Deep underground where daylight could not penetrate, Han Shuo sat silently in the same spot, healing his damaged meridians and broken bones. Whenever Han Shuo settled down and focused solely on a single task, he would often be absorbed in the task.
A healthy dose of rest later, Han Shuo’s eyes struggled to a squint and finally opened. He first inspected his body using his consciousness, and found that all his shattered meridians, bones and other internal organs, as well as all the damage he sustained from the last battle had fully recovered.
At a thought, his demonic yuan began to course through his body. It was so smooth that Han Shuo couldn’t help but shout in joy. It was clear to him that his good-as-new body would no longer affect his deployment of demonic arts.
Wholly recuperated, Han Shuo acquired a connection with the netherworld. Han Shuo understood that now, he wouldn’t need to worry about his own safety at all. Even if he met that three-eyed humanoid abyssal creature, Han Shuo could go against it with hardly any worries.
When he recalled of the three-eyed beast, Han Shuo suddenly had the strangest conjecture – Could this three-eyed creature be related to the three-eyed evil god Ansidesi?
Back then at the Ascher’s slave-trading house in Valen City, Han Shuo had met necromancer Claude from the Calamity Church by coincidence. He was using an altar flooded with freshly dripped blood to summon the evil god Ansidesi. The evil god manifested himself at the center of the altar using fresh blood and bones. It had three eyes and a very long tail.
This three-eyed humanoid abyssal creature he had just met in this unusual world, although lacking the terrifying, wicked, and seemingly invulnerable aura of the evil god Ansidesi, and apart from a few pointed horns on its head, they both looked strikingly similar to each other.
Could the three-eyed demon god Ansidesi have evolved from this species of three-eyed abyssal creature?
Han Shuo had an ineffable epiphany. He had a feeling this hypothesis of his was very likely the truth. That humanoid three-eyed abyssal creature was of high-level intelligence and great strength. In accordance with the fact that any living thing could cultivate and evolve, could it be that, if this kind of humanoid three-eyed abyssal creature cultivated to its pinnacle, it would become an evil god?
Very possibly so, Han Shuo thought! He then became even more curious about this usually cruel world, wanting to see if there were even more astonishing things waiting for him to discover.
Han Shuo no longer needed to hole up so deep underground. Protected by his shield, Han Shuo burst through the ground and emerged from the swamp.
He started unpacking his consciousness, taking into view all kinds of savage creatures within a great radius of him. The numbers, density, size, and strength of all plants and life forms were registered by Han Shuo down to the slightest detail. In this unfamiliar world Han Shuo no longer felt lonely, on the contrary, he felt some sort of noble aspiration brewing in him.
During the time spent restoring his physical body, Han Shuo didn’t slack in pondering certain matters. He had previously obtained some memories from the skeletal staff and understood that there were more secrets lying within. Once he could completely unlock all the secrets in the skeletal staff, Han Shuo would not only be able to traverse his soul to the netherworld, but his physical body would be able to descend directly upon the netherworld.
The skeletal staff was miraculous. It was possibly even holding open a path for Han Shuo to return to Profound Continent. After all, the enormous magical transportation array at the center of the Cemetery of Death was very much a work of magic.
Additionally, the Ancient Lizard King had once mentioned that there exists a planar guardian on Profound Continent, and he could use the planar transportation array to leave Profound Continent. In that case, there could also have been a so-called planar guardian present in this world, and perhaps, through the planar guardian, Han Shuo could return to Profound Continent.
As Han Shuo pondered these problems with a calm mind, he realized that his conundrum might actually be solvable. With hope came motivation, motivation for Han Shuo to fight on. Han Shuo unfolded his consciousness and took every living thing in his surroundings to view. His plan was first to understand this unfamiliar environment.
Without staying in the region for too long, Han Shuo soared in the direction of the three-eyed creature. In order to understand the world as quickly as possible, he figured he had to pick a specific advanced native lifeform with which he could communicate.
The unchanging scenery appeared over and over beneath Han Shuo’s feet. He had flown for a long while but all he saw were sinister-looking plants and brutal combats. High-level beings like the three-eyed abyssal creature were nowhere to be found. There wasn’t a single mighty abyssal creature in sight.
However, Han Shuo was confident that he could find what he was looking for. He continued straight on. As there was no sun or moon rising and setting on the sky in the Abyss realm, Han Shuo couldn’t be sure of how much time precisely had passed, but felt that he had been in the air for roughly three to four days.
