After Kong Ye’s lecture, Han Xuhan made up so excuses to ditch Xiao Wu and went on a visit to the Sect Master’s mountain peak. But this ti, he didn’t get to see the man so easily.
"The sect master has summoned you in," the older disciple guarding Xuan Zi’s residence said after keeping him waiting for an entire hour, with no explanations whatsoever for the wait.
It wasn’t his first visit there. He had been forced to visit the Sect Master on his very first day in Crimson Snow Sect. So Han Xuhan navigated his way through the temple-like building with ease, constantly replaying the planned scenarios in his mind.
After a lot of thinking, he had decided to change his current lifestyle last night. For one thing, he had to make sure he wouldn’t end up suffering the sa fate as those protagonists in cultivation novels. The pros outweighed the cons.
It was one of the reasons why he had decided to et Xuan Zi today. He was going to co clean to the old man, just the opposite of what every xianxia protagonist would do.
Keeping secrets? Making shady deals with shady cultivators? Getting dragged into mysterious realms unsupervised? Being manipulated to do the bidding of malicious experts?
No, thank you! Han Xuhan was not going to accept these shitty subplot bombs being thrown in his direction that easily. He knew how to break out of the template with one simple move!
He found the sect master in the backyard of the building. The old man was, as usual, ditating in a lotus position, seemingly in the middle of a cultivation session.
"Greetings, sect master. I have a matter to report."
Arching an eyebrow upward, Xuan Zi gestured at him to sit down.
"Explain."
"I hope you rember the law seal in my foundation tower, Sect Master. I asked for your help in dealing with it."
"I sure do." Xuan Zi said without any hint of guilt. "Did sothing happen?"
Han Xuhan hid his grimace and took a deep breath.
"Yes. Last night, soone with an anonymous identity summoned a part of , my consciousness, over to a secret realm unique to the Holy Land of Laws. Then he forced to make a deal with him."
The whole ti he spoke, Han Xuhan kept his eyes glued to Xuan Zi’s face, and he saw absolutely no surprise or anger appear over his placid expression.
"Continue." Seeing him falling silent, Xuan Zi urged him on patiently.
"...Wait, you couldn’t have seen it coming, did you?" Han Xuhan asked, a sense of dread and disbelief coloring his tone.
Xuan Zi exhaled a long breath.
"Not exactly, but I expected sothing to happen. I’m more surprised that it has happened this late. I was originally starting to think you were hiding the issue and working for them already."
The plans in Han Xuhan’s mind crashed into pieces, never having anticipated a situation like this.
"But... You told that the seal is harmless-ah, of course."
Seeing Han Xuhan cool down instantly rather than throwing a fit, Xuan Zi smiled approvingly.
"Good. I like smart children. You’ve understood what I did, haven’t you?"
Han Xuhan nodded, his dry lips pressed into a thin line. For a long ti, both disciple and master stared at each other dispassionately. Han Xuhan broke the silence after gathering his thoughts.
"You wanted to be your... spy? A middleman? A bridge that connects you to whoever is in charge of the desolate Holy Land of Laws?"
"Sothing like that, yes. The law seal in your spiritual world cannot harm you without alerting , I made sure of it when I was testing it. But the cultivator in charge of its control certainly can ss with your spiritual world if you refuse to cooperate with him.
"But your incredible deeds in the Holy Land gave so confidence that you’d be able to evade the worst outco. So I made a bet at the expense of your safety."
"How are you so sure that the seal wouldn’t be able to bypass your understanding and do sothing big?" Han Xuhan asked, not feeling particularly assured.
"I suppose you’re still too inexperienced to figure it out yourself. The Holy Land of Laws has been deserted for many years, has it not?
"As a makeshift prison, it shouldn’t have many exits to our world either, right?
"And its decimated lands aren’t suitable to germinate decent cultivation resources, rember?
"Then, how would a cultivator, regardless of their power level, run a gigantic chanism that can effectively control soone in a separate macrocosm? Have you thought about it? Controlling the seal is not an ability they got through their own cultivation. It requires external resources!
"By now, you may have heard of power conversion theories in your lessons. One fact that you always have to keep in mind is that the bigger the scope of a technique, the bigger is its consumption of power.
"And a chanism like that law seal should involve at least multiple incredibly powerful formations, spiritual instrunts that can establish a cross-cosmic connection, tracking devices that could drain an ordinary sect in a day if kept activated.... Elder Long Xie from the Snow Thread Mountain Peak could go on for hours if you ask him the details.
How is a chanism like that supposed to run without any resources? Even if the Holy Land had all of its resources intact after all these years, they’d still have drained their stock dry with a handful of stunts like last night. chanisms like that are only intimidating when you’re within their reach."
Han Xuhan finally realized why Qian Yun had been so cooperative last night!
Now it made a lot more sense! His adamant behavior last night hadn’t been the only factor affecting Qian Yun’s attitude, the desperation for access to more resources was the bigger influence!
Seeing him looking less anxious, Xuan Zi leaned back into a more relaxed posture.
"Now why don’t you tell about this deal you signed with the other party?"
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