They were around five hundred miles south from the Empyrean Peak. Kage and his gang had just robbed a merchant caravan and they were counting their spoils. They would howl with laughter from time to time.

Han Hao and Han Tu were underground and right under Kage. Through the tiny vibrations that travel into the ground, Han Tu could determine the precise locations of people on the surface. He could even guesstimate their number and strength.

“Brother, other than Kage, there are four highgods and sixteen midgods. They are closely gathered. Are we going to attack them soon?” asked Han Tu.

Han Hao’s Purple Demon Eye glistened on his calm face. He shook his head and replied, “No, we must not recklessly attack. We will only strike when there is an opening.”

Han Tu said nothing and continued to observe the situation on the ground.

After tracking and surveilling them for three days, Han Tu suddenly said, “There seems to be another party approaching. They have great strength and they come in a big number. I’m not sure if they are with Kage.”

“Where are they?” asked Han Hao.

“Fifty miles south from Kage and rapidly closing in,” replied Han Tu confidently after he closed his eyes and sensed for a moment.

Han Hao released a demon general and had it fly out through a separate tunnel made by Han Tu. It avoided Kage and his party before flying in the direction Han Tu indicated.

The demon generals refined by Han Hao was not as miraculous as that of the Cauldron of Myriad Demon. Therefore, Han Hao had avoided using demon generals to track Kage lest he inadvertently alerts Kage.

***

Around fifty miles from Kage, a group of experts who had concealed their auras was stealthily approaching Kage.

“Lord Polo, Kage is a follower of Salas’. Wouldn’t attacking Kage mean offending Salas?” asked Kodiak who was traveling beside Polo. He was hesitant about following his chief’s order.

Polo put on a cold, sinister smile and replied, “Salas may be powerful, but our Godhunter Alliance is even more so! The forces of our Alliance spans all Twelve Dominions. Our Supreme Leader wouldn’t be weaker than Salas. We need not worry too much about him.”

After taking a short pause, Polo smirked and continued, “Besides, no one will find out that it was us. When the time comes, we just have to decorate the scene a little and plant a few scapegoats. Salas is not omniscient. He will never suspect us.”

“You are right, my Lord!” Kodiak knew that there was nothing he could say that would change Polo’s mind once he had decided on something.

“After killing Kage, take his head and hand it to Han Hao. Tell him to consider it as a welcoming gift from me,” Polo wore a grave face as he remarked, “I really did not expect that he would actually possess such tremendous power. Even though so many forces were ganging up on them, they managed to slaughter four, five hundred people in an instant. Han Hao is a force to be reckoned with!”

“But from what I’ve heard, it wasn’t Han Hao who killed them,” replied Kodiak.

What happened outside the Omphalos that deadly evening had spread to the entire Land of Chaos like wildfire. Polo, being one of the powerhouses in the Fringe, learned of the incident in no time. He had had several meetings with Han Hao and knew that Han Hao was incredibly powerful. However, never in his wildest imagination that Han Hao would possess such tremendous power.

Polo could tell that Han Hao will be moving his forces into the Fringe sooner or later. They were both godhunters in the Godhunter Alliance and they were on good terms but Polo thought that further strengthening their friendship would greatly benefit him. He saw assassinating Kage as an opportunity to accomplish that.

“It doesn’t matter who actually killed them. What mattered is that Han Hao must have a close relationship with that being!” Polo laughed mischievously and continued, “Knowing that is enough. That Kage has been fucking unbridled and stole a ton of our businesses. I’ve wanted to end him for a long time.”

During recent times, Kage and his men had frequently trespassed upon the territories under Kodiak’s sphere of influence. It had infuriated Polo but they couldn’t touch Kage because he had Salas backing him.

Kodiak stared blankly for a moment. It suddenly hit him that perhaps this was the real reason that Polo decided to assassinate Kage. Kodiak knew the temperament of his chief well. Although Polo was incredibly patient and scheming, sometimes, he would do something relatively irrational out of rage.

It appeared that Polo had thought about killing Kage longer than one or two days. Han Hao was just the last gentle push needed for Polo to act on this plan of his.

***Back in the underground tunnel.

Han Hao’s eyes had been rolling all around under his eyelids. He suddenly opened his eyes and softly remarked, “So it is him!”

Han Tu was puzzled and he asked, “Brother, do you know the approaching party?”

Little Skeleton nodded. He was wearing a somewhat bewildered expression as though he found it baffling that someone would try so hard to win his favor. He turned to Han Tu and gravely said, “Get ready, we are going to strike soon. The approaching party is not a foe but a friend. Make sure that you do not make friendly fire.”

“Brother, you have friends in the Fringe?” Han Tu turned even more confused.

