As soon as Han Hao left the region, he turned himself into a shadow and concealed the terrifying aura of his body. He deliberately moved towards populated and crowded regions, mixing his aura with gods who were cultivating in gymnasiums. This would confuse Baum’s senses and make it very difficult to lock onto Han Hao’s precise location.

Baum carefully sensed for Han Hao’s aura and when he found something, he would instantly teleport to the location through his command over the energy of space. However, he would always fail to get Han Hao.

After doing so several times, Baum noticed that he was getting closer and closer to the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy. To avoid Han Shuo’s suspicion, Baum decisively gave up on pursuing Han Hao and retreated.

*** At the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy in Ethereal City.

Upon returning, Han Shuo noticed that there were bodies lying all around the shop and Han Huo and Han Tu were examining the bodies while muttering something. He was shocked when he saw the body of that highgod whose cranium had been punctured. Han Shuo moved like a shadow and appeared beside Han Huo and Han Tu.

“What happened? Was there a highgod?” asked Han Shuo as he leaned over to examine the body.

“Two highgods. One early-stage and one mid-stage. Even Rose can’t stop them!” explained Han Tu.

Han Shuo’s face jolted and he looked at Han Huo and Han Tu with astonished eyes. He asked in a confused tone, “How did this one die? The mid-stage one should be busy fighting Rose. And the early-stage one, he shouldn’t be one that you two can fight, right?” No one understood Han Tu and Han Huo’s strengths better than Han Shuo. Although the two had a great understanding of the energy of earth and fire, the realm they were at limited their firepower. Therefore, logically speaking, they should not be able to fight a highgod.

“Our eldest brother killed him!” Han Huo said excitedly, “After such a long time, our eldest brother has become so powerful that he killed this early-stage highgod in just a moment! This cunt couldn’t even fight back! Haha! Father, elder brother is now pursuing the other highgod. I reckon he will be back soon!”

“What? He killed this highgod in a moment?” cried Han Shuo in surprise.

In Han Shuo’s mind, Little Skeleton was still that small and thin little kid. He did not expect Little Skeleton to grow so powerful in just several decades. The fact that Little Skeleton could kill an early-stage highgod in a moment meant that he was at least one realm above the raider.

Back then when Han Shuo separated with Little Skeleton, they possessed only lowgod strengths. To become more powerful than an early-stage highgod meant that his strength had been improving at around the same rate as Han Shuo’s.

For all these while, Han Shuo had assumed that the Five Elite Zombies would grow faster than Little Skeleton as the Five were born from the Places of Extreme Yuan and they had obtained the Five Elemental Yuan Treasures. Having all those innate advantages, it was only reasonable that the Five Elite Zombies would be stronger than Little Skeleton.

But unexpectedly, not only that Little Skeleton wasn’t weaker than the Five Elite Zombies, he had been leading far ahead in strength. Moreover, this gap in strength seemed to be growing wider.

“Father, these raiders came soon after you left. I think that fella who asked to meet you is involved!” said Han Tu. He wanted to inform Han Shuo of his suspicions as soon as possible.

“Tell me what happened in detail,” Han Shuo took a deep breath to temporarily cast aside his excitement about Han Hao and started focusing on the matter at hand.

After Han Tu and Han Huo narrated the entire incident once through, Han Shuo’s suspicions over Baum grew even greater. It was also at this moment that the demon general that had been surveilling Baum detected an intense spacetime fluctuation from the gymnasium Baum used for meditation.

Han Shuo was astonished. He immediately commanded the demon general to get closer to the gymnasium and sensed for a moment. Through the demon general, Han Shuo discovered that Baum had disappeared from the manor house. As the demon general could not tear apart spacetime to pursue Baum, Han Shuo could not know where Baum went and who he met.

Han Shuo replayed Han Tu and Han Huo’s narration in his head and connected it with Baum’s unusual movement right now. His suspicion over Baum grew ever stronger. But as he had temporarily lost track of Baum, Han Shuo knew only half of the picture.

At this moment, Rose who heard Han Shuo’s voice came out from the gymnasium she lived in. She walked to Han Shuo and gave him some more details of the story. She then remarked, “That kid of yours is very powerful. He is now pursuing the raider. I think he might be able to discover something. I do not know any of the faces of those who have died here. I wonder which forces they were from.”

