GDK 941: Cheating Death
Han Shuo could easily fabricate a new divine body with the exact appearance of Hao Hao. As long as Hao Hao could separate his soul from his original body, he could possess the new body and use it to fool the Overgod of Death.
Upon hearing that Han Hao could do it, Gilbert, Bollands, and the others became elated. Among them, Scarlett was especially excited and relieved that they’d found a workable solution. She asked Han Hao, “Are you sure you can do it? Will it have any adverse effects?”
Han Hao nodded and Scarlett confidently and replied, “I will be just fine.”
“Perfect, then this can be done with ease!” exclaimed Han Shuo smilingly before he instructed Han Hao, “Then let us get started right away, there is no time to waste. Come and select the materials with me. I will need the skeleton of a highgod and some special medicinal ingredients. With those things, I can build you a new body without much effort!”
“Father, there is still another problem,” after hesitating for a bit, Han Hao bunched his brows and said, “A portion of the Shard has fused with my body and its inscriptions have interwoven with my soul. I’m worried that He will be able to detect the inscriptions on my soul.”
“All you need to do is split up a strand of your soul. I will teach you how to solve this.” As Han Shuo now had a direction, it did not take him long to think of a solution to this potential issue.
Through demonic arts, Han Shuo could split his consciousness into millions of strands. If Han Hao could separate his soul from his body, then splitting a strand of his soul should also be achievable. Han Shuo could then help him form a secondary soul similar to an avatar.
While thinking about the solution, another new idea came to Han Shuo’s mind. He smilingly said, “Don’t worry, this one is easy to solve. I will help you form a secondary soul and use it to possess the surrogate body. When the Overgod comes, let him probe your secondary soul and surrogate body. Then, have your main body activate the Shard outside the Fringe. He wouldn’t suspect a thing.”
“Father, what do you mean by a secondary soul?” asked Han Hao who seemed a little perplexed.
“Well, it’s like this!” said Han Shuo with a big smile as his two avatars that had been sitting inside the Cauldron of Myriad Demon emerged. Two carbon copies of Han Shuo suddenly appeared beside him. They looked exactly the same in their appearances and demeanor.
Han Hao carefully examined the two avatars for a while before he nodded and said, “I understand now.”
The Five Elite Zombies, Gilbert, and Sanguis knew that Han Shuo had avatars but Scarlett and Bollands were unaware of this secret. They were astonished to see two clones of Han Shuo suddenly standing before them and they could not be more curious.
Han Shuo, however, did not explain much to them. He said to Han Hao, “Let’s not tarry any longer. Soon I will teach you the techniques. You can be at ease. This surrogate of you will have the same soul undulation of your main body but it will not carry the aura of the Quintessence Shard. I’m sure that the Overgod won’t be able to tell that it’s a fake.”
Han Hao seemed rather excited.
Han Shuo had gained the two avatars mostly by luck. But now that he had attained Skybreak Realm and having obtained new memories and insights into demonic arts, Han Shuo was finally able to forge an avatar completely from scratch, which was why he was so confident that it would work.
Han Shuo and Han Hao went to the warehouse in the Pandemonium and they selected the materials needed for forging a surrogate body. A number of eerie white bones and sparkling, translucent rocks were taken.
The warehouse stored all kinds of valuable and uncommon materials. A portion of them were leftovers from constructing the Pandemonium while most of them were spoils Han Hao looted from the Omphalos merchants. All kinds of miraculous and rare materials were piled in those rooms. He had more than enough to forge even ten more avatars for Han Hao.
“Refining an avatar would take a long time, time that we do not have. Besides, even with an avatar, it wouldn’t help with anything if the Overgod decides to slaughter the other you. Therefore I will just make you a puppet, but it’s good enough to fool him. This will save us a ton of time and energy.” After gathering all the necessary materials, Han Shuo brought Han Hao to the surface of the Pandemonium and began forging a new body using one of the available demonic formations.
While Han Shuo’s main body was busy manufacturing a new body, his avatar was teaching Han Hao how to split up a strand of his soul. As Han Hao was a demonic arts cultivator and his soul was mostly similar to that of a human, with Han Shuo’s guidance, he very quickly mastered the technique.
