"Not interested!" Han Shuo refused without wasting another moment. This wretched appearance of Akley's had made Han Shuo very sceptical that Akley could show him a way to riches. Besides, unlike Akley, Han Shuo was not short of money.
"I'm deadly serious. You do know that it's very difficult to get by on Elysium without an abundance of crystal coins, right?" Akley tried to convince Han Shuo.
"I suggest you postpone it until you have recovered from your injuries. As for your suggestion, thank you, but I am really not interested," Han Shuo shrugged and smiled.
Since Akley had just woken up from a short coma, he wasn't in a stable state of mind. Jeff, who was in charge of handling their divine tablets, was unfriendly towards Akley and rushed him to leave the premises so that Akley's wounds would not sully his place.
Akley didn't bother to stay and dragged himself out, cursing and swearing. It did not seem to bother him that his body was in a terrible state, and he did not immediately seek a safe place to heal his wounds. Instead, he waited outside the front door.
"I really couldn't understand how a person could be as disgusting as he is!" Jeff remarked disdainfully as he shook his head. Then he turned to Han Shuo. "Bryan, I would advise you to break off contact with him. Otherwise, given his temperament, he will get to you sooner or later!"
"I will take note of that. Alright, thank you. Goodbye!" Although Han Shuo did not have a favourable impression of Jeff, he did not have much animosity either. A character like Jeff could be found almost anywhere in the universe. Besides, since Jeff had not really endangered Han Shuo's interests and he had apologised humbly, Han Shuo had no motivation to quarrel with him.
"You are most welcome. I was only doing my duty to carry out Lord Dolores' orders!" Jeff did not forget to flatter Dolores in front of Han Shuo.
Han Shuo had no further conversation with Jeff and left the premises with the intention of leaving the valley immediately for the City of Shadows. He smiled and nodded at Akley as he walked past him at the front door.
"Wait!" Akley shouted in a weak voice when he saw Han Shuo leaving.
Han Shuo's eyebrows furrowed as he really was getting a bit annoyed. "I said I'm not interested. Besides, the injuries to your body are very serious. It will affect your improvement in the future if you do not treat them soon. As far as I am concerned, you should forget about your mega-project for the time being and treat your injuries properly".
"Let me show you something. If you are not interested after seeing it, I will not bother you anymore. What do you say?" Akley took a few painful deep breaths before solemnly addressing Han Shuo.
After thinking for a moment, Han Shuo nodded and said, "Fine. Let's have a look. I hope it is as convincing as you expect."
""Can we go somewhere with more privacy?" Akley looked around and felt that it wasn't quite safe to reveal his secret object in this place.
Han Shuo expanded his consciousness and immediately found a rather secluded spot near a waterfall some distance away.
"Please carry me. I really can't move!" Akley asked with an awkward smile.
Han Shuo did not waste a word. He walked over to Akley, picked him up, lifted him into the air with a levitation spell, and flew to the waterfall.
This journey took Han Shuo half an hour. He had taken so long because of the very high gravitational acceleration on Elysium, because he had to fly using the energy of his Avatar of Death, and because he had to carry Akley on his back.
When they finally arrived at the waterfall, Han Shuo set Akley down. He watched the surroundings carefully before carefully removing an ancient scroll from his chest. He handed the scroll to Han Shuo and explained, "I received this from a place on my homeworld. Because I'm in possession of it, I was hunted for a long time until I escaped here using an interplanar transportation matrix. Be very careful with it!"
After hearing these words, Han Shuo became a little curious. It was obvious from the excessive yellowing that the scroll was extremely ancient. The characters inscribed on it resembled earthworms. There were also several blurry drawings on it. However, Han Shuo couldn't make out a thing.
"So? Have I piqued your interest?" Akley asked excitedly with a broad smile.
"Erm... what language is this? I have never seen anything like this before," Han Shuo said as he looked at Akley. He thought, "You're not trying to trick me, are you?
"It is Voyniscript, one of the earliest languages. Ancient gods often use it to speak and write. Don't you recognise it?" Akley's face looked as if he had suffered a severe blow. Looking at Han Shuo with a rather strange look, he asked, "How can you not be familiar with Voyniscript? Are you from an even lower material plane?"
