All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 63: A Horse Wont Fatten Without Night Grass

The two continued eastward with their bountiful harvest. As the saying goes, “The more skilled, the bolder.” With no Profound Beings in this secret realm, Zhanyue was confident he could fight anyone. However, acting too aggressively could lead to being surrounded, which would still be dangerous, so he knew to keep a low profile when necessary.

But just because you don’t look for trouble doesn’t mean trouble won’t find you.

The masked man had some unknown tracking method and quickly caught up with Zhanyue and Baizhi. He stayed far away, assessing their strength.

“One at the ninth stage of Soul Control, one at the sixth stage of Spirit Communication. A bit troublesome. I’m only at the peak of the ninth stage of Soul Control, but I’ve been here for over half a year. I’ve used my previous points to enhance my strength, far surpassing ordinary ninth stage Soul Control cultivators. I can even last a few moves against a Profound Being. That sixth stage Spirit Communication one can be ignored. With those people guarding that area, I can’t go to the deeper parts of the secret realm. I can only collect points in the outskirts. I’ll take the gamble! First, sneak attack and severely injure the ninth stage Soul Control one, then instantly kill the Spirit Communication one, and finally turn back to finish off the Soul Control expert.” The masked man made his plan.

“You two, wait for me!” the masked man suddenly called out. He needed to get close to the two for his sneak attack, as he didn’t have any super long-range sneak attack methods.

Hearing the call, Zhanyue and Baizhi turned to look at this black-robed, masked person.

“Be careful, his realm is about the same as mine, but his aura is stronger,” Baizhi warned.

“You’re the one who needs to be careful. Stay behind me later,” Zhanyue said as they turned around, with him in front and Baizhi behind.

The masked man frowned slightly under his mask. How could this Spirit Communication cultivator be so strange? Could it be that the Soul Control one was the guard? What use was such a weak guard?

“Friends, are you new to the secret realm?” the masked man asked. He hadn’t sensed such dressed individuals before, nor someone so weak at the Spirit Communication realm.

“Indeed we are. Does this friend have something to discuss?” Zhanyue asked.

“The secret realm is full of dangers, especially the Hopeless River ahead. Be careful of the kite-flying man by the river. However, if we team up, he might be wary of us,” the masked man suggested.

“Hopeless River? Kite-flying man?” Zhanyue realized this person knew many things about the secret realm.

“No, thanks. We don’t plan to cross the river,” Zhanyue replied. No one could be trusted in the secret realm.

“Quite cautious, aren’t they? A bit troublesome,” the masked man sighed inwardly.

So he changed his approach and asked directly: “I found a beehive earlier, but couldn’t take it down. When I went back to look, it had already been taken. Could it have been your method, brother?” The masked man pointed at Baizhi. He only wanted the two to change positions. His sneak attack method was naturally reserved for Baizhi; attacking someone at the sixth stage of Spirit Communication was meaningless.

“Beehive?” Baizhi’s eyes faltered. That was indeed what they had taken. She glanced at Zhanyue, unsure how to answer.

“What beehive? We don’t know anything about that,” Zhanyue’s eyes conveyed confusion.

“Still acting? Too bad the person behind you isn’t as good at it,” the masked man grumbled inwardly. But this black-robed Spirit Communication person was really annoying, always intentionally or unintentionally blocking the person behind.

“Forget it, let’s use the old strategy,” the masked man couldn’t wait any longer. He shouted towards the wilderness behind the two, “Brothers Zhang and Li, what are you waiting for? Quick, make your move!”

Baizhi was startled and turned her head to look behind.

At this moment, the masked man shifted to the side, changing his angle to easily target Baizhi. A ring could be seen on his hand, his contract object. A yellow gem was embedded in the ring, which shot out a laser beam straight towards Baizhi.

“Watch out!” Zhanyue had been wary of this person all along and didn’t turn around even when he shouted. When the man suddenly attacked, Zhanyue wasn’t caught off guard. He moved his body to block in front of Baizhi. Being considerably larger than Baizhi, the laser meant for her hit Zhanyue instead. He felt his whole body go numb, unable to move.

“Damn it!” The masked man was furious. In the end, he was still blocked by this bastard. “Fine, let’s settle this head-on.” The paralyzing divine light from the contract ring was his trump card, but unfortunately, it didn’t hit his main target.

“You!” Baizhi reacted, shielding Zhanyue behind her, each hand holding a pill.

