"Well, that certainly makes me find your character quite trustworthy," said the invisible guy from a direction Han Xuhan was not facing at the moment.

Han Xuhan laughed happily, continuing to look in the direction he had been facing so far as if he could actually see whoever it was speaking to him.

"Thank you, thank you. My master always said I have the most honest character, as well as an honest face; perfect for the job of a spy."

". . . .How straightforward. Your master was right about the honest character part indeed, it seems."

Han Xuhan had decided to gamble here. He was pretty sure that regardless of how he might attempt to explain his appearance in this foreign. . . .sect. Yeah, it had to be. Although he couldn't find the signs of first-level elements in the castle's periphery, it made sense that since they were going for a defensive structure, they wouldn't put the weakest, useless elements on the walls. The Titanfall archipelago was not a region that hosted sects of this calibre, if at all. Otherwise, Xuan Zi or Luo Yi would have informed the disciples about it. After all, one had to take certain precautions while visiting foreigners in their own home. It would make more sense if the Titanfall archipelago was a neutral territory owned by no sect in particular and shared by all instead. That way, the tournament would be a degree safer and the chances of cheating would be reduced.

Based on that assumption and his current predicament, a few conclusions could be reached easily.

This sect had been prepared to deal with foreigners, judging by their quick response to his sudden appearance. Perhaps for them, the preliminary round of the tournament had already begun. Their not-so-friendly behaviour was apparent. If he had to look for a specific reason for their aggressive attitude. . . . during any competition, members from foreign teams who would come uninvited were rarely welcome. Han Xuhan did not need to think too long to realize that at the moment, he definitely seemed like a spy in their eyes.

Perhaps they were under the assumption that he, as a disciple of a newcomer sect, had come to 'visit' and return with a bountiful harvest of information.

In his mind played a vision of Luo Yi shouting the name of the upcoming disasters.

Robbery, thievery. . . .by whom? At that time he hadn't put much thought into her words. But now it made sense all of a sudden.

So the sects were allowed to ransack each other for resources!

Han Xuhan had decided to throw a bait once the realization had set in. Since they were expecting him to be a spy/thief/robber, he would play the part. . .as unsuccessfully as possible. None of them would believe him if he claimed to be an innocent, clueless victim of a terrible prank. It was better to go along with the chain of events they had predicted, and then turn it upside down if he had the opportunity to.

Inside his mind, plans after plans were drawn, modified and discarded every moment.

"Hey, I'm standing here, not over there," the guy spoke once more after a brief silent contemplation.

"Where?" Han Xuhan asked 'in confusion' while not moving his eyes from the castle in front of him, observing every nook and cranny that could be seen from where he stood.

"Enough of this shit," the other party suddenly muttered and made a move. Han Xuhan barely felt the mobilization of qi in the air before his entire body got slammed against the ground by an invisible force.

"Sect name, your name, the progress of your sect so far– speak. NOW."

"Xu Qing, from Crimson Snow sect!" Xuhan gasped amidst wheezing. The heavy weight on his chest did not loosen at all.

"We just reached the archipelago. My master told me to go take a look at the rest of the powerful sects to see how they're doing and gather information about their methods. Then he threw me down to the sea before I could refuse! I have no idea how I ended up.. .here. . . ."

As his speech became garbled and slow from asphyxiation, the weight finally shifted.

No, 'shifted' was an understatement. The weight on his chest was thrown off as ferociously as it had subdued him just a few seconds ago. A yelp came from him as Xuhan sucked in air desperately, his countenance recovering fast.

That's when he realized that the cloud-like ground he had landed on was black. It was the first-level element. With a glance around, he was finally able to draw the mapping scheme of this sect in his mind.

Unlike them, the disciples of this sect had not practised the Celestial Gateway technique in their own homes for convenience. Instead, they had spread around the boundaries of their sect and laid down the rudimentary, first-level formations in these useless areas.

