Chapter 182: Corrupt Democracy
"I'm about three cycles away from completing this claw armor," Tun Shi Tian reported after a few moments of silent calculation. Behind him, Zhanxian nodded up and down in support, implying that the analysis was true.
"Three cycles..." Han Xuhan thought for a second and then checked his pockets for pieces of crystallized pure qi. There was a very tiny one left after constantly appeasing little Zhe last night. It would, however, be enough to take Tun Shi Tian past the first layer of the physique transformation realm.
"Run another cycle and then wait for me to return." Orders received, Tun Shi Tian obediently left the room.
Han Xuhan had managed to get an hour of rest in Xiao Wu's bed after he had kindly informed Mu Ran that Xiao Wu had a habit of wetting the bed. After angrily storming off to collect water for a shower, Mu Ran hadn't returned, now probably in Kong Ye's house. Their master hadn't made the schedule very clear. But he had instructed each of them to attend the class half an hour after their predecessors. They had drawn lots to fix the order of their attendance. Mu Ran had won the first position, then Yuen Zhou, Han Xuhan, and at the bottom, Xiao Wu.
Feeling very refreshed, Han Xuhan summoned his first minion.
"Zhanxian."
"Yes, master?"
"How long do you need to reach a stage similar to Tun Shi Tian? Not quite at the peak of the second layer, but close to it."
"If I cultivate regularly from right now for at least 10 hours a day, I'll need more than a week, but not past two. " Zhanxian seemed to have done the calculation already. "But if I use resources like you, master, then this time can be shortened."
The skeleton had been by his side since his first step into the second layer. He had seen Han Xuhan bypass countless obstacles, weaknesses, and lack of talent for months. Zhanxian's estimation was based on real experience, it could be relied upon.
"Then for the next week, I want you to divide your attention into two different cultivation techniques," Han Xuhan said.
"I will not summon you back to the tower until you've reached our targets."
"Targets?" Zhanxian caught the plurality.
"For your current technique, the Spiritual Bones, I need you to reach near the peak of the second layer, and at the same time, I need you to cultivate a second technique under my master's tutelage, alongside Xiao Wu. You can cultivate that one freely."
Zhanxian wasn't surprised. But he seemed to have some reservations. "Will he really not mind?" he asked.
"Leave that to me. Focus on your goals. Twelve hours cultivating the Spiritual Bones, twelve hours cultivating the Astral Warbeast; that's how you'll be spending the next week. You can have all the supplies you need to maintain your highest possible speed."
"Twelve? I can't take rests?" Zhanxian gasped.
"For an undead, fatigue is only mental. If you feel mentally disturbed, take some minutes off to cool down and snort some of those mind-cleaning incense. Slacking will not be tolerated."
Han Xuhan put extra emphasis on his last sentence and left the bed to put on some clean attire. One of the satchels he had carried in here was full of dry food. Quickly stuffing some in his mouth, he walked out carrying Kong Ye's manual in hand. Zhanxian followed.
"Brother Wu, you don't have any problem letting Zhanxian learn the Astral Warbeast form alongside you, right?" He said loudly. Xiao Wu, busy doing the dishes, shrugged.
"Yeah, fine. It'll be hilarious if the Beasthaven sect ever finds out. Such a lovely scene...how can I turn down the opportunity to make it happen?"
Xiao Wu's hatred had been burning, and the conversation at dawn had only stoked the fire. Han Xuhan had already made his intentions pretty clear back when he had made Kong Ye accept the presence of his minions in his lecture. So it went without saying that Xiao Wu wouldn't be averse to the proposal.
"See? Now go help Brother Wu clean up the kitchen. You can accompany him to master's house later. I'm leaving."
"Hey, Xuhan."
Han Xuhan turned around, hearing Xiao Wu's call.
"Have you noticed that there hasn't been a single flood or even another thunderstorm since the one last night?"
Han Xuhan nodded. "Yes. I think we're about to face the real challenges of this tournament. The floods were just the appetizer. They're giving us a buffering period to make us relax and let our guard down. Better be prepared, martial brother!"
With that, Han Xuhan rushed out of Xiao Wu's home. The sky was still spotlessly blue. No signs of clouds anywhere. Any new thunderstorm would be seen coming from a mile away.
What disaster were they going to face next?
Han Xuhan's curiosity was spiking up. This tournament was nothing like he had ever seen or read about even in the most outrageous xianxia novels. There was no systematic arrangement, no specified path of progression, and not even a clear opponent to fight against. From what he knew, even the previous tournaments were not at all like this and bore much more resemblance to the traditional 'geniuses fighting geniuses' method.
