Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

Qian Yun took the papers and quill back from Yuen Zhou, who had just finished writing the entire first volume of the technique he wanted from her within ten minutes. It took up nearly twenty pages, and looked complicated enough to make any cultivator have second thoughts about practicing it.

"Who are you buying this for anyway?" Yuen Zhou asked curiously.

"Your martial brother Han Xuhan. He seems to put a lot of value on this."

Yuen Zhou was startled for a few seconds before she remembered the rumors about this martial brother of hers.

It was said that his meridians were deformed, making him the slowest cultivator of their generation. The teachers often gave him sympathetic looks and extra attention during classes. Rumors also said that he would inevitably end up as a slave in the mines within a few months. He was the current figurehead of their Black Sheep Mountain peak.

Now it all made sense to her. Since Han Xuhan and Qian Yun had been exploring this world fragment together, it was possible that they had made a contract in order to strengthen their trust in each other.

But what had he done to make Qian Yun trade away a rare cultivation technique?

Making a mental note to investigate that later, she turned her focus back on Qian Yun.

"Time for you to keep your word, fellow cultivator Qian Yun."

Qian Yun gave the documents in his hand one last look before he started speaking to her in a low tone.

Thirty seconds later, he walked away from a dazed Yuen Zhou. Their deal was completed, from what he could see. Yuen Zhou certainly did not seem unsatisfied with what he had told her.

Mu Ran and Han Xuhan noted the end of their conversation and stopped discussing their stupid theories. Well...Xuhan knew it was a stupid conversation, but he wasn't too sure about what Mu Ran thought.

The team returned to their usual formation. Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou in front, Han Xuhan and Qian Yun in the back, then Zhanxian and his brethren behind everyone else. Zhanxian stuck close to Xuhan, his bones shaking every time one of the hideous zombies looked at him curiously. Han Xuhan had repeatedly told him not to be a xenophobic racist just because the zombies were a different type of undead, but it wasn't working for some reason.

Stealthily, Qian Yun handed the documents to Han Xuhan.

One look at the contents of the papers and Han Xuhan's head started aching. Qian Yun had gotten this technique from Yuen Zhou, his martial sister?

Had he been a robot, his circuits would have been fried from the overload of information. Nothing made any sense to him. How did Qian Yun know Yuen Zhou had this? Why the hell would she memorize a whole cultivation technique that she had no need of, to begin with? Who is that bored?

But when he opened his mouth to ask him, he saw Qian Yun pulling out a familiar contract paper from his robe.

"We agreed that the cultivation technique was equivalent to your contribution to our contract so far, yes?"

Han Xuhan swallowed his question and nodded numbly.

"Then our contract ends here. Let's sign it off stating that we are both satisfied with the contribution of the other party. And don't worry about the cultivation technique being fake. If you ask your martial sister, she'll vouch for it. If you don't find her words credible enough, you can try to pour your qi inside the contract paper and verify its authenticity, although I'd advise against that. The entity that judges the contract is far from being gentle or genial. Even I, the designer of this contract dare not come in touch with its existence unless it's necessary."

Han Xuhan originally did suspect the credibility of Qian Yun's contract. But seeing it was Yuen Zhou who had provided the technique, he felt that it was unnecessary to take the risk to verify its authenticity.

Yuen Zhou had no beef with him. He had even helped her multiple times in the past with small matters. She had no reason to give him a faulty cultivation technique.

However, Han Xuhan's paranoia was acting up again. He decided to keep the technique untouched for now. He needed to do some experiments with it before his suspicions died down.

"The verification is unnecessary. I trust you, brother Qian Yun." Han Xuhan slapped his own chest and signed the contract paper brutishly.

The next few minutes passed by silently as they kept moving forward. Wherever this land of laws was situated in, night was bound to fall. The fog was getting harder to navigate through. Thankfully, there were a few dim emerald orbs shining ahead of them in the dark.

"Boss, should we collect those or not?"

Mu Ran turned to look at Xuhan. He had already collected half a dozen of these power sources. By now, most competitors who had passed the first stage were either knocked out or zombified. Mu Ran had even fought some sinister cultivators who had purposefully destroyed the law fragments protecting their defeated opponents which had turned them into horrifying undeads.

While he didn't need the power sources to activate law fragments, it would be a bit risky if they left them behind for the malicious competitors. Furthermore, he needed to hide the fact that he could activate laws by himself.

"Yeah, we should. It's time we entered the next stage," he said.

The four of them slightly adjusted their direction of movement and went straight toward the closest source of emerald light in the dark.

As soon as they got close enough to the emerald orb to see it properly, Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou exchanged a look and stopped walking. Behind them, Han Xuhan and Qian Yun got ready for shit to go down.

"This is a trap," Yuen Zhou warned in a hushed tone as she knelt down and picked up an odd-looking squirrel from the ground. Han Xuhan felt that it looked familiar. Wait a minute...

Was that the poor test subject Mu Ran had sent into this world fragment as a scout? It seemed to have turned into a zombie as well! Its front limbs had turned into a pair of thorny tentacles, and one deformed wing had grown out of its spine, straight up like a mast.

Han Xuhan's eyes turned toward Mu Ran, who looked rather ashamed of himself.

At least he had the heart to feel guilty over it.

