All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 64: -The Heavenly Moat River and Feng Bulang

As they moved eastward, Zhanyue felt the spirit energy becoming more concentrated, even causing some loosening in his internal realm boundaries. The two walked on, not finding anything of particular value, but they weren’t entirely empty-handed either.

A fruit tree stood ahead, bearing two red fruits that neither Zhanyue nor Baizhi recognized.

“Red Star Fruit, highly toxic, worth 1 point,” the light-transmitting mirror provided the answer.

Zhanyue climbed the tree and picked the two fruits. He wiped one clean and took a bite.

“Don’t eat it!” Baizhi was startled. “Didn’t it say the fruit is highly toxic?”

Zhanyue found the fruit sweet, tasting like a combination of Hami melon and apple. “You believe everything it says? I’m half skeptical of the Ghost Shark clan’s words. Fruits aren’t like wild grass or mushrooms; most of them aren’t poisonous. In fact, they try hard to be delicious so other animals will eat them and spread their seeds elsewhere. Such a big fruit tree with only two fruits left at the top, the others were probably eaten by small animals.”

Actually, Zhanyue hadn’t mentioned one thing: even if it were truly toxic, he could recover using his State Reversal ability. He just wanted to see how ‘honest’ this light-transmitting mirror was. The result was obvious – this thing had been tampered with by the Ghost Shark clan.

“These Ghost Shark people are really despicable, calling non-toxic things toxic. I wonder if they’d evaluate a treasure worth 10,000 points as just 1 point? After all, they hold the pricing power,” Zhanyue pondered. But on second thought, he realized he was overthinking. No one is a fool – if a dangerous place held a secret treasure they needed, and they set an extremely low point value, who would risk going there? That would be a lose-lose operation.

They clearly didn’t want outsiders using the resources within this secret realm. While other things couldn’t be taken out, spirit fruits could be eaten directly inside the secret realm. So they marked all spirit fruits as highly toxic – who would dare to gamble? But obviously, Zhanyue was that gambler.

“Yes,” Baizhi nodded.

“Help me record this: Red Star Fruit, red and round, fist-sized, sweet taste. Eating it can increase internal spirit power. Someone who consumed it broke through from the sixth stage of Spirit Communication to the seventh stage,” Zhanyue said.

Baizhi recorded it faithfully, her eyes brightening. She naturally guessed what Zhanyue intended to do. “You want to collect information on various spirit objects in the secret realm? And did you really advance?”

Zhanyue nodded, “I’ll be like Shennong tasting a hundred herbs. I don’t believe those planning to come to Ghost Island wouldn’t be interested in this. I’ll help them distinguish which things in the secret realm can be eaten and which can’t. Although most things can’t be taken out of Ghost Island, eating and using these spirit fruits and objects within the secret realm shouldn’t violate any rules. I’ve always felt that exchanging these things from the secret realm for their rare items is a very losing deal.”

Baizhi looked at Zhanyue with starry eyes, “This sounds so interesting just thinking about it. But aren’t you afraid of eating something truly toxic?”

Zhanyue patted his chest, “I have a special constitution, immune to all poisons.”

“Really?” Baizhi looked at Zhanyue suspiciously. This man had too many secrets. Though only at the Spirit Communication realm, he gave her a strong sense of security.

“Do you want to eat?” Zhanyue wiped the Red Star Fruit clean and offered it to Baizhi.

Baizhi took the fruit and took a bite. Indeed, it tasted excellent.

“I was worried about food in the secret realm, but it seems with you around, these aren’t problems,” Baizhi said happily.

“Let’s go.”

After traveling east for a while, a large river appeared before them. The river was a thousand meters wide, with extremely rapid currents. Neither its source nor its end was visible, and even the scenery on the opposite shore was somewhat blurry.

