Chapter 815: Stirling up troubles (2/2)

Han Shuo smirked and replied, “I had a fight with Baum and after that, he made me his honored guest.”

“You… You what?” the transmission from McKinley was disjointed, a telltale sign that he was very astonished. After taking a while to calm himself down, McKinley hastily asked, “How could you possibly fight Baum with what strength you have? Bryan, you are joking with me, aren’t you?”

It was not surprising that McKinley would be so astounded. Back then, when they first met on the Profound Continent, McKinley had indirectly fought with Han Shuo and knew his strength. As a cultivator of the edict of space, McKinley remained sensitive to the passing of time even when he was trapped in the Holy Grail. He knew that not even a century had passed since their first encounter.

A hundred years may be a long time for an average human being. But for highgods like McKinley who was almost ageless, it wasn’t all that long. In all his life, McKinley had never heard of any being who had ascended from lowgodhood to highgodhood in less than a hundred years. To him, such a rate of progress was simply unimaginable!

“I really fought Baum. The results… erm… you can say that we are evenly matched,” hearing that the message coming from McKinley was fragmented, Han Shuo dared not drop any more bombshells and therefore did not mention that Baum had initiated peace talking out of fear.

After keeping silent for a long long while, McKinley again asked, “Bryan, are you really not joking?”

“Not joking at all.” Han Shuo then started giving McKinley a simplified depiction of his fight against Baum. He made sure to mention the unique features of Baum’s space edict shields and barriers.

And again, McKinley stayed silent for a long while. When he was transmitting again, his tone turned much more excited, “I believe you. If you have not fought Baum, there is no way you could describe his spacetime barriers so accurately. But how? How did you turn so strong? Gosh, this is unbelievable!”

After talking incoherently for a while, McKinley said, “Bryan, it seems that my greatest chance of regaining freedom is through you. Please, if you can locate my body, you will have my eternal gratitude!”

“Alright, I will try. But for now, you should just stay in the Grail with your mind at ease!” Han Shuo knew that McKinley needed time to calm down from the bombshell he just dropped and so he took the initiative to cut off communication.

Although Han Shuo learned of the conflict between McKinley and Baum, it doesn’t affect the current cooperation he had with Baum. Han Shuo was a man who knows when to take freebies and when not to. At the same time, Han Shuo started weighing the risk of locating McKinley’s body and helping him overthrow Baum, against the potential rewards.

With one thought, a high-level demon general flew out from his body. Han Shuo decided to keep Baum under his surveillance for some time before doing anything. Han Shuo had become vigilant of Baum after hearing McKinley’s story and thought of Baum to be a treacherous wolf in sheep’s clothing. He also started suspecting that Baum must be having some other intentions behind helping him establish his business in this city and offering him such great treatment.

***

Five days went by like the blink of an eye. The demon general that had been constantly surveilling Baum from a safe distance did not discover any unusual activity. For all five days, Baum had been busy helping Han Shuo with his new Celestial Pearl branch. Not only that he had ordered men to clean the shop thoroughly, he published an announcement stating that Celestial Pearl Pharmacy will set up a branch in Ethereal City and that those who were interested to work as shop assistants and pharmacists may look for Han Shuo at the City Lord’s manor house.

Although it appeared as though Baum was sincerely helping Han Shuo, Han Shuo remained wary of Baum. In fact, the more helpful and charitable Baum was, the more that Han Shuo felt something was fishy. He made sure that Baum was always under the surveillance of his demon general.

The spirit demon made using highgod soul was extraordinary in their stealth capabilities. Having had a spar with Baum, Han Shuo knew just how formidable his strength was. The demon general would always be at a safe distance of more than several hundred meters away. And when Baum steps into regions with space edict boundaries, the demon general would stay even further away, lest Baum discover it.

Ethereal City was indeed filled with talents. Soon after Baum sent out the announcement, a large crowd showed up at the City Lord’s manor house. It surprised Han Shuo just how many people turned up and that many of them were true masters of their field.

Han Shuo personally selected the workers for his new branch and he interviewed them in the manor house. Han Shuo’s consciousness and observation skills were so mighty and outstanding that average lowgods and midgods cannot lie to him. He could immediately tell if someone was lying just by sensing their mind with his consciousness. Only those with no ulterior motives and has real talent could get through the interview.

One day, while Han Shuo was in the middle of one of those interviews, an Ethereal City divine guard hastily went to Han Shuo and said, “Mister Bryan, someone who claimed to be your son is having a serious quarrel in the west of the city. He called himself Han Huo. Would you like to go there and have a look?”

Han Shuo stared blankly for a moment before he immediately came to his senses. He laughed and replied, “What’s the matter with these kids, just can’t stop stirling up troubles wherever they go! Alright, I’ll go take a look!”