All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 67: Night Talk in the Cave

The cave was brightly lit, with illumination stones serving excellently as light bulbs. Zhanyue organized their day’s harvest. Just that mysterious soul bone alone was worth 100,000 points, and the other various spirit objects and spirit beast cores added up to over 10,000. Zhanyue gave most of the spirit objects and cores to Baizhi, keeping only a small portion for himself as ‘pocket change’.

“No, no, this is too much. I hardly did anything following you,” Baizhi declined, her small face slightly flushed. The saying goes, ‘don’t accept rewards without merit’, and along the way, it was basically Zhanyue acting as the fighter, while she only took action twice.

“Have you forgotten about that soul bone? We agreed earlier on a 50-50 split. I’m keeping that soul bone for research, so I should give you 50,000 points. It’s still far from enough, so just take it,” Zhanyue explained. Although Baizhi’s help wasn’t significant along the way, at least she kept him from being lonely. Moreover, he had many things to consult Baizhi about regarding alchemy, so the 50-50 split could be considered as paying tuition fees. Zhanyue was confident that Baizhi would definitely become a master-level figure in alchemy in the future, so naturally, he didn’t mind giving her more points now.

Baizhi accepted the points, her eyes darting around, looking at Zhanyue suspiciously. The blush hadn’t left her face, making her as beautiful as a goddess bathed in the sunset. “Why are you so good to me?”

“Uh…” Zhanyue was momentarily speechless. He could hardly say it was because Baizhi was beautiful and smart, with extraordinary talent. That would be too opportunistic.

“Not saying anything? Could it be that you have some thoughts about me because I’m pretty?” Baizhi leaned her small face closer, smiling and asking. Then she warned, “If you really think that way, the Bai family and that Golden Pill Immortal won’t let you off.”

Baizhi didn’t have the typical fragrance of a young woman, but rather a special medicinal scent, related to her long-term pill refining. But that medicinal scent was fresh and pleasant, momentarily distracting Zhanyue.

“You’re really narcissistic, girl. I admit you’re very beautiful, but what I value more is your courage and talent. Just being pretty isn’t worth my investment. I’ve seen two women whose beauty is no less than yours, and there’s even a senior whose beauty surpasses yours,” Zhanyue retorted.

“Oh? Who are you talking about?” Baizhi was very beautiful, known as the number one beauty of the Thousand Beauties Country’s Alchemy Capital since coming of age. It’s worth noting that the Thousand Beauties Country was known for producing beauties, so this title carried a lot of weight. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have caused trouble, attracting the Golden Pill Immortal’s desire, who was even willing to use an eighth-grade pill formula as a betrothal gift. Baizhi was very confident in her looks, so naturally, she wasn’t convinced hearing Zhanyue say this.

“Well, the first one is the Empire’s Crown Princess, the Empire’s Female War God Chi Hongchen. I’ve ridden her contract dragon twice, admiring her heroic bearing up close,” Zhanyue said.

“Chi Hongchen? I’ve heard of her too, and even seen her portrait. She’s extraordinarily talented, with unparalleled combat power, the world’s only dragon contractor. Besides her combat power, her beauty is unparalleled, but often overlooked. I admit she’s indeed not inferior to me,” Baizhi nodded, but her eyes flickered with disbelief. She didn’t believe the latter half of Zhanyue’s words about riding the contract dragon twice.

“As for the other one, it’s the Holy Maiden of the Rising Sun Country’s Divine Light Holy Court, Mumulixi. She has long golden hair, noble and elegant, youthfully beautiful. I’ve shared hardships with her,” Zhanyue said.

Baizhi pouted, unable to help but retort, “Of course I know about the Holy Maiden, and I know she’s extremely beautiful. But you’re so dishonest, always bragging. First, you said you had an eighth-grade alchemist master, and now you say you’re close with Chi Hongchen and the Holy Maiden. Why don’t you just say the Holy Maiden likes you?”

“I don’t know if she likes me, but I quite like her. That little girl isn’t as mischievous as you, but gentle as water,” Zhanyue rubbed the ring on his hand, feeling a bit sad, wondering how that girl was doing now, whether her cold poison had been successfully suppressed.

“Hmph, what else? You said these two have beauty no less than mine, I’ll accept that. But you said there’s a senior whose beauty surpasses mine, who is she?” Although Baizhi didn’t believe Zhanyue’s words, she enjoyed listening to him talk.

“That senior is none other than the illumination Goddess,” Zhanyue said. In terms of beauty, Zhanyue didn’t think anyone in this world could surpass his adopted sister. Her originally beautiful face paired with that otherworldly, peerless aura and unfathomable strength made her truly a woman who stood alone, apart from the world.