The Abyss realm was undeniably vast and expansive. Given Han Shuo’s airspeed, the flightime of three to four days would have surely been more than enough to circle around any nation on Profound Continent. In this miraculous Abyss realm, however, Han Shuo seemed to have been hovering over the same location all along.
Another two days had passed by Han Shuo’s estimation. He was nearly disheartened when, finally, his consciousness sensed two powerful presences. Han Shuo lit up and shot towards the targets.
Before he could get anywhere near, he felt thunderous tremors rumbling from the direction of the two mighty presences. Accompanying the violent tremors were living things around them being shattered by the aftershocks. Some grotesquely shaped abyssal creatures were escaping from the fighting ground. Even abyssal plants that should have been immobile in Han Shuo’s eyes were crawling away. Han Shuo suspected that their roots were leg-shaped.
However, due to their plant morphology, they obviously couldn’t compete with those abyssal creatures in terms of speed. Those plants unable to outrun the aftershocks were shattered as well. Fierce energy shot out, and their rhizomes even secreted a thick liquid similar to blood.
What an odd plane of existence!
Han Shuo thought. He did not halt for what he saw in his path, but continued towards the region where the great disturbance was coming from.
By then, Han Shuo assumed, the two mighty creatures ought to have been fiercely fighting. Based on the sensing capabilities of his consciousness, Han Shuo determined that those mighty beings weren’t as formidable as that three-eyed beast he met earlier. They seemed to be slightly more powerful than sacred grade experts of Profound Continent, but fell short of demigod experts.
In other words, even if the two creatures were to combine forces, Han Shuo could handle them with the snap of his fingers. It was with such confidence that Han Shuo would approach them without the slightest apprehension in his attempt to locate high-level abyssal creatures and learn about this world.
When Han Shuo arrived at the site where the two high-level abyssal creatures were fighting he was stupefied by what he saw. These weren’t massive, fierce, and disgusting abyssal creatures, they were beautiful, young ladies!
But Han Shuo quickly discovered that the two females were definitely not human. Although their skins were tender and white, their bodies were covered with pointy and fierce-looking armour. Han Shuo only took one careful look to find that those fierce armours were attached to their bodies.
On their smooth shoulders, elbows and knees, those spikes had most certainly grown from under their supple skin.
The young armored ladies were glowing with snow-white skin, naked and exposed. Particularly around the chest, thighs, arms, and neck, areas where twisting was required, those regions were laid out bare in the open. Light bounced off their springy flesh as they fought. From a distance, the two ladies appeared almost violently seductive.
One of them had deep purple eyes and the other had light green, with similarly stunning hair to match. They were both of that perfect model height, had straight slender thighs, and curves on their bodies that would make any men drool.
The two inhuman ladies had extremely unique close-quarter combat techniques. They would frequently extend their tender hands and blades that sparkled with cold evil rays would suddenly blossom from their palms. In addition to that, their spiked elbows and knees were their primary means of attack. Intense energy erupted whenever they collided.
It was a scene of complete disaster surrounding the two ladies. The ground was covered with perished animals and plants who couldn’t escape in time.
What astounded Han Shuo the most was their attack energies. Their energy sources were somewhat similar to fighting aura, but seemingly mixed with elemental energy. They were like those mage swordsmen rarely found on Profound Continent, but not quite the same. But still, Han Shuo couldn’t explain what exactly the differences were. In short, it was all outside of Han Shuo’s knowledge at the moment.
Han Shuo had been snooping on the two ladies ever since he arrived. His heart was oozing with curiosity and he was becoming even more interested in this strange world. From the appearances of the two ladies, Han Shuo could be certain that the Abyss realm did indeed contain high-level life forms, and they might even be very mighty. Han Shuo believed that the more powerful they were, the easier it would be for him to find his way home.
As Han Shuo observed the two with not a peep, he suddenly discovered them simultaneously turning to him and staring with unkind eyes. In the next moment, the two stopped fighting with each other and closed in on Han Shuo at lightning speed, wanting to gouge out his prying eyes on the spot.
Han Shuo was expectedly unafraid of the two ladies acting together. Although somewhat clueless as to what was going on, he didn’t hesitate. Thereupon, he deployed Demonic Blades from his hands, which appeared just as majestic as those blades that would suddenly thrust out from their palms.
Two young ladies of high-level species in the Abyss realm. From their manner of attack, one clearly carried the element of lightning, and the other the element of fire. The elements, the most fundamental building blocks of everything that existed, were utilized by them in a peculiar manner. Elemental energy surges through every punch and kick, as well as through the thorns on their knees and elbows.
