The slaughter in the valley had reached its most brutal stage. Of the dozens who had come from Fort Verka, more than a third had been killed in a short time. Most of those who survived were those determined to become Godhunters. Those who were determined not to read the giant scroll in the sky had to deal with the attacks of those who wanted to consume their divine energy. It was only a matter of time before they were killed.
Han Shuo continued to pretend to consume Anli's divine energy as he coldly watched those who had gone mad. He carefully gathered the Cauldron Spirit's energy in preparation for sucking the divine souls of the fallen gods into the Cauldron of Myriad Demon .
However, once everything was in order, Han Shuo felt rather hesitant and indecisive. The valley was in utter chaos, and under such circumstances, it would be very difficult for most people to detect his subtle manoeuvre. However, Brovst, hiding deep in his cave, must have been watching every movement and activity in the valley. If Han Shuo were to set out to collect those divine souls that had not yet dissipated between heaven and earth, Brovst, as a Highgod, would most likely discover it.
It was because of this concern that Han Shuo couldn't make up his mind. At the same time, he felt extremely sad to do nothing but watch the dozens of divine souls laid out in front of him. After turning in his mind for some time, Han Shuo decided to take the risk. He thought that people wouldn't notice his actions when he got close to the deceased bodies, and he would be more careful when collecting their souls with the Cauldron Spirit.
As long as he could completely collect the several dozen divine souls in the valley, Han Shuo believed that even if he was discovered by Brovst and had to flee the valley using Demonic Blood Disassembly, the gain would outweigh the loss.
Having made up his mind, Han Shuo cast aside all his misgivings. He slowly let go of Anli's clasped hands and began to get to work.
"Haha, Miss Eunice, today I will let you experience ecstasy to the fullest and send you straight to the pinnacle of bliss!", Rahman said at this moment as he laughed out loud. He turned into several shadows and shot towards Eunice.
Eunice's face was filled with grief, indignation and humiliation. She was heartbroken to see Rahman shoot over in multiple shadows and was ready to end her life.
Out of the blue, everything plunged into complete darkness. A terrifying aura of darkness descended from the clouds. Creaking sounds were heard as the boundary of destruction was torn apart.
As absolute darkness suddenly enveloped the entire valley, a chilling roar pierced the sky: "Brovst! Come forth to meet your doom!"
When the Domain of Divinity of the God of Darkness enveloped the valley, the atmosphere was filled with a dark mist that would not dissipate. Apart from a few who cultivated in the elemental energy of darkness, virtually everyone in the valley lost their ability to see clearly around them.
Eunice, ready to end her own life, felt the terrifying energy and heard the loud roar coming from above the clouds. She immediately realised that Brovst's nemesis must have arrived. This rekindled her will to live. She hastily began to flee, while Rahman turned pale with fear.
Han Shuo was one of the few in the valley who could still see his surroundings clearly. After the roar, he spotted a menacing dark figure suddenly storming out of the cave from which Brovst's voice echoed. It shot into the sky.
A series of explosions ripped through the sky. The rumble made the whole valley shake. Great boulders tumbled down the cliffs surrounding the valley with astonishing force. They contained the divine energies of destruction and darkness. Several people who were hit by the falling rocks spat out mouthfuls of blood and collapsed to the ground.
The explosions coming from the sky grew louder and louder. Han Shuo could sense with his consciousness that two terrifying existences were locked in an intense battle. The aftershocks from their battle were crashing into the surrounding cliffs, causing huge chunks of rock to fall, leaving some of the Lowgods with insufficient strength seriously injured.
By now, those whose hearts were filled with despair had replaced that feeling with the will to survive, and they fiercely launched their counterattacks. Meanwhile, those who wanted to become Godhunters in order to survive became hesitant when they discovered that they might be saved even if they did not participate. Their resolve wavered.
Unfortunately, the absolute darkness caused them all great complications.
As darkness descended over the entire valley, almost everyone was blinded. Although they tried their best to avoid each other in the pitch-black darkness, whenever they felt someone approaching, they would ruthlessly attack for the sake of self-preservation.