“Pfft,” Baizhi laughed, exasperated. “You really can exaggerate. Even the Goddess statues don’t show much, you’re just imagining the Goddess’s true appearance. Although books record that she was very, very beautiful, she’s long gone. Who among today’s people has seen her? There’s not a single truth in your words.”

Zhanyue didn’t argue, only saying, “Unless absolutely necessary, I don’t lie. One day you’ll know everything I said is true. If you don’t believe it, forget it. I originally had a belly full of secrets I wanted to share with you.”

“Hmph, king of bragging, lying so shamelessly. I’m not a three-year-old child. Why don’t you say the Goddess has returned to the mortal world, even took you as a disciple and taught you peerless martial arts?” Baizhi pouted, looking extremely cute.

“Oh? How did you know? Although she didn’t take me as a disciple, it’s almost the same,” Zhanyue smiled. He knew that even if he told these truths, no one would believe him, so there was no need to conceal anything.

“You’re still going on with it. Hmph, I’m ignoring you,” Baizhi turned her head away, taking out a book of alchemy secrets and starting to study.

“This girl, once she gets into it, she really focuses single-mindedly,” Zhanyue guarded her from the side. Baizhi looked very nice when she was seriously reading, especially her lively eyes, sometimes puzzled, sometimes delighted. At this moment, she wasn’t wearing her veil and bamboo hat; she was less inclined to hide and disguise herself in front of Zhanyue.

“Just in the outskirts, there are already fifth-grade spirit beasts, equivalent to Profound Being strength, requiring group efforts to kill. Going further in, I’m afraid even my strength won’t be enough. No wonder points are so hard to come by. Even Feng Bulang and that mysterious Horse Face aren’t willing to continue exploring deeper, but instead do business outside,” Zhanyue took out the map, frowning. Continuing inward would likely become increasingly dangerous, especially with Baizhi in tow. “But if we stop here, we definitely won’t gather enough points. Among those things, I’m most interested in that ‘Thousand Hands Fire God’ pill refining technique and the ‘Annotations of Ancient Scripts of Hundred Races’. These two items alone add up to 1.3 million points, 100,000 points more expensive than that eighth-grade pill formula.” Zhanyue pondered.

“The eighth-grade pill formula can’t solve Baizhi’s problem. We’ll take her situation one step at a time. If it really doesn’t work out, we can only hope for big sister’s help. After a year, her business should be about finished,” Zhanyue thought. He certainly didn’t want Baizhi to become that Golden Pill Immortal’s concubine. This future alchemy master must be firmly tied to his own chariot. Who knows how she would shock the world after advancing to seventh or eighth-grade alchemist.

“That’s right!” Zhanyue suddenly realized, remembering something. “Besides exploring inward, there are two other directions: up and down. Although I can’t fly and can’t explore the sky, there’s still underground. Given how mysterious this secret realm is, there might be secrets underground.”

With this new idea, Zhanyue eagerly burrowed into the ground, returning shortly after.

“Little girl,” Zhanyue interrupted Baizhi’s focused study.

“What is it?” Baizhi asked, puzzled.

“I’ve discovered that there’s actually space underground in this secret realm. Unfortunately, my earth burrowing technique can’t carry living beings or large objects, so I can’t take you down. I plan to go and see for myself. If I haven’t returned by daybreak, use the teleportation jade to transport yourself outside and wait for me there,” Zhanyue said.

“Ah? But won’t it be very dangerous underground?” Baizhi asked.

“Don’t worry, I know my limits. If I encounter danger, if nothing else, I can at least escape. It’s not wise to explore further inward now. Since there’s space underground, I should naturally go and see. Other people probably have never been there, so it’s worth a try,” Zhanyue explained his thoughts.

Baizhi looked at Zhanyue’s eyes, knowing he had made up his mind. Without her holding him back, he could explore more conveniently. Baizhi felt a sourness in her heart. At this moment, she somewhat regretted not learning some martial techniques. “These, and these, take them all with you,” Baizhi took out bottle after bottle of pills and handed them to Zhanyue. “These Fierce Explosion Pills are hard to refine, there are only three left. Take them all.”

“Uh,” Zhanyue saw the earnest look in the girl’s eyes and couldn’t bear to refuse. He accepted various fourth-grade pills – attack pills, defense pills, enhancement pills, recovery pills, all kinds. “If I haven’t returned by daybreak, teleport back directly. Be good, leave the matter of points to me.”

Baizhi nodded, wanting to say something more, but Zhanyue turned and burrowed into the ground, disappearing. Baizhi stomped her foot, saying angrily, “King of bragging, you’d better not die.”