Erebus, one of the Seven Divine Guardians of the City of Shadows, had defeated Brovst, a leader of the Godhunter Alliance. The crisis in the valley was resolved.
When the survivors in the valley heard from the green-haired man that it was Erebus who had come to their rescue, they all cheered. All of the midgod-level divine guards left the valley as soon as they discovered that there were no godhunters left and no loot to be harvested.
After their departure, Han Shuo and the other survivors dispersed from the valley.
After flying out of the valley, Han Shuo hovered high in the air and gazed into the distance. He noticed that this bumpy Chicoro mountain range contained unbroken chains of mountains that stretched beyond the horizon. After unfolding his consciousness, Han Shuo sensed the countless presence of life in the mountain range. Through the visions of several demon generals in the Cauldron of Myriad Demon , Han Shuo discovered that these life forms took on all sorts of strange and unique shapes.
He saw a lion the size of a small hill, a python several hundred metres long with a sharp black horn on its head, a huge eagle spitting raging inferno as it fought a giant python curled up on the ground.
Observing the ground, Han Shuo realized that the magical beasts on Elysium, perhaps affected by their environment's extreme abundance of elemental energy, had grown to be extremely formidable. Not only were they colossal, but some of them had the innate ability to utilise the elemental energy found between heaven and earth. Their life aura was extremely powerful, and some of them were even more terrifying than Lowgods.
As Han Shuo continued to survey the scene, he noticed that the ground was filled with deep craters starting from the valley and extending northwards. These large craters must have formed recently, for some of the cracks were growing larger, while several small mountains were still swaying. Huge boulders would tumble down the mountains from time to time.
Han Shuo immediately realised that the scene he was witnessing was caused by the great battle between Erebus and Brovst. Han Shuo slowly travelled along the trail of destruction. Every so often, he glanced around as he tried to gauge their true strength from the remnants of their battle.
All along the way, Han Shuo had seen scenes of utter devastation caused by the exchange of blows between the two. He had walked past several collapsed small mountains and huge trees with a girth that would take ten people to wrap their arms around that had been uprooted. The earth had also been torn into several deep ravines. Han Shuo made a vague assessment from the scenes he saw.
Upon arriving at a collapsed mountain, Han Shuo noticed that the scars on the ground did not extend any further. It seemed that when they fought to this mountain, they took the fight to the sky, or perhaps one of them decided to escape. That would explain why Han Shuo did not find any more remains.
Han Shuo learned from the green-haired man that the Chicoro Mountains were not far from the City of Shadows. From that collapsed mountain, Han Shuo travelled north on foot, taking three days to leave the Chicoro Mountain Range. It was obvious that this mountain range was vast.
After three days, Han Shuo found even more strange and bizarre magical beasts. Some of the magical beasts were so powerful that even Han Shuo did not dare to provoke them and stayed far, far away. According to the classification of magical beasts that Han Shuo was familiar with, these mighty creatures would have been far above rank five and around rank eight or nine.
Aside from some bizarre magical beasts, Han Shuo had also discovered some natural treasures that contained immense spiritual energy, namely Emerald Grass, Fire Fruits, and Blueheart Stone. Some of these natural treasures could simply be consumed to increase Han Shuo's Demonic Yuan, while others could be turned into pills with wonderful uses after some simple refining processes.
All of these things were unclaimed. The vast majority of the people on Elysium had no understanding of the wonderful uses of these precious natural treasures. Of course, Han Shuo would not be modest about helping himself. He unabashedly collected every last one of the natural treasures he discovered on his journey. When Han Shuo finally left the Chicoro Mountains, the demonic yuan in his body had increased considerably.
Han Shuo wasted no time after leaving the Chicoro Mountains. He spent half a month traveling through several large and small villages and fortresses before finally arriving early one morning at one of the seven major cities of the Darkness Dominion, the City of Shadows. As he stood in front of the magnificent gate made of black rock that touched the sky, Han Shuo strangely felt a sense of diminutiveness and insignificance.
