"Whoa...am I really in a lucid dream ?" Han Xuhan wondered aloud as he took in the bizarre scene in front of him .

"Mm-hmm , the last thing I remember is definitely going to sleep . This has got to be a dream . No , wait a minute , I almost forgot what sort of world I live in..."

Eyes narrowed in suspicion , Xuhan gazed at the countless flickering stars shining amidst the infinite stretch of darkness ahead . He couldn't see his own body due to the darkness , but he could still feel his limbs . His body felt weightless , as if suspended in space . The whole situation was fishy , to say the least .

"The dao of meta verdicts that no xianxia dream is normal . My actual dreams would never be this lengthy or peaceful . So what do I gotta do now ? Do i just sit and wait ?"

His question was greeted by nothing but silence . Bored out of his mind , Xuhan started wondering what could have caused this anomalous situation .

Could it be someone from the sect trying to ambush him ? But he hadn't really done anything...That heavenly tribulation was entirely Yuen Zhou's fault .

Who else...did that expert who had wiped out Pine town finally make his move ? After an entire month ? Did he get wiped off like that town too ?

Not knowing what to do , Xuhan waited . Seconds stretched into minutes , and minutes stretched into hours . Even though there was no way to tell the time , Xuhan could still guess that at least several hours had gone by .

In the vast , empty space , Xuhan started to panic . He couldn't move , couldn't see anything , couldn't sense where he was... the passing time felt like torture at this point . Just as he was about to start shouting for mercy , a distant star ahead flickered abnormally . His voice caught in his throat , Xuhan watched dumbfoundedly as the star slowly got larger and larger .

"Is that thing coming closer or getting bigger ?"

Han Xuhan stood still as the light got large enough to block his vision of the rest of the stars far away , since that was his only option .

Soon , the light enveloped him , blinding his vision for a moment . When he realized he could see properly once more Han Xuhan gasped .

A milky white , semi-transparent globe now seperated him from the void he had been stuck in . He could still see the starlight twinkling vaguely outside . His original assumption of being approached by a random star was definitely wrong . The globe that had enveloped him was connected to a cylindrical passage ahead , reaching so far at the direction the light had come from that Xuhan couldn't see what was on the other side .

"Wait , I can see colours ?" Xuhan instantly looked down...and saw nothing except the round bottom of the white globe . Other than his sight and consciousness , no other part of his body seemed to be present here . Yet he could still feel the sensation of having limbs , except they felt too heavy to move .

Looking around , he couldn't find any light source inside the globe .

"Maybe this really is a dream...that's right . Only a dream could be this illogical . Maybe if I try hard enough , my brain will produce a gundam colossus . After all , it's MY dream-"

"I'm afraid not ," a grave , disembodied voice came from the tunnel ahead and interrupted Xuhan's musings .

Thousands of curses ran through Xuhan's mind as he processed those words . He recognized the voice .

"Yooo...fancy meeting you here , Brother Bondage Boy . You outta jail now ?" Xuhan asked nervously .

". . ."

An awkward silence stretched on between the two parties . Han Xuhan racked his brain trying to figure out what the fuck was going on . It actually didn't require much thinking .

"Heh , I expected you to deny your identity and take up that Shen Kai's name again , if I'm being honest . How come you're so cooperative today ?" Brother BB finally replied .

"Ah well , it's pretty obvious , isn't it ? The only reason I could be here , a place seemingly under your control , is because of that law seal in my dao base . And if I remember correctly , the mechanism behind the leaderboard in there somehow dug out my real name . Granted , nobody saw it at that time . But with you being the boss of that place , it shouldn't be difficult to get your hands on those details ," Xuhan explained patiently .

"Be that as may , I'm actually not your brother BB . That person was taken away by a higher faction , to a higher level world . It's me , your friend Qian Yun ."

Han Xuhan didn't respond for quite a while before starting to laugh out loud .

"You know what , Brother Bottled Brainworm ? Your humour definitely got an upgrade . Last time we had a chat like this , you proved yourself to be quite a disgrace to all the gentlemen cultivators out there by refusing to explain your motives . I mean , who does that ?

And now , you want me to trust your words again ? Nice try . Try harder next time . Maybe cook up a good story to sell the lie . I love good stories ."

"Wait , I thought brother BB meant Bondage Boy ."

"Of course not . It means Beleaguered Bastard ."

". . .What proof do I need to give you in order to make you believe my words ? " Brother BB finally gave up and asked .

