All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 51

The two who had been tripped were experienced killers. They simultaneously used their hands to touch the ground, spinning their bodies and standing up in one rotation. The leader of the Five Horses of Dongye held a steel trident, while the second brother held a rope with a sharp dagger tied to one end.

“Playing tricks, you little thief, come out!” the leader shouted angrily, constantly stabbing his steel trident into the ground. He could feel the threat coming from underground.

Both the leader and second brother were at the ninth stage of Soul Control Realm, experts at the doorstep of the Profound Realm. Zhanyue didn’t dare to be careless. Although his methods were formidable, he was still only at the sixth stage of Spirit Communication Realm, a whole major realm behind.

Fortunately, the Five Horses of Dongye’s battle techniques were ordinary, and their experience limited. Zhanyue had killed three of them in advance; otherwise, the coordinated efforts of all five would have been more than the current Zhanyue could handle.

“Big Brother, be careful!” the second brother warned.

Zhanyue appeared ghostly behind the leader, but the leader didn’t even turn his head, just thrusting his trident backwards at Zhanyue. This back thrust wasn’t effective, easily dodged by Zhanyue.

“Flame King Blast!” Zhanyue’s fist pressed against the leader’s back, terrifying flames instantly gushing out. The leader was directly blasted away, a large area of his back burned. But he wasn’t pierced through like the fifth brother had been.

“Ordinary flames are indeed limited in power,” Zhanyue frowned. The ninth stage of Soul Control Realm was equivalent to Cheng Lu’s level, not so easy to kill.

“You little thief! Stop killing my Big Brother!” The second brother’s rope moved like a nimble snake, flying towards Zhanyue. Zhanyue dodged the dagger at the rope’s end, but the rope unexpectedly curved, seemingly trying to bind him.

“Is the contract object this rope?” Zhanyue hurriedly burrowed underground, and the rope bound empty air.

“Big Brother, how are you?” The second brother flew over to support his brother.

“This kid is tough. Retreat is our best option,” the two had the intention to flee, no longer remembering to avenge their brothers.

“Trying to run?” Zhanyue darted out again.

“Damn it, he’s like a persistent ghost. Let’s fight him to the death,” the two charged from left and right. They couldn’t easily escape without defeating Zhanyue.

However, the black-robed person who had been watching finally moved. They threw a handful of pills towards the three, which exploded, spreading red smoke and dust. Zhanyue burrowed underground to avoid it, inwardly cursing how even his own side was playing tricks.

When the smoke cleared, the two men were bleeding from their seven orifices, their limbs numb and weak.

Zhanyue was greatly shocked. He didn’t know pills could be used this way. The black-robed person truly couldn’t fight, but that didn’t mean they were completely helpless.

“Why are you staring at me? The drug effects will wear off quickly. Hurry up and kill them,” the black-robed person said irritably to Zhanyue.

Zhanyue attacked again, killing the two in just a few moves. The two, poisoned by the pills, had their strength greatly reduced.

“If you’re this powerful, why did you think about running? There are so many people here, yet you thought about selling them out?” Zhanyue said to the black-robed person, speechless.

“What do you know! There were five of them, and I’m just one person. The pill poison might not hit all of them at once. If even one escaped, I’d be in danger. How was I to know you were so formidable? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have suggested running,” the black-robed person glared at Zhanyue, their eyes still full of deep meaning.

“By the way, how are you so powerful? A Spirit Communication Realm killing the Five Horses of Dongye. You’re even an alchemist. Dual cultivation in alchemy and martial arts isn’t rare, but killing across realms is a bit much, isn’t it?” the black-robed person asked curiously.

“It wasn’t just my achievement. If those five had set up a formation and coordinated with each other, I couldn’t have been a match for them together. You also contributed a lot,” Zhanyue said honestly.

“Hmph!” The black-robed person naturally understood. Zhanyue had deliberately exposed their existence, attracting the two strongest, then quickly killed the other three, and finally eliminated the two strongest together with them. To complete such a plan in such a short time, and to instantly kill three Soul Control Realm experts like slaughtering chickens, this person’s battle talent and combat wisdom were too strong.

“Th-thank you both for your righteous intervention,” the merchant group’s leader came over, hurriedly thanking the two.

“Are the brothers alright?” Zhanyue asked. Zhanyue chose to intervene mainly to temper his strength through life-and-death battles. He was confident that even if he couldn’t win, he could run away, not to mention he still had a bunch of trump cards unused.

“A few were seriously injured by that sound attack, but their lives aren’t in danger. If not for you two, I’m afraid our entire group would have perished here. We didn’t expect to encounter Night Lord’s people robbing on the road,” the leader said, still in shock. They had narrowly escaped death. Although he didn’t know the identities of these two traveling with the group, they both had some connection with the Thousand Steeds merchant group. Especially this young man in front of him, who was only at Spirit Communication Realm but performed like an invincible Profound Realm expert, opening his eyes. He wondered which family or academy this super genius came from to gain experience.

“Stop wasting time, hurry up. We can talk when we reach Wangshan Inn. Who knows if there are other dangers,” the black-robed person reminded. “Remember to leave a few people to burn these corpses, to prevent Nightmares from possessing them.”

