Chapter 226: Violence
“Honored master, this doesn’t seem like your style. How come you’re suddenly so indifferent to a beauty?” Gilbert spoke, a look of utter confusion on his face.
“First of all, I have a use for the grass, so I won’t be giving it to her. In addition, Cecilia throwing her weight around in front of me just because her rank is higher than mine is the kind of attitude that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so she won’t get anything from me.”
He’d heard from Emily that Cecilia was a priest and had also focused on pharmacy. Her talent in the area of medicine was quite high. Although she didn’t take the front line in combat, an expert priest and pharmacist like her would be of the utmost importance in critical times.
A person like her could enable the warriors and mages to recover their energy swiftly in battle, and could use some priest magics and medicines to quickly stabilize wounds, allowing allies to return to the battlefield in short order.
Han Shuo didn’t tarry outside after leaving the old orc’s shop, returning to his base of operations. Phoebe and Emily were bathed in the setting splendor of the sun and sitting lazily on two large chairs in the courtyard, chatting happily about something.
When he walked in, all eyes shot to him. After a day’s passage of time, the two girls had natural expressions on their face and didn’t have the awkwardness from the morning. Beneath the rays of the evening sun, their charming faces were tinged with red. With eyes full of tenderness, and a blush on their cheeks, they looked like two stunningly cute wives waiting for their husband’s return.
In that instant, Han Shuo’s heart was suffused with warm contentment. He felt that both women were so beautiful, and if they could still interact so harmoniously after the truth was revealed, that would be wonderful for any man.
“What are you thinking about, standing there with a silly smile?” Phoebe would only appear friendly and down to earth when interacting with Han Shuo, that gentle tone only for him.
“No, nothing!” His beautiful wish could only be thought about at the moment. From Phoebe’s personality, she wasn’t the sort who would easily compromise. Therefore, Han Shuo maintained a natural expression on his face in case he made her unhappy.
“Bryan, I’m afraid I’ll have to leave first this time. I’ve just received a mission that I need to coordinate with younger sister Cecilia. I can’t stay in the Valley of Sunshine any longer!” Emily looked at Han Shuo longingly as she spoke apologetically.
He first blanked, and then thought deeply. Han Shuo understood that as a senior executive of the Dark Mantle, she did indeed have many things she needed to do and couldn’t stay in one place forever. Nodding, Han Shuo revealed an understanding smile. “I understand. It’s unsuitable for us to stay in the valley in the short term as well, so I’m preparing to leave too.”
As Phoebe and Emily stared in surprise, Han Shuo quickly repeated the reasoning he told Trunks and the others, laying out their gains and losses. Since his decision was correct, he quickly gained Phoebe and Emily’s agreement.
“Then, what should we do next?” Phoebe focused her beautiful eyes on Han Shuo’s body as she asked softly.
“Being in charge of the Boozt Merchant Guild, I don’t think you can keep staying in the valley either. Why don’t you go do your own thing? I’ll take care of a few matters and then go find you in the capital. Trunks has enough gold for now. I think with his abilities and connections, he’ll be able to build up his strength better staying in the outskirts of the Valley of Sunshine.”
“Alright. It looks like we’ll need to temporarily separate for now. Here, these are the items you needed. The Valley of Sunshine is a remarkable place. It looks like you can find whatever you want as long as you’re patient!” Phoebe took out a pile of exotic ores and some rare metals from her space ring and placed them in the center of the yard, smiling at Han Shuo.
These were the items that Han Shuo wanted to pass onto the dwarves to forge weapons, and some he wanted to keep for personal use as well. He was planning on refining some small treasures in his spare time. Phoebe had already given him the materials to refine the wood elite and water elite zombie earlier.
Now that all the materials for the wood elite zombie had been collected, it was a perfect time for Han Shuo to head towards the forest trolls’ sacred ground and start the wood elite zombie in the place of extreme wood, aiming to form it as soon as possible.
“Oh right, Trunks. Keep an eye on Odysseus and the others. I don’t know how long they’ll need to consider. I think with your familiarity of the valley, you’ll be able to contact them at any time. I’ve already explained the situation to them. It’s up to them if they want to join the Soul Destroyers or not.” Han Shuo said to Trunks after thinking for a bit.
“Don’t worry, I know what to do. The Valley of Sunshine and the Dark Forest aren’t too far away. I think it won’t be too difficult for the two of us to remain in touch.” Trunks smiled faintly.
Han Shuo and Trunks had already decided on a point of contact between the two locations on their way back. Han Shuo didn’t tell him about the cemetery of death, but gave him a marker for the waterfall where he often trained.
The group of five thoroughly discussed the details again. Han Shuo and a few would slip out under the cover of night. Thanks to Gilbert, they wouldn’t need to leave through the entrance and could slip away soundlessly. Only Emily would stay behind for another day as she needed to leave with Cecilia. She could also give Laureton a heads up as well.
The four immediately split up after leaving the Valley of Sunshine. According to Han Shuo’s instructions, Gilbert flew Phoebe to the City of Zajoski, helping her use the transportation matrix there to safely return to the Empire’s capital and then reconvene with Han Shuo at the cemetery of death.
Trunks bid farewell to Han Shuo and moved into the depths of the forest, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Han Shuo strolled leisurely in the direction of the Dark Forest after parting ways with his group, not even employing the Art of the Demonic Ninth Heaven.
He was planning on purposefully revealing his movement this time so he could attract Ferguson’s attention, so that the latter wouldn’t keep pursuing Trunks because he didn’t know that Han Shuo had left.
