CHAPTER 498: Old Scores To Settle

"Corey, long time no see. But this time we didn't come to the Kasi Empire to disturb the Ice Shrine, nor did we intend to spread the teachings of our Druidic Order in your Kasi Empire. It's not necessary to gather such a large force just to greet me, is it?" The elder known as Kelly looked at Ice Celestial Corey with a false smile, seemingly unafraid of this figure who presided over the Ice Shrine.

Han Shuo knew that Ice Celestial Corey's influence was not limited to the Ice Shrine. When Corey spoke, even His Majesty the King of the Kasi Empire himself had to listen carefully.

After all, Ice Celestial Corey was the eldest progenitor of the Pillon Royal Family!

For so many years, the House of Pillon had held a firm grip on the Kasi Empire. Any rebellion within the Kasi Empire could be crushed at a moment's notice. The reason for this was directly related to Ice Celestial Corey. Even the incumbent His Majesty, the King of the Kasi Empire, was well aware of the importance of Ice Celestial Corey to the House of Pillon and the Kasi Empire.

"Well, you can't blame me for that. You wouldn't just leave the headquarters of the Druidic Order, but suddenly you've stepped onto the soil of our Kasi Empire. It is inevitable that I assume that you intend to take revenge on us! Corey showed Kelly the proper respect in their discourse. Although Corey had an apparent motive to kill, he remained polite on the surface.

The Ice Shrine had absolute autonomy within the Kasi Empire. Since the founding of the Kasi Empire, the Shrine of Ice has been the Empire's state religion. For many years, the Shrine of Ice had used its unrivalled influence in the Kasi Empire to destroy all other religious organisations with conflicting interests.

The Druidic Order, a religious organisation whose influence could be felt throughout the Profound Continent, was one of the organisations that suffered a catastrophic blow within the Kasi Empire. To this day, there is not a single Druid shrine in the land of the Kasi Empire. Even more so, followers of the Druidic Order rarely appeared in the Kasi Empire.

The extremist practices of the Ice Shrine had once enraged the powerful experts of the Druidic Order, who had always kept themselves aloof from worldly affairs. Furious, they seemed to be fighting the Ice Shrine in the dark. Han Shuo was unaware of the details of the battle, although he had learned from a certain record in the Dark Mantle that the Druidic Order had briefly held the upper hand.

However, as the elder of the Pillon royal family, Ice Celestial Corey had the backing of the entire Kasi Empire. The Druidic Order was undoubtedly no match for the Ice Shrine when the battle was fought within the Kasi Empire. Although the Druidic Order was briefly on the winning side of the battle, their influence was eventually driven out of the Kasi Empire altogether.

The fact that not a single Druidic church could be found within the Kasi Empire at that time was a clear indication that the two religious organisations were at odds and as incompatible as fire and water.

Ice Celestial Corey obviously had to rush over when he got wind of the arrival of Kelly, a character from the Druidic Order who possessed at least demigod strength.

Suddenly, Snow Celestial Tiana, who had been standing on the roof of the auction house, announced in a soft voice, "Citizens of the Kasi Empire, please evacuate the auction house immediately. The remaining auction items and programmes for today will continue on another day!"

The commotion in the auction house suddenly died down as the people from the Ice Shrine appeared. Hearing Corey's words, they managed to put the clues together and gradually realised what was going on. At the sound of Tiana's alarm, each and every one of these people wore terrified expressions on their faces and immediately left the auction house without saying a word.

Certain truly influential officials and big shots in the Kasi Empire were well aware of who was behind these fanatical followers of the Ice Shrine. Obviously, they wouldn't dare offend the most powerful institution in the Kasi Empire. Even though these lesser nobles did not know the identity of Ice Celestial Corey, they still did not dare to offend the Ice Shrine in the slightest, so they obediently followed the instructions and left.

Besides, the situation in the auction house had changed completely in the few moments before. Earlier, the battle had only been between Han Shuo and the Sacred Knight Sulo, and Han Shuo had yet to make a truly deadly strike. Wanting to see more, the spectators just stayed in their seats.

The moment these feverish disciples of the Ice Shrine appeared, they realised that things were not as simple as they had thought. Every citizen of the Kasi Empire was vaguely aware of the animosity between the Ice Shrine and the Druidic Order. Many years ago, the two religious organisations had unleashed a rain of blood and carnage upon the Kasi Empire. This information had been spread among many nobles by the propaganda of a certain party.

For all these reasons, as soon as the crowd discovered that this matter had something to do with the long-standing grievances between the two religious organisations, they immediately understood that a bloody battle was about to erupt in this auction house. These people, being of such high status as they were, didn't want to risk staying in this place and exposing themselves to unknown dangers that could strike at any moment. It was the wisest decision for them to get as far away from the auction house as possible.

