Extra's Strategy: Cultivate Protagonists, Become Invincible-Chapter 161: Mind Games

Qian Yun, or Zhao Weiqing, whoever it was on the other side, clearly did not have kind intentions, judging by his dominant, threatening tone.

"In this macrocosm, I am your king. Not because I control the realm, but because I control the seal in your foundation tower. I can destroy your personal spiritual world, your foundation tower, with a mere command. I can also help improve it, strengthen its functions, and help you become a successful law cultivator. It all depends on the outcome of this exchange."

"How did I get in here, exactly?" Han Xuhan asked, not letting any trace of fear crawl into his tone.

"I summoned you, or more accurately, a certain spiritual aspect of your existence, like your soul, through the seal. It’s very easy. Happens to be one of the major functions of the seal. This was one of the ways to keep the new disciples of the Holy Land in line as well as weeding out any imposters and spies."

Han Xuhan cursed out aloud. Sect master Xuan Zi had assured him that the seal wasn’t a threat....

Old fart, you lied to me! Why couldn’t you just admit that you didn’t have the necessary skill to figure out the seal’s functions?

Han Xuhan found himself having flashbacks of Xuanyuan Zhou’s lecture. She had mentioned that the ancient Law Manipulators took a great number of safety precautions while passing on their legacy. He had been curious to know what those precautions were.

Could this be something similar?

Wait, his system also mentioned something similar in the reward bar for the mission centered around Qian Yun. It said that cooperating with that guy could get him access to an ’Artificial Macrocosm’.

Was this spiritual world that artificial macrocosm? Having access to it meant he would be dragged into it by this guy?

What a terrible reward! He hadn’t even tried to earn it! Good heavens!

But just as he was about to speak, another thought jolted his mind.

He hadn’t been the only one whose spiritual world was infiltrated by the seal. Xuanyuan Zhou and Mu Ran were both similarly afflicted. Why weren’t they here? Or were they?

A cloud of doubt rose in Xuhan’s mind as he played with the strings of information he had in his hand. It felt like he was just one question away from being able to formulate a rough hypothesis.

"Brother Brainworm, did you summon Mu Ran and Xuanyuan Zhou here as well? Can I talk to them?"

"As far as I can tell, the law seals in their foundation towers are no longer active. I’m more or less certain that they have found a way to deal with the issue. In fact, your martial sister Xuanyuan Zhou dealt with hers just a few hours ago. Left me pretty frustrated with that missed opportunity, really."

Qian Yun’s voice certainly sounded regretful. But Han Xuhan knew he was expressing so much emotion to emphasize the fact that both Mu Ran and Xuanyuan Zhou had decided not to help Han Xuhan get free from the seal, despite having their own methods.

Han Xuhan found the attempts to bring down his mental fortitude rather amusing. So he listened intently as the disembodied voice continued to yap.

"Frankly, it was a surprise to me that you didn’t deal with something this risky even faster than them. You’re the most cautious one out of the trio. Did they refuse to help you? Did your sect master not deal with the issue himself? Or did you hide it from him?"

Han Xuhan’s thoughts flowed in a slightly different direction than what Qian Yun was hoping for.

He knew that Mu Ran wouldn’t lack the means to deal with the seal. As for Xuanyuan Zhou...

The revelation that she got rid of her seal a few hours ago was very interesting. A few hours ago was the time when she had somehow summoned the heavenly tribulation to make some kind of a breakthrough during her lecture on law Cultivation!

Sect master Xuan Zi had told him that removing the seal was something only a heavenly tribulation could naturally do; more specifically, the tribulation between the Physique Transformation realm and the Soul Reformation realm!

Xuanyuan Zhou definitely hasn’t reached that level of cultivation yet. Her Martial Cultivation wasn’t so advanced. This meant that she had artificially summoned a tribulation cloud to get rid of the seal!

But why use such a high-profile method? It had attracted the attention of all the Elders and the sect master himself. She could have just gone outside the sect to some deserted place and pulled the stunt. Or was there a more indistinct agenda involved?

Shelving those thoughts for another day, Han Xuhan focused on the issue at hand. Qian Yun hasn’t stopped yapping yet.

"Now that we’re clear on the fact that you are in fact, at my mercy here, and I can keep you imprisoned here until your physical body dies, I’ll get to the point. If you agree to work for me, there will be no need to go through such drama. Simply swear a heavenly oath and I can let you off."

Han Xuhan started howling in laughter as soon as he heard the offer.

"What’s so funny, brother Xuhan?" Qian Yun asked testily.

"It’s definitely funny to see how confident you are of yourself while lying like that. If you actually had that much power over me, we wouldn’t have spent so much time on small talks and intimidation tactics; neither would you be patient enough to answer so many of my questions. Let’s go through your strategy after summoning me here...

"If this place is, as you say, an isolated spiritual world frequented by disciples of the Holy Land, the number of hours I had to wait after being summoned here doesn’t make sense. Who has that much time to waste?

"Why didn’t you appear sooner? It’s not as if you were literally traveling through the stars to get here. Why would it take you hours to finally talk to me? So, I don’t think I need to explain that the waiting part was likely a simple intimidation technique.

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