A few years earlier in the Dark Forest, Han Shuo, Sophie and the Fire Grand Magus Marceau of the Brut Merchant Alliance joined forces to explore the Place of Extreme Fire. But when trouble came, Marceau blatantly abandoned them. Eventually, however, Han Shuo and Sophie worked together to escape the danger.
Sophie was a citizen of the Kasi Empire. Her father, Sulo, was a renowned Sacred Knight of the Kasi Empire. Han Shuo had known this from the beginning.
Who would have thought that after so many years, Han Shuo would meet Sophie by chance on his first visit to the Kasi Empire. Back then, before Han Shuo and Sophie parted ways in the Dark Forest, Sophie had urged Han Shuo to look for her if he ever visited the Kasi Empire.
Separated by seven or eight metres, staring at the beautiful Sophie, watching her pick out tiny, delicate ornaments full of zest, Han Shuo could not help but laugh. All along this seemingly endless street, all sorts of items were for sale. There was no shortage of truly priceless trinkets. Despite this, Sophie was not the least bit interested in exquisite war machines, but lingered at a stall selling small ornaments.
It seemed that every woman had an innate desire to look beautiful. It was this kind of ornament, bright and delicate but of no practical use, that Sophie found unexpectedly tempting.
A few years had passed in the blink of an eye. The already beautiful and moving Sophie, like a bud blossoming into a flower, looked more beautiful than ever.
Looking at this beauty from a distance, Han Shuo did not move forward to meet her, even though he wanted to. Han Shuo had a pretty good impression of this beautiful young lady. Previously, at the Place of Extreme Fire, the Grand Fire Magus had wanted to trap Han Shuo, but had been stopped by this kind-hearted girl.
This time in the Kasi Empire, the things Han Shuo had done at the Ice Shrine would have made him a public enemy of the entire Kasi Empire. Once Han Shuo and Sophie crossed paths, it could very well mean trouble for Sophie. Although Sophie's father was a sacred knight of great influence in the Kasi Empire, he was nowhere near as powerful or influential as the Ice Shrine.
Therefore, Han Shuo only looked at Sophie for a moment before leaving silently. He deliberately took a detour to get some distance from Sophie before continuing his shopping on this harmonious street, continuing to search for materials suitable for refining Gilbert's body.
The Yuan Storage Stone that Han Shuo had obtained from the old woman earlier was very useful for demonic arts cultivators. As its name suggested, the Yuan Storage Stone could store yuan essence and demonic yuan. One of its uses was to refine certain extraordinary magical weapons. It could improve a weapon's tolerance to demonic yuan, as well as speed up the circulation of demonic yuan inside the weapon.
When Gilbert's body was reforged, as long as this Yuan Storage Stone was fully integrated into the skeleton, it would be of great help to Gilbert in making rapid progress in the future. To exchange it for only a hundred gold coins was nothing short of a bargain.
It was precisely because Han Shuo had obtained three different rare items in just one morning that he was looking forward to this auction in the Kasi Empire. With exuberant energy, Han Shuo did not pause to rest at all. After evading Sophie, he continued to search for things that suited him.
Possessing a consciousness of wonderful sensory power, in addition to his discerning eyes, Han Shuo truly reaped a bountiful harvest this time. In the afternoon, he received seven or eight exotic materials one after the other that could be mixed into the body and skeleton. It was not until dusk, when the vendors began to close for the day, that Han Shuo reluctantly left the area.
Tomorrow, the sale would officially begin. Compared to the goods sold at these stalls, the auction sale that was going on for the third day in a row was the real deal. The items on display at the auction sale were all precious treasures that had been authenticated. Some priceless and unique treasures would also appear quite often.
After returning to the small hotel where he was currently staying, Han Shuo closed the door and set up a soundproofing and early warning magic formation. He then took out the Soul Depository Ring and began to communicate with Gilbert's soul.
Over the past few days, Han Shuo had gotten used to talking nonsense with Gilbert. Inside the Soul Depository Ring, the Dark Dragon Gilbert was extremely bored. All day long, he worried whether his new physical body would cause him to lose certain abilities and his appetite for females. Even though Han Shuo reassured him in every way possible, his worries remained.
Gilbert's physical body had been destroyed. But even with only his soul left, the vile practices of the dark dragons remained deeply rooted. It seemed that as long as his soul didn't perish, the nature of the Dark Dragon Gilbert was unlikely to change much.
"Don't worry, I will seek out the rarest and most precious materials, with your original skeleton as the foundation and a human body structure as the standard, and reconstruct a body to your satisfaction. This body will be even more powerful than the bodies of the dark dragons, and will have unlimited potential for development. Those desires and sexual abilities you are so worried about will only get stronger, and you will definitely not turn into a court eunuch," Han Shuo got a headache from Gilbert's shouting and had to reassure him again.
