As soon as Han Xuhan's shout was finished, another burst of crimson light spread out from the walls and enveloped the entire stadium.
Everyone could only look on with stunned expression on their faces as one by one, their bodies vanished into thin air under the influence of the familiar red light.
The first to vanish were Han Xuhan and his skeleton, accompanied by the cyan robed man.
Following that, the whole stadium soon was emptied. Behind them, some pieces of torn up paper fell on the ground slowly.
The gleaming light of the walls dimmed immediately after the red light disappeared with the cultivators. All of its lustre and shining light was almost snuffed out.
The burly cultivator who had had an 'exchange of threats' with Han Xuhan found himself standing outside the foggy area, just in front of the portal he had entered through to come to this world fragment.
He wasn't alone. There were others, dazed and stunned, looking around in disbelief. In fact, everyone except that masked scum Shen Kai and his companions were there.
Upon contemplating Shen Kai's last words, they all came to a realization regarding what had happened just then.
That masked scum had found out a way to decipher the texts and understood how to advance into the next stage of the inheritance test. But that hateful bastard didn't want other competitors to catch up with him and so he had used his knowledge to tweak something before he left, which resulted into the mass teleportation to outside that the rest of them had been put through.
Such shamelessness! Such audacity!
They wanted to return back into the foggy area to catch that asshole, if nothing else. But once they remembered that he had already reached deeper into the fog while the rest of them had no idea how to decipher the texts, their fire of passion was snuffed out. They had experienced the poison of the fog and seen how many dead bodies littered the ground in there. Without a decent clue, charging in again was no different from throwing away their lives.
Moreover, that red orb in the fog had been the closest beacon inside the foggy area. But now, they could see it no longer. Perhaps that masked scum had destroyed the orb too before he left. It dealt a severe blow to their psyche.
"Brothers and sisters, why don't we wait for that bastard Shen Kai to return? After all, the only portal that leads to the world outside is here. He should return this way again, right?"
Somebody suggested this while everyone was feeling down. The suggestion made them all perk up. They all wanted revenge, naturally. So they sat down at the edge of the cliff and waited for scum Kai to return.
...... .........
Han Xuhan wasn't surprised by the following twists and turns that took place after their teleportation.
They had been ejected into the fog gently. Upon landing on their feet, Han Xuhan realized that there were a few tiny orbs containing law fragments hovering around their bodies like satellites. The fog that was supposed to enter their bodies immediately could not get past the small spherical area created by the circling orbs.
They were standing in front of a signboard, barely visible in the fog. It read-
"You have completed the task required for the entrance into the Holy Land of Laws successfully. From this moment forth, you are an outer court disciple of the Holy Land of Laws. Your soul and dao base have been imprinted upon with the law fragments you have learned so far. In case you betray or oppose the Holy Land, your dao foundation shall be destroyed and your soul shall be obliterated. See ya later."
"What the fuck-"
"I fucking knew something like this was gonna happen."
The cyan robed man and Han Xuhan spoke out in unison after they got a good look at the writing on the signboard. There was an evil looking smiley face at the end of the paragraph. It made their blood boil.
This new twist of events again answered a crucial question Han Xuhan had been pondering. If any super powerful cultivator created a low level avatar or used a lackey to try and exploit this place, they would be actually screwing themselves.
Whoever managed to get past the first level of tests would have been turned into a disciple of the so called Holy Land of Laws, which in turn would make them unable to betray the Holy Land in their lifetime.
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What a simple solution! Han Xuhan had actually been foolish enough to believe that he had managed to reap a fortune in a crisis like those xianxia protagonists by learning the language of laws.
Turns out that shit was a scam to infiltrate his dao base in the form of a technique!
There was no medicine for regret. So Han Xuhan didn't brood over it much and turned to look at his friend. The technique of using laws was honestly pretty cool from his point of view. At least he wouldn't need to physically brawl with murderhobos while using the technique.
"Check your dao base. See anything weird?"
The cyan robed man had already got a gist of what to expect. He immediately went still and entered a state of deep meditation before returning a few seconds later with a gasp.
"There are countless law fragment surrounding my dao base. I'm assuming that yours have already entered and taken root inside your base due to creating a law fragment and activating it. Mine should be just waiting for that one catalyst as well before imprinting on the tower."
"Lucky bastard. You owe me one for this. I took one for all three of us," Han Xuhan grumbled as he turned toward Zhanxian...who was glowing.
