Chapter 489: Repaying Kindness With Unkindness
Unfortunately, Meng Gansu did not know much about the Imperial Nether Clan either. However, Xiang Shaoyun did notice the fear in his voice when he spoke of the Imperial Nether Clan.
Inwardly, Xiang Shaoyun thought, Forget it. I will try to find out more about the Imperial Nether Clan in the future. For now, I should focus on reaching the third layer, and if an opportunity presents itself, I will pay the site a visit. Perhaps I won't return empty handed.
He then returned beside the Han Clan sisters with Meng Gansu. They had gotten some spirit medicines and spirit crystals, so it wouldn't take them long to recover. The only reason Xiang Shaoyun had bothered helping them was because of the enmity between him and the Noxious Blood Gang. On top of that, he also felt some guilt toward the sisters since he once lied to them. Rescuing them was his way of making up for his lie.
In his boredom while waiting for the sisters to heal, he started going through the storage rings of the Emperors he had killed. He found that those Emperors had quite a lot of treasures in their rings.
That was understandable, however, since these people were a group of bandits with a considerable number of Emperors among their ranks. Thus, their collection of treasures were attractive enough to catch Xiang Shaoyun's eyes.
From the treasures, Xiang Shaoyun took out a pile of king-grade items, preparing to give them to the sisters as compensation for the harm they had suffered in the hands of Xue Jianhe.
Suddenly, he noticed some odd stones in Xue Jianhe's storage ring. A large amount of devilish energy was converging around them, as if they were something born out of devilish energy. When he took the stones out, he found that the speed in which the devilish energy converged around him had increased.
Is this a devilish energy gathering stone? Xiang Shaoyun wondered inwardly.
Meng Gansu quickly explained, "Master, this is a devilish energy stone, similar to the spirit crystal of our surface world."
"I see." Xiang Shaoyun finally knew what it was.
Spirit crystals were crystallized energy sources cultivators could use to increase their cultivation level. In a way, the devilish energy stones were also a crystallized energy source for devils.
He then tossed the devilish energy stones into his Nether Soul Domain so the ghostrunes could have it. Sure enough, the ghostrunes displayed an intense thirst over the devilish energy stone and quickly devoured them.
Looks like gathering more of these stones if I have the chance wouldn't be a bad idea, thought Xiang Shaoyun.
He continued going through the rings and after a short while, he gathered a large number of devil cores. He did the same and tossed them all into his Nether Soul Domain. There were enough devil cores here for the ghostrunes to grow considerably.
During this period of time, the ghostrunes had been growing rapidly. As a whole, they were no longer weaker than any devil clan residing in the second layer of the Devil Domain. In the future, they would be an important army Xiang Shaoyun could rely on.
After about half a day, the Han Clan sisters finally stopped meditating. A crystalline clump of radiance swirled around each of them, emitting a unique cold aura that made them look rather extraordinary. The cold aura around them caused them to look even more bewitching than they originally were.
They stood up and saluted Xiang Shaoyun gratefully. "Thank you, mister, for saving us."
Regardless of their previous impression of Xiang Shaoyun, he had indeed saved them this time. Because of him, they no longer needed to endure the humiliation of the Noxious Blood Gang.
Xiang Shaoyun waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about it. It's good that both of you are fine. You are too deep into the second layer. You should leave quickly if you don't want to end up in the stomach of some devil."
Han Xuewei stepped forward and said, "Mister Xiang, since you have already saved us once, why don't you help us till the end? Can you remove the poison from us and send us to the first layer?"
Han Xuewei pleaded with a pitiful look that made it hard for one to not feel pity for her.
However, Xiang Shaoyun seemed completely indifferent as he said, "The period we have agreed upon is not yet over, so I won't be giving you the antidote. Also, I don't have the time to send you to the first layer. Think of something yourself."
He then tossed two storage rings to them before turning around to leave. The sisters accepted the storage rings with complicated looks on their faces.
"How can you be so heartless? Don't you have any protective feelings for the fairer sex?" shouted Han Qianwei indignantly.
Beauties like them would generally get a lot of white knights wherever they went. In fact, they had only managed to reach the second layer looking for their Han Clan members thanks to those white knights.
Unfortunately, there were too many devilish beasts in the second layer. A large number of people in their group were killed. Ultimately, they encountered the Noxious Blood Gang people that killed all their white knights before taking both of them captive.
Since Xiang Shaoyun had rescued them, they believed that he must have done that because he was attracted to them. Surely, he wouldn't reject their request. The straightforward rejection caused Han Qianwei to feel unhappy.
"Big sister..." Han Xuewei quickly stopped Han Qianwei from saying anything else.
Xiang Shaoyun turned back and looked at Han Qianwei before replying indifferently, "Hehe, you are right. I really don't have any protective feelings for the fairer sex. If I do, I would be doing the same thing as that scoundrel and eat both of you up right here!"
Han Qianwei's demanding attitude had angered Xiang Shaoyun. His kind action of saving them was repaid with being shouted at. Nobody would be happy to receive such treatment.
"Come on, then! Do it! If you have the guts, do both of us! It's not like we have any chance of leaving the Devil Domain alive anyway!" Han Qianwei shouted back stubbornly. Despite her tough tone, tears were trailing down her cheeks, completely removing the bite from her words.
Xiang Shaoyun frowned and wanted to say something else but ultimately decided against it. He turned and continued walking away. However, he did give them a different offer, "Come if you are not afraid of death."
Truthfully, he did not want to bring the two along as they would only be a burden, but he was a person who couldn't stand a woman crying. Thus, his heart softened when she cried.
Few men in this world have as much protective feelings for the fairer sex as me. They must be blind, thought Xiang Shaoyun inwardly.
"Come on, big sister. Let's go," said Han Xuewei with a look of joy. She quickly pulled Han Qianwei along as she chased after Xiang Shaoyun.
Han Qianwei stopped crying, and a crafty smile formed on her face.
The group of four headed toward the third layer's entrance. Upon encountering an attack from devilish beasts, Xiang Shaoyun said, "If you want to live, don't rely on my protection alone. You need to be able to protect yourself to some extent."
Then, both Xiang Shaoyun and Meng Gansu ignored the Han Clan sisters as the Devil Kings attacked them. Han Qianwei replied, "We have more than our looks. We can protect ourselves as well!"
She then charged the Devil Kings. Han Xuewei did not hesitate and charged forth as well. Evidently, the sisters cultivated a cooperative battle technique. When working together, they were able to display a much greater strength than a simple one plus one of the two's strength.