After ages of preparation, the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy finally opened for business.
On this day, representatives from the five major family clans came to congratulate Han Shuo. From the House of Sainte, Andre and Erebus; from the House of Kinson, Jiya and her uncle; from the House of Kisa, none other than Rugersey; and from the House of Buller, Tuxi, who had taken Tuya's place. Even the House of Lavers, who didn't have good relations with Han Shuo, had Diwei attend the opening. He presented Han Shuo with a silk banner.
All the nobles and elites were at the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy that day. In order to establish good relations with Han Shuo, the great family clans spared no effort to rally around his business. Thanks to their efforts, the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy's opening ceremony was a grand occasion.
Before opening to customers, the pharmacists hired by Han Shuo had prepared the medicines commonly used by Elysians and filled the empty shelves with medicine bottles.
Han Shuo was very busy all day. He had to receive and greet guests from dawn to dusk.
Since Han Shuo had not personally refined any more pellet medicines, the ones sold that day were simply ordinary medicines. Although this was somewhat disappointing to the representatives of the large family clans, they had still purchased more than four hundred bottles of medicine to boost his sales. The Celestial Pearl Pharmacy had made a profit of over twenty thousand black crystal coins that day.
With this good omen, on top of his excellent reputation in the City of Shadows, Han Shuo believed that the Celestial Pearl would have a prosperous and profitable future, earning him crystal coins by the truckload.
With everything around the Celestial Pearl in perfect orbit, Han Shuo gave Gu Li full responsibility for the production of medicines. Gu Li, who had once despised Han Shuo, now completely admired Han Shuo. She was Han Shuo's most loyal and devoted employee.
After delegating the task, Han Shuo had more time to cultivate. He stayed in the gymnasium and practised borrowing and using the Cauldron Spirit's energy.
Han Shuo could suddenly increase his strength by an enormous amount and possess immense power by imbuing his body with Cauldron Spirit's Demon General Energy, so much so that it would allow him to take on a Highgod. However, as tough and robust as his body was, it couldn't withstand the energy for any length of time. He had tried it a dozen times and the longest he could last was about three minutes. Beyond that, his demonic infant would begin to fail.
It didn't take long for Han Shuo to realise that borrowing the Cauldron Spirit's energy was not the right way to cultivate. It was only by forging his demonic body, making it even harder, and making a breakthrough in the realm state that he could truly become stronger.
Even though Han Shuo had seen no signs of an imminent breakthrough from the Omen Realm all this time, Han Shuo had never let up in his cultivation. After all, he had not spent that much time on it. It was unlikely that he could advance and make progress without spending tens, if not hundreds, of years in secluded cultivation.
The Omen Realm was not the ultimate realm in the demonic arts. There were three realms after it - Skybreak Realm, Diablo Realm, and Exalted Demonlord Realm. Gu Tian Xie, in this peak realm called Exalted Demonlord, was able to rip the fabric of space-time and travel across universes. Just from a brief description from the Cauldron Spirit, Han Shuo could imagine how powerful the Exalted Demonlord must be.
Not only did each small step forward require a great deal of cultivation time, but Han Shuo also had to take enormous risks with each attempt. In fact, if he were to break through from the Omen Realm to the Skybreaking Realm, Han Shuo would face a catastrophe. It was a process he had no choice but to go through. If he failed to resolve the calamity by then, not only would his strength never increase again, but his consciousness could also be wiped out. Han Shuo realised that every step of his cultivation would be accompanied by great danger.
Time passed quickly. Han Shuo had retreated to the gymnasium for ten years.
After going through so many challenges and crises on Elysium, Han Shuo had improved in all aspects of himself to a certain degree. Ten years of meditation had allowed him to digest and understand his experiences. His mind had become calmer and his state in the Omen Realm had stabilised.
Ten years on Elysium was like the snap of a finger. For the gods living there, whose lifespans were in the thousands, if not tens of thousands of years, ten years wasn't all that long.
