Chapter 294: A massive amount of explosives

Han Shuo only needed half an hour of honeyed words and gentle caressing to make Fanny, who'd come to incriminate him, beam with joy. Smiles blooming on her lips, Fanny left Han Shuo's mansion contented after listening to his sweet talking.

Han Shuo then traveled at the fastest speed he could to the Boozt Merchant Guild to find Phoebe. When he found her, he urgently requested, “I need a ton of explosives, ones with maximum fatality, and at least enough to destroy a small mountain!”

“Gosh! What do you need that much for?” As a normal girl, Phoebe was shocked upon hearing that Han Shuo was in urgent need for a huge amount of lethal explosives. She only needed to use her toes to figure out what he was going to do.

“Don't ask so much. Hurry and help me get my hands on them. Also, don't let anyone know about this matter.” Han Shuo had made up his mind regardless of anything. Time waited for no one, so the faster the better.

Once a woman entered a physical relationship with a man, she would change because of him, even if that woman was the cold and arrogant Phoebe. Moreover, she knew that Han Shuo was very clear-headed, so he wouldn't do anything stupid. Therefore, she didn't ask anymore questions despite her doubts. When Han Shuo urged again, she nodded and said, “Give me some time, I’ll collect them using all means possible.”

“Good! I’ll come for the explosives the day after tomorrow. You should temporarily avoid going out for the next two days.” Han Shuo instructed before leaving the Boozt Merchant Guild in a hurry.

After quietly returning to the secret chamber in his mansion, Han Shuo used the transportation matrix to arrive at the Cemetery of Death once more. He then utilized the art of the Demonic Ninth Heavens and flew towards the mountain valley with the mithril mine. There, he summoned the earth elite zombie.

Three yin demons slowly drifted towards the center of the mountain valley, rapidly transmitting images and scenes into Han Shuo's mind. The alliance of the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band, the House of Menlo, and the Katar orc tribe was present. More than a thousand of their members were stationed near the valley, surrounding it within layers and layers of encirclement.

That mithril mine was still operating as usual. However, harvesting this mine was no easy matter due to its steep and narrow terrain, especially as the mithril was mixed in with the silver ores and located in the deepest place. The three powers were still unsatisfied with their progress, even after increasing the amount of overtime the past several days.

The three yin demons scoured every corner of the valley. The earth elite zombie lurked underground, shooting to and fro as the child of the earth. Under Han Shuo's commands, he dug out an undiscoverable hole deep under the mountain valley. This hole would be the container for the explosives he would receive from Phoebe.

Han Shuo knew there'd be a bloody battle in this mountain valley from Laureton and Edwin's conversation. The majority of each of the four great powers’ fighting force was going to participate in this war, including Laureton’s Cairo mercenary band. Laureton had recently used various incentives to lure over ten minor forces to his side.

The other three great powers had also poured in a great deal of troops into the valley due to the existence of the mithril mine. Once the fighting broke out, this mountain valley would become the biggest battlefield in all of the Valley of Sunshine’s history. All Han Shuo needed to do was put enough explosives under this battlefield to destroy all of the enemy forces, subduing them all in one fell swoop.

This had to be done with caution. Only the earth elite zombie’s miraculous ability to drill soundlessly underground enabled him to accomplish this task. The three yin demons hadn’t registered any powerful earth mages in their surveillance at this time, so he boldly allowed the earth elite zombie to dig according to his arrangements.

Even with his miraculous ability, the earth elite zombie still took quite a long time to lay out the preparations for the explosives in the mountain valley. Han Shuo constantly kept watch on the experts present through his three yin demons. He was afraid that they would sense the movements underground and discover his plan.

Fortunately, everything went fairly smoothly. Han Shuo immediately left the mountain valley once the earth elite zombie had finished his preparations. He returned to and stayed in the Cemetery of Death, carefully studying the archmage rank spell, Soul Tremor. This spell was extremely obscure and was quite difficult to grasp.

“Soul Tremor” directly attacked the opponent’s soul using one’s own mental strength. One first had to grasp a certain amount of knowledge concerning the soul before they could master this spell. On the other hand, they also needed to master the method of using their mental force to attack. Just this step alone, of shaping the mental force into an attack was already very difficult to execute.

Han Shuo continuously practiced in the Cemetery of Death, frowning as he pondered the way to utilize his mental strength as an attack. He could clearly sense this invisible mental force when he concentrated his mind. However, Han Shuo couldn't materialize it into an attack no matter what method he tried.