"This is truly fantastic. Fortunately, I did not choose a bone dragon. A dragon with only bones, but without this organ, that would give me a lot of pleasure!" the Dark Dragon Gilbert churned in the Soul Depository Ring as he shouted in excitement.
""All right. You better behave. Thoroughly understand the memories I have given you. It is a martial skill to make your soul even stronger. You better put more effort into it," Han Shuo admonished.
There were all kinds of secret martial techniques in the school of Demonic Arts. There were even secret techniques that specifically tempered one's soul. As long as Dark Dragon Gilbert cultivated according to this secret technique, his soul would grow stronger and stronger. When he reached a certain level of strength, he would be able to appear before Han Shuo without using the Soul Depository Ring. In addition, his soul would not gradually dissipate between heaven and earth as time passed.
Certain evil spirits in the world had mastered similar techniques under extraordinary circumstances. It's just that their souls didn't dissipate with each passing day, but slowly became stronger. To a certain point, they could even take control of a human body and be reborn into the world.
The technique that Han Shuo had passed on to the Dark Dragon Gilbert was a technique found in the Demonic Arts to refine wild spirits. Any ordinary soul, as long as they were willing to put in the painstaking effort to cultivate, could become a terrifying, ferocious spirit, free from the constraints of the laws of nature. The Dark Dragon Gilbert had an extremely strong soul to begin with. As long as he practised according to Han Shuo's method, it would not take him too long to completely break free from the soul depository ring. Even after his soul was reattached to his reforged physical body, it would still be extremely beneficial to him.
"Master, how do you know so much about this random stuff? I have never heard of such martial arts for soul cultivation. How did you come to know about them?" After cultivating for a few days, Gilbert realised how effective the technique was as his soul became more and more tenacious. In the beginning, after just a few minutes of talking to Han Shuo, his soul would be drained of energy. However, after cultivating this technique for a few days, he was able to persistently talk to Han Shuo for more than an hour.
"What do you want so much for? Practice well. After some time, when you have a new body, you will know the benefits!" Han Shuo lectured.
"Alright, alright! You are so annoying!" Gilbert replied petulantly, and only then did he reluctantly stop talking. He calmed down in the Soul Depository Ring and slowly tempered his soul.
When Gilbert finally stopped talking, Han Shuo slowly sank into contemplation. During this time, Han Shuo did not continue to cultivate in the demonic arts. Having reached the carnal realm, Han Shuo did not consciously force himself to advance further in the demonic arts, but let it go with the flow.
On the contrary, when it came to necromancy magic, Han Shuo had put in some effort. Of the three boundaries - Fear, Weakness, and Aging - Han Shuo had mastered two, fear and weakness. In certain large-scale battles, these two boundaries could significantly weaken an enemy's fighting power and serve as a game-changer and situation reverser.
It was only the most mysterious and miraculous Boundary of Aging that was truly beyond Han Shuo's capabilities for the time being. Without a clue as to how to proceed, and unable to grasp the solution, he did not go on a wild goose chase, and did not waste too much energy studying this Boundary. Instead, he spent his time trying to master the last magic in the Grand Magus level of necromancy - the Grand Disintegrator.
This necromancy magic, called the Grand Disintegrator, was the trademark magic of the necromancers. It was also an extremely destructive magic. As the name suggests, the Grand Disintegrator could disintegrate an enemy's body. Any expert on the receiving end would be shattered into pieces and die in an instant.
The only problem was that such a terrifying magic was equally difficult to perform. Even if successful, the Grand Disintegrator required a certain probability to unleash such power. Even for necromancers who were extremely proficient in this magic, only one of five Grand Disintegrator spells cast in a row would succeed.
For some necromancers who did not have a deep understanding of the nature of necromancy, the odds were even lower. Some would only succeed one out of ten times. There were also variations in the destructive power unleashed by the Grand Disintegrator. At the high end, it could kill the recipient instantly. At the lower end, it would only leave cuts on the opponent's body, like sharp weapons being drawn across.
It was during the previous two days, while Han Shuo was recovering from his injuries, that he had truly figured out the magic, although he had not yet become extremely proficient in it. Now that Gilbert was no longer so verbose, Han Shuo continued to study this trademark magic of necromancers, in addition to calculating when he should experiment the spell on a living person.
Unwittingly, another night had passed. From the early hours of the morning, there was a noisy clamour coming from outside the hotel. Today was the first day of the auction. Han Shuo left his studies early and hurried to the scene, hoping to reap an even greater harvest today.
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