"A mole ? That's quite unlikely, martial brother. If the demonic expert in your theory is as powerful as we think, he wouldn't need to cooperate with a mole to justify the existence of the town to the sect. It would still be suspicious, not to mention attracting unnecessary attention over such a long period of time. The portal had revealed itself quite recently, but the town has existed here for a much longer time.

The only reasonable way to explain the existence of the illusory town is by following my guess. Maybe a powerful expert was in seclusion here, and the town was the manifestation of his cultivation technique. Maybe it was the demonic expert in your theory, or another old powerhouse. Regardless, our movements seemed to have disturbed their plans somehow and made them end their seclusion, retracting the illusory town and it's people from wherever they were at that time."

Yuen Zhou refuted his theory nimbly, making Xuhan do a double take. He had not expected to lose in a logical argument. But her theory did fit the situation more neatly than his own.

This was also a good thing for him. Ever since Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou had realized the depths of his scheming in the land of laws, the two of them had become much more wary of him, displaying a tight-lipped attitude whenever he was around. It made Han Xuhan feel like the golden thighs he had worked so hard to hug were slowly slipping out of his grasp.

A few dumb mistakes like the one just now would probably lower their suspicions regarding his character a bit. But suddenly appearing to be too dumb would probably backfire on him and make Yuen Zhou, the more perceptive among the duo, realize his intentions.

'I need to act more like a lovable airhead !' Han Xuhan made this resolve in his heart and started planning the details of his plan to hug those golden thighs harder.

Oh golden thighs,

Never gonna give you up

Never gonna let you go...

"That's enough headache inducing theories for now. Our main priority should be reaching the sect as fast as possible. It doesn't matter who it was that wiped out the town or created such an illusory world. If they discover that some weaklings still remember the town, I don't think they'll be pleased."

Mu Ran finally couldn't bear the mind bogglingly complicated discussion that practically bordered on baseless fairy tales and put his foot down on it stubbornly.

Han Xuhan and Yuen Zhou stopped their discussion temporarily, each of them delving into their own thoughts.

The boat moved along the curving river, snaking its way through the countless mountains and plains littering the region. The sun was about to move westward, signalling the approach of the evening. The silence in the middle of a river was distinctly different from the silence on the ground. The boatsmen did what they were paid to do and rowed with all their might. Other than the occasional sound of the water splashing around the boat, the silent atmosphere was an enjoyable treat, especially after the hectic experiences of the last few days. It gave Xuhan a peaceful time-out to think back to his recent experiences.

Han Xuhan's stamina had hit an all time low ever since he had used the law fragment to speed up his sprint. Even the argument just then made him feel tired. He had really made quite the loss during this venture outside the sect. His exploding knives used up, his weapons lost, the emerald orbs he had collected from the land of laws all drained... He was nearly broke currently.

Feeling an imaginary pain in his chest, he moved from his position inside the boat and fumbled around with the baggage he was in charge of, he took out his personal pouch and decided to... uhh...mess around a bit, cough.

"Sigh...my treasured knife set. All of them are gone now. Damn, they were so expensive," he said loudly enough for Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou to hear.

Pulling the pouch inside out, he took out a thin rope from within. It was the rope that Qian Yun and his gang of puppetized cultivators used to tie the three of them up. Han Xuhan had never intended to part with it as soon as he had realized that it was a magically enhanced equipment. Back when they had gotten out of the rope with the help of the cultivators outside the portal, Xuhan had stuffed it inside his robe.

Sneakily pushing it aside as if its existence did not register in his mind, Xuhan began lamenting his losses again in a sad, tearful voice.

"I thought that land of laws would contain some precious treasures and cool stuff. Believing this, I took so much risks and spent so many consumables. But such irony...

Who could have predicted that all i would get in return would be a slave stamp on my dao base, and some injuries which are probably going to cost me hundreds of spirit stones ?

Heavens...why do you hate a poor little ant like me so much ? Why ?

Why do you insist on taking away my resources like this?

Why ?"

As he continued his aggrieved speech, Yuen Zhou and Mu Ran exchanged a look between themselves. Yuen Zhou easily saw through Han Xuhan's light 'manoeuvre'. But the same couldn't be said for Mu Ran, who looked quite touched by Xuhan's tearful complaints.

"Don't cry, underling. This was only our first mission. Once we report it back to the sect's authorities, we'd surely get some remuneration. Strengthen your heart !" He patted Xuhan on the back, trying to console him.

Han Xuhan, who was busy trying to force out some tears, instantly turned to look at him.

"Boss, what are you going to report? We entered the land of laws on our own will. We both knew that it had nothing to do with our original mission which should have ended as soon as we realized what had happened to the mortals who went inside the foggy area. Logically speaking, this mission was already beyond our capabilities to investigate as soon as Shen Kai came into the equation. If we divulge these details truthfully, do you really think the sect will compensate us ? Instead, they're more likely to punish us for overstepping our boundaries and not reporting the abnormality as soon as we detected the signs."

". . ."

Han Xuhan's words rendered Mu Ran speechless.

