The stretch of clear land in front of Ming Zi made him pause .

Bending down to examine the soil of the suspiciously flat area , Ming Zi's brows creased in confusion .

"This doesn't feel right ."

Ming Zi took out a crimson gem from his pocket and examined it while his feet carried him through the flat piece of land .

The gem's crimson glow brightened slightly with each of his step forward . Soon , the gem was glowing like a fiery coal , its light particularly eye catching even under the bright sun .

Ming Zi sighed , and clenched his fist around the gem , snuffing out its brightness . Pocketing the gem , he was about to turn around , but something caught his attention .

"This type of residue..."

Ming Zi broke into a sprint so fast that he was past the remnant land of Pine town by the next five seconds , and standing within the woods miles away by the next minute .

"This qi doesn't belong to this world ," Ming Zi muttered to himself as his fingers twisted around a wisp of smokey substance , swirling it into various shapes and states .

"Definitely a law manipulator , from the looks of it . That hidden realm should be around here according to Xuan Zi . But it looks like they got the wind of it already ."

Despite thoroughly searching the woods for the next two hours , Ming Zi couldn't find the so called portal that opened the way to the hidden realm . There were signs of battles among physique transformation realm cultivators in some places . But not even an injured cultivator or a dead body remained for him to examine , a highly unusual phenomenon considering the battles that had taken place here were all very deadly .

Yet Ming Zi couldn't even find a trace of blood anywhere near those areas . But this was also a clue itself . Somebody had definitely been here and wiped out the traces that could be used to investigate what had happened here . Whoever they were , their cultivation was at least close to Ming Zi's own .

Ming Zi put two and two together , a hypothesis appearing in his mind .

During the battle , the law manipulator from outside had come here , perhaps because they had something here that they wished to hide from prying eyes . So they intervened and put a stop to whatever was happening here . Then they wiped off the obvious traces and left a strand of their own qi as a proof of identification . Anyone with high cultivation base would recognize the proof for what it was and back off unless they had a bone to pick with the Law Manipulation Faction .

But...what relationship did that have with Pine town's disappearance ? The law manipulator should know better than to mess around with random cultivators in a neutral territory like this solar system .

Ming Zi was both confused and pissed . After investigating for a while longer , he left the area and returned to the sect to meet up with Xuan Zi .

His report didn't affect the sect master much .

"All I need to be sure of is that no integration realm expert is going to come here and pick a fight with us . Since your excellency can guarantee that no such cultivators exist near the sect , I can rest easy . I am not particularly interested in the hidden realm or the inner working of the Law Manipulator Faction. So it is actually a good thing that the portal has disappeared . Curious foreign cultivators are no longer going to be attracted to that place and make trouble for us ."

Xuan Zi's concern seemed to lie with his sect , something that Ming Zi mentally took note of .

"In that case , it is time I took my leave , little Zi . I need to inform the higher ups in the family about the movements of the Law Manipulator Faction here . My hunch tells me something big is happening ."

"As you wish , your excellency . I shall arrange for some elders to accompany you to the docks ."

Xuan Zi left hurriedly . Ming Zi's eyes followed the sect master until he was out of sight . Making sure that no one else was nearby , Ming Zi took out a precious intersteller voice transmission talisman from his luggage .

Trrkkk...shshhshs...trrrk...

After fiddling with it for a few seconds , the talisman finally connected with the other side .

"Elder Ming , what happened ? Have you discovered something ?"

A clear voice came from the other side , making Ming Zi smile in elation. But the smile faded soon .

"Yes . But it doesn't have anything to do with Xuan Zi this time . That man seems to have finally accepted his fate as the sect master of a subsidiary branch ," Ming Si said tersely .

There was a pause from the other side .

"That's good to know ," the voice finally answered .

"As for the issue I wanted to report... something happened to one of our spies near this sect . He seems to have went rogue during his integration process ."

"And are you sure Xuan Zi wasn't behind that ?" The voice cut in .

"Yes , I am . I investigated the place myself , and several clues suggest the involvement of the Law Manipulator Faction . I'll send you a detailed report once I've returned ."

"...Law Manipulators ? This is going to be troublesome . Regardless , thank you for your support , elder Ming . I'll remember this favour ."

"It's fine ," Ming Zi replied gruffly and cut off the connection after saying goodbye .

Ming Zi's departure was uneventful . Several elders from Xuan Zi's sect accompanied him to the docks . The spatial intersections were not a route he could take this time . So he had to resort to normal voidboats . Xuan Zi repeatedly reminded him to investigate the bottle of ancestry determinant potion . Ming Zi nodded along absent-mindedly .

The voidboat soon took off . Standing on the platform , Xuan Zi's solemn face broke into a smirk as he stared at the tiny silhouette of the boat getting tinier in the sky .

.................

"Third layer of physique transformation ! Yeah , baby!!! Hoooooo !!! "

"First layer of Physique transformation ! Yeah , baby!!! Hooooooo!!! "

"Come up with your own celebratory line , Zhanxian! "

"Why ? Did you patent your lines ? Why can't i use them ? "

"It's uncool , you simpleton ! Do you feel no shame in copying others ?"

