Chapter 160: You Shouldn't Have Chased Me

Leaving the backyard, Han Shuo immediately focused all his attention. Although he was holding Lisa in his arms, his speed was still as fast as lightning. As soon as he dropped into the narrow alley behind, he accelerated to a full sprint.

It was currently midday, but amidst the biting chill of winter, there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets even in daytime. Coupled with the fact that everyone in Valon City had been on high alert over the past two days, the residents mostly stayed indoors and avoided wandering around. Thus, Han Shuo’s figure flashing across the main streets appeared rather conspicuous.

High in the sky, two patrolling Griffin Knights urged their mounts to wheel around the vicinity. Catching sight of Han Shuo, the griffins let out piercing screeches. The two Griffin Knights raised their three-meter-long lances and soared directly toward Han Shuo.

"There are griffins in the sky!" Cradled in Han Shuo’s arms and battered by the howling winter wind, Lisa’s little face was frozen red. Looking up, she spotted the pursuing Griffin Knights and hastily reminded Han Shuo.

"I know. It's nothing!" Han Shuo had already noticed the two scouting Griffin Knights. His expression remaining unchanged, he muttered a low, calm reply to Lisa while continuing to dart swiftly through the winding streets, his mind rapidly weighing countermeasures.

Han Shuo remembered the route he had taken to reach Lawrence’s place with absolute clarity. Now that he had been targeted by the Griffin Knights, he quickly pondered ways to deal with them.

The stronghold of the Dark Veil could not be exposed, so returning there right now was out of the question. At present, soldiers of the Griffin Legion were patrolling everywhere in Valon City. Since the two Griffin Knights in the sky had locked onto him, he had to shake them off swiftly, or find a place to slaughter them instantly, lest greater trouble befall him.

While deliberating at high speed, Han Shuo abruptly changed direction. Instead of weaving through the terrain among the clustered buildings, he sprinted toward a patch of woodland he had spotted on his way in. Demonic yuan energy circulated within his body, surging with seemingly endless power. The speed at which Han Shuo ran exceeded the expectations of the two Griffin Knights.

The two Griffin Knights had originally planned to lower their mounts and cut Han Shuo down the moment he cleared the obstacle-dense buildings. Who would have guessed that the moment Han Shuo emerged, he moved as swiftly as if he were riding a sturdy, fierce warhorse? His blistering speed caught the two Legion knights completely off guard.

Still, flying creatures naturally held the advantage in the sky. Once the two Griffin Knights regained their stability, they spurred their mounts and finally caught up with Han Shuo, hovering tightly above a patch of woods and keeping their eyes fixed on him.

They were now several miles away from Lawrence’s location. Han Shuo had checked moments earlier and found that only these two Griffin Knights were pursuing him, so he did not panic. Upon entering the forest, Han Shuo abruptly halted his stride, stopped dead in his tracks, tossed Lisa upward slightly, and shifted from holding her in his arms to carrying her on his back.

"Hold onto me tightly. No matter what happens, do not let go!" Han Shuo instructed in a deep voice.

Nodding obediently against Han Shuo's back, Lisa said resolutely, "I know. Even if I die, I won't let go of you."

"Rest assured, the ones who are going to die definitely won't be the two of us." Han Shuo gave Lisa a confident word of comfort. Freeing one hand, he retrieved a tough, flexible soft rope from his space ring and bound Lisa tightly to his back to prevent her from falling off midway. Having done all this, his right hand grasped the Demon-Slaying Blade, and with a cold gaze, he looked up at the two Griffin Knights hovering in the firmament, preparing to slaughter both men and beasts.

"Let's see where else you can run!" a Griffin Knight above sneered disdainfully. He shook the sharp lance in his hand and gave the waist and flanks of his mount a strange kick with his heels.

The griffin hovering in the void suddenly let out a bizarre screech and dove straight toward Han Shuo. A griffin's iron talons were capable of tearing a wild ox apart. As it swooped down toward Han Shuo in this manner, its massive bulk coupled with the knight's chilling lance formed an overwhelmingly ferocious momentum.

The other Griffin Knight urged his mount closer to Han Shuo, but did not strike immediately. An arrogant and disdainful expression hung on his face, as if he believed that either one of them was more than enough to handle Han Shuo, rendering any additional effort on his part completely unnecessary.

