Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 985

986. Leaving the Mountain Range

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“Are you still planning to try to win him over?”

“Giyoung! You’re awake.”

With a welcoming expression, Seomseom released a blue aura from her sleeve. The blue aura circled in the air before transforming into a small, fist-sized illusory Kirin [a mythical Chinese creature]. Giyoung looked troubled.

“I barely regained my senses a few days ago! The impact of using consecutive secret techniques was too great, so I’ve been resting quietly.”

“Although this endeavor failed, it’s a relief that you survived. The blood spirit of the True Spirit was being controlled by another entity, and even a being similar to you appeared. If we were unlucky, we could have lost our lives.”

“That’s right. It’s fortunate that the strength of that Han fellow was beyond our expectations; otherwise, it would have been difficult for us to escape the Demonic Forbidden Mountain Range with our own power. But are you trying to maintain a friendly relationship with him in preparation for when we target the next True Spirit’s blood?”

“Who knows when the next True Spirit’s blood will appear? Why would we prepare for it now? However, there’s no harm in building a friendship with someone comparable to a Saint Realm beginner, is there?”

Seomseom smiled, raising the corners of her mouth.

“For a being of the seventh level of the Upper Clans to possess such incredible divine powers, he’s certainly worth it.”

Giyoung nodded, recalling Han Li’s divine powers.

“Haa, anyway, we went through all that trouble and nearly lost our lives, but it ended without any gains. What should we do?”

Seomseom held her hand in her sleeve, looking upset.

“Why are you so discouraged? Even if we can’t obtain the Kirin Origin, there are other ways to improve your Pure-Blooded physique and lead you to the Saint Clan.”

Giyoung organized his thoughts and let out a meaningful laugh.

“What? Don’t tell me you know of another True Spirit’s blood?”

“Haha! It’s not that, but I know a place with an ancient ruin. It’s where a famous alchemist resided a long time ago…”

Giyoung reminisced as he continued the story.

* * *

Inside the gloomy and damp marsh of the Demonic Forbidden Mountain Range.

A large man in a black robe was closing his eyes on a jade-colored rock. Each time the large man took a deep breath, the surrounding demonic energy danced around him.

How much time had passed? The large man exhaled deeply, then opened his mouth to inhale all the surrounding demonic energy before opening his eyes with a satisfied look. However, he frowned as he looked around.

“… !”

Someone in a white dress was standing barefoot, looking at him.

The black-haired woman was breathtakingly beautiful. Except for her slightly large mouth, her star-like eyes, straight nose, and snow-white skin made her look like a celestial maiden descended from the heavens.

“Saint Ancestor! Maak greets you.”

The ugly man immediately bowed his head to the rock, paying his respects after confirming the woman’s face. The large man was Heukyeonak, who had not been in the Saint Realm for long.

About a month ago, he had caught up with and killed the old man, but he had not obtained the Earthly Immortal Essence. However, after hearing the news that Geoseo, who had been chasing Han Li, had died, he returned to his residence in a daze and had been training to solidify his unstable realm.

But now, the white-clothed woman, whom he thought was asleep, had come to find him. It was hard to predict whether this was a blessing or a curse. The Saint Ancestor woman before him could kill him in the blink of an eye.

“Get up. It’s truly amazing that you’ve entered the Saint Realm. Master Myeongra didn’t cherish you for no reason. It seems the Evil Dragon True Blood has also awakened.”

“Did you know about it, Great One?”

“Of course, I knew. Otherwise, no matter how much Master Myeongra cherished you, would she have given you so many elixirs? The Evil Dragon is the most demonic bloodline among the True Spirit bloodlines. A fully grown Evil Dragon can devour even a Heavenly Demon, and they wouldn’t be inferior to a Heavenly Demon Lord. You’ve only inherited the blood of the Evil Dragon, but you’re not inferior to a mid-stage Saint Realm being. Even my subordinates wouldn’t be able to overwhelm you in a one-on-one fight.”

“You are too kind, Saint Ancestor. How can I be compared to Bloodbi, Cheolma, or Daan?”

The ugly giant was very humble only in front of the woman.

