Chapter 172: Refining the yin demons
Perhaps because they’d touched each other intimately, but the cold and arrogant Phoebe now blushed often, and her att.i.tude towards Han Shuo had changed drastically.
Women were like this. Before they gave you their heart, they would have many reservations and hesitations. However, once they gave their heart to you, they would involuntarily let the man take charge. Even a swordmaster like Phoebe was no different.
“Speak. How did you know I was staying here? What did you sneak in here for?” Phoebe lifted her head to look at Han Shuo with a slight smile as she lay on Han Shuo’s broad chest.
Taking a deep breath in, Han Shuo’s naughty hands and feet all stopped. He frowned as he gave Phoebe a basic overview of what was going on. However, he didn’t speak of some of the more sensitive topics, including his ident.i.ty in the Dark Mantle and the interference from the Calamity Church.
“Do you know what you were transporting when you were handling this batch of goods?” Han Shuo looked at Phoebe and gravely asked.
Shaking her head, Phoebe’s slender brows creased as she responded, “I don’t know. Those in my line of trade sometimes need to take on unknown risks. However, I hadn’t thought that this time’s matter would encompa.s.s so much.”
Han Shuo did indeed breathe a sigh of relief when he learned that Phoebe had no idea what she was moving. He thought deeply for a moment and said, “The chief of the Gryphon Legion had the heart to rebel, so you must cooperate with us for the safety of the Boozt Merchant guild. Otherwise, once the senior levels of the Empire learn of this operation and of your guild’s involvement, I’m afraid your guild will be subjected to unmeasurable danger, even as strong as it is.”
Nodding her head in understanding, Phoebe hugged Han Shuo and laughed softly, “I’ll do as you say. I think you’ll be quite earnest in helping me.”
Phoebe was completely trusting of Han Shuo as she spoke, making him quite flattered by her trust. He quickly weighed some things up and once again coalesced a drop of essence blood, placing it in a small flask. He gave it to Phoebe, “Try to drip a drop of this blood onto those siege weapons as you transport them.”
“If you’re unable to open the containers, then drip it on the containers themselves. Then, try to accompany the s.h.i.+pment as far as you can tomorrow. Don’t be in a hurry to leave after you’re done, I’ll come find you again. Oh, right, Candice is in Valen City too and she’s staying at a hotel owned by Elaine. You can go find her.”
“No problem, I’ll do as you say.” Phoebe agreed and then lightly laughed, taking out a bunch of items from her storage ring. Her clear eyes looked at Han Shuo like she was showing off a treasure. “This batch has the all items that you wanted. I collected all of them in the course of helping Bob Ascher transport his items over.”
She handed the list over; looking over it, Han Shuo realized that all these items were what he’d needed to refine the yin demons. It looked like Phoebe had paid a lot of attention to his matters and had collected all the necessary materials for him in a short period of time.
He pulled Phoebe over and landed a kiss on her blus.h.i.+ng, beautiful cheek, delighted. “Heh heh, thank you so much!”
The guard’s voice sounded again from outside at this time, “Miss Phoebe, the sun has completely risen. You should get ready to leave.”
“Mm. I’m awake. I’ll be out in a moment.” Phoebe responded, pus.h.i.+ng Han Shuo away, bashfully changing her clothes within the thin blankets and pouting, “It’s all your fault. You ripped my undergarments, you savage brute.”
Han Shuo chuckled evilly and and left Phoebe’s bed. “Alright, alright, I’ll make it up to you. Remember what I said. I’m leaving here for now, but I’ll come find you again soon.”
Han Shuo slowly made his way to the window. Just as he reached it, Phoebe suddenly called out softly. He looked back at her in surprise as she reminded softly, “Be careful.”
“I will!” Han Shuo responded das.h.i.+ngly. Taking a quick peek out the window, he took advantage of a guard blinking to shoot out from the window like a wraith.
