It was the dead of winter, and some ice had already formed on the surface of the streets. The frosty wind cut through the air like a knife, as if a demon was walking the streets, giving pedestrians an awe inspiring feeling, which sank into the depths of their soul.
The hooves of Han Shuo's horse pounded against the ground of the streets as everyone followed closely behind. Everyone had severely grave expressions pasted on their faces, having already made their preparations that they would be charging head on into great trouble.
A dense concentration of hooves sounded in front of Han Shuo. The presence of ten thousand fiercely charging horses assaulted him before he even seen anyone.
The Demonslayer Edge was gripped loosely in his hand right now as a coolly composed Han Shuo discarded all the stray thoughts in his mind. He focused his concentration like he never had before, adjusting his breathing and heart rate to his most ideal condition. Even the pain originally emanating from some of his wounds began to fade away.
When he focused his attentions and planned on carving out a path of blood, he suddenly felt a bit lightheaded, as if he'd suddenly sunk into some strange state of mind. His mind shook at the same time as a profound incantation slowly crystallized in his heart.
The "Demonic Art of Assimilation" was a demonic art that could be grasped only after one reached the true demon realm. Its effects were evident from the word "assimilation". A demonic practitioner in the true demon realm would have formed a demon infant at that time, and once injured, the practitioner could use the "Demonic Art of Assimilation" to swallow the enemy's blood, flesh, and soul to heal their own injuries.
If the demon infant wanted to grow quickly at this time, it could use the "Demonic Art of Assimilation" to swallow the enemy's soul or demon infant. However, because there was no one else in the same school of study as Han Shuo in this world, there were no other demonic infants for him to swallow.
Before a person died, the energy in their soul wouldn't fade away. If one used the "Demonic Art of Assimilation" to absorb a living person's soul and fortify the demon infant, that would be the fastest way for Han Shuo's training to advance to the next level.
The power of one's soul would quickly fade upon death, and the remnants of energy would completely dissipate in an exceedingly short while. It was also impossible to summon the vengeful spirits known as wraiths to fill the void, because those were creatures from another dimension and had been dead for an indeterminate amount of time. The energy of their souls had long since vanished, leaving behind only the simplest traces of life.
In actuality, Han Shuo's use of the original demon and yin demon cave to refine the original and yin demons was actually using his blood essence and magical yuan to imbue these wraiths with the energy of a soul again. These original and yin demons would regain their powers, in addition to incredible abilities after they managed to absorb Han Shuo's blood essence and large amounts of magical yuan.
A mystical incantation magically imprinted itself into Han Shuo's brain as he sped forward on the back of the battlesteed. He quickly reviewed the incantation in his state of concentration and continued to gallop forward.
The sound of hooves were even more densely packed ahead, pounding into Han Shuo's heart like a war drum. When his sharp eyes looking straight ahead, he calmly circulated his magical yuan according to how to deploy the "Demonic Art of Assimilation", trying to see if it would have any effect.
To his surprise, Han Shuo discovered that he could circulate the magical yuan smoothly according to the requirements of the "Demonic Art of Assimilation', not meeting any obstacles at all.
Han Shuo finally realized that since he'd reached the true demon realm, many of his meridians had been carved out by his magical yuan, and the meridians that the "Demonic Art of Assimilation" was circulating through happened to be similar to the ones needed for the "Mystical Glacial Spellfire. Although they weren't the exact same set of meridians, the current set was clear and without obstacle at all. Han Shuo's thoughts raced as he immediately sensed the changes in his body.
As he circulated the "Demonic Art of Assimilation" and focused his concentration on his empty left hand, a thick, black cloud of magical mist materialized as a spinning black hole, full of an eerie and hard to define presence. There were many black flecks sparkling inside, giving off a frightening feeling.
The vortex hovering over the palm of his hand wasn't that large, but Han Shuo understood that this meant he'd fully grasped the "Demonic Art of Assimilation", and he would only know its effects when he actually tried using it on someone.
"You in the front! Halt for questioning or be killed without exception!" A fierce roar sounded out from in front of Han Shuo at this time.
A dense collection of knights whipped forward with battle rage. The silver spears in their hands flared with dark green fighting aura, appearing quite piercing in the darkness.
"Heh heh, I just so happened to want to see who's going to kill who!" Han Shuo laughed wildly as he clenched with his legs. His horse shot forward even faster as it made for the knight.
In the moment that they were about to crash into each other, Han Shuo chanted a necromancy spell and the knights who were about to attack Han Shuo suddenly found bone spears materializing out of nowhere and hurtling towards them instead. They hastily raised their weapons to defend themselves as one of their silver spears was blocked by a white bone shield that had formed on Han Shuo's left shoulder.
Beneath the cover of necromancy magic, Han Shuo pointed at the lofty knight who had shouted. When the sharp Demonslayer Edge connected with the knight's spear, the latter immediately broke apart in accordance with Han Shuo's expectations. Making use of the knight's momentary shock, Han Shuo suddenly reached out a hand when he was passing by the knight and grabbed the latter.
Han Shuo's physical body was perversely strong now. When his left hand grabbed the knight and squeeze severely, the knight's shoulder blade immediately fractured. The Demonslayer Edge then nicked the knight's head, causing an immediate fountain of fresh blood.
The knight had been howling in pain when his cries of agony intensified after the Demonslayer Edge's blow. Strength drained from his struggling body and he was knocked senseless.
Han Shuo's left hand once again activated the "Demonic Art of Assimilation" at this time. The knight's flesh and blood, as well as lifeforce, swiftly flew from the knight's neck into Han Shuo's left hand.
A vigorous, strange power suddenly surged into Han Shuo's body thanks to the demon infant consuming it. His previously injured body recovered miraculously from this injection of strength, as if he'd obtained some sort of magical elixir or pill. Han Shuo could even clearly feel that some of his broken blood vessels had bizarrely reconnected themselves beneath the nurturing effects of this force.
At the same time, the knight in Han Shuo's hands was slowly deflating and turning grey because his flesh, blood, and lifeforce was being absorbed. When Han Shuo was finished with that, his remaining strand of soul was also sucked away like a drop of water.
When Han Shuo let go, a cold wind blew up and the corpse, now an empty husk, disintegrated in a cloud of dust. A life had been demolished in the span of a second, leaving not a single trace behind, thanks to the "Demonic Art of Assimilation".
As the caster, Han Shuo had received the nourishment from this knight in a short amount of time. Not only were his injuries healed, but he felt greatly alert and energetic at this moment as well.
The effects of the "Demonic Art of Assimilation" scared even Han Shuo himself. He'd never thought that it would be able to suck away all of the knight's life force in such short amount of time.
This was a typical case of harming others to benefit oneself, and it rather fulfilled the true principles of a demonic practitioner. Helping one recover and advance through slaughter and careless abandon of other lives, making use of other's soul and life force. These were the methods that demonic practitioners had long since grown accustomed to in the past hundred, thousand years.
"Demon, he's a demon!" The knights in front of Han Shuo stopped in their tracks with shock after seeing their leader die in such a horrifying fashion. One of them yelled in panic.
Han Shuo's methods had obviously surpassed the limits of their understanding, particularly when Han Shuo's left hand devoured their leader. The blood and bone fragments flying everywhere made his left hand appear like a man-eating demon. It made all this very difficult for the knights to accept.
Han Shuo had now charged deep into this group of knights. Due to the narrowness of the streets, the way forward was completely blocked.
He was forced to lower his speed due to the crush of people around him. Han Shuo had been ready for a cruel round of attacks when he realized those around him had all fallen into a stupor. They were all looking at him in horrified fright, and no one dared make the first move.