GDK 923: Feigning Civility
Of the two crystal balls, one contained the divine soul of Hill, the former City Lord of Witherbone City, while the other contained the divine soul of a godhunter Chief who cultivated destruction energy. Both of them were in late-stage highgod realms. Their self-awareness was erased and contained nothing but their knowledge and understanding of the energy they cultivated.
After entering the Space Dominion, Han Shuo had proceeded with erasing the Divine Brand that the God of Death placed in Hill’s divine soul. He knew that the Death Overgod must have sensed his action but he wasn’t worried about it as he was outside the Death Dominion.
And it appeared that Han Shuo’s speculation was right. So far, the Overgod of Death had yet to take any action despite knowing that Hill was murdered. It seemed as though He wasn’t going to do anything about it.
Han Shuo held one crystal ball in each hand. His two avatars gradually emerged from the Cauldron of Myriad Demon, sat on the sides of his main body, and received the crystal balls.
After having ascended to Skybreak Realm in demonic arts, Han Shuo’s strength substantially increased, far surpassing that of his avatars that cultivated in the energies of death and destruction. It had been a while since he last used his avatars against an enemy and he had been slacking on their cultivations.
Han Shuo understood that no matter how rapidly his avatars would improve in strength, they most likely cannot catch up to the strength of his main body. But Han Shuo thought that those avatars were still worth keeping. He knew that the avatars could fuse their domains of divinities and unleash tremendous power. He thought that his avatars should take on a cultivation path that focuses on fusing their energies.
Under the manipulation of the two avatars, the two crystal balls gently floated up and hovered before their faces. They began opening their divine souls and acquiring connections with the information and memories contained in those formatted souls. When their divine souls came into contact with the crystal balls, they instantly sensed that a tremendous amount of messages were contained within.
Following their thoughts, the life forms in the crystal balls suddenly begin flashing and moving erratically. Segments of memories were fusing with their divine souls.
Meanwhile, the consciousness of Han Shuo’s main body had split into two, each entering a crystal ball. His consciousness would sort and arrange the memories in those crystal balls as they flowed into the divine souls of his avatars.
If it was Phoebe, Emily, or the others, they would have to spend tremendous efforts to assimilate the divine souls in those crystal balls. The memories and understanding of those souls were disordered and they must spend a long time to defragment the memories. Otherwise, not only will their realm state not rapidly progress, but their realm state might even go retrograde.
But with the assistance of his main body’s consciousness, Han Shuo’s avatars would only take a fraction of the time needed to assimilate those souls. He could absorb the libraries of knowledge and memories in those crystal balls once-through rather than having to do it bit by bits like Stratholme and the others had to.
In just three days, Han Shuo’s avatars had completed the assimilation. The vast sea of information and insight into the energies of death and destruction were now in the minds of his avatars, readily accessible. With that, Han Shuo’s consciousness returned to his main body.
“Come in!” said Han Shuo after his avatars returned into the Cauldron in his body.
Zovic who had been waiting outside for a long time hastily entered the chamber. He respectfully bowed before he said, “Ossora has a message for Your Lordship. He is inviting you to Tyre’s Sovereign Shop where he, Tyre, Logue, and Wasir have been waiting.”
“That was fast,” Han Shuo nodded and got on his feet before he instructed Zovic, “Enhance the security of the Celestial Pearl for now and make sure that no outsider could step into the restricted areas.” HS knew that his family members would be assimilating those divine souls given to them in the secret chambers and he wanted to take extra precautions to prevent anyone from discovering their acts.
“Understood. No unauthorized person could step into the Celestial Pearl, save for the retail sections,” pledged Zovic confidently.
“Good.” Without wasting any more words, Han Shuo left his gymnasium and headed for Tyre’s sovereign shop unhurriedly.
Ten minutes later, Han Shuo arrived at his destination. This Sovereign Shop of Tyre’s does not conduct any business. It was a gathering place for Tyre’s minions and the operation center for his stringers, used for collecting all sorts of information in the Fringe and the Twelve Dominions. It was thanks to the intelligence agency in this building that among the Sovereigns, Tyre would always be the first to learn about the most recent events in the Fringe with the greatest accuracy.
“Welcome, Lord Bryan. The Sovereigns are all inside. Let me lead the way, “ one of Tyre’s followers stationed at the front door respectfully greeted Han Shuo without delay and invited him into the building.
