Chapter 254: The use of killing aura
When he heard that Phoebe’s master was here, Han Shuo was even more shocked. Phoebe had already reached the realm of a swordmaster at such a young age. In addition, when Aubrey had thought that he’d captured Phoebe at the Boozt Merchant Guild, he’d still said that he needed to treat Phoebe well in order to prevent her master from getting angry.
As Duke Ashbern’s subordinate, what Aubrey did represented Duke Ashbern. It wasn’t hard to figure out that Phoebe’s master wasn’t a simple person, since even Duke Ashbern, who held tremendous power in his hands, was so wary of him.
When Han Shuo walked beside Lawrence, he had sent his three yin demons through the path in front of them, hoping that he could obtain a picture of the place underneath.
However, as the yin demons wandered about, Han Shuo noticed that there were numerous boundaries everywhere. Some invisible boundaries even stopped the yin demons’ surveillance; it seemed like the defense of the place underneath the path was extraordinarily tight.
“Hehe, the space underneath the Rose Garden is more than twice as large as it appears on the surface. I’ll take you on a detailed tour later, we’ll meet my master first for now!” Lawrence looked at Han Shuo proudly as he revealed his prowess little by little, like he was trying to show Han Shuo that cooperating with him was the correct decision.
Han Shuo felt that they were already ten-odd meters underground after traversing a narrow path. The dim area suddenly lit up and revealed four intersecting paths that came together where Han Shuo and Lawrence stood. There were also bright lights that were placed on the side that illuminated the four paths as clear as day.
“Follow me!” Lawrence walked to the left and he led the way for Han Shuo. When they arrived in front of a white jade door, Lawrence used the scroll once again to open the boundary that was sealing the door. The door automatically opened after a flash of white light, and Lawrence led Han Shuo in.
“Young master Lawrence,” All of a sudden, an extremely ugly old man with a face full of scars appeared and bowed towards Lawrence.
The old man was covered in a bloody aura. No one knew how many people he had killed, but he was able to sense Han Shuo and Lawrence the moment they appeared. Furthermore, the closer that they approached the old man, the thicker the stomach-wrenching smell that was emanating from him became.
Lawrence was clearly uncomfortable, since the smile from his face disappeared. He said dryly, “Grandpa Bollands, is my master inside?”
The weird old man called Bollands stood straight with a hunchback, then raised his head to gaze at Lawrence with his grey eyes, and said remotely, “He’s inside, but master is cultivating.”
“Then I’ll wait outside for a bit!” Lawrence had already pushed past Bollands with his response and he quickly walked forwards, like he was unwilling to be too close to the old man.
The stone room in front of them was as large as a basketball court, with a lot of indentations where a lot of daily necessities were placed. However, the majority of them held numerous fine alcohols, as if the room was a storage room for exquisite wine.
Han Shuo first surveyed his surroundings after entering the room, then moved his attention onto the old man Bollands. The old man’s face was covered in scars, like if each one had been scratched on by something sharp. He looked as terrifying as a ghost from hell. Alongside the thick bloody aura that surrounded him, it was enough to give people an extremely powerful shock just by standing there.
Not only was there blood on this person’s hands, his strength was top tier. He was mostly likely an expert who was stronger than Phoebe by one rank; his aura wouldn’t have been so powerful otherwise. A person who was at the great swordmaster realm was not going to be a nobody no matter which country he lived in. The fact that he stayed in this secret room that doesn’t see daylight, in order to serve Lawrence’s master, really did surprise Han Shuo somewhat.
“Bryan, let’s wait here for a bit!” Lawrence had already scooted far away from Bollands and he was calling out to Han Shuo while sitting on a stone chair.
“You’re not afraid of me?” Just as Han Shuo was about to leave, the old man named Bollands suddenly looked at Han Shuo and asked.
Han Shuo nodded and replied with a smile, “Of course, what is there to be afraid of?!”
“An interesting lad,” Bollands smirked as he carefully examined Han Shuo. Then he frowned as if he sensed something, which caused him to nod, “No wonder, you have a malicious aura around you that can only be felt if you carefully feel for it. From the looks of it, you shouldn’t be even twenty-five, yet your hands are dyed thick with blood at such a young age. You truly are a character!”
Even before Han Shuo had broken into the bloodlust realm, the murderous aura had always accompanied him. He hadn’t killed a lot of people before, it was just that his body absorbed a lot of specters at the forbidden place, so they continued to surround Han Shuo, making it seem like his hands were also dyed in blood.