Indeed, it was he himself who insisted on entering the land of laws despite Xuhan's persuasions. He had even asked Xuhan to keep that part of their deal a secret from the sect's authorities.

"Sigh...I've made a loss of at least five hundred spirit stones this time. What a disaster ! I got the shortest end of the stick. I could've brought a whole volume of a new cultivation technique and still have some left with that amount of money..." Han Xuhan said out loud.

Yuen Zhou, who seemed to have caught onto what he was trying to do, hid a smirk and tried to mess up his childish plans.

"But martial brother, is your life not worth much more to you ? Five hundred spirit stones were enough to ensure your safety inside such a perilous place where we were pitted against a soul reformation realm being at the very least. You should be grateful that you got such a good deal. Five hundred spirit stones are nothing when compared to the value of our lives !"

But the moment she refuted him, she felt that she had acknowledged the fact that his five hundred spirit stones worth weapons had saved their lives. She was trying to poke holes at his logic, but she ended up highlighting a part that she should have glossed over.

True to her suspicions, Xuhan's eyes lit up with 'innocent glee' the moment her words sank in. He looked so serious about his 'scheme' that Yuen Zhou could only give up all hopes of thwarting it. It wasn't as if she was against what he was trying to do. Personally, she knew it'd been difficult even for her to get out of the land of laws alive. She had been caught unprepared as soon as the backlash of losing a huge portion of her undead army had affected her. She had been even planning to execute a vicious demonic life preserving technique to escape while the puppetized Qian Yun had been leading them to the platforms.

So she stayed silent as Xuhan took the chance to dish out his 'finisher' move.

"Exactly, martial sister ! Those five hundred spirit stones saved our lives ! I guess they did contribute a lot to the mission, right boss ?"

Mu Ran, the innocent lad who had been indirectly reminded by Xuhan's logic that his own stubbornness was the reason behind Xuhan's massive loss, was busy feeling sympathy for his poor underling. Hearing Xuhan's sudden question, he nodded emphatically.

"Of course, Xuhan ! I must agree that you did quite a marvellous job of using your resources in a timely manner. If I had any ways to compensate you myself, I would !"

As it was his nature, Mu Ran instantly comforted his underling. He liked to think that he was a just, honest man full of integrity. How could he refuse to acknowledge his underling's contribution ? He clearly remembered making a deal with his underling to compare their contributions if they found any treasures inside the land of laws and needed to divide it between themselves. It was Xuhan who had selflessly proposed the terms of their fair deal, leaving a impactful impression on Mu Ran.

Han Xuhan's eyes instantly glowed like bulbs. This was it ! The moment he had been waiting for !

"Boss, actually you don't need to pay me any spirit stones at all if you wanted to compensate my losses a bit," he said hesitantly. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Yuen Zhou shaking her head with an amused expression on her face, much like a mother watching her children squabble between themselves playfully. It suited her demeanour, but a girl his age looking at them with an expression like that sent chills down his spine.

Meanwhile, Mu Ran looked quite puzzled as he tried to figure out how else he could compensate for five hundred spirit stones.

"Without spirit stones? How?" He asked Xuhan.

"Well, you could compensate my losses easily with a small cultivation technique, boss !"

"Eh ?"

"Hehe, I know for a fact that you had actually learned the language of laws before you entered the circle of laws, boss. How else could you decipher and write down your own law fragment so fast and leave normal people like us in the dust ?"

"...Well-"

"What's more, I have already been severely affected by the infiltration of my dao base. So one way or another, I'd have to learn the language of laws properly, for which, I'd need to look for a cultivation technique related to the language. The only place I know right now where such techniques exist is the third stage of the land of laws. Seeing how you aced your test in the third stage and returned outside unscathed, you should have gotten the related cultivation manual, right boss ?"

Mu Ran opened his mouth to refute Xuhan's torrent of logic. But then he remembered that he couldn't just give away his secret by telling him what he had done within the third test hall.

Honestly speaking, he actually had all five types of law technique manuals. The dragon inside his consciousness had provided them a long time ago to prepare him for the face off against the holy child of the land of laws. If giving one to Xuhan was enough to compensate for the action of saving his life, Mu Ran did not find it an unfair deal.

Moreover, his underling was still way too weak to help him in direct battles and risky adventures. The law techniques would suit him quite well at his current situation and bring out Xuhan's potential...

"You're right, Xuhan ! I actually should have thought of this before. In the third test, I did get the manual for the force-type law techniques."

Smiling benevolently at Xuhan, Mu Ran patted him on the back again confidently.

"Then it is decided. As your boss, I will not let it be said that I have ever treated you harshly. Since you were the one who made the biggest loss, I'll compensate you with the technique you need so much, and we shall call it even."

Han Xuhan beamed at him gleefully.

This was the power of a golden thigh !

The dark mood that had fallen over them ever since their visit to Pine town had been lifted at some point during their conversation. The spooky feeling was still there, bubbling beneath the surface. But Xuhan was much happier now, and he decided to focus on this new feeling. Looking at Yuen Zhou's subtle smirk, she was doing the same. And Mu Ran looked so proud of himself that Xuhan doubted if he remembered their current predicament.

Life was good when one had golden thighs to hug.