Recently, Han Xuhan's nights had been busy. Had he not been a cultivator at the fourth layer of the physique transformation realm, it would have been hard to even form coherent thoughts by now, let alone stay awake at midnight and construct thorough plans.

But that was what he had been doing till now. Closing his notes, which he had just finished memorizing, he burnt the papers on the flame of the candle.

Lying with his back on the wall, Han Xuhan thought for a moment before diving back into the depth of his consciousness, heading for his dao tower.

Zhanxian and Tun Shi Tian came out of their areas, looking alert.

"Did you see anything odd here after I left?" Han Xuhan said casually.

"No."

"Nope."

The answers were expected. Han Xuhan hummed and turned towards the ceiling where the law alphabets were gathered. The dome appeared normal.

His consciousness hurtled toward the dome and used the familiar circular formation of letters there to transport his consciousness to his spawning point inside the vast realm of laws.

Qian Yun responded to his incessant howling rather fast.

"What is it? What happened?!" slightly panicked, Qian Yun's voice trembled.

"Wow, you're so fast, brother Yun! Do you spend most of your time here?" Han Xuhan answered.

"...Do you have something to say or not?" Qian Yun snapped back.

"Whoa! What's with that unwelcoming tone, brother? If I don't feel welcome here, how am I supposed to learn from you? And more importantly for you, how am I supposed to keep handling the resource-trading business?"

Qian Yun didn't answer for a while. But Han Xuhan distinctly felt like someone was grinding their teeth hard on the other side of the tunnel.

This truly was an effective way to vent!

"We're handling some problems here in the Holy Land for a while now. I'd be grateful if you could comprehend the pressure on me," Qian Yun said after a long bout of silence.

Han Xuhan was just about to give up his trolling for the day and get down to business, but Qian Yun suddenly added another line.

"In fact, I think you should know about the problem. It's your martial sister who's responsible for it."

"...What?" Han Xuhan asked, feeling like he had misheard.

"Yeah, that girl called Zhou, remember she had a zombie army with her when she was accompanying us through the 'test'?"

Han Xuhan remembered that perfectly, down to some terrible, graphic details.

"She left with you, but her zombies remained in this place. The humanoid zombies disappeared for some reason, but the rest have been plaguing us for a while now. They used to avoid us initially, but I suspect that hunger and lack of prey here have pushed them to their limits. They're actively attacking my people, trying to break into our rooms, infiltrating the tunnels...it hasn't been easy on anyone's nerves. Especially now that the zombies have mutated."

"MUTATED?! What do you mean they mutated? Those things were already beyond recognition after being zombified. All of them were mutated monstrosities to begin with!" Han Xuhan couldn't help but screech, scenes full of unhinged body-horror creeping into his imagination.

"You don't want to face them now, that's for certain. Nobody would. These zombies turned on themselves after running out of the little food they could find here. They fought each other, fed on each other, absorbed each other, mutated through the process, and fought another mutated zombie after that. In the end, only a handful of them were left, out of which we killed all but one. The remaining one has fed on multiple mutated zombies. It's as smart as any of us, with physical strength way above the peak of Physique Transformation realm. It's a miracle that none of us have been hunted and devoured already...but that day is perhaps close. This remaining zombie is growing impatient. In a face-to-face combat, none of us will be able to kill it by ourselves.

So we've been trying to hunt it together. I wish I could say we're making progress..."

Qian Yun trailed off. Han Xuhan couldn't even imagine the circumstances these fellow cultivators were in. It sounded like an absolute nightmare, being stuck in a small archaic region with nowhere to escape to while being hunted by mutated, intelligent zombies.

"Hey, brother Yun, do you think my martial sister might be able to help you with that danger?" Han Xuhan suddenly said.

"Maybe, but would she?" Qian Yun didn't sound too hopeful.

"Well, she would probably not care, but I can make her," Han Xuhan felt a smile taking shape on his face despite being disembodied right now.

"Are you certain?" Qian Yun said cautiously. "I don't want anyone so troublesome to infest this place again. Not if she can't solve the problem easily."

"With some forms of remuneration, I believe, everything can be ascertained and made easy." Han Xuhan snickered with the business opportunity in hand.

"And that reminds me, I need you to do something. Consider it an advance payment for solving your zombie infestation problem."

"Get to the details," Qian Yun immediately responded.

"Do you remember that when you first entered the portal leading to the Holy Land of Laws, you landed on top of a cliff?" Han Xuhan probed carefully.

"Yes, the area just outside the deathmist. Everyone who entered through that portal ended up in that place," Qian Yun affirmed.

"Deathmist? So that's what the fog is called, huh? That's a pretty cool name!"

"...Get to the topic.".

Han Xuhan coughed and began to elaborate.

"Well, inside the region shrouded in deathmist, my martial brother lost his favorite weapon. How about you find it for us? You can send it over during the next resource exchange."

"The region shrouded in deathmist isn't small. I'll need a more specific location. Describe the area where he lost it, as well as the appearance of the weapon. I'll see if it's a feasible task." Qian Yun seemed unwilling to spend a single extra second talking to him right now. So Han Xuhan provided him the information swiftly, having gotten every detail out of Mu Ran's mouth during dinner.

He was quite confident that they'd be able to find the spear. Because Mu Ran had apparently left it stuck inside a zombie monkey. The corpse wouldn't rot away fully so soon.

Just as he was about to leave, Qian Yun suddenly said, "speaking of resources...I would like to buy something special from your sect. I'm willing to negotiate with whatever price you offer for it."

If Han Xuhan had hands, he'd clap in surprise.

"Whoa! I was wondering when you'd begin paying with something valuable again. The only thing of value you've ever sent to my side using the displacement spell is that blueprint of your Holy Land, man. You really got me thinking you're a cheapskate. We've been sending so many resources to you-"

"Those blueprints are one of the most valuable treasures of our Holy Land! Do you think a few months of measly resource supply can be comparable to that?!"

Qian Yun sounded apoplectic.

Han Xuhan let him rant on for a minute. But it seemed that the frustrated young man had a LOT to rant about. His verbose abuse didn't recede at all...

"I'm feeling really unwelcome here right now, I'm warning ya~"

His voice was very weak compared to the other party, but it made Qian Yun shut his gob immediately.

"Ahaha, you get scared so easily, brother. So what is this special resource you're looking for? Must be something real precious!" Han Xuhan said in an eager tone.

"I need...guidance. The guidance of teacher, preferably an expert in Spatial Concepts."

Han Xuhan was stunned by the answer.

"Didn't you say you're in the Physique Transformation realm? Why the hell would you want to learn spatial concepts?

From what I know, it's one of the most complex dao out there!"

"I am not pursuing the dao of space, brother Xuhan. I'm simply trying to learn how to leave this barren world we're stuck inside. Without understanding how to operate techniques, spells, and instruments that can open gateways to our macrocosm, we'll never be able to leave."

"I see. By gateways to our macrocosm, you're referring to that portal we used to get inside the holy land, right?" Han Xuhan was surprised that they hadn't asked for help sooner. Granted, he was sending them food and other necessities regularly...but that ruined Holy Land was no place for the living.

"Yes. Judging by the information I have unearthed from the archives here, it seems that there is still a good chance for us to activate a gateway to the macrocosm. We will just need to learn how to decipher the manuals, operate the spells, and activate the gateways. The process overall is complex, requires huge manpower, and some skilled minds. But as long as we can open the gateways for the fraction of a second, it'd be enough."

Qian Yun's explanation convinced Xuhan. No, he wasn't convinced that Qian Yun could achieve the feat. He was simply convinced that the business opportunity here was too good to let go of!