Han Shuo never would have thought that this woman would make such a move out of the blue. She’d only said one sentence before turning to action. The broadsword made its way towards him, its fiery heat already causing some discomfort to his skin.
Snorting coldly, the Demonslayer Edge suddenly appeared in Han Shuo’s left hand. He infused it with magical yuan in the manner of the “Mystical Glacial Spellfire”, making the dark red Demonslayer Edge suddenly emanate faint amounts of frigid, purple air. The temperature indoors suddenly changed, Candice’s side was fiery hot, while Han Shuo’s was glacially cold.
Their two swords hadn’t even met when the two hot and cold blasts met each other. Clouds of white smoke billowed out, but what surprised Phoebe was that Han Shuo’s purple frosty air was different from any other ice magic she had seen before. It rather seemed like something living, and could even proceed in a twisted manner.
When Han Shuo and Candice’s swords connected, a violent force, interspersed with fighting aura, crashed into Han Shuo’s Demonslayer Edge like an iron hammer. Han Shuo bedraggedly backed up a few steps, but the fighting aura found it difficult to proceed after surging into the Demonslayer Edge. It couldn’t break through the Demonslayer Edge’s resistance to hurt Han Shuo.
It was rather Candice who suddenly cried out in shock. When the white fog dissipated and Han Shuo once more looked upon Candice, the broadsword in her hands already had a large chip in it. It looked like the Demonslayer Edge had harmed it.
Candice looked like she possessed the strength of a senior swordsman, and her strength was even more unfathomable because she also possessed fire magic. The broadsword in her hand should have been a magical sword of exceedingly high quality, one that enhanced the power of the fire magics it was imbued with. Who would’ve thought that such a good quality sword would immediately be marked by Han Shuo’s.
Just as Candice looked at the broadsword in her hand with a look of shock and anger, seemingly wanting to pursue a fight, Phoebe, standing off on the side, suddenly spoke up. “Alright Candice, Bryan’s forte isn’t his brute strength. I’ve already said his amazingness comes from his extraordinary senses.”
“He, he ruined my magical sword!” Candice first glared at Han Shuo and then complained to Phoebe.
“Silly, you were asking for it. If you don’t improve your brash temper, you’ll suffer from a lot of disadvantages in the future!” Phoebe flicked a resigned glance at Candice and tried to speak a few words out of goodwill. As her beautiful eyes looked over Han Shuo, Phoebe displayed an exceedingly interested expression. She exclaimed in astoundment, “Is this the weapon you wanted to forge? Can I have a look at it?”
“There’s nothing to see, it’s just a bit sharper than ordinary weapons!” Han Shuo put the Demonslayer Edge away without a change in expression, only smiling at Phoebe once he’d put it away.
“Huh! Grinch!” Phoebe exclaimed softly and then pointed at Candice, introducing her to Han Shuo. “This is the vice captain of the Battlefire mercenary band, Candice. She’s a friend that I’ve known for a while. Although her temper is a bit brash, she’s a nice person. Don’t mind her!”
Nodding, Han Shuo flicked a glance at Candice, smiling, “I won’t mind, but I hope she doesn’t hold a grudge, heh heh!”
“It’s just a magical sword, and it’s not completely broken. I’m not that miserly. Phoebe, you chat about your private matters, I’ll go guard the door outside. I hope that damned Grover will come to his senses.” Candice glared at Han Shuo with disdain, and then walked outside with look of heartache on her face as she looked at the broadsword in her hand.
As he watched Candice walk out of the room, Han Shuo felt that although this girl was a bit hot tempered, she wasn’t the petty, grudge-holding sort. Otherwise she wouldn’t have left so easily.
“I’ve come to purchase some rations from you, and would like to ask you to find a secluded residence for me. It doesn’t have to be big, as long as it’s guaranteed that no one will find me easily.” Han Shuo didn’t conceal anything as he looked at Phoebe, directly speaking frankly.
