GDK 620: Interplanar Traveler
Who are you?
These three simple words had given Han Shuo a good fright. Never did he expect that the Holy Grail in the hand of the Pope could actually talk.
"Who are you?" after recovering from the startle, Han Shuo immediately transmitted a message. It was the very same question that the Holy Grail had asked him.
"You are not the master of the Grail. I can tell. In that case, are you a friend or a foe to the Grail's master?" the awareness inside the soul kept silent for a short moment before replying with a question instead of divulging its identity.
"A foe!" Han Shuo hesitated for a moment and replied succinctly.
Han Shuo had no reason to lie. No matter who was inside the Holy Grail, no matter how mighty it was, Han Shuo had full certainty of escaping unscathed. Since that awareness was inside the Holy Grail, it was most likely being imprisoned in there using special methods. Hence, Han Shuo was frank in his response.
"Very good!" shouted that awareness inside the Holy Grail bluntly. Then, as Han Shuo carefully listened, he hurriedly informed, "Just as you have expected, I'm imprisoned inside this Holy Grail. Although it wasn't the current master of the Grail that put me in here, he could activate some of my ability using the unique seal of this Grail. The spacetime fissures currently deployed around him were released using my energy. Right, since you are not the master of the Holy Grail, then I must let you know that the master of the Grail is still borrowing my energy. In approximately two minutes, time in this region will be suspended. If you remain, you will not be able to budge and the master of the Grail can capture or kill you as he wishes. There will be no possibility of escaping."
Han Shuo was shocked. He knew that gods who cultivated in the edict of space indeed had the miraculous ability to suspend time momentarily. The mightier their divine energy, the vaster the range and the longer the duration.
During a duel, especially in a battle between gods, in many cases, one second of negligence could mean the conclusion of the battle. A god with this ability could easily escape from attacks inches away by freezing time and then maiming or slaughtering their enemy before their enemy even knew what happened. This was indeed terrifying.
Han Shuo's heart sank when he heard those words from the person inside the Holy Grail. From his hurried manner of speaking, Han Shuo could tell that the person definitely wasn't joking. He immediately asked, "How far does the effect reach?"
"A fifty kilometer radius."
Han Shuo let out a sigh of relief. "If you have a way of undoing it then hurry and tell me. Otherwise I will leave this place momentarily."
"I don't know how your soul could pass through the space barrier, but since your soul could come in here, you should be able to see the spacetime fissures all around. You'll need to strike the hardest you can at one specific point of vulnerability on the fissure; the spacetime barrier will break and you can walk to the master of the Grail without any obstruction. I'll walk you through it. Given that the master has utilized the Grail to deal with you, he is surely not your opponent without the power of the Grail. This means that if you could enter here, he will be a sitting duck."
Han Shuo kept silent for a while and suddenly transmitted, "Why should I trust you?"
"It doesn't matter if you trust me or not. If you are not here when the time is frozen, the master of the Grail will use my energy to conduct a short distance hyperspace-jump and make an easy retreat."
Another short while had passed unwittingly as the two conversed. Han Shuo quickly weighed his options. He knew that he had to come to a decision immediately to escape or to attempt to break the space barrier. Otherwise, when the time ran out, he would be frozen there and easily be finished off by the Light Pope.
Han Shuo hesitated for a very short while before making up his mind. "Fine, point me to the location of that spacetime fissure!"
"That fissure you need to find has rare, trademark jade-green stripes. They revolve around in a circle. Strike a blow at the center of the circle and the space barrier will be wide open for you!" The voice was urgent.
Having made up his mind, Han Shuo did not hesitate one bit. Immediately, he let out another strand of his consciousness and started to move about the spacetime fissures as instructed.
The consciousness was incorporeal but very real. Following the instructions of the voice inside the Holy Grail, Han Shuo did not waste a single second before he found that spacetime fissure.
Right ahead of Han Shuo's consciousness was a dark hole emanating beautiful, bright, multi-colored light. The gentle and soft rays looked no different from the revolving, vast ocean of stars. It was enigmatic.
On an inconspicuous spot of the crack, streamer-like jade-green stripes revolved in a circular arc.
Han Shuo's consciousness paused there for a short moment. After verifying that it was indeed what he was looking for, with his main body standing still and tall, the consciousness in his mind suddenly unfolded. It turned into a point of energy that shot straight at the center of the circle orbited by those jade-green stripes.
Rrrip! A very faint and strange noise from that spot shattered the silence. The destruction of the fulcrum spread through the entire space barrier. A fierce undulation of ripples traveled across the barrier formed using the edict of space that was covering the Light Pope and divine magus.