"That is correct. I come from a very low material plane and know nothing about whatever ancient language this is," Han Shuo admitted calmly. After thinking for a while, he continued, "Alright, why don't you tell me what's written on this thing?"
"It describes a divine essence mine! In case you don't know what Divine Essence Mines are, they are crystals containing energy that can be directly absorbed to form Divine Energy. They are extremely valuable in any material plane and can only be found in a few places. This scroll suggests that there is a small divine essence mine! Akley reported excitedly.
Han Shuo's eyes widened. He was immediately tempted. Back then, Han Shuo had discovered three pieces of those miraculous crystals in the Void of the Abyss realm. These Divine Essences of Death allowed Han Shuo's Death Avatar to greatly advance in Divine Energy. His rapid advancement to the Mid-stage Lowgod realm was largely due to the boost from those three pieces of Divine Essence.
Han Shuo had long been aware that Divine Essence was a rare commodity. On any material plane where gods were commonly found, there were items that everyone would desperately try to obtain. Many of the great family clans would spare no expense in acquiring divine essences so that the members of their family clan could rapidly increase in strength. The discovery of high-purity Divine Essence mines would more often than not lead to bloody battles between the great family clans.
"Are you sure it's a divine essence mine?" Han Shuo asked in a deep voice.
"I am certain that the words written on the scroll cannot be false. The original owner of the scroll discovered this Divine Essence Mine, but he was sent to my Blue Ocean Continent before he could take possession of it. Unfortunately, he was seriously injured while carrying out his mission on my homeworld, and just before he died, he wrote this scroll describing the location of the Divine Essence Mine," Akley explained.
"It must have been a long time ago. Perhaps the Divine Essence Mine has long since been discovered by others and all its crystals extracted! It was obvious from the scroll that it was ancient. Anything could have happened in the long years that had passed.
"That is indeed possible!" Akley nodded in agreement before continuing, "But from what is described on the scroll, this place is very remote. Whoever wrote it only stumbled upon the mine by chance and mentioned that it was very likely that it would have remained undiscovered otherwise. That's why I think it's worth investigating. Who knows, it might still be undiscovered!
A Divine Essence Mine could cause a bloodbath on the Plane of God's. They were immensely valuable.
Since Han Shuo was fresh off the boat and had nothing particularly urgent to attend to, he saw that Akley seemed serious and rather confident about the matter and said, "Very well then. I will go with you. I don't have anything important to do anyway."
"As for that divine essence of mine, let me remind you that only I alone know the way to enter that place. If you decide to kill me halfway through the journey, you will have no way of finding it!" Akley hastily warned Han Shuo.
"Thank you for the reminder. I expect that by the time we reach the Divine Essence Mine, most of your injuries will be healed. And until then, you will not have to worry about any possible treachery on my part?" Han Shuo asked giggling. He suspected that this was Akley's intention.
"That's right. If there is no divine essence in yhe mine, then we can say goodbye. If there is, I'll take sixty percent and you get the rest. What do you say?" Akley laid out his terms as soon as Han Shuo agreed to join him. He seemed to have thought about it a long time ago and was very quick with his words.
Akley was the one who discovered the scroll and thus the Divine Essence Mine. His method of sharing the prize could be considered generous. Therefore, Han Shuo nodded and said, "Let's do it."
"Good. But first, I need to stabilise my injuries. Please take care of me during this time. When I have stabilised my condition, we will leave immediately!" Akley suddenly relaxed as Han Shuo agreed.
"I am not good at taking care of others. You take care of yourself," Han Shuo knitted his eyebrows and said.
"I'm not asking you to serve me, just to keep me safe. I'm afraid that my enemies from the Blue Ocean Continent have followed me here," Akley forced a smile and said.
"I will do my best," Han Shuo thought for a moment before answering. He had no idea how formidable Akley's enemies were. Akley must have come from a material plane where gods were commonplace. If these godly experts who were after Akley were too much for Han Shuo to handle, he was ready to abandon Akley. He would always choose to preserve his life over a divine essence mine.