After Han Shuo left the gymnasium, Gu Li and the others updated him on the current situation. During his ten years of cultivation, Celestial Pearl Pharmacy had earned Han Shuo more than a million black crystal coins. Of the sixteen chain stores he owned, five were open for business. Celestial Pearl Pharmacy had become the largest pharmacy in the City of Shadows.
During this time, the members of the House of Lavers retreated from the City of Shadows one by one. The House of Sainte turned a blind eye to their actions. After all, the House of Lavers had contributed something to the City of Shadows. Although Wallace detested the Lavers family, it was in his best interest not to be too cruel, especially when they had not rebelled against his rule.
Felder clearly understood Wallace's thoughts. He had kept watch at the Lavers residence, keeping a low profile while arranging for Donna, Diwei and the others to leave the city on the pretext that they had been assigned tasks in remote locations to gain experience and temper themselves. Having lost the trust of the House of Sainte, the House of Lavers quickly fell into decline. Within ten short years, the Lavers family had lost its prestige and reputation as one of the five major family clans in the City of Shadows. Even some members of smaller family clans dared to confront the House of Lavers head on.
However, Felder was unperturbed. He endured all the pain and insults with great patience, using all sorts of methods to drive away members of his Lavers family.
This action of Felder's seemed to be in accordance with Wallace's intentions. He never stopped or obstructed these actions, as if he had tacitly approved them. The appearance of a small rift between two great family clans could easily destroy the friendship that had taken decades to build. Wallace could not forgive Avery for nearly taking Carmelita's life.
After Avery's disappearance, the position of Chief of the Fifth Corps was left vacant. The remaining three major family clans all showed great interest in the position. Even the smaller family clans, seeing it as an opportunity to rise to prominence, had tried various means to gain the position from the House of Sainte.
To be fair to all the family clans, Wallace set a single condition - whoever wanted the position would have to exchange it for Avery's head!
Avery had been missing for many years. No one knew where he had gone. After hearing Wallace's condition, all the family clans in the City of Shadows had made painstaking efforts to locate Avery, but none had made any progress in all those years. As a result, the position of head of the Fifth Corps, though coveted by many, remained vacant.
After learning of the recent events in the City of Shadows, seeing that his Celestial Pearl Pharmacy was functioning properly, and with the fact that he had properly established himself in the City of Shadows, in addition to the fact that he had spent ages on Elysium, Han Shuo decided that it was time for him to return to the Profound Continent and bring his ladies he could not part with to live with him on Elysium.
For the time being, Han Shuo had no enemies in the City of Shadows. Relying on the financial power of the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy and his connections with the House of Sainte, Han Shuo was confident that the safety of his lovers would be assured. Considering how intense the elemental energies were on Elysium, with so many sources on how to ascend to Godhood, with all the resources available on this material plane, cultivating on Elysium would be a hundred times faster than cultivating on the Profound Continent.
Emily, Phoebe, and the others were relatively powerful on the Profound Continent. Han Shuo believed that once they arrived in the City of Shadows, they would be able to make rapid progress in this superior environment. Having made this decision, Han Shuo prepared to leave for the interplanar transportation facility he had arrived at to return to the Profound Continent.
Before leaving, Han Shuo made a trip to the Sainte Residence to visit Carmelita, as she had fully recovered from her injuries.
Han Shuo was shocked when he saw Carmelita again. After ten years, her skin had become pale and she had lost her sinister, fierce appearance. There were still some spots on her skin, but they had faded almost completely. Although Carmelita was still far from beautiful, the word "ugly" could no longer be used to describe her appearance.
Carmelita was very happy to see Han Shuo. She patted Han Shuo's shoulder excitedly and said casually, "You rascal, I went to the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy several times to look for you, but who knew you would be cultivating all this time? Look at me, can you tell the difference?"
""You have become more beautiful!" Han Shuo said sincerely.
"Haha, everyone said that! Bryan, thank you. Not only did you save me twice, you also fixed my damn face. I can be normal now. I don't know how I could ever repay you," Carmelita said laughing.
