"No," Hao Xuan swiftly rejected the offer before Mr. Hyde could try to argue his side of the argument, "I am very close. It's only a matter of days before I get it right."
It had been ten months, one week, and four exhausting days since Hao Xuan first arrived here through the Celestial Webway. After the second attempt at trying to find the correct sequence, it became crystal clear that the information they had was missing some important details.
Mainly, how to navigate the webway correctly and find the right coordinates. Unlike what Baracus had predicted, the rune sequence was completely random. Or at least that's what it looked like to him.
He had been experimenting for the last ten months and barely managed to scratch the surface of it. It was not until Hao Xuan made a breakthrough in his own cultivation that he discovered a way around it.
"Is that right? Well, as long as you return," Mr. Hyde slowly folded the newspaper before putting it on the side table.
Legs crossed, the snakehead cane in hand, the corner of his lips arched into half a smile seeing Hao Xuan.
"Spirit Realm Seventh Stage, almost on the Eighth. Not bad," he commented lightly. It sounded like he was talking to himself, his eyes a little unfocused almost like he was thinking about something else in the back of his mind.
Hao Xuan gave a slight nod of respect, acknowledging his part, "All thanks to you. If you didn't tell me in detail about Chaos laws and how to use them, I would have still been stuck at the first stage."
Mr. Hyde graciously accepted the compliment, it was the truth after all. His eyes regained focus and his voice suddenly hardened.
"Recapitulate the main points, from what I told you and what you have learned yourself," he 'asked' leaving no room for negotiation.
Unlike his appearance, Hao Xuan had found out that Mr. Hyde was quite serious and strict when it came to teaching. He didn't accept any excuses and expected Hao Xuan to catch up to his way of thought rather than helping him understand the topic at hand.
Hao Xuan took in a deep breath to gather his thoughts before continuing.
"Well, as you said, Chaos Laws encapsulate every aspect of existence. But unlike other laws, they are neither offensive, defensive, or supporting in nature. It just depends on how you use them and what you do with them."
"But it is similar in the sense that raising the mastery level and understanding of the main law can allow the cultivator do any number of different things."
"There are nine levels of mastery within my Chaos law. At the first level, I can use the law on an object to dematerialize or disintegrate it into its more basic components. This includes the energies that are holding it together."
"Once the Chaos Law is applied on an object, I have full control over what happens to it after that. I can harness all the basic energies like heat, cold, kinetic, and magnetic energy and use them to create even more."
"The process is lengthy and takes a much longer time to use but over time it gets easier. I can already hold two energies or control one of them fully. By creating a magnetic charge on my hands, I can create lightning and control it."
"Once I have more control, I should be able to control a number of other energies using this method."
"The only time I can use the Chaos law to attack directly is by applying the law to my hand and touching other items with it. It throws the normal laws of nature into disarray which in turn damages and dismantles their natural order."
"At the Second mastery level, I will be able to manifest the Chaos Law in an area around me without even coming into physical contact with it. That will be my "territory", just like how every other law has its own."
"Whereas other laws take a few dozen years to cultivate depending on a person's affinity with them, Chaos laws take almost a hundred times more. But..." Hao Xuan paused, raising his head to meet Mr. Hyde's gaze.
"But you said that those who cultivate Chaos Laws are extremely rare. Not only because it requires so much time, effort, and resources, but also because you need something called a 'spark'. Right?"
"Correct," Mr. Hyde confirmed.
"And you don't have this spark and hence cannot cultivate the Chaos laws yourself. So...how do you know so much about them? I don't believe this kind of information would be just given out. It sounded like you were speaking from experience," Hao Xuan finally asked the question that had been bothering him for the last few months.
Every time he had made a mistake, Mr. Hyde corrected and told him the right way like he knew from experience. The difference between reading from a book and knowing yourself was quite obvious.
Mr. Hyde finally couldn't contain his smile and let out a chuckle.
"I was waiting for you to ask that. I thought you would have asked much sooner but it took you quite a long time, huh?" he leaned back and got comfortable in the oversized sofa.
"Someone I knew quite well, someone I was very close with cultivated Chaos Laws. Everything I know comes from him," his smile slowly faded, replaced by a dim, bloodthirsty glare.
"And you have met him too, somewhere, somehow."