Extra's Strategy: Cultivate Protagonists, Become Invincible-Chapter 94: The Undead Army

The four of them started walking in a tight-knit group. A couple of minutes into the walk, Han Xuhan imperceptibly made a gesture to Qian Yun, who caught onto what he meant and slowly slinked backwards to give Mu Ran and Xuhan a chance to hold a private discussion.

"Boss, before we entered this place, you told me that you HAD TO accomplish something here, remember? Or there would be dire consequences, right? So why are you still hanging back at the periphery of the second stage? Don’t feed me that previous bullshit answer again. We’re on the same side!"

Mu Ran gave him and Qian Yun a sideways glance each before replying cautiously.

"Underling Xuhan, I understand that you’re very curious about what I’m trying to do in here. But I myself am not totally sure of it either."

Han Xuhan couldn’t believe it. Not sure about it yet he risked his life over it?

Mu Ran seemed aware of the meaning of his intense gaze.

"It’s sort of like this; I have some crucial information regarding what to expect, but it might not necessarily be true. The person I got the information from visited this place a long time ago, and things have changed since then."

Han Xuhan caught the keyword in Mu Ran’s explanation. Of course, Mu Ran was using guidance from his soul grandpa. It did fall into the chain of logic he had been following so far.

That meant, Mu Ran’s soul grandpa had some ties with the fallen Holy Land! No wonder he could discover the portal in the woods so easily and cross the first stage in a record time!

"But that’s not why you’ve fallen behind, right boss?"

Mu Ran nodded, a contemplative expression appearing on his face.

"Indeed, it’s not. However, did you notice that the Holy Land of Laws operates in rather extreme ways, underling?"

Han Xuhan thought back to his experience here so far and had to agree. The forceful infiltration of people’s cultivation base was way too much to accept.

But at the same time, if it were up to him, that was the type of trap he himself would set in order to protect this place from powerful experts. So he hadn’t paid much attention to this detail previously.

"Since you’re in the second stage, it means you’ve already comprehended some of the law fragments from the circle of laws already. This means your foundation tower has already been imprinted with a seal of the Holy Land of Laws.

"This type of enslavement seals are nearly impossible to erase, so I can only offer my condolences. If you think about it, someone who would do such vicious things is either desperate or purely a sinister demon in human skin. So I’m a bit hesitant to be the first one to reach the center of the foggy area.

"This is one of the main reasons why I’m hanging back. By now, the rest of our opponents should have gotten closer to the center of the fog. The second stage is a very large area full of perils. So I don’t have to worry about anyone suddenly completing the third stage of the test before I can."

Han Xuhan opened his mouth to defend this ’demon in human skin’ in Mu Ran’s words, but he decided to not pursue the issue in the end.

"But you don’t have to worry about this. Even if the expert who designed this testing ground bears any ill will toward us, I have a way to handle it. And that reminds me, did you perhaps read what I wrote on the ground back in the stadium?" Mu Ran suddenly asked in a concerned tone.

Shit! Why is this guy’s intelligence so inconsistent?!

One moment he’s as easy to manipulate as a five-year-old, another moment he’s thinking like a slimy eel. He purposefully put this question behind an unrelated subject to test my reaction, didn’t he?

But he was still underestimating Han Xuhan.

"...Yeah, about that, boss." he laughed, making Mu Ran even more uneasy than he already was.

"You don’t need to worry at all! As your underling, how can I let others spy on your secrets? Before I passed through the first stage, I made sure that everyone inside the circle of laws was transported outside! None of them will ever know what you wrote down in there!"

Han Xuhan explained what he had done to Mu Ran, who was struck dumb for a few moments upon hearing him.

His underling was too useful!

Such a loose end has been taken care of so easily! Even though he suspected that Han Xuhan knew about his big secret, Mu Ran could live with it. Not to mention, simply knowing that Mu Ran could activate and fuel his own law fragment under the conditions of the stadium didn’t mean Han Xuhan understood the truth behind it!

Just when he was about to praise his underling for the clever scheme, a strange sound came from ahead of them.

"What was that?" Han Xuhan immediately became cautious and slow. The sound was a bit too loud and heavy to be from a cultivator or two.

Qian Yun reached closer to them with long, hurried strides, accompanied by Zhanxian. Mu Ran took out his rusty spear again.

The four of them vigilantly stared ahead while standing in a tight formation.

The sound came again, but this time from their right. It was similar to the type of noise made by dozens of beasts running together, breathing heavily.

Again, they heard it, this time coming from their back. Han Xuhan realized that they were being surrounded by the enemy, whoever they were.

And judging by Mu Ran’s shaking hands and Qian Yun’s sweaty palms, he wasn’t the only one feeling a terrible sense of dread.

Soon, claws reached out from within the fog, followed by giant silhouettes.

Corpses mutated beyond recognition, in all sorts of sizes and shapes that could only be found in nightmares, were surrounding them from every direction. The undead they had dealt with outside the fog looked adorable in comparison to the mutations on these corpses.

Some of them were up to three meters in height despite being on all fours. Some of them had dozens of limbs sticking out from random parts of their body. Some had transformed into a chaotic hybrid of humanoid and bestial features.

Bone spurs, mutilated wings, fat acid sacs, sentient tentacles, and many more unrecognizable appendages could be seen all over their body.

Han Xuhan was strongly reminded of the lore of the fallen Holy Land. Its destruction had supposedly been brought by an army of nightmarish creatures.

Could these be the remnants of that army?

Far away outside the encirclement, there was a lone figure who seemed to be controlling them.

Han Xuhan considered asking Zhanxian to talk to his fellow undeads and ask them to spare their lives, but that wouldn’t probably work out very well. Zhanxian was a disgrace to his community.

Suddenly, just when they were about to initiate a violent attack on one part of the encirclement in order to escape, a voice came from the shadowy figure behind the undead army.

"Mu Ran? Han Xuhan?"

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