As a result, the crowd, which was supposed to stop slaughtering each other when help arrived, not only continued to fight, but the fighting became even more intense and ferocious!
In the pitch black, those who could not see their surroundings, whether intentionally or not, were trapped in a perpetual carnage. Han Shuo was like a fish as he weaved his way through the completely deranged crowd. The Cauldron of Myriad Demon in his hand emitted faint green flashes as he seized the opportunity to collect the divine souls that had yet to disperse between heaven and earth.
"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen... This is wonderful! These souls are all very good. They can all be refined into demon generals. This will make up for the demon generals we lost last time!" The Cauldron Spirit cheered excitedly in Han Shuo's consciousness.
Han Shuo did not feel the slightest bit of sympathy for those who were madly slaughtering each other. In fact, he wished that they would all die in the valley so that he could take their divine souls.
Soon, Han Shuo had collected a total of forty-three divine souls in the Cauldron of Myriad Demon. The darkness had unknowingly receded. When Han Shuo checked the situation in the valley again, he discovered that the Maden had gradually regained their sanity.
Looking around, he suddenly discovered that Rahman had disappeared without a trace. Even Lager, whom Han Shuo had tried to kill during the chaos, had disappeared while he was busy collecting divine souls.
Eunice arrived next to Barnett's body, which showed no signs of life. His divine soul had also been collected by Han Shuo. It appeared sad. Since Barnett was killed by Brovst because he was trying to protect her from being violet, and since Barnett was her uncle, it was only natural that she would feel so deeply hurt by his death.
The rumbling in the sky gradually receded into the distance. It seemed that the battle between the two fearsome gods had moved away from this small valley. As the barrier above was directly destroyed by Brovst's nemesis, the Godhunters who had been covetously eyeing the crowd escaped through the opening. Without the presence of this terrifying threat called Brovst, the crowd in the valley was safe for the time being.
As the darkness retreated, a few more figures rushed away with it. These figures had actually been part of the crowd that had come into the valley with Han Shuo. They couldn't resist the temptation and had actually consumed the destructive energy of other cultivators. The moment they consumed someone else's divine energy in front of others, they were branded as Godhunters for the rest of their lives. From that moment on, they were public enemies of all of Elysium. It was the only sensible thing for them to do.
Han Shuo, however, did not choose to leave. He quickly discovered that the dozen or more survivors were all glaring at him furiously. By now, all of the Godhunters, including the newest members, had disappeared. Han Shuo, who had previously pretended to devour Anli's divine energy, immediately became the common enemy of all those survivors.
Had Han Shuo not demonstrated his immense strength earlier, these people might have lost their restraint and attacked Han Shuo murderously instead of just staring at him. Eunice, who had been crying and mourning beside Barnett's body, suddenly stood up. She fixed her ice-cold eyes on Han Shuo and said in a chilling voice, "You are also a godhunter, a participant in this bloody slaughter. I will take your life and offer it to my uncle!"
While others might have been afraid of attacking Han Shuo because of his terrifying strength, Eunice was just one level above Han Shuo in terms of her level of destructive energy, so she naturally had no fear of Han Shuo. Therefore, Han Shuo became the ideal target for her to vent the hatred in her heart.
Before Han Shuo had a chance to explain, Eunice had transformed her grief and sorrow into the energy of destruction. She swallowed up all the feelings of helplessness and despair she had felt when facing Rahman earlier. Radiances of destruction erupted from her delicate palm and intertwined to form a huge web that covered Han Shuo.
Han Shuo cursed her in his mind and retreated hastily, shouting, "This is all a big misunderstanding!"
Eunice remained silent and glared at Han Shuo angrily. She had seen Han Shuo consume Anli's divine energy with her own eyes and didn't care what Han Shuo had to say. She thought he was just arguing.
Although Han Shuo wasn't afraid of Eunice, he had to prove his innocence to the crowd, especially since Eunice had seen his divine tablet. If he didn't clear himself now, it would be extremely difficult for him to prove that he wasn't a godhunter in the future.