With an indifferent expression, Han Shuo stood motionless in place, his pupils locked onto the descending knight and griffin. It was not until the griffin's iron talons were about to reach the trees of the forest that another bone staff suddenly appeared in Han Shuo’s free hand. A magical incantation for "Dark Mist" was rapidly cast by Han Shuo.

Enhanced by the amplification effect of this bone staff, the range of the necromantic magic "Dark Mist" released by Han Shuo increased by one-third, completely shrouding the area within a ten-meter radius in darkness.

"Ugh, damn it, I can't see anything!" the Griffin Knight roared, his voice sounding somewhat panicked.

Having pursued Han Shuo all this way and watched him sprint entirely on foot, that kind of blistering speed clearly ought to belong to a powerful swordsman. Furthermore, ever since entering the woods, Han Shuo had been gripping the sword-shaped Demon-Slaying Blade, and his movements and postures were entirely those of a swordsman.

Yet, when actual combat began, a bone staff had suddenly appeared in Han Shuo's hand, and within the blink of an eye, he had cast a "Dark Mist" spell. This immediately startled the Griffin Knight, causing him to fall instantly into the trap Han Shuo had long since prepared.

The moment the diving Griffin Knight uttered his cry of alarm, the other arrogant knight standing in the distance already knew something was amiss and swiftly intended to come to his companion's rescue.

Unfortunately, it was already too late!

Amidst the thick, pitch-black darkness, a flash of enchanting crimson fire appeared so dazzling that it seemed completely unaffected by the "Dark Mist" magic. It traced a wondrous trajectory of breathtaking beauty through the dark, outlining streak after streak of blood-red lines.

The bizarre, painful screeches of the griffin and the sharp, shrill screams of the Griffin Knight arose almost simultaneously with that enchanting crimson fire. As the streaks of blood-red lines slashed through the darkness, terrifying cries of agony rang out without interruption.

Until the enchanting crimson fire extinguished. The agonizing groans mixed with despair finally faded into silence.

The other Griffin Knight, who had already reached the vicinity, listened with his scalp tingling to the shrieks of agony. Unable to see what was happening inside with his eyes, he could only anxiously and repeatedly ask, "Kamp, what's wrong? What happened?"

Crying out continuously, this Griffin Knight dared not approach the patch of dark mist, and could only circle his mount at a distance to observe.

The "Dark Mist" spell came quickly.

It also dissipated with extreme speed. Swept by a gust of chilling wind, those abruptly gathered dark mists vanished in a very short time.

In that exact same spot, Han Shuo stood motionless, a cruel, cold, and ferocious smile on his face. Behind his back, Lisa buried her face deeply into the crook of Han Shuo's neck, unable to bear the sight, her eyes tightly closed.

All around Han Shuo, blood-drenched severed limbs and mutilated flesh were scattered across the ground—belonging to both the Griffin Knight and the massive griffin. A pungent, heavy stench of blood filled the air. Han Shuo stepped on a skull from which brain matter was slowly oozing. Having seemingly undergone a baptism of blood, Han Shuo was covered in blood from head to toe, making his already fierce expression appear even more terrifying.

A dry heave suddenly escaped the observing Griffin Knight. After gagging once, he frantically urged his mount, attempting to flee far away from this place.

"Do you really think flying is your exclusive privilege?" Han Shuo grinned cruelly and laughed heartily. Activating the "Demonic Movement of the Nine Heavens," his body broke through the air. Carrying Lisa, he shot toward the Griffin Knight like lightning. Before the knight could fly very far, Han Shuo had already arrived directly behind him.

Two bone spears shot out, piercing the griffin's hindquarters. This caused the beast to let out a fierce shriek, turning its body around to charge straight at Han Shuo with its rider. Having experienced the initial panic and now being driven by his mount to attack Han Shuo, the Griffin Knight quickly realized that Han Shuo, capable of defying gravity and flying, would give him no chance to escape. Therefore, he raised his lance and shot it directly toward Han Shuo.

Every Griffin Knight was converted from a senior knight. Thus, as the knight's lance rose, it burst forth with deep cyan battle aura, resembling a silver flash in the void as it directly pierced toward Han Shuo, utilizing the momentum of the griffin's charge.

