The caverns of the mines were dark and damp. Yet Han Shuo, someone who shouldn't have been familiar with the mine, was rushing forward as if he was very familiar with the area.
At first, Delia had even expected him to take the last position. Who would have thought that Han Shuo would just move forward from start to finish without taking a step back? What was even more surprising was that Han Shuo led the way as if he was the leader. No mistakes were made as he went straight into the depths of the mine.
After a while, Delia couldn't contain her curiosity as the miners began to doubt their guide. She quickly walked over to Han Shuo, bright eyes staring at him as she asked, "My Lord, you have been to Mount Silk before, haven't you?"
Shaking his head, Han Shuo replied, "No, I haven't. This is my first time at Mount Silk. Why?"
"Really? Then how come you are so familiar with the terrain inside the mine? You haven't stopped to consider any path but one, and yet you haven't made a single wrong turn. If you haven't been to Mount Silk before, how are you so familiar with the twists and turns here?" Delia became more and more doubtful and followed the leisurely striding Han Shuo with a bunch of questions.
In Han Shuo's eyes, this group of people, including Delia, wasn't very strong at all. Since the stone men deep inside the cave had no fear of magic and possessed rock solid bodies, Han Shuo had released the Yin Demon to scout ahead so that they wouldn't suddenly be slaughtered. This, coupled with some of the descriptions from the miners, made him naturally proceed without any hesitation. But who knew that it would raise Delia's doubts?
Han Shuo laughed softly and said, "Didn't I hear you describe the situation before we entered? My intuition for cave terrain is very sensitive. From your description, I can immediately and accurately determine the terrain of this area. Do you believe me or not?"
Hearing Han Shuo's explanation, Delia was stunned before asking with a half-doubting expression, "Really?"
"Of course!" Han Shuo laughed out loud, "I have never been to Mount Silk, let alone had the chance to explore this mine. How would I know the way so well if I didn't have a keen sense of cave terrain?"
Delia thought carefully. With Han Shuo's identity as Brettel City Lord and Count at the same time, he really wouldn't have the free time to explore the mine. Given this logic, she was mostly convinced when she heard Han Shuo's explanation. Subconsciously, her gaze towards him held a bit more admiration as she told herself that the city lord was truly as incredible as the legends said. He really was a true man!
Seeing that Delia had no further questions, Han Shuo continued to hurry on. Thanks to the Yin Demon, he had gone from guest to leader. The miners and Delia had become his companions.
The only remaining Yin Demon slowly made its way deep into the belly of Mount Silk. He soon reached a narrow and dry area, as described by the miners and Delia. This area connected the entrances of three deep tunnels with the passage they had come through. Rocks pressed down on the ceiling of the tunnels. If they wanted to get on, they would have to crawl on their bellies.
According to the miners, this was where they'd encountered some stone men the last time they'd mined here. There were even some traces left from the last time. But the Yin Demon was invisible. They wouldn't be able to detect its existence even if the Stone Men were hiding in the area.
Han Shuo sped up as soon as he found the right spot. Delia and the miners behind her were taken aback as they watched his body shuffle through the caves with extreme sensitivity. At this point, Delia truly believed that Han Shuo had a natural intuition for caves, just like he'd just said. He could still determine the exact direction from the complex intersection.
"Be careful, my lord! Up ahead is the area where the stone men appeared last time!" The miners were panting heavily as they tried to keep up with Han Shuo, who was almost flying as he charged forward. He slowly slowed down to allow them to catch up as he heard their raised voices. It was at that moment that Delia finally caught up. She walked up and took a few deep breaths to calm her heaving breasts. Her voice was full of concern as she said, "My Lord, please be careful. These stone men are not easy to deal with. We should just proceed calmly and cautiously."
It turned out that Delia wasn't as casual and careless as she seemed. She was very cautious and meticulous when it came to critical moments. Han Shuo couldn't help but look at her in surprise. At the moment, Delia was doing her best to catch her breath and calm her racing heart. Her twin peaks rose and fell in rhythm, catching his attention. Han Shuo's heart skipped a beat and he couldn't help but steal a few more glances at her chest.
It was said that any woman could tell from a man's eyes which part of her body was the focus of attention. No matter what method of concealment a man used, the woman being watched could still sense whether or not the man had sneaked a peek at her breasts.
There was some truth in those words. Even though they were currently in the middle of a dark cave, Delia might have just spotted Han Shuo's eyes on her chest. She was somewhat shy under his lingering gaze on her towering peaks. Instinctively, Delia bent down slightly, as if to hide some of her full breasts by bending her waist.