Han Shuo was led to a luxurious and expansive lounge. The floor was covered with a soft carpet and the walls were filled with decorative lightings. Tyre, Wasir, Logue, and Ossora, all wearing dark faces, sat far apart in the room, sitting in opposing directions. When Han Shuo appeared, they nodded at him as a greeting.
“Hey, Bryan. We have been waiting for a while,” Ossora gestured, indicating Han Shuo to sit anywhere he liked.
“You are dismissed,” instructed Tyre at his follower who led Han Shuo to the lounge. The person bowed at the Five and respectfully left. The five mightiest existences in the Fringe were now gathered in the chamber.
“Bryan, the situation seems really bad. After receiving your message, we have sent our men for scouting. Those godhunters in many of the Dominion are indeed gathering towards the Fringe. Unlike the past, the godhunters seem to have been united and are moving out together,” After Han Shuo took his seat, Ossora let out a soft sigh and began describing the current situation in a grave face.
“If the Godhunter Alliance are united against us, the Fringe would stand no chance against them,” stated Wasir with his brows furrowed worriedly.
“Indeed. The reason that the Fringe had not fallen to their hands was that the Godhunter Alliance had always fought internally and could not unite against us. But things are quite different this time. From the intel I have collected, it appears that every faction of the Alliance has temporarily ceased their internal strife and is determined to destroy the Fringe!” said Logue after he nodded.
“I have met the Hegemons of Death, Destruction, and Darkness. Their strengths are very formidable! We definitely have a tough battle ahead of us as Salas is working with them. With Salas’ familiarity with the Fringe, the Godhunter Alliance could navigate around easily, giving us defenders less of an advantage,” said Han Shuo after he thought for a moment, deciding to reveal that he had exchanged blows with the three Hegemons at the Misty Sea.
“No wonder the Godhunter Alliance Hegemons would be so united – all thanks to your good work!” Logue coldly groaned and said, “If you had not been massacring the godhunters, the Godhunter Alliance wouldn’t be so determined to invade us. You really know how to bring troubles to the Fringe, Bryan!”
Upon hearing those words, Wasir and Ossora turned to Han Shuo and looked at him with puzzled eyes. They did not expect that Han Shuo’s actions in the Darkness and Death Dominions were the main driving factor of the Godhunter Alliance’s unity and aggression towards the Fringe.
Only Tyre had a calm face as though he didn’t care who or what had triggered the matter. He smilingly mediated, “The Godhunter Alliance has coveted for our Land for many years. Even if Bryan did not attack them, it would still be a matter of time before they would attack us. Bryan had not caused it, he only made it earlier.”
“I did not expect that Salas would work with those godhunters. With Salas’ assistance, their invasion will become much smoother,” remarked Wasir suddenly, shaking his head after keeping silent for a moment. He too recognized the seriousness of the situation this time.
“Bryan, half-a-month ago, one of my followers named Luca had mysteriously disappeared. There has been no news about him even till now. Those I sent to investigate his disappearance reported that only Han Hao’s followers had passed through the area where he disappeared. What the hell was that about?” complained Logue angrily.
Han Shuo stared blankly for a moment before he put on an astounded face and replied, “Oh, really? That’s surprising. I will ask Han Hao for you later and see if he knew about it, but I believe that it had nothing to do with his followers!” Then, as though he thought of something, he put on an alarmed look and said, “Could it be that those of the Godhunter Alliance have already infiltrated the Fringe? I think that is most likely! Logue, we need to be united at this time. Don’t you fall to our enemy’s ruse to divide us!”
Logue got furious after listening to Han Shuo’s bare-faced lie. He shouted, “How is possible for the Godhunter Alliance to arrive so soon? They definitely will not hastily step into the Fringe without a year of preparation and planning! Just own up to your actions!”
“You must have gotten it wrong!” Han Shuo shook his head and explained, “Although I have only returned to the Fringe today and wasn’t aware of it, I’m sure that Han Hao’s followers wouldn’t touch your followers. This definitely had nothing to do with us!”
Logue was going to continue arguing but was interrupted by an annoyed Tyre. “That’s enough. What’s the point of arguing over such a petty matter? Those godhunters are coming and we need to be united against them. If we are fighting among ourselves now, we might as well surrender the Fringe to them!”
After Logue and Han Shuo finally ceased their arguing, Tyre took a deep breath and asked, “My fellow Sovereigns, do any of you have a solution in mind?”
Logue, Wasir, and Ossora shook their heads. Han Shuo, however, put on a smile, and said, “Well, I do have an idea.”