"You're the one who taught me to be shameless boss . You reap what you sow ! First layer, baby!!! Yeaaahhhh !!!"

"Damned brat ! You dare talk back ?"

"So what ? What are you gonna do ? Threaten to lock me up in your dao base ? Haha , go ahead ! Nothing will make me happier ! What else ? Death ? I'm already dead , baby ! Torture ? I can manipulate qi now , did you forget ? I'll simply use those tattoos to make myself explode and take you down with me !"

" . . . . "

Han Xuhan and Zhanxian tumbled out of their hut and started dancing in the yard pretending that the conversation just then did not happen . Neither of them looked like those graceful cultivators in the legends and paintings . Xuhan's hair stuck out at odd angles while Zhanxian....was a red skeleton , whose body was even more bizarre looking compared to before .

Apart from the ghastly tattoos all over his bones , Zhanxian's body was now full of crisscrossing scars that glowed faintly whenever he wanted them to . Gas-like substance flowed along the grooves of his bones , creating a visage that any cultivator would recognize for what it was , a qi cycle .

The technique supplied by Yuen Zhou had three layers only . The first layer would allow the cultivator to copy regular cultivation process and control qi cycles , the second would improve the quality of the qi and control , the third would eliminate some of the side effects .

While the technique gave off the impression that any normal cultivator could use it , Han Xuhan was careful enough to do some research beforehand . As it turned out , the technique was not unheard of . But one of its main side effect was that constant contact with the barely controlled qi damaged the inner organs and killed the practitioner before the even reached the third layer where the problem could be remedied .

The creator of the technique died soon after he discovered this . He had secretly tortured and mutilated many innocent cultivators while creating the technique . Mental demons , vengeful friends of his victims , the pressure of many sects's enmity with him finally broke his resolve , resulting into his death during a qi deviation . However , the principles used to create the technique were known only to him . No one else could change its basics , and few would be desperate enough to mutilate themselves or others to carve grooves on their bones .

Some tried of course . Those who were mad enough to follow the technique word by word managed to cultivate smoothly till third layer , where most of them died and some survived by fluke and absurd luck . Those who did not stick to the basics and changed the technique ended up as monstrosities .

A few years later , all the bigwig cultivators declared the technique to be a demonic one and ended its practice by force .

Han Xuhan had felt his heart go cold after he had fished out those information . If he had blindly trusted Yuen Zhou , his ending would have been the same as those reckless fellows .

But it also raised an important question . Why did Yuen Zhou give such an insidious technique to Qian Yun during their exchange ? Qian Yun seemed well informed enough to recognize the technique . Why hadn't he told Xuhan about this issue ?

The answer came easily after a few seconds of thinking . Yuen Zhou wanted a leverage on Qian Yun , who in turn , wanted a leverage on Xuhan...

Once he started cultivating it , he'd have to ask for their help . Even if he only cultivated till the first layer , he'd notice the damage his body was taking under the influence of the qi . He'd have to contact them , beg them for some sort of solution , and agree to their demands....

So insidious ! The world of cultivation was so insidious ! Even friendly people were not to be trusted . Qian Yun and Yuen Zhou probably did not think there was anything wrong with their action . But to Xuhan , this mindset was terrifying .

But thinking ahead , this also meant that the source of this technique , Yuen Zhou might have some sort of a solution to the side effects . How else would she find a leverage to hold on him ?

'How do I get my hands on those information...? '

While dancing energetically , Xuhan's head spinned with such thoughts . He needed to come up with another bizarre scheme if he wanted the info . It would be inconvenient to directly confront martial sister Zhou . He didn’t want her to become wary of him . To get her to open up , some foreplay was necessary .

But those things could be taken care of later . Right now , it was time for some celebration ! One month of nonstop , money burning sessions of qi cycling...

He had broken through to the third layer after so long ! Some of his peers were still stuck on this level . He was no longer the trashiest disciple in his generation !

But that wasn’t even the highlight of the day . Zhanxian was about to get a new playmate . This time , Xuhan hadn’t made the mistake of creating a human skeleton . Rather, he had gone for a bird .

To Xuhan , information was the most useful resource . A scout that could fly up ahead and keep an eye on every direction was the best minion he could imagine . Even if it was absolutely trash like Zhanxian , it would be a great scout .

After a great amount of research , his target bird was fixed ; an owl .

One of the few birds that could see during both day and night . Granted , its daylight vision was pretty weak , but Xuhan wasn’t exactly blind during the day , so it was the most optimal choice .

The trip to retrieve a soul through the skeletal monarch technique was uneventful , and Xuhan had no idea what type of personality the bird would have . But since it was just a bird , he probably didn’t need to worry much .

Now the skeletal bird was inside his dao base , slowly getting used to its undead life while Xuhan celebrated loudly outside .

And his celebration seemed to have attracted a guest .

"Underling , you broke through ?" Mu Ran appeared outside his yard hurriedly and asked with a huff .