Han Xuhan had not expected Mu Ran to be conscious when he had picked him up while escaping.

But it wasn't much of a surprise. At the situation Mu Ran was in when he had been struck by the lightning, feigning weakness and pretending to fall unconscious was quite a logical choice. Han Xuhan might have chosen a similar path had he been in Mu Ran's shoes.

Even though Mu Ran generally came off as rather idiotic, Xuhan had to admit that he had a talent for battles.

Was this perhaps the innate talent of xianxia protagonists ? Mm...Makes sense.

Now I only have to explain to him why I let go of him during the critical moment...cough.

Since his pursuers were distracted by Mu Ran's re-emergence, Han Xuhan took the chance to stand up and sprint off again. But just as he was about to leap up onto the platforms, a hand caught him by the collar and dragged him back.

"That's quite enough from you, punk. You should be proud of managing to run for so long." Feng Jun's bemused voice came from behind his ears as the hand grabbing onto his collar shifted to his neck and gripped it painfully.

"Oh, I'm proud alright. This is something I'll be bragging about for the rest of my life. Just with a cultivation base of the second layer, I made you all dance around me like a bunch of monkeys. How cool is that ?"

Han Xuhan sighed, disappointed that he couldn't drag things out a bit more. But oh well, he was really pretty proud of himself. Should he shout out something along the lines of 'I have lived a satisfying life ! I can die with no regrets !' like those cool side characters in stories ?

But that might earn him a smack on the face, so he decided to save the dialogues for later. This wasn't just the moment.

"Mu Ran ! As you can see, your martial brother is in our hand. Don't get any funny ideas and surrender. Or you'll regret it !"

Qian Yun shouted at Mu Ran who was walking over toward them at a sedate pace, his hands held behind his back, looking very cool and domineering. The fog acted like special effects and added more spice to the scene. Han Xuhan rated it nine out of ten in his mind.

"Indeed, I can see that," Mu Ran answered in a deep tone. But due to the distance between the two parties being too large, Qian Yun and co. couldn't hear him properly.

"What did you say ? I can't hear you !" Qian Yun shouted back.

"Boss, if you want to act all cool and suave, at least come closer where the spectators can appreciate it," Han Xuhan added after his captor.

Mu Ran paused for a second before hurrying over. After reaching a distance where they could normally hear each other, he cleared his throat again and said,

"Indeed, I can see that."

"Good to know. Now stay right where you are and expel all of your qi. Don't even try to cast any techniques or this little martial brother of yours would suffer terribly," Qian Yun instructed while ordering his two remaining lackeys to fan out and surround Mu Ran.

Secretly, Qian Yun used the mental network to communicate with the rest of the cultivators who were busy killing and chasing the zombies. After a brief exchange, he ordered half of them to sneak back toward the platforms and prepare to cast their cultivation techniques the moment any unexpected change takes place.

He had learned from his mistake just then. Out of the twenty one soul shards, eighteen had been refined. Although it was nowhere near the perfect result he had anticipated, he was confident of his success. Now, it didn't matter anymore if the attacks accidentally killed Mu Ran or Xuhan. But he couldn't let any variables change the current situation.

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Mu Ran walked closer and closer, finally coming to a stop just a few meters away and stared at Xuhan, who was still being held up by his neck the way one would carry a snake.

As their eyes met, Han Xuhan winked at Mu Ran and said,

"Boss, save your underling !"

"You let go of me when that guy attacked us," Mu Ran calmly replied to his plea.

"...Well, yes. But can you blame me ?" Xuhan asked bitterly.

"Do you regret it ?"

Xuhan didn't need to think about it for a single second before answering.

"No."

". . ."

Mu Ran fell silent. Qian Yun looked back and forth between the duo, trying to sense if these martial brothers were secretly communicating somehow. But he couldn't find any clues. So he impatiently interrupted their silent staring contest.

"Are you going to surrender or not? Remember, your underling's life depends on your surrender."

"It was my intention to surrender as well," Mu Ran said in a low, heavy tone.

"Was ?" Qian Yun asked, having noticed the tiny detail.

"Yes, it was. But seeing how he has no regrets about using me as a cheap meat shield, I don't think I'm going to do that."

Instantly, Mu Ran's aura soared upwards and an overbearing feeling of oppression spread from his body.

Not wasting a fraction of a second, Qian Yun sent out the mental command to the cultivators now surrounding the area.

"Attack."

Mu Ran crossed his arms and a green glow erupted from his fists. But at the same time, eight cultivators from his left, right and back cast their own techniques.

Bang! Boom! Wheeee !

The resulting scene was blinding, with flashy lights, fireworks, sparks and lightning streaks on the sky. Sadly, no one shouted out the name of their techniques, not even Mu Ran. So Han Xuhan had no idea what had just transpired.

By the time his vision went back to normal, he saw Mu Ran standing still in his position, his body surrounded by dazzling qi of many colours that moved together, creating a tornado.

In Mu Ran's hands, two orbs emitting emerald light were slowly becoming dim with each passing second. A string of symbols made up of pure qi were revolving around his body like satellites around a plant, constantly spinning.

Even with his poor comprehension of the language of laws, Xuhan could tell at a glance that those floating symbols made up some very high level law fragments. Was it a law fragment that nullified all the attacks casted on Mu Ran by controlling the attackers' qi outside their bodies ?

Right then, Qian Yun's stunned voice verified his guess.

"T-that's a technique that can be only used by soul reformation level cultivators ! Who are you ?"

Panic, fear and amazement laced with his tone, Qian Yun's mental state could be easily understood. But Xuhan distinctly felt that something was off.

Wait a minute, Qian Yun already knew about Mu Ran's secret soul grandpa...

Then why the hell was he expressing such amazement and fear ? It's almost as if he wants the listeners to think he has been caught off guard...

He's definitely trying to buy time !

Han Xuhan tried to yell at Mu Ran to warn him. But he was a step too late.

A gigantic seal suddenly appeared over their head, blocking out their vision of the sky. The seal flickered in and out of existence, giving off an illusory feeling.

Countless law fragments were linked with one another in that seal that stretched as far as their eyes could see. Emitting a golden hue, various parts of the seal started revolving separately, and each time the countless revolving parts came in contact with each other, Han Xuhan could feel a different type of law fragment being created and activated. Following the revolution of the seal, Han Xuhan suddenly felt the qi in his meridians becoming heavy, ignoring all of his commands and slowly trickling out of his body.

In Mu Ran's case, the power sources in his hands flickered out as if the qi within them had been sucked dry. The spells that had been warded off and turned into pure qi dissolved into thin air. Mu Ran's body seemed to have gone stock still from shock as he stared above at the seal.

"Finally ! The Seal Of Myriad Laws has been acquired by the main body. The assimilation must be close to completion ! Ahahaha, those decades of struggle was worth it ! I'm free !"

A collective voice rose from the land of laws. Turning his head, Han Xuhan could see Qian Yun, Feng Jun, as well as all the cultivators in the vicinity shouting together, in the same pitch, same tone, same voice.

It looked like a primary school assembly. Han Xuhan couldn't help but laugh out loud despite realizing he was about to get massively screwed.