"Don't be such a clown , fellow cultivator ! Look , I won't believe you regardless of the clues you feed me . So can we just skip this part of the conversation and get to the point ? I am open to discussions , just not pointless ones . Tell me what's going on here . I promise to cooperate ."

"Okay , if that is what you wish ; have it your way . You , are now trapped within a realm separate from the rest of the world , a courtesy of the law seal in your dao base . Really , you should have done your best to destroy the seal even if it meant crippling your own cultivation . Now you're at the mercy of whoever is in charge of the Holy Land of Laws , and that's me ."

Brother BB stopped speaking to let the weight of his words sink in Xuhan's heart .

"How did I get in here , exactly ?" Xuhan asked curiously .

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

Han Xuhan found himself having flashbacks of Yuen Zhou's lecture . She had mentioned the ancient Law Manipulators taking up a great number of safety precautions while passing on their legacy . Could this be something similar ?

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

He hadn't been the only one whose dao base got infiltrated by the seal . Sect master Xuan Zi had assured him that the seal wasn't a threat...

A cloud of doubt rose in Xuhan's mind as he played with the strings of information he had on his hand . He felt that he was just one question away from being able to formulate a rough picture .

"Brother BB , did you summon Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou as well ?"

"As far as I can tell , the law seals in their dao base no longer function . I'm certain that they have found a way to deal with the issue . In fact , your martial sister Yuen Zhou dealt with hers just a few hours ago . Missed the opportunity to summon her by just an hour . Frankly , it was a surprise to me that you didn't deal with something this risky even faster than them . Did your sect master not deal with the issue himself ? Or did you hide it from him ?"

The veil of schemes became slightly more transparent as Xuhan connected the dots .

Of course , now it all made sense in a more logical way . Mu Ran wouldn't lack the means to deal with the seal . As for Yuen Zhou...a few hours before was the time when she had somehow summoned the heavenly tribulation to make breakthrough...

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.

Yuen Zhou definitely hadn't reached that level of cultivation yet . Which meant that she had to artificially summon a tribulation , and that's where the lecture came in the picture .

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 pull the stunt . Or was there more hidden agenda involved ?

Shelving those thoughts for another day , Xuhan focused on the issue at hand . Brother BB had started speaking again .

"Now that we're clear on the fact that you are in fact , at my mercy here and I can keep you locked up here until your main body dies , I'll get to the point . If you agree to work for me , there would 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 ?"

"It's definitely fun 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 , 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 , a frequently used seperate realm where disciples of the Holy Land could be controlled and examined , the number of hours I had to wait after being summoned here don't make sense . Who has that much time to waste ? Why didn't you appear sooner ? It's not as if you were literally travelling through the stars to get here . Why would it take you hours to finally talk to me ?

I don't think I need to explain that the waiting part was a simple intimidation technique . Since the moment I have appeared here , you've done everything in your power to make me feel less and less safe . From telling me repeatedly that I was at your mercy and indirectly hinting that my martial siblings backstabbed me and finally hammering in the final nails through sheer bullshit , all of these would be totally unnecessary if you really were that powerful as you describe yourself to be .

So let's just ignore all of those little mischief from your part , fellow cultivator . I'm a magnanimous man . I'll just treat it as a childish prank . Now why don't you tell me about this deal you're trying to offer me ? And do change the conditions of the deal slightly if you want me to accept it . Equal parties , equal benefits , hmm ?"

Brother BB fell silent . Xuhan patiently waited . He wasn't actually sure if the other party had more insidious cards to play , but this was the best he could achieve right now .

"Fine . The deal is very simple . You supply me with cultivation resources , I'll trade for those with cultivation manuals , information about higher level worlds , training methods for law techniques , anything that you can think of along those lines , provided that they're of same value . Just like the deal we made back inside the Holy Land , remember ?"

Han Xuhan snorted in disbelief .

"You lack cultivation resources ? How am I even supposed to provide a soul reformation level cultivator with resources ? I mean , I'm rich , but not that rich !"

"I told you I'm Qian Yun . You only need to provide me with resources for a few cultivators at the physique transformation realm . How you do it is none of my business . All I care about is efficiency and speed . In turn you get all of those perks I just told you of . Do we have a deal ?"

Staring suspiciously at the tunnel ahead , Xuhan contemplated the choice for a long time before answering .

"Can't see why I should refuse . We do , fellow cultivator ."