Extra's Strategy: Cultivate Protagonists, Become Invincible-Chapter 115: Battle Royale

Han Xuhan had reduced Mu Ran with several factors in mind. First of all, saving a protagonist tier character was the greatest deed one could have to their name in a cultivation story. Such acts of selfless kindness often became a deus ex machina to save their ass down the storyline.

Secondly, Mu Ran was an asset to his growth. The system was generating missions frequently around this ’guy’. How could Han Xuhan bear to let such a source of survival points die?

Thirdly, Mu Ran was his only available ally on the current battlefield. As long as Han Xuhan could revive him taking a little bit of risk, the focus of the enemies would shift from him to Mu Ran, the stronger of the duo.

Fourthly, if his rescue and revival plan didn’t work, he could easily abandon Mu Ran. He had planted a few things in Mu Ran’s pockets while carrying him off. Even Mu Ran’s corpse could be used to surprise their enemies as long as he could activate the law fragments etched on those plants.

Compared to the feasibility of his scheme, Han Xuhan was more surprised at the fact that the healing pills had worked. Perhaps the process was so quick because of Mu Ran’s martial path foundation, which made his physique far superior to the typical mystic arts cultivator.

Now, he only had to explain to that idiot boss of his why he had let go of him during the critical moment of the escape... Ahem. Hopefully, Mu Ran would understand that it was all a part of his underling’s schemes.

Since his pursuers were distracted by Mu Ran’s re-emergence, the spell on him had slackened, and Han Xuhan took the chance to stand up and sprint off again. But just as he was about to leap up onto the platforms, a swift hand caught him by the collar and dragged him back.

"That’s quite enough from you, punk. You should be proud of managing to evade us for so long." fгeewёbnoѵel_cσm

The bemused voice behind his ears belonged to one of the martial cultivators. The hand gripping Han Xuhan’s collar shifted to his neck and squeezed it painfully. Fearlessly, Han Xuhan croaked a reply.

"Oh, I’m proud, alright. This is something I’ll be bragging about for the rest of my life. Just with a mystic cultivation base of the second layer, I made all of you dance around me like a bunch of monkeys. How cool is that?"

He was very disappointed that he couldn’t drag things out a bit more.

But truly, he was pretty proud of himself. Should he shout out something along the lines of ’I have lived a satisfying life! I can die with no regrets!’ like those cool side characters in stories?

But that might earn him a smack in the face, so he decided to save the dialogue for later. There’s an appropriate time and place for everything.

"Mu Ran! As you can see, your friend is in our hands. Don’t get any funny ideas. Just surrender. Or you’ll regret it!"

Qian Yun shouted at Mu Ran who was walking over toward them at a sedate pace, his hands held behind his back, looking very cool and domineering. The fog acted like special effects, swirling around his feet harmlessly and adding more spice to the scene. Han Xuhan rated the scene nine out of ten in his mind.

"In... I... that!" Mu Ran replied in a firm tone. Due to the distance between the two parties being too long, they couldn’t hear him properly.

"What did you say? I can’t hear you!" Qian Yun shouted back.

"Boss, if you want to act cool, at least come closer where the spectators can appreciate it," Han Xuhan yelled after his captor.

Mu Ran paused for a second before hurrying over. After reaching a distance where they could normally hear each other, he cleared his throat again and repeated himself, "I said, indeed, I can see that."

"Good to know. Now stay right where you are and expel all of your qi. Don’t even try to cast any techniques or this weak underling of yours would suffer terribly," Qian Yun instructed while ordering three of his lackeys to fan out and surround Mu Ran.

Unbeknownst to the two, Zhao Weiqing used his mental network to communicate with the rest of the cultivators who were busy chasing the zombies away. After a brief exchange, he ordered half of them to sneak back toward the platforms and prepare to use their cultivation techniques for combat the moment any unexpected change took place.

He had learned from his mistakes. Out of the twenty-one soul shards, eighteen had been refined. Although it was nowhere near the perfect result he had anticipated, he was confident of his success. Now, it didn’t matter much if the attacks accidentally killed Mu Ran or Han Xuhan. But he couldn’t let any variables change the current situation.

Mu Ran finally came to a stop just a few meters away from their group and stared at Han Xuhan, who was still being held up by his neck the way one would carry a snake.

As their eyes met, Han Xuhan winked at Mu Ran and said, "Boss, save your underling!"

"You let go of me when that guy attacked us," Mu Ran calmly replied to his plea.

"...Well, yes. But surely, you realize that I only carried you in order to awaken you, right?" Han Xuhan said bitterly.

"Would you have let go of me if I didn’t wake up?"

"Would you blame me if I did?" Han Xuhan replied with a carefree grin.

"...."

Mu Ran fell silent. Zhao Weiqing looked back and forth between the duo, trying to sense if these martial brothers were secretly communicating somehow. But he couldn’t find any clues. So he impatiently interrupted their silent staring contest.

"Are you going to surrender or not? Remember, your underling’s life depends on your surrender."

"It was my intention to surrender as well," Mu Ran said in a low, heavy tone.

"Was?" Zhao Weiqing asked, having noticed the tiny detail.

"Yes, it was. But seeing how he had plans to use me as a cheap meat shield, I don’t think I’m going to do that."

Instantly, Mu Ran’s aura soared upwards and an overbearing feeling of oppression spread from his body.

Not wasting a fraction of a second, Zhao Weiqing sent out the mental command to the cultivators now surrounding the area.

"Attack!"

Mu Ran crossed his arms and a golden glow erupted from his fists. But at the same time, eight cultivators from his left, right and rear cast their own techniques simultaneously.

Bang! Boom! Boom!

The resulting scene was blinding, with flashes of light, flames, sparks, dust, mist, lightning bolts, and thunderous noise in the sky. Sadly, no one shouted out the name of their techniques, not even Mu Ran. So Han Xuhan had no idea what had just transpired, what sort of spells had been cast, whose attack was the most powerful...

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