“This is indeed somewhat difficult!” Han Shuo muttered. He was unable to gather the requisite mental force and turn it into a tangible attack.

“The consciousness is formless, but its power limitless. The heart is the foundation of the attack. When the heart moves, the soul too, will move…”

Han Shuo suddenly recalled an incantation about the consciousness that was described in demonic magic. Upon reaching the separate demon realm, cultivators could distinctly sense their consciousness. The consciousness was actually reinforcement for the soul. Cultivators in the separate demon realm could transform their soul into their consciousness. They could live forever as long as this consciousness wasn't completely destroyed.

Since the consciousness was a formless existence, the cultivator would gain many miraculous abilities once their soul transformed. The most basic benefit would be the ability to use their consciousness to sense movements in the surroundings. The sensitivity and scope depended on the strength of the cultivator’s consciousness. In a fight, the consciousness could form all kinds of exotic attacks, as long as it was strong enough. For instance, a mirage or a tangible attacks could manipulate the opponent’s mind, turning them into a puppet or have other amazing effects.

The consciousness could also attack the opponent’s soul like mental force, with much more varied and mysteriousness ways than a simple mental strength to attack. According to the demonic magic’s teachings about using consciousness to attack, Han Shuo vaguely felt that consciousness and mental force were similar in their uses.

The main difference was that the consciousness was the transformed soul of demonic cultivators, and was an important part of the foundation, like the demon infant. In fact, consciousness was even a bit more important. The demon infant was the source of his magical yuan. Once it was destroyed, a demonic practitioner would lose all of their power. They'd become an ordinary person once their body was void of magical yuan.

The consciousness was the soul of a demonic cultivator. They could still make use of their past experiences and expend time to build another demon infant if theirs was destroyed, as long as the consciousness was preserved. However once the consciousness was destroyed, cultivators would have their souls disperse into nothingness, leaving behind no traces in this world. Mental force was similar to the concept of demon infant. Once completely lost, a mage would, at most, lose their ability to gather magic elements and cast magic spells. They would just become an ordinary person instead of losing their life.

In the Cemetery of Death, Han Shuo was constantly contemplated, particularly with regards to attacking with his consciousness. He carefully sifted through his understanding and seemed to gradually grasp a clue. When he completely focused all of his mental strength in a calm state of mind, a thought flashed through his head. The mental force churned fiercely, giving birth to a wondrous resonance.

Han Shuo quickly chanted an incantation at this moment. A strange force appeared from who knew where and swiftly merged with his mental force. A kind of wave spread out like water ripples.

“Mm, that’s some improvement. Just a little bit more!” Han Shuo breathed out a whisper. Just now, he’d felt his mental force form a tangible attack. However, since there was no soul in front of him, his attack had no target, so he was unable to truly test its effectiveness.

“It seems I need to find a live test subject!” Han Shuo muttered to himself as he thought for a moment. He left the Cemetery of Death when he found that it was already somewhat late.

Han Shuo went straight to the Boozt Merchant Guild without prior notice. He found Phoebe in her room and asked, “How goes it?”

“I’ve managed to collect a few. However, due to the short timing and explosives being dangerous, prohibited goods in the Empire, the amount I collected wasn't enough to destroy a small mountain. Mm, if you can give me a little bit more time, I can go look in some cities farther away.” Phoebe looked helplessly at Han Shuo, speaking somewhat apologetically.

“There's not enough time. Just gather as many as possible then. Mm, this matter would best be kept secret, otherwise trouble may arise.” Han Shuo said with a frown.

“Rest assured, I used some small businesses and acquired them in great secrecy through batches. I think there should be no problems.” Phoebe replied.

Phoebe's space ring then shone nonstop. A carefully wrapped bundle of explosives appeared in Phoebe's hand and was placed into Han Shuo's space ring. When Phoebe finished handing over all of them, she finally asked, “Bryan, what do you intend to do? You don't want to destroy Brettel City, do you?”

“This has nothing to do with Brettel City. I haven't even gone there yet.” Han Shuo casually answered. He hugged Phoebe and gave her a kiss before saying with a smile, “Alright, don't worry about me, I know what my limits are.”

Han Shuo hurriedly left the Boozt Merchant Guild beneath Phoebe’s surprised gaze. He returned to the Cemetery of Death through the transportation matrix and quickly flew to the mountain valley with the mithril mine.