Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

While he was waiting for the examinees inside the third testing ground to come out, Han Xuhan had experimented quite a bit with law fragments.

The power sources were limited in number, which made it hard for him to wantonly try out the effects of the law fragments he had managed to construct.

Mu Ran ended up becoming the guinea pig for one of the most important fragments. The reason he had taken the risk to snatch Mu Ran's body away from the hands of Qian Yun and his accomplices was not because he had assumed both of them could escape that way.

He was heavily outnumbered in this battle, and even a single helper on his side was indispensable. The vitality-stimulating law fragment prototype was thus used on Mu Ran when Han Xuhan was running with his body. If it didn't work, he'd abandon Mu Ran, a lost cause.

However, if it worked, he'd still abandon Mu Ran, but this time as a strategic move. An awakened Mu Ran would be a buried mine for their enemies...and that's exactly how the scheme had played out.

Compared to the feasibility of his scheme, Han Xuhan was more surprised at the fact that the botched law fragment had worked. Mu Ran had to have a pretty impressive array of physical attributes to be able to recover so fast from the shock of sudden changes in his body.

Even though Mu Ran generally came off as rather idiotic, Xuhan had to admit that he had a talent for combat. He had dispatched an opponent with a higher cultivation base in just one move!

So impressive!

Now he only had to explain to that fool why he had let go of him during the critical moment...cough. Hopefully, Mu Ran would understand that it was all a part of his schemes.

Since his pursuers were distracted by Mu Ran's re-emergence, Han Xuhan took the chance to stand up and sprint off again. But just as he was about to leap up onto the platforms, a swift hand caught him by the collar and dragged him back.

"That's quite enough from you, punk. You should be proud for managing to evade us for so long." Feng Jun's bemused voice came from behind his ears as the hand gripping his collar shifted to Han Xuhan's neck and squeezed it painfully.

"Oh, I'm proud alright. This is something I'll be bragging about for the rest of my life. Just with a cultivation base of the second layer, I made all of you dance around me like a bunch of monkeys. How cool is that?"

Han Xuhan sighed, disappointed that he couldn't drag things out a bit more.

But oh well, he was really pretty proud of himself. Should he shout out something along the lines of 'I have lived a satisfying life! I can die with no regrets!' like those cool side characters in stories?

But that might earn him a smack in the face, so he decided to save the dialogue for later. There's an appropriate time and place for everything.

"Mu Ran! As you can see, your martial brother is in our hands. Don't get any funny ideas and surrender. Or you'll regret it!"

Qian Yun shouted at Mu Ran who was walking over toward them at a sedate pace, his hands held behind his back, looking very cool and domineering. The fog acted like special effects, swirling around his feet harmlessly and adding more spice to the scene. Han Xuhan rated it nine out of ten in his mind. But he also couldn't help but wonder why Mu Ran's body didn't seem affected by the poison in the fog...

"In...I...that" Mu Ran replied in a front tone. Due to the distance between the two parties being too large, they couldn't hear him properly.

"What did you say? I can't hear you!" Qian Yun shouted back.

"Boss, if you want to act all cool and suave, at least come closer where the spectators can appreciate it," Han Xuhan added after his captor.

Mu Ran paused for a second before hurrying over. After reaching a distance where they could normally hear each other, he cleared his throat again and repeated himself, "Indeed, I can see that."

"Good to know. Now stay right where you are and expel all of your qi. Don't even try to cast any techniques or this weak martial brother of yours would suffer terribly," Qian Yun instructed while ordering his two remaining lackeys to fan out and surround Mu Ran.

Secretly, Qian Yun used the mental network to communicate with the rest of the cultivators who were busy killing and chasing the zombies away. After a brief exchange, he ordered half of them to sneak back toward the platforms and prepare to use their cultivation techniques for combat the moment any unexpected change takes place.

He had learned from his mistake just then. Out of the twenty-one soul shards, eighteen had been refined. Although it was nowhere near the perfect result he had anticipated, he was confident of his success. Now, it didn't matter anymore if the attacks accidentally killed Mu Ran or Xuhan. But he couldn't let any variables change the current situation.

