Han Shuo and his family clan members did not rush in their journey. After half-a-month, they finally arrived at the Omphalos.
Han Shuo now possessed ten Sovereign Shops in the Omphalos and one of the City’s entrances roughly facing the Pandemonium was controlled by Han Shuo’s minions. Needless to say, the House of Han members were allowed into the Omphalos without having to pay any entrance fees.
Sanguis, Bollands, and Gilbert had reached the Omphalos long ago and they had been waiting at the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy. As soon as Han Shuo and his company arrived, Bollands stepped forth to apologize, “Senior brother, the three of us had recklessly traveled far ahead of the company and ran into the underlings of Sovereign Logue. Had Han Hao’s followers not come to our rescue in time, I’m afraid we wouldn’t have reached the Omphalos. I take full responsibility for this avoidable incident. Please punish me!”
Bollands tried to take full responsibility for the mistake. He did not reveal that it was Sanguis and Gilbert who had egged him into doing so.
“No, Master, it wasn’t his fault. It was Sanguis and I who came up with the idea!” shouted Gilbert.
Sanguis did not speak but nodded, agreeing with Gilbert.
“Alright, that’s enough. I know what happened and I don’t have to hear your recount,” said Han Shuo in an annoyed manner. He glared at Bollands and said, “I know you well, Bollands. It’s obvious that you couldn’t have come up with such an idea.”
“Gilbert, Sanguis, you are grounded for two years starting from this day. Your recklessness had led to the death of twenty of our House of Han guards, your comrades. Use the time to repent!” chided Han Shuo coldly.
Sanguis and Gilbert lowered their heads in shame. They recognized their mistakes and accepted Han Shuo’s punishment.
“Emily, Phoebe, Stratholme, you will continue to manage the Celestial Pearl. We will head to the Pandemonium after I have sorted out a few things here,” instructed Han Shuo. After settling the House of Han in the Celestial Pearl, Han Shuo looked for Zovic and softly instructed, “Contact Ossora, Tyre, Logue, and Wasir. Tell them that the Godhunter Alliance will be invading the Fringe and they better get prepared.”
Zovic’s face turned grave after hearing those words. He nodded and respectfully dismissed himself to carry out the order.
After that, Han Shuo gathered every of his core family members in a secret chamber and announced in a faint smile, “All of you came with me from the Profound Continent to this world many years ago, and you all have been rapidly advancing in strength. However, I still feel that you could do even better.”
As Han Shuo spoke, he started taking out crystal balls around the size of a fist. Each of the crystal balls contained a greyish, gas-like object that constantly changes its shape in an unpredictable manner. Using their divine souls, the party sensed weak soul energy emanating from the crystal balls.
“You have probably sensed the weak soul signatures emanating from these crystal balls. They contain divine souls of highgods who cultivated in various energies. However, I have erased their awareness and everything in their souls, save for their cultivation experiences and knowledge,” explained Han Shuo smilingly as he glanced through the party.
The party stared blankly after listening to Han Shuo for they weren’t sure what Han Shuo wanted them to do with it. But unlike the others, Fanny, who cultivated the energy of death, seemed pleasantly surprised. She cried out excitedly, “Bryan, you mean to have us assimilate these souls? I know that souls without self-awareness are equivalent to pure memories and they can be absorbed by our divine souls. If these souls used to be highgods, that means their memories contain… “
Everyone in the chamber also put on the same pleasantly surprised faces before Fanny had finished her words. Their eyes lit up as they realized what treasure was laid before them.
When they took their first step on Elysium, these people who came from the Profound Continent realized just how weak they were and they had been doing all they could to increase their strength. Using the tremendous financial resources of the House of Han, they had been making rapid progress. However, money could only get them this far.
Although they could gain divine energy by purchasing large amounts of divine essences, no amount of black crystal coins could buy them the knowledge and understanding they needed to advance to their next realm. This was similar to how an Earthling would need decades to learn and master advanced mathematics or physics: the individual must make constant effort to understand the subject. Mastery could only be achieved through the individual’s grit and talent.