“Thank you for protecting my children!” Han Shuo said to Rose sincerely. He was touched that Rose put her life on the line to give Han Tu and Han Huo an opportunity to escape.

“You are my master. It is my duty to obey your orders!” Although Rose still wore the same emotionless face on the outside, she was secretly delighted to hear that from Han Shuo.

“Father, this woman has pretty decent strength and is much more powerful than your other women. Not only that, she is even very docile to you. Hehe, why don’t you... “ Han Huo took a glance at Rose before he softly suggested to Han Shuo in a mischievous smirk.

Although Han Huo had lowered his voice as much as possible, Rose was standing just a few steps away. As a highgod, there was no way that she did not hear those words of Han Huo’s.

A light glistened from her eyes when she heard Han Huo’s suggestion. Although she looked as though she didn’t care what Han Huo said, her hands, however, were grasping each other very tightly out of nervousness.

“Don’t say that!” Han Shuo frowned at Han Huo and chided in a low voice, “Our relationship isn’t what you imagined. We are just friends. After a hundred years, she will be free to go. You better cut saying this kind of nonsense from now on!”

The serious response from Han Shuo did not frighten Han Huo. Instead, Han Huo continued to smirk mischievously as his gazes went back and forth between Han Shuo and Rose.

Rose felt a mixed array of emotions when he heard Han Shuo’s response. She felt both glad and disappointed to hear that Han Shuo considered her a friend – glad that Han Shuo did not consider her as a slave but a friend, and disappointed that Han Shuo had thought of her as just a friend instead of something more than friends. She did not know if she should be happy or sad about it.

Han Tu, Han Huo, Rose, and Han Shuo discussed the incident for a while. Then, at the first light of dawn, Han Shuo suddenly turned delighted and looked towards a misty and dark street.

A teenager wearing an emotionless face silently appeared. When he saw the pleasantly surprised Han Shuo, happiness, a rare sight, was seen on his face.

“Father,” greeted Han Hao cordially after he came to Han Shuo.

“Haha, great to see you again, Son!” Of all his kids, Little Skeleton was the closest to Han Shuo. Back then in the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force, when Han Shuo was a nobody, it was Little Skeleton who had been doing the menial cleaning work for him. Seeing Little Skeleton again at dawn reminded Han Shuo of those times. He could still vividly recall the scene of a tiny little skeleton stealthily hauling two bags of trash to the dumping site.

This bond between them might be even deeper than any of the relationships Han Shuo had with his women. Han Shuo could not be more proud to see that Little Skeleton has grown into a handsome youngster that looked somewhat like himself.

“I couldn’t kill that fella. Baum the City Lord suddenly appeared and I had to leave. Otherwise, if he caught up to me, it would be very troublesome,” said Han Hao in a very gentle tone, as though he was somewhat embarrassed and afraid that Han Shuo might reprimand him for not having completed the task well. Perhaps Han Shuo was the only person in the world that could make him reveal that emotion.

“Let’s talk inside,” said Han Shuo smilingly as a flying sword flew out and tipped on all of the bodies. While the bodies were liquifying, Han Shuo and the others walked into one of the buildings in Celestial Pearl Pharmacy.

With Han Tu around to help, many underground secret chambers were built in this Celestial Pearl branch. That building they entered had a secret entrance to the secret chambers. They descended several hundred meters underground to a clean and neat secret chamber.

After hearing from Little Skeleton, or Han Hao, Han Shuo finally knew where Baum had gone. As the City Lord of Ethereal City, Baum could detect battles between powerful highgods within the City through the energy towers strategically located all around the City. With his command over the edict of space, Baum could get himself to the battlefield in an instant.

Baum did not go to interrupt the battle in Celestial Pearl Pharmacy but had instantly rushed to the forest of stones where Han Hao fought the raider. Having known that, it became impossible for Han Shuo not to find Baum suspicious.

“Father, Baum actually has connections with our kind of people and have been supplying us with all kinds of goods. In fact, he is one of the leading figures among us!” Han Hao said to Han Shuo immediately after they entered the secret chamber.

Han Shuo stared blankly for a moment and asked puzzlingly, “Your kind of people? What do you mean?”

