GDK 650: Showing off a little
Han Shuo and the party possessed immense strength. It took them only half a day’s worth of time to fly from the Boundless Sea to the Dark Forest.
Bolten, Li Wei and the rest whispered amongst each other after they heard Han Shuo claim that he managed to escape from a midgod. They thought that Han Shuo was simply talking big and their stares at Han Shuo were filled with even more disdain. But on the contrary, Donna, the leader of the party, seemed to grow much more interested in Han Shuo. She kept on discussing with Han Shuo about the circumstances and life on Profound Continent in high spirits.
Having attained such heights in demonic arts, there was no way that Han Shuo would deliberately humble himself before Donna or anyone for their superior strength or identity. All along, his attitude had been neither overbearing nor servile but was always casual and relaxed. Donna, who had observed it all, nodded in approval.
In Han Shuo’s observations, whenever he and Donna were having any sort of cheerful chat, there seemed to be a few traces of hostility in Bowen’s gazes towards him.
By now, Han Shuo had managed to figure out the relationships between the five. Between the Brook brothers, Bolten was obviously interested in Li Wei. His actions had said it all. As for that mute Bowen, his gazes towards Donna were filled with respect. This was rather surprising to Han Shuo.
The ever-observant Han Shuo could detect the slight hostility in Bowen’s eyes, but did not mind it.
After arriving at the Dark Forest, Han Shuo suddenly detected dark dragon Gilbert’s presence. With one pulsation of his consciousness, he discovered Gilbert pacing back and forth over and over again over the plot of land where the Cemetery of Death was previously located.
“Please excuse me for a moment, there’s something that I need to take care of,” Han Shuo apologetically informed Donna before he suddenly turned into a streak of dark radiance and flew towards Gilbert.
Gilbert’s heart was a muddled mess. He had paced back and forth multiple times around the area and yet he couldn’t detect the presence of any boundary. In addition to the desolate wreck around him, Gilbert thought that he gotten the wrong location and started searching further around.
It was obvious that a great battle had previously taken place here and Gilbert could guess what that was. However, just like Emily, Fanny and Phoebe, Gilbert had blind confidence in Han Shuo. He had no idea that the enemy was so formidable that Han Shuo had to relocate the Cemetery of Death and temporarily go into hiding.
While Gilbert was still scratching his head, he suddenly sensed Han Shuo’s presence. His heart was at ease and he hastily raised his head at the sky.
Han Shuo landed beside Gilbert and chirpily asked, “Just came out from the underground world?”
“My admirable master, why is it that I cannot sense the boundary around the Cemetery of Death? What happened?” Gilbert asked loudly as soon as he saw Han Shuo.
“The Cemetery of Death isn’t here anymore. To prevent certain people from finding it, I have relocated it,” Han Shuo explained. He continued, “I don’t have time to fill you in with all the details for the time being. You have just exited from the underground world, do you know about the secret that your race of dark dragons has been guarding? Tell me now if you know – that’ll save me a visit to your grandfather later.”
Seeing that Han Shuo was rather impatient, Gilbert told him the secret which his grandpa had recently revealed to him without thinking. It was after he told Han Shuo everything that he asked puzzlingly, “What’s wrong? What do you look so anxious?”
“I will explain it when I return. In the meantime, take refuge in the Sunshine Valley or Brettel City until further notice. When I’m done with my business, I will look for you,” Han Shuo instructed.
“Have you met with some sort of trouble? Master, I can help you!” Gilbert said excitedly. He was delighted instead of astonished.
“The trouble is too great, you couldn’t be of any help! The battle involves godly experts. At your current level of strength, you cannot participate!” Han Shuo told Gilbert the brutal truth.
Gilbert’s his excitement was immediately doused and he was now terrified after listening to Han Shuo’s words. Seeing that Han Shuo appeared hurried, he did not ask any more questions but simply said, “Be careful,” before taking off in the direction of Sunshine Valley.
After Han Shuo left the group of godly experts, they landed on a tall, luscious ancient tree. Bolten creased his brows and asked Donna in a deep voice, “Big sister Donna, do you actually believe that fella?”
Li Wei and Bowen turned to listen in on Donna response.
“His words sounded somewhat mysterious. I don’t really know why, but I think he can be trusted!” Donna replied smilingly after thinking for a moment.
