GDK 679: This is my son!
After exiting his cave, Han Shuo went to the cave where Akley was restoring his divine energy. Although Akley now appeared much better compared to a few days before, it was impossible for him to completely recover within the span of a few days.
Akley immediately awoke as soon as Han Shuo arrived. He opened his eyes, adjusted himself, and did a little stretching before standing up and asking, “What’s up?”
“How are you doing? How are your injuries?” Han Shuo asked.
“It would take years to fully recover. Of course, if we find the divine essence mine, that will be a whole nother story!” Akley sighed and forced a smile.
“Don’t worry, as long as the divine essence mine is inside the mountain range, we will be able to locate it,” Han Shuo said, full of confidence.
“Even I do not have such enormous confidence. Where is this coming from?” Akley asked with a smile.
“I found a good friend. With his assistance, as long as the divine essence mine is in the mountain range, we will find it without a doubt!” Han Shuo was very confident because he had trust in earth elite zombie and metal elite zombie’s abilities. It was also at this moment that Han Shuo realized that he no longer needed Akley. Having grasped the general location, that divine essence mine would be a sure gain for Han Shuo.
“What? You have brought in another person? What friend would you have on this material plane?” Akley was shocked. He appeared very worried and looked all around vigilantly before he said, “Why did you not seek my approval before you made that reckless decision? Dodn’t you know what those divine essences signify? If that friend of yours has other thoughts, we will all be finished! Your actions are preposterous!”
“Don’t worry, he will not. Besides, we will still divide the spoils as per the original agreement. I will share my portion of the spoils with my friend, so you don’t have to worry about your share being diluted!” Naturally, earth elite zombie and metal elite zombie will not demand the rewards from Han Shuo. There will be no dilution to their shares.
“The issue now isn’t how we will divide the spoils; that friend of yours could very possibly ruin everything! Where is he anyway?” Akley was very anxious and was exasperated that Han Shuo had made the decision without consulting him.
Han Shuo smiled, gently stomped on the ground, and said, “Come out!” Right then, the naive looking earth elite zombie emerged from the ground.
“He, he cultivates in the elemental energy of earth!” Akley cried out in surprise yet again. He pointed at Han Shuo and shouted, “Are you insane? How could you trust this person? I thought he would at least cultivate in either the energy of death, destruction, or darkness. Perhaps then there might be a possibility of partnership. One that cultivates in the energy of earth obviously cannot be part of our gang. How could you be so silly?”
After absorbing the divine soul and divine energy of the Primordius Dragon, earth elite zombie gave off an obvious earth element aura. Through the connection between their souls, Han Shuo sensed that earth elite zombie’s divine soul was slowly taking shape. Even the extreme treasure of earth attribute, Earthsoul Pearl, had fused with his soul. It appeared that it wouldn’t be long before earth elite zombie completely supplanted the Primordius Dragon and became a god of earth element himself.
Akley had displayed obvious hostility towards earth elite zombie. All five elite zombies possessed acute senses and earth elite zombie returned the hostile gazes to Akley. He transmitted to Han Shuo, “Father, he wants to kill me. Should we attack him?”
“No, it’s okay. Just give me a moment,” Han Shuo placated earth elite zombie. He suddenly put on a stern face and said to Akley, “Look, you just have to set your mind at ease and stay here calmly while my friend finishes the rest of the business – put off the discussion until you see the divine essences. Take it easy for now. Soon you will see just how right my decision is.”
“He is just a god cultivating in the elemental energy of earth. How can he settle everything alone all by himself? You must understand that everyone in the mountain range serves the Calamity Overgods. Once those people discover that an outsider, one that doesn’t cultivate in the energy of death, destruction, or darkness, has trespassed on their land, they will finish him off immediately with no questions asked. What makes you think that he can evade the senses and detection of those people?” Akley said to Han Shuo as though he was explaining to a fool. He continued in a furious voice, “Prior to this, I actually thought that you were quite smart. How is it that you have suddenly turned into such an idiot at this moment!”
“I understand your concerns! But you don’t have to worry, I would never do such a thing without complete certainty of the outcome! Also, there is no action required on your part other than to wait right here with me. Just wait and watch the divine essence mine come to us!” Han Shuo explained. After finishing those words, he instructed earth elite zombie smilingly, “Proceed!”
“How, how dare you talk to my father so rudely! If it wasn’t for my father’s command, I, I will kill you!” out of Han Shuo’s expectations, earth elite zombie, who had always communicated by transmitting thoughts, glared fiercely at Akley and spoke the threatening words.
Han Shuo was instantly stunned when earth elite zombie uttered those words. He never imagined that there would come a day that earth elite zombie could truly speak, much less in such a threatening tone!
Akley too was dumbfounded. His face was filled with astonishment as he gazed foolishly at earth elite zombie. After a long while, he turned to Han Shuo and looked up and down at him with strange gazes before asking, “He’s… He’s your son?”
