Rummaging around his bags inside the bedroom, Han Xuhan rearranged his list of priorities, now that he had finally managed to escape Fang Xie's clutch. It was quite shocking to look back and think of the twists and turns he had experienced in just one day. His concerns had changed beyond any predictions compared to the morning, just twelve hours ago.

However, the world outside hadn't changed as much. So there were still some familiar tasks left; for example- gathering food for their mountain peak, practicing the Treasure Tracing Technique of Abyss Guild, joining the defense team of the sect to protect their collection of treasure sets, and the numerous deals he had made with his fellow peers, especially with the 3 under Kong Ye's tutelage. 

Speaking of deals, there was also an outsider party with whom he had a tight relationship. Brother Qian Yun and Brother Feng Jun from the Holy Land of Laws must be quite anxious by now, considering that Han Xuhan's dao tower, the device connecting him to the Holy Land's enslavement scheme, had been reduced to single bricks. The dome on his tower containing the law alphabets no longer existed. 

Did this mean he had successfully escaped the effects of the slave seal that had been planted on his dao foundation back when he was trying to venture deeper into the Holy Land? Had his long-awaited salvation from their control come?

Han Xuhan couldn't find any sense of exuberation in it. Because he depended on that slave seal to visit those imprisoned law practitioners. Without the seal, he couldn't continue running the business model he had constructed as the middleman between the Holy Land of Laws and the Crimson Snow Sect. A significant share of his cultivation resources came from taking 'commissions' during each resource exchange session between the two organizations. The reason why Xuan Zi valued him so much was partially due to this specialty of his!

Even more importantly, the deal he had made with Feng Jun was only half-finished. Yesterday, he had promised that he would solve the conspiracies happening inside the Stardust Sect. Yet all he had done till now was to critically injure the only people willing to come to his assistance in there. Han Xuhan had a sketchy bottom line, but he knew he couldn't just ruin his image as a trustworthy person if he wanted to survive in the world of cultivation. Not tending to his promised duty now would only result in an enmity for the future Xuhan. If Feng Jun found a way to get out of that world fragment and learned that Han Xuhan had used his precious martial siblings as fuel for his personal vendetta...

No, no, no, he couldn't let that happen. Even though the possibility of the situation becoming real was low, he, Han Xuhan, a reincarnated expert on tropes, would never sleep on it! 

"It's not like it would be too hard to solve their problem. Conspiracies against the Phoenix Faction? I already have a lead. I can at least give it a shot!" 

Muttering to himself, Han Xuhan went to the backyard of try hut, where Xiao Wu had placed a crude strength-testing device. To undertake the upcoming challenges, he needed to reassess his abilities. 

The strength-testing device consisted of a vertical wooden plate, behind which, six horizontal poles made of unknown materials were connecting it to a thick tree trunk. These rods had the capability to absorb the exertion of force and temporarily shrink in response. The higher the exertion of force, the more they would shrink. Only a cultivator at the peak of the Physique Transformation realm could actually make them shrink by more than 90%. 

For the average cultivators who didn't specifically focus on combat-oriented cultivation, or destructive punching techniques, or didn't have a high cultivation base in the physique Transformation realm, the device was a reliable method of keeping track of their strength. 

Standing in front of it, Han Xuhan curled his fists, waved his right arm around for a while, and then took a stance he had learned from Mu Ran. 

Thunk! 

"Ssss...." Han Xuhan pulled his fist back with a pained expression. He had overlooked the small drawback. The wooden plate was no normal material itself. It felt only slightly less painful than punching a slab of steel. 

But seeing the rods behind the plate beginning to shrink was rewarding enough to forget the pain. For almost three seconds, the rods became shorter and shorter. He waited ten more seconds, hoping to see them shrink another centimeter or two, but alas...

Using the accompanying scale, Han Xuhan found out that the rods had shrunk by nearly thirty percent! 

"So my physical strength has not been really affected by today's developments. The destruction of my dao tower only crippled my spiritual enhancements, not my physical attributes. Physically, I'm still at the early fourth layer of the Physique Transformation realm," he said to himself, his doubts confirmed. He could only wonder if the result would be the same if he hadn't cultivated the zeroth layer of the Physique Transformation Realm.