Mu Ran walked closer and closer, finally coming to a stop just a few meters away and stared at Xuhan, who was still being held up by his neck the way one would carry a snake.

As their eyes met, Han Xuhan winked at Mu Ran and said, "Boss, save your underling!"

"You let go of me when that guy attacked us," Mu Ran calmly replied to his plea.

"...Well, yes. But surely, you realize that I only carried you in order to awaken you, right?" Xuhan asked bitterly.

"Would you have let go of me if I didn't wake up?"

"Would you blame me if I did?" Han Xuhan replied with a carefree grin.

"...."

Mu Ran fell silent. Qian Yun looked back and forth between the duo, trying to sense if these martial brothers were secretly communicating somehow. But he couldn't find any clues. So he impatiently interrupted their silent staring contest.

"Are you going to surrender or not? Remember, your underling's life depends on your surrender."

"It was my intention to surrender as well," Mu Ran said in a low, heavy tone.

"Was?" Qian Yun asked, having noticed the tiny detail.

"Yes, it was. But seeing how he had plans to use me as a cheap meat shield, I don't think I'm going to do that."

Instantly, Mu Ran's aura soared upwards and an overbearing feeling of oppression spread from his body.

Not wasting a fraction of a second, Qian Yun sent out the mental command to the cultivators now surrounding the area.

"Attack."

Mu Ran crossed his arms and a golden glow erupted from his fists. But at the same time, eight cultivators from his left, right and rear cast their own techniques simultaneously.

Bang! Boom! Skreee!

The resulting scene was blinding, with flashes of lights, fireworks, sparks and lightning bolts in the sky. Sadly, no one shouted out the name of their techniques, not even Mu Ran. So Han Xuhan had no idea what had just transpired, what sort of spells had been cast, whose attack was the most powerful...

By the time his vision recovered from partial blindness, he found Mu Ran standing still in his position, his body surrounded by dazzling qi of many colors that moved together, creating a tornado.

In Mu Ran's hands, two orbs emitting emerald light were slowly becoming dim with each passing second. A string of symbols made up of pure qi was revolving around his body like satellites around a plant, constantly spinning.

Even with his poor comprehension of the language of laws, Xuhan could tell at a glance that those floating symbols made up some very high-level law fragments.

Was it a law fragment that nullified all the attacks cast on Mu Ran by controlling the attackers' qi outside their bodies?

Right then, Qian Yun's stunned voice verified his guess.

"T-that's a technique that can be only used by soul reformation level cultivators! What are you?"

With panic, fear, and amazement laced in his tone, Qian Yun's mental state could be easily understood. But Xuhan distinctly felt that something was off.

Wait a minute, Qian Yun already knew about Mu Ran's secret soul grandpa...

Then why the hell was he expressing such amazement and fear? It's almost as if he wants the Mu Ran to think he has been caught off guard...

He's definitely trying to buy time!

Han Xuhan tried to yell at Mu Ran to warn him. But he was a step too late.

A gigantic seal suddenly appeared over their head, blocking out their vision of the sky. The seal flickered in and out of existence, giving off an illusory feeling.

Countless law fragments were linked with one another in that seal that stretched as far as their eyes could see. Emitting a golden hue, various parts of the seal started spinning independently, and each time the countless revolving parts came in contact with each other, Han Xuhan could somehow feel a different type of law fragment being created and activated.

Following the movements inside the seal, Han Xuhan suddenly felt the qi in his meridians becoming heavy, ignoring all of his commands and slowly trickling out of his body.

In Mu Ran's case, the power sources in his hands flickered out as if the qi within them had been sucked dry. The spells that had been warded off around his body and turned into pure qi dissolved into thin air. Mu Ran's body seemed to have gone stock still from shock as he stared above at the seal.

"Finally! The Suppression Seal Of Myriad Laws has been acquired by the main body. The assimilation must be close to completion! Ahahaha, those decades of struggle was worth it! I'm free!"

A collective voice rose from the land of laws. Turning his head, Han Xuhan could see Qian Yun, Feng Jun, as well as all the cultivators in the vicinity shouting together, in the same pitch, same tone, same voice.

It looked like a kindergarten assembly. In less horrifying circumstances, Han Xuhan would have probably found it funny.