“You should know that Master Myeongra and I were like sisters before I suddenly disappeared during the Great Saint Realm War. Follow me for a while. I’ll be going out for a bit, so prepare to leave as well.”

“Are you planning to leave the Demonic Forbidden Mountain Range?”

“Yes. Are you reluctant to follow me?”

“It would be my blessing to stay by your side, Great One. I would go anywhere if it is your command!”

The giant broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly made excuses at the woman’s calm words.

“If that’s what you think, then we can leave right away.”

The white-clothed woman watched the giant’s reaction with amusement and urged him with a playful tone.

“Yes! I don’t have anything to pack.”

The giant obediently replied, and the white-clothed woman smiled brightly, summoning a pink light from her sleeve. Then, a strange fragrance spread, and the woman and the giant disappeared into it.

After the light faded, no one remained.

* * *

Mount Unmong in Unseong.

As soon as Han Li returned to his residence, he checked that the restrictions were working properly and immediately went to bed and fell asleep.

He hadn’t stayed long in the Demonic Forbidden Mountain Range, but there were many close calls. He had consumed a lot of magical power, but his mental fatigue was also immense. Han Li slept for two days straight before waking up.

With a clearer mind, he opened his eyes, left the bedroom, and headed straight to the secret chamber. Now, it was time to organize what he had obtained from the Demonic Forbidden Mountain Range.

Koo-roong.

He entered the secret chamber, closed the stone door, and strictly sealed the interior with a blue aura. Then, he took a seat in the middle of the secret chamber and rested his chin on one hand. Then, his wrist flashed, and the black storage pouch flew up.

Thud!

Something heavy fell from the storage pouch. It was the corpse of the Saint Realm demon Mawon, who had transformed into a Moknae [a type of demonic creature]. Han Li was pleased to see the dried corpse. He had extracted the demonic core, and almost no blood essence remained, but the bones and muscles were very strong and useful for refining magical artifacts.

However, he had brought Mawon’s corpse not for refining but to obtain the True Blood of the Mountain Giant, which might have remained in minute amounts.

An ordinary cultivator would be racking their brains over how to refine the True Spirit’s blood, but Han Li, who had mastered the Awakening of Insects, did not need to do so. It was a technique to transform using the True Spirit’s blood, so he had also learned the secret technique to forcibly extract the True Blood from the spirit beast’s body.

Of course, how pure the blood he could obtain depended on the bloodline the spirit beast had inherited and its cultivation. Even if the bloodline itself was not great, it was thanks to the spirit beast’s own cultivation that the True Spirit’s blood in its body was refined to be purer and more concentrated.

Among the True Spirit’s blood he had obtained before, the purest was the Kunpeng True Blood of the Heavenly Peng Clan, and the largest amount was the blood of the Five-Colored Peacock. The True Blood of the True Dragon or Heavenly Peng was both small in quantity and inferior in purity.

It was because he had only obtained a very small amount by chance and had taken it from the descendants of the True Spirit families who were only at the Transformation stage.

Although the True Dragon and Heavenly Peng were among the top True Spirits, Han Li could exert greater power when using the Kunpeng or Five-Colored Peacock transformation techniques.

This was because the secret technique he had obtained from the Heavenly Peng Clan’s Great Elder’s consciousness mainly focused on the enlightenment of transformation techniques for avian True Spirits like the Kunpeng.

However, Mawon was a mid-stage Fusion demon beast, so even if he had inherited a small amount of the Mountain Giant’s blood, it was worth anticipating.

‘But first, there must be True Spirit’s blood left in the corpse.’

He closed his eyes and chanted a spell, sending a series of lights into the demon beast’s corpse. Then, various lights swirled around Mawon’s corpse, and large and small spell characters appeared. The louder the spell sounds became, the more intense the light became.

“Rise.”

At Han Li’s words, the corpse that had been lying still floated up.

Crack.

And strangely, the surrounding lights began to squeeze the corpse with tremendous pressure. Mawon’s body twisted and gradually compressed. In an instant, the corpse was reduced to one-third of its original size, and after a moment, it became very flat.