What wonderful planning! The elders were prohibited to help the disciples directly when it came to comprehension of the technique. One of the disciples must have figured out this key detail while studying the technique and alerted the rest, allowing them to form a plan to strengthen their sect by keeping the first-level formations outside, second-level formations in the middle, and third-level formations at the centre!

How talented does one have to be to see that far into the future?

Grimacing, Han Xuhan was about to get up when a meaty hand thrust itself into his line of sight.

"Hello, fellow cultivator Xu Qing! Kindly excuse my martial sister's hostility just then. We just haven't had a good experience with outsiders here. Did she cause any injuries that required medical assistance? Can you get up?"

Han Xuhan grabbed the hand and squeezed it as hard as possible while trying to stand. He was familiar with the degree of physical improvement of cultivators more powerful than him due to having so many friends in the sect. This guy's hand indicated that he was close to the peak of physique transformation!

"Oh, sure! I understand. Children are prone to violence pretty often. Not everybody learns basic etiquette. It's okay!" Han Xuhan replied with his trademark honest smile, which froze a second later.

Sister? That invisible asshole was a girl? That voice was too manly, right?

Damn!

He turned to glance behind him and finally saw the girl. She gloomily stared back at him. Han Xuhan did not mind. He had vented his anger through the insults, and he would continue to do so, again and again until he was satisfied or made to stop by someone powerful enough to rival Xuan Zi.

Girl, don't let this young master catch your name! You'll not like what I do with it.

"And you would be. . . ?" He asked his rescuer, a short, blocky guy whose muscles were prominent even outside his green robe.

"My name is Shangguang Ce. I'm an apprentice of elder Zong Ao. This is the Sunrider Sect, well, a replica of it to be exact. We hail from the northern subcontinent." The youth replied proudly.

Han Xuhan did not know how to react to the revelation. All he knew about the northern subcontinent was that it was cold as fuck. Their accents, as well as choice of words often felt jarring. It barely felt like they were speaking the same language. No wonder these people were from another subcontinent!

He had never heard of the Sunrider sect, neither had he read anything about it from the tabloid Xiao Wu had sold him.

Must be a weak sect that never won any significant competition. . . .But when he took another glance at the castle, that conclusion did not quite feel organic.

Too many things were happening at the same time. His brain simply failed to keep a leash on everything he needed for a proper plan of action. His mind had still not recovered from his earlier 'enlightenment'. While he was extremely happy that he had finally experienced one, the confusion in its wake took priority. He needed to talk to someone like Kong Ye or Xuan Zi to clear the confusion away. The thing was, the elders at the Crimson Snow sect refused to teach the disciples much about enlightenment. Their logic for refusal was sound enough.

Young disciples who learn enough about enlightenments will eventually end up obsessed with pursuing them wholeheartedly. But not all enlightenment bore positive results. A small portion of them also pushed young ones to unorthodox, dark paths of no return. The stronger a cultivator became, the higher the percentage of that type of enlightenment became.

Besides, once a disciple had experienced enlightenment, they'd be addicted to the feeling, a fact Han Xuhan could attest to now. It was easy to get lost in the pursuit of such fleeting pleasures and forget what the core value of one's cultivation was.

Feeling frustrated, Han Xuhan nodded in response to Shangguang Ce and said, "fellow cultivator Ce, I feel woefully underprepared to tackle this reconnaissance mission my master has ordained me to accomplish. Help me out here, brother and I'll remember the favour for an eternity!"

Shangguang Ce raised an eyebrow, looking nonplussed.

"Are you for real?!" the girl behind him shouted in part anger, part disbelief.

". . . .Well, maybe not for an eternity. But a long time for sure!" Han Xuhan said bashfully.

Silence stretched between the two parties. Shangguang Ce's eyes narrowed slowly as he matched Xuhan's gaze unblinkingly.

"Wonderful proposal, brother Qing. Let's get to know each other," he answered in the end with the ghost of a smile flickering on his face.