GDK 832: An unexpected pleasant surprise

Han Shuo had hired a capable and trustable manager to manage his Celestial Pearl branch in Ethereal City. Han Shuo believed that McKinley, new City Lord of Ethereal City, will look after his pharmacy in the City while he was away. He also doubted that there will be an issue with Metal Elite Zombie’s Goldstone Trading Enterprise.

With everything prepared, Han Shuo, with Han Hao, Rose, and the Five Elite Zombies, left Ethereal City and headed for the Fringe – the Land of Chaos.

After Han Hao learned about Metal Elite Zombie getting injured, he asked him for a detailed recount of the raid. However, Han Hao also had no idea who the attacker was.

It turned out that although Han Hao knew the leaders of godhunter factions in the Fringe, just like Han Shuo, he didn’t know much about the Fringe either. After all, godhunters weren’t the only power that dwelled in the Fringe. The most powerful and wicked experts that the Elysium could offer were living there.

Han Shuo and his party possessed decent strength. Han Shuo, Han Hao, and Rose were highgod while the Five Elite Zombies all possessed miraculous abilities. With that, they were able to travel fast. It took them just a few days to make some significant distance from Ethereal City.

Few days after they began their journey, Han Shuo and the party arrived at the fort where Han Mu and Han Shui were previously surrounded. The gods in the fort seemed shocked by Han Mu’s reappearance. Their gazes towards Han Mu were filled with caution and wariness, as though afraid that Han Mu might do something malicious to them or their loved ones.

“The fuck you look at me for? You wouldn’t have to worry about me if you’d spend as much attention on your girlfriends!” Han Mu couldn’t help but curse when he saw that all those on the streets were looking at him nervously.

Han Shuo couldn’t help himself but laugh. He previously thought that Han Mu wasn’t that influential of a person. But Han Shuo now realized he was wrong. He was very amazed that all those gods who had girlfriends or wives seemed so afraid of Han Mu. He softly asked, “You little brat, it seems that you have made yourself a lot of enemies, haven’t you?”

“Hehe, they are just being overly cautious,” said Han Mu in a smirk. Then, he turned to Han Shui and said, “Little Water, what are you worrying about? With Father and Elder Brother here, no one will be stupid enough to try to catch me. They wouldn’t throw their lives away!”

“All those ladies you slept with are nutcases. If they decided to come after you without any regard for their lives, are you really going to kill them?” rebuked Han Shui impolitely after he glared at Han Mu.

Han Mu stared blankly for a moment after hearing those words. He thought for a moment and immediately came to his senses. Han Mu put on a grimace and said to Han Shuo, “Father, I think we should rush. What Little Water said made sense. Those crazy bitches might really come after me without regard for their own lives and I don’t think I would kill them. We should avoid them or it’ll get really troublesome!”

Han Shuo was stunned. He thought that this little scoundrel of his really knew how to make trouble for himself. But in any case, with almost every god in the fort looking at them strangely, Han Shuo did not want to stay in the fort for long either. He agreed to Han Mu and they hastily left the fort.

Soon after Han Shuo and his party left the fort, four ladies arrived at the area where Han Mu traveled through. They were of different ages but all of them looked extraordinarily beautiful. They looked all around while loudly crying for Han Mu. And, of course, they cursed him for being cruel and heartless.

Shortly after, the four ladies noticed each other. They started a four-way mouth fight shamelessly in the public, insulting and swearing at each other. But when they learned that Han Mu had just left the fort, they immediately stopped humiliating themselves and flew in the direction that Han Shuo and Han Mu left.

“What the fuck, kid, just how many loose ends do you have?!” Han Shuo put on a grimace after hearing the high-pitch cries coming from the fort. He then said to the party, “Let’s move a little faster lest they catch up!”

“Hurry up, hurry up!” hastened Han Mu. He flew at the front of the party as though he was very afraid of getting caught.

....

After they were some distance from the fort, Han Hao went to the front to lead the party. They flew through many vast forests rapidly. After two days, Han Hao suddenly stopped at an enormous waterfall. A constant torrent of water poured over a rocky ledge and roared straight down into a deep pool far below. The water was then led away through many small meandering streams.

Han Shui let out a soft cry upon seeing the waterfall. He turned into a blurry white shadow and shot into the waterfall as though a fish that was jumping into the sea.

As a cultivator of the water energy, Han Shui would feel uncomfortable from head to toe if he doesn’t surround himself with water every once in a while. As it wasn’t easy to come across such a clean and refreshing waterfall, there was no way that he won’t jump in for a relaxing bath.

Han Tu and Han Huo didn’t like water. They stood on a tree near the waterfall and gazed down at them. Rose, Han Mu, and Han Jin went to the smooth walls of the waterfall, reached out with their hands to get some water and cleaned their faces.

After leading the party to this waterfall, Han Hao said to Han Shuo, “Father, my gang is over here. I’ll go talk to them.”

“Ok,” replied Han Shuo as he nodded.