Then, Han Li, who had been watching quietly, tapped the back of his head. Then, a golden and blue aura flashed, and his Nascent Soul [a spiritual entity formed in advanced cultivation] appeared, glaring at Mawon’s corpse.

The Nascent Soul soon grinned and spat out blue flames from its mouth.

The blue flames blazed fiercely as soon as they touched Mawon’s corpse.

The Nascent Soul sat cross-legged, chanting a spell with one hand while closing its eyes, and Han Li sat expressionlessly below it. Three days passed in this state. It was a very difficult and exhausting task even for Han Li, who was at the early stage of Void Refinement.

But on the third day, the blue infant fire (嬰火) burst and scattered, and a fist-sized, sparkling object floated in the place where Mawon’s corpse had been.

The Nascent Soul stopped the flames and smiled, then disappeared strangely, flashing gold and blue light. Then, Han Li sent out a blue aura to pull the sparkling object toward him. It looked like a blood-colored crystal.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and carefully examined it before flicking his fingertip toward the blood-colored crystal.

Crack!

The crystal shattered, and a thick, dark red liquid flowed out from within. The liquid absorbed light the moment it was exposed to the air and transformed into a small baby monkey.

Bang!

The small Mawon squeaked and disappeared into the dark red light, then bounced off the wall of the secret chamber again with a loud bang. Mawon tried to rush in another direction in a daze.

But this time, Han Li first took out a long-necked jade bottle and threw it into the air.

Swish!

A white ball of thread extended from the jade bottle, wrapped around the dark red Mawon, and pulled it into the jade bottle. The jade bottle, which had been trembling for a moment, fell into Han Li’s hand.

A look of joy flashed across Han Li’s face as he examined the jade bottle with his consciousness.

“Good! It’s definitely the Mountain Giant’s True Blood. I didn’t expect to obtain such pure True Blood. I might be able to exert even greater power than the Heavenly Peng transformation technique in the future.”

Han Li muttered with a bright face, took out gold and silver talismans, attached them to the jade bottle, and carefully placed it in the storage pouch.

He was happy to have obtained new True Blood, but he could not start refining it right away. He had consumed his vitality and magical power by burning Mawon’s corpse with infant fire for several days, so it was best to rest first.

Han Li took a pill, took out two spirit stones, held them in his hands, and closed his eyes. After a day, his complexion looked much better. Han Li smiled, feeling full of vitality and magical power.

Then, he put away the spirit stones and took out the golden blade fragment. It was the blade fragment suspected to be a Profound Heavenly Treasure that he had obtained from Mawon. He had not had time to examine the treasure when he obtained it, and he could not take it out while he was with Seomseom on the way back to Unseong.

“…”

Han Li pondered, running his fingertips over the uneven patterns and spell characters engraved on the surface of the blade fragment.

Even when he tried to scan the blade fragment with his consciousness, he was repelled by a mysterious force on the surface, just like the Profound Heavenly Fruit. Yet, he did not feel any spiritual power at all, making it feel like a piece of scrap metal.

It was strange that such an unremarkable blade fragment could unleash such incredible power. If the Profound Heavenly Fruit had not transformed into the Profound Heavenly Sword to block it, he might have died from that one blow.

Recalling the situation at the time, Han Li activated his Bright Sight Spiritual Eyes and began to examine it. However, there was nothing unusual except for the densely engraved golden spell characters.

Han Li smiled as he examined the blade fragment. In any case, the important thing was that he could freely control the blade fragment. He had lost half of the power of his Dharma Form by activating the Profound Heavenly Fruit, so it would take quite some time to recover it.

Moreover, the Profound Heavenly Fruit, which was sealed in his arm, was not something he could summon whenever he wanted. The next time he encountered a powerful enemy and needed the Profound Heavenly Treasure, he might not be able to summon it.

Even though the Profound Heavenly Fruit was powerful and had saved his life twice, he could not entrust his life to such an uncertain method.

The blade fragment was slightly less powerful than the Profound Heavenly Fruit, but that was precisely why he could control it as he pleased. Of course, this was also something he had to verify directly.

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