GDK 773: Deicide Slash
Unlike Han Shuo, Hofs doesn’t have two avatars. He also had no access to Cauldron Spirit’s energy. He could not simultaneously put his attention on maintaining both his black hole and his domain of divinity. Gradually, Hofs’ domain of divinity was forced to shrink to a small size. The element of darkness found in the environment no longer gushes into his domain.
The feeling of regret suddenly rose in Hofs’ heart. He started to feel that separating from his party and challenging Han Shuo all by himself was a big mistake.
Unfortunately for Hofs, no amount of regret could help him turn the situation around. All he could do was to persevere and resist Han Shuo’s attack for as long as he can.
Gradually, Hofs felt more and more exhausted. After the element of darkness in the environment stopped flowing into his domain of divinity, he could no longer replenish his darkness divine energy on the fly. With Han Shuo’s miraculous domain of divinity and seventeen flying swords exerting greater and greater pressure, Hofs was forced to burn through his darkness divine energy reserves faster and faster.
How I wish those fellas would ignore my orders and come to my aid! thought Hofs. Perhaps luck was on Hofs’ side that day. At the moment, the experts of Hushveil CIty were actually rushing to the region as though they have heard the cry coming from Hofs’ mind.
Hofs who was completely occupied on handling Han Shuo’s terrifying attacks naturally had no idea about the situation in his surroundings. Han Shuo, however, through the uninterrupted vision of his demon generals, was fully aware of every activity around him. Those approaching were experts from several major family clans of Hushveil City. They likely had heard the noises produced from Han Shuo and Hofs’ ferocious battle.
Knowing how formidable Han Shuo was, these experts came with large groups of divine guards from their family clans. They were approaching the region in a U-shaped formation. It was clear that they intend to surround and trap Han Shuo.
Rose was oblivious to the situation in the distance. She was still waiting for Han Shuo nearby as Han Shuo had instructed. Although Rose would have no trouble holding back and killing some of the midgod divine guards, she would stand no chance when the highgods arrive. Han Shuo knew that he must end the battle with Hofs as soon as possible or else Rose could be the first to perish.
Although it was clear that Hofs was on the back foot, as Hofs possessed late-stage highgod strength and their gap in strength wasn’t too big, Han Shuo wasn’t able to take Hofs’ life within a short time.
Han Shuo rapidly turned over in his mind for a method to butcher Hofs right away. Suddenly, in his consciousness, Han Shuo instructed Cauldron Spirit, “Lend me more energy. I want to deploy the second form of the Avici Godslaying Sword Formation – the Deicide Slash“
“No!” Cauldron Spirit seemed rather appalled. It hastily explained to Han Shuo, “Deicide Slash requires more energy to activate. Although I could supply you that amount of energy, your body definitely cannot bear that amount of energy. You will very likely injure your demonic infant if you deploy Deicide Slash!”
“I am well aware of it. Just give me more energy. I will immediately cease Deicide Slash when the demonic infant reaches its limit. Hurry up! There’s no time!” said Han Shuo hastily.
As Han Shuo was Cauldron Spirit’s master, Cauldron Spirit had to obey his command. Although Cauldron Spirit disagreed with the decision, he had no choice but to fill Han Shuo’s body with even more energy.
In an instant, Han Shuo’s eyes turned blood red. The veins on his face and neck popped up. His skin and flesh swelled and started to crack. It was as though Han Shuo would burst apart at any moment.
An energy five times the amount that was already in Han Shuo’s body gushed from the Cauldron. The pain assailing every cell from his head to toe grew by five folds. It was near the limits of Han Shuo’s tolerance of pain. Han Shuo, grinding his teeth as blood slowly flowed from his mouth, suddenly raised his head and let out a thunderous roar as though a savage beast. The deafening bellow spread far and wide.
Demonic yuan energy and demon general energy wildly gushed into the seventeen flying swords. The flying swords that formed the Ceaseless Pain by rapidly revolving in unique trajectories suddenly burst out dark radiances. It was as though seventeen enormous and enraged dragons grew out from the flying swords. The dark radiances connected to the flying swords shot towards Hofs from seventeen different directions.
One after another, the unholy dark radiances struck at the center point of the seventeen flying swords. The dark radiances would fuse and merge. Each time they merged, the killing intent overflowing from the seventeen flying swords would grow more intense. When the seventeen dark radiances that grew out from the flying swords merged into one giant column, the seventeen flying swords finally shot towards the black hole from every direction.
A frightening amount of killing intent spread from the region. Following that, an aura of utter power and destruction burst forth. The seventeen flying swords seemed to have fused into one. The thick column made of dark radiances rammed into the black hole. An earth-shaking explosion sounded.
Following the explosion, a miserable shriek sounded from Hofs.
The aura of darkness on the black hole was completely destroyed by the Deicide Slash. This had neutralized just a small fraction of the power of the seventeen flying swords. The seventeen flying swords, carrying unstoppable power continued crashing forward. It shoved Hofs along with the dark spear in his hand deep into the ground. The dark spear along with Hofs’ right arm that wielded the weapon, shattered.
