Han Shuo and his clansmen did not rush their journey. After half a month, they finally arrived in the Omphalos.
Han Shuo now had ten Sovereign Shops in Omphalos, and one of the entrances to the city, roughly opposite Pandemonium, was controlled by Han Shuo's minions. Needless to say, members of the House of Han were allowed to enter the Omphalos without having to pay an entrance fee.
Sanguis, Bolland and Gilbert had long since reached the Omphalos and were waiting at the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy. As soon as Han Shuo and his party arrived, Bollands stepped forward to apologise: "Elder Brother, the three of us recklessly travelled far ahead of the party and ran into the underlings of Sovereign Logue. If Han Hao's followers hadn't come to our rescue in time, I'm afraid we wouldn't have reached the Omphalos. I take full responsibility for this avoidable incident. Please punish me!"
Bollands tried to take full responsibility for the mistake. He did not reveal that it was Sanguis and Gilbert who had egged him on.
"No, Master, it wasn't his fault. It was Sanguis and I who came up with the idea!" shouted Gilbert.
Sanguis did not speak but nodded, agreeing with Gilbert.
"All right, that's enough. I know what happened and I don't need to hear you tell it again," Han Shuo said angrily. He glared at Bollands and said, "I know you well, Bollands. It's obvious you couldn't have come up with such an idea."
"Gilbert, Sanguis, you are grounded for two years from today. Your recklessness led to the death of twenty of our House of Han guards, your comrades. Use the time to repent," Han Shuo scolded coldly.
Sanguis and Gilbert lowered their heads in shame. They recognised their mistakes and accepted Han Shuo's punishment.
"Emily, Phoebe, Stratholme, you will continue to manage the Celestial Pearl. We will go to the Pandemonium after I have sorted out a few things here," Han Shuo instructed. After settling the House of Han in the Celestial Pearl, Han Shuo looked for Zovic and quietly instructed, "Contact Ossora, Tyre, Logue and Wasir. Tell them that the Godhunter Alliance is about to invade the Fringe and that they had better prepare themselves.
Zovic's face turned grave as he heard these words. He nodded and respectfully excused himself to carry out the order.
Afterwards, Han Shuo gathered all of his core family members in a secret chamber and announced with a faint smile, "You all came to this world with me from the Profound Continent many years ago, and you have all rapidly grown in strength. However, I still feel that you could do even better."
As Han Shuo spoke, he began to pull out fist-sized crystal balls. Each of the crystal balls contained a greyish gas-like object that was constantly changing shape in an unpredictable manner. Using their divine souls, the group sensed a faint soul energy emanating from the crystal balls.
""You have probably sensed the faint soul signatures emanating from these crystal balls. They contain the divine souls of Highgods who have cultivated in various energies. However, I have erased their consciousness and everything in their souls except for their cultivation experience and knowledge," Han Shuo explained with a smile as he looked around at the group.
The group stared blankly after listening to Han Shuo as they didn't know what Han Shuo wanted them to do. But unlike the others, Fanny, who cultivated the energy of death, seemed pleasantly surprised. She exclaimed excitedly, "Bryan, you want us to assimilate these souls? I know that souls without self-awareness are equivalent to pure memories and can be absorbed by our divine souls. If these souls were once Highgods, it means that their memories contain... "
Everyone in the chamber had the same pleasantly surprised faces before Fanny had finished her words. Their eyes lit up as they realised what a treasure they had before them.
When they first set foot on Elysium, these people from the Profound Continent realised how weak they were, and they had done all they could to increase their strength. Using the vast financial resources of the House of Han, they had made rapid progress. However, money could only take them so far.
Although they could gain divine energy by purchasing large amounts of divine essence, no amount of black crystal coins could buy them the knowledge and understanding they needed to advance to the next realm. This was similar to how it would take an earthling decades to learn and master advanced mathematics or physics: the individual must make a constant effort to understand the subject. Mastery could only be achieved through the individual's own effort and talent.