They weren’t magi, and yet, they had developed some other ingenious method for manipulating to their advantage all the elements between heaven and earth. They were not in the least inferior to magi found on Profound Continent. Their attacks were even more terrifying for the elements were more concentrated and would suddenly erupt in every attack.
Compared to magi on Profound Continent, their attacks covered much less ground. Yet, the tremendous destructive power concentrated on a small surface area could be even more disastrous than forbidden magic that covered a large area. Every magus on Profound Continent paid particular attention to the coverage area of magic. But they were obviously different, and seemed to pay more attention to the split second burst of power – to concentrate a frightening amount of energy in a spot and unleash terrible wreckage upon a limited area.
Han Shuo became familiar with the two ladies’ attack methods after battling them for just a while. Compared to mages of the Profound Continent, of the two worlds, it was hard to say that either one was better than the other. They each emphasized on different aspects and utilized the elements in different ways.
One produced a more focused attack, limited to a small area, but with horrific destructive power. The other was more dispersed in their attacks, causing destruction in a large area. One absorbed elemental energy straight from the source and stored it within their bodies like fighting aura, the other required the use of spells to manipulate elemental energy with mental strength.
Both had obvious differences. But ultimately, both of them made use of the same elemental energy that composed the world.
The reason for their different ways of using the elements compared to a regular magus lied in their internal body structures which were different from those of humans. In ways which Han Shuo could not understand, they were able to store elemental energy inside their bodies. Then, when it was time to attack, they could suddenly discharge the elemental energy just like fighting aura. Han Shuo found this highly intriguing.
The two alien females, unreasonably took Han Shuo as an enemy and attacked him. One shot thunder and lighting at him, while the other sent him a blazing fire. They congealed their respective elemental energies before sending them instantly bursting. Although their attacks were exceedingly destructive, their opponent was the demigod in Han Shuo, and therefore couldn’t pose any real danger to him.
From start to finish, Han Shuo never lost his nerve even in the slightest while defending from their joint assault with just the Demonic Blades. Han Shuo didn’t attack and was purely on the defensive. It wasn’t that Han Shuo was afraid of them, he was just making use of this opportunity to properly learn about the fighting manner of this alien world.
It was only after Han Shuo understood the energy components and body structure of the two alien females using his mighty consciousness that he began fighting against the ladies squarely. No longer on just the defensive, Han Shuo’s Demonic Blades sparkled like a disco ball. He made a whirl with his hands and caused chilling energy to erupt from his Demonic Blades.
The two alien ladies immediately sensed the wicked energy originating from Han Shuo’s Demonic Blades.
It could not have been clearer to them that Han Shuo had not exerted his full strength. When Han Shuo suddenly fought back, they were shocked and pulled back a distance away from him before looking him up and down.
Who are you people? Where is this place? Is there a planar guardian for this world?
Han Shuo immediately asked as soon as the two ladies stopped attacking.
But just as Han Shuo opened his mouth, he knew that his questions would be in vain. Because why on earth would these two alien females know how to speak the language of humans on Profound Continent?
The fact was indeed so. As soon as Han Shuo finished those words, the two seductive alien females stared at Han Shuo with absolute bewilderment. From their purple and green eyes, Han Shuo could tell that they could not comprehend a word of what he was saying.
Ash nazg durbatulûk… ash nazg gimbatul…
A melody flowed from the mouth of the purple-eyed lady, most pleasing to Han Shuo’s ears. It was completely out of character from her seductive body lined with spikes.
Ash nazg thrakatulûk… agh burzum-ishi krimpatul…
the green-eyed lady replied. Her voice was just as sweet and pleasant.
Han Shuo hadn’t a clue what they were saying either. But when they started talking, Han Shuo let out a sigh of relief, as this showed that they at least were willing to communicate with him instead of continuing to fight him.
Han Shuo shrugged with a bitter smile on his face. He shook his head and made gestures to indicate that he did not understand. The ladies opened their eyes wide and looked at Han Shuo as though they were looking at a barbarian before even more anxiously conversing with each other with their melodious voices.
Han Shuo then decided to gather his consciousness to its most optimal state to sense the mental waves coming from the two alien females. He attempted to associate their mental waves with the sounds of their speech, thereby secretly stealing memories pertaining to their language from their souls.
Han Shuo’s consciousness was a miracle with boundless utilities. Stealing a small fragment of another’s memories wasn’t a particularly difficult thing to do. Other than necromancers who were proficient with the uses of soul energy, as well as beings more powerful than Han Shuo, no one was able to stop this marvelous use of Han Shuo’s consciousness.
