Han Hao had run away because he did not want to meet Baum at that moment. Although Baum was a cultivator of Space Edict of Space, it was difficult for him to locate a person without knowing the exact location.
As soon as Han Hao left the area, he turned into a shadow, hiding the terrifying aura on his body. He deliberately moved towards populated and crowded areas, mixing his aura with gods cultivating in gymnasiums. This would confuse Baum's senses and make it very difficult to pinpoint Han Hao's exact location.
Baum would carefully scan for Han Hao's aura, and when he found something, he would immediately teleport to the location using his command over the energy of space. However, he always failed to reach Han Hao.
After doing this several times, Baum noticed that he was getting closer and closer to the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy. To avoid Han Shuo's suspicion, Baum decided to give up his pursuit of Han Hao and retreated.
*** At the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy in Ethereal City.
Upon his return, Han Shuo noticed that there were corpses lying around the shop, and that Han Huo and Han Tu were examining the bodies while muttering something. He was shocked when he saw the body of that Highgod whose skull had been punctured. Han Shuo moved like a shadow and appeared next to Han Huo and Han Tu.
"What happened? Was there a Highgod?" asked Han Shuo as he leaned over to examine the body.
"Two Highgods. One Early-stage and one Mid-stage. Even Rose can't stop them!" explained Han Tu.
Han Shuo's face shook and he looked at Han Huo and Han Tu with astonished eyes. He asked in a confused tone, "How did this one die? The mid stage one should be busy fighting Rose. And the early-stage one shouldn't be someone you two can fight, right?" No one understood the strengths of Han Tu and Han Huo better than Han Shuo. Although the two of them had a great understanding of the energy of earth and fire, the realm they were in limited their firepower. Therefore, logically, they should not be able to fight a Highgod.
"Our eldest brother killed him!" Han Huo said excitedly, "After such a long time, our eldest brother has become so powerful that he could kill that Early-stage Highgod in a moment! That cunt couldn't even defend himself! Haha! Father, Eldest Brother is now chasing after the other Highgod. I guess he will be back soon!"
"What? He killed that Highgod in a moment?" cried Han Shuo in surprise.
In Han Shuo's mind, Little Skeleton was still that small and skinny little child. He had not expected Little Skeleton to become so powerful in just a few decades. The fact that Little Skeleton could kill an Early-stage Highgod in an instant meant that he was at least one realm above the raider.
Back then, when Han Shuo and Little Skeleton parted ways, they only possessed Lowgod powers. To become more powerful than an Early-stage Highgod meant that his strength had improved at about the same rate as Han Shuo's.
All this time, Han Shuo had assumed that the Five Elite Zombies would grow faster than Little Skeleton because the Five were born from the Extreme Yuan Places and had acquired the Five Elemental Yuan Treasures. With all these innate advantages, it was only reasonable that the Five Elite Zombies would be stronger than Little Skeleton.
Unexpectedly, however, Little Skeleton wasn't only not weaker than the Five Elite Zombies, he was far ahead of them in terms of strength. Moreover, the gap in strength seemed to be widening.
"Father, those raiders came just after you left. I think the guy who wanted to meet you is involved," Han Tu said. He wanted to inform Han Shuo of his suspicions as soon as possible.
"Tell me what happened in detail," Han Shuo took a deep breath to temporarily put aside his excitement about Han Hao and focus on the matter at hand.
After Han Tu and Han Huo had recounted the entire incident, Han Shuo's suspicion of Baum grew even stronger. It was also at this moment that the demon general who had been watching Baum detected an intense space-time fluctuation from the gymnasium that Baum had been using to meditate.
Han Shuo was astonished. He immediately ordered the demon general to approach the gymnasium and felt for a moment. Through the demon general, Han Shuo discovered that Baum had disappeared from the mansion. Since the Demon General could not tear space-time apart to follow Baum, Han Shuo could not know where Baum went and who he met.
Han Shuo replayed Han Tu's and Han Huo's story in his head and connected it with Baum's unusual movements at that moment. His suspicion of Baum grew stronger and stronger. But since he had temporarily lost sight of Baum, Han Shuo only knew half of the picture.
