"...Fuck you. Anyway, as per the conditions of our deal, I have fulfilled my promise and driven those Tupshus away. My part is done, full and final. It's time for you to accept your part of the deal and swear a dao heart oath! Swear that you'll honor your promise and let me control your body when I make the request!"

Hearing the conviction in the demon's tone, Han Xuhan tried to think of any possible loopholes he might have missed in the promise. The demon did accept all of his conditions.

Most importantly, he had the freedom to warn Xuan Zi before the demon took over. He didn't have an iota of doubt that Xuan Zi wouldn't sit by and watch the demon use his body to court disasters. He was still a very valuable chess piece to the sect master.

"Alright, I'll swear. Do you want me to do it in some specific manner or should I just say that I swear to honor our agreement?"

The demon thought for a moment and replied, "Return to your macrocosm first. Although dao heart oaths are personal bonds, it's better to use the heavenly laws in your world as a witness. This totality is unstable as hell."

Han Xuhan didn't have a problem with that. His consciousness slipped out of the island and returned to his body. Sitting on the porch of Xiao Wu's hut, Han Xuhan loudly declared his oath, stunning his three martial siblings who had no idea what was going on. All they had seen in the last half hour was just him slipping in and out of consciousness like a man on his deathbed.

"What promise? To whom?!" Mu Ran was the first to recover.

"Did you just swear a real dao heart oath?" Xiao Wu screeched, knowing the risks associated with such actions. It was fine for other cultivators to make dao heart oaths, because they could violate them and still not get entirely crippled from cultivating, but Han Xuhan...

Ahem, it was like watching a blind man make a bet with his eyes as collateral. Xiao Wu couldn't bear to see it happen.

"You made a deal with your mental demon?" Yuen Zhou, the sharper among the three, caught onto the crux of the matter fast. Confirming her suspicion, Han Xuhan told them of his discovery of the dangers swimming around his dao foundation. All three of them looked as exhausted as he felt from the incomprehensible development by the time his story ended.

"How can you survive that place? This is ridiculous!" Mu Ran exclaimed with a frustration that Han Xuhan was all too familiar with.

"The mental demon seems to be quite powerful. Not only did he manage to control one of these so-called primordial predators, but he also managed to drive the entire horde away when they were just one step from destroying your spiritual foundation, martial brother. Have you considered what would happen if the island is fully destroyed?"

Hearing Yuen Zhou's question, Han Xuhan nodded thoughtfully. "Of course. Right now, I still have a zeroth layer of cultivation as my foundation. But if that too is destroyed, my connection to my spiritual world would be severed for good. I'll end up a full mortal, with no spiritual roots to cultivate on!"

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"Not just that, your minions would be destroyed too," Yuen Zhou said. "Do you think they'll continue to exist in our world if your spiritual world, the very basis of their existence, is eaten up by those Tupshus?"

Tun Shi Tian, who was still recovering from the sequela of being the target of a Tupshu, cursed out loud hearing her analysis.

"Dammit! What did I do to deserve this kind of fate? Before I could gain the strength to confidently court death, death desperately started courting me! The world is so unfair! Heavens, give me a buffer period of five years first! How else can a hero grow?"

"How do you plan to deal with this?" Mu Ran said. "If these so-called subspatial pockets packed with spiritual energy explode, you're done for!"

Han Xuhan shrugged. "Gonna have to accept it if it happens. I'm way out of my element in that place. It's not like I can move an entire island to evade those bombs."

Yuen Zhou cracked her fingers loudly, saying, "Have you considered how these young Tupshus, especially those at the larva stage, survive the explosions?"

Han Xuhan had not thought about that. Brows knitted, he quickly slipped back into his dao tower.

When he reappeared on the shore, no fiery orbs were floating on the ocean, much to his relief. But he did notice the smokey silhouette of something the size of a small hill occupying the central area of the island.

Once again, he directed his gaze downward and approached the Tupshu possessed by the mental demon. But before he could speak, the demon's voice reached him.

"You should stay away from Yuen Zhou, if you know what's good for you."

Pausing in his movement, Han laughed out loud. "Did she piss you off by figuring out the next trump card you were hoping to use against me? Just like this time with the Tupshu horde, you could have played the role of a savior by letting us survive the explosion of unstable spiritual energy. That way you get to owe more and more from me, right?"

"How the hell would I know how to save you from the explosions?" the demon asked, sounding incensed by the analysis. "I've told you before! Even I wouldn't be able to withstand these eruptions of energy! Don't just blindly believe in a theoretical suggestion made by someone who has never even stepped foot into this world. Has your sense of judgment been corroded by lust? Tsk, tsk, tsk~"

Han Xuhan remained unperturbed as he arranged the thoughts in his mind. The more he contemplated, the surer he became that this demon was trying to scam him again!

But for some strange reason, he hadn't been able to see through a trap so obvious for so long! He had obediently accepted the threats and orders from the demon. It was almost as if... The demon was secretly using the hypnotic power of the Tupshu in secret to influence his mind!

Treacherous! Too treacherous!

Han Xuhan regretted overlooking one simple fact. He was dealing with a literal demon, not another human being of the same stature as him. Why had he been stupid enough to think the battle of wits was going to be fair?

"What's with the silence?" the demon said, probably sensing something.

Han Xuhan began to lay out his thoughts hearing the ridicule and disdain in the demon's tone.

"I do not know if it is your good fortune by which we landed in this place out of all the regions in the Totality of Autonomy, but you've certainly made good use of the opportunity. As a powerful spiritual being with the ability to control and corrupt others, you were simply on your home ground while dealing with these young Tupshus.

"But you've made a simple mistake in arranging the scenario of playing the reluctant hero."

"What are you even talking about?!" The demon sounded absolutely flabbergasted. For a moment, Han Xuhan was convinced that he was overthinking things. But his extensive baggage of PTSD didn't diminish in the slightest. The trauma made him stand stronger in his paranoid stance.

"There is a contradictory point in the information you've given me. You've repeatedly insisted that the eruption of spiritual energy from these substantial pockets around us could kill both you and me easily. But you've also mentioned that adult Tupshus have left their eggs in these subspatial pockets. You've mentioned that all around us, numerous Tupshu children are swimming, hunting, growing in the primordial ocean. This region, you say, is a safe haven for the younglings.

"So how is it that you, a spiritual being powerful enough to suppress and control the most powerful Tupshu of a horde, cannot survive an explosion of spiritual energy when these eggs, larvae, and the weakest Tupshu children can safely grow in the same region?

"This is, as you've explained, a world of spiritual projections. All these Tupshus are spiritual creatures quite similar to you and I within the confines of this Totality. So it doesn't make sense for the weaker beings to thrive in circumstances where the stronger gets destroyed."