Therefore, despite having access to vast financial resources, most members of the House of Han stagnated in the Midgod realm. A few of the less talented were still in the Lowgod realm. It would take them decades, if not centuries, to get to where they wanted to be.
But these crystal balls Han Shuo presented will allow them to skip all that time and effort!
Not only Han Shuo's harem, but even old men like Stratholme and Ayermike were excited. Ayermike looked at Han Shuo in disbelief and asked emotionally, "Bryan, how did you do this? We have lived on Elysium for some time now, but we had never heard that it was possible to artificially erase a soul's self-awareness without damaging it. It is a miracle! I believe even the Quintessence Overgods cannot do it!"
Aykermike's words had reminded the group how difficult it was to erase the self-awareness of a Highgod soul and somehow prevent it from naturally decaying and disappearing into the world.
During the many years they lived on Elysium, they learned that it was only in a certain extremely unique environment and under unique circumstances that a divine soul without self-consciousness could be formed. But this was an extremely rare natural phenomenon.
They had never heard of it being achieved artificially!
Of course, Han Shuo didn't want to explain his ability to change souls through demonic arts. He smiled and replied, "Don't bother asking how I did it, just concentrate on merging with these Highgod souls and assimilating their knowledge. After receiving the understanding and comprehension they have accumulated over the centuries, you will all achieve breakthroughs very easily. With enough divine energy, you will reach Highgodhood in just a few years!
The group was overjoyed. Next, they were each given a crystal ball of their energy according to Han Shuo's instructions.
"Most of the souls are at the Mid-stage Highgod realm, and a few of them are at the Late-stage Highgod realm. The information contained in their souls would be extremely vast. Be careful when you assimilate their souls. Do not try to absorb it all at once, or your soul will disintegrate!
The special container you are holding will prevent their soul from decaying and dissipating. So take your time and absorb their knowledge bit by bit at intervals. Again, no more than you can handle," Han Shuo warned as he saw the ecstatic faces of the group.
"Don't worry Bryan. We've got it!" said Emily happily. No one could be happier than she and Phoebe. Over the past few years, they had spent most of their energy on the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy and had not had as much time to cultivate as the others.
As a result, Phoebe and Emily's progress in the House of Han had been relatively slow, especially in their realm state. Even though they had the privilege of enjoying more divine essences than the others, their cultivation had stagnated because they were held back by their realm status, which required time that they did not have. They were quite worried about falling too far behind the others.
But now, with these crystal balls, that will no longer be an issue.
"This act is against the natural order. We must keep this a top secret, no outsider must know! Godhunters are Elysium's public enemy for consuming another's divine energy. What we do is the same as consuming another person's soul. That would be even more outrageous than what the Godhunters are doing. We must never, ever reveal anything about this. Otherwise, the House of Han will become the public enemy of Elysium," Ayermike warned gravely.
"Exactly. That is why I dismissed the House of Han guards earlier. Only we who have come from the Profound Continent can know this. Keep this knowledge within this circle. And if you want to share your findings, do so only in a secret chamber," Han Shuo warned gravely.
After hearing the warnings, everyone in the room understood the importance of keeping it a secret, for what Han Shuo had done was a hundred times more terrible than what the Godhunters had done. They wiped away their smiles and solemnly swore not to divulge anything to outsiders.
"Good, I think everyone understands how important this is," Han Shuo smiled and continued, "All right, everyone be careful. We'll go to Pandemonium after I meet Ossora. There you won't have to worry about anyone finding out. With the layers of demonic formations around it, even the Sovereign cannot see into the Pandemonium!"
Apart from the Sanguis and Bollands, every member of the House of Han received a crystal ball. Even Gilbert received the soul of a Mid-stage Highgod of Darkness.
With these divine souls and the enormous financial power of the House of Han, Han Shuo believed it wouldn't be long before these people would have powerful powers and he could spend less time worrying about their safety.
After the meeting was over and everyone had left, Han Shuo took out two crystal balls. It was time to evolve his two avatars!