“That’s right. This is my son!” Han Shuo replied in an indifferent tone. Then, instead of transmitting instructions with his soul, he said to earth elite zombie with his mouth, “Enough of these angry words. Hurry up and go!”
“Understood, father!” earth elite zombie smiled naively at Han Shuo, turned to shoot a glare at Akley, and sank deep into the ground again. He reunited with metal elite zombie waiting underground and together, they advanced towards the Demon Mountain.
He, he can speak! He’s talking with his mouth instead of transmitting messages with his soul. This, this is just too… Han Shuo went on mumbling to himself. He was both astounded and overjoyed to hear earth elite zombie speak.
“The few of them are now an entirely new type of lifeform. Although they are different from humans, undeniably, they possess advanced intelligence! If they continue to grow at this rate, these kids will sure go places!” Cauldron Spirit transmitted to Han Shuo’s consciousness.
“Yes, that’s true. They have indeed become a new type of life. I can sense it!” Han Shuo replied to the Cauldron Spirit. He became prouder and prouder of his decision to refine the five elite zombies back in those years. With Little Skeleton and the five elite zombies just a summoning spell away, although Han Shuo came to Elysium by himself, he did not feel lonely.
“You, you never cease to baffle me!” Akley exclaimed and asked Han Shuo puzzlingly, “You cultivate in the elemental energy of death. Why is it that you let your son cultivate in the elemental energy of earth? Don’t you understand that in the future, you two might become enemies?”
“My son will never betray me. I’m a hundred percent certain of it!” although the five elite zombies were not truly Han Shuo’s kids, the bond between them was closer than that of actual father and sons. His confidence was not unfounded.
Akley lowered and shook his head. He sighed, “Forget about it. I don’t think I will ever come close to understanding your ways. But since he is your son, I think there is still room for discussion about this matter. At least he likely will not think of selling us out.”
By this point in time, Han Shuo was no longer concerned about what Akley had to say. With the help of a mystical demon following earth elite zombie and metal elite zombie, Han Shuo could observe their situation remotely.
With earth elite zombie paving the way, the duo traveling deep under the ground advanced towards the Demon Mountain. As they had carefully concealed the aura on their bodies and they were very far beneath the surface, Han Shuo believed that those living in the mountain range wouldn’t detect their presences.
Earth elite zombie could bring metal elite zombie to the underbelly of the Demon Mountain. Although earth elite zombie could not penetrate the hard rock that made up the mountain, it would pose no trouble to metal elite zombie. Additionally, metal elite zombie had the ability to detect any kind of metals or ores. Once metal elite zombie entered the Demon Mountain, no matter how concealed the divine essence mine was, with his extraordinary innately gifted senses, metal elite zombie would find them.
A divine essence mine naturally concealed the aura of the precious crystals within. This was the reason why a god, no matter how mighty, could not discover divine essence mines just by utilizing their senses.
Han Shuo believed that as long as the person who originally discovered the divine essence mine was not mentally handicapped, they would not try to deploy a boundary around the mine to conceal it. This was because the mightier a godly existence was, the more sensitive they were to elemental energy. And since elemental or edictal energy were ever-present on boundaries and seals, in such a mountain range, having a concealment boundary around the mine would be self-defeating.
Without any boundary or seal, what could stop the innately gifted metal elite zombie from detecting the divine essence mine?
“Father, we found the place. Should we go up now?” earth elite zombie suddenly transmitted. He sounded rather enthusiastic.
“Don’t rush. Wait for a moment,” Han Shuo immediately replied. Next, he communicated with the Cauldron Spirit, “It’s your turn for action!”
“No problem, master,” the Cauldron Spirit answered. By using the underground tunnel that earth elite zombie constructed, all the demon generals within the Cauldron of Myriad Demon rapidly flew towards earth elite zombie and metal elite zombie. They transformed into multiple dark threads that stick to the elite zombies’ bodies.
The Cauldron of Myriad Demon was the mightiest demonic weapon previously possessed by Gu Tian Xie the Exalted Demonlord. Certain ancient demonic formations could be easily deployed using the demon generals contained in the Cauldron. Those dark lines stuck to the bodies of metal and earth elite zombies made up a demonic formation for concealing aura formed using the energy of the demon generals. The Cauldron Spirit very confidently assured Han Shuo that with those demonic formations wrapping metal and earth elite zombies, not a single being could detect the duo’s aura.
Han Shuo had confidence in Cauldron Spirit. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let earth and metal elite zombies venture there by themselves. With the duo’s remarkable innate skills, in addition to having the energy of this mighty demonic weapon called the Cauldron of Myriad Demon, Han Shuo felt that this operation of excavating the divine essence mine was a walk in the park.
“You may now ascend the mountain!” after getting confirmation from the Cauldron Spirit, Han Shuo immediately transmitted to earth and metal elite zombies.
