Sanguis possessed tremendous strength, and needless to say, it was a terrifying sight when he unleashed his full power.
Han Hao remained cool as a cucumber, not showing the slightest hint of fear in the face of the blood-red radiance shrouding the sky. He watched as the crimson-eyed young man descended from above, the murderous aura surrounding him so menacingly, but he didn't flinch. He whirled the bone spear in his hand. A sinister and evil energy suddenly shot out of the bone spear, instantly disintegrating the red radiances.
An evil gleam flashed through his purple demonic eyes before a large bone cage suddenly materialised. The hideous bone cage bore sharp spikes. It was positioned in Sanguis's path, the open side facing him, like a shark waiting for its prey to swim straight into its saw-toothed mouth.
Sanguis was stunned as a shiver ran down his spine. He finally realised just how terrifyingly powerful the heartless teenager was. Not only was he able to neutralise the Blood Radiance Attack that Sanguis had congealed with Blood Essence with a quick gesture, he even had the energy left over to form a White Bone Cage with the energy of Death.
Sanguis had already used his full power against Han Hao. For some reason, it seemed as if Sanguis had unleashed his full potential against the most formidable opponent he had ever faced. The blood-red flames in his eyes burned even more fiercely, red streaks spilling from the corners of his eyes. His cheeks seemed to overflow with blood as the veins under his skin bulged. He looked like an angry, diabolical monster thirsting for blood.
These were signs that he was pushing the Bloodgod Mantra to the limit!
Han Shuo, who had been standing aside watching, noticed the changes in Sanguis's face. His eyebrows furrowed as he raised his guard, ready to intervene at any moment if things went south.
Sanguis made no attempt to avoid the bone cage. As he unleashed his full potential, the terrifying aura of blood around him instantly solidified into matter. The blood mist around the gymnasium condensed into a red palm before shooting into Han Hao's bone cage.
Crack... Boom!
The bone cage shattered into pieces, and bone fragments scattered in all directions like snowflakes.
"Oh?" Han Hao looked a bit surprised. A strange light flashed in his purple eyes as he stared intently at Sanguis, whose power seemed to have increased by several orders of magnitude. He even seemed a little excited.
He could sense that Sanguis's power was extremely unique, and definitely not one of the energies found in this universe. He also sensed that Sanguis had a strong killing intent, which was characteristic of cultivators of demonic arts. After Sanguis unleashed the full potential of his body, Han Hao would finally consider him a worthy opponent.
Han Hao waved the bone spear in his hand, and a deafening cacophony of hideous screams and howls echoed from within, as if thousands of tortured souls were struggling to break free. In an instant, the white bone spear turned a dull grey as thousands of hideous, malevolent faces appeared on its surface. They wriggled violently as if trying to escape their eternal prison, but they remained firmly bound to the Bone Spear.
"Charge!" With a sudden sweep of his arm, Han Hao threw the bone spear into the sky, letting out terrifying screams as it soared. Eerie, dark radiances glowed from its tip as the souls trapped within the bone spear gathered into a huge, hideous, fanged mouth. It lunged wildly at Sanguis.
"Gilbert, look closely - observe the energy Han Hao has applied to the bone spear!" said Han Shuo, reminding the excited Gilbert to tear his eyes away from Sanguis.
Gilbert awoke from his daze and quickly realised that it was Han Hao's cultivation that he should emulate. He immediately focused on Little Skeleton's bone spear and carefully felt it with his soul.
After making this observation, Gilbert was overcome with shock. He detected the presence of thousands of ferocious souls on the bone spear. They were filled with immeasurable rage, hatred, despair, and bloodlust. Those negative energies fused with the energy of death and formed a newfound, one-of-a-kind energy of sheer terror.
Gilbert had only been sensing the bone spear with his soul for a moment but already, he could sense a vague power drawing him into the bone spear to make him part of the collection.
Damn, even his weapon has become so terrifying! Sanguis is out of luck! exclaimed Gilbert internally.
Just as the thought appeared in Gilbert's mind, the gruesome bone-spear-turned-mouth swallowed Sanguis who was caught off guard.
In an instant, Sanguis had completely disappeared. There was nothing but an enlarged bone spear hovering over the battlefield. The bone spear seemed to have transformed into an enormous earthworm. It squirmed tirelessly, the fierce souls emerged and disappeared on the surface of the bone spear, rolling around rapidly in the chilling, misty air.
Gilbert, Bollands and the others knew that Sanguis was now inside the spear, for frequent bursts of blood-red lightning could be seen reaching the surface of the bone spear from within.
Obviously, Sanguis was trapped but not immobilised. The red flashes indicated that he was still struggling fiercely to escape Han Hao's bone spear.
By now, it was obvious that Han Hao's power far exceeded Sanguis's. Despite his fierce blows, his efforts were in vain. The souls trapped within the bone spear had no physical body or blood, and were completely unaffected by Sanguis's blood aura. They wrapped themselves tighter and tighter around Sangui, draining his power with each passing moment.
As time passed, it seemed that Sanguis's formidable power was almost exhausted. The red flashes that reached the surface of the monster's bone spear grew weaker and weaker before finally ceasing. Only then did Han Hao extend his hand. He curved his index finger in a strange gesture and made a flick.