"Damn! Whoever created this language of laws must have been a super show off. Can't use one sentence without added light effects and sparkles."
Zhanxian paid no attention to its boss's exclamation and examined its body throughly.
The law fragments tattooed on its bones were emitting a dim light, a sign of activation. It had several questions it wanted to ask its summoner.
"Boss, why are my tattoos glowing? And how did we get here?"
Han Xuhan felt like a movie villain who was about to waste everyone's time by explaining his detailed schemes. But it felt good to flex. It wasn't everyday that he managed to use all of his intelligence and do something cool, although stupid as hell.
"Little Zhanxian, remember the law fragments I wrote on the paper and the wall?"
Zhanxian nodded in a confused manner. It wasn't able to comprehend the texts on the walls like its boss. The so called law fragments made no sense to it. But it did see its boss writing three separate paragraphs on the walls.
"Well, the first one said, upon activating, that particular law fragment would punish the occupants of the orb by throwing them all out of the fog.
Since the orb can suppress the poisonous properties of the fog, as well as having a powerful source that constantly keeps the circle of laws active, it shouldn't be too difficult to teleport all of them outside the fog, safe and sound."
"Who are you trying to fool? You were just scared of competition. Moreover, what did this Shen Kai guy do to you? And don't try to convince me that that's your real name. You've been trying to screw him over ever since we've met."
The cyan robed man interjected.
"...Ignore such small details, my friend. Newly made friendships often are broken due to scrutiny," Han Xuhan rebutted and continued his explanation.
"The second law fragment contained a clause to transfer a large source of the power that ran the circle of laws into your bones, with the justification being that the newly made laws are more suitable to fend off those who bear ill intent toward the circle of laws. It's true, mostly, since the laws on your bones are copied from the walls and edited to fit different circumstances. This also would put some fuel into the rest of the law fragments outside the walls."
"And that means...?" Zhanxian tentatively asked, because Han Xuhan had stopped speaking and seemed to be waiting for someone to ask the question, just to make the explanation more suspenseful.
"That means, the tattoos on your body, in other words - edited law fragments, can be used as consumables, as long as their 'battery life' lasts."
"Used for what? You know I can't decipher the texts, boss." Zhanxian didn't understand any of the strange terms used by its boss.
"The tattoo on your arm contains a law fragment that can make some sort of souls rot upon contact. The tattoo on your skull can make any sort of brute force rebound within a certain range of power. The tattoo on your ribs can suck qi from foreign sources. And the tattoo on your feet can directly attack the souls of anyone within the soul reformation realm. Of course, judging by the fate of the paper that contained the law fragments, your body is too weak to bear the brunt of such terrifying powers. So at best, you'll be partially obliterated and your consciousness will have to retreat to my dao base if we really use the power of any of the volatile tattoos. At worst, your body will partially be destroyed. You're da bomb now, man. Even soul reformation realm cultivators will think twice before trying anything funny around you. Appreciate the gift !"
Han Xuhan's explanation rendered the red skeleton speechless. It had no eyes, but Han Xuhan felt that he was being glared at with the most venomous gaze in the world. But he didn't mind. If there ever came a situation where he had no choice but to use the power of those tattoos, Zhanxian's physical destruction would be the least of anyone's concern.
"Of course, without a proper source, these law fragments are just random scribbling on the walls. The walls contain the source required to activate law fragments. Yet we cannot write law fragments that would directly let us pass through due to all the old restrictive laws. But that's where the third law fragment comes into play, stating that all newly made law fragments will be activated using the same source that's running the circle of laws. Since it is carved on the walls, this also activates Mu Ran's law fragment without needing an original source. That's how we got teleported out here while the rest of our competitors got pushed out of the fog back on the starting point. " Han Xuhan finished his explanation with a swish of his sleeves. He felt really stylish right now.
"So, we are already disciples of this holy land of laws, whether we like it or not. Which orb should we target next now that the poison in the fog doesn't bother us anymore? Or-"
The cyan robed man broke the silence and posed a good question. But his sudden drift into silence made Han Xuhan feel a bad premonition.
"Theoretically, whoever we meet from this point forth, is a disciple of the Holy Land."
His tone was laced with a strange hint of glee, as if he were a child who had discovered a new game.
Han Xuhan caught onto what he was talking about and lurched to a stop too.
" Ahh... now this, this is when the test gets interesting." Han Xuhan chuckled darkly.