“No problem, how much food do you need?” Phoebe was quite decisive and didn’t hesitate at all. She agreed first, and then asked how much food was needed after.
“Roughly enough for a hundred people to weather the winter.” Han Shuo responded.
Phoebe looked at Han Shuo oddly as soon as he’d spoken. When he started to feel completely uneasy from her gaze, Phoebe asked, perplexed, “What are you going to do with enough winter rations for a hundred people? Are you planning on leaving the Empire?”
Shaking his head wryly, Han Shuo knew that she would be suspicious. He said, “Don’t think too much, I’m helping friends resolve a difficult matter. I won’t leave the Empire in the short term without getting rid of Grover first.”
“There’s no problem regarding the food, but you’ll have to give me a few days to prepare it. As for a secluded residence, I advise you to not live alone outside for the time being because Grover and the members of ‘Shadow Ghost’ have continuously viewed you as a thorn in their side. If I look for a residence for you through my means, that may enable Grover to pick up a few clues.”
“Mm, if you don’t mind, you can stay here at my place for now. This way we can help each other as well. When the threat of Grover is neutralized, I can leave this house to you and we’ll return to the Guild again, what do you think?” Phoebe thought for a moment and looked directly at Han Shuo.
Han Shuo thought carefully about Phoebe’s suggestion and felt that what she said did make some sense. However, he was less enthused about accepting the house. After all, even if the threat of Grover was eradicated, there was still a threat if an enormous killer organization like “Shadow Ghost” knew of his hiding place.
“I know what you’re worried about, so don’t worry. As long as Grover is eliminated, I have ways to ensure that ‘Shadow Ghost’ will never make trouble for us again. I’ve formally taken control of the Guild lately and am collecting evidence on Grover’s crime. Grandpa Andrew is also fully supporting me. Grandpa Andrew has even found the tracks of old thing Grover’s mistress. He’s already sent men to take the items back. I think Grover is even more frightened than us right now.” Phoebe spoke words of comfort upon seeing Han Shuo’s brow knit into a frown.
Nodding, Han Shuo said, “Then alright, I’ll stay here for the time being. I’ll leave after the threat of Grover has been removed!”
“That’s great! With you here, those damned assassins won’t be able to ambush us!” Phoebe was overjoyed to see Han Shuo agree.
Phoebe then let Fabian arrange a room for Han Shuo. Han Shuo’s room was also very spacious, with all of the daily amenities present. It was separated from Phoebe’s room by only one wall.
Han Shuo sat cross legged on the bed at night and started circulating his magical yuan, practicing magic as usual.
Han Shuo’s magical realm had now reached the molded spirit level. This level was a process that unlocked the potential of the brain. As long as he made it past this level, Han Shuo’s memory, comprehension abilities, and observation skills would all increase enormously. His mind would be much smarter than an ordinary person’s.
Except, because this level was a type of awakening the mind’s potential, it was particularly risky. One misstep could result in the mind sinking into a state of befuddlement, moving completely according to instinct. If it was serious, then the practitioner might lose their memories or have a split personality even after recovering from that state.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Han Shuo’s head was enveloped by a cloud of black light. It was like a cloud of black lightning had encircled Han Shuo’s head and was continuously releasing incredible amounts of lightning.
This status was maintained for who knew how long. Han Shuo breathed out lightly and stopped training with a sense of trepidation. After learning the horrors of the “molded spirit” realm, Han Shuo himself proceeded with all due caution. He always chose the most quiet conditions to train, and didn’t dare let any outside matters disturb him.
After he stopped training, Han Shuo saw that he was still in a good mental state and began to cautiously meditate again, wanting to increase his mental strength through meditation. Suddenly, his mind trembled with a crash and his mental strength started gathering at a speed many times faster than normal according to Han Shuo’s thoughts.
Death energy was present everywhere beneath the heavens and earth. Han Shuo could feel very clearly this time that through the use of mental strength, he could even slowly, bit by bit gather death energy. He could sense that the manner of gathering death energy was something that was completely unattainable in the normal course of casting magic.