“Such a wide river, we probably can’t cross directly,” Zhanyue observed the river’s flow speed and depth. Even with their abilities, they couldn’t cross it. Zhanyue’s earth burrowing was far inferior to the Mountain Goblin Clan’s, limited in both depth and duration, making it impossible to pass under the riverbed.

“This river is too rapid, small boats couldn’t move in it. We’d need a large ship, but where would we find one in this secret realm?” Baizhi was also at a loss. Flying was an extremely rare ability, which neither Zhanyue nor Baizhi possessed.

“Should we make a raft?” Zhanyue immediately shook his head. There were vague black shadows patrolling in the river, likely unsafe. Just as the Tongtian River stumped the pilgrims, Zhanyue and Baizhi were also stumped by this enormous river.

On the horizon, a colorful phoenix kite suddenly appeared in their view. The kite’s appearance was quite eerie, and even more strangely, a huge bamboo basket hung below it with a person standing inside.

Soon, that person landed in front of them. To their great surprise, this person wore no black robe or mask, completely showing his true face. He wore colorful clothes, a riot of colors, with long hair intertwined in red, yellow, and blue. The man’s face was handsome, looking at the two with a smile.

“This is a flamboyant one,” Zhanyue immediately judged. This man’s attire and expression were too ‘flamboyant’, somewhat ahead of his time for this era. And daring to show his true face in the secret realm, he was either a fool or had absolute confidence.

“I am Feng Bulang from Ye Capital. Do you two wish to cross the river?” the man asked.

“Be careful of the kite-flying man?” Zhanyue remembered the masked man’s words. Was this man before them the kite flyer? He couldn’t help but become nervous. “Ye Capital… actually from the mysterious Ye Capital.”

“Greetings, Brother Feng. My young master and I were indeed about to cross the river,” Zhanyue said. He now fully appeared as a guard, while Baizhi had switched to a young master’s voice.

“Seventh stage of Spirit Communication? Bringing someone at the Spirit Communication realm here, this young master is quite bold,” Feng Bulang said, looking at Zhanyue and then at Baizhi.

“Brother Feng, is there no way to go around this river?” Zhanyue asked curiously.

Feng Bulang smiled, “To go around this Heavenly Moat River would take at least two or three months. You can try if you have the patience. You don’t know, there are many fierce beasts in this river. If one’s abilities are strong enough, they could swim across. Of course, there’s a simpler way right now.”

Zhanyue naturally knew Feng Bulang’s intention, but still asked, “If one doesn’t have flying abilities like Brother Feng’s, wouldn’t it be very difficult to reach the other side? How did people cross before? Surely not everyone went around?”

Feng Bulang smiled slightly, “Of course they used a bridge. A huge stone bridge connected the two shores, quite magnificent.”

“A bridge? Where is the bridge?” Zhanyue was stunned. So there was a bridge.

“I said people used to use a bridge. Since I came to the secret realm, it can’t be used anymore. I destroyed that bridge, even the bridge pillars fell into the river. It can’t be repaired,” Feng Bulang said mischievously. “How about that? My method was quite good, wasn’t it? That bridge was really hard to demolish.”

Zhanyue’s face darkened. This bastard had destroyed the bridge, then used his own ability to ferry people across. Everyone knew what he was thinking.

“Alright, Brother Feng, how many points does it cost to cross the river?” Zhanyue asked helplessly.

“Hehe, it’s not expensive. Just items worth 1,000 points per person,” Feng Bulang said with a smile.

“1,000 points?! Why don’t you just rob us outright!” Zhanyue’s eyes widened.

“Aren’t I robbing you now? Take it or leave it. Is 1,000 points really that expensive? Where is it expensive? It’s just that you’re not working hard enough. Once you miss this chance, you won’t get another. The other side of the river is truly vast and broad. The heavenly materials and earthly treasures there are far more abundant than this side. This here is just the edge of the edge. Only after crossing the river can you say you’ve truly entered the secret realm,” Feng Bulang said disdainfully. He had been here for half a year, earning points solely by collecting tolls. Letting others take risks was always safer than taking risks himself.