When Han Shuo raised his head to look at the towering dark gates, he could feel an awe-inspiring, majestic aura. Even though it was early in the morning, there was a large stream of people lining up to enter the city like Han Shuo.
Unlike Fort Verka, most of those who entered the City of Shadows were Lowgods and Midgods. There were even one or two Highgods who entered the city with VIP treatment. Those with Basegods and Demigod strength were incredibly rare to see. The few beings with such strength were minors and children.
As Han Shuo stood outside the city gates, he truly realised that thanks to the intensity of the elemental energies in the atmosphere and the openness in martial arts cultivation, the beings in Elysium were indeed pervertedly mighty and powerful. Back on the Profound Continent, a demigod or basegod would be either an overlord or an engine driving an entire nation. But in this City of Shadows Elysium, even children who had not yet reached adulthood were that powerful. The differences between the two worlds could not be more stark.
After observing for a moment, Han Shuo also began to enter the city. After handing over his divine tablet and a piece of purple crystal coin, he was finally inside the City of Shadows.
The first things that caught his eye were the densely packed boundary towers and magical towers that had been erected behind the city gate. They were filled with glittering energy stones that seemed to provide the city with an endless supply of the energy needed to sustain its luxurious lifestyle.
"Hello, excuse me, may I know how to get to the House of Lavers?" Han Shuo asked a divine guard stationed at the city gate.
The disdainful look on the divine guard's face faded when he heard Han Shuo say "House of Lavers". He gave Han Shuo a cautious look before pointing to the southwest and replied, "Travel in that direction for about half a day and you will be close to it. The House of Lavers is one of the five major families in the City of Shadows. Once you get there, just ask about anyone there can show you the exact location."
Han Shuo thanked him with a smile and started to head southwest.
Compared to Fort Verka, the City of Shadows was more than ten times larger. Every single building here was tall enough to touch the sky. For some reason, while travelling in the City of Shadows, Han Shuo had the feeling that he had not yet left the Chicoro Mountains. He also realised that these mighty beings preferred to live in high and tall buildings. From his senses, he could tell that the elemental energy was slightly denser in high places. Even though it was only a tiny bit denser, it was more than enough reason for those beings who sought ever greater powers to build their houses high and tall.
If it weren't for the fact that the buildings would collapse under their own weight if they were built too high, these godly existences living on Elysium might have built their houses right up to the heavens. Their desire for strength was just a thin line away from madness.
As Han Shuo walked through the buildings that were as magnificent as mountains, a feeling of insignificance once again rose in his heart. All around him, there were energy towers, magical towers, and boundary towers glittering with soft light. Some of these energy towers seemed to have the function of collecting elemental energy. After entering the City of Shadows, Han Shuo clearly felt the elemental energy of darkness and death intensify.
Along the way, Han Shuo saw a dazzling array of gymnasiums and shops of all kinds. They were all dedicated to the service of godly beings. Most of the goods for sale were divine armour, divine weapons, divine scrolls, and crystals of various functions.
For some reason, perhaps affected by the various and numerous energy towers and boundaries in the city, the range of Han Shuo's consciousness had been significantly reduced. Although they were no hindrance to other gods who were accustomed to the presence of all sorts of energies, the probing ability of Han Shuo's consciousness was adversely affected.
Puzzled, Han Shuo tried to boost his senses with the Cauldron Spirit's energy. He discovered that even with the Cauldron Spirit's energy, he could only sense the situation of everything within a one-mile radius. Compared to the vast City of Shadows, a one-mile radius was tiny.
While surveying his surroundings, Han Shuo had unknowingly travelled for half a day. As a new block appeared in front of him, he immediately realised that he was very close to his destination. Just as the divine guardian had said, the Laver Family was known to everyone in this region. Han Shuo found out the exact location of the House of Lavers after asking at a random shop.
Twenty minutes later, Han Shuo was standing right in front of the House of Lavers. There were towering buildings as far as the eye could see. There were many energy towers, boundary towers, and magical towers between the buildings that provided the House of Lavers with all the energy they needed.
