Han Xuhan didn't immediately tell his partner in crime how to decipher the texts. The information was the currency in their deal, after all.
Striding over to Mu Ran's writings, he slowly started running his qi replenishing method.
The qi filled up the grooves on the ground in the same way it had filled the texts on the walls. After half an hour had passed, the entire jumble of engraved texts was crammed full with qi.
Han Xuhan felt the familiar sensation of the info dump exploding inside his brain moments after once more.
The unfamiliar words on the ground started making sense after a few seconds and Han Xuhan could finally notice the specialty of the words instead of the simple, two-dimensional, plain marks on the ground.
[Any physique transformation realm cultivator who has comprehended the language of laws or has the ability to activate a single law fragment in this circle of laws shall be eligible to advance past this circle of laws]
The meaning of the text stunned Xuhan. Something did not add up!
According to the first law fragment he had managed to decipher a few minutes ago, it was impossible to activate any law fragment without a cultivation level above the soul reformation realm.
Since Mu Ran got ejected out of this arena after writing this, didn't that mean he actually activated the law?
He was above the soul reformation realm? Impossible!
There had to be a secret trick somewhere! If Mu Ran was an old monster hiding inside a normal kid's body, he wouldn't be so easy to manipulate and take advantage of.
The cyan-robed man was standing a few meters away examining Zhanxian curiously. Han Xuhan glanced back at him before he fell into deep thought. If the events described by the cyan-robed man were correct, then there could be few possibilities that Han Xuhan could think of. The most obvious one was that-
Mu Ran's soul was above the soul reformation realm, or at least, there was a soul above the soul reformation realm inside Mu Ran's body.
It wasn't an uncommon trope.
Han Xuhan had read plenty of such stories in his previous life. But encountering such absurdities in real life was entirely a different matter. This made the situation much more complicated.
Following the assumption that there really was a soul so powerful residing inside Mu Ran's body, Han Xuhan could finally connect the dots behind his strange behavior during their mission. If the portal in the woods was something the demonic cultivators had hidden carefully, then it would naturally be impossible for Mu Ran to discover its traces with his low cultivation base.
But what if the powerful soul inside his body helped him find the portal?
Then things actually started making sense. Furthermore, Mu Ran's desperation to enter the fog and his half-assed explanation regarding this obsessive behavior also fell into a logical chain of events following this assumption.
The soul inside Mu Ran's body was compelling Mu Ran to enter the fog and look for a certain target. The compulsion could either be absolutely forced or more like a deal. Mu Ran was trying his best to accomplish his part of the deal, which could explain his behavior.
Han Xuhan felt his head aching after reaching the end of the logical deductions. There was no point in contemplating further down this rabbit hole of imagination. His current predicament didn't have anything to do with Mu Ran's secret soul grandpa.
"You've been staring at empty air for quite a while now. And your aura suddenly grew unstable for a few seconds just now. Have you discovered something?"
A deep, rumbling tone came from behind. Han Xuhan turned to face the cyan-robed man and nodded after thinking things through for a couple of seconds.
"Could you describe exactly what happened after my acquaintance wrote the texts on the ground? I need some details."
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The cyan-robed man shook his head.
"Did you expect me to keep observing others without any reason? Most of what I told you comes from the mouth of people who were standing closer to your friend before he left this place. They were discussing the information and making a clamor after his departure."
Han Xuhan sighed and looked down at the texts on the ground. While filling these words up with qi let him understand their meaning, Han Xuhan had no idea how to actually make the 'law fragment' do what it meant.
He obviously had to use qi as a fuel. But he was in the physique transformation realm. There wasn't exactly any soul reformation realm powerhouse in sight whom he could use.
"If you can't really figure out how he left, you might as well as tell me all the information you've gathered about this place so far. You do need to keep your part of the agreement we made, remember?"
The cyan-robed man looked rather disappointed.
Han Xuhan decided to tell him how to decipher the words on the walls. Of course, he wouldn't give away such precious information for free. The information provided by the cyan-robed man so far could hardly match up to the information Han Xuhan was about to reveal. So a plan beneficial to both parties had to be carried out.
"Fellow cultivator who lacks patience-"
The man groaned and said, "Call me Qian Yun."
"Fellow cultivator named Qian Yun, let's make a deal."
"Another deal? What are you offering in return?"
"Information precious enough to outweigh everything you've offered so far."
The cyan-robed man's breathing hitched abruptly.
"There is only one thing that can be so precious to me in here. Don't tell me you've found a way to-"
"Yes, I've already found the way to decipher the texts on the wall."He completed the sentence for Qian Yun.
Han Xuhan's new friend laughed out excitedly.
"Good! If your information can help me decipher these texts, I'll owe you a precious one! What's the catch? What do you need in return?"
With a dry chuckle, Han Xuhan added the condition he had come up with when he had decided to reveal the information.
"The catch is a that every time you manage to decipher a sentence, you'll have to point it out to me and tell me the meaning. I myself cannot possibly run around this entire stadium reading every word written on the walls. It'd take too long!"
Qian Yun nodded immediately. The condition was hardly disadvantageous to him.
Han Xuhan looked around to check if anybody was listening in or paying an unusual amount of attention to them before he whispered the method of deciphering the texts to his new friend. The cyan-robed man looked dumbstruck for a few seconds after he absorbed the information in.
"No wonder! I haven't got the courage to cultivate in this place full of poisonous gas mixed in the air outside. What if the qi here was problematic too? Didn't you think of that?"
Hearing Qian Yun's question, it was Han Xuhan's turn to be stunned.
"....Holy shit! Why didn't I think of that? I could've died!"
The gaze coming from behind the glassy exterior of Qin Yun's mask was laced with suspicion, pity, and amazement. Nevertheless, he immediately left Xuhan in his stupor and started to decipher all the texts he could find around them.
Han Xuhan sighed after breaking out of his daze.
Why had he overlooked such a dangerous possibility?
He had to be more careful in the future. What was done was done. Not seeing any use in lamenting over his risky feat, Han Xuhan started walking around the walls and deciphering the 'law fragments' on them.
Hours passed. Perhaps the sun had already risen in the real world outside the portal. Han Xuhan and Qian Yun were relentless in their pursuit of new knowledge. Both of them seemed to notice the excitement in each other's eyes as they managed to figure out more and more secrets regarding this stadium.
There were countless bizarre statements written on the walls. From smiting powerful cultivators for any powerful moves to restricting all sorts of destructive behaviors...the variety of punishments gave Xuhan a lot to think about.
Nearly seven hours later, Han Xuhan had exhausted himself and lay on the ground beside Zhanxian. Qian Yun decided to take a break as well and came to sit beside them.
The rest of the occupants in the spherical stadium had either given up or stubbornly kept trying to find out what was so special about this place. Han Xuhan mentally praised them for their industrious nature. No wonder these guys could rise above normal mortals and cultivate their body and mind toward a higher degree of existence. In the world of cultivators, few were useless or mediocre by normal standards. Everyone had entered this world of wonders simply because they were special people themselves.
"Here are the last two I've deciphered just now. Take a look."
The cyan-robed man stretched out a piece of paper again from his pocket. Was this guy carrying around an entire stationary shop inside his robe? Where did those quills and papers kept coming from?
So useful!
Han Xuhan took the paper from him and read the contents on it.
Then he immediately froze as one of the keywords there slipped into a missing piece of the puzzle this place had created in his mind.