Zhanyue gritted his teeth in anger, “Brother Feng, the fact that you haven’t been beaten to death yet must mean your abilities are truly exceptional.”

Feng Bulang nodded in agreement, “Just average, third in the world. Among those below the Profound Realm, those who can beat me can be counted on one hand. Even facing Profound Beings, I can run away at will.”

“With such abilities, Brother Feng, why don’t you think about going deeper into the secret realm to find more treasures yourself? Collecting tolls is good, but it’s hard to get truly rich that way,” Zhanyue asked. The person before him was too dangerous and mysterious.

“What do you know? I can fly, I’ve already been inside and seen. Find treasures? Find my ass. You never know when you might lose your life. I advise you not to go too deep either. Even Spirit Gods risk perishing in the depths of the secret realm. We’re not even Profound Beings, are we going to seek death? Look…” Feng Bulang took out three fragrant pouches and sighed, “I found these beside three skeletons. They had a total of 120,000 points, which shows they were extraordinarily powerful. They even acted as a team of three, yet they all died in there. In the end, I benefited.”

“Thank you for the warning, Brother Feng. We’ll be careful. Please send us across,” Zhanyue took out spirit objects worth 2,000 points.

Feng Bulang curiously looked at Zhanyue, “You’re not a simple Spirit Communication cultivator. Well, I don’t want to pry too much. Good luck to you.”

The two entered Feng Bulang’s huge bamboo basket. Feng Bulang waved his hand, and the kite grew even larger, carrying the three of them across the Heavenly Moat.

“Brother Feng’s contract object is actually a kite, giving him the ability to fly. It’s truly enviable,” Zhanyue praised, looking at the kite in the sky.

“Envy my ass. Wouldn’t it be better if I were a wind contractor like Wind Lord? Elementalizing the body, flying at will. It’s just a broken kite, limiting this young master’s potential. But I’ll tell you, this young master has developed this kite to its limit. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let you see something special.”

With a wave of Feng Bulang’s hand, the phoenix kite grew even larger, then flashed with golden light, transforming into a phoenix. It no longer resembled a kite at all.

“This is contract object transformation. Not even one in ten thousand contractors can master it,” Feng Bulang said, pointing at the phoenix in the sky. Although it wasn’t a real phoenix, it had some of a phoenix’s charm, and its power was incomparable to before.

“It can do that!” Zhanyue was amazed. This Feng Bulang was truly extraordinary.

“It’s just a small trick. Compared to the Eastern Kingdom’s Crown Princess’s true flying dragon contract beast, it’s far inferior. How could I compare to someone who can contract a true mythical creature?” Feng Bulang sighed. He had developed his kite contract object to its limit, but innate differences couldn’t be made up for through effort.

“This thing is excellent for fooling people. Those who don’t know would really think you’ve contracted a phoenix,” Zhanyue marveled, looking at the lifelike phoenix in the sky.

Feng Bulang smiled slightly, “How did you know I use this to deceive people? I even used it to sneak into Ye Capital’s mansion. Those examination teachers were so angry their noses went crooked, but according to the rules, they couldn’t dismiss me.”

Baizhi stood to the side without speaking. Looking at the phoenix made her feel dejected. Her contract object was just an ordinary alchemy furnace, while Zhanyue had a mysterious giant cauldron, clearly extraordinary. Would the gap between them grow larger in the future? Just thinking about this made her feel irritable.

Soon after, the three flew across the Heavenly Moat River and landed on the ground.

“Brother Feng, we’ll take our leave now,” Zhanyue led Baizhi away quickly.

Feng Bulang watched Zhanyue’s departing figure, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. “I really want to know what trump cards this little Spirit Communication cultivator has. Facing me without any fear. Well, when my time is almost up, I’ll go play inside. For now, collecting tolls is most comfortable. Another 2,000 points in hand.