CHAPTER 169: Deliberate Partnership

Han Shuo's magical prowess had recently increased due to his ascension into the realm of true demons, and his mental strength had also increased by leaps and bounds due to the strengthening of his brain. He'd already mastered all the magic a journeyman necromancer should know.

After receiving all of Clarendon's memories, Han Shuo's understanding of necromancy magic had taken a giant leap forward. Thanks to Clarendon's decades of experience, he'd gained knowledge of many concepts that were difficult to grasp, thus raising his magic to new heights.

Han Shuo now felt that his mental strength was much greater than before, and since he'd fully grasped all of the journeyman's magic, he planned to take the next step forward. He had promised Fanny that he would have an official relationship with her when he reached Adept status. This proved to be a great incentive for Han Shuo.

Now that he had some free time, Han Shuo stayed in the secret room and used the time to meditate and sort out Clarendon's thoughts.

As Han Shuo continued to practice the advanced magic of 'Acid Bog', Han Shuo felt that he was using too much mental energy and temporarily stopped his practice.

His eyes flicked around at that moment and rested on Belinda who was sitting in a drug induced coma. A thought struck him as he walked over to Belinda's side, placed a hand on her back and slowly circulated his magical yuan, sending a tendril into her body.

It was precisely because of the harsh reforging his body had undergone that Han Shuo was incredibly familiar with the construction of the human body. As the magical yuan flowed into Belinda's body, Han Shuo concentrated and could feel the trail of magical yuan as it travelled through her body.

As Han Shuo focused his attention on this matter, he quickly discovered that there was an anaesthetic in Belinda's body. It was like an anaesthetic that could stimulate the nerves to make one spontaneously faint, making it difficult to wake up.

As Han Shuo sensed the effects of this medicine, he calmed his breathing and used a bit of magical yuan to slowly circulate through Belinda's body. He used the power of the magical yuan to absorb this medicine and collect it in the palm of his hand.

As he did so, Han Shuo accidentally glanced at the black birthmark on Belinda's left cheek. A thought struck him as he directed the magical yuan into the birthmark.

As the magical yuan entered the birthmark, Han Shuo could clearly sense that there was another strange element within the birthmark, but it was completely fused with Belinda's face, so it would be difficult to remove the birthmark.

After all, this black birthmark would have been there when she was born, and hadn't just been in her body for a short time like this medicine.

Although he still had methods to deal with it, Belinda's beauty had nothing to do with him. It would also take a lot of his magical Yuan to do this for her, so Han Shuo naturally wouldn't help beautify Belinda.

Once he'd absorbed all of the medicine from Belinda's body, Han Shuo knew that she would wake up soon. His mind raced with thoughts of how he would interrogate the awakened Belinda. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind as he chuckled coldly. A purple flame leapt from his left fingertip, and he used the Demonslayer's Edge to cut his index finger slightly, forcing a drop of blood into the flame.

When this little bit of Han Shuo's essence landed on the purple flame, the flame suddenly brightened painfully and then collapsed to the size of a little fingernail.

Under Han Shuo's manipulations, the small ball of purple flame suddenly sank into the back of Belinda's neck and formed into a small black mole.

Since reaching the true demon realm, Han Shuo had been able to use his magical yuan to form a miraculous bond with the blood in his body. Using a secret art, he could seal a bud of frosty air into that drop of essence and use the infant demon within him to control the level of cold within that essence.

Whenever he wished, the infant demon could activate that drop of essence and invade Belinda's body with frosty air, instantly deciding her life or death. He'd also be able to sense her proximity through that drop of essence.

Due to the loss of a drop of essence, Han Shuo used this time to sit and meditate not too far from the soon to awaken Belinda, silently circulating his magical yuan to recover.

His blood essence resided near the demon infant and was the demon infant's nourishment. Each drop of essence contained painstakingly trained magical yuan.

Certain special arts required this blood essence as a catalyst. Each drop was as important as the demon infant itself. If he used too much of it, at the very least, it would cause his magical yuan to decrease, and at the worst, it would cause him to fall into a cultivation abnormality.

However, using only one drop wouldn't cause any serious problems. He'd be able to fully recover after a day or so if he meditated carefully.

After a while, a faint sound suddenly sounded from beside him. Deep in meditation, Han Shuo could sense that Belinda was about to awaken, even with his eyes closed.

Her long eyelashes fluttered as Belinda's bright eyes began to look around. Several torches burned in this secret room, so she could see everything clearly as she looked around.

Apart from being spacious, there was nothing particularly remarkable about this secret chamber. Han Shuo sat coolly in a corner, immediately attracting all of Belinda's attention. He had a stern and serious expression on his face at the moment, the angles of his handsome face quite obvious. He looked quite masculine as he sat aloof, his legs crossed and his back straight.

Curling her lip, Belinda exhaled softly and tugged at the ropes around her body. She discovered that it was indeed hard to fight free of them. Her lively eyes darted back and forth, as if weighing something up.

"You'd better not make any careless moves. If I find out something's wrong, I'll kill you on the spot." Han Shuo spoke coldly as he heard the friction of the ropes.

His sudden remarks startled Belinda and she glared at Han Shuo angrily. Belinda said, "Who are you and what grudge does our Church of Calamity have against you that you would capture me and not let me go?"

Taking a deep breath, Han Shuo opened his deep eyes and glanced at Belinda, took out Clarendon's white bone staff and said faintly, "The seventh work of the alchemist Belinda of the Calamity Church. You personally refined this staff. I received it when I killed Clarendon. It's very useful, so I should be thanking you!"

"So you're the one who killed Clarendon. You must be one of Bob Ascher's men!" Belinda's gaze focused on the white bone staff before shifting to Han Shuo a while later.

Shaking his head, Han Shuo replied. "I am not from the Gryphon Legion. In fact, I have a score to settle with them. If it hadn't been for my help when Clarendon came to kill Clark, Clark might not have died, but Clarendon was killing everyone he saw. I happened to see him summon the three-eyed demon god Ansidesi and was forced to defend myself when he tried to kill me.

"You're really not one of Bob Ascher's men?" Belinda was very surprised to hear Han Shuo's words and asked for confirmation.

"Of course, you're my prisoner now and I have no reason to lie to you." Han Shuo nodded his head in confirmation.

"You just said that you also tried to kill Clark. Does that mean you're an enemy of Bob Ascher?" Belinda's soft voice seemed a little agitated as she asked urgently.

Nodding his head again, Han Shuo replied with a smile. "That's right, to be more precise, Clark died at my hands and not Clarendon's. My goal in coming to Valen City this time is also to take action against Bob Ascher."

"That's wonderful! Since our goals are the same, I don't think we should be enemies. The Gryphon Legion has enormous influence in Valen City. I think it'll be easier for us to achieve our goals if we work together." Surprise appeared on Belinda's face as she looked at Han Shuo with great interest.

"But I also killed Clarendon and your three mage swordsmen. What are we going to do about that?" Although Han Shuo had planned this for a long time, he was still a bit surprised to hear Belinda say these words so directly.

"Sacrifices are inevitable to achieve any goal. It's no big deal if a few people die. I promise you, we can let everything be history as long as we work together against the Gryphon Legion!" Belinda spoke carelessly, not caring about the life and death of her men.

Han Shuo was a little surprised by this cavalier attitude, but still smiled when he saw that his goal had been achieved. Since that's the case, that's wonderful!"