"All right, I think we've reached the place. You stay close so I can take care of you if there's any danger." Han Shuo slowed down and turned to tell the people behind him.
The miners quickly caught up but were still trailing behind Han Shuo and Delia. Fortunately, the light in the tunnel was dim and they didn't have Han Shuo's eyesight. Being some distance behind, they didn't see the flush on Delia's face.
The three tunnels converged in the middle. As the group walked a few more hundred metres, the ceiling above their heads gradually lowered. The path also narrowed so that only two people could walk side by side. Everyone had to bend over to avoid hitting their heads on the rocks.
After passing through the narrow path, the group reached the area where the Yin Demon had stopped. This place was actually quite wide, but the rocks above their heads extended quite far down. There were three flattened tunnels around them, the kind you had to crawl through on your belly to get through.
This was exactly where the stone men had suddenly appeared and attacked the last time, causing many casualties among the miners.
Han Shuo was 190 centimetres tall. He couldn't walk upright even if he bent down, so he had to crouch down to inspect the situation. The miners who had been here before were all wearing nervous expressions as they looked around carefully. They raised the crude mining tools in their hands, as if they were preparing to deal with any stone men that might appear.
Even Delia looked a bit nervous. She pulled out the dagger she had strapped to her left leg and looked around with a wary eye. Han Shuo and Delia now leaned close together. In this area where they could be attacked at any moment, her shyness had long since been cast aside.
It was because of Han Shuo's notoriety that Delia and the miners now had the reassuring feeling of being able to rely on someone. If it had been just them, they'd have been on the verge of panic, not just nervous.
Han Shuo crouched down to take a look around before asking the miners, "How tall are these stone men and what do they look like?"
"They are only 150 centimetres tall, but they are wide horizontally, so they can move very flexibly without being restricted by the low ceiling." One of the miners replied.
Hearing his words, Han Shuo looked at the three tunnels and made an assessment. The tunnels were only about a metre high, so a man would have to crawl on his belly to enter. According to the miners, the stone men were 150 centimetres tall and very wide horizontally. They couldn't have come out of these three tunnels.
Apart from the three tunnels in this area, there was only the passage they had just come through. If the stone men didn't come from the three tunnels, could it be that they also came from the passage?
Han Shuo's heart was filled with doubt. He stopped looking around and sat still to think. Suddenly, he whistled in a low tone. The whistle started out faint and low, gradually getting louder and higher, ending in an echo like a dragon roar.
"All right, if the Stone Men are nearby, they will definitely hear it and come over. We just have to wait and see." Han Shuo turned to tell the nervous looking miners.
End of the first part of the chapter.
To Han Shuo's left, Delia bent down to survey her surroundings, revealing the breathtaking curves of her waist. She wore only a soft leather miniskirt on her lower body, accentuating the curve of her hips and her tantalising bare legs. When Han Shuo caught sight of her as he turned to give orders to the miners, he couldn't help but spend a little time savouring her round buttocks.
Most of the nervous miners didn't notice, except for the three who happened to catch the beautiful scene. The three young men all swallowed hard and suddenly developed a slight hunch in their posture as they tried to hide a new bulge.
Looking around, Delia abruptly turned around quickly, her bright eyes looking straight at Han Shuo, whose gaze was fixed on her hips. Caught red-handed, Han Shuo awkwardly coughed dryly and conscientiously turned his head away.
Delia blushed red. She glared at the awkward Han Shuo and snorted lightly. Then she angrily turned to the three miners and shouted, "What are you looking at? Could it be that you already want to seek death after I left Mount SIlk for a few days?"
As she finished speaking, Delia lowered her voice to mutter, "Men really are no good!" It wasn't known if this sentence was deliberately said for Han Shuo's ears only, but he had indeed heard it. He secretly thought, "Aren't women supposed to be looked at by men? How did you know we were looking at you? You bent over to expose that wonderfully curved butt. Wasn't that on purpose?
As Han Shuo pondered, several almost impalpable wisps floated in from the three narrow tunnels. Han Shuo looked around but found nothing to provoke them. However, as a necromancer and demonic cultivator, he could immediately sense that these breaths were similar to the existence of wraith.
He silently cast a Soul Searching spell and watched as the eight murky mists, hidden from human eyes, slowly moved to a few dark corners. They slowly spread out, each wrapping itself around a large block of rock. Then they imbued each rock with a strange power.
The originally solid rocks slowly became malleable after being imbued with these impulses of power. Afterwards, it was as if someone had moulded the rocks, as they split into the eight stone men the miners had encountered earlier. Han Shuo, who had mastered both demonic and necromantic magic, could clearly see this stone shaping process.
