GDK 844: Leave it to me
Most of those gathered around Han Shuo was involved in the scam and were tempted by Bertha’s offer. They had been killed or fled.
But there were several forces who decided to stay even after Han Shuo displayed his intimidating strength. Most of them had some kind of aces up their sleeves.
For example, they could be followers of the Five Sovereigns. Or perhaps they were confident that they could escape from Han Shuo.
Under Han Shuo’s attentive gazes, the leaders of those forces exchanged glances. One of them broke the silence, “I mean no harm. I came here only as a passive observer. Lady, Gentlemen, if you are interested, I can introduce you to Lord Logue. I believe that Lord Logue will be very interested in you.”
It was evident from his words that he was a follower of Sovereign Logue. The reason that he had stayed until now was to try to recruit Han Shuo and his party for his master.
After he made his offer to Han Shuo, the other forces also took their turn and made similar offers. They represented the other four Sovereigns – Tyre, Ossora, Salas, and Wasir. They asked Han Shuo to consider their offers, promising that he will get anything he wanted in the Fringe – if he agrees to their offer.
The Five Sovereigns had been fighting each other for many years and they would spare no effort in recruiting the true top-notch experts. Just then, Han Shuo had demonstrated his extremely valiant strength. If he was to join any of the Five Sovereigns, he will definitely disrupt the status quo, making one of the Sovereigns significantly more powerful.
Han Shuo had long expected that they would have the backing of the Five Sovereigns, or they wouldn’t have stayed to watch so fearlessly. Han Shuo smilingly shook his head and straightforwardly declined, “My apologies, but I have no plans of submitting to anyone. I believe that the Fringe is big enough for me to live without affiliating with anyone. Thank you for the offers.”
Those representatives calmly nodded but they did not continue trying to persuade Han Shuo to join them. They had all seen Han Shuo’s arrogant and unyielding temperament. They could tell that Han Shuo wasn’t the kind of person who would bow before others and did not carry much hope of succeeding, to begin with. After Han Shuo rejected their offers, they bid Han Shuo their farewells.
Haruli bowed very slightly at Han Shuo and he also left with his men. Moments later, there was no longer a single living being around Han Shuo and his party. All that accompanied them were the dead bodies lying everywhere.
“Rose, didn’t you say that you still have some friends here? Let’s go visit them. We currently don’t have enough experts and must recruit as many of them as we can!” Han Shuo said to Rose after everyone left.
“Okay, let’s go,” Rose nodded and was ready to show them the way.
“Wait!” a cry suddenly sounded from the nearest Omphalos checkpoint. In an instant, that Omphalos guard who had repeatedly reminded Han Shuo came into appearance.
Han Shuo held a somewhat favorable impression towards that person. Han Shuo smiled at the person who arrived hurried and in a friendly manner, he asked, “How can I help you?”
“You want to learn news about Kage, right?” he replied in a low voice.
Han Shuo was stunned. He raised an eyebrow and asked, “How did you know about that?”
“The Stringer that you asked is one of ours. He told me about it,” he softly explained to Han Shuo and continued, “I will give you this information free of charge: Kage has just left the Empyrean Peak and should be on his way back to his base. If you want to find him, now is the time.”
Upon finishing those words, the guard smiled at Han Shuo, said nothing more, and returned to the Omphalos.
Han Shuo was at a loss for words and couldn’t understand why would the fella be so nice to him. But after hearing that Kage had left the Empyrean Peak, Han Shuo immediately changed his plans. He wanted to kill Kage before doing anything else.
“Father, I don’t think that that guy gave us Kage’s whereabouts for nothing. He might want us to kill Kage and then leak the information to everyone,” said Han Hao soon after that Omphalos guard left.
Han Shuo put on a faint smile and nodded praisingly. He thought that his firstborn was indeed not as naive as the Five Elite Zombies.
After thinking about it carefully, he thought that Han Hao’s suspicion was very likely. The Five Sovereigns of the Fringe hated each other. That guard probably wasn’t working for Salas. If he were to leak the information after Han Shuo kills Kage, Han Shuo would most likely be hunted by Salas’ forces.
Based on the strength that Han Shuo displayed, if Salas’ gang was to hunt and fight Han Shuo, even if Han Shuo ends up dead, Salas’ forces would have to pay a significant price for it. This would be a desirable outcome for them.
“It’s no bother, we will still kill Kage. But when the time comes, be extra careful so that no one would suspect us. Hehe, we will, eventually, have a confrontation with the Five Sovereigns, but now isn’t the time yet!” Han Shuo’s ultimate goal was to rule the Land of Chaos. However, as Han Shuo currently had yet to break through to the Skybreak Realm in demonic arts, he had no confidence in fighting the Five Sovereigns.
