Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 982

“Hand over the Earthly Essence, and I’ll spare your life.”

A thunderous voice echoed from within the red clouds, and a massive figure emerged. Han Li, observing the newcomer’s identity, was taken aback.

A giant toad with jet-black wings on its back appeared. Its surface was covered in writhing black energy, seemingly without substance, and golden runes flowed within it.

A gray bead embedded between the toad’s brows emitted an eerie light. Han Li, having scrutinized the monster’s form, spoke calmly,

“The Earthly Essence is in my possession. If you want it, trade it for your demon core.”

“Hahahaha, you little whelp, you’ve got a sharp tongue! I don’t know how many tens of thousands of years it’s been since I’ve heard such words. You’ve amused me, so when I catch you, I’ll be sure to chew and swallow your nascent soul to savor it fully.”

The giant toad laughed mockingly.

*Whoosh!*

But before his laughter could subside, a red light flashed from the giant toad’s mouth, and a red shadow darted toward Han Li’s chest.

Most cultivators would have been injured by such a sudden attack, but someone as experienced in battle as Han Li would not fall for it. He had already activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes [a technique that enhances vision and perception] and was on guard.

The red shadow, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow, was the giant toad’s crimson tongue.

*Bang!*

The red shadow was repelled, and a black mountain stood like a shield before Han Li. The giant toad’s tongue was no match for the immense weight of the Primordial Magnetic Mountain. The giant toad was surprised by the failed ambush but chuckled coldly and flapped the black wings on its back.

The red clouds in the void, as if drawn by a mysterious force, surged madly toward the giant demon. Han Li’s expression turned serious as he watched the giant toad devour the red clouds.

Once the red clouds were completely absorbed, the sky cleared, and the giant toad’s body glowed a fiery red, almost becoming translucent.

The surrounding air heated up and vibrated intensely due to the giant toad floating in the void. If a low-level cultivator were present, their body would have already melted and died.

Han Li narrowed his brows and tapped the back of his head.

*Whoosh.*

Then, silver flames erupted, covering his body from head to toe, and the surrounding hot air was drawn into the silver flames as if pulled by a magnet, returning the area around Han Li to normal.

Han Li crossed his arms and quietly observed the fiery red giant toad. The opponent’s fire-attribute spiritual power showed a hint of dispelling evil and destroying demons.

It was rare for a demon to possess the divine power to repel evil and destroy demons. Moreover, the high-level demon before him was also skilled in manipulating fire-attribute spiritual power.

‘But do you think you can kill me?’

Han Li sneered and spread his hands, crossing them.

*Kwarurung!*

Golden lightning appeared, forming a massive circular lightning net that enveloped him. Strange golden runes extended from his hands, disappearing into the surrounding lightning.

Surprisingly, at that moment, the lightning net exploded, breaking into strands before reforming into a single mass, emitting an immense light.

Within the golden radiance, Han Li, his figure blurred, chanted an incantation, causing the radiance to pulsate and thunder to roar.

*Kwang!*

A golden bead floated above Han Li’s hand. It appeared like an ordinary magic tool, lacking any luster.

“Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning, Thunder Control Technique!”

The giant toad, seeing the bead transformed from the Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning, exclaimed in great shock. Han Li smiled and threw the bead toward the giant toad, retreating backward. Then, blue light suddenly flashed in the empty space, and lotuses began to bloom profusely.

He disappeared into the blue light, and the giant toad, who was about to gather his energy to unleash a powerful secret technique, transformed into a pillar of flame and flew toward him.

*Kururung!*

The pillar of flame collided with the blue lotuses. The lotuses scattered in blue light, and the fiery red pillar of flame was also submerged in the blue light.

A booming sound echoed, and the giant toad, emerging from the pillar of flame, looked puzzled. Then, Han Li’s voice echoed in the void.

“Since you’ve come, why not taste the power of the Spring Dawn Sword Formation!”

No sooner had he spoken than blue light surged from all directions. The giant toad, already sensing something was amiss, opened its mouth and spewed a red beam of light.

*Pshoo.*

The red beam easily pierced through the blue light barrier but was absorbed into it and vanished. Seeing this, the giant toad raised its massive foreleg and slowly swung it.