"You used the squirrel to scout the area ahead?" Qian Yun asked Yuen Zhou curiously.

"FINE! I'M SORRY! I apologize for treating it as a guinea pig," Mu Ran gritted his teeth and spat out an apology.

"What?"

"What are you talking about?"

Qian Yun and Yuen Zhou turned to look at him and asked in confusion.

Han Xuhan slapped a hand over his forehead and decided to butt in since Mu Ran didn't look particularly eager to clarify the situation.

"That's a long story, guys. We can talk about it later! Martial sister Zhou, did the squirrel detect anyone with bad intentions nearby?"

Yuen Zhou nodded while Mu Ran gave Xuhan a thumbs up as if to say, 'nice save, underling !'

"Yes, I've encountered this type of traps before. Since everyone is trying their best to collect the power sources, you can actually avoid a majority of the scuffles and still reap the benefits if you're smart enough to run straight to the edge of the current testing area and guard one of the orbs around there. That way, your strength will remain at the peak, thus letting you bait and defeat the ragged cultivators who reach your power source after long, difficult battles.

"What a hateful strategy! Those who would ambush other hardworking cultivators like this surely must be demonic scums."

It was now Han Xuhan's turn to feel awkward.

That was the exact strategy he himself had come up with before they met Mu Ran and Zhou Yuen. While he was aware that other people had done something similar, it was embarrassing to see someone badmouthing his 'big brain strategy'.

Exactly what was so sinister about it? Hmph...only fools would refuse to acknowledge such genius plans. Visionaries have always been labeled as wicked before their vision was realized...cough.

Ignoring the amused glances from Qian Yun, Han Xuhan imperceptibly moved closer to Mu Ran.

"How do you suggest we deal with this, martial brother Mu Ran?"

Yuen Zhou asked, not noticing Han Xuhan's odd behavior.

"Well, I can just sneak up on them and beat them unconscious. That's what I've been doing since the start. It's a pretty brilliant and simple strategy!"

Mu Ran answered very confidently while taking out his broken spearhead.

"...How about you use the undeads to attack them?" Qian Yun suggested.

"Good idea," Han Xuhan supported him vehemently.

Yuen Zhou locked her gaze with Qian Yun for a moment before she relented.

"Fine. I'll use the larger zombies to create a distraction. Meanwhile, the three of you can sneak attack them from another direction."

Using the squirrel as a scout, Yuen Zhou managed to pinpoint the location of the hiding cultivators. The four of them maneuvered around their position and found the most suitable plan of attack easily.

Han Xuhan, Qian Yun, and Mu Ran worked together as a team while Yuen Zhou controlled her zombies to attack from the other direction.

The battle didn't last long. The cultivators never imagined that their well-hidden location would be discovered and attacked by the brainless zombies. While they tried their best to throw out the law fragments on their hand at the oncoming humongous nightmarish creatures, Mu Ran knocked them out one by one from behind. Han Xuhan and Zhanxian stood far away and cheered them on silently as Qian Yun 'collected the loot'.

..... ....... ...... ......

"Now, what do we do with these people?" Qian Yun

The four of them had gathered together once more after the battle was over. The five mildly injured cultivators in front of them looked at them fearfully. They couldn't believe that someone could control the wandering zombies in the foggy area.

Their opponents were too scary! Were these guys the infamous demonic cultivators? What were they going to do to them?

Han Xuhan was observing the five of them intently for a while. His eyes had a nasty, scary gleam that did not escape the notice of their defeated opponents.

"Since they can use the power of laws, we shouldn't allow them to reach the next stage and impede us," Yuen Zhou muttered in a low voice.

Mu Ran nodded in agreement.

"I've got just the thing we need," Qian Yun said as he pulled out another stack of documents from his pocket.

"We can make them sign contracts with us. If they want us to leave them unscathed, they need to cooperate with us. The contract will ensure that they can't betray us."

Everyone's eyes lit up at the suggestion. Indeed, every cultivation technique can do awesome stuff if you knew how to use them well.

Of course, the defeated party didn't look particularly eager to sign the contract.

To speed things up, Han Xuhan rammed into their mental defense with his harmless threat.

"Your mouths say no, but your bodies say yes."

Everyone turned to look at him in confusion. He felt like there was something wrong in their gazes. So he awkwardly explained, "all of you are injured. How can you hope to put up a fight now? Even if you're mentally prepared to struggle till the end, you must recognize the capability and limits of your own body! How can you people be good cultivators if you're not sensitive to your own limits?! Stop denying our goodwill and sign the contracts, or we'll hit you again right where it will hurt the most!"

"...."

The strange gazes didn't go away despite his logical reasoning. But it weakened their prisoners, mentally.

After a couple of minutes of bargaining and declarations along the lines of 'even a cornered mouse dares to fight a cat' and 'I'd rather die standing than live kneeling', the contract was finally signed.

The conditions were not particularly harsh. The only disadvantage their opponents had to swallow was being used as a meat shield during unexpected turns of events or ambushes. They also had to listen to the other party's commands as long as it didn't threaten their safety.

Just as the five of them breathed in relief after signing the contract, Han Xuhan's innocent voice suddenly overturned the situation.

"Guys, why don't we take our clothes off and have some fun?"