The sky and space around him were sealed by powerful boundaries. Without a moment's hesitation, Han Shuo arrived at the main gate. He cleared his throat softly to attract the attention of the two divine guards stationed at the front.
Unlike the other divine guards in the City of Shadows, these divine guards from the House of Lavers wore green-coloured armour. At the centre of their chest piece was a design of a dark sun, which Han Shuo had seen embroidered on Donna's clothing. Therefore, Han Shuo knew that he had arrived at his destination when he saw this design on the divine guards' armour.
"Young man, what are you sneaking around for?" one of the divine guards glared at Han Shuo warily. He was a Lowgod cultivating in the element of darkness and possessed early stage power.
"I'm looking for Miss Donna from Lavers. Please inform her of my request!" Han Shuo said cordially as he smilingly handed over a few purple crystal coins.
The expressions of the two divine guards simultaneously relaxed as they saw Han Shuo's courtesy. The man smiled faintly, took Han Shuo's purple crystal coins and asked, "You know Miss Donna?"
Han Shuo nodded and replied, "My name is Bryan. Please inform Miss Donna that I'm here."
"Just a moment!" the two divine guards became much more polite after receiving Han Shuo's purple crystal coins. One of them quickly walked into the house.
"Where are you from? How did you meet Miss Donna?" The other divine guard was unoccupied. Seeing that Han Shuo was a pleasant person, he struck up a conversation with him.
"I was her guide on her last mission. That is how I got to know them. I've come here to look for her because she invited me," Han Shuo replied with a smile.
"In the Laver family, Miss Donna can be considered a relatively pleasant master. You are indeed lucky to know Miss Donna. However, you must still be careful within the Lavers Family. There are some young masters and young ladies who wouldn't be so tolerant," the divine guard felt that Han Shuo was a person he could get along with, so when he saw that no one was around, he gave Han Shuo a word of warning.
"Oh?" Han Shuo exclaimed in surprise and asked, "Would you mind telling me who is in the Lavers family?"
"Lord Patriarch has a younger brother and a younger sister. Miss Donna is the Lord Patriarch's second child. She has an older brother named Diwei. Lord Patriarch's brother has two sons and a daughter. The Lord Patriarch's sister married into the Bruce family in the Destruction Dominion. She no longer lives here. There are also a dozen or more collateral relatives who live here. Some of them are like Miss Donna and the Lord Patriarch - they are easy to get along with; some, not so much. After you go in, you should be very careful not to provoke these people," the divine guard warned.
Before coming over, Han Shuo had not heard Donna mention anything about her Lavers family. He had only come to the Lavers Family to look for Donna and learn a few things from her. He had no intention of working for the Lavers Family. Therefore, Han Shuo did not take the divine guard's warning to heart.
After exchanging a few casual sentences with the divine guard, Han Shuo sensed Donna's aura. Soon, Donna, wearing a long emerald green skirt and a broad smile, came into Han Shuo's view. "Bryan, what took you so long?" Donna's smile became even brighter when she saw Han Shuo.
The divine guard who had been chatting with Han Shuo immediately saw Han Shuo in a new light when he saw that Donna had come to greet him personally. Originally, he thought that Han Shuo was just trying to use his relationship with Donna to get a job under the Laver family. After all, Han Shuo was only a Lowgod. They ran into this kind of situation practically every day.
"There were some things that needed time to work out. I couldn't just leave without making proper arrangements. That world is my territory after all!" Han Shuo explained with a smile, pausing for a moment before continuing, "Miss Donna, you seem to have become even more beautiful after all this time!"
"You are such a sweet talker!" Donna scolded playfully before pulling Han Shuo in by his sleeves, "What are you standing there for? Come inside!"
The two divine guards were astonished that Donna seemed to be trying to pull Han Shuo closer to the Laver family. As Han Shuo's figure completely disappeared, the divine guard who had been chatting with Han Shuo muttered, "Although Miss Donna is a kind person, she has never been this warm, has she?"
The other divine guard nodded and remarked, "This young man is nothing simple!"