*Kururung!*

Red energy shot out, transforming into a giant crimson hand that struck the light barrier. The power of the giant crimson hand shattered the blue light barrier.

But behind it was only pitch-black void. The giant hand immediately sent out several beams of light into the void, but blue lotuses bloomed densely, absorbing the light.

The startled giant toad immediately activated a magic seal.

*Kwang!*

The giant crimson hand expanded several times and exploded, and the red energy spread out with a thunderous roar. The lotuses also turned into blue smoke and dissipated upon contact with the red energy.

As the fierce red energy circled the blue light barrier, trying to eliminate the blue lotuses, a silver firebird suddenly spread its wings and descended from above.

As the silver firebird plunged in, the red energy trembled and, surprisingly, rapidly decreased in size. After a moment, the shrinking red energy disappeared, and the silver firebird reappeared.

The silver firebird chirped clearly and then *bang!* It burst into silver flames. This enraged the giant toad, who flapped the wings on its back, creating a black whirlwind and chanting an incantation.

Then, the black wind and the red flames flowing from the giant toad’s body merged strangely, creating a dark red firestorm pillar that soared into the sky.

The giant toad, having stopped the incantation, also summoned a purple flying sword from its mouth. The flying sword transformed into small blades and was sucked into the firestorm pillar.

The wind grew stronger, and purple light flickered on the surface of the pillar. All of this happened in an instant.

However, Han Li, outside the sword formation, formed hand seals, causing five-colored light spots to pour into the blue light barrier.

Han Li moved the sword formation with a cold gaze.

*Ssssst.*

Within the sword formation, vines suddenly began to grow. Initially thin, the vines grew thicker as they grew, quickly blooming into flowers and then bearing small jade-colored gourds.

From the light barriers in all directions, countless blue lotuses bloomed. Each time the lotuses bloomed, a sword shadow flashed and disappeared into the gourds. Then, blue sword patterns appeared on the gourds, and a large amount of five-colored light surged along the vines.

As the five-colored light grew stronger, the sword patterns became clearer. This was the ultimate technique of the Spring Dawn Sword Formation, the divine power of Sword Qi and Sword Howl. To summon the Sword of Primordial Qi, a large amount of heaven and earth primordial qi [the fundamental energy of the universe] was necessary.

That was why Han Li had focused on gathering the surrounding heaven and earth primordial qi from the beginning, instead of using the Spring Dawn Sword Formation’s illusion techniques. Initially, he thought the giant toad would interfere with the manipulation of heaven and earth primordial qi, but the giant toad seemed too preoccupied with breaking the sword formation to notice.

The Sword of Primordial Qi was condensing more smoothly than expected and was still absorbing the heaven and earth primordial qi from outside, increasing its power. The giant toad was shocked by the density of the heaven and earth primordial qi pouring in from outside the sword formation.

However, the giant toad had also finished preparing its counterattack. Suddenly, Han Li’s voice echoed in the void.

“Slash.”

The gourds flipped over, and a sword of light appeared. It was a long sword that shone with a dazzling five-colored light.

The five-colored sword slowly descended. The giant toad, feeling a sense of foreboding, shot the dark red pillar in the void toward the sky. Then, the power of wind and fire distorted space, aiming for the five-colored sword.

Within the dark red pillar, purple lights fiercely shook the light barrier created by the sword formation. Only then did the giant toad breathe a sigh of relief and smile.

This technique was the giant toad’s ultimate move, drawing out its full potential to manifest a Combined Body Stage [a high cultivation level] divine power. Therefore, it could never be stopped by a mere sword formation.

But then, a strange sound echoed from within the pillar, and for some reason, the dark red firestorm split in two. Five-colored light flashed between them, and the giant sword appeared.

The sword body trembled, and the dazzling five-colored light scattered, cutting through the firestorm with an unknown force. The five-colored giant sword spun and aimed directly at the giant toad, cleaving through the void. For a moment, no sound or energy was felt.

Suddenly, the gray bead between the giant toad’s brows *bang!* Exploded.

“This is impossible!”

The giant toad shrieked in a voice filled with malice and opened its eyes wide. Then, blood streamed from its eyes. The next moment, the giant demon’s head split in two and fell off.

