GDK 687: Share some with me
After Han Shuo exited from the other side of the portal, he discovered that he had arrived in a valley shrouded by clouds and fog. There were cliff walls in every direction, filled with deep caverns that lead somewhere new. The ground seemed solid, a mixture of rock fragments.
Those who came through the portal before Han Shuo wandered all around the valley while Eunice and Barnett were whispering to each other in a corner, trying to come up with a countermeasure for the situation they were in.
Han Shuo expanded his consciousness. As soon as he started surveying the situation around him, he sensed the presence of a boundary high amongst the blanket of cloud overhead. That boundary giving off an obvious aura of destruction suddenly reacted. It was able to detect that Han Shuo’s consciousness was probing around. The mist and clouds in the area where Han Shuo’s consciousness was traveling started to billow.
Han Shuo was astounded and immediately drew back his consciousness. He did not know if his consciousness could penetrate the boundary but seeing that the boundary was so sensitive that it could detect his consciousness, he decided not to take any chances to avoid attracting the attention of the master of this place.
At this point in time, those who were exiting from the portal behind Han Shuo were godhunters who had certainly become depraved and beyond salvation. The excitement in their eyes blazed even brighter after they walked out from the portal. They were staring fixedly at Han Shuo and the crowd like predators stalking their prey.
Rahman was the last to cross the portal. He ought to have withdrawn the dark gold sphere which dispensed the Orbs of Annihilation and the bidirectional portal in the training field. With that, the Croton Family of Fort Verka wouldn’t find a clue about their abrupt disappearance.
Right after exiting the portal, Rahman started looking all around for Eunice. When her figure entered his eyes, he started smirking sinisterly and pervertedly. Who knew what filthy ideas he had in mind.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this hideout of our Godhunter Alliance. Let me introduce you to the leader of the destruction energy division, Lord Brovst!” Rahman shouted towards a very large cave while wearing a respectful look.
“Rahman, thank you for your great work!” a voice suddenly sounded from the cave.
“It is my honor to be of service, Lord Brovst!” Rahman dared not to be conceited. He continued with a loud voice, “My Lord, I have brought over practically every person who cultivates in the energy of destruction in Fort Verka. Does your Lordship have any further command?”
“Well done! Come in here and receive the rewards you deserve. Also, return me the two divine weapons I lent you,” Brovst shouted in a deep voice from within the cave without revealing his true form.
Rahman was overjoyed. He withdrew the other pair of bidirectional portals and leapt into the cave.
Although Han Shuo could not see Brovst, nor could he sense the aura on him, nonetheless, Han Shuo was absolutely certain that he was a terrifying highgod. Han Shuo could be certain of it just from the fact that he was the master of the dark gold sphere.
This was because there was absolutely no way that a midgod could assemble so many Orbs of Destruction that contained such powerful destruction divine energy!
Soon enough, Rahman returned from the cave. He appeared to have obtained something that he had desired and he seemed even more excited.
“Lord Brovst said that you bunch who cultivate in the energy of destruction just have to engulf the divine energy of any one person around you to be considered as one of our own. Then, you may leave this valley alive. But if you don’t, you are destined to die!” Rahman stood at the cave entrance and announced when he reappeared.
The non-godhunter crowd was jolted when they heard those words. They vigilantly kept some distance with those around them, lest that they were sneaked up upon.
Han Shuo had long foreseen that this would be their course of action – that Brovst had taken great pains to gather all destruction edict cultivators in Fort Verka at this place. Therefore, it was obvious that his plan did not involve simply killing them all. According to the words Rahman spoke in his store, the number of godhunters cultivating in the edict of destruction was the lowest of all. Brovst must have had no subordinates available and therefore asked someone cultivating in the energy of darkness to complete the conspiracy. From this aspect, Han Shuo could tell that Brovst was severely lacking in manpower.