"Don't worry, none of those pursuing me can take our lives. Hmph, if I wasn't outnumbered, I would have killed them all!" Akley assured Han Shuo.
Han Shuo nodded calmly, but he wasn't entirely convinced by these words. Akley was a Mid-stage Lowgod who had cultivated in the Edict of Destruction, yet he had suffered such tremendous injuries and had to flee from the Blue Ocean Continent to Elysium. This had amply demonstrated that those who hunted him could not be taken as lightly as he described.
"This place is reasonably quiet. I will tend to my injuries and stabilise my condition here!" Akley jumped into the pool under the waterfall to wash off the bloodstains.
"Here, swallow this. It will help stabilise your injuries!" Han Shuo casually tossed Akley a rejuvenation pellet. Before leaving for Elysium, Han Shuo had refined some medicinal pellets for personal use in times of need. He had a ton of these rejuvenation pellets for stabilising injuries.
"What is this stuff? Smells pretty good!" Akley, his body half submerged in the pool, asked puzzled as he pinched the medicine pellet Han Shuo handed him.
"It's a medicine. It happens to be suitable for your condition. Swallow it and you will feel its effect!" Han Shuo answered casually.
Akley wasn't afraid that Han Shuo would harm him and swallowed the pellet immediately after hearing Han Shuo's answer. He continued to wash the wounds on his body.
He noticed nothing at first, but a moment later, Akley let out a soft cry of surprise. He looked at Han Shuo in astonishment and asked, "What is this medicine you have given me? It worked almost immediately! The bleeding has completely stopped and I already feel much better! Seriously, what kind of medicine is it and where can I buy it? If I'd had it before, maybe I wouldn't be in such a terrible state! Akley was obviously amazed at the effectiveness of the rejuvenation pellet, as he clicked his tongue in wonder.
"It's not for sale. An old pharmacist friend of mine made it especially for me!" Han Shuo replied. It was he himself who had personally refined the Rejuvenation Pellet, and he knew the effects it had. It was actually within his expectations to see Akley react with such astonishment.
"Alright, alright. You better stop talking and stabilise your injuries. Now is the best chance for you to regain your divine energy. Don't waste my medicine!" Han Shuo said impatiently as Akley opened his mouth to speak again.
After hearing Han Shuo's scolding, Akley finally fell silent. He wasted no more words and settled into the pool. Several small vortexes formed around Akley. These small eddies rotated around him in rhythmic trajectories.
Han Shuo stood above the pond and carefully observed the anomaly surrounding Akley. He could tell that Akley was using a trajectory of the Edict of Destruction to stabilise his injuries. There were all kinds of different ways to use the Edict of Destruction. This method used by Akley was obviously different from the method used by the Brook brothers.
After searching for a long time, while secretly probing Akley with his consciousness and analysing him with his powerful consciousness, he tried to circulate the divine energy of his avatar in his body.
His Avatar of Destruction sat within the Cauldron of Myriad Demon . With a single thought, several vortexes formed around his avatar, spinning rhythmically. They moved in trajectories identical to the water vortices around Akley. Han Shuo tried to comprehend the brilliance of this method of using the Edict of Destruction.
However, before Han Shuo could learn anything, he suddenly sensed several people flying from whatever valley they came from.
"Akley is here - I can sense him. I really did not expect him to dare to run to Elysium. We must hurry. Otherwise, if this information gets to the experts on Elysium, none of us will have to think about getting the rewards!" a simple voice sounded from the direction. Although the entity had lowered its voice by using the Cauldron Spirit's energy, it was still audible to Han Shuo.
Ugh, this guy is in trouble. People are already catching up with him! It seems that this Divine Essence Mine is not going to come to us easily! Han Shuo sensed that the enemy group consisted of a late-stage Lowgod of Destruction and two mid-stage Lowgods of Darkness.
Although Han Shuo could use Dolores to block them, doing so might reveal the information about this divine essence mine. After thinking for a while, ignoring the fact that Akley was in the process of recovering, Han Shuo grabbed him and began to fly away from the valley.