In an instant, all the consciousness that Han Shuo had let out returned to his body.
Han Shuo did not show the slightest hesitation when he detected that the space edict barrier had vanished. He fiercely shot towards the Light Pope and whacked him with a cloud of glacial spellfire in his palm. The Light Pope immediately turned stiff. His body was frozen still in running position but he couldn't make a budge.
The divine light magus, cross still in hand, just like the divine knight, was an enemy that Han Shuo had been keen to get rid of. After restraining the Light Pope, Han Shuo's big hand gave a light swat at the demigod magus.
Unlike the Light Pope who had quickly detected that something was amiss, the demigod magus was still chanting as usual. He had absolutely no idea that Han Shuo's fatal strike was about to land on him.
Splat! The skull of this demigod magus was smashed like a watermelon catapulted against a brick wall. Brain mush and running blood splattered everywhere before his body softly collapsed, maintaining the same posture.
Unlike that divine knight, this divine light magus had achieved some level of attainment in the cultivation of the soul. After his skull burst apart, just like the old shaman, his soul did not dissipate but tried to struggle free at all costs.
Han Shuo had always been very fond of fellas whose souls didn't crumble after their physical bodies were dead. This kind of mighty soul was very useful to him. Not only could he refine some demonic weapons with them, but he could also turn them into puppets with wonderful uses, for example, a mystical demon.
There were four levels of demon generals, ranked as follow from the weakest to the strongest - original demon, yin demon, mystical demon, and spirit demon. After the deaths of Han Shuo's twelve mystical demons, Han Shuo did not refine any new demon general because he wanted to refine the demon general of the highest grade - spirit demon. However, as this grade of demon general possessed an infinite potential to evolve, it had very demanding refining prerequisites.
The most basic ingredient required was a mighty soul. It was impossible to refine a spirit demon even with tens of millions of low-level wraiths. A so-called 'mighty soul' was a soul that didn't disintegrate following the death of their physical body.
Han Shuo was delighted to collect that old shaman's soul to begin with. Unexpectedly learning that this demigod magus also boasted a mighty soul had further added to his delightment. He smiled sinisterly and flicked a finger. A dark radiance shot out from his fingertip and firmly secured itself to this demigod magus' soul before pulling it into his Soul Depository Ring.
"You want to escape? Sorry, but I won't let that happen easily!" Han Shuo chuckled heartily and put away his ring. He was in a very good mood.
After sorting him out, all that was left was the Light Pope in front of him restrained by the Mystical Glacial Spellfire. Han Shuo glanced at the Pope whose brows and hair were covered with frost and unhesitantly snatched that Holy Grail from his hands.
With one pulsation of his consciousness, Han Shuo regained contact with that awareness inside the Holy Grail. He transmitted, "With your help, I have now taken down the master of the Grail. Although I don't know who you are or where you're from, in any case, you have been a great help. I say we try to treat each other with sincerity. Who knows what unexpected rewards we could find ourselves gaining from each other. What say you?"
Just by utilizing the power inside the Holy Grail, the Light Pope had formed spacetime fissures around him and was about to suspend time temporarily. From these clues, Han Shuo inferred that the awareness inside the Holy Grail had to be very mighty. Although he had assisted Han Shuo, until he fully grasped the situation, there was no way that Han Shuo would just let him out. In the event that this person harbored malicious intentions, Han Shuo had no certainty of escaping his attacks if he were to be freed.
"Where is this place?" the awareness inside the Holy Grail did not answer Han Shuo's question but took the initiative to ask about the current situation.
"Ossen City of Lancelot Empire," Han Shuo was startled for a moment before he answered.
That person inside the Holy Grail kept silent for a moment before asking in a bewildered voice, "I'm asking what material plane this place is on."
"Profound Continent!" Han Shuo gave a clear-cut answer.
"Never heard of it!" the voice replied succinctly. After that, they both went silent.
After rapidly turning about in his mind, Han Shuo tried asking, "Where do you come from?"
"People who cultivate in the edictal force of space are usually without a fixed residence. We are usually interplanar travelers."
Han Shuo was speechless. After yet another round of silence, he helplessly asked, "Well then, how did you get imprisoned inside the Holy Grail?"
"I was sealed here by the Gyál, one of the three Keepers of the Light."
"Keepers of the Light? Guards directly under the Light God?" Han Shuo was shocked.
"That's right. Gyál is one of the Keepers of the Light, the mightiest subordinates of the Light God. He possesses the strength of late-stage highgod!" the awareness inside the voice replied fiercely. It appeared that he carried an immense grudge towards this Gyál.