Han Shuo had in fact previously personally experienced that wonderful sensation when he engulfed that old woman’s divine energy with his avatar of death. He knew more than anyone else that once a person took this first step, they usually wouldn’t be able to resist the terrifying cravings that would constantly swarm their minds. They would drift closer and closer to the Godhunter Alliance and ultimately become a part of them.
After all, not many out there were like Han Shuo who had started tempering his willpower ever since he started cultivating demonic arts. Unlike Han Shuo, it was almost impossible for them to break free from that powerful addiction.
Brovst gave his instructions because he knew this very well. He too believed that once these people had had a taste, they would never be able to withdraw and would finally succumb and serve him.
Rahman’s words had undoubtedly set off turbulence in the hearts of those people in the valley. Soon after Rahman delivered the ultimatum, an enormous scroll suddenly unfurled from the sky of cloud and mist. It depicted the method of absorbing another person’s destruction divine energy in great detail.
Those non-godhunters in the valley had not visited Rahman’s scroll store and practically had no idea on how to absorb the destruction divine energy of another person. Most of them reacted to the enormous scroll with bewildered faces.
After carefully observing for a moment, Han Shuo discovered that under the threat of death and temptation of instant power, a portion of the people had secretly started to memorize the contents of the scroll. The method wasn’t hard to learn. With proper guidance, practically anyone could master it.
Those whose eyes were cast on the scroll and were silently memorizing its contents would definitely turn into godhunters in the future. Meanwhile, those with staunch stances had their willpower nibbled away by the great fear in their hearts.
Without the threat of death, a great majority of these people would likely have ignored the scroll completely. After all, godhunters were public enemies of the entire Elysium that everyone held in contempt. However, now with their lives under threat, resistance would mean that they would forever be gone. Therefore, they were pushed to carefully reconsider their choices.
“I will be watching every move you make. Be at ease. Those who dare take action, even if your opponent is stronger than yourself, I will help you subdue him! I can even guarantee that as long as you join us, not only will you not be killed, you will grow stronger at an even faster rate!” Brovst pledge from inside his cave, helping those who were on the fence to make up their mind.
“Divine essences are as scarce as hen’s teeth, but cultivators of the same energy could be found everywhere. These people are just living divine essences. Just try and imagine that wonderful sensation of absorbing another man’s energy to gain power. What a most pleasurable feeling…” Rahman gabbled on and on, tempting the non-godhunters with his words.
With Brovst and Rahman persuading at the same time, Han Shuo discovered that those who were on the fence were obviously swayed. They too started to memorize the scripture and secretly circulated their divine energy as described.
The atmosphere in the valley suddenly turned very eerie with everyone consciously keeping a distance away from each other. Even the best of friends would be cautious of each other. At this moment, no one could be trusted, anyone could be an enemy.
The crowd that originally gathered in one big group gradually spread further and further apart from each other. Meanwhile, on the contrary, the godhunters gathered into a group, coldly smirking and observing the crowd as though watching an entertaining play.
“What, what are you all doing?!” Eunice who was with Barnett noticed the crowd was becoming divided and shouted in a somewhat panicked voice.
Everyone ignored her!
Even the guards under the House of Croton were silently dispersing from the duo. Their eyes were flickering with indecision. No one but themselves knew what they had in mind.
By now, even Han Shuo was feeling rather uneasy. He wasn’t afraid that someone among the crowd might attack him. He was worried about how to escape from this valley.
With the presence of Brovst, a terrifying highgod, there was no practical way for Han Shuo to simply charge out from the canyon. Even if he summoned earth and metal elite zombies, they would be in great trouble once Brovst spotted them.
Perhaps the only viable means of escaping was to deploy the Demonic Blood Disassembly. However, using this demonic technique would consume a great amount of his demonic yuan. Han Shuo was most unwilling to deploy this method except in the last resort.
Curiosity kills! Han Shuo inwardly blamed himself for staying despite knowing that there would be danger. Had he summoned earth elite zombie back at the training field and escaped through an underground tunnel, Han Shuo believed that no one could have stopped him. But now, he could not employ this method here, not if Brovst was in the valley.