Han Hao turned into a trail of light, flew through the falling water, and landed in the dark cave behind the waterfall. The few godhunters who had been gazing at Han Mu, Han Shui, and the others like a tiger stalking its prey immediately came forward. That fierce-looking scar-faced man asked, “Is it you, Chief?”

Han Hao did not reply but released the sinister aura from his body to state his identity. As soon as the godhunter sensed the sinister energy that filled the caves, he bowed and delightedly said, “Chief! It is you!” Then, a group of sinister-looking godhunters started exiting from the winding caves and gathered before Han Hao.

“Chief, did you purposely lead those people to this waterfall? Do you want to kill them?” As they did not know Han Hao’s relationship with Han Shuo and the others, and as Han Hao had previously used similar strategies to kill his pursuers and enemies, his henchmen assumed that Han Hao had the same intention as before.

Ever since they started serving Han Hao, they had never seen Han Hao met with any friends or families nor had they ever seen Han Hao being friendly to any person. In their minds, Han Hao was a totally callous and emotionless machine – a true heartless villain. Therefore, it was only natural that they would assume that Han Shuo and the others were Han Hao’s prey.

“They are not prey! They are friends!” replied Han Hao, surprising his followers. He pointed at Han Shuo and the others and instructed, “Remember their faces. You will not attack them no matter in any circumstances. Understood?”

These godhunters had never before received any instructions remotely similar to this, or with such gravity. They were all startled and it took them a while to come to their senses. They repeatedly nodded and indicated that they will obey the command while wondering Han Shuo’s and other’s identities.

“You bunch are no match against them anyway,” Han Hao coldly groaned and said, “If someday you bumped into them and they wanted to kill you, just tell them that you work for me.” After taking a short pause, Han Hao instructed, “Now, you will all return to the Death Dominion and bring the others to the Fringe. We won’t haunt the Death Dominion anymore. We are going to the Land of Chaos.”

“That’s wonderful, Chief! Haha, a place like the Fringe is where we truly belong, and we have long wanted to go there! In that Land, we can walk around openly. No one is going to scoff at us just because we are godhunters. Chief, are we going to stay there for the long term?” the malevolent and bulky man seemed overjoyed.

Godhunters were specifically targeted and hunted by almost every power living in the Twelve Dominions. The Fringe, however, due to its unique geographical location, was not within the jurisdiction of any Overgods. Besides, as most who live in the Fringe were the most depraved of criminals from all over the Elysium, godhunters weren’t that big of a deal for the society there. No one would bother eradicating them just because they were godhunters.

In fact, they could live pretty much like a normal person in the Fringe and can engage in various businesses openly. For most godhunters and criminals who found it too troublesome to get by in the Divine Dominions, the Land of Chaos was a five-star resort that could refuge them. They can live there comfortably without worrying about getting hunted down by divine guards.

But, there was one prerequisite – they need to be strong enough to survive in the Fringe!

As the Fringe was not ruled by any of the Twelve Overgods, no divine guards would be there to enforce any laws. It was filled with so many fierce and powerful experts that without sufficient strength, one might lose their life right after stepping into the Fringe!

“That’s right. We will be living in the Fringe,” replied Han Hao noddingly before he said, “Get going already and don’t get tarried along your journey. Go back to the Death Dominion and bring the rest of our people over. When you have reached the Fringe, just look for Polo to get hold of me.”

“We will do as you bid, Chief,” the bulky scar-faced man bowed, led the group of godhunters back into the cave, and left through an exit away from the waterfall. Before they left, they would each take a good look at Han Shuo and the others to firmly remember their faces.

After having done instructing his followers, Han Hao walked out from the waterfall and back to Han Shuo’s side. Han Shuo smilingly remarked, “Not bad at all. They all seemed callous, calm, and experienced. They even know how to cooperate when traveling around the caves. It seems that they have been very well trained!” Han Shuo had observed everything that happened behind the waterfall through his demon generals.

“Inside the memory that Father left me are some demonic battle formation for team coordination. I have used it on them. With that, they are more united than an average godhunter group and can fight better as a team,” replied Little Skeleton.

Han Shuo nodded with a smile on his face and he praised, “Very well done!” The fact that Han Hao could accomplish this merely with his memory of demonic arts was yet another evidence that he had truly inherited Han Shuo’s understanding of demonic arts. After taking a short pause, Han Shuo asked, “You said that you have more followers in the Death Dominion. How many do you have, altogether?” Han Shuo was very interested to know just how many godhunters Little Skeleton had managed to recruit in the past fifty years.

“Three Companies, which is around three hundred people. They were all personally trained by me and know how to fight cooperatively. They are much stronger than the divine guards of an average city!” replied Little Skeleton proudly.

Han Shuo was elated by that information. He thought, <i>Little Skeleton is such a bringer of pleasant surprises!</i>

Every one of the godhunters possessed extraordinary strength and was cruel in character. In addition, they know how to fight effectively using demonic combat formations. These troops might even be slightly stronger those divine guards Han Shuo trained using the Eight Desolation and Torment Formation. And on top of that, they were three-hundred gods strong! Han Shuo thought that there could not be a better surprise than this.