Hofs’ right arm had burst apart and he was buried deep underground. The dark spear, made using some kind of wonderful material, unexpectedly deployed a powerful boundary of darkness after it exploded into dark metallic pieces. The boundary managed to stop the remainder of the energy on Deicide Slash that would have ended Hofs’ life otherwise.
The demon general energy left Han Shuo’s body and rapidly returned to the Cauldron. Han Shuo spurted out a mouthful of blood. He immediately realized that he had just injured his demonic infant by deploying the Deicide Slash. Cauldron Spirit took the initiative to withdraw demon general energy from Han Shuo instead of waiting for Han Shuo to do so because it knew that Han Shuo’s demonic infant was injured.
The boundary of darkness shattered after blocking the Deicide Slash. Hofs’ injuries were much more severe than Han Shuo’s. Han Shuo had no doubt that if he borrowed Cauldron Spirit’s energy once more, he could end Hofs’ life right there.
However, his body had just endured an excessive amount of energy. His meridians and cells were strained beyond their limits and could bear no more of Cauldron Spirit’s energy before they fully recover. More importantly, the experts of Hushveil City were arriving in the region. Han Shuo knew that if he doesn’t leave at once, not only that he won’t be able to kill Hofs, he might lose his life.
Han Shuo’s demonic body suffered severe injuries after he forcibly deployed the Deicide Slash. Even his demonic infant, the essence of his demonic art cultivation, received slight injuries. If Han Shuo were to deploy Demonic Blood Disassembly at this time, his condition will surely get much worse. He might need at least a hundred years to heal from that kind of injury.
Therefore, for the lack of a better option, Han Shuo decisively gave up on attacking Hofs, turned on his heels and flew towards Rose!
The enormous disturbance created from their duel had shocked everyone nearby. When the terrifying aura of the Deicide Slash spread out from the area, Rose could not help herself but traveled closer to the fight. She was curious and wanted to see what was actually happening.
But Han Shuo had returned to her before she reaches the area. As Han Shuo cannot boost his strength using Cauldron Spirit’s energy, he could only fly at the same speed as Rose. He, therefore, did not pull Rose along. Rose felt worried when she again saw blood flowing out from Han Shuo’s mouth. However, at this moment, she did not say a word but focused on escaping with Han Shuo.
Soon after the two left, numerous experts of Hushveil City arrived from every direction. The earth-shaking explosion and Han Shuo’s wild beast-like roar attracted their attention. Other than feeling alarmed, they were extremely curious.
When they finally reached the area, they discovered a scene of desolation. The forest was in ruin. At the center of it was an enormous crater still filled with dust and flying rocks. The intense killing intent had yet to fully dissipate and was still raging at the center of the crater.
A shout sounded. Rocks and dirt were sent flying. Hofs bore his way out to the surface, revealing his dirt-stained face. He was panting as he glared all around.
“Patriarch, your right arm!” an expert of the House of Hofley couldn’t help but cry out in shock.
Hofley’s right arm was wrecked along with his dark spear. As Hofley did not have the insane rejuvenation ability of Han Shuo’s, he was destined to lose his right arm forever. Without his right arm, Hofley’s strength would be greatly affected. He would end up worse the next time he came across Han Shuo.
The experts from the House of Hofley were astonished and frightened to see that Hofs had lost his right arm. The patriarch of the other major family clans of Hushveil City bunched their brows tightly. In their minds, they had considered the youngster who had disappeared as a most terrifying character. They inwardly came to decide that they must avoid this deadly murderer at all costs, even if it meant disobeying Hofs’ command.
Hofs was the City Lord of Hushveil City and possessed late-stage highgod strength. He was the strongest expert in Hushveil City. If he lost his right arm to the youngster, then who else could defeat the person in a duel?
While feeling afraid of Han Shuo, the three patriarchs were also secretly delighted. They knew that the House of Hofley could firmly hold the position as the top family clan in Hushveil City was largely because of Hofs’ valiant strength.
But now that Hofs had lost an arm, his strength would be greatly reduced. With that, the influence his Hofley Family had over Hushveil City would also diminish. The House of Hofley’s loss was theirs to gain.
“City Lord, what should we do?” Although delighted, Westin wore a solemn and grieved face as he said, “City Lord, treating your arm is the most urgent matter. Your Lordship should return to rest and treat your injuries. Leave the rest to us three family clans. We will do everything we can and we will find the murderers!”
These experts had been searching everywhere for ages but they couldn’t even find a trail of Han Shuo. In addition, he had lost more than a hundred divine guards of his family clan. It was obvious that Westin was only giving empty promises. Even he himself doubted that he could capture Han Shuo.
“I will return to the City. I’ll leave the rest to you bunch!” said Hofs in a ferocious face. He looked as though a wolf that had not eaten for ages. He turned his eyes to gaze at the faces of the three patriarchs one after another before instructing, “You three family clans will remain in the mountain range and do everything you can to find that guy!”
Upon finishing those words, Hofs assembled the divine guards of his Hofley Family and began the journey back to Hushveil City.
Hofs had lost an arm and suffered serious injuries to his body. Returning to Hushveil City immediately was a must for Hofs. On one hand, he must recover from his injuries as quickly as possible while on the other hand, he must make certain arrangements to secure the position of his family clan in the City.
“Let’s go. We will return to the City of Shadows!” Han Shuo said to Rose.