Just moments ago, relying on the sharpness of the Demon-Slaying Blade, Han Shuo had hacked a Griffin Knight and his mount into chunks of meat, stirring an irrepressible urge for bloodthirsty slaughter deep within his heart. It felt as though a voice inside was urging him to continue this bloody slaughter indefinitely. Seeing this Griffin Knight charge forward, that hard-to-suppress desire for bloody slaughter found a perfect outlet.

With a shrill, piercing whistle toward the heavens, Han Shuo laughed hideously and leaped forward through the air. The Demon-Slaying Blade, which normally did not appear particularly long, now spewed a two-meter-long purplish-red radiance from its tip due to the operation of the "Dark Ice Demonic Flame Art." The purple radiance was in the front, while the red radiance followed behind, connecting with the blade to create a truly miraculous sight.

With the "Demonic Movement of the Nine Heavens" fully deployed, even with Lisa on his back, Han Shuo's speed was hardly any slower than that of the Griffin Knight. Pushing his demonic arts to the limit, the dense malevolent aura radiating from Han Shuo formed a mass of black fog around his body, tangible as substance. Viewed from afar, Han Shuo gripping the Demon-Slaying Blade looked precisely like a meteor plunging toward the earth.

A blinding, dazzling burst of light erupted from the point of their clash, and a deafening sound of metal clashing resounded simultaneously through the surroundings. The Demon-Slaying Blade, imbued with the "Dark Ice Demonic Flame Art," erupted with a one-meter-long purple cold radiance that met the battle aura on the spear head-on. The silver spear tightly gripped by the Griffin Knight was pulverized on the spot by the violent demonic yuan energy.

A bone-chilling frost instantly spread across the entire body of the Griffin Knight. He merely shuddered, failing to muster any defense against this invading cold toxin, when the additionally condensed one-meter red demonic flame arrived. Under the torture of the bone-chilling frost and the burning fire toxin, the right arm of the Griffin Knight—the one holding the silver spear—suddenly suffered ruptured blood vessels, its muscles tightening and loosening as if doused in sulfuric acid, dripping blood and sloughing off rapidly.

"You shouldn't have chased me!" Han Shuo grinned hideously, pressing face-to-face against the terrified Griffin Knight. After uttering these words, the Demon-Slaying Blade violently spun with his intent, cleanly slicing off the griffin's iron talons. Then, wielding the blade from top to bottom with the overwhelming force of a mountain-splitting chop, he cleaved both the griffin warrior and his mount in two. Blood sprayed out like a torrential downpour, showering over the forest.

Having cruelly slain the two Griffin Knights, Han Shuo still felt a lingering sense of unfulfillment. At this moment, a jolt went through his heart as realization suddenly dawned on him, and he finally understood why he harbored such an intense urge to kill.

Once his demonic arts reached the True Demon realm, Han Shuo was considered a complete demon. Possessing formidable strength for the first time at this realm, it was generally difficult to suppress the desires deep within his heart. In particular, the very next realm of the demonic arts following the True Demon stage was the perilous "Bloodthirsty" realm. Just before entering the "Bloodthirsty" realm, cultivators often began to harbor a desire for slaughter during battles.

Fortunately, he had not yet entered the "Bloodthirsty" realm, and Han Shuo could still control his thoughts and desires. Once he reached the "Bloodthirsty" realm, trying to control his urge to kill would become even more difficult. The moment a battle began, he would not stop until blood was shed, turning him into an extremely murderous fiend.

Taking a light breath, Han Shuo thought to himself that cultivating demonic arts was truly perilous and bizarre. Yet today's thoroughly exhilarating slaughter made him feel exceptionally gratified, bringing a refreshed, cathartic, and brand-new feeling to his entire being.

"Over there, give chase!" The sound of thundering hooves echoed from afar. Pausing high in the void, Han Shuo looked into the distance and spotted a troop of cavalry from the Griffin Legion rapidly charging toward this direction. Since this troop consisted of ground knights, Han Shuo was not afraid of failing to shake them off.

With a cold snort, Han Shuo's body, flying through the void, descended until it was level with the treetops before abruptly accelerating and departing.

"You can actually fly?!" It was only at this moment that Lisa finally pressed her lips against Han Shuo's ear and cried out in mingled shock and disbelief.