The statue of the dismembered man burst out with a force beyond what a physique transformation realm cultivator could even hope to block. Mu Ran was not an exception to this. He was flung backward like a tossed ragdoll from where he had been standing, a trickle of blood pouring down from his nose.

But the weird smile on his face didn't recede in the slightest. If anything, the malicious intent in that smile had gotten even stronger.

"What the hell is this law fragment?" The statue muttered as it flew up in the air and appeared on top of the law fragment Mu Ran had carved.

"UPON ACTIVATION OF THIS LAW FRAGMENT... ANY REMNANT SOUL OUTSIDE A LIVING BODY WITHIN FIFTY METERS WILL BE FORCED TO ASSIMILATE WITH THE CLOSEST LIVING CREATURE OR SUFFER FROM SOUL OBLITERATING LIGHTNING STRIKES "

The moment the automaton finished deciphering the law fragment, a streak of red lightning appeared out of nowhere and struck right on top of its head silently. Unable to even see the attack, the automaton fell down on the ground as if it had malfunctioned. All of its majestic aura and signs of life had disappeared immediately.

Mu Ran laughed out loud and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"No use. Regardless of how fast you run, little soul shard..hehehehe."

The red glow of the law fragment got even stronger. Vaguely, Mu Ran could see a pulsing chain of light clamping down on an indescribable shadowy shape in the air.

Wiping off the blood from his lips, Mu Ran stood up and dusted off his clothes.

"I have prepared a long, long time for this, 'filth'. "

Crossing his forearms together, Mu Ran knelt a few degrees. A low chant came from his mouth. The air around him suddenly blurred as ripples appeared continuously in the empty surroundings. It was a spell he had practiced countless times in the recent days, just for this moment.

"Astral Heatwave!"

Like the stretched string of a bow, the ripples in the air blasted outward, knocking the chained shadow down and weakening it with each passing blow.

The chains of light slithered toward Mu Ran like tentacles, connecting the shadowy shape on the other end to his body.

Waves upon waves, the ripples continuously rained down on the shadowy figure. Within a few seconds, it stopped struggling and allowed itself to be tugged into Mu Ran's body.

"Finally, it begins. No matter how many soul shards you divide yourself into, you can't escape. I'll take back what's mine one way or another." A golden colour flashed in Mu Ran's eyes as he spoke to himself in a low voice.

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

Yuen Zhou opened her eyes and sat up nonchalantly. The statue of the silver giant in front of her that had been eagerly suggesting all sorts of ways for her to be more comfortable stared at her blankly. She didn't need to see its expression behind the mask to guess how surprised it was.

"No, I don't think I feel like sleeping right now," Yuen Zhou declared loudly.

"...Wh-How ?" The automaton asked, disbelief evident in its voice. This wasn't possible. It had already invaded her mind at its most defenceless state. The only thing left was the transfer of the information the soul shard contained. How did she block the mental connection between them ?

Yuen Zhou didn't answer the automaton. Instead, she put her hands together, copying the humble pose of monks and uttered a single word.

"Cleanse !"

A painful roar from the silver giant shook the hall, cracked the ground and the walls, sending her staggering dozens of steps back. The effect of the word on it was apparent.

Yuen Zhou felt the tendrils of thoughts the voice had left in her mind weaken. The sudden feeling of obedience and submission she had experienced was gone.
She didn't break her praying posture, continuing to speak.

"Relieving wandering souls in pain is the duty of this penniless monk. Do you have any last wish?"

The silver giant was stunned for a good few seconds before it reacted.

"Monk your mother ! Do you think I can't tell that you're a demonic cultivator, you little shit ? What kind of demonic cultivator uses Buddhist techniques ?"

The silver giant had never felt so indignant in its life. First this girl somehow broke the mental connection between them using soul cleansing techniques from Buddhist sects. Then she tried to dupe it by posing as a monk ! This wasn't how things were supposed to go! The soul shard within it was becoming unstable. If the transmission of information between her and the shard didn't take place in time, it's grand plan would be interrupted...

"Hey, who says demonic cultivators can't use Buddhist techniques? I'll use whatever I feel like using and claim to be whatever I feel like being. What's that got anything to do with you?"

Yuen Zhou rebutted the automaton swiftly, rendering it speechless.

Even though her logic was flawless, something felt wrong !

But it wasn't time to contemplate these small issues. This little demonic cultivator was about to destroy the soul shard inside the automaton, and it couldn't let that happen.

Roaring in fury, the soul shard used the special qi it had tricked Yuen Zhou into absorbing at the beginning of the test to invade her mind again.
It had already considered the possibility of odd cultivators breaking out of its hypnosis. The qi it had offered to every disciple inside the platform was sort of a fail safe.

"Little girl, you're still a century too young to see through my scheme !"

Just as Yuen Zhou was about to chant the following part of the Buddhist scripture, she felt her mind suddenly blanking out. A frenzy of emotions poured into her mind, vague memories of pain and suffering, dark thoughts induced by rage and humiliation, destructive urges beyond what a sane mind could bear. Those incredibly magnified negative emotions nearly consumed her mind.

"Ah, the self purification process of the 'filthy' ones. Now, that's something I didn't think I'd see in the lower worlds. Did you come up with this by yourself? Incredible!"

Instead of being overwhelmed by the negative emotions and twisted memories, Yuen Zhou nodded like a senior who had just noticed a talented youth in the streets. The sliver giant who was ready to laugh triumphantly and mock her was struck dumb again.

What the hell ?

No one under the soul reformation realm should be able to deal with the attack of its soul shard... Unless they could cut off all emotions and enter a special state unique to soul reformation realm experts. But how did that make any sense...

"So be it ! Wandering soul, let me free you of your sufferings and ferry you to the great heavenly river ! May you find peace !" Yuen Zhou shouted in a righteous fashion meanwhile, not giving the statue the time to think things through.
A golden light emitted from her body, spreading in every direction inside the hall and purifying the soul shard within the automaton. Even in its last moment, it couldn't help but be befuddled by the sheer absurdity of the situation.

A few seconds later, the automaton dropped down from the throne, its body seemingly rusted and broken. Its head detached from its shoulders and rolled toward Yuen Zhou's feet, coming to a stop on top of her law fragment.

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

Han Xuhan was drawing some lines on the ground, seemingly deep in thought.
More than an hour had passed since he had come out of the second platform. The leaderboard hadn't changed much in the meantime. Almost everyone inside the third test ground had passed, evidently.

Was it that easy to pass that stage, normally ? Han Xuhan couldn't help but wonder. Amongst the twenty cultivators inside, eighteen had already received their judgements, managing to get their hands on different types of law techniques.

The two who hadn't, however, were both Han Xuhan's companions. Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou's evaluations from the Divine Judge were still pending.

Han Xuhan was worried about the silently brewing storm in whichever test hall Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou were in. But there wasn't anything he could do other than waiting for their return. He could run away, of course, but he was quite interested in seeing how things would turn out in this inheritance test after the third stage. And it wasn't as if running away was absolutely safe...

Thoughtfully, Han Xuhan kept drawing more lines on the ground. One can never be too cautious.