Han Shuo could easily create a new divine body with the exact appearance of Hao Hao. As long as Hao Hao could separate his soul from his original body, he could possess the new body and use it to fool the Overgod of Death.
When Gilbert, Bollands and the others heard that Han Hao could do this, they were thrilled. Scarlett was particularly excited and relieved that they'd found a workable solution. She asked Han Hao, "Are you sure you can do this? Will there be any side effects?"
Han Hao nodded and Scarlett replied confidently, "I'll be fine.
"Perfect, then this can be done with ease!" exclaimed Han Shuo smiling before instructing Han Hao, "Then let us get started right away, there is no time to waste. Come and choose the materials with me. I will need the skeleton of a Highgod and some special medicinal ingredients. With these things, I can build you a new body without much effort!"
"Father, there is another problem," after hesitating for a bit, Han Hao knitted his brows and said, "Part of the shard has fused with my body and its inscriptions have intertwined with my soul. I'm worried that He will be able to detect the inscriptions on my soul.
"All you need to do is split a strand of your soul. I will teach you how to solve it." Now that Han Shuo had a direction, it did not take him long to come up with a solution to this potential problem.
Using demonic arts, Han Shuo could split his consciousness into millions of strands. If Han Hao could separate his soul from his body, then splitting a strand of his soul should be possible. Han Shuo could then help him form a secondary soul similar to an avatar.
As he thought about the solution, another new idea came to Han Shuo's mind. He said with a smile, "Don't worry, this is easy to solve. I will help you form a secondary soul and use it to possess the replacement body. When the Overgod comes, let him probe your secondary soul and your surrogate body. Then have your main body activate the shard outside the Fringe. He won't suspect a thing."
"Father, what do you mean by a secondary soul?" asked Han Hao, who seemed a little perplexed.
"Well, it's like this!" said Han Shuo with a broad smile as his two avatars that had been sitting in the Cauldron of the Myriad Demon emerged. Two carbon copies of Han Shuo suddenly appeared next to him. They were exactly the same in appearance and demeanour.
Han Hao studied the two avatars carefully for a while before nodding and saying, "I understand now.
The Five Elite Zombies, Gilbert and Sanguis knew that Han Shuo had avatars, but Scarlett and Bollands were unaware of this secret. They were astonished to see two clones of Han Shuo suddenly standing in front of them, and they could not be more curious.
Han Shuo did not explain much to them. He said to Han Hao, "Let us not delay any longer. I will teach you the techniques soon. You can rest easy. This surrogate of yours will have the same soul wave as your main body, but it will not carry the aura of the Quintessence Shard. I'm sure the Overgod won't be able to tell that it's a fake.
Han Hao seemed quite excited.
Han Shuo had obtained the two Avatars mostly by luck. But now that he had reached the Skybreak Realm and had gained new memories and insights into the demonic arts, Han Shuo was finally able to forge an avatar from scratch, which was why he was so confident that it would work.
Han Shuo and Han Hao went to the warehouse in Pandemonium and selected the materials needed to forge a replacement body. A number of eerie white bones and glittering translucent rocks were taken.
The warehouse contained all sorts of valuable and unusual materials. Some of it was left over from the construction of Pandemonium, while most of it was booty that Han Hao had looted from the Omphalos merchants. All sorts of wondrous and rare materials were piled up in these rooms. He had more than enough to forge another ten Avatars for Han Hao.
"Refining an Avatar would take a long time, time we do not have. Besides, even with an avatar, it wouldn't help if the Overgod decides to slaughter the other you. So I'll just make you a puppet, but good enough to fool him. It will save us a lot of time and energy. After gathering all the necessary materials, Han Shuo brought Han Hao to the surface of Pandemonium and began to forge a new body using one of the available demonic formations.
While Han Shuo's main body was busy forging a new body, his avatar taught Han Hao how to split a strand of his soul. Since Han Hao was a demonic arts cultivator and his soul was mostly similar to that of a human, he mastered the technique very quickly with Han Shuo's guidance.