“Not exactly a friend. He is being friendly to me with an ulterior motive.” To Han Hao, there was no such thing as ‘friends’. Other than Han Shuo and the Elite Zombies, everyone is either his subordinate or his enemy. He needed no friend.

“Okay, understood. I’ll be ready in no time!” replied Han Tu excitedly.

***

“My Lord, we will be reaching our underground base soon. Lord Salas was very pleased with those ores your Lordship presented. Hehe, the Sovereign will surely be more attentive towards us!” a bald man was fawning on Kage.

The gloomy and cold looking Kage replied, “We need to use this opportunity to expand our business operation. Our size is growing fast. Soon we will be doing just big businesses!” said the ambitious Kage. He would never have expected that all his followers in his base had been decimated by Han Shuo.

“You are very right, my Lord. Right, I hearsay that Ethereal City has a new owner. Perhaps we should re-expand our trades to the City. Back then when Baum was around, he would give us some fantastic deals every year. Maybe we could start by bribing the new City Lord with something valuable,” suggested the bald guy.

“Shut up and stop giving me those nonsensical ideas of yours!” Kage coldly groaned and reprimanded, “Did you not know who made McKinley the City Lord? It was the Space Overlord who had personally paved the path of his ascension! Who the hell do you think we are? Don’t mention or even think about Ethereal City!”

After hearing the rebuke, the bald man immediately lowered his head and scowled. He could not make a sound.

“Enemy!” Kage suddenly cried out in alarm and put on his alerted face. He said, “Be careful, someone is approaching!”

Those in Kage’s party were all ferocious gods who had gone through thousands of battles. Following his warning, they started paying attention to their surroundings. They noticed that the trees around them were shaking very lightly and they heard faint rustling noises slowly moving towards them.

“Hi, Kage! Long time no see!” Polo’s voice sounded from behind a big tree before his tall and sturdy figure slowly came into appearance.

Kage frowned and in an annoyed voice, he said, “Polo, what do you mean by this? We have never meddled with each other’s businesses. What? You want to be my enemy?”

“Kage, O, Kage. Haven’t you noticed that you have been stretching your greedy hands a little too far?” said Polo in a sinister, cold smirk. He was buying time for his subordinates to get into position to surround Kage and his party.

Kage was a veteran predator himself and was aware of his trick. When he saw the flickering light in Polo’s eyes, he knew that Polo did not come here just to greet him. Kage did not bring many people with him and his strength wasn’t as valiant as Polo’s. His heart trembled because he knew that he was in deep trouble. Immediately, he shrieked, “Don’t you dare, Polo. If you touch me, Lord Salas will exterminate you and your men!”

Polo started laughing like he just heard a joke. “But how are you going to tell him that when you are fucking dead?” His laughter suddenly vanished and he commanded in a cold voice, “Kill them!”

Polo’s men who had surrounded Kage and his party suddenly started charging forward, rapidly shrinking the circle. Those fierce godhunters shrieked and made intimidating noises as they launched their attacks. They started killing in groups of three to five men. They know how to fight as a team.

“How dare you, Polo!” Kage was greatly alarmed. He did not expect that Polo would leave no room for discussion before killing his people.

“Why would I not?” Polo started laughing again. “You really think that no one can touch you just because you have Salas covering your ass? Kage, you know what kind of a person I am, and yet, you dared to be active in my territory. You should know the consequences of not respecting my boundary!” Polo’s smile turned more and more malevolent. He cried, “My brothers! Kill, kill them all! Take their divine energy!”

Polo’s subordinates were inexplicably excited and they swarmed at Kage’s party. The former had greatly outnumbered the latter by five to six times. They would strike and kill Kage’s men in just moments before starting to devour their divine energy.

Moments later, five or six of Kage’s followers were dead. When the godhunters found suitable prey, they would turn strangely excited and be even more vicious in their attacks. Kage’s men were rapidly being defeated.

“Polo, we might have some misunderstanding!” Kage’s heart trembled harder. He did not expect that Polo would have no qualms about possibly offending Sovereign Salas.

Kage only dared to intrude and conduct operations in Polo’s territory because he had the backing of this enormous figure called Salas. He tested the waters by conducting a few operations in Polo’s territory. When he saw that Polo took zero action, he assumed that Polo was afraid of his Sovereign and therefore started acting unscrupulously.

He did not expect that Polo would do absolutely nothing for so long before suddenly, with no warning, attempted to annihilate him and his gang in one sweep move. Kage was frightened.

“Oh? Now you are afraid? Hehe, sorry, but that’s too late. I cannot let you live. If I let you walk away and you complain to Salas, it’s gonna be troublesome for me!” Polo laughed grimly and started charging forward to kill Kage.

“Polo, don’t you touch him. He is mine,” suddenly, a calm, monotonous voice sounded from the underground. Han Hao’s figure bizarrely appeared on the battlefield and he pointed the bone spear in his hand at Kage.