All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 35

“How should I take this cauldron away?” Zhanyue looked at the golden cauldron before him, confused amidst his excitement. He could sense that the cauldron could freely change size, fitting into either a spatial ring or a contractor’s space, but he still needed to give the Mountain Goblin Clan an explanation. It wouldn’t be right to just take away the pot they used for cooking.

The so-called contractor’s space was an ability that both weapon contractors and miscellaneous contractors possessed, but the contractor’s space could only store contract objects. Spirit contractors didn’t have this concept at all; their bodies were the contractor’s space. As for beast contractors, although they didn’t have a contractor’s space, their contract beasts were spiritually connected to them and could be summoned remotely by the contractor. There was still no definitive classification for what type of contract object the illumination Goddess was, perhaps more similar to a beast? But Zhanyue couldn’t summon her remotely.

After pondering for a long time, Zhanyue finally had an idea. “Go call the Great King here. I have something to discuss with him.”

“Alright!” Dingding agreed, and soon brought the puzzled Mountain Goblin King Hulu over.

“What’s the matter, little brother? Why did you call me to the kitchen?” Hulu asked.

Zhanyue placed his hand on the golden cauldron beside him. Under everyone’s gaze, the golden cauldron gradually shrunk until it was only the size of an ornament in Zhanyue’s palm.

“You… you… you contracted it?” Hulu’s knowledge was far broader than others, and he saw through the situation at a glance. “Little brother, you’re actually a genius with multiple contract objects. But how could you contract away our pot?” Hulu had a wry smile.

“How did you obtain this thing?” Zhanyue asked curiously.

“This pot is an heirloom. I don’t know where they got it from. It was already being used by us when I was born. Everything cooked in it tastes good, and the food cooked in it is beneficial for cultivation. Little brother, you’ve contracted this thing away. How am I going to explain this to them? They’re all used to eating food cooked in this pot,” Hulu was very conflicted.

Zhanyue said helplessly, “I didn’t mean to do it on purpose. It’s just the will of heaven. Besides, this isn’t just any pot. It’s a pill-refining cauldron. Using it as a cooking pot is such a waste.”

“A pill-refining cauldron?” Hulu frowned. “I did hear my great-grandfather say that our ancestors had alchemists very, very long ago, but because of a curse, our intelligence drastically decreased, and the inheritance of pill refining was lost.”

“A treasure of pill refining, pill formulas, all indicate that the Mountain Goblin Clan must have had very close contact with humans long ago, and even had alchemists. Their intelligence wasn’t always this low.” Zhanyue curiously asked further, “What do you mean by curse?”

“The Mountain Goblin Clan’s intelligence was originally not inferior to humans, but our ancestors mistakenly ate something, causing the intelligence of all Clan members to decrease generation by generation. Coupled with the loss of inheritance, our Mountain Goblin Clan hasn’t produced a True King Realm (Spirit God Realm) for thousands of years. However, after eating that thing, all our bloodlines are no longer coveted by Nightmares. The Nightmare race greatly despises us and won’t even approach our dwellings. I suppose there are pros and cons,” Hulu explained.

“So that legend is true,” Zhanyue sighed. As the saying goes, what is lost in one place is gained in another. Overall, the Mountain Goblin Clan was still quite lucky. But according to Hulu’s words, the Mountain Goblin Clan was intelligent long ago, and with their powerful racial talents, they must have been a very powerful race. This also made sense; the Mountain Goblins of that time must have been a force that humans had to take seriously, and the two sides had close interactions, even learning pill refining methods. However, this history was much older than the illumination Goddess, and not something Zhanyue could figure out at present.

“Do all Mountain Goblins love to eat sweet food?” Zhanyue suddenly asked.

Hulu nodded, “That’s right. There’s no Mountain Goblin who doesn’t like sweet things. Unfortunately, honey is hard to collect and not always available. Those sweet fruits we collect can’t be stored for long either, most have to be made into fruit wine, greatly reducing the sweetness. Only at my birthday feast can they eat as much as they want. Usually, they rarely get to eat so many sweets.”

“I’ve taken away the pot you’ve used for countless years, and I do feel guilty towards my brothers. How about this: I’ll find a way to solve the sweet food problem, guaranteeing that you can eat sweets anytime,” Zhanyue patted Hulu’s shoulder.

“You… you’re telling the truth?” Hulu was clearly excited.

Zhanyue nodded. He remembered there were things like sugarcane among the fruits earlier. With these, making sugar through traditional methods wouldn’t be a problem. Teaching them to make fruit preserves would satisfy their needs. He just didn’t know if they could learn to artificially raise bees with their intelligence. In any case, for the current Mountain Goblins, these were all things they couldn’t access. Taking away their pot and giving them some technology in return would make them even. However, no matter how he thought about it, he had gained a huge advantage.

“Later, find a few cleverer Clan members to come over. I’ll naturally teach them how to do it. I’ll go back to translating the cultivation method now,” Zhanyue said.

“Hehe, no problem. If we can solve the sweet food problem, it’s fine for you to take the pot. They won’t have any complaints,” Even Hulu didn’t clearly understand what level of treasure this pot was, but since his sworn brother had taken it and could provide them with sweet food long-term, he didn’t feel at a loss.

Thus, a deal where both sides felt they hadn’t lost out was reached.

Back in his room, Zhanyue eagerly took out the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron, letting it return to its original size. Just touching this cauldron, he could feel a surge of spiritual power. The Earth Mother Golden Cauldron was constantly absorbing the essence of the earth’s spirit veins.

“The ‘Earth Vein Dark Fire Body Forging and Pill Refining Method’ must be cultivated with the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron. I finally have a cultivation method,” Zhanyue was very excited. “Sister Xixuan, contract objects always undergo changes after being contracted. I wonder what changes have occurred in the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron.”

The Earth Mother Golden Cauldron was already a god-like artifact. After becoming a contract object, it would naturally upgrade further, but Zhanyue’s current understanding of it was still not deep enough.

“After the Spirit Contract Realm is the Spirit Communication Realm. Why do you think it’s called the Spirit Communication Realm? When your realm improves, you’ll naturally understand your contract object more deeply. Then you’ll know,” the illumination Goddess replied. She was no longer surprised by Zhanyue’s good luck.

“By the way, don’t forget the Ghost Soul Fruit in your body. It’s helpful for your cultivation and even more beneficial for pill refining,” the illumination Goddess reminded.

“If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten. That thing is in my body but can’t be refined. How should I use it?” Zhanyue asked.

“Both cultivation and pill refining require consuming a lot of spiritual power, or soul power. The Ghost Soul Fruit will automatically help you recover soul power. You haven’t used much soul power before, so naturally you couldn’t feel its wonder. I once obtained a Ghost Soul Fruit too. If not for that Ghost Soul Fruit, I might not have lasted until the end in that great battle afterward. Anyway, since you want to learn pill refining, it’s your biggest trump card. My friend said that the higher-grade the pill, the more soul power the refining process consumes. People without enough soul power simply can’t refine high-grade pills. With the Ghost Soul Fruit, you don’t need to worry about this point.”

“Friend? Who exactly is this friend of yours who’s proficient in pill refining?” Zhanyue asked curiously.

“She is the Vermilion Bird Lord, one of the Four Symbol Lords, one of the four True Realm beings of humanity besides me. Calculating the time, I’m afraid she has fallen many years ago,” the illumination Goddess’s tone was somewhat sad.

The True Realm was an existence above the Spirit God Realm, but they only lived for three thousand years. After more than three thousand years, they had probably long since perished.