If one were to ask Han Xuhan how unfortunate he was, he would answer that he was quite unlucky, but nothing to wallow about constantly. After all, even if he had been screwed countless times, he was still having the time of his life playing detective in super mysterious realms and researching all sorts of interesting cultivation techniques. How many humans from earth would be jealous of him if they heard about his fun adventures?

Moreover, there were many others whose fate was dozens of times more miserable than him. For example, Mu Ran, who was now as powerful as a tied up chicken with all of his qi gone, surrounded by the creepy cultivators under Qian Yun's commands.

Then there was martial sister Yuen Zhou. That poor lass had finally made her appearance right after the seal had activated fully. The second she had appeared, countless spells had hit her right on the face. Since she was also instantly affected by the Seal of Myriad Laws, she wasn't even able to put up a fight.

Now she was sitting beside Mu Ran with both of their hands and feet tied up. Of course, Han Xuhan was in a similar position as well, but at least he had been spared the spell attacks both Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou had suffered since he had been apprehended before shit went south.

Such is life... one does not always win, unlike fiction. Sometimes escaping was the only way !

"Hey, brother Xuhan, you look quite bored. Why don't you chat with me for a bit ?"

Qian Yun sat down on front of the most suspicious guy among the trio of cultivators he had captured. The other two, Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou, were sufficiently powerful with lots of secret techniques at their disposal. But Qian Yun could not figure out exactly how or why Han Xuhan had evaded the trap in the third stage of the inheritance test. Logically speaking, unless he knew some secrets about this place beforehand, it should be very difficult for anyone to evade it. Qian Yun still needed to wait for a while for the main body to finish its assimilation. He wanted to utilize that bit of time to figure out exactly where he had made a mistake while planning the purification process.

"Sure, brother Yun. I had some things I wanted to ask as well. Let's talk." Xuhan nodded lightly and squirmed a bit, leaning back on Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou who were tied up behind him, getting into a comfortable seating posture.

"You stink," Mu Ran muttered.

"You're getting your sweat on me," Yuen Zhou added.

Han Xuhan ignored them both. Human cushions were truly comfortable. Who the fuck argues with their pillows anyway ?

"Don't interrupt me when I'm about to have my big brain moment, my martial siblings," he said to the two before concentrating on Qian Yun and sorting out his thoughts. Curious to see what the two would converse about, Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou turned silent.

"What did you do in the third test, brother Xuhan ? The leaderboard says you failed twice..." Qian Yun directly approached the question that had been bothering him the most at the moment.

"Ah, good question, brother Yun. If I were to answer directly... I just took a look at the two orbs that were provided to me by the representatives. But I failed to come up with any suitable law fragments.

Yeah...that's it. But if you want a longer explanation, I can share that too."

Qian Yun opened his mouth to say something but got stuck halfway. He wanted to shout that any cultivator who had passed the circle of laws should have been able to use the alphabets in the orbs to create a law fragment. Unless...of course...

"You evaded absorbing the qi in the orbs," Qian Yun muttered.

Han Xuhan laughed.

"Seeing how fast you were able to figure out the issue, it seems like my guess was correct. The qi in the orb really was problematic !

I'll have to admit, that was a good trap. To enter the third stage, one has to expel their entire qi reserve. But to perform in the test, they need qi, and that's where your trick comes in.

Tell me, brother Yun, what was mixed in the qi? "

Qian Yun gloomily stared back at Xuhan. After a long bout of silence, he spoke.

"Your answer has some inconsistencies. Why would you suspect the qi provided by the platform to begin with? "

Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou did not react to the news of pullted qi for some reason. Looking at their lack of shock, Qian Yun felt the doubts in his mind become thicker instead of clearing up.

"Of course, I do actually have reasons to suspect that particular mechanism," Han Xuhan replied in an amused tone.

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"First of all, when I was inside the circle of laws, stuck deciphering all those law fragments, I noticed that a majority of the law fragments had something to do with restriction, suppression, punishment, reduction of powers above certain levels, strict rules that one must always abide by..."

Qian Yun nodded in agreement and said, "of course, how else would they keep out powerful entities with malicious intentions and curious cultivators who aren't worthy of the inheritance?"

"That I agree with wholeheartedly. But there was this one thought that had occured to me back then.

Don't these suppressive laws work both ways ? Does that mean a powerful being is actually sealed here and the laws are actually stopping or from getting out ?" Han Xuhan replied.

The moment he finished speaking, the atmosphere around them became still and heavy.