At that moment, Rose, who had heard Han Shuo's voice, came out of the gymnasium where she lived. She went over to Han Shuo and told him some more details of the story. She then remarked, "Your child is very powerful. He is following the bandit now. I think he might discover something. I do not recognise any of the faces of those who died here. I wonder what powers they were from.
"Thank you for protecting my children!" Han Shuo said sincerely to Rose.
He was touched that Rose had risked her life to allow Han Tu and Han Huo to escape.
"You are my master. It is my duty to follow your orders!" Although Rose still had the same emotionless face on the outside, she was secretly pleased to hear that from Han Shuo.
"Father, this woman has quite decent strength and is much more powerful than your other women. Not only that, she is even very docile to you. Hehe, why don't you..." Han Huo glanced at Rose before gently proposing to Han Shuo with a mischievous grin.
Although Han Huo had lowered his voice as much as possible, Rose was standing just a few steps away. As a Highgod, there was no way she could not have heard Han Huo's words.
A light flashed in her eyes when she heard Han Huo's suggestion. Although she looked as if she didn't care what Han Huo said, her hands clasped tightly together in nervousness.
"Don't say that!" Han Shuo frowned at Han Huo and scolded in a low voice, "Our relationship isn't what you imagined. We are just friends. After a hundred years, she will be free to go. You better stop saying such nonsense from now on!"
Han Shuo's serious reply did not frighten Han Huo. Instead, Han Huo continued to smile mischievously as his eyes darted back and forth between Han Shuo and Rose.
Rose felt mixed emotions upon seeing Han Shuo's reaction. She was both pleased and disappointed to hear that Han Shuo considered her a friend - pleased that Han Shuo did not consider her a slave but a friend, and disappointed that Han Shuo had only considered her a friend instead of something more than a friend. She did not know whether to be happy or sad.
Han Tu, Han Huo, Rose and Han Shuo discussed the incident for a while. Then, with the first light of dawn, Han Shuo suddenly turned around and looked at a foggy and dark street.
A teenager with an emotionless face silently appeared. When he saw the pleasantly surprised Han Shuo, happiness, a rare sight, was seen on his face.
"Father," Han Hao greeted warmly after coming over to Han Shuo.
"Haha, good to see you again, son!" Of all his children, Little Skeleton was the closest to Han Shuo. Back in the Babylon Academy of Magic and Strength, when Han Shuo was a nobody, it was Little Skeleton who had done the menial cleaning work for him. Seeing Little Skeleton again at dawn reminded Han Shuo of those times. He could still vividly recall the scene of a tiny Little Skeleton secretly carrying two bags of garbage to the dump.
This bond between them was perhaps even deeper than any of the relationships Han Shuo had with his women . Han Shuo could not be more proud to see the little skeleton grow into a handsome young man who looked a bit like himself.
"I couldn't kill him. Baum , the City Lord, suddenly appeared and I had to leave. Otherwise, if he caught up with me, it would be very troublesome," Han Hao said in a very gentle tone, as if he was somewhat embarrassed and afraid that Han Shuo might reprimand him for not completing the task well.
Perhaps Han Shuo was the only person in the world who could make him reveal this emotion.
"Let's talk inside," Han Shuo said smiling as a flying sword flew out and landed on all the bodies. As the bodies liquefied, Han Shuo and the others went into one of the buildings of Celestial Pearl Pharmacy.
With Han Tu's help, many underground secret chambers had been built in this Celestial Pearl branch. The building they entered had a secret entrance to the secret chambers. They descended several hundred metres underground to a clean and tidy secret chamber.
After hearing from Little Skeleton, or Han Hao, Han Shuo finally knew where Baum had gone. As the City Lord of Ethereal City, Baum could detect battles between powerful gods within the city through the energy towers strategically placed throughout the city. With his command of the Edict of Space, Baum could teleport himself to the battlefield in an instant.
Instead of interrupting the battle at the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy, Baum had immediately rushed to the stone forest where Han Hao was fighting the raider. Knowing this, it was impossible for Han Shuo not to find Baum suspicious.
"Father, Baum actually has connections with our kind of people and has supplied us with all kinds of goods. In fact, he is one of the leading figures among us!" Han Hao said to Han Shuo as soon as they entered the secret chamber.