Therefore, despite having access to tremendous financial resources, most of the House of Han members stagnated in the midgod realm. A few of the less talented ones were still in the lowgod realm. They would need decades, if not centuries, to reach where they want to be.
But those crystal balls Han Shuo presented will allow them to skip all that time and effort!
Not just Han Shuo’s harem, but even old fellas like Stratholme and Ayermike were in raptures. Ayermike looked at Han Shuo in disbelief and emotionally asked, “Bryan, how did you do that? We have lived on Elysium for a while now but never had we heard that it is possible to artificially erase the self-awareness of a soul without damaging it. That is miraculous! I think even those Quintessence Overgods cannot do so!”
Aykermike’s words had reminded the party just how difficult it was to erase the self-awareness of a highgod soul and to somehow prevent it from naturally degrading and vanishing into the world.
During the many years they lived on Elysium, they learned that it was only in a certain extremely unique environment and under unique circumstances that a divine soul without self-awareness could form. But this was an extremely rare natural phenomenon.
They had never heard it be achieved artificially!
Naturally, Han Shuo wouldn’t explain his ability granted by demonic arts to alter souls. He smiled and replied, “Don’t bother asking how I did it, just focus on fusing with these highgod souls and assimilate their knowledge. After obtaining the understanding and comprehension they had accumulated over the centuries, you will all obtain breakthroughs very easily. With sufficient divine energy, you will reach highgodhood in just a few years!”
The party was overjoyed. Next, they each received a crystal ball of their energy following Han Shuo’s assignment.
“Most of the souls are in the mid-stage highgod realm and a few of them are in the late-stage highgod realm. The information contained in their souls would be extremely enormous. Take caution when assimilating their souls. Do not try to take in everything in one shot, lest your soul crumbles!
The special container you are holding stops their soul from degrading and dissipating. So take your time and absorb their knowledge bit by bit in intervals. Again, do not more than what you can handle!” warned Han Shuo when he saw the ecstatic faces of the party.
“Don’t worry, Bryan. We’ve got it!” said Emily cheerfully. No one could be happier than her and Phoebe. During the past many years, they had placed most of their energy on Celestial Pearl and did not have as much time to cultivate as the others did.
Therefore, in the House of Han, Phoebe and Emily had been making relatively slow progress, especially in their realm state. Despite having the privilege to enjoy more divine essences than the others, they stagnated in their cultivation as they were bottlenecked by their realm states which needed time that they did not have. They had been feeling rather worried about falling too far behind the others.
But now, with these crystal balls, that will no longer be an issue.
“This act is against the natural order. We need to keep this a top-secret, no outsider must know anything about this! Godhunters are Elysium’s public enemy for consuming another person’s divine energy. What we are doing is the same as consuming another person’s soul. This would be more outrageous than what the godhunters are doing. We must never, ever reveal a thing about this. Otherwise, the House of Han will become Elysium’s public enemy!” warned Ayermike gravely.
“That’s right. This is why I had dismissed the House of Han guards earlier. Only we who came from the Profound Continent can know about this. Keep this knowledge within this circle. And if you want to exchange your findings, only do so in a secret chamber!” warned Han Shuo gravely.
After hearing the warnings, everyone in the room understood the importance of keeping it a secret as what Han Shuo did was a hundred times more appalling than what the godhunters did. They withdrew their smiles and solemnly swore not to divulge a thing to outsiders.
“Good, I believe everyone understands how important this is,” Han Shuo smiled and continued, “Alright, you all be careful. We will be moving to the Pandemonium after I’ve met Ossora. Over there, you won’t have to worry about anyone finding out. With layers of demonic formations around it, even the Sovereign cannot glimpse into the Pandemonium!”
Other than Sanguis and Bollands, every House of Han members received a crystal ball. Even Gilbert received the soul of a mid-stage highgod of darkness.
With those divine souls and the tremendous financial power of the House of Han, Han Shuo believed that it wouldn’t be long before these people would soon possess powerful strengths and he could spend less time worrying for their safety.
After the meeting was over and when everyone had left, Han Shuo took out two crystal balls. It was time to advance his two avatars!