“Sister Donna, are you for real? That fella is obviously full of shit. How could you trust him? The way I see it, that guy has meager strength, but is very bold and could blatantly tell lies. I really have no idea how a tiny god from a low-level material plane could be so impudent!” Li Wei said angrily. Bolten immediately agreed to her words. Even the taciturn Bowen nodded his head.
Donna tried to contain her laughter when she saw that angry appearance on Li Wei. She smilingly asked, “He should speak humbly, submissively, be flattering and fawning in his attitude. Is that how you think he should carry himself?”
“Of course! When we head to other low-level material planes, isn’t that how the local experts treat us?” Li Wei felt that it was only right that they received the highest treatment from Han Shuo.
Donna smilingly shook her head and said, “People like that have an ulterior motive towards you. They might want you to give them a promotion, or they might intend to feed off you for benefits from your family. These characters, even if they are gods, are destined not to succeed!”
“So that fella will be successful?” Bolten said somewhat disdainfully.
“I don’t know. But in any case, from my perspective, he’s much better than those kinds of people!” Donna thought for a moment before she looked at the bunch of youngsters and said, “There is a lot that you people have to learn from that young man Bryan.”
The three youngsters looked around dismissively and seemed to have turned a deaf ear to Donna’s words. In fact, Donna had stirred up their arrogance. In their heads, they thought, He’s just a small character with no power nor authority from a low-level material plane. How is he qualified to be someone to learn from?
Donna noticed the expressions on their faces. She sighed softly and ceased to explain any further.
These youngsters all grew up in families of enormous influence. They were pampered and privileged from childbirth and possessed astonishing strengths at such young ages as they were cultivated by their families with great care. Back in their worlds, they were always shielded by their elders and families, hence their pride and arrogance. It wasn’t a complete surprise that they would look down upon someone on such a low-level material plane.
Han Shuo returned just as hurriedly as he went. After flying back to Donna and the party, he straightforwardly said, “Come with me!”
Like spotlights being turned on for the first time, several figures streaked through the air and arrived at the entrance to the underground worlds in the blink of an eye. With Han Shuo taking the lead, they headed to the second layer of the underground world without meeting any obstruction.
“Hang on, who is it that guards the entrance to the last layer?” Donna suddenly asked.
“It is guarded by the race of dark dragons on this continent. But we don’t have to go through them, I have already found out where the path is,” Han Shuo replied.
“Then, does that mean that apart from you, only the race of dark dragons knows of this secret?” Donna asked after thinking for a moment.
Han Shuo nodded.
“Oh? Then, just in case, you should ask the dark dragons to get as far as possible. Otherwise, the enemy could locate the entrance to that place by finding the dark dragons here,” Donna advised Han Shuo after a second of silence.
“Big sister Donna, I think the best method is to execute all those dark dragons,” Bolten suddenly suggested.
Han Shuo was immediately enraged at those words. He groaned, “The dark dragons have paid so much in guarding this secret for you all. Is that how you treat those who have done nothing but give to you?”
Donna, too, bunched her brows and shot a rather displeased glare at Bolten. She berated, “Bryan is right. These dragons don’t need just be spared, they deserve to be preserved. Otherwise, who would dare work with us in the future?”
Bolten could disregard Han Shuo, but not Donna. As soon as he heard Donna, Bolten put on an awkward smile and said, “Don’t be angry, big sister Donna. I wasn’t serious.”
Donna nodded and thought for a moment. She suddenly said, “Bryan, I think we should go inform those dark dragons first. Otherwise, if those fellas come looking here, they might exterminate the entire race!”
Han Shuo’s heart stopped. He suddenly had an ominous premonition. He realized that if those from the Shrine of Ice couldn’t find him, then they surely would proceed by figuring out the path to the bottommost layer of the underground world and execute the entire race of the dark dragons so that Han Shuo and his party wouldn’t be able to enter.
When Han Shuo thought so, he became somewhat worried and hastily headed to the home of the dark dragons. As Donna and her party needed Han Shuo to lead the way, they went along with him.
When Han Shuo arrived at the dark dragon habitat, he saw the ground tainted with dead bodies. The patriarch of dark dragons, Gilges, died with his enormous dragon eyes wide open!
“It seems that we are too late!” Donna said in a deep voice.