His expression was easy and carefree on the path out of the Valley of Sunshine. He traveled on foot, without any steeds, and seemed wholly unaware that he’d become a target beneath the pure moonlight gently falling from the night sky.
The four great powers in the Valley of Sunshine patrol everywhere at critical moments to prevent any accidents from happening. When Han Shuo took the initiative in exposing himself, everything seemed to fall into place. By using the three yin demons’ surveillance, he easily found several groups of people trailing him.
When one of the pursuers seemed anxious and left swiftly with his companions, running towards the location of the Rainbow Sickles, Han Shuo understood that the Rainbow Sickles would arrive very quickly. Furthermore, Ferguson from the Church of Light was also guaranteed to drop everything on hand to deal with Han Shuo. He was the most dangerous “latent threat” after all. With the three yin demons at his side for surveillance, the little skeleton and earth elite zombie as backup, and being at the bloodlust realm, Han Shuo was confident that he could leisurely escape any encirclement with the extremely fast Art of the Demonic Ninth Heaven.
Therefore, Han Shuo acted very casually the entire time. He walked serenely towards the direction of the Dark Forest, waiting for Ferguson’s group to hurry over. He would then move away from the Valley of Sunshine during their pursuit so that they would understand he was leaving the valley.
In the depths of icy winter, the accumulated snow on top of the mountains revealed a freezing world, wrapped in silver beneath the bright moonlight. It didn’t seem overly dark even at night, as the reflection of the moon and snow caused the silvery white world to appear so silent and beautiful.
Under the moonlight, Han Shuo’s lone figure cast a long shadow on the ground covered in the silvery white snow. Even some of greediest of merchants weren’t willing to go out on such a cold night. Thus, even on the busiest roads, he didn’t meet a single merchant caravan.
After leaving the main path, Han Shuo continued into the vast Kerlan Mountains. After he had walked for more than an hour and had arrived at a rather dense forest that was even more remote, Han Shuo discovered, through a yin demon, a small merchant caravan that was being furiously destroyed by cruel bandits. There weren’t that many bandits, just a dozen or so, but each one of them was beyond vicious. They were shouting savagely, completely ignoring the merchants’ pleading and slaughtering the men with sneers while they robbed the carriages. Several young women were stripped completely naked, and helpless screams wailed out as they were all forcefully pressed onto the trees beside the carriages as they were raped. To hear their cries was to feel one’s heart bleed.
There were several muscular men that looked like mercenaries on the ground around the merchant group’s carriages. They’d been decapitated and their blood had already dried, dying the ground in a dark red color. It looked like they were the guards killed in the first wave.
It was clear that the small merchant group had taken the risk to travel through the night, thinking they wouldn’t be noticed by bandits in the dead of winter’s night whilst taking such a silent and small path. Who were they to know that they’d made a mistake, and met with a small group of bandits. This was why such a cruel situation had arisen.
Han Shuo was not a very kind person. He had watched calmly as he once directed forest trolls to pillage places, but he’d never killed the innocent, and would never do anything atrocious like raping women. They say that bandits have their own morals, and Han Shuo did feel like he did as well.
However, the merchants had already given up all their merchandise, and were kneeling on the ground, begging while continuously kowtowing. Despite that, they were still decapitated by the laughing, sneering bandits. Han Shuo could not hold himself back after seeing this sort of situation, these wretched actions by the bandits that disregarded rules. This completely infuriated him.
Without any greeting or bullshit, Han Shuo, who had seen all the atrocious deeds through the yin demons, burst onto the scene. Due to his anger and intent to kill, a thick, demonic aura smashed onto the scene in a dominating manner alongside Han Shuo.
Han Shuo had a hideous expression on his face, his eyes crimson. His cold and ferocious expression was extremely terrifying, as his aura couldn’t help but surge outwards. He used his hand to slice towards the neck of one of the bandits who was raping a woman.
The left hand that he’d chopped out with shone like dark jade, a shining sharp knife. With a “pfft” sound, the bandit’s head flew upwards as his neck spurted blood everywhere.
“Ahhh…” A terrified scream rang out from the mouth of the woman underneath the bandit. The woman who’d been suffering through all this suddenly saw the person on her body lose his head, as blood splashed all over her. She couldn’t help but scream in abject horror.
“Who is it that dares poke their nose into our business?! Don’t you know that our boss is the Butcher?” A bandit with a mustache, that was just about to kill a merchant, suddenly turned his head back and roared.
As expected, it was Gustav the Butcher’s people. Of all the bandit powers around the Valley of Sunlight, only Gustav the Butcher’s bandits would be so savage and ignore the rules!
Han Shuo didn’t wasting time blathering, letting his actions speak for themselves. His darkened face and flood of killing intent was frightening as he revealed the ruthless side of a demonic cultivator in front of these brutal robbers.
He charged the man and sent a fierce punch crashing down on him before he could reacted. The punch closed in like a sharp mallet, punching a hole through the mustached robber. When Han Shuo pulled out a fist dripping with blood, even the robber’s crushed organs could be seen through the enormous hole.
Han Shuo’s heart was filled with fury as he panted heavily, like a demon king who only had slaughter in his eyes. He used a violent, perverse ruthlessness to rip the robbers to shreds. He tore one robber apart with his bare hands, and crushed another’s bones with one blow from his fists, hot blood spraying all over him.
A bloody whirlwind blew as the dozen or so robbers were turned into stray pieces of flesh. Compared to the innocents they’d killed, their downfall was so much more frightening. Not a single corpse remained whole.
Han Shuo made use of the yin demons to discover where Ferguson and Maxine had gone. He suppressed the bloodlust in his heart and walked heavily towards the Dark Forest, not spending another second in the carnage strewn scene.