Chapter 933: Duels (1/2)
At the Pandemonium, inside a massive underground gymnasium.
Sanguis was wielding his broadsword that was bursting with blood-red radiance and fighting Bollands and Gilbert. Han Shuo was sitting on one side, quietly observing the battle.
There was a thin mist made of blood surrounding Sanguis. His skin seemed to be stained by blood and his eyes were glowing like a pair of terrifying red flames. Gilbert and Bollands were exerting themselves, pushing with their full strengths but were only barely able to resist Sanguis’ ferocious attacks.
Sanguis was born with the ‘Body of Sanguis’, an extremely rare type of body that was most suitable for cultivating Bloodgod Mantra, a subsect of Demonic Arts. Having tirelessly trained and cultivated, Sanguis had now reached an extremely profound realm in Bloodgod Mantra. Sanguis was able to easily route Gilbert and Bollands’ attacks and push them back by shooting bloody radiances from his broadsword.
Han Shuo had been silently but closely watching the battle. When Gilbert and Bollands were pushed so far back that they had no more room to retreat, Han Shuo finally intervened. He raised a hand and an enormous palm materialized out of nowhere, blocking the two sides and ceasing their battle.
“Well done, Sanguis, you have reached the most advanced level in Bloodgod Mantra,” said Han Shuo as he nodded. He then turned to the rather disappointed Bollands and advised, “Advancing in the Godslaying Devil Path requires constant bloodshed. Although you have reached the Bloodlust realm, it seems that you’re still lacking in your realm state. Bollands, there are times when you have been too calm. This will make it difficult for you to go berserk in a battle and fall into a demonic trance state. If you can get into a controlled demonic trance in every battle, your strength will manifold. You need to put more effort into this aspect.”
Bollands put away his flying sword, humbly bowed at Han Shuo, and asked, “Senior brother, how do I make myself fall into a demonic trance state during a fight?”
“You need to allow yourself to lose rationality and go wild. This usually requires provocation from your enemy. However, you can still practice entering the state by yourself, or at least close to it. Try imagining things that make you mad and imagine your opponent as the person you hate the most. And try not to think too much when fighting - just fill your mind with the desire to slaughter,” replied Han Shuo after thinking for a moment about his past experience of entering demonic trance.
“Gilbert, a major component of your demonic arts practice is in tempering the soul. The other major component is your body which I had forged in the same way that I would make a demonic weapon. Other than cultivating the energy of darkness, you must also pay attention to those two aspects.”
“I do not have relevant experience to guide you on fusing those energies. You’ll have to figure that out by yourself.” The Demonic Arts that Han Shuo cultivated was of the orthodox school which was not practiced by Sanguis, Bollands, or Gilbert.
Even though Han Shuo had two avatars cultivating the death and destruction energy, he cannot fuse it with the demonic yuan of his main body as the demonic yuan would reject those Fundamental Forces. In addition, as the power of his demonic yuan was orders of magnitude greater than that of his divine energies, fusing those energies would be extremely difficult. Han Shuo only had experience fusing two energies found in this universe but not in fusing energies from different universes.
“Master, why don’t you teach me one of those demonic arts? I noticed that Bollands and Sanguis are making progress much faster than I am by focusing their cultivation on one energy. Perhaps if I focus my cultivation on just one energy, I might make much greater improvements,” said Gilbert.
“That won’t be necessary.” Han Shuo shook his head and replied, “You are already at the early-stage highgod realm in your cultivation of the darkness energy. It would be a waste to discard that power. Besides, you are not on the wrong path, you’ve just yet to get the knack of it. Han Hao cultivates in two energies just as you do and he has been improving rapidly. Right, Han Hao will be here in a moment. You should ask him for advice later. He would have more relevant experience that would help you make breakthroughs.”
From the Pandemonium, Han Shuo could sense Han Jin and Han Tu’s souls while they were constructing Han Hao’s new underground palace. Han Shuo and Han Hao could easily sense each other’s presence from their respective bases. Therefore, Han Shuo immediately knew that Han Hao was on his way to the Pandemonium using the underground tunnel connecting their bases.
Gilbert was delighted to hear those words. He laughed out and said, “So it turns out that the little fella is also dual-cultivating! It’s been a while since I last saw him. I wonder what he is like now.”
Gilbert had known Han Hao since way back. Centuries ago, Gilbert and Han Hao had been murdering and looting unsuspecting victims with Han Shuo back in the Dark Forest of Profound Continent. He had heard a lot about Han Hao’s accomplishments and wanted to see how much Han Hao had grown in this hostile world called Elysium.
Lights of excitement suddenly flashed across Sanguis’ eyes when he heard that Han Hao would be there soon. Sanguis had long wanted to meet Han Hao and duel with him to test their strengths but he never had the opportunity. And during the recent period, Sanguis had been arduously tempering himself and made another giant leap in strength. He was in his top shape for a duel. This was the perfect opportunity that Sanguis had been waiting for. Therefore, immediately, Sanguis went to Han Shuo and requested, “Shifu, I wish to challenge Han Hao to a duel!”
“Haha, sure, go ahead. Through battles one identifies their weaknesses better. You need not restrain your power or give him any warning - just attack him right away. You can even launch a sneak attack. With me as the referee, it will be quite harmless,” agreed Han Shuo immediately. Not only did he not show the slightest concern, but he also seemed very happy about it.