"Underling Xuhan ? Fellow cultivator Qian Yun ? What are you two doing over there ?"

The voice that rang through the fog belonged to Mu Ran. Earlier when Qian Yun had taken a glance at the leaderboard, he had seen Mu Ran's judgement still showing the pending status. From what he had observed, Mu Ran was not particularly bright when it came to creative aspects . So it was normal for him to take a while to be done with the test. He hadn't thought much of it.

Anyone within the third stage of the inheritance test were bound to become a carrier of his soul shards...

Wait a minute, what were soul shards ? Where did he hear such a phrase?

But it was not the time to think about those details, because he had suddenly discovered something rather strange.

He could not detect the mental connection between him and Mu Ran, just like how he had failed to perceive any connection with Xuhan. Did the soul shard fail to do its job ?

What was happening ? Did something go wrong with the purification process ? Again?

Sounds of footsteps broke him out of his reverie. Mu Ran's silhouette slowly became clearer as he came closer. Han Xuhan, sitting lazily on the ground, waved a hand at his martial brother.

"Boss, how was your experience inside the test ground ? Did you succeed in what you were planning?"

Qian Yun distinctly felt that these two martial brothers were in cahoots and had ulterior motives for coming here. Both of them also seemed to have found out certain secrets about the inheritance test itself...

Meanwhile, Mu Ran's gaze fell on the odd spectacle Qian Yun and Xuhan made together, and his pace slowed down.

"Yes, underling. My job here is partially done. I haven't found the chance to complete the whole mission yet though. "

While speaking, Mu Ran noticed the law fragments on the ground as well. Due to his proficiency in manipulation of qi and and the language of laws, it took him only a few seconds to figure out what the situation between Xuhan and Qian Yun was.

It was apparent that Xuhan was hiding behind the law fragments from Qian Yun, whose hands still clutched a stack of papers...

Mu Ran's gaze flickered toward Qian Yun, their eyes meeting for a fleeting moment. Qian Yun could sense a malicious intent directed at him in that gaze. At this moment, Han Xuhan decided to butt in.

"Ah, it looks like brother Yun won't be able to move anytime soon after all. Now that we have finally reached a situation where we can communicate properly, why don't you explain your sudden change ?"

Qian Yun understood the predicament he was in very well. But being reminded of it by Xuhan left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I have nothing to explain to you, " he answered gloomily. Even though he was trapped from both sides, he didn't seem particularly afraid of the consequences of his actions. And that made Han Xuhan raise his wariness to the extreme.

"Boss, did you meet anyone inside the third test ground ? Any idea what's wrong with brother Yun? "

"What happened here ?" Mu Ran asked Xuhan instead of answering his question, his gaze never moving from Qian Yun's figure a few meters away.

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"Brother Yun passed the test and successfully managed to return here. But then he decided to attack me for some reason." Han Xuhan's reply was swift and smooth, befitting a perfect underling.

"Ah, that makes thing clear, " Mu Ran nodded and crossed his arms together casually. But Qian Yun didn't miss the sudden fluctuations of qi in the air that had appeared following the movements of his arms.

"Astral He-"

"Activate !"

Before Mu Ran could finish his technique, a shout from his back interrupted him.

Boom !

A streak of stark blue lightning appeared above his head and struck him before he could react. Mu Ran stood still for a moment, literally thunder-struck, before losing his balance and falling down in a rigid manner.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Han Xuhan remarked, seemingly unaffected by the reversal of the situation.

"Boss, you alive ?"

Mu Ran didn't respond. But his chest showed signs of breathing. Han Xuhan sighed and stood up.

Even though Mu Ran ended up accomplishing nothing much, he had served well as a bodyguard by alerting Xuhan of the other threats aside from Qian Yun. And it also made him sure of the fact that regardless of what had happened inside the third test, Mu Ran was still on his side. And despite knowing full well that it would be a stupid move to try to save that idiot, Han Xuhan decided to do it anyway.

He wasn’t trying to be a hero, by any means, but abandoning a friend in mortal danger would probably plague his conscience for a long time...

"Brother Yun, can you say knock knock?" Xuhan asked with a smirk.

"Knock knock ? What ?" Qian Yun asked, confused again.

"Knocked out Mu Ran, hehehe hahaha..." Xuhan started laughing like a maniac.

". . ." Qian Yun silently clenched his fists. This asshat kept making lame jokes that made one want to beat him up.

"Hey c'mon man, at least laugh a little. That was a good one."

Seeing no response from the other party, Xuhan stopped snickering and cleared his throat.

"Right, let's get to business. Can you say knock knock again?

What? What's with that silent, judgmental look? Fine, I'll do it myself...

Knock, Knock!

Who's there? "

Qian Yun was slowly starting to believe that his opponent was mentally unhinged. Without turning around, he waved a hand at the person hiding in the foggy area dozens of meters away.

Feng Jun made his appearance from the direction of the platforms. In his hand he held a gleaming emerald orb, the fuel for activating the law fragment that had knocked Mu Ran out with a lightning strike.

"Oh? Somehow brother Feng who hated Qian Yun passionately before participating in the third test became his ally after the test without even any direct communication ?"

Xuhan wondered aloud in a sing song voice while his mind raced. It was as he had suspected, the third test ground really had some problems. Luckily, he had noticed the suspicious nature of the test earlier and took some precautions, or he would be sharing the same fate as Mu Ran by now.

"If you surrender right now and sign a contract with me, you can both preserve your life and leave this place if you wish to. Don't force me to take desperate measures and harm yourself in the process," Qian Yun declared imperiously. Then he exchanged a look with Feng Jun who nodded as if he had received an order and started circling around the area of effect of the law fragments Xuhan had created on the ground.

When he had been creating those law fragments, Xuhan hadn't expected that he would face multiple enemies. It was just a fail safe just in case anyone chased him. The weakness of his defense was finally showing now. One couldn't catch him by directly passing over the law fragments, but they could certainly pass by them, avoiding them entirely.

His eyes tracking Feng Jun's silhoutte through the fog without a break, Xuhan considered Qian Yun's offer half seriously.

"You know what, brother Yun ? I thought you'd offer me something along the lines of 'break off your own limbs and cut off your dick, and I might leave the rest of your corpse intact'. But listening to your terms, I realized that your offer is a thousand times better than that. Very alluring."

Qian Yun wanted to roar in indignation. Who the fuck makes threats like that ? How retarded did one have to be to come up with that sort of conditions? But he felt that his outburst might lead to a conversation he would have no control over. He could never predict what type of thoughts revolved in the mind of this crazy asshat. So he forced out a genial laugh and replied, " then, are you signing the contract?"

"Of course not," Xuhan answered honestly.

". . . My patience is limited, as is your time." Qian Yun almost kicked Mu Ran's unmoving figure lying a few feet away...

"Yeah, I wouldn't be sure about that last part of your sentence, though. I mean, have you seen the leaderboard? Hehe."