This time’s meditation brought Han Shuo into a marvelous world. Han Shuo could clearly feel that his mental strength was increasing much faster than before. Although the benefits weren’t as large compared to when he used the “Eye of Darkness”, the mental strength gained from this type of meditation was quite pure and clean and wasn’t accompanied by pain.
When Han Shuo awoke from his meditations, he suddenly remembered that the first two levels of demonic magic emphasized training the meridians and bones of the body, but the level of “molded spirit” was completely made for training the potential of the mind. The meditation of mages were completely used to gather mental strength in the mind. They would never use it to train other parts of their body.
Judging from this, if Han Shuo’s brain potential received a high degree of improvement, then the speed in which his mind gathered mental strength would naturally greatly increase. This would then lead to unquantifiable benefits for when Han Shuo practiced his magic in the future.
“Indeed, it looks like the same evil methods of training from two different worlds can complement each other. It looks like even without the ‘Eye of Darkness’, the amount of mental strength I receive from meditating is much more than that of ordinary mages.” Han Shuo was gladdened and murmured to himself.
“Phoebe, do you like this brat?” At this moment, light sounds of conversation floated in from next door.
This house’s soundproofing was good to begin with. If it were any other person, they absolutely would’ve been unable to clearly hear the conversations from the other rooms through the wall, but Han Shuo wasn’t an ordinary person. The perverseness of the sensitivity of his ears allowed him to clearly hear the murmured conversations of the two girls in the dead of the night.
“Candice, what nonsense are you talking? Bryan’s helped me a few times, we’re just friends who fight side by side.” Phoebe had lowered her voice to the utmost and argued.
“I don’t think so, if it’s just friends who fight side by side, then how come you keep defending him and give him such high praise? I just think you treat him a bit differently, that’s all. Has something happened between you two? From my high experienced instinct as a mercenary, you absolutely treat him differently from others!” Candice’s voice was suffused with thick mistrust and seemed to speak quite professionally.
“Really, there’s nothing. We’ve been friends for so many years, would I lie to you? Oh, right, what do you think of Bryan?”
“What do you mean?”
“One word – strange! No matter his skills, the weird sword in his hand, or his background, it’s all very strange. I think this person must have a secret he’s concealing, you better be careful!”
“I’m not asking you that, I knew about that a long time ago… why would I need you to remind me? I’m asking you how is he as a person?” Phoebe’s tone was odd as she asked again.
“Huh. And you say you’re ordinary friends. I don’t see you caring this much about your other friends. His looks are okay, but he isn’t handsome or charming either. I haven’t come in contact with anything else, but according to your descriptions, he doesn’t seem like much. Petty, profit seeking, and sex-craved don’t seem like pros!”
Han Shuo heard everything they were discussing and was cursing Candice inwardly when the three original demons in a further location suddenly sensed the approach of assassins.
There were ten assassins this time, one of those in front was dressed in all black and his body was hovering in mid air. It looked like he was at least of the archmage level. Through the vision of the original demons, Han Shuo could see that Grover had also appeared in the distance. His face was gravely cautious, and the experts by his side, such as Ellis and the others, were all part of this time’s operation. It seemed that Grover was betting everything on a single cast of the dice. He was planning on making it difficult for Phoebe to escape this time.
The three original demons slowly changed their directions according to Han Shuo’s instructions. They carefully avoided the area covered by the archmage’s mental strength, and carefully felt out the strength and numbers of those coming. It was the wee hours of the morning at this moment, and the guards were in the heavily fortified northern part of the city. This needed a few minutes and was when security was most lax in the entire northern part of the city. It seemed like these people had already carefully scouted out the conditions here.
Han Shuo measured the strength on his side and he felt that the odds were stacked against him. He could no longer pay attention to Phoebe and Candice’s conversation. He rushed out of his room with the fastest possible speed, kicking the door to her room open with his foot and rushing inside with no reservations for anything whatsoever.
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