***City of Shadows. Fifth Corps.
A divine guard with a panicked face rushed into a room where Avery was doing paperwork and immediately crouched down on the floor. Panting anxiously, he said, "My... My Lord... It's bad..."
"Oh," Avery acknowledged. He did not move his head, his eyes fixed on the scroll in his hand. "What is it?"
"Cage and Eve, they, they..." the divine guard stammered. He couldn't seem to finish the sentence.
Avery knitted his brows and put down the document in his hand. He groaned slightly and asked, "They're out making a mess, aren't they? Who have they offended this time? Is it someone from the House of Sainte?"
"No..."
Avery was obviously relieved to hear that. He exhaled quietly and replied, "That's fortunate. As long as it's not the House of Sainte, it's no big deal. If the two ne'er-do-wells insult someone from the Sainte family again, it will be a hard thing to deal with."
"No... Cage and Eve have not offended anyone. At Fort Hassell... they... they were..." the divine guard simply could not muster the courage to say the word in front of Avery.
"They were what? Were they beaten by someone? Hmph, Fort Hassell belongs to our House of Lavers. They are quite brave to do that in our territory!" Avery groaned coldly.
"No... those two... were killed at Fort Hassell!" the divine guard gritted his teeth and finally told the bloody news.
Avery was suddenly stunned. His eyes were hollow. For a moment he seemed unable to process this terrible news. When he finally came to himself, he grabbed the Divine Guard by the neck and shouted angrily, "What did you say? Say it again!"
"Spare... spare me, my lord. News has arrived from Fort Hassell that Cage and Eve have been murdered while gathering sea fruits at Poseidon's Tears... Spare me, my Lord!" the divine guard pleaded, explaining.
"NOO...!" Avery roared into the sky. His voice spread throughout the Fifth Corps.
A streak of shadow suddenly flew out of the Fifth Corps. It was heading away from the City of Shadows. As it passed through the city gates, it did not even stop to register.
***Two days later, on the island where Cage and Eve were staying.
Avery was stunned as he stared blankly at Cage and Eve's bodies laid out before him. Cage's skull was completely crushed and he could only be identified by his physique. Eve's head had been severed from her body. It was sewn back on with thread...
Avery's wife had long since passed away, leaving him with their only son and daughter. He was very spoiled with Cage and Eve. Although they had always made mistakes and caused him trouble, he had always forgiven and tolerated them. If either of them were bullied, he would do everything in his power to retaliate.
For Avery, they were his world. The pain he felt when he saw their bodies lying lifeless before him was so great that he felt suffocated.
"Did you not find any evidence?" Avery asked calmly as he looked at the two bodies.
"Forgive us, my Lord... Forgive us..." a group of divine guards knelt in a row and begged for mercy.
"Well then, there is no point in any of you continuing to live," Avery said in a calm voice. Hearing these words, the faces of the Divine Guards turned as ashen as the dead. Some even took to the air and tried to escape.
Several shadows shot out from Avery's body, each one targeting a person. A series of eerie, pitiful screams rang out as blood and severed body parts rained down around Avery.
Not one of the divine guards who had come to Fort Hassell with Cage and Eve escaped Avery's brutal slaughter. None of them landed with their bodies intact!
"Who, who could it be?" Avery muttered to himself, completely ignoring the intense stench of blood and body parts strewn around him.
"Could it be him? But he is only a Lowgod. Even if he staged a sneak attack, he still wouldn't have been able to match Eve and Cage, especially Cage - he couldn't fall for a lowgod's sneak attack. Who could it be? Who have I offended lately?"
After thinking for a while, he suddenly furrowed his brow, put on a malevolent expression and muttered, "Carmelita was looking for that runt. If Andre knew it was me, she might have found out as well. That foul-mouthed idiot is completely insane and has a close friendship with that fellow. Eve had insulted her before. Could she have done that? Should be... must be her..."
"Number three!" Avery shouted.
"Yes!" came a reply from Avery's shadow, cast under the hot sun.
"Investigate Carmelita's recent activities and keep a close eye on her. Report to me as soon as you discover anything!" Avery instructed.
"Understood!" came a simple reply. Soon after, a shadow separated from Avery and disappeared into the beautiful ocean.
To the northwest of Fort Hassell was the Greenfire Swamp. It was there that Han Shuo hid among the leaves of an overgrown tree.
The Greenfire Swamp was a huge swamp, several thousand square miles in size. Throughout the year, faint green flames would burn in the swamp, hence the name Greenfire.
After making observations, Han Shuo concluded that the source of the green flames was actually natural gas found inside the swamp, which was being released and burned. He also noticed that the 'natural gas' in this place was not quite the same as the kind he was familiar with. As well as being a different colour, this gas could burn for much longer. Perhaps this was the reason why green flames could be found in this swamp all year round.
The Greenfire Swamp was home to all kinds of magical beasts with amazing strength but little intelligence. There were also some non-human species with high intelligence, such as the triops Han Shuo had seen in the Abyss Realm, and humanoids with eagle-like wings sprouting from their backs.
Aside from the green flames and swamps that were everywhere, this place also contained some mountains and rivers that contained beautiful energy crystals with unique functions. In addition to energy crystals, the Greenfire Swamp also produced all kinds of medicinal ingredients that pharmacists needed.
For this reason, the Greenfire Swamp was not a quiet place. The energy crystals and medicinal ingredients within had attracted many gods from small towns and fortresses around the swamp to come and mine the natural resources for profit. The presence of these gods attracted a special group of people. They were not there to mine ores or collect medicinal ingredients, but to hunt and prey on other gods - they were godhunters!