Han Shuo smiled, but he didn’t say much. He merely nodded at Bollands and walked past him, moving towards Lawrence.
“Young man, did you know that after killing a lot of people, the killing aura can be used to increase your strength?” Bollands was silent for a slight moment after Han Shuo had left, then he suddenly shot a weird look at Han Shuo.
When he spoke, an intense wave of killing aura exploded out like a river that had been just undammed. All of a sudden, the stomach-churning smell of blood spread out and it approached Han Shuo with cold intent, like it was something physical.
“Oh god!” Lawrence wailed, then he backed off in terror until his back was against the wall. Even then, his forehead was still covered with cold sweat as he looked at Bollands with a pale expression.
However, Han Shuo, who was closer to Bollands, was not afraid. He casually cycled the magical yuan in his body quickly, causing the evil aura hidden in his body to rush out furiously, clashing with the physical killing aura from Bollands. When the auras collided, sounds of collision could actually be heard in the air.
Even some of the table and chairs in the room continuously trembled. What was more terrifying was that after the evil aura rushed out of Han Shuo’s body, it formed itself into spirals that were difficult to see with the eye, and actually started to consume Bollands’ killing aura.
“When you said using killing aura, does it mean like this?” Han Shuo had a smile on his face when he plainly said this. While he spoke, he also stopped his magical yuan and the room returned to normal.
Right now, Han Shuo had already undergone three months of closed door cultivation in the cemetery of death. Adding onto the fact that he had absorbed the specters from the forbidden place, he had a much deeper understanding of the demonic arts than what Chu Canglan had left behind. His manipulation of the evil aura in the bloodlust realm had also reached a level where he could do as he wished. If Han Shuo wanted, he could absorb the killing aura in Bollands’ body like he had absorbed the specters from the forbidden place.
Bollands had had an indifferent expression until this point when he looked at Han Shuo with a piercing gaze, then he said with a trembling voice, “How is this possible? How could you use it even more familiarly than me? You also know how to use this sort of power?”
Han Shuo only understood it the moment Bollands spoke. All swordsmen and knights cultivated fighting aura, but none of them could use evil aura and killing intent. However Han Shuo, who cultivated the demonic arts, was very well versed with using this type of strange power. That why Bollands had been surprised when Han Shuo had showed off his abilities.
“No, you didn’t use fighting aura at all. How is that possible?” Shock, loss, and confusion instantly filled Bollands’ heart. He stepped in front of Han Shuo and glared at him with scorching eyes, like he was fighting for Han Shuo to give an answer.
Han Shuo knew that this was a bad situation to be caught in by now. He took a deep breath and explained with a smile, “I cultivate a special type of martial technique, it’s different to the cultivating of fighting aura that most people do.”
“Okay, Bollands, stay outside for now. Lawrence, you two can come in now!” A benevolent voice seemed to ring out from the walls at that moment.
Lawrence immediately pulled Han Shuo towards him, then apologized to Bollands, “Grandpa Bollands, my master has told us to go in. Let’s chat later.”
The wall behind Han Shuo split open at that moment, and Lawrence pulled Han Shuo in. After the two of them entered, the crack in the wall healed miraculously.
There was an extremely wide training field past the wall. Apart from a few strangely shaped boulders, there were no other decorations. An old man sat on top of one of the boulders at the center off the field, and even though he had white hair and beard, he still looked very energized.
The old man had a square face, and seemed rather benevolent. He sat ramrod straight in a pure white warrior uniform. Even though he was sitting down, he looked extraordinary and seemed like he would be rather tall if he stood up.
“Teacher!” Lawrence bowed and greeted the old man respectfully the moment he entered.
The old man nodded, then he looked at Lawrence and said softly, “Rise.”
Lawrence straightened himself, then he pulled Han Shuo to sit down on a piece of boulder. After the two of them took their places, Lawrence began, “This is Bryan, Phoebe’s boyfriend. I mentioned him to you before!”
The old man’s gaze immediately fell onto Han Shuo after he heard Lawrence’s words, and he carefully examined Han Shuo carefully without speaking. After quite a while, he finally nodded and said, “Although Phoebe is my youngest disciple, she has the most talent. Her future is unmeasurable. I hope she will inherit my martial techniques. You won’t hold her back, right?”
“Of course not!” Han Shuo replied with a smile that was neither reserved nor fearful. Instead, he appeared rather laid back.