Han Hao tried again and again. In just three days, he was able to split one strand of his soul the way Han Shuo wanted. It was much faster than Han Shuo thought.
"Excellent, excellent!" Han Shuo was overjoyed and pleased with Han Hao's extraordinary talent in demonic techniques. He said, "Now that you have separated a strand of your soul, the hardest step is complete. All you have to do now is separate the strand from your main soul while keeping it attached to your soul. This is how you do it..."
On the surface of Pandemonium, Han Shuo's main body continued to inject Demonic Yuan and work with the Cauldron of the Myriad Demon to build the replica, while his Avatar of Destruction explained the steps of forming a secondary soul to Han Hao.
At the same time, Han Shuo's avatar of death was in the underground palace. He had received the latest news from Zovic.
"Five were visited by the Overgod and three of them were killed. The other two escaped unharmed because they did not try to resist," Zovic reported with a solemn face as he stood respectfully in front of Han Shuo.
Han Shuo asked Zovic to keep an eye on the names Logue mentioned to the Overgod. Half of these Elemental Death experts had the Overgod of Death knocking on their doors. Some of the Fringedwellers, unaware of the identity of their mysterious visitor and accustomed to being arrogant and snobbish, were taken out by the Overgod.
Meanwhile, those who sensed the terrifying power of the Overgod and were as meek as Logue were spared.
"How many are left?" asked Han Shuo, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Five more. I believe that after he has visited these five, he will concentrate on finding Han Hao. It wouldn't take long. Should we do something to prepare?" asked Zovic.
Han Shuo thought for a while before instructing, "Now is a sensitive time for these prominent death energy experts to die. It will certainly cause a stir. Use your resources to spread the rumour that there is a Godhunter hunting for experts who cultivate Death Energy. Exaggerate the hunter's strength as much as possible, but don't mention anything about a Quintessence Overgod. And make sure the other five hear the rumour, but do not reveal that it came from us.
"Is this to frighten them into hiding, thus extending the time before they are found?" Zovic immediately understood Han Shuo's plan.
Han Shuo nodded and replied, "That is correct. It's to buy us a little more time. The solution I'm working on will be ready soon. Until then, the substitute Han Hao will go to the Omphalos where everyone will recognise him and the Overgod can be sure of his identity.
At this most critical moment, Han Shuo needed the most accurate and relevant information from him, so he revealed the great secret to Zovic. Moreover, given Zovic's history of serving his House of Han with undying loyalty for many years, Han Shuo trusted that he would keep the secret to himself and do his best.
"Understood, I will have it done immediately!" replied Zovic, nodding before quickly leaving.
***
Another three days had passed. Sitting in the gymnasium on the surface of Pandemonium, Han Shuo took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He dipped his arm into the pool of blood in front of him and pulled out a body. It was a copy of Han Hao.
"Are you ready?" Han Shuo asked Han Hao solemnly.
"I'm ready!" replied Han Hao. He seemed calm and not the least bit nervous.
Han Shuo nodded and said smilingly, "Sometimes I wonder if you ever know what fear is. Alright, you may begin. Possess the body with your secondary soul. I can only help you so far, the rest is up to you."
Han Hao wasted no words. He sat cross-legged on the floor and stared at his surrogate body with his enchanting purple eyes. A trace of faintly discernible soul wave formed above his head and slowly drifted down to his lifeless clone.
The strange gleam in his eyes grew brighter and brighter before it suddenly stopped wavering, as if Han Hao was in a suspended state.
Han Shuo grew concerned. He kept looking back and forth at Han Hao's main body and the surrogate. He became increasingly anxious when things seemed to take too long.
After a long time, the strange light flashed in Han Hao's purple eyes before he slowly closed them. Meanwhile, the surrogate in front of him opened his eyes and slowly stood up. He moved his arms and legs around curiously and said, "Father, it's done.
Han Shuo was relieved and elated. He laughed out loud and said, "Good, very good! Now comes the fun part. You are going to cheat death!"