"That's what friends are for!" Han Shuo replied with a smile. After talking and catching up for a while, Han Shuo finally revealed, "I'm going to leave Elysium and it might be a while before I return."
"Huh?" Carmelita exclaimed in surprise. "Where are you going?"
"My homeworld, to bring some people here! Hehe, Elysium is the best place to cultivate. I've lived well here, and it's not right for me to neglect my friends back in that world! I may have been powerless to defend myself on Elysium before, but now that I've finally gained a small foothold, it's time to help my friends!" Han Shuo could not contain the longing in his heart as he remembered Emily, Phoebe and the others.
"You're quite a sentimental person, aren't you? Well, unfortunately, my father has been pushing me hard to cultivate lately, otherwise I would have gone with you just for fun. But I know that little girl has a lot of power. You should be fine with her around," Carmelita said smiling.
"Oh, that reminds me, why are the interplanar transportation matrices built so far away from the city?" asked Han Shuo.
"To us Elysians, those on other material planes are merely slaves to provide us with the power of faith, and on a normal day we rarely travel to other material planes and therefore do not often use interplanar transportation facilities. In addition, we believe that those who arrive on Elysium should overcome some challenges to get to the major cities. Therefore, interplanar transportation facilities are usually located in remote and desolate valleys far from the city," Carmelita explained.
Han Shuo grimaced after hearing this explanation. He understood that to the Elysians, those from low level material planes were only worthy of being their servants. They were born with a sense of superiority.
In most circumstances, those who left the Plane of Gods would seek to conquer other material planes in order to gain the power of faith. Although Elysium was vast, the Elysians were willing to waste time travelling. They saw it as part of the process of steeling themselves, and were happy to place the interplanar transportation matrices far from the cities. This would also allow outsiders arriving on Elysium for the first time to learn not to expect the royal treatment they would receive on the low level material planes from which they came.
After speaking with Carmelita, Han Shuo left the Sainte Residence, returned to the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy, spent two days preparing for the journey, and set off with Andrina.
Andrina's power was overwhelming. Han Shuo believed that most of the problems he would face on the journey could be solved with Andrina alone. Even if he encountered Godhunters of Brovst's level, Andrina could easily lead Han Shuo to safety.
Besides, Han Shuo would return to Elysium with his friends and girlfriends. With Andrina's protection, their journey to the City of Shadows would be much safer.
Han Shuo and Andrina left the City of Shadows and headed towards the valley where this interplanar transport facility was located. Andrina was very curious about the Profound Continent, and she had been asking Han Shuo everything about this material plane all along the journey. It was quite annoying for Han Shuo.
They came across several Godhunters scattered across the mountain ranges. Under Andrina's merciless hands, not a single one of those Godhunters managed to escape. They all died for Andrina.
"You seem unsympathetic when you attack Godhunters. Do you have any animosity towards them?" Han Shuo asked Andrina enigmatically after they had crossed a mountain range.
In all the time that Han Shuo had been in contact with Andrina, he had never seen her kill anyone so viciously. She refused to kill even when Han Shuo tempted her with crystal coins. However, when Han Shuo first met Andrina in the Greenfire Swamp, he had seen her hunt and kill godhunters. From the fact that Andrina was being hunted by the leaders of the God Hunters, Han Shuo deduced that she must be especially hated and feared by the Godhunters. And from Andrina's performance, Han Shuo could tell that Andrina had a deep-seated grudge against the Godhunters.
"They deserve to die!" Andrina's face immediately turned icy cold when she heard Han Shuo mention the godhunters.
"You have a grudge against them?" Han Shuo asked.
Andrina nodded. But when she saw that Han Shuo was going to ask more questions, she hastily said, "This has nothing to do with you, so don't ask so many questions! She paused for a moment before continuing quietly, "Besides, I have not asked you much about your secrets!"
Han Shuo forced a smile, nodded and kept his mouth shut.
They hurried on with their journey. Since the two of them could travel at extraordinary speeds, it had taken them just over two months to reach the interplanar transportation facility that Han Shuo had used earlier.