As the eight stone men slowly emerged from the corners, Han Shuo finally understood how they'd suddenly appeared at this place last time. So it's really like that, hmm! Obviously, it was only the souls that came out of these three narrow passages and used the rocks here to rebuild their bodies.
"Eight of them, with fully formed bodies. Are they preparing to attack?" Han Shuo turned to tell the nervous looking miners.
End of the first part of the chapter.
Most of the nervous miners didn't notice as Han Shuo took out the skeleton staff to summon dozens of skeleton warriors as well as zombie warriors. Some of them surrounded Delia and the miners as Han Shuo watched the eight stone men slowly emerge from the dark corners.
The rock ceiling of this area was too low for higher level undead creatures like the hate warriors and evil knights to display their full power. Only the small and diminutive skeleton and zombie warriors could move easily in this place.
Delia was terrified when she suddenly found herself surrounded by a crowd of skeleton and zombie warriors. These undead creatures didn't look very pleasant to the eye, and the morass of deadly aura surrounding them sent a shiver of fear through her.
However, when she heard Han Shuo's words and saw that they were only surrounding her without any intention of attacking, Delia knew that these were the guards Han Shuo had summoned for her. She immediately felt reassured in her heart.
"My Lord, have the stone men appeared?" Delia calmed down and finally responded to Han Shuo's words by raising her dagger.
The light here was too dim. The eight stone men were also forming in the shadows, so Delia's group simply couldn't see their movements. Nodding his head, Han Shuo smiled and said, "That's right, eight stone men.
The eight scattered stone men suddenly began to attack Han Shuo as they spoke, charging in from the eight dark corners. Their bodies were formed from the iron ore in this mine, so ordinary magic attacks wouldn't be very effective. Even standard weapons weren't much of a threat to these stone men. No wonder so many miners had died here the last time.
However, Han Shuo's current body was much more solid than iron and stone. He didn't even need to take out the Demon Slayer Edge to deal with these stone men, he just crouched down and smashed right into them.
"Interesting, what kind of creature are you?" Han Shuo still had the leisure to ask questions even when he was wrestling with eight stone men.
Surrounded by the undead creatures, Delia watched as Han Shuo faced the stone men's attacks without fear. Even though a few fists and kicks landed, he didn't react at all. It was as if Han Shuo's body was even more solid than the stone men made of iron ore.
Han Shuo smashed his bare fists into the bodies of the eight stone men. This time, it was they who were forced to retreat. Metallic sounds rang out as Han Shuo's fists connected with their iron bodies, leaving Delia's group speechless as they watched with their eyes and mouths wide open.
On the Profound Continent, only swordsmen and knights were considered experts in close combat. But even they had to use combat aura to enhance the defensive capabilities of their physical bodies. No one had ever heard of a physical body that was strong enough to not require the addition of combat aura.
And indeed, Han Shuo was not using the defensive power of magical yuan. He simply used the durability of his body to block the Stone Men's attacks. When his magical cultivation had reached the Separate Demon Realm, Han Shuo's body was far more solid than iron. Ordinary swords wouldn't even leave a mark on him.
After fighting for a while and discovering that these eight stone men showed no signs of communicating with each other, Han Shuo became impatient. He began to gather a bit of Magical yuan on his hands as he attacked. The Stone Men were already reeling from the physical blows, they couldn't withstand these newly amplified blows. Han Shuo grabbed their necks in his hand, ignoring the blows they were raining down on his chest, and decapitated them in one fell swoop.
The speed of Han Shuo's movements suddenly increased. His fists, now filled with magical yuan, shattered the stone men's bodies into pieces. In the blink of an eye, the eight stone men were completely pulverised into stone chips. Not a single block of stone remained.
"His Lordship really is that strong!" One miner couldn't stop muttering, a look of worship on his face.
Delia's pretty eyes shone with a strange light as she stared at Han Shuo. She had just watched him smash the stone men to pieces with nothing but his bare hands. In the eyes of a woman who worshipped fierce and strong men, this was far too irresistible. Delia couldn't stop her heart from pounding.
"You want to run? Hehehe, it won't be that easy!" After Han Shuo destroyed the bodies of the eight stone men, the eight dark clouds from the three tunnels seemed to know that Han Shuo wasn't someone they could deal with. They slowly began to gather, planning to return the way they'd come.
Whether it was his identity as a demonic cultivator or a necromancer, Han Shuo had plenty of methods to deal with this kind of strange soul. His left hand was extended, a wave of killing intent pouring out of his palm like a miniature whirlpool. This killing intent was harmless to physical bodies, but those eight wisps were unable to resist its pull.
