A few years earlier at the Dark Forest, Han Shuo, Sophie, and fire grand magus Marceau of Brut Merchant Alliance joined forces to explore the place of extreme fire. However, when trouble came, Marceau blatantly abandoned them. But in the end, with Han Shuo and Sophie working as one, they managed to get away from the danger.
Sophie was of Kasi Empire nationality. Her father, Sulo, was a renowned sacred knight of Kasi Empire. Han Shuo had already known this from the start.
Who would have imagined that after so many years, Han Shuo would so coincidentally bump into Sophie the first time he visited Kasi Empire. Back then, before Han Shuo and Sophie parted ways at the Dark Forest, Sophie urged Han Shuo to look for her if he ever visited Kasi Empire.
Separated by seven or eight meters, staring at the beautiful Sophie, observing her as she picked out tiny, delicate ornaments full of zest, Han Shuo could not contain himself from laughing. All along this seemingly endless street, all sorts of items were up for sale. There was no lack of genuinely priceless trinkets. Regardless, Sophie was not in the least interested in exquisite war machines, but lingered over at a booth selling small ornaments.
It seemed that every woman had an innate desire to look beautiful. This sort of ornament that was garish and delicate but had no practical use whatsoever, unexpectedly, triggered tremendous temptation in Sophie.
A few years had gone by in the blink of an eye. The already beautiful and moving Sophie, like a bud blooming into a flower, looked more beautiful than ever.
Gazing at this beauty from a distance, Han Shuo did not advance forward to meet her although he desired to. Of this beautiful young lady, Han Shuo held a pretty good impression. Previously at the place of extreme fire, the grand fire magus wanted to entrap Han Shuo, but was stopped by this kind-hearted lass.
This time at Kasi Empire, the things Han Shuo had done at the Shrine of Ice would have made him a public enemy to the entire Kasi Empire. Once Han Shuo and Sophie intersected, it could very possibly spell trouble for Sophie. Although Sophie’s father was a sacred knight of great influence on Kasi Empire, he was nowhere close when compared to the Shrine of Ice, whether in terms of strength or influence.
Therefore, Han Shuo only looked at Sophie for a short while before he silently left. He deliberately took a detour to make some distance with Sophie before carrying on his shopping at this harmonious street, continuing to seek material suitable for refining Gilbert’s body.
That Yuan Storage Stone that Han Shuo previously obtained from the old woman was very useful for demonic arts cultivators. As the name implies, the Yuan Storage Stone could store yuan essence and demonic yuan. Among its uses was refining certain extraordinary magical weapons. It could improve a weapon’s tolerance to demonic yuan, in addition to speeding up the circulation of demonic yuan inside the weapon.
When reforging Gilbert’s body, as long as this Yuan Storage Stone completely integrated into the skeleton, it would be of great service to Gilbert in making rapid progress in the future. Exchanged with merely one hundred gold coins was simply a steal.
It was precisely because in just one morning Han Shuo had obtained three different uncommon goods that he was rather looking forward to this auction sale at Kasi Empire. With exuberant energy, Han Shuo did not pause to rest at all. After evading Sophie, he continued looking for things that suited him.
Possessing a consciousness with wonderful sensory power, on top of his discerning eyes, this time, Han Shuo really reaped a considerably plentiful harvest. In the afternoon, he successively obtained seven or eight exotic materials that could be mixed into the body and skeleton. It was not until dusk when the vendors began to close for the day that Han Shuo reluctantly left the area.
Tomorrow, the action sale would officially begin. Compared to goods sold at those booths, the auction sale that went on three day in a row were the real deal. The items exhibited at the auction sale were, every last one of them, precious treasures that had been authenticated. Some invaluable and unique treasures would also make appearances rather frequently.
After returning to the small hotel where he currently stayed, Han Shuo closed the door, laid out a soundproofing and an early warning magical formation. He then took out the Soul Depository Ring and began communicating with Gilbert’s soul.
Throughout the past several days, Han Shuo had become accustomed to talking nonsense with Gilbert. Inside the Soul Depository Ring, dark dragon Gilbert was extremely bored. All day long he would worry if his new physical body would cause him to lose certain capabilities and appetite for males. Even with Han Shuo assuring him in every way possible, his concerns remained undiminished.
Gilbert’s physical body had been destroyed. But even with just his soul left, those vile practices of dark dragons nevertheless remained deeply-rooted. It seemed that as long as his soul didn’t perish, dark dragon Gilbert’s nature was unlikely to change much.
Don’t worry, I will look for the rarest and most precious materials, with your original skeleton as the foundation, and a human body structure as the standard, reconstruct you a body to your satisfaction. This body will be even mightier than the body of dark dragons, and possesses unlimited possibilities in evolving. Those desires and sexual ability you so worried about will only get stronger, and you definitely will not turn into a court eunuch,
Han Shuo got a headache from Gilbert’s clamoring and had to again reassure him.