Red flames escaped from its body, engulfing the corpse, and the giant toad scattered into ashes without even its nascent soul escaping. Blue light flashed in the void, and Han Li appeared within the sword formation, looking down at the blazing flames.

“A technique that draws on heaven and earth primordial qi is incomparable to ordinary secret techniques. If I hadn’t been in the demonic energy passage when facing Ma Yuan, I could have dealt with him sufficiently with the Sword of Primordial Qi. I needlessly damaged my Dharma body’s primordial qi by using the Profound Heavenly Treasure [a powerful magical artifact].”

Han Li muttered with a regretful expression, activating his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to carefully examine the flames.

*Whoosh!*

He suddenly reached out and pulled something from the flames. It was a navy blue pouch with different runes inscribed on it.

“…A storage pouch?”

It looked similar to the storage pouches of the human realm, but he couldn’t be sure. After pondering for a moment, he summoned gray energy to tightly wrap the pouch and then sent out a blue magic seal.

The chaotic navy blue pouch slowly opened.

*Whoosh!*

But then, a navy blue light escaped from within, trying to flee. However, Han Li scoffed and covered the navy blue light with gray energy. As it resisted the gray energy, the navy blue light revealed its form, which was unexpectedly a transparent navy blue bead.

The thumb-sized sphere looked like a glass bead. Han Li scanned the bead with his consciousness and looked puzzled.

“It doesn’t seem to be a demon core? Nor does it seem to be a magic tool.”

He held the bead and examined it closely, but he couldn’t identify it.

“That’s enough. I’ll figure it out when I get back and study it slowly.”

Leaving this place was his top priority now.

Han Li took out a jade box, stored the bead, and looked at the fiery red flames below. Then, a silver firebird emerged from the blue light barrier and eagerly plunged into the flames.

The blazing flames disappeared into the belly of the Spirit Devouring Firebird, and the firebird chirped clearly and flew up, entering Han Li’s body directly.

As he formed a hand seal, the surrounding blue energy dissipated, and the blue lotuses that covered the void appeared. The lotuses trembled slightly and returned to being 72 blue flying swords.

Han Li, transformed into a blue beam of light, retrieved all the flying swords and immediately activated his escape technique, leaving the area.

* * *

While Han Li was fighting the giant toad, in a palace somewhere in the Demon Forbidden Mountain Range, three men stood side by side, guarding a jet-black stone gate.

The moment the giant toad’s breath was cut off, the man in the blue robe frowned.

“Brother Tie, are you feeling unwell?”

The hulking man in the blood-red robe, standing next to him, noticed this and looked at him.

“It’s nothing. My avatar was suddenly destroyed.”

“An avatar? Are you talking about the avatar you possessed using the Demonic Bone Bead?”

The old man, whose entire body was shimmering with silver light, interjected.

“Brother Duan, you know my divine powers well.”

The man in the blue robe looked at the old man with displeasure.

“I know that using the Demonic Bone Bead allows you to exert at least 20 to 30 percent of your main body’s divine power. Is there anyone in the Demon Forbidden Mountain Range, besides the three of us, who could eliminate Brother Tie’s avatar?”

The old man in the silver robe pretended not to hear and continued to speak his mind.

“Brother Duan, have you already forgotten? Besides the three of us who came to the Spirit Realm following Lord Saint Ancestor, there is one more being of equal level. Wasn’t that Ma Yuan’s divine power comparable to ours?”

The hulking man in the blood-red robe smiled.

“Hmph, how dare that person, who ran away with a piece of the Profound Heavenly Treasure that the Saint Ancestor entrusted to us to manage jointly, cause such a disturbance?”

The old man in the silver robe sneered.

“It’s hard to say. I suspect Ma Yuan went outside to repair the Profound Heavenly Treasure and then planned to return to the Saint Realm with its power.”

The hulking man in the blood-red robe said nonchalantly.

“Repairing a piece of the Profound Heavenly Treasure outside? That guy must think he’s still in the Ancient Demon Realm. There are many powerful individuals in the Spirit Realm, just as there are in the Saint Realm. If Lord Saint Ancestor hadn’t been in an unavoidable situation, he wouldn’t have destroyed the Profound Heavenly Treasure to forcibly open the interface between the Ancient Demon Realm and the Spirit Realm and come over here.”

The old man in the silver robe shook his head.