The masked man was a miscellaneous contractor, with the ring as his contract object. The yellow gem on the ring contained lightning power, giving him the ability to paralyze. Any creature touching the gem would be paralyzed, and he had the strange ability to shoot paralyzing divine light, though this ability couldn’t be used frequently. The masked man’s strength was formidable. He quickly approached Baizhi, preventing her from using these pill weapons. Baizhi then realized this person was far more powerful than that Five Horses guy.

At this critical moment, a fire dragon suddenly appeared, forcing the masked man back. Zhanyue skillfully controlled the fire dragon to launch an attack. The masked man hurriedly distanced himself, but the fire dragon was just dragon-shaped, formed by exquisite control techniques, purely for intimidation. Zhanyue liked to use it, and the masked man quickly realized this.

“Damn, it’s just ordinary fire control. Who are you trying to fool with this true dragon form?” The masked man dispersed the fire dragon with a punch and attacked again. He now discovered that Zhanyue had regained movement and was protecting Baizhi.

“How is this possible? How did he recover so quickly?” He had thought the fire dragon was Baizhi’s technique, but it turned out to be from this Spirit Communication cultivator.

“Use the pills to blast him,” Zhanyue reminded.

Zhanyue’s body suddenly disappeared. Baizhi, hiding behind Zhanyue, shot out a pill with her delicate jade hand, the pill flying straight towards the masked man.

“Danger!” The masked man instinctively wanted to dodge the pill, but his feet were suddenly grabbed by something, momentarily unable to escape. In his eyes, Baizhi’s figure was frantically running into the distance. Zhanyue, underground, also let go and burrowed deeper.

“Boom!” Baizhi’s self-researched composite Fierce Explosion Pill exploded, releasing an extremely considerable amount of energy for a single pill, even forming a small mushroom cloud, raising countless dust particles and leaving a deep crater.

“Wow.” When Zhanyue returned to the surface, his eyes were filled with shock. Could a fourth-grade pill have such an effect? It was fortunate he could burrow underground, otherwise being caught in the explosion would have seriously injured him too. Now the masked man’s black robe was in tatters, his body completely damaged, the mask shattered revealing an unfamiliar face.

“He’s not dead, but severely injured. As expected of a pill that can harm Profound Beings,” Zhanyue felt lingering fear. He had still underestimated the power of this Fierce Explosion Pill.

“To kill or not to kill?” Zhanyue was conflicted, then sighed. After he took the masked man’s fragrant pouch, the masked man was teleported away. This pouch didn’t need to recognize an owner. He had activated the teleportation jade at the instant of the explosion, but couldn’t escape the blast. However, the teleportation jade activating now and sending him away saved Zhanyue from his dilemma.

“You’re lucky this time. You didn’t plan to let us off, did you? If you still want revenge on us later, feel free to come!” Zhanyue said coldly to the masked man in the teleportation light pillar.

The masked man was covered in wounds but had saved his life. The teleportation light protected him, making it futile for Zhanyue to try to finish him off.

Baizhi returned to Zhanyue’s side, nervously looking around.

“What are you doing?” Zhanyue asked, confused by her reaction.

“Didn’t he have accomplices? Those Brothers Zhang and Li, why didn’t they make their move?” Baizhi asked, puzzled.

Zhanyue rolled his eyes. This girl was adorably stupid. Indeed, she was a pampered young lady, but fortunately lucky enough not to have run into trouble in her long time away from home.

“There were no Brothers Zhang and Li. He was shouting randomly, like shouting ‘Look, a UFO!’” Zhanyue explained.

“What’s a UFO?” Baizhi’s eyes widened with curiosity.

“Never mind, I can’t explain it clearly,” Zhanyue opened the man’s fragrant pouch. The spirit objects inside were worth over 5,000 points. “Indeed, killing and looting is the fastest way. This man’s skills weren’t weak, far surpassing that Five Horses boss I met before. It seems that even within the ninth stage of Soul Control, strengths can vary greatly. But that’s normal, after all, everyone’s contract object is different. That strange light beam of his could actually paralyze me. Fortunately, I have this overpowered ability to instantly recover my state, otherwise this little Baizhi definitely wouldn’t have been a match for him. Those who can survive in the secret realm all have some tricks up their sleeves.”

“Let’s go. It’s time to check out that Hopeless River ahead.”