Han Shuo walked to the body of dark dragon patriarch Gilges in a stupefied manner. A torrent of fury surged in his heart when he saw the manner in which Gilges had died. He extended his hand to close Gilges’ dragon eyes. Han Shuo’s consciousness pulsated. Through Gilges’ soul that had yet to completely dissipate, using a special demonic technique, he obtained the scenes that Gilges saw in his final moments.
A drop of his blood essence spilled out from his middle finger. Then, using the last strand of Gilges’ soul that had yet to dissipate as the primer, the massacre that happened in this place not long ago was projected in midair like a film.
Donna could tell that Han Shuo’s heart was filled with wrath from his cold and murderous appearance. When she was about to give Han Shuo a few consoling words, she suddenly saw the picture projected into midair and immediately cried out in surprise. She stared at Han Shuo in disbelief.
Donna wasn’t alone; Li Wei, the Brook brothers, and even that lifeless Colbert were all stupefied!
“That’s Kaiser! And Eriksson! How, how did you do that?” Li Wei shrieked after foolishly watching the images. She wore a face of disbelief.
Han Shuo raised his hand and sent out a hand seal. The drop of blood essence that dispersed into the air gathered before returning to Han Shuo’s body. With that, the last remaining trace of Gilges’ soul completely dispersed between heaven and earth.
Dark dragon Gilges, I will avenge your death! Han Shuo said in his mind.
From those images, Han Shuo understood who was responsible for the massacre. He also heard the old dark dragon’s last shout that was filled with boundless hatred. Unfortunately, as the old dark dragon’s soul was too severely tormented and he came too late, he couldn’t reassemble the old dark dragon’s soul.
“I believe you all saw what happened as well,” Han Shuo said in a deep voice as he repressed the fury in his heart.
Perhaps Han Shuo’s performance was just too astonishing, even the arrogant Brook brothers did not pick fault with him. They all had bewildered expressions and their eyes were filled with doubts.
“Colbert, in our advanced techniques of the energy of death, is there a method to display what a soul had seen? Li Wei was foolishly staring at Han Shuo but her words were directed at Colbert behind her.
“For Your Grace’s information, we indeed can obtain some information from deceased souls. However, this usually cannot be mastered for one below the realm of highgod. That’s not all, even highgods who have mastered that skill couldn’t possibly re-project the scenes so clearly!” Colbert, who was staring at Han Shuo with astonishment, thought for a moment with his eyes closed before replying in a grave voice.
Those gods from the high-level material planes were all thunderstruck.
“Bryan, that energy you just used doesn’t seem to be the elemental energy of death. Moreover, having visited numerous material planes, I truly have never seen anything as miraculous as what you did just now. What was actually going on there?” The more mysteries that Donna discovered about Han Shuo, the more her heart was filled with doubts.
“We people on low-level material planes have our low-level techniques. The energy I use doesn’t belong to any one of the twelve fundamental forces, and it is non-mainstream and extremely rare. It’s normal that you have never seen it.” Han Shuo wasn’t in a good mood and replied monotonously.
“Can you tell us more?” Li Wei was greatly engrossed. Magnificent radiance glowed from her eyes that were fixed on Han Shuo.
“Sorry. No,” Han Shuo coldly and straightforwardly declined.
“Li Wei, everyone has their own cultivation methods. It’s not courteous to ask that kind of question!” Donna criticized Li Wei before she softly chuckled and said, “I have only become more and more curious about you!” She then shot a meaningful glance at the Brook brothers and said, “I think by now you two should believe what Bryan has said.”
After having witnessed Han Shuo’s miraculousness, the Brook brothers were astonished. However, they remained skeptical about Han Shuo’s previous claim. They gently cleared their throats and did not reply.
“Let’s go. I think those people have started their operation,” Han Shuo said in a cold voice as he grieved.
“Bryan, these things happen all the time. You can remember this hatred, but when you see Eriksson and Kaiser, by all means, don’t do anything impulsive!” Donna took a pause to sigh before she continued, “In my opinion, even if you have some miraculous skills, you are still no match against them!”
Han Shuo knew that Donna was telling the truth. He nodded and said in a deep voice, “I realize that.” After thinking for a moment, he said to Donna sincerely, “Thanks.”
He could feel that Donna was genuine with those words!