“Godhunters, that’s what we are commonly called,” explained Han Hao. After taking a short, while looking at Han Shuo, he explained, “After our separation, I went to the Death Dominion. Soon after stepping into the Death Dominion, I was hunted by a godhunter who was slightly stronger than I was. It took me a great deal of planning and effort to defeat him. From him, I learned everything about godhunters and the methods of consuming another person’s divine energy. And so I devoured his divine energy. I immediately sensed the growth in my divine energy... “

From Han Hao’s narration, Han Shuo learned that soon after they separated, he came across a godhunter. That unlucky godhunter had led to Han Hao becoming a leading figure in the field of godhunting. After taking the divine energy from the godhunter, Han Hao had been venturing everywhere, looking for other cultivators of the energy of death to improve his strength.

More than a few hundred experts died to Little Skeleton within a short few decades and his fame soared among the godhunting community. Many fierce and ruthless godhunters volunteered to be his henchmen. Having been used to raising an army in the Netherworld, Little Skeleton knew exactly how to control the bunch of ruthless and fierce gods.

With that, the godhunter faction led by Little Skeleton gradually grew stronger and stronger. The cruel and savage Han Hao with formidable strength had obtained the trust of his followers. Not only that Little Skeleton had managed to raise his strength to highgodhood within a short time, his followers who originally had puny strength also rapidly improved along. They became a faction of godhunters that everyone in the Death Dominion feared.

Then, later in time, some of the leaders of the Godhunter Alliance went to him and invited him to join the Alliance. As to better expand his power and influence, Little Skeleton accepted the invitation. He had become an important leadership figure in the Alliance and his influence in the party was still continuing to grow.

Being one of the leading figures of the Godhunter Alliance, Little Skeleton had the qualifications to know some of their inner secrets. Little Skeleton had made relevant inquiries before coming to the Space Dominion and learned about Baum’s cooperation with several leadership figures of the godhunters. He had never met Baum before and he did not want Baum to learn about his presence in the City. Therefore, Little Skeleton ran and avoided him as soon as Baum came.

“You little joker, I didn’t expect that you have actually become a godhunter!” After listening to Little Skeleton narrating the whole sequence of events, Han Shuo finally understood why his strength was so much greater than the Elite Zombies. As Han Shuo himself was half a godhunter and as Little Skeleton was a living being that he had brought into existence, he definitely wouldn’t have any ideas just because Little Skeleton became a godhunter. After taking a short pause, Han Shuo asked, “Oh ya, godhunters have an almost uncontrollable craving to devour divine energy. Did you manage to overcome the corruption?”

Under Han Shuo’s attentive gazes, Han Hao nodded his head in a natural manner. However he seemed rather confused, “Actually, I have wanted to ask Father about it. Why is it that my followers would get uncomfortable head to toe if they have not devoured divine energy every once in a while, but I have never felt this way?”

“You have never felt the corruption?” Han Shuo was flabbergasted. Back then, after the first time Han Shuo devoured another person’s divine energy, he had to take a period of time and a great deal of willpower to overcome the addiction. But Han Hao had never felt it. How was that possible?

“Yea, ever since the start, I’ve not felt anything different. To me, it’s just about improving my strength. I can immediately withdraw if I feel that an opponent is too strong and could cause me harm. I don’t feel any urges even if I don’t devour any divine energy for years,” explained Han Hao.

Han Shuo was amazed. He thought about it for a moment as he looked at Han Hao up and down before replying, “Perhaps it had something to do with the unique circumstances surrounding your creation. Oh, right, are you cultivating in demonic arts? I sense demon generals in the bone spurs at your back. You refined them?”

“I have started cultivating demonic arts ever since I obtained the memories from Father. Other than demon generals, I also know how to refine demonic weapons! Look at this bone spear, it’s one of the things I’ve refined. Yeah, and my new body – the skin, flesh, and veins – I’ve made them myself!” Little Skeleton nodded and excitedly showed off his accomplishments to Han Shuo.

Han Shuo was stunned. He finally knew why Little Skeleton would be stronger than the Five Elite Zombies, Gilbert, and Bollands – it’s thanks to the cultivation knowledge he had accidentally passed to Little Skeleton!