Mu Ran's breathing had suddenly become irregular, which Han Xuhan could feel due to their closeness. He could also feel Yuen Zhou becoming tense behind him, like a coiled snake ready to spring out. But oddly enough, he could infer that she wasn't particularly surprised. The moment he had approached the topic of his suspicions regarding the circle of laws, Yuen Zhou's arms, which his back was leaning on, had become tense. It was a slow, planned process, not one that stemmed from surprise.

Han Xuhan's eyes narrowed. It seemed that Mu Ran was not the only one with certain knowledge regarding the land of laws...

Hohoho, now this...this was getting interesting.

Setting those thoughts aside, Han Xuhan focused back on Qian Yun and realized that all sixteen cultivators were now gazing at him intensely. Something felt off about their gazes, but Xuhan could not put his finger on what it exactly was.

"Go on, continue your explanation. There should be more to it than just a plain 'what if' realization, right ?" Qian Yun said finally.

With a genial smile, Han Xuhan nodded like a good boy and continued. He couldn't just resist showing off his deductive skills. It was one of the things he was good at, after all.

"You're correct. Now, going back to the time when I had just realized that this circle of laws can work both ways, my overly imaginative mind, influenced by my life experience that can be summed up as 'never trust a sudden fortuitous encounter', I began to cook up some theories as to what other aims can one accomplish through this test ground.

The second time my suspicions became stronger was when all of us who passed the first stage were forcibly made into disciples of the Holy Land of Laws. Sure, it certainly makes sense that it is a necessary precaution against various loopholes of the first stage, like weakened cloning techniques. But later, after all four of us met and I got to relax a bit in the second stage, I reflected back onto my experience in this test. Some doubts inevitably popped out.

Using one of my auxiliary theories that a powerful being might have been sealed here and the circle of laws were actually placed to suppress it, what would be the aim of practically enslaving the cultivators who enter this... jail ?"

Qian Yun instantly interrupted Xuhan.

"It doesn't make any sense. Your theory contradicts that clue. Doesn't that mean it's not a possible route ?"

"Indeed, it does. But if we are willing to use our imagination a bit and assume that the being who has been suppressed by the circle of laws is so incredibly powerful that the unsuspecting cultivators who barge into his jail would end up becoming obedient to him by various means, such as possession, mind control and other esoteric methods available to incredibly powerful beings, then it all actually falls into a logical chain of events.

Because that's when the third clue comes in.

Obviously, the person who suppressed the powerful being here did not want him or her to break out easily. But seeing how deserted this land of laws is, one can easily understand that random cultivators might end up trying to explore this place. The creator of the circle of laws would not want to let that happen since it would mean those cultivators would become puppets of the powerful being sealed inside.

So the creator of the circle of laws designed such a mechanism that it would instantly make the talented cultivators disciples of the Holy Land, unable to ever betray their cause and never collding with the powerful being inside to harm this place in any way. Now, this also confirms the theory that the being who is sealed here intends to harm the land of laws.

Now, let's fast forward a bit and think about the next stage, the second test where the cultivators have to fight each other for the power sources.

If we're going by the main theory that all of it was a test of skills, it certainly makes sense, except it's incredibly brutal. The fog here is poisonous. There were several cultivators who died along the way or suffered worse fates like mutating into terrible zombies. If the Holy Land of Laws truly designed such a test, they'd have to be some sort of top notch demonic sect. But seeing how grand and developed the sect is, it is impossible for the the rest of the world to not know about the existence of such a demonic sect. And as far as my research tells me, there has been no established demonic sects in the last few hundred years around the seven mountains.

As you can see, the theory that this stage is a test begins to contradict itself.

Now, let's shift to our secondary theory, considering this stage to be a part of the seal that suppresses the powerful existence inside.

Several details suddenly start making sense.

To deprive a cultivator of their power, the most important step is to make them unable to use their qi. But at higher level of cultivation, it is quite a difficult feat to achieve. Any powerful expert worth their salt would be able to find a loophole inside the techniques used to deprive them of their qi. No technique is invincible or unbreakable.

Thus, another important issue can be solved using this clue. The emerald orbs, the incredible power sources that litter the second stage like they aren't worth a penny. Had I not frequently bought artificially collected qi from my sect's treasury, I might not have noticed how precious they are. Each of those orbs can be sold for thousands of spirit stones.

You get what I'm saying, don't you brother Yun ? These power sources were collected by depriving the powerful existence using various types of suppressive laws, like the Seal of Myriad Laws floating above our head right now. It certainly worked its part on us three by sucking up our qi, hehehe..."

Han Xuhan's carefree laughter rang through the silent land of laws. No one answered his rhetoric question.