Han Hao tried and tried again. In just three days’ time, he was able to split up a strand of his soul as Han Shuo wanted. It was way faster than Han Shuo thought.
“Excellent, excellent!” Han Shuo was overjoyed and was pleased by Han Hao’s extraordinary talent in demonic techniques. He said, “Now that you have a strand of your soul separated, the hardest step is completed. All you have to do now is sever the strand from your main soul while keeping it entangled with your soul. Here’s how you do it…”
On the surface of the Pandemonium, Han Shuo’s main body continued to inject demonic yuan and work with the Cauldron of Myriad Demon to build the surrogate while his avatar of destruction described the steps of forming a secondary soul to Han Hao.
Simultaneously, Han Shuo’s avatar of death was at the underground palace. He had been updating himself on the latest news in the Fringe from Zovic.
“Five were visited by the Overgod and three of them were killed. The two came out unscathed because they did not try to resist,” Zovic, standing respectfully before Han Shuo, reported with a solemn face.
Han Shuo asked Zovic to keep an eye on those names Logue mentioned to the Overgod. Half of those element of death experts had the Overgod of Death knocking on their doors. Some of those Fringedwellers oblivious to the identity of their mysterious visitor, used to being arrogant and snobbish, were taken out by the Overgod.
Meanwhile, those who sensed the terrifying might of the Overgod and who were as meekly prostrated as Logue was were spared.
“How many are left?” asked Han Shuo with his brows bunched gravely.
“Five more. I believe that after he visited those five, he will focus on finding Han Hao. It wouldn’t be long. Should we do anything to prepare?” asked Zovic.
Han Shuo thought for a while before instructing, “Now is a sensitive period for these prominent energy of death experts to die. It will surely cause a ruckus. Use your resources to spread a rumor that there is a godhunter hunting for experts cultivating the death energy. Exaggerate the hunter’s strength as much as possible but don’t mention anything about a Quintessence Overgod. And make sure that the remaining five hear the rumor while not revealing that it originated from us.”
“Is this to frighten them so that they will go into hiding, thus increasing the time before they would be found?” Zovic immediately understood Han Shuo’s plan.
Han Shuo nodded and replied, “That’s correct. It’s to buy us a little more time. The solution I’m working on will be ready soon. By then, the surrogate Han Hao will head to the Omphalos where everyone recognizes him and the Overgod can be sure of his identity.”
At this most critical moment, Han Shuo needed the most accurate and relevant information from him and therefore revealed the great secret to Zovic. Besides, given Zovic’s history in serving his House of Han for many years with undying loyalty, Han Shuo trusted that he would keep a tight lip about the secret and perform his best.
“Understood, I will have it done right away!” replied Zovic nodding before quickly leaving.
***
Yet another three days had passed. The Han Shuo sitting inside the gymnasium on the surface of the Pandemonium took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He put his arm into the pool of blood before him and pulled out a body. It was a carbon copy of Han Hao.
“Are you ready?” Han Shuo asked Han Hao solemnly.
“I’m ready!” answered Han Hao. He seemed calm and not the slightest bit nervous.
Han Shuo nodded and smilingly said, “Sometimes I wonder if you ever know what fear is. Alright, you may begin. Possess the body with your secondary soul. I can only help you this far and the rest is up to you.”
Han Hao did not waste words. He sat cross-legged on the ground and stared fixedly at his surrogate body with his bewitching purple eyes. A trace of faintly discernible soul undulation formed above his head and slowly drifted to the lifeless clone of his.
The strange shimmer in his eyes grew brighter and brighter before it suddenly stopped wavering as though Han Hao was in a suspended state.
Han Shuo grew worried. He kept watching back and forth at Han Hao’s main body and the surrogate. He became more and more anxious when things seemed to be taking too long.
After a long while, the strange light flashed in Han Hao’s purple eyes before he slowly closed his eyes. Meanwhile, the surrogate before him opened his eyes and slowly got up. He moved his arms and legs around curiously and said, “Father, it’s done.”
Han Shuo was relieved and elated. He laughed out loud and said, “Good, very good! Now comes the fun part. You are going to cheat Death!”