“Understood,” replied Han Hao noddingly. Then, suddenly, Han Hao suggested, “Father, how about you leave the matter about Kage to me? You can carry on with your business.”
Han Shuo stared blankly at Little Skeleton for a moment. He thought about it, bunched his brows, and replied, “You should have no trouble finishing Kage in a solo fight. But what if he is traveling with other experts?”
“Then I will bring Little Earth along. With Little Earth, I can mount a sneak attack anytime, anywhere. I will finish Kage in the shortest time possible and then escape with Little Earth. That’d do it!” said Han Hao confidently.
Han Hao was infamous in the Death Dominion for his savageness and ruthlessness. Not only that he possessed extraordinary strength, but he was also calm and decisive in his actions. Over the past five decades, he rarely ever lost any battle. Han Shuo thought about his words for a moment and nodded smilingly.
Han Shuo knew from experience that it was by letting his kids face dangers and challenges by themselves that they would grow at the fastest rate. Besides, Kage had just mid-stage highgod strength. From the power that Little Skeleton demonstrated, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to kill Kage. And with Han Tu around, he could attack and retreat without any trouble, and therefore Han Shuo wasn’t too worried about his safety.
“Little Earth, come with me!” said Han Hao after turning to Han Tu.
Han Tu seemed somewhat excited. He put on his innocent smile and said to Han Shuo, “Bye, Dad!”
“If you couldn’t find me, look for me at the Omphalos in one month,” Han Shuo said to Han Hao.
“Yes, Father,” Little Skeleton nodded and left with Han Tu.
“Let’s go. We will look for your friends,” said Han Shuo after turning to Rose.
Rose said nothing and started leading the party, flying towards the South-west. Han Shuo, Wood Elite Zombie, Water Elite Zombie, Fire Elite Zombie, and Metal Elite Zombie followed behind her.
After three days, Han Shuo and his party appeared at an everglade covered in a poisonous mist in the southwest of the Fringe. They had been wandering about aimlessly. Air bubbles would float up to the swamps and sludge and linger on the surface for a second before popping, releasing toxic gases into the atmosphere.
Plants and animals that live in the region usually possess some kind of toxicity. All along their journey, countless rare and bizarre plants had tried pouncing on Han Shuo and his party without any warning. However, those plants would always be stopped by Han Mu.
“The fuck man, the plants in this region are damn stubborn. I have to spend more energy than usual to control these plants. I’m so fortunate to possess the Viride Leaf. Otherwise, I would have exhausted more than half of my energy just dispersing them!” complained Han Mu. He was disgruntled that the plants found in the everglade would dare question his authority.
All plants in the universe survive on the Yuan Energy of Wood while Wood Elite Zombie was born from it. Therefore, he could use the Yuan Energy of Wood naturally found in his body to control every kind of plant. Although they were made of the same energy, those plants belonged to existences of a much lower level compared to Wood Elite Zombie as their souls had yet to possess self-awareness.
Normally speaking, any living thing that survived on the energy of wood will not be able to resist Wood Elite Zombie’s control. When inside a forest, Han Mu could fuse his energy with every tree and plant. He could use them to make attacks or to use their energy of wood to restore the divine energy he exhausted.
That was also why Wood Elite Zombie’s strength would increase by several folds when he was inside a large forest. Even a highgod might not be able to defeat him.
The plants living on this everglade, however, perhaps corroded by the toxins, grew very stubborn and unyielding. They would refuse to simply comply with Han Mu’s command and he must use more energy than usual to control them.
“Rose, where is your friend living?” Han Shuo had been expanding his consciousness but he did not detect any sign of life. This made him rather puzzled.
“I don’t know the exact location but he should be around here. He is of a unique race and of all my friends, he has the strangest temperament and the greatest strength. It’s been many years and I don’t know if he is still living in this place,” replied Rose. She knew that aimlessly wandering around the everglade was not effective but she could not think of a better way to find his friend.
“Let’s just keep looking and hope that we will discover something,” remarked Han Shuo.
The party continued looking around. They had spent yet another day but it had been unfruitful. They then arrived at the largest swamp where enormous bubbles floated to its surface. Han Jin’s face suddenly jolted. He pointed at the swamp below him and excitedly said to Han Shuo, “Father, there is a very strange metal underneath. I have never seen it before. I’ll go check it out!”
Upon finishing those words, Han Jin leaped to the swamp.
But before Han Jin entered the swamp, a monstrous arm that seemed to be made of steel suddenly shot out and grabbed him. It pulled Han Jin into the swamp!