It was the dead of winter, and some ice had already formed on the surface of the streets. The frosty wind sliced through the air like a knife, as if a demon were walking the streets, giving passersby a feeling of awe that sank into the depths of their soul.
The hooves of Han Shuo's horse pounded on the streets as everyone followed close behind. Everyone had a stern expression on their faces, as they had already prepared themselves for the great trouble they were about to encounter.
A dense concentration of hooves sounded in front of Han Shuo. The presence of tens of thousands of fiercely charging horses assaulted him before he even saw anyone.
The Demonslayer's Edge was now loosely gripped in his hand as a coolly composed Han Shuo silenced any stray thoughts in his mind. He focused his concentration like never before, adjusting his breathing and heart rate to its most ideal state. Even the pain that had originally emanated from some of his wounds began to fade.
As he focused his attention and planned a path of blood, he suddenly felt a little dizzy, as if he'd suddenly fallen into a strange state of mind. His mind shook as a profound incantation slowly crystallised in his heart.
The Demonic Art of Assimilation was a demonic art that could only be grasped after one had reached the true demon realm. Its effects were evident from the word "assimilation". A demon practitioner in the true demon realm would have formed a demon infant at that time, and if the practitioner was injured, he could use the Demonic Assimilation Art to swallow the enemy's blood, flesh, and soul to heal his own injuries.
If the demon infant wanted to grow quickly at this time, it could use the Demonic Assimilation Art to swallow the enemy's soul or demon infant. However, since there was no one else in the same school as Han Shuo in this world, there were no other demon infants for him to swallow.
Before a person died, the energy in their soul wouldn't fade away. If one used the Demonic Assimilation Art to absorb a living person's soul and strengthen the demon infant, it would be the quickest way for Han Shuo's training to advance to the next level.
The power of one's soul would quickly diminish upon death, and the remaining energy would completely dissipate in an extremely short period of time. It was also impossible to summon the vengeful spirits known as Wraiths to fill the void, as they were creatures from another dimension and had been dead for an indeterminate amount of time. The energy of their souls had long since dissipated, leaving only the most rudimentary traces of life behind.
In reality, when Han Shuo used the Primordial Demon and Yin Demon Cave to refine the Primordial and Yin Demons, he was actually using his blood essence and magical yuan to restore the energy of a soul to these wraiths. These primordial 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 in Han Shuo's mind as he rode forward on the back of the battle steed. He quickly reviewed the incantation in his state of concentration and continued to gallop forward.
The sound of hooves was even more densely packed ahead, pounding into Han Shuo's heart like a war drum. As his sharp eyes looked straight ahead, he calmly circulated his magical yuan according to how to use the Demonic Art Of Assimilation to see if it would have any effect.
To his surprise, Han Shuo discovered that he could easily circulate the magical yuan according to the requirements of the 'Demonic Art of Assimilation' without encountering any obstacles.
Han Shuo finally realised 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' circulated through happened to be similar to the ones needed for the 'Mystical Glacial Spellfire'. Although they weren't exactly the same, the current set was clear and unobstructed. Han Shuo's thoughts raced as he immediately felt the changes in his body.
As he circled the Demonic Art of Assimilation and focused his concentration on his empty left hand, a thick black cloud of magical mist materialised as a spinning black hole, full of an eerie and hard to define presence. There were many black specks glittering inside, giving off a terrifying feeling.
The vortex hovering over the palm of his hand was not that large, but Han Shuo understood that this meant he had fully grasped the Demonic Art of Assimilation, and he would only know its effects when he actually tried to use it on someone.
"You in front! Stop for questioning or be killed without exception!" A ferocious roar sounded from in front of Han Shuo at this time.
A dense mass of knights lunged forward in battle rage. The silver spears in their hands glowed with a dark green combat aura, appearing quite piercing in the darkness.
"Hehehe, I just want to see who's going to kill who!" Han Shuo laughed wildly as he pressed his legs together. His horse shot forward even faster as he headed for the knight.
Just as they were about to collide, Han Shuo chanted a necromancy spell and the knights who were about to attack Han Shuo suddenly found bone spears materialising out of nowhere and hurtling towards them instead. They hurriedly 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.
Under the cover of necromancy magic, Han Shuo pointed at the tall knight who had been shouting. As the sharp edge of the Demonslayer connected with the knight's spear, it immediately shattered in accordance with Han Shuo's expectations. Taking advantage of the knight's momentary shock, Han Shuo suddenly reached out a hand and grabbed the knight as he passed by.
Han Shuo's physical body was now perversely strong. When his left hand grabbed the knight and squeezed hard, the knight's shoulder blade immediately cracked. The Demonslayer's Edge then nicked the knight's head, causing an instant gush of fresh blood.
The knight had been howling in pain as his cries of agony intensified after the Demonslayer Edge's blow. The power drained from his struggling body and he was knocked unconscious.
Han Shuo's left hand activated the 'Demonic Art Of Assimilation' once again at this time. The knight's flesh and blood, as well as his life force, quickly flew from the knight's neck into Han Shuo's left hand.
A powerful, strange force suddenly surged into Han Shuo's body, thanks to the demon infant consuming it. His previously injured body miraculously recovered from this injection of power, as if he'd received some sort of magical elixir or pill. Han Shuo could even clearly feel that some of his broken blood vessels had bizarrely reconnected under the nourishing effects of this power.
At the same time, the knight in Han Shuo's hands slowly emptied and turned grey as its flesh, blood, and life force were absorbed. When Han Shuo was finished with that, his remaining strand of soul was also sucked away like a drop of water.
As Han Shuo let go, a cold wind blew and the corpse, now an empty shell, disintegrated into a cloud of dust. A life had been destroyed in the span of a second without leaving a trace, thanks to the Demonic Art of Assimilation.
As a caster, Han Shuo had received the nourishment from this knight in a short time. Not only were his injuries healed, but he also felt extremely alert and energetic at this moment.
The effects of the 'Demonic Art Of Assimilation' had even frightened Han Shuo himself. He'd never thought that it would be able to drain all of the knight's life force in such a short time.
This was a typical case of harming others to benefit oneself, and it was more in line with the true principles of a demonic practitioner. To help one's own recovery and advancement by slaughtering and carelessly giving up other people's lives, using the soul and vital energy of others. These were the methods that demonic practitioners had grown accustomed to over the past hundred or thousand years.
"Demon, he's a demon!" The knights in front of Han Shuo stopped in their tracks in shock after seeing their leader die in such a horrifying manner. One of them shouted in panic.
Han Shuo's methods had obviously gone beyond their comprehension, especially when Han Shuo's left hand devoured their leader. The blood and bone fragments flying everywhere made his left hand look like a man-eating demon. It was all very hard 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 slow down due to the crowd of people around him. Han Shuo was ready for a ferocious round of attacks when he realised that the people around him had all fallen into a stupor. They all looked at him in horrified fear and no one dared to make the first move.