Han Shuo stared blankly for a moment and asked puzzled, "Your kind of people? What do you mean?"
"Godhunters, that is what we are commonly called," Han Hao explained. After looking at Han Shuo for a moment, he explained, "After our separation, I went to the Death Dominion. Soon after I entered the Death Dominion, I was chased by a Godhunter who was slightly stronger than me. It took a lot of planning and effort to defeat him. He taught me everything I needed to know about Godhunters and how to consume another person's divine energy. And so I consumed his divine energy. I immediately felt the increase in my Divine Energy..."
From Han Hao's account, Han Shuo learned that he had encountered a Godhunter shortly after their separation. This unfortunate godhunter had led to Han Hao becoming a leading figure in the field of Godhunting. After consuming the divine energy from the godhunter, Han Hao had gone everywhere in search of other Death Energy cultivators to increase his strength.
More than a few hundred experts died to Little Skeleton within a few decades, and his fame soared in the godhunting community. Many fierce and ruthless godhunters volunteered to become his henchmen. Accustomed to raising an army in the Netherworld, Little Skeleton knew exactly how to control the band of ruthless and fierce gods.
As a result, the Godhunter faction led by Little Skeleton grew stronger and stronger. The cruel and ferocious Han Hao had gained the trust of his followers. Not only had Little Skeleton managed to raise his strength to the level of a Highgod in a short time, but his followers, who started out with puny strength, were also improving rapidly.
They became a faction of godhunters feared by everyone in the Death Dominion.
Later, some of the leaders of the Godhunter Alliance approached him and invited him to join the Alliance. In order to increase his power and influence, Little Skeleton accepted the invitation. He had become an important leader in the Alliance, and his influence within the party was still growing.
As one of the leading figures of the Godhunter Alliance, Little Skeleton was qualified to know some of their innermost secrets. Before coming to the Space Dominion, Little Skeleton had done some research and found out that Baum had worked with several of the Godhunter leaders. He had never met Baum, and he did not want Baum to learn of his presence in the city. So Little Skeleton ran and avoided him as soon as Baum arrived.
"You little joker, I didn't expect you to actually become a godhunter!" After listening to Little Skeleton recount the whole sequence of events, Han Shuo finally understood why his strength was so much greater than the elite zombies. Since Han Shuo was half a Godhunter himself, and since Little Skeleton was a living being that he had brought into existence, he definitely wouldn't have any ideas just because Little Skeleton had become a Godhunter. After a short pause, Han Shuo asked, "Oh yes, Godhunters have an almost uncontrollable desire to consume divine energy. Have you managed to overcome the corruption?"
Under Han Shuo's attentive gaze, Han Hao nodded his head in a natural manner. However, he seemed rather confused, "Actually, I was going to ask Father about this. Why is it that my disciples would feel uncomfortable from head to toe if they did not consume divine energy from time to time, but I have never felt this way?"
"You've never felt the corruption?" Han Shuo was stunned. Back then, after the first time Han Shuo had consumed someone else's divine energy, it had taken him a long time and a lot of willpower to overcome the addiction. But Han Hao had never felt it. How was that possible?
"Yes, I haven't felt anything different since the beginning. For me, it's all about improving my strength. If I feel that an opponent is too strong and could harm me, I can retreat immediately. I don't feel any urge even though I haven't consumed divine energy for years," Han Hao explained.
Han Shuo was astonished. He pondered for a moment as he looked up and down at Han Hao before replying, "Perhaps it has something to do with the unique circumstances surrounding your creation. Oh, right, are you cultivating in the Demonic Arts? I sense demon generals in the bone spurs on your back. Have you refined them?"
"I have been cultivating demonic arts ever since I received the memories from Father. Apart from demon generals, I also know how to refine demonic weapons! Look at this bone spear, it's one of the things I've refined. Yes, and my new body - the skin, the flesh, the veins - I've made them myself!" Little Skeleton nodded and excitedly showed off his achievements to Han Shuo.
Han Shuo was stunned. He finally knew why Little Skeleton was stronger than the Five Elite Zombies, Gilbert, and Bollands - it was because of the cultivation knowledge he had accidentally passed on to Little Skeleton!
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