Han Shuo concealed his body in the light of the early morning and flew to the Dark Mantle stronghold. He discovered that Chester was already waiting when he arrived. It looked like he’d come from Elaine’s hotel.
“What’s the situation?” Han Shuo asked when he saw Chester.
“I was unconscious in the hotel. A druid told me that we’d fallen victim to a drug when I woke up and didn’t say anything else.” Chester looked a bit confused as he looked to Han Shuo for an explanation.
Han Shuo briefly went over what had happened while Chester had been unconscious. “Did that druid chat about anything with the female leader of the mercenary band? In addition, is Lisa back safely? How are things within the hotel?”
“It looks like that the druid spoke with the female swordsman Candice for a bit, but he evaded our hearing so I don’t know what they spoke of. I personally took Lisa to Lawrence, he said that he’ll be in touch shortly. The hotel is rearranging Belinda’s room with Elaine’s guidance and should be back to normal operations soon. The druid and everyone from the mercenary band are still there. They haven’t left!” Chester replied.
“So I see. Right, have you seen Emily since returning?”
“No, I just came over and saw the two that work for Madame Emily, but she’s not here at the moment.” Chester responded.
“Ah, I see. I don’t have anything going on at the moment. If you’re free, why don’t you head out and see what’s going on around town.” Han Shuo smiled and walked past Chester to head for the secret room.
When he set up the magic formation, Han Shuo once again entered the cemetery of death. The little lewd dragon Gilbert immediately bounded over with enthusiasm when he saw Han Shuo appear, thinking that Han Shuo was taking him out.
“Now isn’t the time, but I’ll take you away from the cemetery of death in a few days; don’t be in a hurry.” When he saw Gilbert rush over, Han Shuo immediately proceeded to throw cold water over him and ignored the rest of Gilbert’s mutterings, heading to where the yin demons were being refined.
Refining the yin demons was similar to refining the original demons. Apart from making a few adjustments to the formation and subst.i.tuting in more precious ingredients, as well as three drops of essence blood, there were no other differences.
Han Shuo took a deep breath and quickly went over the details he needed to pay attention to in his mind. He then took out the Demonslayer Edge and started to change the cave in which the original demons had been refined in, changing it to the formation that could be used for the yin demons.
When the yin demon cave formed, Han Shuo placed all the ingredients that Phoebe had collected in the proper order in the yin demon cave. He had needed eighteen wraiths to be the catalyst to refine original demons, but the yin demon refinement required double. While 36 wraiths were needed, the time for refinement was decreased to 18 days.
Since Han Shuo had reached the true demon realm, he now possessed essence blood. Add that to the improved quality of his magical yuan, he’d be able to have the 36 wraiths finish battling each other in a short 18 days. The strongest wraiths that seized the three drops of essence blood would have the right to absorb the power within the yin demon cave and be refined to yin demons even more powerful than the original demons.
When the three yin demons finish forming, not only would they have all the power of the original demons, they would have even stronger life forces than the original demons. They would be able to lay in wait once they invaded a body until they rose to land a fatal blow at a critical moment.
If someone becomes possessed by a yin demon, then Han Shuo would be able to see everything they saw and felt through the yin demon within them. The yin demon lying in wait within their body could suddenly explode to action when the victim was deeply asleep or fighting others, and make its attack when the victim was otherwise distracted.
It’d be best if it could kill his enemy, but if the opponent was particularly strong, the yin demon could continue to lay low within his victim’s body, or leave it and flee back to Han Shuo.
When the three yin demons were completely formed, they could even briefly transform into Han Shuo and create illusions of him for a short period. If Han Shuo suddenly created three copies of himself during battle, he’d be able to turn the situation around by befuddling his enemies.
When Han Shuo dripped in his essence blood and saw that the 36 wraiths had started furiously attacking each other within the cave to fight over Han Shuo’s three drops of essence blood, he understood that the yin demon cave had started operating successfully and didn’t continue to watch. He left without listening to Gilbert’s complaints.