“Yes, yes,” the leader immediately nodded. The merchant group moved at a faster pace, encountering no dangers along the way, and safely reached Wangshan Inn.

Night fell. Wangshan Inn was still brightly lit under the protection of the grand formation. Zhanyue had a room to himself and was peacefully sitting cross-legged cultivating when he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Zhanyue wondered who would come looking for him so late.

The one who entered was naturally the black-robed person, still dressed as they were during the day, in a loose black robe covering everything, with a mask and hood, their appearance and figure unclear. They spoke in a hoarse voice, “Today’s events reminded me that this world is far less safe than imagined, and I’m not good at fighting.”

Zhanyue looked puzzled: “What exactly do you want to say, senior? Just get to the point.”

The black-robed person nodded, “I want to hire you to protect me, from now until I board the ship for a long voyage in Pearl City, about ten days or so.” It seemed like a joke for a ninth stage Soul Control Realm expert to hire a sixth stage Spirit Communication Realm as a bodyguard, but both Zhanyue and the black-robed person were seriously considering it.

“As payment, I can give you a fourth-grade pill formula and the materials to refine fourth-grade pills. It won’t be easy for you to gather these materials,” the black-robed person said, taking out a fourth-grade pill formula, which was for the fourth-grade Blood Mist Pill. “You saw the effects of this pill today. Those below Profound Realm who touch it will be briefly poisoned, greatly reducing their strength.”

“Is it that pill?” Zhanyue’s eyes lit up. “Both the formula and the corresponding materials are the payment?”

“Hmph, I naturally keep my word. I’ll give you these few herbs first, and I’ll give you the formula when it’s over,” the black-robed person handed over a package of herbs.

“Uh, you’re giving this to me just like that? Aren’t you afraid I’ll run off with the herbs?” Zhanyue asked suspiciously.

The black-robed person sneered, “The formula for fourth-grade Blood Mist Pills isn’t easy to find. If you run, you might not get another chance. Those herbs might not be useful for refining other fourth-grade pills. I’m sincere in this transaction.”

Zhanyue thought for a moment, then nodded, “Alright, I agree.”

Hearing this, the black-robed person breathed a sigh of relief. With Zhanyue as a guard, they would naturally be much safer.

“You can sleep here tonight,” Zhanyue said casually, then closed his eyes to cultivate.

“N-no, Wangshan Inn is still safe. I’ll go back to my own room,” the black-robed person said and walked out. They hadn’t expected Zhanyue to be so responsible, thinking about close protection as soon as the deal started.

After the black-robed person left, Zhanyue said to himself, “This black-robed person is truly mysterious. Their alchemy experience far surpasses mine. Following them, I should be able to learn something.”

“Mysterious? In the middle of the night, you really have some nerve to let a young girl sleep in your room,” the illumination Goddess said in a somewhat unfriendly tone.

“Young girl? What young girl?” Zhanyue was stunned, then asked in surprise, “Sister, you don’t mean that black-robed person, do you? They’re a young girl? I’ve been calling them ‘senior’ all along.”

“Uh, you didn’t realize? I thought you had figured out her identity and that’s why you agreed to be a close guard,” the illumination Goddess said, speechless.

“It’s really a young girl? I was just interested in that fourth-grade pill formula. Sister, you’re making me sound like a lecher,” Zhanyue was equally speechless.

“You’d better not be,” the illumination Goddess said meaningfully. She still remembered the moment when Zhanyue had taken advantage of her, staring for quite a while.

“Let’s not talk about this. Sister, how was my performance in today’s battle?” Zhanyue quickly sought praise.

“It was okay. You were quite clever. If all five had surrounded you head-on, the one with the flute and the one with the rope would have caused you huge trouble. The Phantom Light Step isn’t invincible; area attacks can break it, and binding attacks also have a suppressive effect. You were able to immediately judge who posed the greatest threat to you, and then go all out to kill them instantly, which was the best decision. But you also relied on your earth burrowing technique. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easy to kill across realms. In future face-to-face battles, you should use the earth burrowing technique less. Don’t develop it into a combat habit. There are many methods in this world that can break your earth burrowing technique. When that day really comes, if you rely too much on it, it will become your biggest weakness,” the illumination Goddess said.

Zhanyue nodded, firmly remembering. The earth burrowing technique was very mysterious and had miraculous effects in battle, but if he relied on it too much, wouldn’t he be at a great disadvantage when encountering someone who could counter it? So he couldn’t think about using the earth burrowing technique to solve every battle.

As the sun rose, the merchant group set out again. Zhanyue rode his horse next to the black-robed person, but his gaze towards them was somewhat different now.

“This person is really a woman? And very young? How is the voice disguised? What exactly is her identity, why does she have such rich alchemy experience at such a young age?” Many questions arose in Zhanyue’s mind.

The black-robed person felt very uncomfortable being stared at by Zhanyue. “Although I’ve asked you to protect me, you don’t need to stare at me all the time, do you? Isn’t the situation around us more important?”

Zhanyue withdrew his gaze. Since this black-robed person was willing to hide, they must have their reasons. Why should he expose them? He was just doing a job for money after all.

Five days later, the group finally reached their destination – Pearl City.

“Let’s go, the auction officially starts the day after tomorrow,” the black-robed person and Zhanyue separated from the group, walking towards the depths of Pearl City.