The Druidic Order was a religion that believed in nature and cherished all living things. They would never, ever advocate the deliberate slaughter of the innocent. Therefore, although Kelly and Lilian knew that Snow Celestial Tiana had evacuated everyone in order to deal with the two of them without hindrance, they did not take any of the general public as hostages to threaten the Ice Shrine.

"Great, great ancestor!" Braque had once been told by his father about the connection between the Shrine of Ice and the House of Pillon. He had even seen the magical portrait of Ice Celestial Corey. Coming down from the third floor, Braque suddenly discovered that the person he saw was the very man his father had likened to a god, the legendary figure of the House of Pillon - Ice Celestial Corey. Braque could not contain his surprise and let out a cry.

Although Ice Celestial Corey rarely left the Shrine of Ice, he was well aware of the births and deaths of the members of the House of Pillon. So much so, that some of the most important changes in personnel were personally ordered by Corey and delivered to the King of the Kasi Empire for execution.

When Braque screamed in shock, Ice Celestial Corey stared blankly, glanced at Braque for a moment, then smiled and said, "You're little Braque, right? Hahaha, you did pretty well, little boy. Keep it up!"

"Yes, great ancestor. Great Ancestor, do you actually recognise me?" Hearing Ice Celestial Corey praise him, Braque, someone who had always been a heavy-schemer, found it difficult to control his emotions and gazed at Ice Celestial Corey with excitement, completely forgetting who he was.

Ice Celestial Corey nodded and said with a smile, "Yes. You should leave as well. Don't stay here any longer!"

Had it been anyone else, Braque's own father, or even the King of the Kasi Empire, who had said these words to him, Braque would have shown his stubbornness for a moment. But in the face of this most legendary figure of the House of Pillon, Braque showed not the slightest resistance. He respectfully performed a family etiquette towards Corey, yieldingly answered 'yes' and walked out most obediently.

From start to finish, Kelly and Lilian of the Druidic Order watched helplessly as the Ice Shrine deployed its forces. Neither interrupted the evacuation, nor took anyone hostage to threaten the Ice Shrine.

Such were the teachings of the Druidic Order. They weren't the kind of people who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. For example, when Lilian knew that Han Shuo had the Druidic Order's 'Hand of the Goddess', and under the circumstances that she thought Han Shuo was just an ordinary fat guy with a demigod existence accompanying him, she still made a sincere request to Han Shuo. She wanted to make an honourable deal with Han Shuo to obtain the Hand of the Goddess, instead of using Kelly's mighty power to force Han Shuo.

The Druidic Order was a true religion on the Profound Continent. They were kind, honest, not overly ambitious, impartial, and they worshipped nature.

Han Shuo watched for a while. In addition to his interactions with the great Druid Caspian in the past, the Druidic Order automatically left a favourable opinion in Han Shuo's heart. If it weren't for the fact that the Viride Leaf had an immeasurable effect on the wood elite zombie, Han Shuo might not have made things difficult for them.

Sighing, Han Shuo glanced at Kelly, then turned to Ice Celestial Corey who was standing at the door, blocking the way. He suddenly made a decision.

At this moment, many had left the auction house. Even Braque had left, on the orders of his elder, Ice Celestial Corey. When Sacred Knight Sulo spotted Ice Celestial Corey's arrival, he greeted him from a distance. Soon after, when no one was watching, he signalled to Sophie, who was in disguise. The determination in his fierce gaze meant that he would not tolerate Sophie's disobedience.

Sophie, who had received Sulo's meaningful looks, understood that her father was really angry this time. She was well aware of her father's temperament and knew that disobeying Sulo's orders in such circumstances would have serious consequences.

Therefore, as the crowd began to rush outside, Sophie covertly signalled to Han Shuo with her eyes. Afterwards, regardless of whether Han Shuo received her message or not, she sighed before pushing through the crowd and heading out.

Needless to say, Han Shuo saw Sophie's meaningful looks. However, his head was lowered without a word or movement. Fearing that the Ice Celestial Corey would discover him, an enemy of even greater enmity than the Druidic Order, Han Shuo had previously hidden the enormous energy of his consciousness and very carefully concealed the energy emanating from his being.

Having made up his mind, Han Shuo no longer stayed on the same ground. While no one was paying attention to him, he put on a rather panicked expression and slowly walked outside like any other person.

That incomparably ferocious demeanour and unreasonable, tyrannical appearance of his suddenly vanished. It was as if he had turned into the most ordinary fat guy in the crowd, with not a hint of exceptionalism in sight.

As Han Shuo mingled with the crowd and walked out in a seemingly cowardly manner, Lilian the druid revealed a trace of contempt as she looked at Han Shuo's figure from behind. She thought to herself, how could such a bossy and domineering character turn out to be such a coward in the face of the Ice Shrine?

Kelly, on the other hand, who had been paying attention to Han Shuo all along, initially wore a stunned expression when he saw Han Shuo become so timid. But as Han Shuo approached the door step by step, the expression on Kelly's face changed to something close to a smile, but not quite, and he looked at Han Shuo with some amusement.

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