What about engulfing some other person’s divine energy? No, that won’t work! Other than somehow killing everyone here, the godhunters could leak my identity and I will forever be framed as a godhunter! Han Shuo was stuck in a dilemma. He racked his brain trying to find a way out of the situation.
A stifled groan clearly resounded through the valley. Han Shuo, who was heavily pondering, turned to look at the source of noise. He saw a man swaying to and fro. He seemed to have suffered a sneak attack.
“Who? Who is it?” the man turned and looked all around with furious gazes. When he turned his body, a little green arrow protruding from his back came into Han Shuo’s view. The wound was flowing with fouling blood. It appeared that the little arrow was laced with a powerful venom.
“My apologies, Anli. I know you loathed the godhunters and would never be one of them. Since you will die in any case, you might as well use it to give me a chance to live!” a youngster as thin as bamboo with a scar on his face was pointing a delicate crossbow at him. He replenished the crossbow with his destruction divine energy.
“Lager, how, how could you? I have saved your life once, and this is how you return the favor?” Anli who caught a venomous arrow stared at his assaulter in disbelief. His bloodshot eyes were bulging out, obviously extremely enraged.
“Yes, I’ve always been grateful for it. That is why I let you rescue me once more. I believe you would be most willing to do so! Goodbye, Anli. I will always remember you for saving my life twice! ” That thin youngster called Lager then fired another three small arrows containing destruction divine energy in rapid successions.
Anli was obviously no longer as agile. When Lager attacked Anli with all his strength in such short range, of the three small arrows, Anli only managed to deflect two. He caught another arrow to his chest.
Then, taking advantage of an opening, Lager suddenly charged at Anli and threw him two punches. Destructive energy surged into Anli’s body and he collapsed to the ground.
“People, this one is mine. Do as you please but please don’t rob him from me!” Lager placed his two hands on Anli’s back, raised his head, and said to the crowd with a bright smile. But for some reason, everyone in the valley was disgusted.
For a person to ruthlessly and decisively attack his rescuer and not show the least bit of guilt from start to finish, this person must be severely demented. It was no wonder he was the first to take action!
People were usually most wary of this kind of character. Before his splendid smile, the crowd subconsciously took a few steps backward.
“Fucking hell, how do people like this exist!” even those who had become godhunters couldn’t help but loudly voice out their disgust. Godhunters couldn’t help themselves but hunt and absorb the energy of others. Other than going out to hunt other cultivators of the same energy, godhunters were not all that different from average cultivators. They too had their own circles of friends and felt the same emotions. Therefore, they were just as disgusted with someone as abhorrent as Lager.
The crowd had subconsciously opened up an even wider space around Lager. He started absorbing his savior’s divine energy as though no one else was present. As Anli shrieked like a banshee, Lager seemed more and more malevolent to the crowd!
Suddenly, an ill-timed laughter sounded from a corner. “Do you mind sharing some with me? That would save me from finding a prey!”
The crowd was shocked to hear those words. They were wondering who would be so daring to provoke Lager. Hence, they turned to look in the direction from whence the voice came.
With the crowd attentively watching, Han Shuo stepped forward with confident strides. The smile on his face appeared even more sincere than the one on Lager’s face. As he looked at Lager from a distance, he said, “I believe that a person with as much sense of gratitude as you have surely will not take offense!”
“Interesting, interesting!” Lager gave a slow clap as he laughed out loud. He then beamed at Han Shuo and said, “Sure, but you better hurry. Otherwise, I’m going to take your share!”
“Then I shall gladly take it!” Han Shuo laughed and suddenly sped up. He charged straight for Lager.
“I’m waiting!” Anli who was at his last gasp when Lager ceased to engulf his divine energy and suddenly stood up. He rapidly took aim at Han Shuo with his crossbow. Lager was a mid-stage lowgod. For most spectators, he was a dangerous character. His vicious temperament was especially feared.
Han Shuo did not reply but charged at Lager at lightning speed. He obviously knew that Lager wouldn’t have responded in kind.