Just to ensure better accuracy, he waited until the rods went back to their normal size and reenacted the scene several times, punching with his left hand, double punch, inch punch, meter punch, elbow smash, side kicks, push kicks, drop kicks, headbutts, Running Knee Strike, Sweet Chin Music, Spear, Horizontal Crotch kick, Godzilla Flying Kick, Bicycle kick...

Sadly, none of them managed to shrink the rods behind his target by more than 30%. Perhaps if he had any proficiency in using these destructive moves, he could dish out a higher amount of force. But for now, a simple, methodical punch was his best finisher move. 

"Xuhan! Where are you?" 

Xiao Wu's strained shout from the front yard made him decide to finish the strength-testing experiments. When he jogged over, he was given a surprise. Xiao Wu was carrying a ten-foot-wide wooden vat on his back, struggling to walk up the steps of the porch. 

To give a cultivator at the fifth layer of the physique Transformation realm a hard time, that vat had to be holding more than a couple hundred kilograms. Han Xuhan rushed over and helped him on the last three steps and placed the vat down on the doorstep. 

With heavy heaves, Xiao Wu sprawled on the porch, drenched in oily sweat. Han Xuhan peeked into the contents of the vat and found himself staring at a pile of bloody, sliced-up meat. From the structure of bones sticking out here and there, it appeared to be the meat of a large fish. 

"Where did you get this from?" he said, amazed. But Xiao Wu appeared too out of breath to hold a proper conversation. 

Mu Ran trotted over from outside, looking all excited. 

"Finally! Xuhan, make preparations. We're eating good this evening!"

Xiao Wu cranked his neck around and glared at him. "Why didn't you come help? You heard me shout for help from the foot of the mountain!"

"I thought some exercise would do you good, fatty. How can you push past your limits if you're not in a desperate situation? Calling for help while doing something so harmless is just shameful." 

If Xiao Wu had the strength to stand up, he would have probably charged at Mu Ran with deadly intent. Seemingly considering the option for a moment, he gave up and answered Xuhan's query.

"The teams with high contribution points were rewarded with some resources, mainly from the loot everyone snatched from other sects. Since our mountain peak was sorely lacking in food reserves, I exchanged everything for some real quality stuff. Until the tournament ends, the four of us won't have to worry about food anymore."

"Quality stuff?" Han Xuhan questioned, eyebrows rising in anticipation.

"Most of the meat inside the vat is from spirited swordfish. One of our teams stumbled upon a small sect that specializes in fishing. They plan to go visit them again tomorrow."

Xuhan performed a mental salute at their poor benefactors and went inside the hut to bring out cooking utensils. He did feel a bit guilty about consuming robbed food. But it wasn't entirely unjustified. 

Xiao Wu explained that every sect was openly robbing whoever they could for resources by now. Even successfully damaging properties belonging to other sects was apparently a way to push those sects up on the ranking list! 

"Do you know, martial brothers? The ranking list we've been marveling about is actually based on negative points! The more damage a sect has received in terms of manpower, properties, or even the loss of their treasures, the higher they are ranked on the list! So this entire time, we were looking at it the wrong way!"

Mu Ran gasped, while Han Xuhan pretended to. 

"No wonder! Now it all makes sense! Before they initiated the treasure-hunting scheme, we had to survive all kinds of natural disasters like being flooded through space cracks, earthquakes, and thunderstorms. So all of those trials were meant to chip away at our resources, our properties, and injure the disciples! That's how our sect amassed hundreds of points and rose up on the list on the very first day! And we kept wondering how we had 'earned' so many points by doing nothing!"

"So that's why our sect master assigned us with the secondary tasks of pillaging and robbing other sects' territories yesterday," Han Xuhan said, adding to Mu Ran's realization.

"He was just indirectly hinting at what we had to do since he was bound by the rules not to disclose anything. As we needed resources anyway, Luo Yi couldn't fault him for telling us to rob other sects!"

"Wait," Xiao Wu mumbled. "Does that mean there might be more to the primary task set by the sect master? You know, the one forcing us to measure the spatial cracks around every floating island in the archipelago?!"

A/N: My apologies for the slow updates this week. The transitioning chapters between two major arcs are always very difficult to write due to how many times I have to reread the previous arcs and revise the drafts to keep a consistent flow and not forget important details. One chapter can take up more than 6 hours to complete. 🤧