames on the surface of the fireballs were as dark as blood, and the palace lady’s calm expression showed that the fireballs were quite powerful.

However, her calm expression did not last long. The silver firebird, which had plunged into the fireballs, chirped clearly and expanded at an incredible speed as if a wind had been blown into it. The speed was truly astonishing.

The silver firebird, which had suddenly grown large enough to cover the sky, had white spell characters flashing on its feathers.

‘Amazing.’

Han Li was also startled inside.

He had expected the Spirit Devouring Firebird to evolve after devouring the Golden Crow Essence, but he had never imagined it would change like this. Moreover, it had not yet fully refined all of the Golden Crow Essence.

The Spirit Devouring Firebird possessed spirituality, so it flapped its wings before Han Li could even give an order. Then, feathers shot out like arrows, piercing through the blood-red orbs at once.

Perperperperbang!

The orbs hit by the feathers moved in a bumpy manner and exploded, creating a blood-red sea of fire. Enraged, the palace lady glared and immediately threw the blood-red fan into the air and formed a hand seal.

Then, a pillar of blood-red light shot out from her hand and was absorbed into the fan. The spell characters on the fan’s surface writhed and began to form a formation-like pattern, and the blood-red flames in the air flickered and tried to gather in one place.

At this time, the silver feathers that had pierced through the fireballs burst into flames and turned into fist-sized silver fireballs.

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