In order to use the interplanar transport facility, he had to pay enough crystal coins.
After arriving in the valley, Han Shuo soon met Jeff, who had helped him obtain a divine tablet. However, compared to his cordial attitude before, Jeff had obviously become much colder now.
When Jeff heard Han Shuo say that he wanted to use the interplanar transportation matrix, he replied sarcastically, "I heard you were doing very well in the City of Shadows recently. But you seem to have forgotten who it was that helped you with everything when you first arrived on Elysium. This place may be far from the city, but we still hear most of the news from there. We pay a lot of attention to the ingratitude of one particular person..." After a short pause, Jeff put on a mocking smile and said, "I'm sorry, at the moment the transportation matrix is only accepting arrivals, not departures. You will have to wait."
Han Shuo's face turned cold and he asked, "When will it accept departures?"
"I can't say for sure. That's up to Lord Dolores," Jeff said lazily.
Dolores was Doloxes older brother. Han Shuo had nearly killed Doloxes on the first day he arrived at the Laver Residence. Obviously, the people in the valley were aware of what had happened in the City of Shadows. Unfortunately for Han Shuo, the story they knew was one-sided. They had no idea of Doloxes' despicable actions, nor did they know that Avery had twice attempted to assassinate him.
From their point of view, the Laver House had been very considerate and had organised things for him before he arrived on Elysium. But who knew that after Han Shuo arrived in the City of Shadows, not only would he not contribute to the House of Lavers, he would also turn against them. Therefore, they regarded Han Shuo as an ungrateful little parasite who kicked his benefactor in the teeth.
"Take me to Dolores. I want to talk to him!" Han Shuo shouted coldly as he forcefully suppressed the anger in his heart.
"Hehe, Lord Dolores is busy and has no time for you. Besides, I have better things to do than chauffeuring you around. Get lost," Jeff said mockingly, obviously trying to make things difficult for Han Shuo.
Jeff had made things difficult for Han Shuo when he first arrived at Elysium and Han Shuo had put up with him. But unexpectedly, he had once again become an obstacle when Han Shuo tried to return to the Profound Continent. This made Han Shuo furious.
Pa! Han Shuo punched Jeff in the face. A trail of blood flowed from the corner of Jeff's mouth after the loud slap. He stumbled and fell to the ground.
"How dare you hit me!" Jeff ran up and screamed, "Help! Someone is trying to kill me!"
Han Shuo sneered and went after him. Pow! Han Shuo kicked the screaming Jeff and sent him flying. He broke several bones as he finally crashed to the ground.
Soon a group of divine guards, led by Dolores, rushed to the scene. His face was cold and murderous as he said, "No matter how influential you are in the City of Shadows, if you attack my people in my place, I have the right to arrest you!"
Han Shuo knew that after the incident at the Laver Mansion, Dolores would not be as kind to Han Shuo as he had been before. Han Shuo also knew that Jeff would only be so bold and obnoxious towards him because of Dolores.
"I want to use the interplanar transportation matrix, but he deliberately blocked me. He asked for it," with a grin on his face, Han Shuo took the emblem of the House of Sainte from his space ring and flashed it at the divine guards. He said, "I think you should all recognise that this is the emblem of the House of Sainte. Please activate the interplanar transportation matrix and let me go. Otherwise, you will be acting against the House of Sainte. You should know the consequences."
Since it was no longer possible to befriend Dolores and Jeff had fired the first shot, Han Shuo decided not to be polite.
Dolores glared at Han Shuo intensely for a moment before taking a deep breath. He raised a hand and shouted in a deep voice, "Let him pass!"
Under the gaze of the divine guards, Han Shuo swaggered away using the interplanar transportation matrix. After Han Shuo disappeared, Dolores grinned and instructed, "Jeff, grab some of those prisoners on death row and transfer them to this coordinate."
"Wise move, my lord!" Jeff was delighted and eagerly set off with a few men to carry out Dolores' instructions.