Han Shuo had come to Greenfire Swamp purely by chance. After killing Cage and Eve, Han Shuo discovered that the divine guards on the island had basically lost their minds. They were all activated and sent out to search and interrogate anyone on the island who might be remotely connected to the murder.
If the divine guards discovered him, Han Shuo believed it would not be long before Avery would link the deaths of his son and daughter to him. The Greenfire Swamp was some distance from Fort Hassell and sparsely populated. It was the perfect place for him to hide.
Shortly after Han Shuo arrived at Greenfire Swamp through his demon generals, he was shocked to discover that a pharmacist who was gathering medicinal ingredients there had been murdered by a godhunter. But after careful observation, he felt much more at ease when he learned that the Godhunters were not particularly powerful and did not hunt in large packs.
Not only was Han Shuo reassured, but he was also elated at the chance to become a hunter himself - to hunt the Godhunters.
The incident where Avery almost killed him was a wake-up call for Han Shuo. He understood that his plan to establish his own family clan in the City of Shadows by simply amassing wealth and relying entirely on Carmelita and the House of Sainte for protection was a deluded fantasy. If he really wanted to gain a foothold in the City of Shadows, he would have to do much more than that.
Only by becoming more powerful and gaining a strength that no family clan would dare look down upon could he protect himself and his fortune and stand firmly in the City of Shadows. Otherwise, everything he had would be as insubstantial as a house of cards.
After realising this, Han Shuo made it his top priority to increase his strength. To advance in the realm of demonic arts, one usually needed to have some sort of lucky encounter. It was very difficult to ascend through the realms with just a short burst of effort and cultivation.
However, this was not the case for Han Shuo's avatars - especially his Death Avatar. Having previously absorbed the divine soul of a midgod, this avatar of his only needed to acquire enough divine energy and breakthroughs would come easily. After exhausting all of his Death Soul, the quickest way to increase his divine energy was to absorb another cultivator's divine energy.
Han Shuo had previously overcome the negative effects of consuming divine energy, so he wasn't afraid of becoming addicted to it again. Although Han Shuo could not just slaughter every random person he met, as his conscience would not allow it, he certainly did not feel the same way about other Godhunters. Therefore, when Han Shuo discovered the presence of a few godhunters in Greenfire Swamp, he did not immediately leave, but rather rejoiced.
With his senses enhanced by the demon generals, Han Shuo became one of the most fearsome hunters in the Greenfire Swamp. Two Midgod God Hunters cultivating in the energy of death became Han Shuo's first target.
His prey was a man and a woman. The man looked to be in his thirties, while the woman looked to be in her forties. Of course, this was in reference to the mortals on Earth and the Profound Continent. Their actual ages were certainly much, much higher.
The man and woman were hiding in the darkness, silently observing a cave made of rocks cooked to a bright red by the green flames, waiting to ambush any random innocent passersby who came into their view. Funnily enough, they were unaware that they were being stalked by Han Shuo!
Han Shuo had been watching the pair for three days. The female was a Mid-stage Midgod, while the male was an Early-stage Midgod. They had attacked twice in those three days, and had managed to devour the divine energies of an Early-stage Lowgod and a Mid-stage Lowgod who had gone to mine energy ore in the cave.
"Faria, are you sure about this?" the man asked quietly.
"Do not question my observations. The energy wave on this little girl is unusually strong. She must be carrying a high god's divine weapon. If we can get the divine weapon, we will be rich!" said the woman named Faria, licking her lips. Her eyes shone with lights of greed and cruelty.
"Highgod's divine weapon? Hehe... That would be wonderful!" the man laughed and suddenly asked, "And how old is the girl? What does she look like? You should know about my... fetish... hehe..."
"For God's sake, Grussie. I don't care what you want to do, but put it off until we get the Highgod's divine weapon. If you interfere in my business in any way, you'll see no mercy from me!" Faria cursed softly.
After a long wait, a beautiful little girl who looked to be around ten years old suddenly emerged from the cave. She had pale skin, purple hair that fell over her shoulders, and a pair of purple eyes filled with icy cold. Though she looked like a doll, she did not appear endearing, for the air of coldness she carried was too intense. In fact, she seemed rather unfriendly.
Grussie suddenly began to breathe heavily when he saw the girl. His face was flushed with excitement as he squealed softly, "A beauty! An absolute beauty! I like her!"
"Her bodyguards haven't caught up with her yet. Now is the best time to grab her. Move!" Faria was obviously excited too, but her interest was only in the divine weapon the little girl possessed.
Suddenly, two trails of sinister radiance shot out from a patch of darkness. A Domain of Divinity of Death suddenly enveloped the little girl. They grabbed her excitedly.
"Oh no! This is far too soon!" During the three days that Han Shuo had been stalking the pair, he had not interfered with their attacks, instead using those opportunities to observe and gain a clear understanding of their strengths. But this time, when he saw that this beautiful little girl was about to fall into their treacherous attack, he finally decided to step forward to rescue her. Han Shuo had not expected the two of them to attack her so rashly.
But at the very next moment, something completely unexpected happened...
A magnificent and dazzling curtain of light erupted from the little girl with the eerie complexion. A most bizarre energy field was spontaneously emitted. The light curtain was like a nuclear plasma grinder, capable of pulverising all matter. Faria and Grussie were transformed into bloody mist and fine bloody particles scattered everywhere before Han Shuo could even realise what had happened.
"What a beautiful scene!" a warm smile blossomed on the little girl's cold face as blood splashed down and drenched her petite figure. Then she muttered to herself, "There seems to be one more person..."