Not only were the eight souls unable to take a single step away from Han Shuo, they were slowly absorbed by the power of the small vortex in his palm. As the eight of them fell into his palm, they were tightly held by the killing intent, unable to break free.
"Speak! What kind of thing are you?" This time, Han Shuo didn't speak audibly, but used his consciousness to convey the message.
The darkness of the eight souls swirling at the high speed of the vortex in his palm slowly dissipated and became eight sparkling green points of light. Just like eight beautiful shining stars, the tiny tornado in Han Shuo's hand had become a facsimile of the deep and profound Milky Way.
What should have been a dark and frightening scene had become an intoxicatingly beautiful image in Delia's eyes. It was as if Han Shuo's hand was an endless starry sky, glittering with the twinkling of the night stars. At this moment, if someone asked her which man could pluck the stars from the night sky for her, she would answer without hesitation: it was definitely the man in front of her. There was a sky full of stars in his grasp.
After using his consciousness to transmit the message, Han Shuo felt a faint response. The consciousness of these eight souls was too small compared to his powerful consciousness. Therefore, the message they transmitted was also very weak: "Mercy please. We are the miners who died in the mine collapse earlier. Our souls didn't disperse, but drifted to a strange place and absorbed a strange energy, becoming what you see here."
Han Shuo quieted his mind to listen carefully. As he gradually understood the message, he was stunned, "What was this strange place?"
"We don't know either. A strange energy filled this area. We don't know why our souls slowly became powerful when we absorbed some of that energy. We even have the power to manipulate stone and form stone bodies for ourselves. We couldn't let the miners harvest this area and destroy this place of miraculous energy, so we attacked the miners. We beg you, please let us go. We won't dare from now on." The eight souls on Han Shuo's palm had joined together and clarified the message they were transmitting.
Han Shuo's brow furrowed in doubt as he began to listen, before inspiration struck. He suddenly exclaimed in delight, "Haha, I know now. So that's how it is!"
This joyous shout wasn't a silent communication, but a loud cheer that pierced the air. Delia's group jumped in shock. They stared at him inexplicably, not knowing why he'd suddenly become so cheerful.
"My Lord, what is it?" Looking at Han Shuo this time, Delia didn't know why she suddenly felt that he was the most seductive of men. Her voice had unconsciously become soft and tender.
"Nothing much." Han Shuo took out the skeleton staff to send all the undead creatures around Delia's group back to the strange dimension. He thought for a while before replying, "You should stop mining in this area from now on, or you'll be in danger. You can only come and collect the mined ore once a month. Hm, rest assured, the stone men won't attack you anymore. Alright, you go first, leave this matter to me".
Delia's crew was full of doubt at Han Shuo's words. They had only seen him destroy the stone men with ease, but they didn't know why he would say what he did.
"My lord, can you tell us what's going on?" Delia thought for a moment before asking Han Shuo.
"Oh, the stone men have submitted to me. From now on, they will have to mine a portion of the ore every month, at a rate that is certainly more productive than yours. You only need to come here once a month to collect it. I have agreed to let them use the area around these three tunnels as their living quarters in exchange for helping you with the mining. Han Shuo smiled and explained to Delia.
"But haven't the Stone Men already died?" Delia asked confused.
"They didn't. Their souls are still in my hands. You can go now. From now on you only have to come here once a month to collect the ore. This is the best of both worlds." Han Shuo explained to Delia.
Delia had originally come looking for the Stone Men to settle her debt. Now that Han Shuo had destroyed their bodies, captured their souls, and offered such favourable terms, she readily agreed to Han Shuo's words without asking too many questions.
"Alright. I'll go with them first. I'll wait for you at the entrance." Delia didn't ask why Han Shuo wanted to stay here. She said a few words to the miners before leading them back the way they'd come.
After Delia's group left, Han Shuo followed the guidance of the stone men's souls to crawl on his stomach into a narrow tunnel. Proceeding forward for seven or eight hundred metres, he suddenly emerged into a vast area.
Every part of this area was covered with stones of different colours. The rock wall above his head was a light silver colour, sparkling with a silvery sheen. There were a variety of red, purple, and white ores, some of which Han Shuo knew and some of which he'd never heard of before. They were scattered all over this wondrous area.
A thick sense of metallic element filled the area. In the centre, there was a huge rock pillar that exuded a concentrated power of metal.
The Place of Extreme Metal - the last of the five Places of Extreme Elements - had finally appeared before Han Shuo!