Why the change?
Right at that moment, his second mode of vision, which had been full of grey and black colors until then, acted up crazily, almost blinding him in the process.
Han Xuhan put his palms over his eyes to shield himself from the pure, radiant miniature sun that was hurtling toward their floating island and collided with one of the central mountain peaks.
A soundless explosion of light overshadowed the sun itself on top of the Crimson Snow Sect. Yet, no screams were heard.
It took his secondary vision more than a minute to adjust to the brilliant radiance pulsing ahead. Such a strange feeling; his real eyes were still functioning normally and showing him the unchanged landscape ahead. Yet he experienced the feeling of being flashbombed.
The grey world was still there, he observed. But the threads which had been mostly peaceful till now were slowly growing restless. Occasionally, bright white pulses ran through some of the threads collectively, their source, the ball of light that had fallen ahead.
Describing the light as white would be inaccurate. What he could see was not any color, but the lack of all colors, yet no darkness either.
He could not explain to himself how he understood this, but he did. It was almost instinctive.
The place where the ball of light had landed must have been surrounded by everybody by now. Even if they hadn't seen it land, something had to have happened there. Han Xuhan felt it would not be too risky to go down and check what it was.
Changing direction, Han Xuhan quickly ran to the central point of the floating island.
His guess was correct. A large number of disciples had gathered at the foot of one of the smaller mountains in the central area. Unable to penetrate the crowd, he climbed up on a thick tree nearby and cast his sight at the source of the crowd's attention.
It was that asshat!
Luo Yi, their counselor for the tournament, stood facing the crowd, her hand stroking Meatball, her spirit beast.
This was what his normal vision had captured.
But his second vision saw something much more alarming.
Luo Yi's celestial form in the Consciousness Matrix was the ball of light that had blinded him. Even now, it was shining like a miniature 'white' sun.
So far, Han Xuhan's ghostsight had not noticed any human whose celestial form was different from his own, a mass of countless colors forming a human-shaped silhouette. Even Shangguang Ce, a ghost cultivator himself, had a similar celestial form.
So what's up with Luo Yi? Such an anomaly couldn't be accidental. But Luo Yi was not from the Sunrider Sect, but the Beasthaven Sect. She was probably an elder-level figure too. What connection could she have with Shangguang Ce? Was she a ghost cultivator herself in secret?
Head spinning from trying to forge a connection between all the chaotic discoveries of the last couple of days, Han Xuhan almost missed the moment when Luo Yi began speaking.
"Disciples of the Crimson Snow Sect! You've done well!"
The crowd was not particularly thrilled by the announcement. Everyone continued to stare at her silently.
Han Xuha felt emotional all of a sudden. The incidence of Luo Yi throwing a friendly, agreeable and helpful person like him off the island had angered his peers greatly! Their impression of her wasn't about to improve anytime soon, hah!
Right then, one of the disciples from a side yelled, "Lady, your landing ruined our breakfast. I ask you to be magnanimous and compensate us with 24 pounds of buffalo meat, 1 pound of spice, 1 pound of onion, 1 pound of salt, and 6 pounds of firewood. Food is in short supply right now. Surely, an envoy from the great Beasthaven sect would not commit such injustice!"
Such a poisonous mouth!
Han Xuhan couldn't help but admire the venom in this brother's voice. A man worth befriending!
A loud chorus of shouts rose in support, some of them even adding more ingredients to be compensated. One girl carried up a gigantic pot full of soup and meat in front of Luo Yi and showed her the gravel which had fallen into the pot due to Luo Yi's alleged dramatic landing from above.
Han Xuhan was greatly saddened by the fact that the disciples of his sect weren't actually feeling indignant on his behalf, but seeing Luo Yi's face turn sour was a very satisfying spectacle in itself.
"You need all the ingredients in that list for one meal?" she said, her teeth gnashing together.
"YES!"
Nearly fifty disciples shouted in unison. The first guy added afterwards, "If you don't believe us, take out the meat from this soup and weigh the pieces one by one, and then analyze the contents of the soup, and then calculate how much wood we used from these ashes here." Pointing at a hole where they dumped garbage, the disciple crossed his arms over his chest and held Luo Yi's gloomy stare without flinching, as if daring her to argue back.
He did not know him by appearance, which meant this fellow disciple was neither a super genius of their sect, nor a social, friendly peer.
Han Xuhan etched this person's face in his memory. This guy could be a useful addition to his friend circle.