Suddenly, the writhing bone spur spat out Sanguis like a cannonball. He crashed weakly to the ground, and the murderous flames in his eyes faded. It seemed that most of his strength had been used up inside and he could no longer pose a threat to Han Hao.
From start to finish, Han Hao had not moved at all. Instead of launching aggressive and frenzied attacks with his body as Sanguis did, he simply manoeuvred his bone spear with his mind and effortlessly defeated Sanguis, who had pushed his Bloodgod Mantra to its peak. Obviously, Han Hao had only unleashed a portion of his full power.
At this point, the gap in their strength could not be more obvious.
Ashen-faced and panting heavily, Sanguis closed his eyes and stared at Han Hao. A good while later, he nodded and announced in a deep voice, "I've lost!"
Han Hao looked at him for a moment without saying a word. Then he turned and called to Scarlett who was standing at the door, "You may come in now.
Scarlett stepped cautiously and shyly into the gymnasium. Only then did Han Hao calmly explain to Sanguis, "Actually, your strength is quite decent, especially with your power to affect the blood. However, it's useless against me because the amount of blood in my body is only one hundredth of that of an ordinary being. My body composition is different from others, so your energy will have no effect on me.
Han Hao started out as a skeleton without a drop of blood in his body. Even though Han Shuo had later refined and improved his skeleton with unique methods, it still contained only a few drops of Han Shuo's blood essence.
And as Han Hao grew stronger, using the blood essences that Han Shuo had left in his body as a template, he began to make his own blood. He used it to activate certain demonic techniques and to forge demonic weapons. This type of blood was mixed with a portion of his soul energy and wrapped in a mixture of demonic yuan and death energy. This made it invulnerable to Sanguis's Bloodgod Mantra.
As a result, the Bloodgod Mantra, which worked on thousands upon thousands of beings, had no measurable effect on this unique life form called Han Hao. Moreover, Han Hao's base strength was one level higher than Sanguis's, so Sangui's defeat was a foregone conclusion.
After hearing Han Hao's explanation, Sanguis's heart felt a little less bitter. He shook his head, smiled wryly, and said, "I thought you had somehow made your blood immune to my power - it turns out you don't have much blood to begin with. No wonder I lost! Too bad for me."
"
"Haha, Sanguis's energy may affect most people, but
But unfortunately for you, this guy isn't even human to begin with! You really are out of luck. Haha, it's almost like Han Hao was made to defeat you!" Gilbert laughed before stepping over to Han Hao and looking him up and down. After a moment he exclaimed, "My God, you've changed so much, you're nothing like before!"
Han Hao turned to Gilbert and nodded. His icy expression thawed a little. He replied, "And you look pretty much the same."
"Thank you for your help. If Polo hadn't intervened, the three of us wouldn't be alive now," Bollands said suddenly with a solemn face.
Han Hao looked at Bollands and replied casually, "No need to thank me. We are all on the same side. It was no big deal to Han Hao.
At that moment, the blushing Scarlett who had been standing behind Han Hao walked over to Han Shuo, bowed to him and thanked him sincerely, "Thank you for healing my scars and bringing me to this place. I really appreciate it."
Upon hearing Scarlett's words, Han Shuo knew that she must have found out his lie about Han Hao inviting her to the Fringe. However, it seemed that not only was Scarlett not angry with Han Shuo, she even seemed grateful for it. After a moment's thought, Han Shuo nodded and replied, "My boy, Han Hao, is aware of a certain matter. I believe it is necessary for him to learn and experience it in his life in order to truly grow. Otherwise he won't be a complete man. Scarlett, you know what I mean, don't you?"
Given Scarlett's intelligence, she easily understood what he meant. A ripple of unrestrained joy welled up in her heart. She nodded, glancing at Han Hao as she replied softly and shyly, "Yes, I know exactly..."
"Perfect. I trust that you will do well to help Han Hao develop in these aspects." Han Shuo chuckled with satisfaction before turning to Little Skeleton and asking, "What brings you to Pandemonium?"
"Let Scarlett stay here for now. It's not quite safe with me." Han Hao paused for a moment before continuing, "Apart from that, I have received the Quintessence Shard of Death. I know that Father has gone to great lengths to construct the many demonic formations in the Pandemonium. This is the only place in the universe where I can safely investigate the secrets of the Shard without being discovered by that guy.
Han Shuo was rather confused as it was the first time he had heard the words 'Quintessence Shard'. He raised his eyebrows and replied, "Wait, what is a Quintessence Shard and how did you get it? Who exactly is this guy you are talking about?"
There was no one else in the gymnasium with them except Bollands, Sanguis, Gilbert and Scarlett, none of whom were outsiders. With that, Han Hao revealed everything in detail, telling them about the tombstone he had obtained from the Netherworld and the nature of the Quintessence Shard.
Han Shuo had a dumbfounded look on his face when Han Hao finished his story. Han Shuo immediately turned to Gilbert and gravely warned, "Make sure you don't tell anyone anything you've learned! Absolutely nothing!" Han Shuo was well aware of Gilbert's loose lips.