Eunice vigorously pursued Han Shuo. With a few bits of demonic yuan in his main body, Han Shuo was incredibly fast and agile. Eunice couldn't catch up with Han Shuo, no matter how hard she tried.
"Anli was already dead by the time I got to him. Even though I laid my hands on him, I was only acting. I did not actually take his divine energy. I couldn't bear Lager's actions, so I deliberately stepped forward to oppose Lager. I have no thoughts of actually devouring Anli. Besides, if I did, how would I dare to stay here when all the Godhunters have fled? Woman, can you please use your brain for a moment?" Han Shuo explained as he dodged Eunice's pursuit.
After hearing Han Shuo's words, the other remaining survivors showed puzzled expressions. Two of them even approached Anli's body and examined it. They noticed that apart from the small arrow behind his heart, there weren't many injuries. He did not appear to have been devoured by Han Shuo.
Normally, only a few god hunters with extremely powerful powers, who often Consumed others' divine energy, could do so simply by body contact. Most Lowgods would need both hands inside the victim's body to consume their divine energy.
The puncture wounds Lager made with his hands on Anli's chest were very distinctive. However, there were no similar wounds on Anli's back. This was enough evidence to support Han Shuo's claim.
"Miss Eunice, you must be mistaken. His words are indeed true. He has done nothing to Anli!" one of the people examining Anli's wounds suddenly shouted.
Eunice finally stopped chasing after Han Shuo after hearing these words. She shot a very fierce glare at Han Shuo and let out a cold groan.
Han Shuo cursed inwardly, "What? You refuse to apologise for unjustly attacking me, yet you continue to stare at me so fiercely. How unreasonable!
"You have been behaving very strangely. Even if you did not absorbed Anli's divine energy, you must have thought about it. Otherwise, you wouldn't have stayed next to him for so long!" Eunice said resentfully as she glared at Han Shuo.
"Madwoman, I'm done arguing with you. All you know how to do is misunderstand the situation and throw tantrums!" Han Shuo replied impatiently.
"What, what did you say?" Eunice's eyes were red with rage as she shouted at Han Shuo. Her mind was affected by Barnett's tragic death and was like gunpowder inches away from fire.
Han Shuo rolled his eyes and ignored her.
Suddenly, a group of eight men descended from the clouds. These men all wore dark divine armour and were midgods.
"Lord Erebus has chased Brovst away. Are you all right?" a young man with short but straight green hair looked around the valley and asked.
"Is it really him? The Lord Erebus? One of the Seven Supreme Guardians of the City of Shadows? No wonder Brovst had to retreat!" The survivors cried out in surprise at hearing Erebus' name, and heaved a heavy sigh of relief.
"I am a member of the Croton family of Fort Verka. May I know where we are?" Eunice might be full of anger when speaking to Han Shuo, but she was obviously less imposing and more respectful towards these divine guards from the City of Shadows.
"Pretty lady, this is the Chicoro Mountain Range. You are a long way from Fort Verka," the green-haired man bowed slightly towards Eunice, smiling warmly. There was obviously a certain instinctive interest in his gaze, usually seen in men.
"The Chicoro Mountains! Those Godhunters are really daring to set up a base in the Chicoro Mountains. This place is very close to the City of Shadows!" someone shouted softly.
"Don't worry, the situation is under our control now. Most of the Godhunters who tried to escape have been killed. You are safe now," the green-haired man said smiling. After a short pause, he turned to his colleagues behind him and instructed, "Let's check the valley and see if there are any who slipped through the net. Also, collect the valuables of the dead as our booty!"
Upon hearing the order, the divine guards immediately swung into action and searched every cave in the valley. When they returned, they asked, "Who is so despicable as to have taken all the valuables of the deceased? Was it you?"
"It wasn't us. Just now, when Lord Erebus unfolded his domain of divinity, this valley was pitch black. It must have been someone who cultivates in the energy of darkness. None of us cultivate in the energy of darkness, so it definitely cannot be us!" one of the survivors hastily explained.
Han Shuo's eyebrows furrowed, but the corner of his lips curved in an obscure smile of satisfaction. He joined the crowd, loudly cursing the unknown person who had plundered the dead.