"What makes you think that your plan can be put to effect in the next round?" Han Xuhan said, picking his nose nonchalantly.

Fang Xie let out a gloomy smile. "You'll see when it's time for you to see. Now, why don't you quit soiling my visuals with your presence?"

The man gestured in a way one might shoo off mosquitos. Han Xuhan wasn't intent on sticking around and chatting any longer. He walked up the stairs on the mountain-back, heading straight for Xuan Zi's house.

The sect master's residence hadn't undergone any change, its size as vast as it had been back in its original territory. Han Xuhan had to wonder why a palace so large was constructed for one man to live in. Granted, there were servants to cook and clean for the sect master. But such a lavish display didn't quite fit with what he had come to expect in traditional sects.

Now, not even the servants were here to maintain the mansion. They had been given a paid leave for as long as the sect would stay in the archipelago. Who would cook and clean for Xuan Zi now? Or was the man powerful enough to survive a few weeks without food?

With those bizarre questions circling inside his heart, Han Xuhan knocked on the ten feet tall, six feet wide door.

"Greetings, master Zi."

The door opened a moment later, and his nose was suddenly assaulted by a heavenly aroma.

No, it was not some jade beauty's perfume. It was the smell of fish being roasted, spices flying in the air, a delicious meal approaching the culinary peak!

Already hungry, Han Xuhan's stomach rumbled as he walked in. He had no idea who had opened the door because Xuan Zi was busy fiddling with bottles of spice and maintaining the fire.

"Welcome back, disciple. How did the trip go?" the sect master opened the road to discussion with the same words as Fang Xie, albeit a degree more politely.

"As well as you could hope for, sect master," Han Xuhan responded in the only way he thought was fitting.

"Oh! That's interesting to hear!" Xuan Zi raised a brow at him, seeming pleasantly surprised.

"It might take a while to give you the full story," Han Xuhan pointedly made a statement. Getting the implicit signal, Xuan Zi's mouth twitched uncontrollably for a second before he agreed.

"Sure, why don't you tell me all about it over lunch?"

"Ahahaha, I'll have to thank you for the meal then, sect master." Han Xuhan had the audacity to look surprised, making Xuan Zi roll his eyes and sigh in vexation.

Lunch tasted as magnificent as it smelled. Han Xuhan made a mental note to come visit his old sect master more often to show his filial piety, especially around the time of meals.

He didn't leave out any of the details, not even the crystal which Shangguang Ce had handed him secretly. Xuan Zi's eyes were sparkling by the time he finished.

"Two sects, then...not bad, not bad. I haven't heard of this Sunrider Sect before. Maybe I should pay them a visit in the future. As for that communication crystal, use it to befriend the other party. It might pay off."

Han Xuhan nodded in acknowledgement. He himself was very, very, very interested in the Sunrider sect. For the first time in the world of cultivation, he had found himself facing cutting-edge technologies comparable to modern earth. Not investigating the history behind this sect would be a terrible mistake.

"What about the other sect, though? They were a pretty unique bunch of people." Han Xuhan did not forget the warm treatment he had received from the Wangs and Lings. Those were a group he could genuinely befriend without any benefits involved.

Unexpectedly, Xuan Zi barked out a short laugh.

"Oh, they're unique all right. I know the master of this sect. Very friendly guy, you'll love to meet him."

Looking at Xuan Zi's warm smile, Han Xuhan felt a chill in his heart.

Whoever that sect's master was...he did not want to meet him.

* * * *

"Here you go. This is the map." Entering the room, Xuan Zi threw a sealed bamboo tube at him. Han Xuhan had been waiting patiently like he had been told to do. Catching the tube, he examined the seal.

Huh...normal wax.

Xuan Zi really didn't treat this thing as important.

"Can I take a look at it before I give it to her?"

Xuan Zi fixed an unreadable gaze on him, not blinking for nearly half a minute. Han Xuhan felt quite aggrieved. Sect master Zi's behavior today was way off the unpredictable category. Fang Xie's conduct made more sense than his.

"You know what, that's a good idea."

"Really?" Han Xuhan said, caught off guard again.

"Indeed. It's better if we can force our opponent to fall into a tight schedule. Hold on to the map for a week's time, or more if she appears patient enough."

The permission to peek into the map implied, Xuan Zi very politely asked him to excuse himself. Han Xuhan offered to clean up the dishes, making Xuan Zi look rather gratified.

The walk back to his house was uneventful. The rate at which floods were striking had slowed down by a notable margin. The calm before the storm, perhaps.

Zhanxian had cooked lunch, while Tun Shi Tian had shirked off his share of the labour. Han Xuhan didn't have the heart to tell him that he had already had a meal. As a cultivator in the fourth layer of the physique transform realm, it was hardly a task for him to stuff a second meal into his stomach. He planned out his evening schedule while eating.

He had to speed up his personal advancement rather than focusing on so many miscellaneous issues. He hadn't cultivated at all since reaching the doorstep of the fourth layer, as the creation of Hai Yin Zhe had damaged his dao foundation terribly.

Something had to be done to repair his Dao foundation. The Astral Column form of Kong Ye's tentacle sprouting technique came right in time.

For the next few hours, Han Xuhan decided to try his best to educate his minions on the concept of astral cultivation. They had listened to Kong Ye's lecture on the technique already. So he approached the task a bit differently. Taking out the manual Kong Ye had given him, he went through each line himself first, comprehended its meaning, and then translated it in a simpler way to his minions, a process that used to help him earn passable grades in college.

However, it wasn't particularly effective in mastering cultivation manuals, which were just instructions on practical application of magical elements. One of the most common features of cultivation manuals was that the more one practiced the technique, the more they realized how layered, twisty, and vague the instructions were. Different cultivators had different perspectives, and most cultivators who created new techniques tended to be geniuses with unique mental state. Regular cultivators like him generally found themselves in a maze of inconsistencies and fog whenever they practiced the techniques of these geniuses. Every few layers of advancement provided them better insights, evolved outlooks, and an increasingly twisted view of the technique they were learning, making them lament how horrible their prior comprehension of the technique was.

Natural enlightenments were one of the common factors that induced such realizations. In Han Xuhan's case, however, his natural enlightenment was not on his cultivation techniques but on his dao heart. But repeated studying and practice of technique were still enough for him to understand this phenomenon.

This was one of the reasons why so few cultivators could successfully teach younglings. The method of explaining delicate magical concepts was an intricate art one had to master. For some, like Kong Ye, talent played a bigger part than experience.

Han Xuhan's approach contributed more to his interest than the minions this way. But the minions were very grateful that their summoner was sacrificing his precious time and effort behind educating them.

In the end, they were all the biggest benefactors in their own eyes. Who knows, maybe someone else was benefiting more than them behind the scenes. But Han Xuhan was a self-centered man fully taking the biggest advantage he could. Nothing else mattered, really.