That truly is fantastic. Luckily I did not choose bone dragon. A dragon with only bones but without that organ, that would rid me a lot of pleasure!
dark dragon Gilbert was churning inside the Soul Depository Ring as he shouted in excitement.
Alright. You better behave yourself. Thoroughly comprehend those memories I gave you. It is a martial skill to make your soul even stronger. You better spend more effort on that,
Han Shuo exhorted.
There were all kinds of secret martial techniques in the school of demonic arts. There were even secret techniques that specifically tempered one’s soul. As long as dark dragon Gilbert cultivated in accordance to that secret technique, his soul would grow stronger and stronger. When he attained a certain amount of strength, he could appear in front of Han Shuo without using the Soul Depository Ring. Moreover, his soul would not gradually dissipate between heaven and earth as time passed.
Certain malicious spirits in the world, under some extraordinary circumstances, came to master similar techniques. It was only so that their souls didn’t disperse away with each day that passed but slowly strengthened instead. Then, up to a certain point, they could even wrest control of a human’s body, and be reborn into the world.
The technique that Han Shuo passed onto dark dragon Gilbert was precisely a technique found in demonic arts to refine ferocious spirits. Any ordinary soul, so long as they were willing to make painstaking efforts to cultivate, was capable of becoming a dreadful, ferocious spirit, and being free from the constraints of the laws of nature. Dark dragon Gilbert already possessed an exceedingly strong soul to begin with. As long as he practiced according to Han Shuo’s method, he would not need too much time before he could completely break away from the Soul Depository Ring. It would also continue to be extremely beneficial to him even after his soul had re-attached to his reforged physical body.
Master, how you know so much about this random stuff? I have never ever heard of such martial arts for cultivating the soul. How did you come to learn of these?
After cultivating for a few days, Gilbert recognized just how effective the technique was as his soul grew more and more tenacious. In the beginning, after just few minutes of talking with Han Shuo, his soul would be drained of energy. But after cultivating this technique for a few days, he could persistently talk with Han Shuo for more than an hour.
What for do you ask so much? Practice well. After some time, when you have a new body, you will know what benefits it has!
Han Shuo lectured.
Alright, alright! You are so annoying!
Gilbert replied in a petulant manner, and only then, he unwillingly stopped talking. He quieted down in the Soul Depository Ring, and slowly tempered his soul.
When Gilbert finally stopped talking, Han Shuo slowly sank into contemplation. During this period, Han Shuo did not continue to cultivate in demonic arts. Having reached Carnal Realm, Han Shuo did not deliberately compel himself to advance further into demonic arts, but let it go with the flow.
On the contrary, with regards to necromancy magic, Han Shuo did spend some effort. Of the three boundaries – fear, weakness, and aging – Han Shuo had mastered two, fear and weakness. In certain large-scale battles, these two boundaries could substantially weaken the enemy’s fighting strength, and could serve as a game-changer and situation reverser.
It was only the most mysterious and most miraculous Boundary of Aging that was truly beyond Han Shuo’s capacity for the time being. With no clue on how to set about and unable to grasp the solution, he did not continue on a wild goose chase, not squandering too much energy on studying this boundary. Rather, he spent time trying to master the last magic in the level of necromancy grand magus – the Grand Disintegrator.
This necromancy magic called Grand Disintegrator was the trademark magic of necromancers. It was also an extremely devastating magic. As the name implies, the Grand Disintegrator could disintegrate the enemy’s body. Any expert on the receiving end would split up into pieces and die in no time.
The only problem was that such terrifying magic was equally difficult to be executed. Even if successfully done, the Grand Disintegrator required a certain probability to unleash that kind of power. Even for necromancers exceedingly proficient in this magic, of five Grand Disintegrator spells released in a row, only one would be a success.
For some necromancers who did not have a deep understanding of the essence of necromancy, their probabilities were even lower. Some would only pull off one in ten shots. There were also variations to the destructive power released in the Grand Disintegrator. On the high end, the receiver could be instantly killed. On the lower end, it would only leave cuts on the opponent’s body like sharp weapons being traced across.
It was during the two previous days when Han Shuo was recuperating from his injuries that he truly figured out the magic, although he had yet to become extremely proficient in it. Now that Gilbert stopped being so wordy, Han Shuo continued on studying this trademark magic of necromancers, in addition to reckoning when he should experiment the spell on a living person.
Unwittingly, yet another night had passed. Starting early in the morning, boisterous clamoring came from outside of the hotel. Today was the first day of the auction sale. Han Shuo stopped his studying early on and hurried to the scene, hoping to obtain an even greater harvest today.
